Curried Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup

It’s amazing how comforting and nourishing a hot bowl of soup can be. This is a perfect soup to warm you up on a rainy day and it takes no time to make at all. Even better it is a delicious, filling soup that is completely gluten and dairy free!

I made this recently because I’d received some vegetables from my Mother-in-law as they were moving and she was emptying her fridge. I used what I had but don’t worry too much about exact quantities – if you have 1 sweet potato use it all, you just might need to add a little extra stock. I like this particular soup to have texture which is why I grate the veggies but if you prefer you could easily blend it for a smooth, thick soup.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

4 carrots, peeled and grated

½ good sized sweet potato, peeled and grated

2 cloves of garlic, crushed or grated on a microplane

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated

1 tsp curry powder

200ml coconut milk

1000ml vegetable or chicken stock

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan then add the leeks. Cook for a few minutes until softened but not browned, then add the grated carrots, sweet potato, garlic, ginger and curry powder. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring to make sure nothing catches and then add the coconut milk and stock. Season with some salt and pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Leave to cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust if necessary then ladle into bowls while piping hot! 

*For extra spice add some fresh chilli, finely chopped and if you find the soup too sweet you could add a spritz of lime juice.

Change of Diet ~ Entering the World of Wheat Free and Limited Dairy....

*Image courtesy of logo-kid.com

Yes you read the title right!! For various personal reasons our Dr. has suggested that we try a Wheat Free Diet with limited dairy. Now if you know me (or have looked at the amount of recipes I  have under the pasta section!) you'll know that giving up wheat (albeit temporarily) is a b-i-g thing for me. Without doubt one of my favourite things in the world is a big bowl of Spicy Tomato Pasta and as for French Bread.... don't even get me started! However I am more than willing to give this a go so I thought if I'm going to do it I would share my experiences with you.

Now I know going Wheat Free isn't exactly a new thing and for many different reasons millions of people have jumped on the Gluten Free Band Wagon, I just didn't think I would ever be one but here I am! I'm not going to lie, when I initially started doing some research and looked for delicious wheat free recipes that were also limited in dairy it was overwhelming. My moods have been up and down over the past 5 days but I finally think I am getting there.... well to grips with it anyway. I still have a long road ahead and know I will have my cravings but today I am definitely feeling positive about things.

So what have I done? Well for starters, I haven't thrown out every item that has wheat in it. For now it's just been put to one side and instead today I replaced it with some gluten free alternatives. After doing some research I decided to try Corn Pasta rather than the Rice Pasta (which I have had in the past and really didn't like). I have also stocked up in Gluten Free Crackers (which I have yet to try) and lots of super crunchy Rice Crackers which I absolutely love anyway so no issues there. Since toast features heavily in my breakfast routine I've had to come up with some new ideas so today I made a giant batch of Granola* for us as well as some Granola Energy Bars courtesy of Dorie Greenspan's wonderful book Baking Chez Moi. I also have plenty of eggs in the fridge and this morning I had a delicious breakfast of Scrambled Eggs with Spring(Green) Onion, Tomatoes, Chilli and Coriander (Cilantro) with some Avocado on the side. It was delicious and I certainly didn't feel like I was missing out! A lot of Smoothies and Juices are going to be appearing so today I also stocked up with plenty of fruit (including frozen fruit for things that aren't quite in season yet), spinach and kale as well as Pomegranate Juice, Coconut Water and Almond Milk. I also bought some Coconut Yogurt which is another new item for me and yet to be tried (I'll let you know how I find all the new things!).

Cookbook Review ~ The Wellness Kitchen by Paulette Lambert

The start of a New Year is always the time when resolutions are made to eat better, exercise more and generally lead a healthier life so it was the perfect time for me to put The Wellness Kitchen: Fresh, Flavorful Recipes for a Healthier You by Paulette Lambert to the test.

The Wellness Kitchen is a cookbook designed to show you how you can transform your body with simple, easy steps and wholesome flavourful foods. Paulette Lambert is a registered dietitian with 32 years of experience that includes appearances on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition and The Dr. Oz Show. It is not a diet book containing specific restrictions, fads or concepts that are “of the moment”. Rather this book is about presenting the reader with “the latest scientific knowledge regarding nutrition and health” and making healthy eating a very easy, accessible way of life that anyone can achieve.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is information about health, how to use the book for you in particular as well as general nutrition guidelines and a handy section on pantry basics and a 21-Day Food Plan for Health and Weight Loss. The third part is Caloric Meal Plans.

Part 2 of the book features the Recipes with chapters dedicated to Breakfast, Appetizers, Quick and Easy Main Dishes and A Little Sweet to name a few. With more than 100 recipes included there is plenty of choice that will tempt your taste buds and help to improve your health. With so many recipes to choose from it was hard to pick but in the end I tested 4 recipes.

Cookbook Review ~ Eat Yourself Pregnant by Zita West

I’m not going to lie, when I was asked if I would review Eat Yourself Pregnant by Zita West I was a little hesitant, because to be honest I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to broadcast on my blog that we are trying to get pregnant, but then I thought why not because it’s not exactly a secret, even if I don’t talk about it that much. The reality is that my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for the last 3 years and are dealing with Secondary Infertility. I’m not going to get into all of the specifics with you but it’s a long, emotional and very difficult journey that we never saw coming and so I will take any advice I can (within reason!), so considering  that I love food, cooking and cookbooks and I am trying to get pregnant I decided why not?!

Zita West is a fertility expert and midwife based in the UK. During her career she has also worked as a nutritional advisor and then as an acupuncturist so she is more than qualified to be writing this book! The recipes however come courtesy of Christine Bailey an award-winning nutritionist, food and health consultant, chef and cookery teacher.

The 160 paged paperback is packed with information about getting your body ready for pregnancy as well as 65 healthy recipes to ensure you get all of the vital nutrients required for conception in your diet. There are questions to help you assess your overall health such as ‘How healthy is your digestion?’ ‘How toxic are you?’ and ‘How stable is your blood sugar?’ and a recommended fertility cleanse if you think you need it. As it turned out everything seemed good for us so I skipped the fertility cleanse and opted to pick and choose my own recipes from the book (the fertility detox is just a detailed meal plan with all recipes taken from the book).

The recipes are divided into chapters including ‘Boosters & Breakfasts’, ‘Light Meals’ and ‘Main Meals’ and the majority are accompanied by beautiful photographs. They literally all sounded so good so I really had a hard time narrowing down which ones to test and in the end have so far managed to test 6 recipes (with more made outside of the testing and more to come!). Since I did test so many I’m keeping the information about the recipes shorter so that I don’t have a novel on my hands!

Pomegranate & Granola Yogurt Crunch

I seriously debated on what to call this…. Parfait, Pots and Crunch were all up there and to be honest I’m not sure if ‘Crunch’ is the right choice, however what I can assure you is that this is absolutely delicious and the perfect way to start your day!

I love eating this for breakfast and so I decided it was only fair to share it with you, especially since not only does it taste fantastic and is healthy but it looks so pretty that you could easily serve it to friends or family coming over for brunch. I use my own homemade Granola (click for the recipe) but you could easily use your favourite Granola instead – be it homemade or bought! It is so easy to make and the fruit can be changed throughout the year to whatever is in season, but I’ll be honest Pomegranate is my favourite!

Serves 1 generous portion – or enough for Wee One & I to share! (Easily doubled)

175g/ ¾ cup Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt

1 tbsp honey (or to taste)

3 tbsp Granola

½ fresh pomegranate

Mix together the yogurt and honey and stir well before spooning half of it into the bottom of a glass bowl (or alternatively you could use glasses – either pretty tumblers or wine glasses). Sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of Granola and ½ of the pomegranate then repeat with the layering, finishing with the pomegranate.

(Approximately 340 calories per portion however, that will depend on the Granola and Yogurt that you use.)

Cookbook Review ~ The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight

After the excesses of Christmas, a celebratory weekend in Seattle and then 3 weeks on holiday back home in Scotland I needed to lose some weight so I ordered this book with the hope it would inspire and encourage me with some new recipe ideas. The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight isn't a new cookbook (it was originally published in 2012) but from what I have read it has received a lot of praise so I was keen to give it a go.

For those of you unfamiliar with 'The Hairy Dieters' they are more commonly known as 'The Hairy Bikers' or Si King and Dave Myers. Over the years they have become national treasures in the UK, and have 12 cookbooks as well as several accompanying television series behind them. These guys know what they are doing and love food. Of course that love of food led to a large weight gain between the two so they decided it was time to watch their waistlines and work on losing some weight. The result was a combined loss of 6 stone (84lbs) and a cookbook dedicated to healthy recipes that will help everyone lose some weight while still loving food.

Now I realise that for a lot of you a review of a diet book may not be too interesting, however to me this really isn't a diet book. On first glance when I looked through the book, my initial thought was 'this is how I cook anyway'. It is simply good recipes where you use sensible choices to cut calories and control your portion size.

There are 10 chapters dedicated to recipes including 'One-Pan Dishes'; 'Grills and Roasts'; 'Pies'; 'Pasta & Rice' and me favourite, 'Fakeaways'. There is also a very useful chapter on Menus for your First Week to help you get started with you weight loss plan.

After bookmarking a lot of recipes I managed to narrow things down and tested 5 recipes.....

Ultimate Granola

I've had this recipe tucked away for a long time. Stashing it away for another project or at the least a 'reserve' when I hadn't managed to photograph a new recipe. But then it occurred to me that I really should post it (and not just because I have nothing else to post this week!!) because it is incredibly popular in our house and I feel like I am always making up a fresh batch!

When my husband is in town during the week this is his favourite breakfast to have. He can either have a bowl with milk at home before heading to work, or if in a rush he grabs some and takes it with some yogurt to enjoy as soon as he has some time!

The recipe was adapted from one I read in The Meat Free Monday Cookbook but after doing quite a bit of research on Granola recipes, I found that honestly they are all pretty similar, and really it's just about finding a combination that you like then if need be, adapting things slightly. I'm not going to lie, this isn't a cheap version of Granola but in my opinion it is worth every penny! This version really has a little bit of everything in it so it's a big hit in our family and the touch of cinnamon adds a delicious warmth to it. It makes a lot which I like as it lasts a little longer but if you prefer you can easily half the recipe.

Enjoy it with milk, to snack on by itself, or my favourite way – sprinkled over yogurt.

{I like to use cups for this recipe rather than measuring everything out as I find it a lot easier. If you don't have specific measuring cups just find a small mug or coffee cup and use that – the main thing is just to keep the quantities the same once you find your cup of choice!}

Makes approx. 12 cups of Granola

½ cup almonds, roughly chopped

½ cup pecans, roughly chopped

½ cup brazil nuts or other nuts of your choice, roughly chopped

4 cups porridge oats

½ cup sunflower seeds

½ cup pumpkin seeds

½ cup flax seeds

½ cup flaked coconut

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ cup grape seed or sunflower oil

½ cup honey or agave syrup

1 cup dried fruit of your choice – I like a combination of sour cherries, goji berries and sweet cranberries but you could add raisins, dried blueberries or dried apricots, chopped up

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C and line a large baking sheet (or 2 smaller ones) with baking parchment - trust me, this will help with clean up!

In a large bowl mix together the almonds, pecans, brazil buts, oats, all of the seeds, coconut and the cinnamon. Mix well then add the oil and honey. Stir well so that everything is evenly coated with the oil and honey, mix then transfer to the baking tray (or trays). Spread the granola out evenly over the tray and press down slightly with the back of a large spoon or spatula, then bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, turning half way through cooking so that it gets evenly browned.

Once the granola is golden and crisp, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes then add the dried fruit. Transfer to an airtight container and enjoy however you like.

Cooking the Books ~ June

With my renewed attempt to get healthy and lose a bit of weight it seemed that Pretty Delicious by Candice Kumai was a great choice for June's Cooking the Books. I've been going to the gym for 6 weeks now and have just changed my 2 month 'trial' membership into a 1 year one so I have no excuses! Of course working out is just one aspect of it and next to that is definitely watching what you eat so I am excited to see what news tips and tricks of the trade this model-turned-chef can teach me!

As usual if you have this book why not cook along with me or leave a comment and let me know what you think of it. So what are you waiting for, let's put this book to the test and start Cooking the Books!!

*To read this review please click here.