Stuffed Butternut Squash with Tomato Chickpea Sauce Recipe

Stuffed Butternut Squash with Tomato Chickpea Sauce Recipe

OH MY GOSH I seem to have acquired an actual working oven!! This is wayy too exciting for me, life without an oven isn't impossible, just makes life a little more difficult. Plus having to fry everything isn't the most healthy way to live!!

I have been ridiculously busy today, toddlers are really amazing, but exhausting! If you still have a toddler running around, trying to sleep in the cupboards or taking things out the fridge, giving them a few tasks to do with this will keep them occupied and be pretty helpful! Anyway, FOOD!

What you need:

1 Butternut Squash

Punnet Mushrooms

Basil

1 Onion

2 - 3 Cloves Garlic

1 Tin Chick Peas

Carton of Passata (or tin of tomatoes)
Cherry Tomatoes (optional)

Bag of Spinach
10 olives

Salt/Pepper

1 tsp chilli powder 

Olive Oil

What you need to do:

• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees
• Slice the Butternut Squash in half, scoop out the seeds with a spoon
• Lattice (make grooves across and down the flesh) but very lightly (treaadd lightly)
• Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put in the oven for 45mins - 1 hour (depending on how big it is - check with fork for softness!)
• MEANWHILE... (in another universe)
• Chop mushrooms finely.. I got my daughter Esme to chop them with a blunt knife, and then went over with them with a sharp one. Alternatively throw them in the food processor.
• Chop 3-4 leaves of Basil and 3/4 bag of Spinach finely, then 1-2 large cloves of garlic, and the onion, as finee as you possible can!! Try to chop the olives, if your 3 year old doesn't try to eat them all.
• Fry up the onion, garlic, olives and mushrooms with a slug of olive oil. Put to the side
•  In another pan, fry 1 clove of garlic, empty a tin of chick peas and the passata, and stir. Add the chilli powder, cherry tomatoes and 3-4 leaves of basil (roughly tear up), cook on low heat, then turn off.
• If you have time, put your feet up for 10 minutes! I went for a run, like a crazy person.
• Check the butternut squash, if getting softer, move onto next step
• Turn on the heat to the mushroom mixture, add the spinach and basil, and heat for a few minutes.
• Once wilted, scoop into the hollow parts of the squash, and bake for another 10-15 minutes
• Heat the tomato sauce through, place onto plate with extra spinach if you fancy :)
• Serve, eat YUM! I added seeds and nutritional yeast to mine, but then I am obsessed with nutritional yeast.

Extra Puddingy part!:

I spotted a discounted pineapple at my local co-op, so I thought it was only fitting to do something with it. Spending hours making a roasted butternut squash didn't leave a lot of time to cook anything else. So I just threw something together:

All you need is: 1 Pineapple, Coconut Cream (just buy coconut milk in a tin, scoop the cream off the top - I bought quite a few of these on offer for 3 for £2), Sweet Freedom or syrup of your choice, Coconut oil (not required, just tasty!)

What you need to do is: Cut the pineapple into rings (or just buy ones in a tin!), prepare a baking dish with a little coconut oil. Place the pineapple rings on the dish, add a little sweet freedom/maple syrup/anything and bake or grill for 5-10 mins. Add the coconut cream and voila! Pudding! 

Time to zzzz
 Hannah x

All The Kale Please Vol. II..The Coconut Edition

All The Kale Please Vol. II..The Coconut Edition

I was inspired today by going on a play date with Esme. The kids were eating Thai Green Curry and the house just smelled amazing! It made me SUPER hungry! So I thought, what do I have in my cupboards or fridge that can even remotely replicate this? Being the beginning of the month, we had slightly more of an abundance of food than usual. So this means..KALE!! YUM!!

It was definitely a 15 minute throw everything together sort of meal! But pretty delicious and worth it :)

Note: This does not taste like Green Curry, but the nearest I could get with the ingredients in my cupboards!!

What you need: (feeds 2-3 people)

Tofu (1/2 block for 2 people)

Kale (1/2 bag, more if needed!)

Olive Oil/Coconut oil

Rice

Onion

Garlic (2 Cloves)

1 tbsp flour (GF)

1-2 tsp chilli powder

Salt & Pepper

Tin of Coconut milk
Seeds

What you need to do (apart from save the world)

• Put on enough rice to feed ALL the people
• Fry Onions and Garlic for a couple of minutes, throw in the chopped tofu. Saute until Tofu is brown
• Add the Kale, saute, then the chilli powder.
• Scoop the cream off the top of the coconut milk
• Add the flour, stir, then the water from the tin of coconut milk
• The sauce should thicken, add as much coconut cream as you think is needed!
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Decorate with seeeds
• EATS!!!

Hannah xx

Pumpkin Muffins ! - Vegan Mama Noms

Pumpkin Muffins ! - Vegan Mama Noms

Ermergerd! Purmpkin Murfins!!! Is what I probably said when Kate bought over these muffins.It was a rather exciting day, we had just eaten delicious tacos, so this was a sweet treat! Kate is the queen of baking ( I'm more of a fling everything together and run away sort of woman!), so is excellent at finding these recipes!!

You can find the original recipe here I have attempted the cups to grams conversion!!

What you need: ( Apart from £1000000)

210g Flour

225g Sugar (or other sweetener - depending on your taste)

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

220g Pureed Pumpkin/ fresh

118 ml Soy Milk

118 ml vegetable oil

2 Tbsp Molasses 

What you need to do:    (bring me food)

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees
• Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices
• In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, soy milk, oil and molasses.
• Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and MIX!
• Fill the muffin cups 2/3rds full
• Bake for 18-20 mins, to check insert a knife or a toothpick - if comes out clean they are cooked!
• Eat them ALL!

Muffins ala Kate!

Vibrant Kate Goes Vegan! - Vegan Mama Noms

Vibrant Kate Goes Vegan!

Reblogged from August 2014

I have decided to go Vegan, so I thought I would give my reasons here, and anyone who's curious about it can read it. I used to think being Vegan was a bit extreme, but now I feel like it is the right choice because:

• The short answer - I am not a baby calf. That is who cow's milk is intended for.
• The 'moment of realisation' answer : I love breastfeeding my son, it is one of the most special privileges of motherhood. One evening I reflected that if I was a cow, I'd never get to enjoy this because my baby would have been taken away and I'd be strapped to a milking machine instead. That seemed wrong. That was when I made my decision. 
• The 'embedded memory provides context' answer: Back in the summer of 1992,when I was nine, and Linford Christie was charging along at the Barcelona Olympics, we stayed on holiday at a farm. There was a sad baby calf there, who had just been taken away from it's mum, and the sound was terrible.
• The flippant answer 1: I've been vegetarian for nineteen years, and it's just too easy to eat our as a veggie now.
• The flippant answer 2: I find it easier to decline a chocolate bar based on ethical principles rather than willpower
• The well read answer: However lovely and organic and caring the farm, animal and bird farming practices are still pretty grim. I wasn't especially educated about this as a town dweller, but it didn't take much online research to make me feel uncomfortable about colluding with it.

Realism footnote: I am quite spontaneous, I like visiting people and am always delighted to be fed. Until I have worked out what foods to bring with me or what foods in my friend's cupboards might be suitable I am happy to eat veggie out and about

FAQ:

1. Yes, I am ok with you eating meat and dairy in front of me.
2. No, I am not bringing up my son to be vegan, he can make that choice when he's old enough.
3. Yes, I feel sure I will receive all the nutrients I need 

I am so excited about my diet, it feels right! Thank you for all your positivity about it!

*Update* Kate is currently winning with veganism

Vegan Pancake Day!!

Vegan Pancake Day!!

 Oh hai!

Didn't see you there!

I was too busy EATING DELICIOUS PANCAKES!!

I thought I'd make an actual effort this pancake day, so I searched around the internet for pancake recipes. I did notice that a lot of them were American (when it says ''put 1/2 a cup in - I think, now how can I stir in this cup?) but managed to find a recipe with grams in, and tweaked it! (Original link at the bottom!)

So here it is! Vegan, Gluten Free Pancakes!!

What you need is: ( Some Ingredients)

275g Flour ( I used Dove's Gluten Free)

2 tsp Baking Powder (GF)

250 ml Rice Milk (or soy/coconut/almond - just what I had in!)

125 ml Water

Pack of Blueberries

Sweet Freedom or Maple Syrup (sweetener)

Oil for frying

What you need to do is:

* Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the baking powder and stir. Make a well in the middle (or a hole in the flour - hehe!)

* Mix the Milk, Water and a good squirt of the syrup into a jug, mix

* Pour the milk mixture into the bowl with the flour

* Give it a gooood mixing!

* Add about 3/4 of the Blueberries

* Happen to have a frying pan nearby

* Put some oil in the pan and heat!

* When HOT add a dessert spoonful or two into the pan, you can make maybe two or three little pancakes using the space

* Fry until golden, then FLIP

* While flipping you may squish the blueberries, do not worry about this, as they will be in your tummy soonish.

* When golden on the other side, remove from pan, cover in syrup, put a few blueberries on top.

*Repeat until batter is finished

*Scoff them all

Enjoy! 

Original Recipe

*Hannah*