Indian Spiced Root Vegetable and Winter Squash Soup

Hi guys, so autumn is officially hear, move over summer its time for some serious comfort food.
When I think of October I think of pumpkins and root vegetables, so I thought why not start the month off with a really easy but super tasty soup including both of these things.

So let me explain a bit more about the root vegetable thing, here in the UK pumpkins were not a big deal in the super markets when I was growing up so a lot of the time I would carve a swede and carry it with a candle in as a lantern on Halloween eve whilst trick or treating. Ever since I have associated swede with Halloween and autumn in general.

That being said, when I was thinking of a great hearty soup to make I thought of swede straight away, then I thought pumpkin and lastly I thought about carrots, mainly due to the colour. That's basically how this recipe started life, all the things I associate with autumn together in a soup. Now to the Indian spiced part, well all of the before mentioned vegetables/pulses don't really have strong flavour and I wanted my soup to be warming and packed with flavour so I instantly went to Indian spices for my inspiration. black mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric and cinnamon form the base of this wonderful flavour packed dish.

so lets get down to business.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin/winter squash, diced
1 tbsp. oil
1/2 swede, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. black mustard seeds
1 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp turmeric
500 ml veggie stock

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan, then add the mustard seeds, onions, carrots and swede and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. add the ginger and garlic and stir for 1 minute.
3. add the spices and stir until all the vegetables are coated then add in the pumpkin/squash and lentils then stir again.
4. pour in the veggie stock and bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and cover with a lid.
5. after around 10 minutes check and more water if needed.
6. after another 10 minutes add the coconut milk, stir and check for seasoning, simmer for 5 minutes.
7. remove from the heat, let cool and blend until smooth.
8. serve with rustic crusty bread

Notes

• if you don't like swede you can totally leave it out.
• you can swap out the pumpkin for any kind of squash, such as butternut squash which is more readily available in the super markets.

Chipotle Battered Cauliflower Tacos

Hello again guys, if you have been reading my blog for a while you will know that I love Mexican food. I'm constantly trying out new things and trying to make a great vegan Mexican dishes. Whenever I come up with a really good one I like to share it with you guys.

These cauliflower tacos are unlike anything I have ever had before. Spicy battered and deep fried cauliflower in a soft taco with avocado, lettuce and a drizzle of creamy garlic cashew sauce! This combo is to die for.

I took inspiration for this dish from a recipe I saw on Pinterest for fish tacos in a spicy beer batter, I thought a similar thing would work really well with cauliflower and I wasn't disappointed when I tried it. You could try making it other vegetables too if your not feeling the cauliflower vibes, but I would seriously recommend trying this version first.

Anyway lets get to the good stuff.

Tasty "Japanese" Mushroom, Greens and Seaweed Soba Noodle Bowl

Hi guys, I'm not sure how many vegans out there have been watching the new Jamie Oliver Superfoods program on Channel 4. I have and although it's very meat, fish and dairy heavy there are some dishes that are super easy to veganise.

I really like Jamie Oliver as a person, he does a lot of good with his campaigns against childhood obesity and all of that, he also has a lot of vegan content both on his website and YouTube channel, yet when making a TV show about super foods and living longer, happier lives he fails to mention veganism once. 

If you have seen the video that Tim Sheif made where he asks Jamie about his thoughts on veganism it seems like he really understands it, and yes he does say that all the people he met making the TV show eat very little to no meat and that's probably why they live longer.  And if the TV show does encourage people to eat less meat then it's probably a good thing.

Anyway, like I said at the beginning I like Jamie Oliver and that's why I started watching the show. 

As part of the show he visits Okinawa, Japan and meets a guy who harvests seaweed. 

Seaweed is a great thing, after some research I found that it's super high in vitamin B12 and if your a clued up vegan you know that your probably not getting enough B12 from your diet, so that's great, it also high in Iron and loads of other essential vitamins and minerals. 

So once back in the UK Jamie uses seaweed in a broth with greens, mushrooms and chicken, I mean obviously I'm not going to put chicken in a recipe but I've had a play around with the recipe and this vegan take on his original recipe works really well. Let me know what you think if you try it. 

mixed dried mushrooms for extra flavour

Sweet Potato Pizza + Tyne Chease!

Hi guys, it's been another couple of busy weeks so apologies for this post being super late. Although late, this post comes at a good time. Yesterday, Emily and I visited the Stadium of Light in Sunderland for the first of this year's North East Vegan Festivals. We bought so much amazing stuff, a lot of which I'll write about here once I've tried it.

First I must tell you about Tyne Chease, believe me when I say that this is the best damn vegan cheese out there and lucky for you they have just launched their website, so you can get your hands on this amazing chease. This is the third time I've tried Tyne Chease and the second time I've bought their product. We first bought the original chease at the Painted Elephant showcase event a few months back and we loved it, it's the closet thing I've had to dairy cheese since going vegan.

Yesterday we picked up the soft macadamia chease as we hadn't yet tried it and we were not disappointed again. It's soft and creamy and would taste amazing on a bagel or stirred through some pasta. I used it as a topping for my sweet potato pizza and it worked so well. 

The Best* Green Juice + Sage Nutri Juicer Review

Hey guys, if you follow my instagram feed you will have seen that I've been posting alot of pictures of juice, mainly green juice. I am on a juice buzz at the moment. I recently bought 2 things which have spurred on my juicing. Firstly i picked up a book called Clean & Green which is solely about green juice, smoothies and soups. It was a bargain at £3 and made me want to make all sorts of amazing juices. Secondly i accidently bought a Sage Nutri Juicer on Ebay (i put a small bid on it and didn't think i would win, then i won) so our old juicer has gone to a new home and we are now the proud owners of this beast of a juicer.

Before we get on to the juice i want to tell you how good this juicer is. lets start with how quiet it is, if you own a juicer you know they can be very loud, the sage juicer sounds like a gentle breeze in comparison. secondly the design of the machine is so good that it doesn't heat up, and if you know about juice you know that heat kills nutrients, so this machine claims to extract and keep upto 40% more nutrients than other juicers. Now here comes the machines downfall, unless like me you can pick one up on ebay this little fella will knock you back a whopping £149.99 at Lakeland, a price which I'm sure is out of most people's range. It was certainly out mine until i spotted the one i bought on Ebay. Saying that the Sage Nutri Juicer is well worth the money if you can afford it new, its quite, easy to clean and the best thing is it makes better juice than any other juicer I've used.

If you have seen the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead this is the juicer that Joe Cross uses throughout his trip across america. He has also made a few videos using it on the lakeland website. This documentary was the reason i bought a juicer to start with and if you watch it you will probably want to buy one too.

Anyway lets get to the juice, this isn't just any juice. This is the BEST juice i have ever made. its really fresh and zingy and when i first made it i had a bit of stomach pain, this juice helped soothe my stomach and the next time I drank it it stopped my growing headache in its tracks. I'm not claiming this is some sort of miracle juice but its helped me out when I've needed it.