Vegie Smugglers

Five things we don’t want this mother’s day

May 7, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged celebrations, parenting

No. We don’t want this.

Dear husbands/ partners,
With Mother’s Day approaching and an entire letterbox jammed with catalogues covered in slogans like ‘Make Mum Smile’, I thought I’d jot down some warnings about what it is we DON’T want this mother’s day. Because heaven forbid you glance through the Big W catalogue and be swayed by what you find in there.

1. EARLY MORNING CELEBRATIONS
We’re happy it’s Mother’s Day. Stoked. Can’t get enough of being reminded that we’re mothers, because, actually, SO MANY days go by where we forget.

No, I’m being jaded. We do like Mother’s Day and the special status that the day brings, but we don’t need our specialness to start too early. IN FACT, we’d be really, really, really happy if you’d pop off to the park with the kids for a bit and maybe we can start the ‘yay, me’ thing around 9am. And perhaps you can pick up a few pastries on the way home.

2. POO
Since it is our special day. We will not deal with poo in any form, in any location for the entire day. Not in nappies, on walls or smeared inside trousers. Not from children, dogs or cats. It’s your entire domain today. Actually you can deal with any wee and vomit, too.

3. KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN
An ex-KFC employee assures me that Mother’s Day is that restaurant’s busiest day of the year. Because it’s a well known fact that mums don’t cook on mother’s day, so apparently you’re going to get us a takeaway from there. Call me crazy, but I reckon, husband/partner, rather than gifting me a greasy bucket of lard, you’d be a hell of a lot sexier when you’re arm deep in home-made pancake batter or a roast. Don’t worry, we’ll have the patience to admire and appreciate your efforts, since we won’t be busy stressing about how many dishes you’re dirtying (that’s your job today, too).

4. MUSIC
We like music but please don’t get inspiration from the catalogues on the kitchen table. Because we don’t like Andre Rieu. That’s for your mother, not us. I’ll pop Michael Buble, Anthony Callea and Rod Steward into that category too, although others may disagree. At the end of the day though, what we really want is the chance to listen to something other than ‘Hi-5’, without interruption. Maybe in the bath, with a glass of bubbles, while you’re back at the park taking the kids for their afternoon run.

5. STORE-BOUGHT CARDS
And luckily for us, we probably won’t get them. We’ll get some half-torn, scrunched up bit of cardboard with glitter that falls straight onto the carpet and throughout our beds. Inside will be a drawing of us with a moustache or over-emphasised wrinkles. And we’ll love it, because in a few short years, the cards WILL be store bought, probably from the service station, which means that the kids forgot/don’t give a toss.

And if all this seems too much? Remember to look forward to that little father’s day thing in September, when you’re welcome to present your own list of requests.

And just in case you need help with what to cook us today, try one of these…

Pancake batter looks good on you, sexy husband.

Just five ingredients between you and a biscuit. I'll go pop the kettle on...

A biscuit and a cup of tea will SCREAM ‘special’.

Roast chicken is always a winner.

And a pot of this will save us from the kitchen for another couple of days.

But don’t forget, most mums will be happiest, with something from the Vegie Smuggler’s shop. Of course, hardcopy books might not arrive in time, but the e-books can be bought and downloaded instantly.

Comments (45) »

The current slow cooker favourite

May 1, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged chicken, parenting girls, recipe, slow cooker, vegetables

Did you see ‘The Croods’? Delightful flick, following a cavemen clan as they explored the world and discovered new horizons. Great animation, likeable characters, interesting themes and pacey enough to keep me as interested as the kids.

Best yet, the female lead character had chunky arms, frizzy hair and unkempt eyebrows. Considering how I long for more diverse female ‘types’ in the media, it was a bit confronting to realise that I was watching, distracted by how ‘not pretty’ she was. Don’t get me wrong – I loved it, but I’m so programmed for all the animated women to be so effortlessly large-eyed, curvaceous and feminine that I kept waiting for her ‘big reveal’. Surely, I thought, the movie will end with her inadvertently falling into some magic dew that transforms her into a more conventional (ie, gorgeous) heroine.

But it never happened. She stayed grubby, squat and determined. And I was glad for my daughter to see that strength is more important than pretty and that ‘sexy’ doesn’t have to be part of a kid’s movie at all.

Snuggling into winter, today’s recipe does have a ‘big reveal’. You chuck all the ingredients into the slow cooker, go pick up the kids, take them to sport, piano, dancing etc etc then come home three hours later and find the most astonishingly welcome transformation has occurred.

Ta da!

Slow cooker chicken satay

This is based on a recipe from Sally Wise’s ‘Slow Cooker’ cookbook, but I’ve altered it quite a bit.

2 carrots, peeled, cut into thick batons
1 small red capsicum, cut into thick slices
3-4 button mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 sticks celery, thickly sliced
1 small onion, finely diced
700g chicken thigh fillets, fat removed, cut into slices
Handful of snow peas
Coriander
Lime wedges

270ml coconut milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp peanut butter (smooth if you have it)
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp corn flour (optional)

Spray the bowl of your slow cooker with oil (not essential, but helpful when cleaning afterwards). Place the vegies in layers in your slow cooker. Pop the chicken on top.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients, pour over, cover and leave on ‘high’ for 3 hours.

If you’d like to thicken the sauce, place the corn flour into a mug or small bowl. Spoon a couple of scoops of the cooking liquid onto the flour and mix to a runny (lumpfree) paste. Stir back into the pot. Pop the snow peas on top, re-cover and leave for 10 minutes or so until the peas are a bright green.

Serve over rice, topped with coriander and lime wedges.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 4 KIDS.

Comments (53) »

Freezer pleasers for a happy Term 2

April 28, 2013 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged feeding the family, freezer, lunchbox, recipe, vegetables

Rhyming is big at VSHQ at the moment. Splat the flat rat yo brat attack. Good times, great rhymes etc etc. You get the idea, it feels as though I’ve emerged from the top of the Faraway Tree into rhyming couplet-land. There is no “let’s watch The Voice”, straightforward-style chat, more “It’s a great choice, to watch the Voice” type banter.

I suspect it comes with the extra time that school holidays bring. You know, there’s time to ponder such frivolous things and plan your next sentence. AS IF we have time to built poetry into our day during term time.

To help you navigate the upcoming chaos with ease and if you have a day spare (ie, in NSW, one of the two student-free days), why don’t you whip up some batches of these recipes. Pop them in your freezer, defrost whenever you need an easy dinner or a lunchbox treat and you’ll be so organised throughout Term 2 that you’ll have time, for rhymes so fine that kids divine will eat, not whine.

Word.

My kids love these so much, they don't care about what's inside.

Freeze individually and an instant healthy dinner is ready to go.

End the war with a stockpile of mash in the freezer.

Same goes here – frozen portions instantly add vegies to a basic dinner.

A sausage roll that Sam Kekovich would approve of.

Freeze these raw, then defrost and cook as normal.

These honey jumbles are from the new VS e-book.

And so’s this muffin recipe, freeze, then add them into lunchboxes.

All the best for Term 2.

Comments (6) »

Mouse in the house

April 23, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Red meat · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, lamb, parenting, recipe

Crumbs for cutlets, not mice.

I found myself standing on a chair recently, squealing like a girl as a mouse that the cat had brought in scurried about. Luckily for me, my 8-year old daughter was home and could save me.

Fearless with creatures, she was onto it with such courage that even a nip to her finger from the pesky critter didn’t deter her from dispatching it outside. She’s also handy at rescuing penny lizards, cuddling guinea pigs and smothering her walls with posters of cute puppies and kittens.

She is so different to me that she’s sometimes a stranger. I gaze at her and am in awe of this growing and evolving person who is such a force of personality.

Perhaps it’s partly because they don’t look much like me, but I’ve never considered my kids to me ‘mini-me’s’. And there’s no chance that I’ll ever be one of those parents who pushes their own ambitions onto their kids – my ambitions wouldn’t suit them at all. I’ll just be happy if I can get to know them for who they are and get to share in the lives that they create for themselves.

The one thing however, that everyone in the family has in common is crumbed cutlets, which were a childhood favourite of mine and are just as popular with my kids now. It seems fitting to make them in this ANZAC week. It’s an important day and the weight of it is never lost of me. It seems like a good day to gather close those you love and feed them food that tastes like home.

Wishing you a happy week.

Yum, and easier cooked in the oven.

Oven-baked crumbed cutlets

This recipe coats about 7 cutlets, depending on size.

Oil spray (canola or olive)
2 slices stale bread (grain or wholemeal is good)
1 tbsp LSA mix (optional)
20g parmesan cheese (the block stuff, not the powder)
2 tbsp fresh herbs (I like a parsley/chives mix)
1 egg, lightly whisked
Just under 1/4 cup plain flour

Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a tray with foil and spray generously with the oil.

In a mini food processor, blitz together the bread, LSA, cheese and herbs until you’ve got nice breadcrumbs. Place in a large bowl.

Pop your egg in a separate bowl and the flour in another. Season the flour generously.

Dust your cutlet in the flour, shake off excess, then dip in the egg until coated. Drain off the excess of that before placing it into the bowl of crumbs. Press over crumbs until totally coated then place onto your tray. Repeat with the rest. Spray them with oil spray then bake for 20 minutes. Remove, turn over carefully with tongs. Spray with more oil if they look dry and bake for another 10-15 minutes until cooked to your liking.

Cooks tip: don’t make this on the day you’ve mopped the kitchen floor – the crumbs do go everywhere, especially if the kids are helping.

Ready and waiting for you, in the VS shop.

PS. Did you see that my shop has had a rejig?

I’ve launched my new “10 quickbakes plus 10 sandwich spreads” e-book, which you can pick up for a mere $6.95. If you’ve never bought any of the e-books, check out my new bundles – there’s a complete pack with the deluxe multi-format meal planner or iPad users may prefer the special pack just for them – download the titles all straight to your device and read them in iBooks. Too easy! Visit the shop.

A giveaway from Lunchboxes with Love!

April 18, 2013 · Filed under News · Tagged competition, ideas, lunchbox, parenting

This month’s competition is courtesy of the fabulous and inspiring Cath at Lunchboxes with Love. She was an early Vegie Smugglers supporter, supplying me with props for my Lunchbox Planner e-book. We’ve been in touch ever since and I love watching her business grow. Go Cath!

Here’s what you can win…

All this could be yours!

• Sleek design, black Zippered Sleeve. Insulated, water-resistant and food safe (no lead, BPA, PVC etc). Rrp $30.
• Bento-style Primary Lunchbox Set. Versatile, compact, and easy to clean (microwave & dishwasher safe). Pack and stack the containers in the fridge the night before. Store neatly in the cupboard when not in use. RRP $30.
• 10 Various Styled Leaf Picks. Gorgeous little picks to create a garden in your lunch. RRP $16.
• Luv It! cutter that quickly cuts food into small bites, complete with a matching popper that instantly pops out fun shaped pieces – hands are clean, food is untouched. RRP $16.

See full details of all the products here.

With so much AWESOME, your kids will be eating up every little scrap of their lunches. Especially once you start whipping up recipes from my new ebook, “10 quickbakes plus 10 sandwich spreads”, which will be available in a day or two.

To be eligible to win all of these items from Lunchboxes with Love, you must be an Australian-based Vegie Smugglers subscriber, then, simply comment below on the items that are most popular in your kids’ lunchboxes. Inspire us all!

Entries close Monday April 22 at 5pm AET.

24/4/2013 – THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR ENTRIES – AND CONGRATULATIONS TO DEB JAY FOR TAKING OUT THE SET – HOPE YOU ENJOY IT DEB!

And of course, visit Cath at www.lunchboxeswithlove.com or at her totally popular Facebook page.

Comments (152) »

Movin’ right along (ba da bum ba da bum)

April 16, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged Fast food, feeding the family, freezer, parenting, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

How does your family go on road trips? The VS family loves a trip to the country and after years of travelling a couple of hours to visit grandparents, the kids are pretty awesome in the car. No screens, they each pack a bag of things to do, and good tunes are essential to make the trip more interesting (and distract them from whatever argument they’re having).

As a child, my family never left home with out the Muppet Movie soundtrack. But we’re not such nice parents and actually, after a couple of years, kids songs were making me a bit stabby. We went on a music offensive, determined to get them onto stuff we liked too. If you’re still stuck on non-stop rotation of Wiggles, here’s a list of songs that saved my sanity and got the kids onto more palatable music.

These days, the kids’ tastes are awesome and we can chuck on anything. Which leads to the new interesting dilemma of swearing in songs. We usually just let them slide by and mostly they don’t even notice. In fact, after several intense weeks of Icona Pop, Miss F only realised there was naughty words in it when she was in a friend’s car and they heard the bleeped radio edit. And of course, my kids mostly sing along to most songs with their own mondegreens, which makes the whole swearing thing much easier. Like this Yacht track, which we belt out with “When the ship hits the sand” (awesome video but maybe watch first and decide if it’s ok for your kids). Also on our playlist, this Unknown Mortal Orchestra song is apparently all about Ninjagos and Miss F is positive that Florence Welsh is singing, “long live salami” in What the water gave me.

Which segues us nicely into pizza territory. Finally I’ve done up a Vegie Smuggling pizza sauce, which I dollop generously onto small pita breads (conveniently bowl shaped to hold more sauce), and top with salami or ham and cheese for the kids and more elaborate with roasted eggplant, olives and rocket for the adults.

Six-vegie pizza sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 tsp brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, grated
1 large potato, peeled, grated
4 button mushrooms, grated
1 tsp Italian herbs
2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp tomato paste
400g can crushed tomatoes

The onions cook slowly for a while – get them going, then do the rest of your prep while they’re cooking.

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the onion, and cook slowly for 10-15 minutes. Keep the pan covered, and just stir every couple of minutes. When the onions are translucent, remove the lid, sprinkle over the sugar and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are golden brown.

Add in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so before tossing in all of the vegies. Again, you want to sweat them down, so give the mix a good stir, cover and give them about 10 minutes cooking time (lift the lid and stir every few minutes).

Remove the lid, add in the herbs, vinegar and tomato paste. Pour over the can of tomatoes and mix really well before recovering and simmering on the low heat for 10 minutes more.

Blitz the sauce up and use on pizza or mix through pasta.

Makes about 4 cups & freezes really well.

Make mini pizza & customise toppings to suit.

Make mini pizzas & customise toppings to suit each person.

Like this recipe? It’s from my latest cookbook, ‘Kitchen Collection’. You can check out a copy here.

Comments (16) »

This week’s meal plan – a walk on the wild side

April 8, 2013 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged meal plan, recipe, vegetables

How many different meals do you cook at your place? I love this stat that in British homes, the average number of meals is just six – and they’re eaten every week. Probably even on the same night!

I suspect it’s a case of tired parents serving up what they know will be eaten. Which is totally understandable, but it does make introducing new foods incredibly tricky. To avoid the ‘but I don’t eat that’ argument from the kids, try to keep your weekly meal list varied and attempt something new at least once a week. Your chances of success will be highest by keeping the new dinners in the realm of some current favourites. If they like spag bol, try out a lasagna. If they like lasagna, try some cannelloni. If they like pizza, try quesadillas etc etc. Familiar enough, but slowly moving them into different areas.

With that in mind, this week’s meal plan is full of dishes that you might not normally consider, but I highly recommend, both in terms of flavour and interest.

Monday
Meat-free Monday, try out some vegetarian bolognaise.

This is a simple one-pot pasta sauce that not only hides veg but IS all veg.

Tuesday
Bring paprika into their pallettes, with some beef goulash.

Finish up winter with this delicious dish.

Cook this in either a slow cooker or in the oven.

Wednesday
Sneak in a serve of fish with these salmon filo cigars.

Crunch, yum. Crunch, YUM.

Thursday
Take the curry challenge with this creamy & mild chicken curry.

Parents can add chilli & coriander.

Friday
Relax. Drink wine. Make toasties or scrambled eggs, then give them fruit icecream.

Nothing bad, the all-fruit ice-cream

Saturday
Going well team! Today’s challenge – pork & tofu!

This kid-friendly ma po dofu smuggles tofu, carrots and capsicum

Sunday
Ok, you’re done. Keep everyone happy with burgers (well, lentil burgers, actually).

Freeze these patties individually, wrapped in cling wrap.

Would your family eat any of these? And how many meals are on your current roster of dinners? I’d be curious to know.

And don’t forget, you can buy the Vegie Smugglers Meal Plans e-book for your ipad or kindle, here.

Comments (15) »

I’d like to thank the world

April 6, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Red meat, What the kids eat in... · Tagged freezer, lamb, recipe, vegetables, world food

I’d like to thank the academy for giving me this EVERYDAY LIFE award. Of course, I’m the one standing here receiving the award, but really it wouldn’t be possible without the contributions of a wonderful team of behind-the-scenes people.

I’d like to begin by saying thank you Japanese people for giving me sushi. And thanks to Italian people for pizza. I love you Korean people for bibimbap and the entire Indian subcontinent – I’d like to thank you all for every curry ever invented. Then there are the Thai folks – a heartfelt thanks to you for showing me the joys of tom yum goong and the Danish peeps, thank you for gravalax. Thanks to the Caribbean natives for jerking that chicken, and to the Mexicans, a huge thanks for all the things you do with beans and avocado. And a huge thanks to you all for making the effort to travel and meet me in Australia, making this such a fabulous, delicious place.

Apologies if I’ve forgetten anyone, but lastly, I’d like to thank our Middle Eastern friends, whose spice combination is the star of my favourite lamb kebabs.

A hint of the Middle East, to make your top-Aussie dinner, delicious.

Lamb mince kebabs

This is a great recipe to make now, before the good eggplants disappear and as promised, it’s another recipe that uses Allspice.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, finely diced
500g lamb mince
2 cloves garlic
1 eggplant, finely diced (peeled first if your kids will object to the skin)
1 red capsicum, finely diced
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp mild chilli powder (I use a mild Mexican one)

Extras
Flat bread or tortillas
cucumber
tomato
parsley

Heat a large frying pan over medium/high heat. Heat the oil then add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes until browning. Toss in the mince, stirring constantly, breaking up lumps as you go. Continue until it is all well browned.

Don’t worry about excess fat, because you’re now going to chuck all of the eggplant into it (YUM). Mix it through really well, then also toss in the capsicum.

Finally, scatter over your spices. Keep mixing until it all gets deliciously fragrant. Lower the heat and let everything simmer for 10-15 minutes until the eggplant has melded into the mince and your kids will be none the wiser.

This is a supposed to be fairly dry mince mix so that your wraps aren’t soggy. Spoon some into a flat bread or tortilla. Top with cucumber, tomato and parsley. I won’t tell if you want to also pop on some cheese or a drizzle of yoghurt.

MIX SHOULD FILL ABOUT 10 TORTILLAS

____________________

If this looks good to you, try out my beef & lentil fajitas, or these beef & peanut rice paper rolls.

Comments (10) »

Is there about to be a Gen X versus Gen Y parenting war?

April 3, 2013 · Filed under News · Tagged parenting

I’m sure Gen Y will help their kids make better fashion choices.

It’s interesting, the topics that get people’s knickers knotted. On the VS Facebook page the other day, it was a massive debate over supermarket etiquette. I posted this…

“Acceptable or unacceptable. Holding up entire line of pre-Easter supermarket shoppers so that your toddler (under 2) could complete the card transaction for you – complete with fumbling, card dropping, and “just wait for it to say remove card, darling” then more fumbling, and finally lifting child over checkout so that she could take the receipt.”

Response was swift and vehement. Many people found it entirely acceptable. Comments like…

” Acceptable. Even with fumbling around it would have taken less than 5 minutes. I think it’s a sad reflection on society that we can’t give a few moments of our time to make a child’s day.”

” Oh come on… Were you in such a rush that you could deny a little one a happy moment? Were you never a child??”

” Acceptable. I would do it with my kids. In fact, if people were getting stroppy over it, I would prolong the whole thing just to annoy those people more. My time is as valuable as anyone else’s; I’m not going to stress my kids or myself just because you can’t wait an extra minute. If you were really in that much of a rush you probably should have picked another time to go shopping. My schedule revolves around my family and my time, no one else’s. Expecting me to deny my child a tiny bit if joy for the sake of sparing you 30seconds is asking a bit much.”

” Man the comments on here make me feel bad for your kids.. My 2 year old and I do this and whether or not others are unhappy about our pace is of no concern to me when I am standing there teacher her how to do a real life situation that she sees mommy do everyday. I have patience with her and understand that everything is a learning experience for her in this big world. She wants to be part of and involved in. People should slow down their lives a moment.. Im sorry some of you are in such a rush you must not be fully enjoying your little ones and more angry all the time.”

” Life’s not a race, if you’re rushing around at the shops today, that’s not the toddlers fault, it’s not the mothers fault, it’s YOUR fault for being disorganised. We should be complimenting good parenting and seeing a child being happy doing something that the rest of take for granted as a mundane task.”

” Is your time really so precious that you won’t let a child learn?”

Then there was team ‘unacceptable’…

“Not cool. It’s about consideration of others and mum should also be teaching her toddler that (certainly a far more important skill than using a damn credit card machine). It’s not ok to assume that unnecessarily holding people up has only a small or no impact on the rest of their day. Being in a hurry is not always about mere impatience. Take all the time in the world to “slow down” when it’s just on your own time.”

” I don’t let my son (9) do card transactions but I certainly encourage him to do cash payments for things he wants with pocket money. Teaching him confidence and manners to say hello, thank you etc.”

” Perfect way to raise self-indulgent & inconsiderate children. Looks like there’s gonna be lots of them!”

And on and on it went. About 230 comments in all – you can read them here.

Along with lots of advice to me, to chill the hell out and factor in a few spare minutes each day, the main argument had dissolved into greater discussion over the way we’re parenting – issues such as selfishness, lack of consideration and indulgence of our children.

I was sorry I hadn’t asked people to prefix their comment with their age, because I’m wondering if we’re now getting some strong parenting divides based on our own generation.

I turned 40 last year, placing me in Generation X. Gen Y are 10-15 years younger and are just having their children now. Are we going to parent differently?

The online world is a brutal place – I cop it often, despite the fact that I’m online trying to be helpful. No one is safe in cyber space, and debates over parenting choices seem to be especially angry and intolerant.

So in the midst of such a volatile setting, is a generational parenting war just starting to erupt?

Comments (17) »

Easter hamping and a remedy for all that chocolate

April 1, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged family, recipe, soup, vegetables, vegetarian

The tent. Smaller than we remembered.

Did you go camping over Easter? You’d be un-Australian not to. Perhaps right now you’re wrangling a damp tent back into a bag that seems impossibly small and cursing the mess that has somehow magically manifested in four short days. Hopefully some drizzle is ensuring you’ll have all your stuff airing in the garage for the next month or so until you can be bothered to finally pack it away.

Due to work commitments we cheated and did a bit of hamping – home camping. Considering we hadn’t had the tent out since before Miss F was born, we figured it was probably safer – see which bits of our outdoors kit are still useable and which need upgrading. The kids didn’t care about the cheap-arse location; they loved every minute of it.

Turns out that a four-man tent only fits a newly-in-love couple or two small children, so Mr VS & I retreated to our own bed. The kids happily slept two nights out in the yard, alone. Post-firepit marshmallow cooking sessions, they were possibly both in sugar-comas. Luckily the Easter bunny still found them out there in the wild.

It was interesting that the pack up was relatively simple and it took us only one try to get the tent folded into the right size for the cover. My memory of previous expeditions is that it was always a fairly fraught, tense experience as we bickered over how to do it. I suppose nine years of marriage, parenting and umpteen pieces of flat-pack furniture construction have made Mr VS and me into a pretty slick team.

After copious amounts of chocolate, we were all ready for something healthy last night. So I whipped us this really yummy tomato and lentil soup. Nice and hearty, it’s great with buttered sourdough. I won’t mind if you decide to crumble over a bit of crispy bacon or mix through some leftover sliced sausages.

A few lentils to push that chocolate through!

Brown lentil & tomato soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp curry powder
3/4 cup dried brown lentils (rinsed, drained & picked over)
800g can crushed tomatoes
2 carrots, peeled, finely diced
2 potatoes, peeled, finely cubed (or 1 potato and 1 parsnip is also delicious)
4 cups vegetable stock (stock cubes are fine)
Parsley & thyme, finely chopped (about 1 tbsp total)
Pepper
1 cup frozen peas

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Pour in the oil and when hot, saute the onion, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes until starting to soften. Add in the garlic and curry powder and stir for another minute until everything smells fantastic.

Tip in the lentils and mix well then add the tomatoes, carrots and potatoes. Combine really well, tip over the stock, add in the herbs and season with pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid and simmer for 20-25 minutes more until the lentils are cooked through (they’ll retain their shape but will be nice and yielding to chew on – no hard bits).

Pour in the peas, and simmer for another 5 minutes before serving with bread.

Serves 2 adults and 2 kids. (Add in a few chopped bits of sausage and you’ll be able to pad it out to 3 kids)

Comments (16) »

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