Something to help you through the Winter.

If Breastfeeding: from my Personal experience – Be aware that some babies may not appreciate the onion and chilli in this soup – everyone/every baby is different, so I am not saying that your baby will be affected at all, but thought I would mention it. When my little girl was 3 weeks old, I ate too many onions one day (in a soup at lunch, and then later in some onion gravy) and she then refused to feed from me for at least 12 hours….some people say it’s rubbish that certain foods pass through to breast milk, but I know I could smell onion in my milk for at least 24 hours – eek! so she could certainly taste it 🙁

This soup is really tasty and certainly makes you feel better.

THE FAMOUS FLU FIGHTER – by the Medicinal Chef/Dale Pinnock

Serves 4

1 red onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5cm piece fresh root ginger, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced, skins left on
1 punnet shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 handfuls goji berries (optional)
vegetable stock, to cover
salt and black pepper

Put the onion, chilli, garlic and ginger in a large saucepan with the olive oil. Cook over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the onion softens.
Add the sweet potatoes and mushrooms to the pan along with the goji berries. Stir well, then add enough vegetable stock to cover all the ingredients. Simmer well for 10–15 minutes, until the potato is soft.
Season with salt and pepper. Carefully add the soup to a jug blender in batches, and blend into a smooth, vivid orange, spicy soup, or leave chunky if you prefer.

Eating Dates during the last weeks in Pregnancy has been linked to positive effects on labour such as : reduced need for induction and augmentation of labour – read a blog post about this  – here.

Here is a delicious recipe for you!

…slightly adapted from the ‘Honestly Healthy’ cookbook.

INGREDIENTS

10 pitted fresh dates

50g raw cocoa powder (or good quality cocoa powder such as Green & Blacks Organic if you can’t get raw)

25g raw almonds

200g desiccated coconut (the original recipe calls for coconut flakes, but i found these too chunky)

30g agave syrup approx – add more to taste

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp water

(1 tsp xylitol, which i left out…tastes fine without)

 

METHOD

Preheat oven to 175C (fan assisted)

Mix dates, almonds and cocoa in a processor for 1 minute until it becomes a moist crumbly paste.

Transfer to a large bowl and add other ingredients, mix well with a spoon, then get stuck in with you hands (warning: this gets messy and sticky!)

Squidge the mixture between your hands so that it’s well blended and starts to meld together.

Roll into balls the size of walnuts and put onto a non stick baking tray, with baking parchment if you wish.

Bake for 6-8 mins – keep an eye as you don’t want these to burn…the cooking just ‘sets’ them nicely.

Leave to cool and then ENJOY!

 

note: original recipe says 180C/350F Oven for 10 mins….but i found that this burns them…

 

 

This is a something my Mum used to make – although this recipe below has been ‘made up’ by me, with whatever I had in the cupboard and the fridge – very tasty all the same.

You can stuff a Marrow with anything really – so long as you add a nice strong cheese of some sort and other things that provide some flavour, as Marrow is very bland on it’s own.

Heat Oven to 180 degrees C fan forced

You will need a large baking tray and some foil

 

Ingredients:

1 x Marrow

Can of Green Lentils (or other pulse/bean of your choice)

1 large or 2 x small Jar/s of Lloyd Grossman Tomato & Basil Sauce (you could use a basic tomato passata or tinned tomatoes, but i think you would need to add herbs, garlic, and some cooked onion to it, so it tastes good)

1 pack of Feta cheese

2 x small sweet potatoes

Handful of grated Parmesan cheese (or strong cheddar)

 

Method:

Chop the sweet potatoes so that they are small (mine were cut length ways into fingers and then chopped so that they were like little triangles), steam or boil until almost cooked through.

Cut marrow in half lengthways and scrape out the soft part in the centre with a spoon

Tip your sauce into the centre of each marrow half saving a bit for around the edges of the tray

Rinse your lentils or other pulse/beans under water and drain…sprinkle your lentils into the centre of your marrow

Arrange your cooked sweet potatoes in amongst the lentils and sauce

Chop the Feta into cubes and dot this about the contents of the marrow too

Any left-over lentils, sauce, sweet potatoes can be arranged around the marrow

Sprinkle over your Parmesan or Cheddar.

 

Cook in the Oven uncovered for approx 30 mins until the cheese is nice and brown and the feta is a bit scorched (keep an eye on it, and if it’s browning too quickly then pop the foil on!), then take the tray out and if the marrow still seems firm (test it with a knife) then cover the whole dish with foil and pop back in the oven for another 20 mins or until the marrow is tender.

Serve on it’s own or with Quinoa or Rice

Eat and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

I have been serving these after my Pregnancy Yoga classes and my Yoga Mamas-to-be love them, so they have been asking for the recipe.

This recipe is almost TOO EASY…so easy in fact that you will be cursing me for posting it on my blog!

The only thing that is hard about these, is knowing when to take them out of the oven…leave them too long and you will be sorry! they will be too hard and brown. So, when they have a hint of colour around the edges, take them out. Don’t try to scrape them off too quickly as they will just squidge into a mess…wait until they have cooled a little, then remove with a flat spatula.

Recipe courtesy of the ‘domestic goddess’ NIGELLA

Photo: taken by me

Makes about 28…you can halve the recipe if that’s too many…

Ingredients:

200g ground almonds

200g caster sugar

2 egg whites (large eggs)

Rosewater to splash on your hands as you roll these into balls (it prevents sticking and smells great!)

approx 25 grams (28 in number) of blanched almonds to go on top of your macaroons.

Nigella adds 1/4 teaspoon of finely ground cardamon to the almonds, but i have never done this…

Method:

Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Oven should be at 200 degrees C.

Mix, (either by hand or with a mixer), the ground almonds, sugar and egg whites until y0u have a thick paste. I use a fork and mix it well. At first you might think it’s not going to turn into a paste, but it will.

Sprinkle some rose water onto your hands (…as Nigella says: thus scented and dampened!) and roll out walnut sized balls and place them on your baking sheet, about 3 cm apart. Squish them down so that they are no longer balls but fat patties (i do this with a fork, but it’s a bit sticky).

Stud the centre of each one with a blanched almond.

Bake for approx 10-12 mins – keeping an eye on them.

They will still be pretty pale when cooked – with golden edges.

ENJOY!

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