Saturday - which feels like Sunday for some reason, but everyone assures me is in fact Saturday.
Was very hungry this morning so I had not one but two bowls of cornflakes with rice milk.
Just got back from Sainsbury's having stocked up on fruit and veg and other bits and pieces and am going to make some of that soup I mentioned yesterday.
I've never had cold soup before - have you? It's never been something that has appealed to me. However, I came across a Gazpacho recipe in an ebook I downloaded this week called Raw Food Recipes and thought I would give it a go. It worked really well and is surprisingly filling. I couldn't eat the whole bowl full so have saved half for tomorrow or maybe later if I feel peckish.
Here's the recipe.
Gazpacho Soup
5 tomatoes
Half a red pepper
3 soaked sundried tomatoes
Fresh juice of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
Zest of garlic (optional - I didn't!!)
Blend all the ingredients together in a high speed blender. Add water until it gets to a consistency you like - I just added about quarter of a cup.
The recipe didn't say to strain the mixture - but as my blender left it with lots of little lumps I put it through a seive to make it completely smooth - I don't like lumpy soup!!!
It also said to garnish with some small slices of avocado - I did this but it sank to the bottom - maybe I should have left the soup lumpy for photographic purposes and then seived it afterwards ;-).
It was surprisingly tasty and quite filling.
I'm also trying a mushroom soup recipe from the same book - that can be served warm but not hot as apparently you lose most of the goodness if you cook it above 46 degrees. It's a little more complicated to make and in fact my mushrooms are marinading as we speak. I'll probably freeze that for later on in the week and stick the recipe up when I have road tested it.
My plan for tea is to have some noodles with mushrooms and red peppers, onions and hemp seeds - and as I missed out on Chocolate Friday yesterday, I bought a tiny bar of Green & Black's milk chocolate. That should go down nicely with the rest of the wine I opened 2 days ago!! I will save that for this evening though.
Edit: I didn't have noodles for tea I made some Spinach & RIcotta tarts which turned out a lot better than than I thought they would. Recipe tomorrow. Pudding was a fruit salad of banana, apple, pear and kiwi fruit.
Tomorrow I get on the scales and see if I have managed to shift any poundage. Eeek!!
Edit: I didn't have noodles for tea I made some Spinach & RIcotta tarts which turned out a lot better than than I thought they would. Recipe tomorrow. Pudding was a fruit salad of banana, apple, pear and kiwi fruit.
Tomorrow I get on the scales and see if I have managed to shift any poundage. Eeek!!
I'll try that recipe, though I admit I prefer warm soups. I'm a vichyssoise fan myself.
ReplyDeleteIt's a thick soup made of puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. Got to admit, that sounds carb high, but that's down to how much you put in it.
I'm a bit worried about how much protein you're getting, tho' the mushy's'll help.
Catchaya, Dray x
I'm a veggie so would have to substitute the chicken stock for veggie stock but might give this a go in the future.
ReplyDeleteProtein - yes - it always comes up. Worry not though because quite a lot of what I have eaten or drank this past week has protein in.
Shelled hemp seeds are a good source (better than meat) so I'm trying to include a good scattering of those in most things. Also green vegetables and fresh fruit are sources of protein, as is rice milk - and I have about a quarter of a pint of that a day.
I think the recommended daily amount of protein is something like 10% of your calorific intake - I think I hit that most days.
In addition I bought a large bag of spinach earlier in the week which I hadn't found a use for but have discovered a lovely recipe for spinach and ricotta tartletts which I am about to make (well, when the husband gets back from the shop with the Parmesan Cheese I forgot to buy earlier!!!).
Remembered you were vegetarian after I posted, sorry. I'm not, but I have a fairly sedentary lifestyle due to disability, and not a big eater to boot. I'm 13.5 stone at 6 foot, and I want to get down to, ummm, maybe 12. Averaged over a week, my protein, mostly from meat works out at about 10%. So that's cool. Srta.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I love your recipes. Do you have problems with availability of ingredients? I live in a mainly 'working class' area where supermarkets tend to supply what the local population needs. Seeds and nuts are available sometimes, but way expensive for tiny amounts.
The gazpacho looked amazing.we have a great middle eastern cold soup if you like cucumbers similar to Greek Tzatzki but the thickness of soup not really a dip with fresh dill and yogurt as a base.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lily - I do like cucumbers so will be after that recipe from you at some point no doubt!!
ReplyDeleteDray - most of my ingredients I can get from the local supermarket - but I did have to get the hemp seeds off the internet (Amazon sell them at a variety of prices). They're not cheap, but I just put a couple of teaspoonfuls into each meal that I want them in, so I make a little go a long way. The mushroom soup I have just made called for Tamari (a kind of soy sauce) and Almond Butter - both of which I got from Holland and Barrett in Sheffield - again not cheap, but they have a buy one get one half price offer on at the moment (on everything in the store) and again, I don't use a lot of either so they are good for a few meals.
Health foods shops generally tend to be expensive but if you have any asian/oriental communities near where you live, check out their stores for nuts/seeds/coconut milk. Soy and rice milk you can buy from Sainsbury's/Tescos and I should think Morrisons, but probably not the small supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl, although I've not checked.
Markets are good for fruit and veg, although my sister in Newcastle tells me that Morrisons are even cheaper.