Recipe - A Vegan Christmas - Lentil Loaf

This month our recipe of the month featured an ideal Christmas Dinner for a vegetarian.  But if you have a Vegan coming to dinner don't panic!  Organic Yum-Yum is here to help with this delicious and easy to make lentil loaf.

Ingredients

A handful of mixed seeds 
250g green or brown lentils
hot vegetable stock 
2 bay leaves
1 clove of garlic crushed
1 tsp ground sea salt
4 shallots finely chopped
2 thick slices of bread made into breadcrumbs
1/2 a tin of tomatoes blended until smooth
2 tbsp mixed fresh herbs
A handful of mixed seeds
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 


Method

Pre heat the oven at 180C, 350F or Gas Mark 4


Line a loaf tin with parchment paper and grease with vegan margarine.

Sprinkle the base of the tin with the mixed seeds until it is covered. 

Wash the lentils and then place in a saucepan with the bay leaves and garlic, cover with hot vegetable stock and simmer until tender.  This can take between 20 and 30 minutes. A few minutes before the end of the cooking time add the salt.

Drain the lentils and mix in the remainder of the ingredients.  If the mixture is too moist add more breadcrumbs, if it is too dry add more tomatoes. Season to taste.

Press the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for an hour. 

Allow to cool for 15 minutes and turn out onto a serving dish. 

Organic Yum-Yum will be back in January.  


From all of us at Feelgood Organic Hampers have a great Christmas and New Year.

Recipe - Blackberry Fool

It's been very difficult to choose a recipe of the month for September. There is so much in season and I found it hard to choose between two of my favorites, blackberries and mushrooms. In the end I plumped for blackberries as there seems to be a never-ending supply of them at the moment. After much experimenting I came up with two mouthwatering desserts, both different and both deserving of the September slot. The solution was to give one to Organic Yum-Yum and one to the recipe of the month. So for blog readers here's my Blackberry Fool.

If you would like the second recipe 'Blackberry Cranachan' sign up to our mailing list on the right hand side of this page.

Ingredients

• 300g Blackberries
• 75g Sugar
• 125ml Cream
• 50g Marscapone

Method

• Reserve a handful of berries for the garnish and puree the rest with the sugar in a blender until smooth.
• Push the mixture through a sieve to remove all the seeds
• Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks, take care not to over-whip.
• Soften the Marscapone and whip into the cream, again take care not to over-whip, if you find the mixture is too thick add some extra cream.
• Stir in the blackberry puree mixture, reserving approximately a third of it for garnish.
• Place a few blackberries in the base of 4 wine glasses, layer in the cream mixture keeping a little back for decoration.
• Top with the left over puree.
• Place a dollop of the cream mixture to the top of the puree and top with the rest of the blackberries.
• Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Organic Recipe - Nettle Pesto

Although I have managed to cultivate a small portion of my garden most of it is still wild. I love looking at it at this time of year, there are so many different grasses, wild flowers and edible treats growing I am always looking for new things to do with them. When I went out this afternoon to seek some young nettles for this pesto I discovered wild chamomile, elderflower and plenty of dandelions. Somebody also suggested that I look for Borage in the garden but as yet I've been able to spot any.

At the weekend I attended a cookery course at Ryland House Cookery School and this recipe is inspired by our host Anne Neary. It can be stirred through warm pasta or diluted with lemon juice and used as a salad dressing.

Ingredients

• 1 large fistful of young nettles
• 1 tbsp of pine nuts
• 1 large clove of garlic crushed
• 150ml Olive oil
• 25g Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Remove the stems from the nettles (wear rubber gloves for this part!).
• Blanche in boiling water for 1 minute to calm down the sting.
• Drain well and dry with kitchen towel.
• Put all the ingredients except the cheese into a blender and blend until smooth.
• Stir in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe - Trifle Sponge

After a break for Christmas Organic Yum-Yum is back with our promised trifle sponge recipe. Happy trifling!

Ingredients

140g Softened Butter or Margarine
140g Sugar
1tbsp Golden Syrup
3 large eggs lightly beaten
175g Self Raising Flour
Raspberry Jam

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180c / 350f or Gas mark 4
• Grease and line two 7inch Sandwich Tins.
• Beat the softened butter and sugar into a mixing bowl, beat until smooth. Add the golden syrup and beat in until well mixed.
• Add the eggs and the flour and mix together well until mixture is fluffy.
• Divide between the two sandwich pans and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
• Allow to cool in the tins for ten minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
• Cover the top of one of both cakes with jam, sandwich together and cut into chunks for use in your trifle.

Recipe: Real homemade custard

I haven't been able to post for a while. The Christmas rush means I haven't been able to blog as often as I would have liked. So here is a recipe to thank you all for tuning in.

My recipe of the month this month which will go out to subscribers tomorrow is a special one from my Mum. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without her famous Sherry Trifle, (well it's famous in our house anyway), and as I'm spending Christmas in Ireland this year and she's over in Scotland I will have to make it myself. Because of this I've been playing with custard recipes and have decided that this is the one that will become part of the trifle this year.

Ingredients
6 egg yolks
2tbsp Corn Flour
1 dsp Sugar
1 pint of cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence and corn flour together.
Bring the cream to the boil and stir into the egg and sugar mixture.
Return to the pan and bring back to the boil stirring constantly until you have a good consistency.

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Recipe - Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

The first time that I encountered chocolate dipped strawberries was in New York about 5 years ago. NYC might be called 'The Big Apple' but having seen the size of the strawberries there I think it should be renamed!

It was the winter there at the time so I'm guessing that the giant berries that I gazed at through the window of chocolate shops were neither seasonal or organic. In spite of this my passion for chocolate strawberries was sealed. This recipe is so simple I'm sure you could have come up with it yourself. Last week at the Irish Business Women conference I had some that were double dipped in both white and dark chocolate. If I get a chance I will give these a go at the weekend and update this post with the results.

Ingredients

100g Good quality organic chocolate (dark or milk)

1 punnet Strawberries

Chop the chocolate into chunks, place into a pyrex bowl that is just the right size to sit over a pan of boiling water without making contact with the water.

Melt the chocolate over the water.

Taking the strawberries one at a time by the stalk dip three quarters of the way in chocolate. 

Place on a plate to cool.

Recipe - Sheepless Shepherds Pie

After a month off from blogging I thought I would give you all a treat and share with you one of my favorite recipes for this season. I find it goes down really well with both vegetarians and meat eaters and is a great warming, rustic, comfort dish.

Serves 4

225g lentils soaked over night (Green, Brown or Puy are best)

2tbsp Yeast extract (eg. Marmite although there are some organic ones available)

1tsp Dijon mustard

50g Butter

1 Onion

2 Carrots chopped into cubes

A handful of string beans sliced into 2cm lengths

1tsp Dried mixed herbs or 1tbsp fresh mixed herbs

450g Potatoes

1 Large parsnip

Extra butter and milk for mashing

Pre-heat the oven to 180c 350F or Gas Mark 4

Cut the potatoes and parsnip into small chunks and steam or boil for about 20 minutes until tender. Mash them together with some extra butter, salt and milk until smooth.

Add the yeast extract to one liter of boiling water. Stir in until dissolved

Cook the lentils in half of the yeast extract mixture for approximately 20 minutes or until they are tender. Drain the liquid.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the onions for a couple of minutes until soft. 

Add the chopped carrot and stir for another few minutes until they begin to soften. 

Now add the string beans and stir for another minute.

Stir in the flour until it has soaked up all the moisture from the pan. 

Slowly add the rest of the yeast extract mixture, continuously stirring until smooth. 

Mix in the Lentils, dijon mustard and herbs. Season to taste.

Pour the mixture into the bottom of an oven proof dish and top with the potato and parsnip mixture.

Make grooves through the mash with a fork and bake for 30 minutes.

If you would like to recieve a seasonal recipe every month to your inbox, join the Feelgood Organic Hampers recipe of the month.  This months recipe is spicy tomato and lentil soup.

Recipe - Amanda's Perfect Porridge

No one could have failed to have noticed the sudden drop in temperature in Ireland at the moment. I now have a grand total of three hot water bottles in my bed to keep me warm at night. In the morning there is nothing like a good bowl of porridge to help me warm up. I sell Jumbo oats from Rossinver and they have been flying off my stall at the Naas Market. My personal preference is for oatflakes, which make a lovely creamy porridge. I get mine from the health food shop and Flahavans do a lovely organic one that you can pick up in most supermarkets.

For all you porridge novices here is my fail safe quick microwave porridge recipe.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/2 a cup of porridge flakes or oats

1/2 a cup of milk

1/2 a cup of water

1 tbsp honey

A sprinkling of toasted mixed seeds (optional)

Method:

Pour the oats into a microwavable bowl with the milk and water.

Stir

Put in the microwave at full power for 2 1/2 minutes

Stir in the honey and seeds(if required)

Serve and enjoy

Recipe of The Month

It's Organic Week in Ireland this week and Feelgood Organic Hampers is launching it's "Organic Recipe Of The Month" to celebrate it.

If you would like me to send an easy to make recipe, which will help you make the best of seasonal ingredients, once a month to your inbox drop me an email at recipe@feelgoodhampers.com. 

If you have a recipe to contribute I'm giving away goodies to anyone who sends me one that I use.

For more details of what is going on for organic week check out Ollies Blog.

Recipe: Blackberry Smoothie

This Sunday, while walking by the Grand Canal I found the bramble bushes laden with blackberries. It brought back memories of going 'brambling' with my Granny as a child. We used to go out with carrier bags and fill them. The amount I used to put in my bag only equalled the amount I put in my mouth and I used to arrive home with a smile on my face and purple stained lips.

On Sunday I managed to pick enough to make smoothies with and I thought I would share the recipe with you.

Please note, if you don't have a juicer replace the bag of apples with some good quality apple juice. You can pick up some really good ones at Farmers Markets and specialist food stores.

Ingredients - Serves 2

1 large bag of organic apples juiced
A bowl of freshly picked blackberries
2 Bananas

Method

Wash the blackberries thoroughly
Pour the apple juice into a blender
Break up the bananas into small chunks and add to the apple juice
Add the blackberries and blend in short bursts until smooth.
Strain through a sieve to remove seeds.

If you want it extra cold add a couple of ice cubes before blending.

Recipe: Fruity Flapjacks

I have recently started stocking Rossinver Organic Porridge Oats and have found they work really well in this recipe. I also stock the vanilla sugar, if you can't get your hands on any you can always use a tea spoon of vanilla essence in it's place.

Ingredients:
2tbsp Vanilla Sugar
140g Organic Porridge Oats
140g Chopped dried fruit of your choice
85g Butter
2tbsp Golden Syrup

Pre-heat the oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4.
Melt the butter, vanilla sugar and syrup in a saucepan.
Remove from the heat,tir in the porridge oats and fruit and mix well.
Spread evenly into an 18cm square, greased cake tin and press down until firm.
Bake for 25 minutes.
After cooling for approximately 15 minutes slice into rectangles, I made about 8.
Do not remove from the tin until completely cool.

Recipe: Organic Blueberry Muffins

With the wide variety of organic ingredients now available in our health food stores and supermarkets it is now quite easy to bake your own organic goodies.

I made these yummy muffins this evening and we have polished off quite a few already! I stock the organic vanilla sugar and found it a good alternative to the muscavado sugar that I usually use. The only ingredient that I couldn't find an organic version of was the baking powder.

Ingredients:
350g plain white flour
1 tbsp baking powder
175g Vanilla Sugar
50g Softened butter
3 Large Eggs
150ml milk
I carton of blueberries

Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/Gas Mark 6. Line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, mix in the vanilla sugar. Whisk in the butter eggs and milk until the mixture is smooth.

Stir in the blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.