Kale Soup & Irish Potato Bread

A quiet return after gasp almost three years away!

This winter Steve & I have had an abundance of kale. Four fields were planted in with it as winter feed for the cows. Though both us & the cows are on our last little section of field- we have eaten it every single day over the winter. Thankfully- we love it. Here's a photo of the cows enjoying it:

This last field is a variety called "hungry gap", so named because it really takes off during March when there is traditionally a gap between winter & spring crops. The new shoots are so tender and delicious! We even make like the cows and eat the stripped stems raw :)

The past few weeks this has been one of our staple meals. One of us will pick a big bunch of kale, then in the soup it goes. Talk about fresh! The more kale you put in, the more green your soup will be. We love it when it's really green- it just looks like spring that way.

The bread, is really what dreams are made of (it's the potato), it's so easy- especially if you start it the night before, and put it in the fridge overnight. It makes a little mess, but is more than worth it. It is spongey and light in the best possible way, with a nice crust on it. Perfect for soup dunking!

KALE SOUP

Ingredients

• Olive oil 1 onion


• 2 cloves of garlic (or 4 wild garlic leaves if available- love these!


• 2 ribs of celery (optional)


• 1 tbs coriander paste (or chopped fresh coriander)


• 1 vegetable stock cube1/2 tin of coconut cream


• 1 1/2 cups of red lentil


• water to cover


• 3 medium sized heads of kale (leaves & stems only)


• salt & pepper to taste

1. Chop your onion, garlic & celery and put them in a large pot on a medium-high heat.


2. Drizzle in olive oil to give a good coating, and stir in your coriander paste.


3. Once the onions and celery has softened a little pour a small amount of water in, just to cover what's in your pot. Put your stock cube in and let sizzle away until your celery is nice and soft.


4. Pour in your lentils and coconut cream. Pour in water so it's just above the lentils in your pot. Stir well and let simmer on medium heat. Keep an eye on it as you may need to add some water. You'll know when your lentils are done because they'll start to look all nice and puffy, but by all means have a taste to check. You want them nice and soft.


5. When the lentils are cooked, put in your kale, pressing the leaves down into the lentils. If your lentil mix looks a bit dry, pour in a little more water so the kale is just covered.


6. Let the kale cook for a couple of minutes- it doesn't need long at all. Then give the whole thing a nice whizz with a food processor stick.

IRISH POTATO BREAD

Lemon polenta cupcake with blueberries

The last three months have been pretty uninspired in the kitchen.

It seems that Stevie took up and left with his bags and my zest for most things.

I was quite happy to put it all on hold until we were together again, but four weeks turned into eight, and now it's been almost twelve...

While I have been eating well, (although admittedly it's not quite the same eating by yourself), I have taken strike action regarding baking...

It was one part protest and one part self preservation...

However yesterday, finally feeling defeated by this separation, but buoyed by the relief of surrendering to what is, I decided to bake.

I completely winged the recipe, but I think they turned out really well. Lemon, polenta and blueberries make very good friends :)

I've already eaten three, see what I mean about self preservation!?

One of those was eaten at about 5 this morning, as I watched the Italy vs Spain game - good, (if early breakfast), bad game :(

I'm freezing the rest for future snacking, (never tried this before).

Makes about 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 Tbs applesauce

1 1/2 Tbs oil (I used canola)

1/2 cup raw sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup rice milk

1 cup polenta

1/2 cup spelt flour (any flour would be fine)

1 tsp baking soda

Zest & juice of 2 lemons

1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used frozen)

Method

1.Mix applesauce and oil in a large mixing bowl until well combined.

2.Add sugar and mix, adding a little bit at a time.

3.Add vanilla essence and rice milk, mixing well.

4.Slowly add the polenta, flour and baking soda, combining well, before adding more.

5.Mix in the juice and zest, till a nice smooth batter is created.

6.Coat the blueberries with a handful of extra flour, and stir them into the batter.

7.Fill a cake tin or cupcake liners with the batter and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C/395F for about 18 minutes.

Plum Cherry Pie with Vanilla Ice-Cream

He said "It's almost as good as a lovers made orgasm"..

Yes, this tasted pretty mindblowingly good!!!

Stevie and I went to my Dads farm last weekend..

We picked (rescued) a huge bag full of cherry plums-

Ducking under the cover of the trees cool branches, weighed down by the ripe red baubles..

We are going again next week, to pick the other varieties of plums.. oh the possibilities!

I got an ice-cream maker for my birthday, and have been having a lot of fun playing with it..

Sometimes, things just come together at the final turn, when you never expected they would even turn out, and all you can do is ahhhh in wonder at the outcome..

Our pie mixture was too runny, so we added more arrowroot and crossed our fingers..

We wondered if an ice-cream made purely from soy milk, vanilla and arrowroot could be good..

Did walnuts (in the crust) even go with plum cherries?

Somehow it all worked, and it was incredible!

Pie crust recipe will follow shortly..

Homemade Pasta with Basil Pesto

Arrr nothing beats fresh homemade pasta..

Store bought fresh pasta is always made with eggs, so veganini's miss out.

It is slightly arduous to make, but the taste more than makes up for this.

The quantities always vary depending on the weather and the type of flour you're using, among other things..

A woman I know always has an extra mound of flour on her chopping board, which she calls God.. "Because you never know when you might need it, it's good to always have it close at hand"

I basically add some plain flour to a mixing bowl. Add a generous slosh of olive oil. Sprinkling of salt. Just enough water to form a dough. Then I mix it around a bit, to combine it all really well.

Then I pass the dough repeatedly through a pasta maker, to make it more and more thin, ultimately using the cutting piece, to crank out my strings of pasta..

Fresh pasta only takes a couple of minutes to cook.

-Made by Stevie & Sally

Making love in the kitchen -Broccoli & Tofu with Tomatoes

There has been change a foot in the world of veganini..

I didn't intend to turn my back, (again), on my dear little & oft neglected blog.

I just lost the words..

There has been a lot of love making in the kitchen.

Learning the subtle art of co-creation..

I've done the director-&-the-directed kind before.. and even the you-do-the-cooking-I'll-do-the-washing-up kind, but I've never experienced true co-creation.

For someone that got very good at cooking for one, and thus, was very used to pleasing herself, it hasn't always come easy..

And really what else is it but what you're used to, when it comes to finely diced, or coarsely chopped, and other such things?

It's not even about jocking for position of who-knows-best, it's about finding that soft centre, where two people come together and the differences and similarities merge together in the most beautiful and satisfying way..

That soft centre, is the nicest place to inhabit..

He sizzled the tofu, and I simmered the sauce

Lime & Coconut Birthday Cupcakes

As you can see, I was very excited to get "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World", as a birthday gift..As soon as I lay eyes on the recipe for these cakes, I wanted to make (eat) them..

So, party cupcakes they were..

There was some recipe tweaking of course.

More lime juice, some lime pulp, more coconut cream, and some other little things here and there..

They were D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S :D

Mulberry Just Cares For Me

Hmmn mulberries.. you forgotten fruit of childhood.

We would collect branches from the tree, and keep them in a shoe-box.. where we'd watch our little silk worms, grow, and transform..

Always eating, eating, eating.. and then spinning, spinning, spinning..

We would squish the berries between our teeth, purple trickling down our chins, as we walked home from school..

There is a tree on my walk home now. I watch it change through the year, waiting for the berries to come. They are there now. Almost black and full of juice, leaving their lovely impressions on the ground below.

So, mulberry pie..

Ingredients

2/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup plain flour

1/8 cup canola oil

1 Tbs cold water

1 Tbs maple syrup

1 1/2 cups mulberries (washed, destemmed)

2 Tbs jam (I used plum)

1/2 cup water

2 tsp arrowroot (or cornflour)

2 Tbs maple syrup

Method

1.Mix almond meal and flour together in a bowl, and add oil and water, combining with a fork as you go. You want a nice crumbley consitency to start with. As the dough begins to form, add the maple syrup, and mix to combine well, until mixture forms a dough.

2.Form dough into a ball and chill until berries are ready.

3.Put jam and water in a small sauce pan, on medium heat, and stir well as heated, to created a syrupy mixture.

4.Add maple syrup and arrowroot to the syrup (mix the arrowroot with a tiny bit of water first, so it doesn't clump together in your syrup).

5.Pour syrup over berries, and stir well to combine. Squish berries roughly with a fork.

6.Take chilled dough, and spread inside a small greased pie dish. Start in the centre and work your way out.

7.Pour berries into pie dish and bake in a pre-heated 200C oven for about 15 minutes

Easy and yummy!

If you can't get enough of mulberries- sigh, only for those in the southern hemmisphere this time of year.. follow this link:

http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=150273

I'm thinking of making it for a party in a couple of weeks.