Fairy soup 16.1.12

Today I had lunch in the fairy cabin, they served me warm pumpkin soup with hearty, wholesome bread.

The warming fire was crackling away behind me as I scrawled away in my notebook..

That is all that needs to be said.

x

Another nutty roast..

This one didn't go as well as my first attempt, it didn't combine well enough for some reason, but it still tasted great with a nice helping of gravy. A lovely hearty meal on a cold winters eve, i like to have mine with parsnips :)

The recipe is the same as the one further down the page, but I added mushrooms and walnuts and sprinkled with oats before I popped it in the oven.

Soupity soup!

A lazy afternoon lunch of a warming tomato and roasted red pepper soup, with wholemeal bread and home made hummus.

and I ate lunch in my tiara today..just because I can..

x

Date and carrot cake..

...with more bananas!..

Ingredients:

2 cups wholemeal self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarb of soda

pinch of salt

1 and 1/4 cup of dates

1 cup raisins

1/4cup of water

1tsp cinnamon

1tsp ginger

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup date syrup

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Mix together flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, spices and salt and set aside.

Put the water in a small pan, bring to the boil and add the dates, simmer for 5mins. Then mix the liquid with the mashed bananas, add to dry ingredients then add the grated carrot and date syrup, mix well until all combined.

Pour into a well greased cake tin and bake in the oven at 170oC for 35-40mins.

Leave cake to cool once cooked then cover with your topping of choice.

I chose a chocolatey one but I reckon a cream (non-dairy) cheese topping would go nice with this cake.

Topping:

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup non dairy spread

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Beat the marg in a bowl, then siv in the icing sugar and cocoa powder, mix well and then spread over cake.

Delish!

x

Festive cards and gifts

The first Broc brought alive by the wonderful Miss Kann..Christmas Broc dude!

Tea and truffles for friends..

..and some cake.

Tea and truffles and cake for mum..

..and a card from the angels..

x

Date, banana and rum loaf

Finally got half way through the huge bag of bananas I bought from the market last Friday for only a pound! They've so far made two cakes and been used in my muselis/porridge in a morning. I used four of them to make this loaf which I've never made before..was quite excited to give it a go, and it turned out oreet!..

Ingredients:

1 and a half cup of dates

3 ripe bananas

1 cup walnuts (or pecans)

1 cup currants and sultanas

2 cups fine cornmeal (polenta)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

3 tbsp dessicated coconut

1 tsp baking powder

3tbsp dark rum

1 banana (small and chopped) to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 180oC.

Chop and de-stone dates, put in a small pan with boiling water to cover and simmer for 5mins. Drain the liquid into a jug. Mash the bananas and mix with the date liquid.

In a separate bowl add the cornmeal, baking powder, spices, nuts and currants and sultanas, then add the date puree and rum, stir until combined.

Add the banana and date liquid and mix well. Pour into a well greased loaf tin and decorate with chopped banana.

Bake for 40-50 mins.

Still got quite a handful of bananas left so there'll be another cake in the mix soon :)

Nutty Roast

Having been a vedge hog for 6 years, I'm a little ashamed to say that this is the first time I've made a nut roast, but my first attempt at it wasn't bad at all, actually pretty damn tasty!

To go with it I made an onion gravy and some roasted parsnips..

Ingredients for nut roast:

1 sweet potato,

 1 carrot,

 1 small onion,

 2 small cloves garlic,

 half a cup of hazelnuts,

 half a cup of brazil nuts,

 pinch of salt and pepper,

 1 tsp rosemary and sage,

 1 cup of brown rice, 

1 cup of oats,

Firstly bring the brown rice to a boil in a pan filled with 2 cups of water, wait for the rice to soak up the water. whilst the rice is boiling boil the carrot and sweet potato in a separate pan for 15mins, or until they have become soft. chop hazelnuts and brazil nuts and set aside. when the carrot and sweet potato are ready, pour away the water and add a tbsp of sunflower spread and mash well, add the herbs and salt and pepper, then add the rice and oats, mix well, then add the nuts. the mixture should become well combined. Transfer to a well greased loaf tin and cook in the oven at 180oC for 30mins.

For the gravy:

half a small onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1tsp sunflower spread

1 tbsp yeast extract

1 tbsp veg stock

half a cup of boiling water

Chop the onion into think strips, fry the oil and sunflower spread in a pan and add the onions then the yeast extract. Pour the boiling water into a cup over the veg stock then add slowly to the pan, bring to the boil and then stir constantly over a low heat. Add more stock depending on how thick/runny you want your gravy.

For the parsnips I chopped them into strips, placed on an oven tray and added a little olive oil and agave syrup (a honey alternative) and roasted in the over for 20-30mins at 180oC.

A lovely cosy evening meal, and sooooo satisfying! 

There shall def be more nut roasts on the cards for 2012.

x