Carrot and Almond Soup

This is my favourite soup recipe which I'm posting for Laura. It comes from Gillian McKeith's cookbook "You Are What You Eat," which, actually, there is no point in buying because it only has about three good recipes in it. Though I must admit that those three recipes are AWESOME!

When ever I eat this soup I always feel like I'm putting something really nutritious into my body. It tastes sweet and the ground almonds give it a lovely creaminess. Gillian does some messing around with herb stalks but I'm inclined to ignore anything fussy like that. It's also nice to double the recipe and freeze ahead for ease of access to yummy deliciousness. :)

Carrot and Almond Soup
Serves 4

• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 6 carrots, trimmed, peeled and sliced
• 2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
• 1 tbsp wheat-free vegetable bouillon powder (I use a stock cube...)
• 2-3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• 2-3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 100g ground almonds
  
  
  
  

Method:

1. Place the onions, garlic, carrot and celery in a large saucepan. Add 1.25 litres boiling water and the bouillon powder. Bring to the boil and add the herbs.

2. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender when pierced with a knife.

3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Strain, reserving the stock. Blend the vegetables with a hand held blender until smooth.

4. Return the mixture to the pan and add the ground almonds and enough of the reserved stock to make a soup-like consistency.

Reheat, then divide between warmed soup bowls and serve garnished with chopped fresh coriander and parsley.

What I said earlier about freezing was true - I always made double to freeze - but everyone always eats at least two bowls in one sitting so the next time I make it, I'm going to do it when everyone's out and not tell anyone what I made...

Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne

Yesterday, I showed you how to make pumpkin purée. Now I'm going to share with you a recipe for Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne I tried out for dinner yesterday. The original recipe comes from a magazine called 'Healthy Food Guide.' (My favourite magazine, so many gorgeous recipes!)

Alterations:

Though the original recipe asks for chunks of pumpkin to be lightly fried, I used my purée instead. I also used adult spinach instead of baby spinach, removing the stalks and wilting it before adding the pumpkin. The recipe also called for 350g of fresh lasagne but I used dried and I only needed five sheets! Very low in carbohydrates. :) (Also low in fat, salts and saturates as well as high in calcium and iron.) How many sheets of pasta you need will depend on the size and shape of your oven proof dish.

PUMPKIN AND SPINACH LASAGNE
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil spray.
• 500g pumpkin purée
• 250g spinach, heavy stalks cut off
• 2 x 400g cans of tomatoes with herbs
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 250g ricotta
• 250g low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 30g parmesan, grated
• 5-7 sheets of dried lasagna
  
  
  
  

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/ fan 18O°C/gas 6.

2. Spray a frying pan a few times with the cooking oil. Add the spinach, a third at a time and wilt over a low heat, stirring frequently.



3. Add the pumpkin, garlic and tins of tomatoes to the spinach and cook over a medium heat for five minutes.

 4. Add the ricotta, cottage cheese, two thirds of the parmesan and dried herbs together and blend in a food processor or with a handheld blender until it makes a smooth paste.

 5. Pour one third of the tomato into an ovenproof dish. Add a layer of lasagne, followed by more tomato sauce and a layer of the cheesy sauce.* Repeat these layers until the ingredients are used up and finish with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes.

*(The cheese sauce can be tough to spread, I found. Try using a spatula.)

The Pumpkin Pie

Yes! Finally, the pumpkins are here! Aren't they beautiful? I've literally spent the entire day making various dishes with these lovelies. It  sometimes bothers me that Irish people don't really use pumpkins for anything other than jack-o-lanterns.  I have noticed a record number of said seasonal decorations all over Cork city, though, and they are gorgeous!


I've never been one to sit around lamenting and not doing anything so here is my pumpkin pie experience! I've put together a 'How To' style tutorial to show you what to do with your pumpkin when it's all big and orange and staring at you questioningly. The first step to any pumpkin recipe is to first purée the pumpkin. Once it's puréed, you can freeze it or use it for various recipes.

1. Slice your pumpkin in half, and then into slices. Scoop out the innard-goop and put it into a bowl. You can rinse them later and bake the seeds if you want to use every part of the pumpkin. The stringy bits are great for compost!

2. Place the pieces (skin intact!) into a steamer and steam for approximately 20 minutes until soft. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool before peeling. Do NOT try to peel the slices while they're hot! You WILL burn yourself.

3. Allow the skinless pumpkin chunks to drain in a colander for 10 minutes to get rid of excess juice. Sometimes this isn't necessary, if you feel your pumpkin isn't very watery, you can skip this step!

                                         

 4. Whizz up the pumpkin with a hand blender, or mash with a potato masher until it's a thick purée. Now you have your base ingredient, ready to use! If you have some left over, you can freeze it in a lunchbox or in small amount in freezer bags.

PUMPKIN PIE!

• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsps cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 0.5 tsp ground ginger
• 0.5 tsp salt (optional)
• 4 large, free range eggs
• 3 cups pumpkin purée
• 18 floz evaporated milk
  
  
  

1. Mix all ingredients together with a hand mixer. It will be a very wet mixture.





2. Line a pie dish with short crust pastry. I find that this recipe makes enough for at least one extra pie, so have some extra pastry to hand, just in case!

3. Pour in the pie-filling, not filling the dish more than 3/4 full, as the mixture will rise! Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for the first 15 minutes. 

4. Turn down the heat to 165 degrees Celsius and bake for a further 45 - 60 minutes, until a knife comes out clean from the centre.

When it is done, take it out and EAT IT UP, YUM YUM! :)






I hope you try this recipe! I originally found it online somewhere about two years ago and I've stuck with it. It's really delicious! I have a lovely recipe for pumpkin and spinach lasagne which I'll post soon. Let me know what you think! x