Just Humans Being...

We often turn leftover pasta sauce into a chilli... We added some quinoa, tofu, more kidney beans & a fresh chilli. Then instead of  serving it with cornbread... We topped the chilli with it...  Added some pumpkin seeds... And baked it in the oven for 30 minutes. Cornbread 150g polenta 100g whole wheat self-raising flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon ground linseeds 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley or coriander a teaspoon of the dried leaves 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder 2 tablespoons agave syrup 2 tablespoons apple purée 250ml plant milk Method Line a 20cm tin if baking separately. Preheat oven to a medium temperature (180C). Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until it has become like a thick batter. Transfer into the tin or spread over pie filling. Bake for 30 minutes. Chilli Pie... With all the trimmings... In between jobs yesterday. We're off again in a

                                                                      Butternut squash, mushroom, kale, red lentils & creamed coconut. With lots of sliced onions & garlic. Served as usual with brown basmati rice, cooked with turmeric.  The lentils & coconut make the sauce naturally thick & creamy, especially when left to  simmer nice & slow with your favourite spices... Make sure you make a large pan full - as it always tastes better the next day! Kay & Sime xx

This recipe is adapted from a vegan chocolate fudge cake recipe in  Demuths  first cook book -  Postively Vegetarian Recipes For Life. We'd eaten at the restaurant in Bath a couple of times, loved it the first time, but found it to be really expensive & full of snobby city folk second time around, but the books are good. Some friends bought us Demuths first book when it was first published 15 years ago... The cake is so easy to make... As you can see - we've used this recipe a lot. Sal & I can just whip it up in no time. We have tweaked it over the years & have served it up on many a birthday or special occasion. Here is the original  recipe & below is my latest version without oil or margarine, though there is still a huge amount of sugar... Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake  ( Serves 8) Ingredients Cake 300g self raising whole wheat flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 50g cocoa  250g dark brown sugar  1 teaspoon pure vanil

We're really busy again with work this week, lots of last minute bookings for half term. I'm trying to finish off last years accounts - to submit before the end of the month & Sime's making sure we eat well... Last night's pasta dish had lots of garlic & onions, peppers, courgettes, mushrooms & sweetcorn.  Also some kidney, borlotti & black eyed beans, as well as chickpeas. Sometimes Sime will add tofu too, which he fries in a little water & soy sauce first. He simmers the onions & garlic in water first, then adds other vegetables as they are chopped. Chucks in dried oregano, basil & smoked paprika. He wanted to make a quick sauce, so used 2 tins of chopped tomatoes & some tomato paste. Using fresh tomatoes is better though - especially when baked in the oven first! Some freshly chopped garlic & basil added just before serving is delicious. We also add a pinch of  Herbamare , black pepper & once serve

Our home made organic hops & lavender beer! Sime has been passionate about real ale for many years, but unfortunately - not a lot of it is vegetarian, let alone vegan... Most breweries use fish finings (isinglass) or egg whites to clear their beer... We don't use anything & within 3 weeks of making - it is sparkling clear & ready to drink! This recipe contains approx 200g dried hops, 100g dried lavender, 2kg malt extract, 1kg raw sugar & 5 teaspoons of dried yeast & along with about 25 litres of filtered water makes just over 40 pints of delicious home brew... We simmer the hops & lavender  for about an hour in our largest pan (holds about 5 litres). Put the malt extract & sugar into the fermenting bin with more boiled water, then strain the herbs & add the lovely smelling liquid to the bin. Top up with cold filter water & once hand hot - pitch the yeast. It takes about 1 week to ferment & once it's stopped bubbling,

        Because I prefer to make life easy...  I like to keep my burger (& bhaji) recipes as simple as possible, so the method is pretty much the same every time & it's just the ingredients which change.There are so many different combinations to choose from & it can be a good way of using up leftovers... Basically, I use the same amount of pulses or nuts to grain, so in this recipe I used 200g cooked chickpeas & 200g breadcrumbs. As well as a large courgette, 2 carrots, 2 red conions & 4 cloves of garlic. Chop the veg & fry in water for about 10 minutes until soft, I added a teaspoon of cumin & a few drops of soy sauce & a blob of tomato paste. In a bowl, place the chickpeas, breadcrumbs, a good handful of fresh coriander & juice of half a lemon. Salt & pepper can be added at this point too. Add the softened vegetables & whizz with a hand blender (add a little hot water if too dry). Preheat your oven - it's need

Back in 2004, on a cold January day... The Smith family ventured out.  We had lived in Cornwall for nearly 2 years & enjoyed any days off exploring together. This day we decided to visit Tintagel Castle, we had a home educating family membership & wanted to visit all the English Heritage sites we could. We had  Tintagel Castle  pretty much to ourselves, apart from 3 other people. We said Hello to them & thought that perhaps they were Dutch... As we were leaving, Hugo fell & grazed his knee, Maggi offered some herbal cream & we got chatting... Maggi, Pierce & EJ were an American band called the MPE Band & were on tour in the UK, then were going off into mainland Europe. Maggi asked if we home schooled & did we know a book called  Stargirl ? In their teens, Sal & Rose were massive readers & yes they had read the book... They all talked about their love for the story, so much so, that we read it very shortly after that meeting... W