Broccoli and Ginger Soup

Ah so its the weekend and i am pleased not to be doing anything, other than be lazy.

I had planned to do a bit of weeding in the garden, but the dark clouds have been gathering spitting droplets of water, sometimes falling fast, sometimes falling slow, its still rain.  

There was mention of thunder, but i don't know if that has already passed by whilst we slept, as the ground was wet when I opened the curtains this morning.  I slept relatively well, but was disturbed a few times as D's mobile phone kept bleeping becasue it needed recharging.  It was in that moment of wake and sleep that i realised I had been dreaming of working and workplace interactions.  I need to seriously switch off.  I do have a long week annual leave coming up in July, so that will be nice when it arrives.  I can perhaps switch off and read some new fiction and non fiction books by Black writers and writers of colour that are beginning to pile up. This reminded me of books I had when i lived in Glasgow and gave away to Oxfam bookshop and a Women's Library, as well as a community centre when we moved to Wales. I was sad to part with them, but was happy they went to a place where i think some of the new recipients would appreciate them.  I was also reminded of some books that i kept and held back, either because they were dear to me or were of value.  These are still with me but boxed up that i need to revisit them, perhaps a task for when i am on my annual leave and have more time on my hands as were not going anywhere anytime soon on holiday, home or away.

I had planned to make a bookmarked Broccoli and Ginger Soup, but instead found myself adapting the last Broccoli Soup recipe that I shared on the blog.  

Though it does not look that exciting,  i felt nourished. it felt healing to eat. I loved the ginger and it warmed my throat with its natural fire and the blended greens was goodness in a bowl. 

I am sharing this Broccoli and Ginger Soup recipe with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Broccoli and Ginger Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
250g or thereabouts broccoli, chopped
800ml vegetable stock

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger or minced

1/2 teaspoon ginger powder (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a wide pan, and saute the onions until translucent, then add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes without colouring.  
Then stir in the broccoli and the freshly grated ginger, ground ginger and cook for a few minutes before stirring in the vegetable stock.
Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Turn off the heat, allow to cool before blending either with a hand blender or in a liquidiser.
Reheat season to taste before serving.

Sticky and Fiery Crystallised Ginger Cake

Hope your all keeping well.

Other than the garden, I have not stepped outside of the house since we were advised to stay (and work from) home to protect ourselves and the NHS and save lives.  As I am not having to commute to and from work, I am finding that I have more time on my hands (and energy) in the evening, so am trying to find some distractions to remain upbeat, one of which is doing some baking with whatever ingredients we have in the house. Here's a Crystallised Ginger Cake I made last week, but more about that in a moment.

I  was also was thankful the good weather as it permitted me to go and finish off the weeding and digging.  As many of you will know, the past few weekends and months in fact have been dreary, wet and damp, so I was  little pleased that I was able to spend most of my Saturday and Sunday in the garden tidying it up for the next lot of planting .  

Here are some pictures of the garden. I know I should have done a before and after, but I wanted to get stuck in and get my hands dirty. 

I have cleared the whole plot of weeds, clumps of grass, removed last year climbing bean frames and wigwams.  What you can see above is the plum tree starting to bud.  Below it is our strawberry patch and in the corner you can just about see the rhubarb coming into its own.   

Every gardener knows gardening is a never ending job, but I was pleased with my achievement as I looked back - no weeds.   

The Rainbow Chard is still growing strong and is giving the garden colour.  I have harvested Ruby chard leafy stems for a Cheese Quiche filling, but have decided to leave the rest in the ground until I come to cook with them in the upcoming days (and possibly weeks) that way they will remain fresher, then the ground will be dug over and free for the next lot of incoming plants. 

I also dug out some potatoes (not shown), and still wondering if they are okay to eat?!

The above picture shows our pear tree. The invasive mint, Artichoke and raspberry patch which is in need of some weeding.   I am sharing this blog post with Dave over at Happy Acres who hosts Harvest Monday every week.

Now back to the Crystallised Ginger Cake.  Ginger as we know has many health benefits, one of which is its good for colds and flus, so it can only be good for us especially at this time. 

This cake has double the dose of ginger: ground ginger and crystallised ginger (and could have taken a triple dose with freshly grated), but I thought I'd hold back this time round.  It was spicy with a little bit of fiery and proper sticky topping - reminisce of old fashioned Jamaica Ginger Cake.  I don't know if it was doing us any good medicinally, but it was hitting the happy spot.  D liked it so much that he said I can make it again.  By the way if you do bake this, the crystallised ginger may fall to the bottom, but you can flip the cake over.
Other Ginger Recipes
Beetroot and Ginger bread Muffins
Gingerbread Pancakes
Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins (vegan)
Vegan Chocolate Ginger Cake (vegan)
Orange Gingerbread Slices
Rhubarb and Ginger Loaves
Rhubarb and Gingerbread Loaf

Some Festive Eats over Christmas

I hope my readers had a good Christmas break.  I had a good one and I must confess I am pleased as I am still on my holidays, I don't go back until after the New Year.  

So with some time on my hands, I thought I would share some homemade festive eats.

A very simple and easy recipe for pinwheels made to look like a Christmas tree.  These are green wraps filled with hummus, strips of yellow, orange and red peppers, rocket and spring onions.  

Vegan sausage roll bites in two flavours: apricot and yellow pepper; the other was beetroot and horseradish served with Smoked Paprika Ketchup.

Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata bites.

As well as the homemade chocolate 'salami', I made another festive bookmarked recipe from the Green Gourmet Giraffe, this time for Gingerbread Cookies.  This was also actually an excuse to play with my box of eclectic cookie cutters.   

Pear, Apple and Ginger Crumble

My husband picked up two bags of pears a couple of weeks back, I have to say I don't like it when he does this, as he never eats the fruit fresh and it sits there, for days, no for weeks going dark and very soft.  I often think its a ploy on his part.  He knows I won't let the fruit go to waste or even the compost bin, and secretly wishes them to somehow magically be transformed into cake or some other sweet thing, and often his little fairy grants his wish.  I wish my little fairy would make me cake!

Anyway, I did originally have intentions on making this Savoury Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Tart, and still may do as I still have half a dozen brown freckled pears left over, but at the weekend I ended up making a belly warming Pear, Apple and Ginger Crumble.  

Its been a long while since I've made a pear crumble, the last time was in my first year of blogging and it was with hazelnuts.  This was different in that it had no nutty crunch, but it had warmth and a little fire from the fresh ginger.  I served this golden pear, apple and ginger crumble simply with some home-made custard, but cream or ice-cream would have been nice too.  

Vegan Gingerbread Men Cake

If you like ginger, then you will like these Gingerbread Men Cakes.

Some of you may remember early in the year I made some vegan gingerbread cake. They did look quite plain, so I promised you that I would use my gingerbread cake men moulds, well here they are. These are the same moulds I used for my Halloween Beetroot Pies.  Unlike it's biscuit brother, these are softer to eat, and the ginger comes through quite strong. 

Oaty Ginger and Plum Crumble

My father gave me some plums that have fallen off the tree in the garden both due to ripeness and weight.  The nippers (nephews and nieces) were not that keen on them, so they were looking for someone to offload them on to.  I gladly obliged.  I had ideas of making my Almond, Plum and Thyme Tart.  But as the days went by, sunny on some and dark and grey on others, my thoughts turned to a homely plum crumble: one that I've made before, infused with fiery ginger.  I like ginger, there is something warming and healing about it.  This particular crumble is also made with rolled oats, I like the additional chewy texture it offers.   

Vegan Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

I am off to the theatre later this evening to watch Facade: that promises to be an intimate and theatrical three course meal, during which, drama unfolds.  I believe the theatrical part, but not sure about the intimate part - especially as there will be a fair size audience.  Nevertheless, I am genuinely  looking forward to it and hope to share more about it later on in the week.  I am also looking foward to putting on my glad rags and some rouge for the cheeks and lips.  Its been a while, since I've spruced up andmoreso eaten out. 

Anyway, onto some cakey delights - today I share with you some vegan chocolate gingerbread cakes.    

Part of me wished  I had one of those silicone gingerbread people moulds (a bit like the heart shaped moulds I used for my Valentines strawberry jelly) and then this would have been so darn cute to serve. Maybe next time, unless of course you beat me to them.

Regardless of how they look, one person who had the cake said it was so delicious, he couldn't help scraping the last of the cake remnants from the baking parchment paper. 

I am sharing this with Choclette and Chele  for their monthly We Should Cocoa Challenge. The theme for February is ginger and it is hosted by Jen of Blue Kitchen Bakes.

Chocolate Gingerbread
Makes 6 - 8 or 1x  8 inch round baking tin
Ingredients
30g cocoa powder
180g plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2½ teaspoon ground ginger
165g brown sugar
200ml strong brewed coffee, cooled
100ml vegetable oil
60g crystallized ginger, chopped
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Method
Heat the oven to Gas Mark 5. Oil an 8 inch round baking tin or 6 - 8 round/oval cake tins lined with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in the sugar. In a small bowl, combine the coffee with the oil and whisk. Then beat the liquid into the dry ingredients. Stir in the crystallized ginger, and then quickly stir in the vinegar.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a toothpick in the centre of the cake comes out clean.  These are better served the following day.

Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins

I know I should be making some darling gingerbread people or star and Christmas tree-shaped gingerbread biscuits this time of year. The truth is making sweet biscuits aka cookies from scratch has never been my strong point.  They always seem to lack bite and crunch.  It is something I hope to remedy next year when I move closer to family with children and will have plenty of time to experiment on willing human guinea pigs. 

Anyway, all this is way of saying that I ended up making some Carrot Muffins with a fresh grating of ginger.  You may think the fresh ginger would be overpowering, but actually its not.  It just gives a fresh clean taste. I should also point out that these are not very sweet.  These have just enough sweetness for what I think is a good breakfast cake!

The only thing about them that made me raise my eyebrows, was its rather odd shape.  Maybe I was a bit heavy-handed with the sifting of the flour, but upon baking they bloomed pointy upwards - looking more like acorns than chubby muffins.   Still they were nice to eat with a mug of coffee.   

Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
Makes 9
260g plain flour
100g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2   medium carrots, grated
200ml milk
2 eggs
60ml vegetable or olive oil
2 - 2½ tablespoons ginger, freshly grated
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 6.
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, then stir in the carrots and the wet ingredients.   Stir gently until combined.  Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Adapted from The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. 

Beetroot and Gingerbread Muffins

If you like gingerbread cake, then you are going to like these beetroot and gingerbread muffins. 

I made these muffins a little while ago - in between travelling to and fro Essex and Wales from Scotland.  So I can't rant on about them as much as I would like, but I do remember them being extremely sweet and sticky and such a delight to eat.  Each bite was soft with a burst of spicy warmth from the stem ginger pieces.

A bit like Brussels sprouts, I have an aversion to beetroot.  But I must admit since starting my blog, my opinion of beetroot has changed a lot (can't say the same for sprouts!).  I am not saying that I love beetroot, no no - but I don't dislike it either.  However when beetroot is cooked like this, grated and lost in a sweet crumby cakey textures, how can you not try?!

I saw the recipe for these beetroot and ginger muffins on the Love Beetroot website.  Its aim is to share the beautiful side of this earthy crimson vegetable.  Its history, some beetroot facts, its health benefits as well as encouraging us, namely us Brits to eat more beetroot by sharing a growing collection of beetroot recipes.  Some of these recipes were familiar to me, such as: beetroot dips, beetroot salads, beetroot pancakes, and of course the recently fashionable beetroot - chocolate cake.  But alongside the familiar were a number of  new recipes such as the beetroot bread, American style beetroot pie, beetroot, raising and stem ginger pudding - and the one that tempted me was the sticky ginger and beetroot muffins.  

The original recipe uses cooked beetroot, I decided to use 'raw beetroot' which gave the muffins a slightly pleasant chewy texture.  The original muffin recipe does have a ice glazing, but I decided to give this a miss as the muffins were extremely sweet.  I am sharing some of these muffins with Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes who is hosting Bookmarked Recipes, a monthly blog event initiated by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments, as well as to Karen's at Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked for the launch of their "Tea Time Treats" and a challenge of "Bonfire Treats and Ginger".  This is also linked to  Mom Trends who is hosting Friday Food.

Beetroot and Ginger Muffins
Makes 12
Ingredients
200g golden syrup
200g black treacle
150g unsalted butter
125g dark brown sugar
100g stem ginger, diced
4 teaspoon ground ginger
250g raw or cooked beetroot, grated
250ml milk
2 medium eggs, beaten
1teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
300g plain flour
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, line a 12 hole muffin tray with cases.
In a saucepan , add the golden syrup, black treacle, butter, dark brown sugar, stem ginger and both ground ginger. Warm gently until butter and sugar have melted.
Whisk the eggs with the milk, then stir in the grated beetroot and bicarbonate of soda.
Once the butter and sugar have melted, take the saucepan off the heat and add the milk, eggs and beetroot.
Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and beat in the wet ingredients until they are smooth.  the  batter will be quite runny, so don't be alarmed (I was).
Fill the muffin cases with the batter - this is easier if you use a jug - and bake in the preheated oven until firm but springy to the touch. Be careful not to overcook the muffins. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a rack.  These muffins keep really well for a few days in an airtight tin. Original recipe can be found here.