I've just returned from a fab vegan cooking retreat in the beautiful Welsh countryside, run by my awesome cool dude pal Lee Watson of The Beach House Kitchen and author of my favourite vegan cookbook Peace & Parsnips!

The theme was recipes from around the world, focusing on Lees favourite places, and believe me he has been everywhere, cooking with locals and picking up tips, spices and recipes on his travels.

I am planning to share my favourites from the retreat but I'm heading off to The Lake District with Jenna today, sadly she is going to work in a beautiful vegetarian B & B, so I'll have to do all my own cooking!!

So since I came home I have made this delicious soup from Indonesia since I had all the ingredients to hand so I'm sharing this first!

This soup is packed with flavour from coconut, turmeric, ginger and basil and full of the most health giving ingredients quinoa, kale, squash and lentils! Its literally a meal in a bowl, packed with fibre, protein, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and good fats!
Everything a body needs to stay healthy and it tastes amazing!!

This is definitely comfort food at its best, warming, nourishing and delicious! Just what we need more of as the weather changes and we head into autumn.

Although to be honest our weather is so bad that I make soups all year round!!
Soup is also very easy to digest and simple to make so another two reasons to make it! This one is also gluten free!

Anyway without further ado, here is the recipe....
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SULAWESI QUINOA & SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients

• 100g quinoa, rinsed 
• 100g red lentils (about half a cup)
• 50 - 100g coconut block or 1 can of coconut milk
• 250g diced butternut squash or sweet potatoes
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup sweetcorn kernels (frozen is fine)
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
• freshly ground black pepper (to increase absorption of the turmeric)
• 1 tablespoon coconut or rapeseed oil
• 2 big handfuls of finely chopped kale or spinach
• 2 litres veggie stock (I use Kallo organic or Marigold Bouillon Powder)
• 1 handful of basil leaves to garnish

Method

1.  Heat the oil in a large pan and add the red onion, saute for a few minutes.
2. Rinse the quinoa well under running water in a sieve to remove the bitter saponin layer. You can substitute rice for a wee change.
3. Add the chopped ginger, turmeric, cubed squash, lentils, quinoa, coconut block or milk, stock & freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil then gently simmer for around 15 to 20 minutes until the squash is cooked.
4. Stir in the sweetcorn and chopped kale and simmer for another few minutes.
5. Stir in the  chopped basil leaves just before serving.

.......your health in your hands.....

I hope everyone had a lovely break over the holidays and are now back to normality! 
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Our normal is rather odd, I am pretty much under the radar when it comes to work, I suit myself and weeks go past when I just chill and enjoy life and I have to admit I rather enjoy this way of being! Alastair, my husband has been self employed for 20 years so doesn't have a set work routine either, he works overseas and does a lot of voluntary work so we have lots of time to spend together enjoying ourselves! Jenna my daughter is also at home at the moment and is an awesome vegan cook so we just generally try out lots of lovely recipes, spend time outdoors, go for walks and read lots of books!

Looking back over the last year I can't say I achieved a lot but I did start an Instagram account and have almost 500 followers so thats an achievement for me!
I have kept up with my blog and still really enjoy sharing recipes and I'm thinking of sharing more factual and health posts so I have a bit of thinking to do as to how to move forwards and do what I feel is my life purpose, which is to help people to live a healthier life!

I have joined the commitee of Slow Food Glasgow and I'll be involved with a new government initiative called Peas Please, which you may have guessed is to promote the eating of more vegetables, which is right up my street!

I ran various workshops for community groups and schools, which were very well received and will continue to spread the word this year on how important and how simple it is to eat real food, and give veggies the starring role!

So on that note, there are no sermons on New Year New You, from me, I will simply say that the most important advice I can give anyone is to eat more veggies and that is very much the focus of this blog!

I'll say that again, your No 1 resolution should simply be to
                                 ............EAT MORE VEGGIES.....!

Nothing will impact your health more than eating lots of seasonal veggies, add wholegrains, lentils, beans and pulses and you have the basis for the healthiest way to eat. Not to mention the massive and positive impact on the environment of reducing your consumption of meat and dairy and not contributing to animal suffering. So there are many reasons to make veggies the starring role on your plate!

Its veganuary and 50,000 people have signed up to go vegan for the whole month of January! The vegan movement is steadily growing and Glasgow is a great hub of vegan restaurants and businesses, which I am delighted about!


So back to eating more veggies! Soup is one of the easiest ways of sneaking more veggies into your diet and the possibilities are endless so I've decided to share a new soup recipe as my first post of 2017.

This one is based on a recipe by Dana Shcultz over at the minimalist baker. She writes an awesome blog with the most delicious vegan recipes. 

So this soup has some of my favourite and most healthy ingredients, sweet potatoes, lentils, kale, garlic, ginger, turmeric and leeks.

The thing I love about soup is how versatile it is, its a great way of using up whatever veggies you have hanging out in the fridge. The addition of either lentils or beans adds loads of fibre and protein and will take your soup to another level of nourishment and filling power.

Using nature's superfoods garlic and turmeric will add flavour and loads of health benefits so you really end up with a pot of amazing nutrition and flavour. Oh I forgot to mention that soup is great for detoxing and its really easy to digest too so its a great food to include in your diet, especially after all the festive excesses! 
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We always have at least one pot of soup on the go athough it doesn't last long in our house!

There are loads of delicious and healthy soup recipes on my blog. Just click on the soup category for lots of ideas and please consider subscribing to the blog so you don't miss any posts. All the recipes I share are nutritious, plant based,  seasonal and mostly really simple and suitable for everyone.

It doesn't cost anything to subscribe and it could just be the best decision you make, to start the year with access to loads of delicious, healthy, plant based recipes, for yourself and your family!
 
So a very happy and healthy New Year and remember to eat more veggies!

So here is the recipe for this amazing soup....enjoy!

CURRIED LENTIL, POTATO & KALE SOUP

Ingredients
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 leek or medium onion, washed and sliced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped or grated ginger
500g of potato and sweet potato (I used 2 of each), washed and diced
1 cup of green or puy lentils (200g) washed and rinsed
2 good handfuls of chopped kale, cavolo nero or dark green cabbage, finely shredded
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 heaped teaspoon turmeric
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.5 litres veggie stock (I use Marigold Bouillon or Kallo Organic Stock cubes)

Method

1.  Heat the oil in a large soup pot and add the leek or onion and a pinch of sea salt. Cook for around 5 mins on a medium heat. 
2. Add the ginger, garlic, carrots, potatoes & sweet potatoes followed by the curry powder and turmeric. Give it a good stir to coat all the veggies.
3. Add 1.5 litre of stock and the lentils and simmer gently for around 20 to 25 minutes or until the potatoes and lentils are cooked.
4. Finely shred the kale or leafy greens, removing any hard stalks. Add to the soup and gently simmer for a few minutes with the lid on.
5. Taste and adjust the seasoning. You can add some chilli flakes for extra heat or extra curry powder!
6. I served mine with some Hebridean Seaweed Salt for extra unami flavour and loads of detoxing minerals!

                          .....your health in your hands....

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! I'm so glad the weather has improved, we were all going stir crazy! 
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We're now on a mad cleaning and tidying spree before the new year but as always, food still takes centre stage at our house!
 
There are so many parsnips and brussel sprouts in the shops just now for next to nothing! I bought two bags of parsnips yesterday for 5p each!
I can't resist a bargain, especially a foodie bargain and I detest food waste so I had to buy some!
I thought I'd share this lovely recipe for  parsnip soup, which is a great way to use them up!

We've been eating a lot of roast parsnips recently which we love but I have to admit I'm generally not a fan of parsnip soup. The classic parsnip and potato has a texture like wallpaper paste which I find most unappealing!

I came across this lovely recipe in The River Cottage Veg Everyday book by the lovely Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, which I adapted to make it vegan and I have to say it was rather delicious and not like wallpaper paste at all!

I am a big fan of adding lots of flavour to my dishes and am especially fond of ginger, garlic and turmeric, all great immune boosters at this time of year!
All of these superfoods are in this lovely soup, along with cayenne & cardamom, imparting a lovely warming, subtle flavour.

I topped it off with some toasted flaked almonds and a swirl of soya cream and I have to say it looked lovely and could happily grace a dinner table!

So if you have a few parsnips leftover from Christmas, please give this lovely soup a go, I'm sure you will enjoy it!

On a last note, I detest food waste and making soup is a fantastic way to use up leftover veggies, even ones which you think are past their best, they still have benefits for your health so please don't throw them away! 

So here is the recipe....

Ingredients
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4-5 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
500g parsnips, peeled and sliced
750 ml of vegetable stock
250 ml plant based milk, I used soya
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To garnish
2 or 3 tablespoons flaked almonds, lightly toasted
1 or 2 tablespoons of soya cream

Method

1.  Heat the rapeseed oil in a large soup pan, over a medium low heat and cook the onion for around 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, ginger, cardamom, cumin and cayenne and stir for a minute or so.
3. Add the parsnips and stir until coated in the spices.
4. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer until the parsnips are soft, around 15 minutes.
5. Puree the soup using a hand blender or transfer to a food processor and process until smooth.
6. Toast the almonds in a dry fying pan until just turning golden.
7. Serve the soup with a swirl of soya cream and toasted almonds.

​             .....your health in your hands....

It's been so cold recently but I'm loving the crisp, frosty days! I've had to bring Grace my wee chicken into the house since the temperature has been -7C the past two nights! I'd never forgive myself if she froze to death!! She has been happily eating porridge for breakfast with coconut oil, raisins, sweetcorn and sunflower seeds and washing it down with a good glug of kombucha, which she loves!   She is a discerning chicken for sure!

Anyway I thought I'd share another of my favourite soup recipes, which is just the job for lunch on a freezing cold day! This one is adapted from a macrobiotic recipe, acquired during my studies to become a macrobiotic health coach, which I am, but I find the macrobiotic way too bland and restrictive for my liking, so I adapt the recipes to suit my taste!

So mung beans are very small dark green beans, mostly eaten as beansprouts here but they are also delicious cooked! Like all beans, mungbeans are packed with fibre, protein and minerals with major benefits for our health. They lend themselves very well to soup and make a pleasing change to the more common lentils, which most of us are familiar with.

I do think its wise to introduce new foods, most of us have a limited repertoire of recipes and sometimes get stuck in a boring food rut, which is where Nourished by Nature comes in!
I never cook or eat boring or bland food, life is too short for that, I embrace all the wonderful natural flavours and enjoy vibrant good health as a result!

Soup is one of the easiest things to make, and the varieties are endless! It's just such a brilliant way of sneaking more veggies and wholegrains into the diet.

One of my favourite things is a big bowl of steaming hot soup, served with a slice of home made sourdough bread!

The simple things are sometimes the best...

Most supermarkets and natural food stores stock mungbeans and they keep for ages.

So this soup is thick, nourishing, tomatoey, flavoursome and stick to your ribs delicious!
Here is my recipe

MIGHTY MUNGBEAN & TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients
1 cup of mungbeans (approx 200g)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 glug of rapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, finely diced
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 leek, finely sliced
1 courgette, diced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 litre vegetable stock (Marigold or Kallo are good)
freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Rinse the mungbeans, then add to a pot with 2 cups of water, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for around 15 minutes. I add a piece of kombu seaweed to any beans or lentils which tenderises them and adds beneficial minerals.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onion, leek and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes with a pinch of sea salt.
3. Add the carrots, celery, courgette if using, tomatoes, stock, cumin, turmeric and black pepper.
4. Add the cooked mungbeans, along with any remaining cooking water and gently simmer for another 20 minutes.
5. Taste for seasoning and add more stock if it's too thick.
6. Enjoy!

                               ....your health in your hands......