Tag: lunch

Swede and Courgette Soup

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swede courgette soupYou’ll find with most of my soups they literally consist of whatever vegetables I have lying around – I don’t plan them. It was freezing on Sunday and we really fancied soup so I looked in my fridge and I had two courgettes, and I looked in the pantry and there was a swede. So here you have it, a nutritious, delicious, warming soup for winter 🙂

Ingredients

1 large swede, peeled and chopped
2 courgettes, sliced
1 onion
1 cup water
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Half tsp coconut oil

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion and cook until transparent, just over a minute. Then add the courgettes and swede and coat in the oil.

Add water and almond milk, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the cumin, salt and pepper, give it a good stir and put on the lid.

Leave for an hour until vegetables are really soft. Once ready, use a handheld blender to blend in saucepan (if you don’t have one, transfer to a food processor). Blend until smooth then taste. Add more salt, pepper or cumin if needed.

Serve immediately or keep it in a container in the fridge (once cooled) for up to four days and heat just as much as you need each time. You can top it with chopped chives and some sumac like I did if you like.

Love,
Lauren

 

Easy Peasy Quinoa Salad

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Basic Quinoa saladI do love a quinoa salad, I really, really do. What more could you want from an ingredient? It’s pure protein, easy to make and tastes good with pretty much anything! I will be posting different variations as time goes on but right now I wanted to post my really easy, go-to, basic quinoa salad recipe.

Ingredients

200g quinoa (this will make enough for 3 or 4 servings)
1 tsp Bouillon
1 carrot, shaved into ribbons
6 or 7 cherry or picolo tomatoes, chopped
Half a cucumber, chopped into small pieces
1 Avocado, cut into small pieces
Handful of chives, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Start by cooking the quinoa. Put it in a saucepan and cover with water, then add the bouillon and stir well. Once it has started boiling, turn heat down and put on the lid. Keep stirring every few minutes – it WILL stick to the bottom and you don’t want this.

While it’s cooking chop all your veggies.

Once it’s ready, spoon it all into a medium sized bowl and add all the veggies. Then add the lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and serve!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

 

Anti-Inflammatory Parsnip & Turmeric Soup

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parsnip turmeric

As you may well know about me already, the disease I had was rheumatoid arthritis. The pain was unbearable but the swelling, the fluid, inside the joints was the worst thing – it was so uncomfortable. I used to explain that it felt like jelly in between the joints as they moved – eugh! I never want that feeling back so I make sure I eat a lot of anti-inflammatory foods, turmeric being one of the top ingredients. My husband loves soups and they are so easy to make and such a great thing to have in the fridge during the winter. I usually try and make one a week and then I know I have lunch for a good few days. This week I had some parsnips left that were going to go bad if I didn’t use them soon so I decided to make a gorgeous winter-warmer anti-inflammatory soup.

Ingredients

5 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
Half tsp coconut oil
3 tbsp turmeric
1 cup boiling water
1 cup almond or coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Start by heating the coconut oil in a large saucepan. Once it’s hot, add the onion and leave for around a minute, stirring occasionally, until it becomes transparent. Then add the potatoes and parsnips and coat them with the oil.

Once coated, add the water and coconut or almond milk. Give it a good stir, then add the turmeric and salt and pepper to taste. If you don’t like it too thick, you can add more water or almond milk and you can adjust the amount of turmeric you use depending on your preference.

Turn down heat, put on the lid and leave to simmer for around an hour. Once all the vegetables are super soft, take off the heat and either transfer to a blender or use a handheld blender – my preference – and blend until smooth. Taste it now and see if you need to add salt or pepper. Serve straight away or keep it in the fridge (once cool) and reheat just as much as you need each time.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren