Potato and Leek Cheesey Soup

As soon as the weather cools (even just a little) out comes my big pot and all the glorious soup and stew cooking. Don't get me wrong I love a salad and summery food too but there is just something about body warming, soul soothing comfort foods like soups and stews!

This one gets made a lot on our house and is one of the soups enjoyed by kids and adults alike!

Potato and Leek Cheesey Soup

Ingredients

• 5 potatoes, chopped into thin circles
• 2 small sweet potatoes, chopped into thin circles
• 1 leek, washed and chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 tablespoon savoury yeast flakes (health food shop/chemist warehouse etc)
• 1 tablespoon grated cheddar cheese
• 2 stockcubes (for this I used transfat free Massel chicken style - vegetarian)
• 1 litre water (more as needed)
• 1/4 cup french green lentils, washed and drained
• 1/2 cup milk of choice

Method

• NOTE: This soup can be made in a rush on a higher heat or as I prefer slowly. It is totally up to you and the time you have spare! 
• In a deep pot or saucepan saute the leek and garlic in the olive oil gently over a medium low heat.
• After about 3-4 minutes add in the turmeric and cumin and stir through.
• Tip in the potatoes and for about 1 minute stir through the leek and garlic mixture you will see them get some colour from the turmeric.
• Pour in the water and milk and add the stock cubes and lentils.
• Season if desired with freshly cracked black pepper and a good salt like pink Himalayan or sea salt.
• Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat so it slowly simmers.
• Add more water during the cooking time if needed. The soup should not be thick.
• When the potato pieces can be just penetrated with a fork and the lentils are cooked add in the yeast flakes and cheese, stir the soup and continue to simmer for a few minutes.
• Test for seasoning.
• Serve and enjoy!

Notes

• I like to serve this with fresh crusty sourdough bread and organic butter or home-made garlic and herb bread.
• You can make this vegan, leave out the cheddar cheese and just use the savoury yeast flakes which have a lovely cheesey flavour anyway.
• The savoury yeast flakes are a quite exciting ingredient I like to use, de-activated yeast they are rich in flavour and B vitamins and potassium.
• If you don't eat normal potatoes you can make this with all sweet potato.

Toddler Tips

• Kids seem to love this soup, it must be the appealing colour from the turmeric and the loveloy cheesey flavour!
• To make this really fun you can serve theirs in bread boats. You will need really thick, solid bread rolls, hollow out some of the fluffy filling, fill with soup, serve on a plate.

Love Bek XX

(c)rebeccamugridge2014

Family Movie Nights & Vege Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love a family tradition.
There is something so wonderful and warm and loving about them.

We don't have all that many of them in our family so my girls and I started a few of our own and one of our absolute favourites in our Family Movie Nights

Every Friday night our little group of 3 get excited about our Friday night. We plan it all week.
We pick our movie, and a lot of thought goes into this. Sometimes it a beloved classic aka Disney, sometimes it's a family fave, sometimes its a recent release and sometimes it is blast from the past!
(these are the most fun for me - recently we watched The Aviator!!)

I always make a big batch of organic homemade popcorn seasoned with pink himilayan salt and a tiny dash of olive oil, usually something like Pink Lemonade or my kids favourite Coconut Water, coconutty water as my youngest calls it! (and mummy might have a nice wine - especially if it is say a Barbie movie!)

And my favourite part is the fun dinner we put together, to go with the movie we usually have our own version of a popular takeaway so it could be pizza's, fish and chips, nuggets and dipping sauces, kebab's, burgers, noodle boxes, sausage rolls, party pies, hot dogs or something that goes with the movie!

One of our latest was spaghetti and vege meatballs while watching, yep, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It was such a hit with the kids! I have since made it several times and the 'meatballs' themselves, also make stunning hors d'oeuvre's - make them much smaller with extra chili and serve on toothpicks YUM!

  Vege Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 cup breadcrumbs (I made my own with spelt, sour dough bread but you could make your own with any nice bread, I would just recommend not white bread)
• 1/2 cup Quinoa crumbs (most supermarkets have these now - or you could check your local health food store)
• 3 free range eggs
• 1 can sanitarium nutmeat - see NOTES for my alternative to make your own
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan (please not the icky stuff in the tin)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• extra basil leaves
• 4 cloves Australian garlic (you could also use Gourmet Garden)
• 1/2 fresh red chili, fineli chopped - optional (You could also use Gourmet Garden)
• 1 small onion

Method

• Fry the onion in a frying pan until lightly transparent, add in the garlic, chili and thyme, stir together 2-3 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Finely chop the baby spinach leaves.
• In a large bowl roughly mash up the nutmeat until pliable, add in the breadcrumbs, eggs, quinoa crumbs, spinach, walnuts and onion mix, mix well together. 
• Roughly tear up the basil ( I love doing this the smell is always so gorgeous!)
• Mix the basil and Parmesan through the mix.
• With your hands (yes I love my hand on cooking) roll mixture into balls until you have done all of it.
• Lightly fry a few of these at a time over a medium heat in a little olive oil or oil of choice..
• Remove from heat and drain on paper towel.
• Make your favourite tomato pasta sauce here is one of my really hearty ones you can make well ahead or you can make a lovely simple one by frying some onion and garlic, add in a tin of tomatoes,some fresh basil leaves, a little thyme and chili and some passata sauce.
• Cook your spaghetti noodles of choice (we are really loving CT Fine Foods Pasta at the moment)
• When your noodles are almost cooked add the meatballs into your still warm cooked tomato pasta sauce for a few minutes so they become plump, warm and delicious.
• Serve bowls of spaghetti, topped with tomato pasta sauce and delicious vege meatballs.
• You can serve topped with some fresh basil leaves and a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan.

Notes

• These vege meat balls make incredible hors d'oeuvre's, make them nice and small, with an extra hit of chili and serve warm or cold on toothpicks with a great dipping sauce.
• For an alternative version:
  1 & 1/2 cups breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup quinoa crumbs,1 cup peanuts, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4 cup macadamias, 1/4 cup walnuts, 1 cup spinach, 1/2 cup basil, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, 3 free range eggs, 2 teaspoon thyme, 2 tablespoons Parmesan,
  Bash the nuts in a morter and pestal until mostly crumby. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and follow directions above. 

Toddler Tips

• This is great for toddlers who love the tomato pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles.
• Make some of the meatballs nice and toddler bite sized.

(c)RebeccaMugridge2013

Silverbeet & Kale Canneloni

Silverbeet & Kale Cannelloni 

This is one of our family FAVOURITES!!

This recipe both my own kids love and have grown up eating, it is right up there with spaghetti  bolognaise and homemade pizza as an all time favourite meal and one we cook together as it is a great kids in the kitchen meal, they can even harvest the greens for it too as i alwasy try and have plenty of silverbeet, so they are really seeing food from garden to kitchen to plate.
This can also be made ahead and frozen for a ready-made dinner. Perfect for entertaining or just a delicious family meal. Meal planning friendly. Serves 6.

Ingredients
• 1 x 500gm tub Ricotta Cheese
• 1 box gluten free Cannelloni Shells
• 1 big bunch silverbeet leaves, washed and very finely chopped (or spinach)
• 1 cup of fresh kale, washed and finely chopped (around 4 large leaves or so)
• 1 large jar Tomato Pasta Sauce (or 2 cups homemade tomato pasta sauce)
• ¼ cup grated Cheddar Cheese and 1 clove garlic very finely chopped (optional)
• Baking Dish

Method
• Preheat oven to 180’c.
• Wilt the silverbeet and kale together slightly in a saucepan on a low heat with a tablespoon of water for a few seconds only.
• Remove from saucepan, drain and squeeze all excess water out
• Mix together spinach, kale, garlic and ricotta cheese in a bowl.
• In a deep baking dish pour a thin layer of the tomato pasta sauce to make a ‘bed’ for the cannelloni shells to lay on.
• Stuff each cannelloni shell with the spinach mixture and arrange so they are touching completely filling the baking dish.
• Pour a layer of tomato mixture over the top, use a butter knife to let the sauce run down between the shells.
• Top with the grated cheese.
• Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until tubes are cooked through and it is nicely browned on top.
• Serve hot with a fresh, leafy green salad.

Notes
• This is a meal that the whole family and even fussy eaters will enjoy.
• A delicious and cheap to make recipe, even more so if you grow your own spinach and kale.
• Make a double batch so you can freeze one portion for another night.
• Halve the quantities for a smaller family meal serving size or freeze leftovers for another night.
• A popular dish for dinner parties.
• You could optionally add garlic and/or 1 teaspoon nutmeg to the mixture.
• You can use defrosted, frozen spinach
or silver-beet in place of the spinach leaves.
 Just ensure all is wilted and excess water removed


Toddler Tip
• This is a great dish for when little ones are getting into solids that are also the family meal. Cut up into really small pieces.
• It can be messy but kids love this, make their servings nice and saucy.
• A great recipe to make with the kids, they will love mixing and stuffing all the tubes.

I use kale, spinach and sillverbeet (pictured with my youngest here) in so much of my cooking, I literally put them in almost anything! Full of nutrients and so very easy to grow organically at home.
Baby spinach is just so delightful and silverbeet is almost a fail

safe to grow.
Anyone really can grow it, if your not a gardener, this is one veggie I really urge you to have a go at. It's fast growing, forgiving, attractive so you even plant in amongst established gardens and can be used in so much cooking and things like juicing.

·        

Kale (Brassica Oleracea)
As modeled here by Mr Ryan Gosling -
Image Source is a green leafy vegetable considered to be one of the highest in nutrients with many health benefits including
it is said, having anti – cancer effects so it is well
worth tracking down or growing your own.
It is very easy to grow and is an attractive green (and sometimes purple or even black depending on the variety) leafy plant.
Throw some in your flower beds for edible foliage contrast too!
Simply sew seed straight into prepared garden beds
with good drainage, in the full sun as you would cabbage. It is a quick crop making it a great vegetable to grow with kids and even on sunny balconies, in tubs and large pots. It is pretty hardy and not too bad with garden pests, though like us caterpillars and grasshoppers also appreciate its healthy lush leaves too!
There are many varieties available and it is also excellent in juicing and often made into kale “chips”.

Not a new thing. kale was in fact a very popular vegetable in the middle ages it was considered the most widely eaten vegetable in Europe. It also has ancestry in Russia and Greece and there is even a related plant that is very similar used in Chinese cooking called kale in English Brassica oleracea.While recently becoming a popular superfood in the US and Australia in recent times it is a popular food source in many parts of the world and has been for a long time. During World War II it was also in the Dig for Victory campaign  in the UK because of its nutrient content.

This recipe has been published in Holistic Bliss magazine and I also re-created it with local cheeses, styled and photographed it for client Maleny IGA Supermarket to use on their
Local Product Local Recipe - recipe card series I did for them.
Contact me for commercial ventures and proposals. 

Recipe and photography (c)RebeccaMugridge2013

RECIPE - Lentil Tomato Pasta Sauce

You are going to love this one!

Lentil Tomato Pasta Sauce

A nutritious homemade pasta sauce, beautifully served here with gluten free locally made CT Fine Foods Carrot Fettuccine Pasta, and enhanced with the local gorgeous Noosa Chili Jam! I know the Sunshine Coast is awesome!.  

Ingredients

·         1 kilo tomatoes

·         1 cup brown lentils

·         1 litre vegetable stock

·         1 onion, chopped

·         3 cloves Australian garlic, finely chopped

·         ½ cup tomato paste

·         ¼ cup Chili Jam (optional) I used local Noosa Chili Jam

·         1 tsp dried marjoram

·         1 tsp dried thyme

·         Karom Pink Himalyan salt, to taste

·         Cracked black pepper, to taste

·         1 packet pasta, I used here CT Fine Foods, Gluten Free Carrot Fettuccine Pasta

·         1 cup water, if required

Method

·         Cut tomatoes with an x on the bottom.

·         Place tomatoes in a bowl and cover with boiling water for 3 minutes.

·         Drain and allow to cool, skin should remove easily, discard skin.

·         Bring vegetable stock to the boil in a saucepan.

·         Add in lentils and reduce to a simmer.

·         In a frying pan fry onion until lightly translucent add in garlic, thyme and marjoram, stir together over a medium low heat for 2 minutes.

·         Chop up the tomatoes or put through a food processor.

·         Add tomatoes to onion mixture.

·         Stir through tomato paste, and Chilli Jam, season to taste with salt and pepper.

·         Simmer on a low heat for 45 minutes, stirring.

·        When lentils are cooked add them into the tomato mixture, add a little extra water if needed.

·         Simmer all together for 2- 3 minutes on a low heat to allow all flavours to combine.

·         Serve.

Notes

·         This is a fantastic recipe when you have plenty of tomatoes growing in the garden.

·         Tomatoes can also be de-seeded prior to chopping.

·         Make a big batch and freeze it! Great also to use in a lasagne, home-made pies and more.

·         High in protein.

Toddler Tips

·         Break fettuccini into smaller toddler friendly pieces before cooking.

·         Top with a little grated cheese and serve with crusty whole meal bread.

·         Kids love this dish but be prepared for them to get a little messy!

This recipe was a twist on an old family favourite in a recipe creation commercial project for supermarket Maleny Supa IGA and a 52 recipe card series I did.
I am available for commercial, print ready recipe creation work, with or without taste testing events, cooking demonstrations - contact me to find out more.