Just Humans Being...

Day 29 World Vegan Month. This is what happens when we suddenly run out of porridge oats... We had enough for a spoonful each, so instead of our usual bowl of joy - we made smoothies with pretty much the same ingredients with added greenness: Spinach, apple, banana, raisins, rosehips, seaweed, cinnamon, ginger and turmeric. Our mix of flax, hemp and pumpkin seeds, a spoonful of porridge oats, matcha green tea powder and water.  Wonderful stuff!  And here's Fleaby - he just wanted to say hello! xxx

Day 28 World Vegan Month. Organic whole wheat spaghetti, butter bean, red pepper and mushroom pasta sauce with salad leaves. Such a busy time for us, so sorry we're not keeping up with the posts!    Night, night...Love Kay and Sime xx

World Vegan Month Day 25. We are doggie sitting and really enjoy cooking on the Aga here... And yet again, we have made a quick dhal - with onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and spinach, as well as the usual spices, red lentils and some passata. Bye, bye from us and little Mabel!  xxx

World Vegan Month Day 24. Cauliflower florets and greens, butternut squash, leeks, tomatoes, garlic, fresh ginger, dried cumin, coriander, turmeric and mustard seeds Whizzed up leftover beany pasta sauce. Mixed together to make a delicious curry. As usual we served it with brown basmati cooked with turmeric. We are off doggie sitting for a few days, but will try to continue sharing our posts. Love Kay and Sime xx

 World Vegan Month Day 21. Here's tonight's dinner... Haricot beans and vegetables with spaghetti. Yesterday we had leftovers and tomorrow we will hopefully be able to share photos of our home brewed winter ale. Night, night! Love Kay and Sime xx

World Vegan Month Day 19. Tonight's dinner... We cooked up onions, garlic, sundried tomatoes in soy sauce, cumin, smoked paprika, sage and thyme. We added carrots and French beans and cooked them with water, yeast extract, tomato puree and boiling water and simmered for 30 minutes. We then added Fava Beans and roasted butternut squash and continued simmering for another 20 minutes.    We also braised a savoy cabbage in the oven in red wine and balsamic vinegar with chopped pear, pickled onions and dried rosemary.   After 40 minutes, we added chunks of leftover nut roast and baked for another 20 minutes... And served with a baked potato. Yum!!! Love Kay and Sime xx

World Vegan Month Day 18. As well as making the apple compote yesterday, we made a nut roast and apple cake for our communal food sharing supper here at Cotna.  We whizzed up 150g walnuts, 50g peanuts, 200g bread with juice of half a lemon, a teaspoon each of dried sage and thyme, 1 tablespoon of tomato puree and a heaped teaspoon of miso paste dissolved in a cup of hot water. Then added our dhal and rice leftovers from Saturday, a pinch of sea salt and sprinkle of black pepper. Once mixed we put it in a loaf tin and baked it on a medium heat for 40 minutes. Just so easy to make! There was also roasted veggies from the garden. As well as stir fried kale and Brussel sprouts. Apple Cake...  Served with Oat Cream and a splash of sloe gin. And Daisy the Cotna baby was hoping to join us! See you tomorrow. Love Kay and Sime xx

 World Vegan Month Day 17. The last of the apples have been harvested today at Cotna and will be mainly used for making juice and cider. Sime collected a few for our use too and I got to work...  I simmered 400g of apples with 10 chopped dates and a small knob of ginger for about 10 minutes. Then strained the mixture and added a good sprinkle of cinnamon, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and the juice of half a lemon.  Whizzed it all up...  until it was nice and smooth.  The mixture fills a 500ml jar and will last for a week in the fridge. It's nice as a cereal topping or in plain soya yogurt and of course, we like a couple of dollops on our porridge! Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 16 of  World Vegan Month. We eat lots of fresh seasonal organic food, so the ingredients are often similar for a few weeks - we are using a butternut squash and kale from the vegetable garden here at  Cotna and all the other veg is from  Riverford . We fried onions, garlic, ginger and butternut squash with soy sauce and dried spices - cumin, coriander and mustard seeds. We added kale and savoy cabbage, while at the same time cooked up the red lentils... They look dreadful...Hahaha! We decided to add some soya cream, which made it look strange - but it tasted great, especially once all the veg was added. We served it up with brown basmati cooked with turmeric. And as you can see, Sime really enjoyed it! Here's Our Curry Recipe from a previous post, if you are interested in making a similar dish. Enjoy! Love Kay and Sime xx

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Day 15 World Vegan Month. Yesterday we were out all day.  A glimpse of sun through the clouds and torrential rain. We didn't expect to be finishing work in the dark, but one of our jobs was on a closed road and in the freezing wind and rain we had to leave the car and walk with all our cleaning equipment. The job took longer than we thought and on leaving we realised that we would have to return to the car in complete darkness...our only head torch was running low, needing a  recharge and there are no streetlights on that road, so not only was it very cold (the road is quite exposed and high above the sea), but we could barely see!  Lucky for us, we had earlier called into  Baker Tom's - a surprise discovery in St Awful and bought vegan pasties, which were very welcome...it was too dark for a photo, but they were ok. Anyway, our leftovers from Wednesday were put aside for this evening and what looks like a dish of

Day 13 World Vegan Month. Tonight's dinner has a spicy and nutritious kick. All organic, our chilli contains: onions, garlic, fresh ginger, butternut squash, red pepper, mushrooms, finely chopped tofu, brown lentils, red kidney beans and haricot beans.  Fried up in red wine, turmeric, cumin, chilli flakes and smoked paprika. We also added yesterday's leftover potato wedges, which we chopped into bite size pieces, some French passata and the juice of one lemon. Served with brown rice cooked in turmeric, as well as crispy kale and sesame seeds fried in soy sauce and black pepper. This meal contains lots of plant protein, calcium, iron and various B vitamins, as well as numerous other minerals and vitamins. It's also oil free, easy to make and absolutely delicious! Here's another version of  Our Chilli Recipe if you are interested - this previous post also features our cornbread recipe. Enjoy!!! Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 12 World Vegan Month. We like to make nut roasts, bhajis and burger-like patties and we pretty much follow the same process. Today we made these Walnut and Mushroom Burgers and potato wedges and we were so hungry by the time it was all ready - that we basically shoved it on the plate and ate it! The bread rolls and salad leaves were just cheap out-of-date supermarket ones that Sime picked up yesterday for a few pence (he can't resist a bargain). The recipe we use is similar to the one on this previous post: Our Simple Burger Recipe We used our food processor to whizz up around 200g of breadcrumbs, added 100g of walnuts and 100g of  mushrooms fried in soy sauce with 1 onion and 6 cloves of garlic.  Easy, stodgy...perfect for a cold day like today! Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 11 of World Vegan Month. For lunch today, we stir-fried onions, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms and kale with soy sauce, fresh ginger, ground cumin and a good handful of peanuts. We cooked it up for around 15 minutes and added a heaped teaspoon of miso paste, juice of half an orange and a sprinkle of ground black pepper. Easy to make and a delicious combination of flavours! We served it with whole wheat spaghetti (which works well as noodles) and a green salad underneath. Sometimes we add peanut butter to the pasta/noodles, which is lovely too - if you like peanuts! Let us know if you try it and if so, what do you think? Night, night Love Kay and Sime xx