Moroccan Quinoa Soup and Vegan Cook book giveaway

Spicy Moroccan soup that is hearty and delicious.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely minced
I courgette cut into small dice
1 carrot cut into slices
400 g fresh tomatoes finely chopped
400 g precooked Cannelloni beans
1.5 tablespoons harissa paste
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon paprika
200 g quinoa washed and rinsed
8 cups water
80 g baby spinach finely chopped
4 tablespoons mint leaves finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
60 g Greek yoghurt for serving(optional)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and when it is hot sauté the garlic and onions.
2. Add the courgettes, carrot,quinoa tomatoes, beans, harissa, cumin, salt, turmeric, pepper and cinnamon and the water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes until quinoa is cooked.
3.Add the spinach and the mint leaves and cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Turn off heat and serve with a dollops of yoghurt on top of the soup if you prefer.

I was recently sent a copy of the vegan cook book by Adele McConnell. Adele McConnell is the founder of the highly successful vegan food blog, vegiehead.com, and winner of the prestigious “Vegan Food Blogger Award” by The Vegan Woman 2012.
The book is beautifully illustrated with mouth watering pictures and  beautiful vegan recipes. It is divided into chapters and includes recipes for breakfast and brunches, lunches,snacks and treats, maim meals and desserts.
I really enjoyed looking through the book and have book marked a number of recipes to try. The Moroccan Quinoa Soup I have prepared above  is from the book and it tasted delicious. The only changes I made were that I replaced kale with spinach.
Having a shelf full of cookery books this one I find I have been using this book  more and more. Its really handy as it is small enough to store in drawer in any kitchen.

My score for the book:15/15 this is a high score but the book is definitely worthy of it.

Content -5/5
Illustrations-5/5
Recipe Instructions-5/5

All the views and opinions expressed in this post are my own. I would like to thank Watkin Publishing  for sending me this book to review.They have also been very generous and agreed to provide an additional copy for one simplyfood reader.

How To Enter:

•         Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries
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•         Please read the rules they form the terms and conditions of this Giveaway
•         Closing date – 28th April 2014 12.00 am
•         Entries open to UK residents only

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Strawberry and yoghurt scones~ Secret recipe club 24th March 2014

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. My assigned blog was AnniesNOMS. This blog is written By Annie. Browsing through her blog there were many  sweet treats and dessert recipes and were all temptingly delectable. I finally selected a healthier recipe which was Strawberry and yoghurt scones. I had to convert the recipe to grams and I also halved the recipe and I added a spoonful of mixed seeds and omitted the egg. The scones were delicious.

Delicious strawberry and yoghurt scones for a perfect teatime treat served with strawberry jam.

Ingredients:

170 g self raising flour
50 g wholemeal flour
85 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
5 large strawberries finely chopped
100 g muller low fat  strawberry yoghurt
1 tablespoon mixed seeds
1.5 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 tablespoon milk to glaze
2 tablespoons strawberry jam for serving.

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 375 degrees F and line the baking tray.
2.Place the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and mix together.Toss in the strawberries and mixed seeds and mix together into the flour.
3.In a separate bowl place the yoghurt, melted butter and whisk together.
4. Add the yoghurt mixture to the dry ingredients and then mix until a dough forms. Do not overwork the dough.

5.Dust the work surface very well and knead the dough lightly , adding flour as you need to until the dough it less wet.
6.Roll out the dough to about an inch thick.
7.Cut out the scones, keep rolling out the dough and cutting as you need to. I made12 small scones with this mixture.

 8.Glaze the scones with milk and  Place in the oven and bake for around 16 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

9.Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To serve cut the scones in half and spread with strawberry jam. If you would like to make another variety of scones check out this vegan scone recipe.

Microwave Chilli Popcorn and a Heat 'n' Eat microwave popcorn maker giveaway.

This delicious microwave chilli  popcorn is so delectable one serving will not be enough

Ingredients:

Corn Kernels
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon chilli oil
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

Method:

1. Measure the corn kernels using the measuring cup provided in the Heat n Eat.
2. Place the corn in the Heat n Eat  and place it in the microwave on high for 4-5 minutes,
3. You will hear a popping sound when it subsides, remove the Heat 'n' Eat from the microwave and carefully open the lid and transfer the popcorn to a large bowl.
4. Add a sprinkling of salt and chilli flakes and drizzle with chilli oil. Toss the popcorn to coat it with the oil .
5. Transfer to serving bowls and enjoy hot spicy popcorn.

Warning-Don't rub your eyes after eating the popcorn as the chilli  from the popcorn will sting.

Chilli oil- 100 ml olive oil, 4 red dried  chillies 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes, 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder.
Warm the olive oil slightly and take it off the heat, add the red chillies, chilli flakes and chilli powder and give it a stir.Transfer to a oil bottle and keep aside for 24 hours for the chilli oil to infuse. After 24 hours oil is ready to be used in popcorn, salads, pasta, pizza.

Heat 'n' Eat, is a new microwave popcorn maker launched by Mustard. It makes popping popcorn so easy even a child could do it. The microwave popcorn popper comes with a built in measuring cup, all you have to do is fill it with corn kernels and pop the heat and serve in the microwave. You will get Perfect popcorn every time, and at a fraction of the cost.

Once you have popped the corn you can flavour it to make it savoury, salted, sweet in fact you can add any flavouring to it that pleases you. Alternatively eat it natural as it is.The Heat 'n' Eat is reusable and is totally dishwasher safe. It is made from non toxic plastic. You can order your Heat 'n' Eat from Mustard and t retails at £ 20.00.

I would like to thank Mustard for sending me the Heat 'n' Eat, all the views and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Mustard have been kind and they have agreed to send one simply.food reader a Heat 'n' Eat.
How To Enter:

• Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries
• Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc
• Answering the mandatory question will open additional optional entries.
• Please read the rules they form the terms and conditions of this
• Open to UK Residents Only and you must be over 18 yrs old.
• Closing date - 13th April 12.00 am

How Rafflecopter works:

• You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box. Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.
• Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.
•  Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 
• Rafflecopter will tweet, like and follow on your behalf.
• For information on how to find the URL of your tweet click here. 
• For bonus entries you can return to this page and enter the daily bonus entries. 
• If you are still unsure as to how Rafflecopter works please do check out this short video.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cauliflower Soup~5-2 diet

Creamy and rich cauliflower soup delicately fragrance with nutmeg.

Ingredients:

240 g  fresh cauliflower florets finely chopped
1 medium potato peeled and diced
1 small white onion peeled and finely diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
100 ml water
150 ml milk
1 teaspoon olive oil

Method:

1. Place the potato and cauliflower in a microwaveable bowl and add the 100 ml water to it.
2. Cook the cauliflower and potato on high power for 10 minutes or until the cauliflower and potato are fully cooked.Keep aside
3. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat and add the onions and sauté them until soft and translucent but not browned.
4.Add the cauliflower and potato to the onions and mix together. Transfer the mixture to a blender jug and purée the soup to a fine purée.
5. Transfer the puréed soup to the pan and add the milk. Bring the soup to a slow simmer and add the salt, pepper and nutmeg.Simmer for 2-3 minutes longer.
6. Transfer the soup to serving bowls and garnish with a small  pinch of nutmeg.

Serve with bread rolls

NB-Bread roll not included in calorie count.

Calories per serving	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
166	34	3	9	702	12

Vegetable Biryani

Spicy one pot meal, fluffy rice cooked in aromatic spices in a medley of vegetables.

Ingredients:

240 g / 8 oz frozen mixed vegetables( carrots, green beans, peas, sweetcorn)
120g / 4 oz basmati rice
60g / tuvar dal (yellow pigeon peas split)
250 ml  boiling water
1 medium potato peeled and diced
1 green chilli finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 small onion finely diced or cut into thin strips
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small stick cinnamon
2-3 cloves
2-3 cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly chopped coriander leaves

Method:

1. Mix the rice and dhal and wash it in 3-4 changes of water and then soak the rice and dhal for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes drain the water from the rice in a sieve and keep the rice to one side.
3.Heat oil in a pan,when it is hot add the cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamon pods and cumin seeds  the onions and sauté until onions are translucent.
4. Add the drained rice and the vegetables and potatoes to the onion and toss the mixture so that the rice grains are coated in the oil.
5. Add the tomato purée, chillies, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and sauté for 2 more minutes.
6. Add  the boiling water and bring the rice to a slow simmer. Reduce the heat of the rice to lowest setting and cook covered for 25-30 minutes until all the water is absorbed. (Do not open the pan lid during this cooking time.)
7. After 30 minutes open the lid and fluff the rice up with a fork and transfer to a serving plate and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with natural yoghurt or cucumber raita.

Submitting to:
In my VEG BOX~ Tomatoes event by citrusspiceuk

Lets cook with seeds event by simply.food

Javelin Warriors Cooking/ with luv

Egg fried rice

Sweet scented basmati rice stir fried with a mixture of seasonal vegetables and egg.

Preparation time – 5 minutes

Cooking time- 15 minutes

Serves-4

Ingredients:

240 grams / 8 oz cold plain boiled  rice

3 spring onions finely chopped

1 small carrot grated

30 grams / 1 oz precooked green peas

30 grams / 1 oz precooked sweet corn kernels

1 red chilli cut into thin slices

30 grams /1 oz cashew nuts

½ tablespoon fresh coriander finely chopped

2 button mushrooms finely diced

2 eggs beaten.

¼ teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sunflower seeds

  

Method:

1. In a wok add the oil and heat on medium heat. when hot add the carrots, peas and sweet corn and stir fry for a minute. 

2. Add the cashew nuts and stir fry for a minute till cashew nuts brown.Add the salt and pepper and Tabasco sauce and stir fry.

3. Add the rice, and toss to mix rice and vegetables.

4. Pour over the rice the beaten egg and toss the mixture stirring till egg sets. (About 3-4 minutes)

5 .Add the spring onion  and red chilli and sunflower seeds to the egg fried rice and toss.

6. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with chopped coriander

Serve with mushroom curry.

Guest Post by Roshni Kanabar

Submitting to:
Lets cook with Seeds event by simply.food

Tomato Rasam South Indian Style ~ 5-2 Diet

Spicy South Indian tomato soup that is tasty and delicious served with boiled rice and a green bean curry.

Ingredients:

6 Medium Tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt ( alternatively add lo salt)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon  whole cumin seeds
1 red dried chilli
1 stalk coriander leaves finely chopped for garnish
1 teaspoon light olive oil
500 ml water

Method:

1. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and place in a microwaveable bowl with lid.
2. Add 250ml water and cook the tomatoes on high for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the cooked tomatoes from the microwave and put them into a blender jug and blend them to a smooth paste.
4. Strain the pureed tomatoes  and discard the skin and seeds.
5. In a pan add the olive oil, when it is hot add the cumin seeds and red dried chilli. Add the strained tomatoes and add the salt and pepper.
6. Bring the rasam to a simmer for 2-3 minutes and turn off the heat.Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

Rasam can be served on its own or as an accompaniment to boiled rice and  curry.

This Rasam can be part of the 5- diet, its is approximately 95 calories per serving ( 1 bowl of Rasam)
 NB-Rice  not included in calorie count

Calories per serving	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
95	16	3	3	1188	10

Submitting to:
Javelin Warriors cookin with/luv

In my VEG BOX ~ TOMATOES event by citrusspiceuk

Mango Pudding –Made from Eat to Live Cookbook

Mango Pudding –Made from Eat to Live Cookbook

Ingredients:

¼ cup raw almonds

2 ripe mangoes peeled and diced

1 banana

3 dates pitted finely chopped

1/8 cup unsweetened coconut

½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup currants

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Almond flakes  and 2 dates for garnish.

Method:

1.Grind the almonds in a coffee grinder and keep aside.

2. In a blender jug add the mango, banana, coconut, chopped dates, vanilla and powdered almonds and blend to a smooth consistency.

3. Add the cinnamon and stir in the currants.

4. Spoon the mango pudding into serving glasses and garnish with dates and almond flakes. 

Chill before serving.

I was recently sent a copy of Eat to Live Cookbook by Dr Fuhrman.The book has a selection of recipes that enable you to eat healthy and at the same time lose weight and keep it off permanently, without hunger or deprivation. The recipes are designed to improve your eating habits and the recipes help to reduce chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes, naturally. The Ingredients that are used and the combinations of them help to provide superior nutrition and help you to eat healthy and remain fit by eradicating food cravings eliminating excess weight and reversing and preventing disease.

Dr Fuhrman the author of the book recommends a nutritarian lifestyle, this means that your daily diet should include:

• A salad
• ½ cup serving of beans /legumes
• Three fruits
• 1 ounce raw nuts or seeds
• 1 large serving of cooked green vegetables

He also advices to refrain from consuming all red meat and all barbecued, processed and cured meats, fried food, full fat dairy and trans fat,  soft drinks, sugar and artificial sweeteners and finally white rice and white flour products.

The book starts with a nice introduction to ingredients, shopping tips, an Andi scoring guide that tells you which foods are better than others to eat and a tips and techniques section. The chapters that follow feature 200 delicious, nutrient-rich recipes, including:

• Smoothies and Juices
• Breakfast
• Soups and Main Meals
• Salads and Salad Dressings
• Desserts

The recipes that are suitable for diabetics and aggressive weight loss are marked with a leaf symbol. Being a vegetarian myself I found that the variety of recipes was enormous and varied. I tried a few of the recipes which worked well but I missed the salt seasoning in them and found them a little bland, this I think is that one would need to train the palate to eat no salt. The dessert recipes were also good however as all the recipes used natural sugars only they lacked a sweetness that one is accustomed to but again this is due to teaching the palate to appreciate new tastes.Following the recipes in this book would definitely change your eating habits to promote a healthy diet.

I found the book useful, although some of the ingredients in the recipe are American  versions and I had to find substitutes for them here in the UK.  The book cover is very smart and clearly indicates the content of the book however I was disappointed that of the two hundred recipes there were only 12 photos of them all grouped in the centre of the book. Personally I love my recipes books to be more visual and inviting.The book is available in the Uk to buy from Amazon uk, it retails at  £ 15.93.

My score:

Content 4/5

Illustrations 1/5

Recipe instructions 5/5

Overall Score 10/15

I would like to Thank Harper Collins for sending me this book to review. All the views and opinions are honest  my own.

Tropical Fruit Salad made in a jiffy.

There is nothing better than a  tropical fruit salad to start your Sunday Brunch, this lovely colourful tropical salad is refreshing and really delicious to eat.

Ingredients:

1 medium ripe papaya
1 small ripe pineapple
10 strawberries

Dressing:

1 tablespoon ginger honey
Squeeze of lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice

Method:

1. Peel the pineapple, cut in half and remove the inner core.
2. Dice the pineapple into small bite size cubes.
3. Peel the papaya, cut in half and remove the inner seeds
4. Dice the papaya into small bite size cubes.
5. Wash the strawberries and towel dry them , remove the top and cut into small bite sized pieces.
6. In a jar with has a screw top add the orange juice, lime juice and honey and screw the lid. Give the jar a vigorous shake.
7. Get some pretty sundae glasses and spoon some pineapple pieces, followed by the papaya pieces and finally the strawberries. Drizzle over the fruit the honey dressing and serve immediately.

Submitting to:
Javelin Warriors cookin with/luv

Round Up ~ Lets Cook sweet treats for Valentine

Thankyou to everyone who participated in this lovely romantic event.I hope all your valentines enjoyed their yummy sweet treats.
Here is the lovely round up:

Some beautiful gifts from not on the high street.com

A few weeks ago I stumbled on a wonderful website whilst searching for a unique gift for a friend. The awesome site is notonthehighstreet. Now you may ask what is so special about this web site? The site is an Aladdin’s cave for personalised gifts, homeware, baby and child, jewellery wedding and fashion. There are so many gift ideas that the only problem will be deciding what to purchase. I spent over two hours on the site as each and every item is so nice, unique and pretty that I couldn't stop adding them all to my wish list. At the end I had almost 15 items that I so wanted. Finally I managed to narrow my wish list down to three items.

I love home ware and Kitchen Items and I immediately fell in love with these beautiful Ambiance Amethyst Footed Tumbler ice-cream / sundae glasses in a lovely pinky colour. They are perfect for serving ice-cream, fresh fruit and smoothies and would brighten up any meal with their pretty pink colour. The glasses are dishwasher safe too . The glasses retail at £ 5.75 each and are really good value for money.

The pretty little milk bottles are really cute and I love the fact that they are the perfect size to serve milkshakes or smoothies as one serving. 

These retro milk bottles retail £ 3.25 each. They are perfect for enticing your little ones to gulp down some milk. Alternatively these little retro bottles make cute flower vases too.

My third choice were these pretty glass spice jars with cork lids and little wooden spoons that attach to the jar itself.

The jars come in a set of three and are perfect for storing spices and herbs and look really cute on any kitchen shelf. They retail at £ 15.50 for a set of three.

I would like to Thanks notonthehighstreet who sent me all these three products to review, all the views and opinions in this post are my own.

Announcing EVENT ~ Lets cook with seeds.

At simply.food the month of March is dedicated to healthy eating  this event is all about adding healthy seeds to your dishes .Feel free to prepare any vegetarian dish ( eggs allowed) with the addition of seeds to it and link it to this event. Some seeds that you can use are pumpkin, sesame, chia, flaxseeds, hemp seeds, pomegranate seeds are just a few examples. You can use any edible seed in your recipe.

To Participate:

1. Prepare any  dish suitable for vegetarians but must include some sort of seed in the recipe in good proportion  (eggs allowed),  please link your dish using the linky below by entering your Dish Name and Post URL
2. Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory. (Any entries sent with out the mandatory link will be disqualified.)
3.Use of logo is  not mandatory but it helps to spread the word if you can use it.

4. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reposted and updated with this event link.

4. In the event of problem using linky you can email me the entry at simplysensationalfood@gmail.com

Please use this format:

Your Name: Recipe
Name Recipe URL
Image no larger than 300 pixels.
Event Ends 31st March 2014