Mexican Black Bean Soup

Kitchen Play List: Billy Joel ~ She's Always A Woman
                                     Mr.Buble ~ Wonderful Tonight
                                     Dean Martin/Helen O'Connor ~ How Do You..
                                     Def Leppard ~ Animal
                                     Tina Turner ~ Nutbush City Limits
                                     Melissa Etheridge ~ Breathe

NB This post was originally written during the detox period and I wrote it up and for some reason couldn't bring myself to post it. Maybe it's the unattractiveness of the soup?? I'm not sure now but as my computer is still holding my files hostage and refusing to work at its correct potential I have little else to post today and I wanted to bring you a festive posting with lots of Ho Ho Ho but my Ho Ho Ho has forsaken me. So I give you this soup recipe...as you can never have too many!!..and a promise to bring regular activity and some Ho Ho Ho back tomorrow. I believe we are very nearly at the point of sorting a temporary solution to to techno problems..well one that doesn't involve a sledgehammer at least ;o) lol Thanks for your patience.. ~R~  
 

0/10 was the score we gave this soup when we first tried it. lol. Oh it was truly awful. But then I have played around with it and adapted it a lot. So it's basically the same ingredients but cooked in a completely different way. And if I'm honest the first time I attempted it, I was using dried black beans which didn't want to cook no matter how I tried. So the first attempt was made with very hard bullet like beans even after 10 hours cooking!! Since then I now use tinned precooked beans as I have seen the light! lol. I also blitz the whole soup when cooked and then add a tin of pinto/borlotti beans in at the end of the reheating time.  The original recipe also has Tomato Salsa added to it but I don't add that now. If you want the original recipe then I strongly urge you to buy yourself a copy of Rose Elliots cook book Low Fat, Low Sugar

My copy is barely holding together and I fear it's not going to last much longer. But it's such a fantastic cookbook. And it has been priceless during this detox period. Thank you Rose...

Mexican Black Bean Soup ~ not the prettiest of soups but sure is tasty! lol

Mexican Black Bean Soup Serves 4
(Adapted from a recipe in Low Fat, Low Sugar/Elliot)

1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried oregano
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 14oz carton black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14oz carton soya beans, rinsed and drained
1 14oz tin of pinto/borlotti beans, rinsed and drained
30fl oz veggie stock or water

In a non-stick saucepan add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic and cook over a low heat until softened. Add the herbs (except the parsley..) and spices to the veggie mix and stir well. Add in the drained beans and stir thoroughly. Next add in the stock or water and stir well. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add in the parsley and cook for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and then blend until smooth. Return to the heat and add in the pinto/borlotti beans and cook until the soup is reheated. 

Enjoy! 
~R~
 
 

Rocket and Roses Celery, New Potato & Thyme Soup

Kitchen Play List: Bowes & Morley ~ Illogical Love
                                     ABBA ~ Waterloo
                                     Enrique ~ Escape 
                                     Luke Morley ~ Can't Stop the Rain
                                     The Gossip ~ Yr Tangled Heart
                                     Sara Sant'Ambrogio ~ Vocalise

NB: Ooops I wrote this blog (10.10.11) the first time I was well enough to start cooking properly after a nasty illness. We were detoxing after all the drugs (Medical not recreational folks! lol) I had had to take to get well and junk we had eaten with my incapacity and My Love ridiculous working hours. And it was a blissful day when I found my creative mojo so much so I forgot to post the recipe! lol. So here it is...~R~ 

Hooray! I'm feeling well enough to start experimenting in the kitchen again. lol. For the last few weeks we have eaten a lot of soups..thanks to the wonderful energy filling detox we have been doing. We are almost reluctant to come off of it, as our energy levels have improved greatly. But that's another story. I have been making a lot of other people's recipes for soup and have loved them all. They have been thick, chunky, brothy, smooth and many other variations. 

Today I wanted a smooth, thin soup. And as my creating goes...I had one vegetable in mind and started there. The humble celery was the experiment of choice. Choice? Not sure about that but that's what I started with. I had some new potatoes that needed to be used so the soup came together quite quickly from there. 

The results were a deliciously savoury soup. The celery is almost cleansing in taste and the potatoes give the soup the smoothness. I used dried thyme and that complements the celery perfectly. A simple soup but hit all the notes that I wanted this creation to. Phew...now my creative kitchen mojo is back I can breathe a little better. lol. 

Rocket and Roses Celery, New Potato & Thyme Soup

Rocket and Roses Celery, New Potato & Thyme Soup
(Orignal recipe from the Rocket and Roses Vegan Kitchen) 

10oz celery, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp rapeseed oil
1 med onion, sliced and halved
8oz new potatoes, peeled and small dice
1 tsp dried thyme
30 fl oz veggie stock
15 fl oz hot boiling water
freshly cracked black pepper

In a soup pan heat the oil gently and toss in the celery and onion. Saute until softened. 

Add the potatoes and stir well to combine and cook for 3 minutes, stirring to avoid the potatoes catching on the bottom of the pan. 

Add the dried thyme and stir well to coat. Add the stock and boiling water and stir. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the potatoes are tender. Approx 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and blitz until smooth.   

Enjoy! 
~R~

Lentil & Parsnip Soup

Kitchen Play List: Gilbert O'Sullivan ~ What's In A Kiss?
                                     Dido ~ I'm No Angel
                                     Sara San'Ambrogio ~ Libertango 
                                     Guns & Roses ~ Sweet Child of Mine
                                     Chris Cornell ~ You Know My Name
                                     Enrique ~ Love to See You Cry
                                     Frank Sinatra ~ Night & Day

Go figure! Sometimes I look at a recipe and I can tell exactly what it's going to look like when it's finished. At first glance I pictured a thick smooth soup...then when I started to make this soup I realised it was actually very Asian inspired and it turned out to be a brothy base with lentils and veggies. Hence the asian bowls I photographed it in. lol. It was a very pleasant surprise as I had made two parsnip soups at the weekend that were smooth and creamy.

This recipe is from a cook book I bought years ago because...well...I'm a huge fan of Lindsay Wagner...yes the Bionic Woman! lol. Have been since I was a small child. So when I found out that she was also a vegan and had published a cookbook with her friend Ariana Spade..well I was on Amazon sharpish! lol. And they had a copy...the book being The High Road to Health. 

The broth is savoury due to the soy sauce, veggie stock and bayleaf. The veggies bring two extra layers of taste...firstly more savoury and then a hit of sweetness from the parsnip and carrot. It's almost a sweet and sour soup...almost. But it's a great soup with great flavours and a great change from the usual..but also excellent...smooth and creamy parsnip soups. 

Lentil Parsnip Soup ~ Parsnip Soup with a difference!

Lentil & Parnsip Soup
(Recipe from The High Road to Health/Wagner&Spade)

6 cups of water or veggie stock
1 cup of lentils (I used Continental ~R~)
3 tbsp natural low sodium soy sauce
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oil of choice
1/2 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 parsnip, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 tbsp chopped parsley
dash of ground cloves

In a very large soup pot place the water or stock, lentils, soy sauce, pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and cook until the lentils are almost tender. (The timing on this will depend on your selection of lentils! ~R~)

In the meantime, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the leek, garlic, celery, parsley, parsnip, carrots and cloves. Mix well, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. 

Add the skillet mixture to the lentils and cook for 30 minutes. (Or until the lentils are tender and the veggies cooked! ~R~)  Add 1/2 to 1 cup of boiling water to the soup if it becomes too thick. 

Remove the bay leaf before serving. Enjoy! 

~R~

Herby Green Lentil Soup

Kitchen Play List: Shelby Lynne ~ I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore
                                     Basement Jaxx ~ Bingo Bango
                                     Melissa Etheridge ~ If I Wanted To
                                     Melissa Etheridge ~ A Message to Myself
                                     American Dog ~ Give The Dog A Bone
                                     Sugarbabes ~ Freak Like Me
                                     Queen ~ You're My Best Friend

Thrifty Thursdays have now arrived!  What kind of vegan would I be if I didn't start with the good old lentil soup? It had to be done. lol. But this soup comes in at just over £1 to make and it serves 4-6 people. Which I think is good value for money and good value in goodness. From next week I shall be providing a detailed list of costs. But to get me started I hope you try this recipe as it really is a keeper ~R~ 

It is no secret by now that I love a good soup. lol. One of my favourite lentils to use in soups is the very humble continental lentil. The recipe I worked from today called for the little green lentils ~ Lentils Vert...but I decided to use continental..I was feeling rebellious! lol. You can also use fresh herbs as the recipe calls for or use dried as I did. You will get a slightly different result but each are very tasty. I would say that it's almost a 'pottage' consistency but you can add a little more stock and thin it easily. I found the recipe in that fabulous set of vegan cook books by Linda Majzilk. Have you not bought them for yourself yet? Shocking! lol. This recipe was from the delightful A Vegan Taste of France. 

This soup may look..well..greyish/green but the flavours are just great. Please don't write this soup off before you have tried it once. We loved it. The smell as it was cooking made our stomachs rumble, it smelt so good.

Herby Green Lentil Soup

Herby Green Lentil Soup
(Recipe from A Vegan Taste of France/Majzlik)

6oz/175g green lentils
6oz/175g green pepper, finely chopped
4oz/100g ripe tomato, skinned and chopped
1 celery stick, trimmed and finely sliced
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30 fl oz/900ml vegetable stock
4 rounded tbsp finely chopped fresh mixed herbs (eg oregano, thyme, basil, marjoram) or 4 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
black pepper
fresh sprigs of parsley

Soak the lentils in the vegetable stock for an hour and a half. Fry the green pepper, celery, onion and garlic in the oil in a large saucepan for 5 minutes, add the tomatoes and cook until pulpy. Now add the lentils and stock, chopped herbs and bay leaf. Season with black pepper and stir well. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes until the lentils are tender. Allow to cool slightly, then blend half of the mixture and stir this into the remaining soup in the pan. Reheat and garnish each bowl with a sprig of parsley.

Serve and enjoy...we did! 
~R~
 

Turkish-style Aubergine and New Potato Casserole

Kitchen Play List: Halfway to the Grave ~ J.Frost CD Book

I had two plump aubergines to use up and wanted to make something new with them. So I had a look through my recipe library and found this one. The photo in the book was very deceiving as the casserole looked rich, aromatic and..well..erm..juicy. lol. No really, it did! I should know better, as I know that the photos in cookbooks very rarely match the end product. Ah well...so I set about the prep and got lost in the chopping...I do..it's therapeutic for me. 

You need a very large skillet/pan for the initial stages of this recipe and quite a sizeable casserole dish. But once you have done the prep it all comes together quite quickly. I forgot to add the peas so cooked them off and put them on at the end..I think it shows on the photo. lol. 


With the selection of veggies in this recipe it was always going to be tasty but though it didn't turn out as rich as I thought it might...it did turn out very aromatic. A delicious mix of cinnamon, cumin and paprika leave you with a pleasant tasting vegetable casserole. 

It won't win any awards for it's looks...but the aroma and taste really do make up for that!

Turkish-style Aubergine & New Potato Casserole
(Recipe found in 500 Greatest-Ever Vegetarian Recipes)

4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 sm-med aubergines, cut into small dice
4 courgettes, cut into small chunks
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red or yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
4oz/1 cup of fresh or frozen peas
4oz french beans, chopped
1lb new potatoes, cubed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
5 tomatoes, halved, deseeded and chopped
1 14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
4 garlic cloves, crushed
12fl oz veggie stock
salt and ground black pepper to taste
black olives to garnish - optional

Preheat the oven to 375'F/190'C/Gas Mark 5. Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a heavy based pan. Add the onion and fry over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, until golden.

Add the aubergines, saute for about 3 minutes, then add the courgettes, peppers, peas, beans and potatoes. Stir in the cinnamon, cumin and paprika and season to taste with salt and pepper. Continue to cook for 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Transfer to a casserole dish.

Mix the fresh and tinned tomatoes in a bowl. Stir in the parsley, garlic and the remaining olive oil. 

Pour the stock over the aubergine mixture, and spoon the prepared tomato mixture over the top.

Cover and bake for 30-45 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Serve immediately, garnished with black olives and parsley. 

Enjoy! 
~R~ 

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Kitchen Play List: Gary Moore ~ Ballads and Blues Album

I have tried for years to get on board with the Carrot & Ginger Juice train. But I can't..I'm not the biggest ginger fan. I like it in things but as a main flavour it just leaves me cold...which is a great pain for My Love who adores the stuff. lol. Ah well. 

I had a glut of carrots that needed using up and I needed to make a snack soup for the following day. The day before I had been flipping through Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's cook book The Vegan Table and had briefly glanced at this recipe. To be honest the ginger did put me off at first but the photo made it look so good I decided to try it out. 

It was simple to make...used up almost all of my carrot glut...and tasted great! I was so pleased to have made this soup. It's not as sweet as I had suspected and the ginger really is more of a hint of ginger. The colour just makes you smile as it's so sunny...it's almost like you get a shot of happy at the same time. lol

Colleen's Carrot & Ginger Soup ~ Happiness! lol

Carrot and Ginger Soup
(Recipe from A Vegan Table/Patrick-Goudreau)

2 tbsp water
1 large or sm onions
2 tsp minced garlic
8 carrots, peeled and slices into circles
2 med potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp white pepper
5 cups veggie stock 

Heat the water and cook the onions and garlic until soft. Add the carrots, potatoes, ginger, salt, pepper and the stock. Cook the veggies until they are tender. Season and blitz the soup until smooth.

Enjoy the happiness! 
~R~
 

Cauliflower and Butterbean Rogan Josh

Kitchen Play List: Newton Faulkner ~ Uncomfortably Slow
                                     Mr.Buble ~ Always On My Mind
                                     Louis Armstrong ~ Now You Has Jazz
                                     Melissa Etheridge ~ If I Wanted To
                                     Melissa Etheridge ~ Mercy
                                     Slash ft Kid Rock ~ I Hold On
                                     Queen ~ We Will Rock You

Delicious, warming, sublime, complex and lovely...just a few of the words used to describe this rogan josh. Its simple to make sauce is like a sauce sent down from heaven as the coconut blends with the spices and the cloves. The cauliflower and the butterbeans are a perfect combination. You feel thoroughly spoilt after eating it. Please make this for yourself..soon. lol 

Crikey how I wish I could say that this was my recipe...I wish I was that good at creating food that tastes this divine. The creator of this recipe is Barbara Cousins and it's from her fantastic cook book Vegetarian Cooking Without 

This cook book is great for people who are trying to eliminate gluten, sugar, yeast, dairy products, meat, fish and saturated fat. Quite a few years ago I had to ditch sugar, dairy and yeast so this cook book was a life line along with Rose Elliots Low Fat, Low Sugar. I still use them both every week and they are looking a little battle worn now..lol. Every recipe I have tried in this book has been so good...well..with the exception of the PMS 'Feel Good' Cake..yikes that was bad..but one recipe out of so many good ones isn't so bad, eh? lol. 

Cauliflower & Butterbean Rogan Josh ~ sadly the photo doesn't do it justice!

Cauliflower and Butterbean Rogan Josh
(Recipe from Vegetarian Cooking Without/Cousins)

 Rogan Josh Sauce:
3 medium onions, finely chopped
1" piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 large clove garlic, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2oz creamed coconut, grated
10 fl oz boiling water
10 fl oz tomato passata
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season

1 med head of cauliflower or min 12oz, chopped into bite size florets
1 14o tin of butterbeans, rinsed and drained

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook until the onions begin to soften and slightly brown. 

Add the spices and sweat the ingredients for a few more minutes. Dissolve the creamed coconut in the boiling water. Place 2/3 of the onion mixture in a blender with the coconut and blitz until smooth then pour back into the pan along with the passata and season. Stir until combined. 

Place the cauliflower florets and butterbeans into the sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender, gently stirring from time to time.  

Enjoy! 
~R~

The Battle of the Parsnip Soups

Kitchen Play List: Evanescence ~ My Last Breath
                                     The Rolling Stones ~ Get Off of My Cloud
                                     Antonio Vivaldi ~ The Hunt, Allegro
                                     Live ~ I Alone
                                     Thunder ~ Castles in the Sand
                                     Alannah Myles ~ Black Velvet
                                     Alma Cogan & Les Howard ~ Isn't Life Wonderful?

Parsnip Soup is an essential autumnal soup in our house. We both love the pale white lovely vegetable in all it many forms but soup is probably my favourite...however My Love would argue that roasted is the best way! lol. I make varying different parsnip soups of my own creation but I do like to test out other peoples versions. So armed with my bargain bags of parsnips I set about trying out two new recipes. The first one is a Curried Parsnip Soup that I found online posted on a site with no creator name so the credit can go to that ever popular person known as Anon! Urgh! The second, Hot & Spicy Parsnip Soup, I found on beanvegan.blogspot.com and as I am a huge Garam Masala fan I knew I had to test it as soon as possible.

On the left Contender A ~ Curried Parsnip Soup...On the right Contender B ~ Hot & Spicy Parsnip Soup

Both soups were very simple to make. A simple list of ingredients with simple instructions except the author of the contender A advised letting the veggies simmer for 50 minutes until cooked...?..mine were cooked in 15 tops! Both soups blitzed easily and both were creamy and smooth...both were very thick so I added more hot water to them both and the results were still a rich and creamy soup. So, so far they were both neck and neck and it looked great too! Taste testing seemed to be the only way to make the final call. So My Love, my sister and I sat down to take one for the team and test these pesky soups! lol

Contender A ~ A very creamy texture and was very pleasant to eat. The curry powder (I used medium madras), ground coriander and cumin blend together to give a very full spiced flavour. It wasn't too hot and it was a consistent depth of flavour. The parsnip combined with carrots didn't leave you with an overwhelming sweetness to the soup which I had feared it might. A very good spiced parsnip soup. All three of us agreed heartly. 

Contender B ~ Probably slightly silkier than A and the thickness from 1 tbsp of wholemeal flour was obvious..not in a negative way. The only vegetable in this soup was the parsnip and the spices were garam masala and cayenne. Also this soup had lemon zest and juice which I only added half the amount suggested. The flavour was good, a mellow spiciness from the garam masala and then shortly afterwards you are hit with the cayenne hotness. But the overwhelming flavour is...sweetness. Not in a bad way, at all. But it lacked the savouriness that a spicy parsnip soup should have. A great soup...just a little different. 

The winner ~ Contender A Curried Parsnip Soup. The spice levels were just right and the savouriness was perfect. The sweetness of Contender B didn't really impress My Love and my sister. 

Update: 11.10.11 Had the Hot & Spicy Soup for lunch today..and wow what a change. The sweetness has been replaced with a POW of heat. It was delicious and well worth being able to feel my lips for a short while. So I highly recommend you save some and try it a couple of days later. It's almost like a whole new soup! lol ~R~ 

Let me know if you try them out and what your thoughts are? 

Curried Parsnip Soup
(Recipe by Anon)

1 onion, chopped
3 large parsnips, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 tbsp veggie oil
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 pints of veggie stock
3/4 pint of just boiled water for watering down ~ opt

In a large saucepan heat the oil and saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the parsnips and carrots and saute for another 5 minutes until they soften. Add the spices and seasonings and stir well to combine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until the veggies are tender. Approx 15 minutes. 

Blitz with a hand held blender or in a blender until smooth. If the texture is too thick for you then water down with freshly boiled water. Re-season and serve. 


Enjoy! ~R~


Hot & Spicy Parsnip Soup
(Recipe found on beanvegan.blogspot.com)

1 med onion, chopped
2 large parsnips, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 rounded tbsp wholemeal flour
4 cups of veggie stock
grated zest of 1 lemon (I used half..~R~)
juice of 1 lemon (I used half..~R~)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large pan, steam saute the onions, garlic, parsnip until softened. Stirring frequently. 

Add spices and stir well and cook for 1 minute. Sprinkle in the flour and stir very well to coat for 30 seconds then immediately add the stock, lemon juice and zest. Taste to establish the sourness. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for  15-20 minutes or until the veggies are cooked. 

Blitz the soup with a hand held blender or in a blender until its smooth. Using boiled water to water down to a consistency that you prefer. Re-season to taste and serve.

Enjoy!
~R~  
 

Rose's French Onion Soup

Kitchen Play List: The Rolling Stones ~ Ruby Tuesday
                                      Thunder ~ Robert Johnson's Tombstone
                                      Melissa Etheridge ~ Lover Please
                                      Slade ~ Everyday
                                      Thunder ~ It's All About You
                                      Madeleine Peyroux ~ Baby Please Don't Cry


Onions, onions, onions...I love them. But I love them cooked and cannot eat them raw. So if someone adds them to a salad bowl...I simply cannot eat it. Raw onion taints everything. But I haven't found of way of cooking them that I don't like. (Well cooked under, around or on meat would be the exception to that rule! Obviously.) 


Now I spent years thinking that Onion Soup was a thing of the devil! lol  But then once I started cooking for myself I quickly learnt it was the ingredients in Onion Soup I didn't like. I was horrified when I found out that beef consomme or beef stock was used to make it. And people would serve this to me as a meal...onions = veggie...Urgh! But then I also experienced a similar horror when people used to serve me up Pea Soup...made with veggie stock but still adding the ham for the smokey flavour!! I stopped eating soup...


I have made many batches of varying onion soup over the last few years and I have enjoyed them all. Some are sweeter, some are more rich and some have been very subtle in flavour. This recipe is one I found in a very much loved and much used Rose Elliot cook book Low Fat, Low Sugar. 


It's an almost white soup and depending on the situation we will be eating it in, depends on whether I leave it as it is in the photo below...full delicate strings of onions in broth or if we are on the move, I blitz it till it's smooth. Personally I love the stringy version best but no matter how I cover up with a napkin...I end up wearing some of it. It's worth it though. lol. 


This is probably my most favourite of the onion soup recipes that I have in my library. Subtle, delicious and heavenly looking. 

French Onion Soup ~ heavenly angel food! lol

Rose's French Onion Soup Serves 4
(Recipe from Low Fat, Low Sugar/Elliot)

1 tsp olive oil
1lb onions, finely sliced
1 tbsp brown rice flour
850ml/30fl oz/3 3/4 cups of veggie stock or water
salt and freshly ground pepper
1-2 tbsp chopped spring onion or chives

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add in the onions, then try them very slowly for 15-20 minutes until they're lightly browned and very tender, stirring often, particulary towards the end of the cooking time. Stir in the flour, cook for a few seconds, then pour in the stock or water. Bring to the boil, then let it simmer gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes, to cook the flour. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve with a sprinkling of spring onion or chives. 

Enjoy!
~R~
 

Onion Pumpkin with Spicy Lentil Stuffing

Kitchen Play List: Sheryl Crow ~ Strong Enough
                                     Shania Twain ~ When You Kiss Me
                                     All Saints ~ Black Coffee
                                     Queen ~ We Are The Champions
                                     Nat King Cole ~ Stardust
                                     Audioslave ~ What You Are

This recipe was one of the first recipes that I blogged about. Last time I used Acorn Squash but today I had two beautiful Onion pumpkins. And I just wanted to show you how beautiful they looked...and they tasted even better. 

Onion Pumpkin stuffed with Spicy Lentils

For the recipe click on the link below and it should take you to the original post. (I say should but you never can tell with me and technology! lol) The leftover filling was greatly enjoyed as a Tofu Omelette filling or would be great on a jacket potato. Autumn is here for sure my friends! :o) 

http://rocketandrosesvegankitchen.blogspot.com/2011/01/acorn-squash-stuffed-with-spiced.html

Go on..have some fun and get stuffing some pumpkins...lol 

NB Onion pumpkins were bought in Morrisons Supermarket..they have a splendid selection of squash and pumpkins..well usually! 

Enjoy! 
~R~