Pumpkin and Carrot Soup

For those of you who don't quite have my sweet tooth, and who are craving something savory! This is another of my favourite soups, and it's so super easy. What's more, I invented it to use up soem of the ridiculously large amounts of carrot pulp I have from my juicer. Because it's a soup, and you really can't go wrong with soups (well, you can, especially if you add in too much salt, that's really gross, trust me) I'm not going to be too specific. Ingredients: - Approximately equal amounts of carrot pulp (left over from juicing) and pumpkin (I use Kent) - Chives Chop the pumpkin into small pieces, then boil or steam it until mostly cooked. When mostly cooked, add the carrot pulp, and continue cooking. When carrot and pumpkin are fully cooked, blend in your blender. Add the chives, and if you want to, salt to taste. This is one of the soups I freeze and take to work on a regular basis.

Beetroot Soup

I'm not a huge fan of soup recipes normally. i like to make soup from all of the veggie that are left over at the end of the week. But a few are just so remarkablly delicious that you seek out all that you need for that dish.

For me, this is one of these soups!

Because it's a soup, vary amounts depending on what you have and to taste.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup pre-soaked split green peas
- Brocolini (1 bunch)
- Celery (3 stalks)
- Cauliflower (1/2 head)
- 3 beetroots, peeled
- Veggie or chicken stock (approx 1 litre)

Cook all of the ingredients together until vegetables are tender (this will vary greatly, depending on how small you chopped your vegetables).

Blend the soup, adding more water, stock, or salt to taste.

This soup goes brilliantly with the coriander pesto I posted earlier.

Easy Kale Chips

I don't know about you, but I like my food to be super fast and even easier. Or at least I like to have that option.

This food is exactly that! plus delcious, plus it helps you get some more leafy greens in your diet. What's not to love?

Grab a handful or two of baby kale. you can use full grown kale, but then you need to chop it, and who has time for that? Okay, I do, but still, baby kale is the way to go!

Put into a salad bowl, add some olive oil or coconut oil, salt, and whatever other flavourings you want (nutritional yeast! oh my goodness, so good! but you can add other herbs and spices as you would like)

Toss the ingredients so the kale is well covered. Spread on a tray lined with baking paper, and bake for 8 minutes at 180°.

Eat, and try not to eat the whole batch all at once! But if you do, just remember, it's healthy!

Sam's Food Situation (and a recipe)

In case you didn't notice, I spent all weekend in sunny Perth with my wonderful guy, Paul.

The thing is, I spent all my money. Well, I have $70 left, but I'm prioritising dancing and at a pinch being able to get to work over such luxuries as food.

So I'm cooking from my pantry at the moment. Which doesn't sound too bad until you realise that I don't have any gf bread, pasta, or vegetables in the fridge.

Yes, that does make meals slightly more difficult for a gluten free, dairy free vegetarian.

Last night I made up white rice with stir fry frozen vegetables and satay sauce. and finished off the white rice, and satay sauce.

The bread also poses a problem. I have 2-3 slices a day at work with soup, and toast as a regular snack (with nut butter and honey or jam).

So I decided to experiment and make some rolls, and they're actually quite nice!

So here's my recipe for quinoa cheezy bread rolls:

- 1 cup plain gf flour
- 1 cup quinoa flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- Nutritional yeast, about 1/3 cup, but more or less depending on preference (nutritional yeast tastes like cheese)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Water and rice milk, to blend

Mix together the dry ingredients, thrn blend together wirh the rice milk and water til you have a doughy consistency.

Break off into roll.shapes (I couldn't be bothered, and just made rough spoonfuls of the mixture) and bake at 200 degrees celcius for 30 minutes.

They're actually quite good - though maybe not with almond butter and jam!

Easy Corriander Pesto

This is an incredibly easy way of adding a bit of pizazz to your food (or to other people's food).

Ingredients:

- 1 bunch corriander

- approx 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
- 2 cloves of garlic
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- a little flaxseed oil to blend

Place all the ingrients in a blender, and blend until roughly chopped and combined. depending on the quality of your blender, this can take between a few seconds to a few minutes.

Spoon over savoury dishes, such as pasta, or vegetable soup!