I love a nice salad, so many possibilities and combinations, but one thing that is an absolute essential is a delicious dressing, which adds flavour, good fats, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols!
This also has the added benefit of probiotics and its absolutely delicious too!

If you brew your own kombucha then I'm sure you have let a batch ferment too long, resulting in rather sour and vinegary kombucha, which isn't very pleasant to drink!

Sour kombucha still contains probiotics and lends itself very well to salad dressings, in the same way that vinegar and lemon juice do!

So this amazingly fresh and vibrant dressing is packed full of polyphenols from the basil, vitamins from the lime, good fats from the oil and probiotics from the kombucha.

It works really well with any green salad so watercress, rocket, lettuce, cucumber, spinach, chard, sorrel, kale, endive, fresh herbs, or any other combination of greens is sublime with this vibrant punchy dressing. It just screams summer!!
Basil is one of my favourite summer herbs, and I also love lime so this is right up my street!!

So here is my recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (60mls) plain kombucha
• juice of 1/2 lime plus zest
• 1 tablespoon raw honey, maple syrup or agave
• 1 clove fermented garlic, garlic or 1/2tsp garlic powder
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 100mls of your best oil, avocado or extra virgin olive oil work well
• 1/2 cup (20g) fresh basil leaves

Method

In a blender, combine the kombucha, lime juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper and blitz until well blended.
With the machine still running, slowly add the oil through the hole in the lid and blend until emulsified.
Add the basil and blend for a few seconds, don't overblend or the basil will lose its vibrant green colour.
Taste and add more lime juice and/or salt if needed.
Will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days in a covered jar.
​Serve with any green salad.

So wild garlic season is here and I am having a great time preserving it in pestos, kimchi, oils, salts, vinegars and powders, as well as using it as I would use spinach, wilted into soups, sauces, stews and anything else I can think of!
Foraged greens are a great way of increasing diversity in our gut microbiome and are highly nutritious and of course free! 
Wild garlic grows in wooded areas, just follow your nose, you can smell it!! The leaves, stems and flowers are edible, as are the bulbs but you want to gather it sustainably and not dig it up, just harvest the leaves and later on the wee white star shaped flowers which taste divine, sweet with a hint of garlic! They are fabulous to garnish soups and salads.
​I use a block of Creamed Coconut for soups, its way cheaper than cans of coconut milk. A 200g pack costs around 80p and makes the equivalent of 2 cans of coconut milk. I buy KTC Brand from Asian supermarkets, Asda also sell it!
I made this delicious soup for lunch yesterday and it was so delicious I thought I would share it! It couldn't be simpler so here is my recipe!
If you don't have any wild garlic, then you can use spinach instead, although then it won't taste garlicky!
You could add a tsp of garlic powder or a couple of cloves of garlic instead.

INGREDIENTS
A large bunch of wild garlic, leaves only, washed and chopped
1 medium potato, washed and diced
1 leek or onion, sliced finely
750g bag of frozen peas
100g coconut cream or 1 can coconut milk
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

METHOD
1. Add the diced potato, leek/onion, coconut cream and stock to a medium sized pot.
2. Simmer for around 15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
3. Add frozen peas, bring back to the boil, then simmer for a few minutes.
4. Add the wild garlic or spinach leaves, stir in, then turn heat off and put the lid on the pot.
5.After 5 minutes, purree the soup using a hand blender
6. Add a tablespoon lemon or lime juice.
7. Serve and enjoy.

I adapted this recipe from Italian minestrone so it has the same base flavours of tomato, onion and garlic. I decided to replace the white pasta with much healthier brown rice which makes the soup   gluten free   and the addition of some beans adds   fibre, protein and minerals and really makes this a complete meal in a bowl! 

You can add whatever veggies you have to ring the changes but peppers, green beans, carrots, leeks, courgettes, frozen peas and finely shredded greens of some sort all work really well and add loads of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins, strengthening literally every body system.
It's still wild garlic season so I am making the most of it by adding it to as many  dishes as I can.
It's delicious, highly nutritious and it's free so get yourself out to your nearest woodland and let your nose guide you to  swathes of gorgeous  wild garlic!

Any beans work, flageolet, cannelini, haricot, butter beans are all great.
​
I am a big fan of nutritional yeast  flakes so add a   couple of tablespoons   to your soup or sprinkle some on as a garnish. They add great flavour, loads of minerals and vitamins and  make the soup lovely and creamy!

So without further ado, here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy it....!


VEGAN RICE AND BEAN SOUP  WITH WILD GARLIC

INGREDIENTS

• I large onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 1 medium or 2 small firm courgettes, finely diced
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, chopped
• a large bunch  of finely shredded wild garlic
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 small cup of brown rice
• 1 tin butterbeans or other white beans like cannellini or haricot
• 2 litres vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon red pesto (optional)
• 1 or 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or rapeseed oil
• Sea salt to season


• METHOD

1. Chop all the vegetables into fairly small pieces.
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot and sauté the onion and leek for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the chopped carrots, courgettes, pepper, celery and garlic and cook stirring for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the tinned tomatoes, rice, beans and stock, bring to the boil then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes    until the rice is cooked .
4. Finely shred the wild garlic and add to the pot , turn the heat off, put the lid on and let the wild garlic wilt.
5. Stir in the pesto if using and season with sea salt.
6. If the soup is too thick just add more stock. 
7. You can garnish with a good sprinkling of nutritional yeast flakes    or seaweed flakes for an extra nutritional and flavour boost.