The Little Country Girl

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

wonderful wednesdays presents...

spicy vegetable soup

ingredients (makes about 4/5 portions)
1 medium-large red onion
3 medium cloves garlic

mixture of veg, as much as you want, i use-
1 potato
2 carrots
1 small sweet potato
half small swede
handful of broccoli
handful of cauliflower
handful of cabbage

200g red split lentils
half a glass (just a slosh) of tomato passata (optional-just makes it more tomatoey!)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
large pinch black pepper
pinch of salt
tin of baked beans
tin of mixed beans (optional)
2 teaspoons of red chillies (fresh or from jar)
olive oil to cook onions and garlic.

1) chop the onion and garlic and fry it gently in a large saucepan until it goes all soft and see through.

2) whilst it's cooking, chop up all your chosen vegetables. sorry if i sounded vague in the ingredients, but it's simply because you really can add as much or as little veg as you like, thats the great thing about this soup! you can either go crazy with the healthy food and put every kind of vegetable you can think of in there, or if you only have a potato and some cabbage that needs using up it will be just as tasty! :)

once chopped, add all the veg to the onions and garlic, along with the red lentils and mixed beans.

bang in the salt and then cover with water and simmer until the lentils are cooked. (they'll go all fluffy!)

3) once the lentils are cooked, add the tomato passata, the sugar and the pepper.

4) now simply add the baked beans and the chillies and stir it all up!

simmer until the veg is cooked, then i usually blend half of it, so it's just the right amount of chunky :)

serve with crusty bread (or personally i like crackers!) in pretty bowls and enjoy! :)

lovebirds

hello hello hello! feel like i haven't been blogging as much as i would like, but i have been being a busy little bee and scribbling away on a little collection called 'boy meets girl'.
i was thinking, what with v-day looming and love being all around and all that jazz, i may jump onto cupid and grab his bow for a little while. i'm sure he won't mind.
i am planning to get an online shop going sooooonly, so stay tuned. i wana fill it with pretty little things, cards and bags and cushions and drawings and jewellery and other bits and pieces... would this be something of interest to you lovely people?
the collections i'm working on at the moment are 'freedom skies', 'boy meets girl' and 'kiss my teapot'.
heres some sweet little lovebirds...don't they make you just wana eat chocolate, watch mushy films and go for long walks where you can skip merrily through fields of long grass whilst the wind lifts your hair and you sing along with wild animals? or maybe thats just me...

loveeeeee x

Friday, 13 January 2012

strawberries and squiggles presents fabulous fridays

freedom
the birds with big feet

so a princess awoke one friday morning and looked out upon the kingdom and sighed. from her castle window she could see far and wide, but as she gazed over the town, it's streets paved with gold, she realised she was unhappy.
she fled from her room and pleaded with her father to make her happy.
'my dear, you have everything you could possibly want; you walk on golden floors, you drink spring water that promises ever lasting life, you wear dresses spun from the most beautiful spiders silk, your castle is made from ruby's and emeralds, jugglers follow you should you need entertaining, our golden streets are filled with the sweetest music and you have the sweetest fruits to feast upon. i will give you anything you desire, but my dear, what else is there to want?'
'my dear father, i wish for one thing and one thing alone. i wish to hear the wild birds song. i do not wish for cages, take them away. i do not wish for gold or emerald or ruby. take them away. i only wish to be free, to have the simplest of pleasures. the birds song.'
that very same day the princess moved into a small stone cottage, a days ride by horse and carriage from the castle. she no longer walked on gold, but instead on earth, and she found the warmth comforting.
days swept by, and her fathers anger did not relent.
then, one day, her father came to visit. when he saw that his daughter was finally happy, that she no longer frowned but smiled instead, he forgave her.
'i promised you i would give you anything you wished for. what do you wish my dear?'
'i wish to hear the wild birds song.'
her father left, and the next morning the princess awoke to the sweetest of sounds. upon opening her window she looked out and saw her fathers gift.
the birds sang a song she called freedom.

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

wonderful wednesdays presents chocolatey peanut butter cuties

how are we all this wonderful wednesday? feeling wonderful i hope? well these little cuties are guaranteed to make you feel like you're skipping through a field in summertime :)

chocolatey peanut butter cuties

ingredients
(makes about 20 ish)
4oz peanut butter
4oz vegan margarine
4oz sugar
4oz plain flour
4oz oats (the smaller porridge oats are the bestest)
few drops of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
pinch of bicarbonate of soda
splash of water (about 3 teaspoons)
vegan milk and white chocolate

1) get yourself a pretty little mixing bowl (i recently bought a lovely shiny red bowl with the words 'let them eat cake' written around it, which makes me just oh so happy).

then, using a good wooden spoon, mix together the margarine and peanut butter.

2) add the vanilla extract and stir it in, then add the sugar and beat until beautiful and fluffy.

a good quality vanilla extract makes for the bestest of cakes :)

DON'T BE FOOLED INTO USING VANILLA ESSENCE...YUCKY STUFF!

i used lovely soft brown sugar for a warmer taste, but caster or cane is all good too

3) sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt

4) add the oats and the water (if needed) and mix it all together into a wonderful mushyness!

5) i then shaped them into hearts and laid them onto a baking tray. feel free to create them in any shape your beautiful heart wishes :)

bake them at about 190c for around 15 minutes or until golden brown, but keep a watchful eye on the edges so they don't burn!

6) melt some of your favourite chocolate and drizzle as much as you want alllll over the yummy cuties.

(to melt the chocolate just simply fill a saucepan with a few inches of water and place a heat proof bowl over the top, then place your chosen chocolate into the bowl and just bring the water to the boil and watch your chocolate melt).

place them onto a wire rack to cool and then EAT.

mucho love and all that jazz x

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

strawberries and squiggles presents wonderful wednesdays

wonderfully spicy tomato and lentil soup

ingredients (makes enough for 2-3 people)
one medium-large red onion
three medium cloves of garlic
300g of red split lentils
one tin of chopped tomatoes
one teaspoon (add more if you like it really spicy) of fresh chopped chillies or from a jar (i use the ready chopped chillies from a jar to save time)
a good sprinkling of mixed herbs (dried herbs are always perfectly good)
salt and pepper to taste
enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your saucepan

1) roughly chop the red onion, there's no need to be precise as you're going to blend it all up later.

2) softly fry the onion in the olive oil until it goes soft and more see through.

3) whilst that's cooking, chop the garlic. i find that if you first crush the garlic slightly and then chop it, it brings more of the flavour out. (the simplest way to crush it, is to place the blade of your knife flat on top of the garlic clove, and press down firmly onto the flat blade with the palm of your hand.) these are the size garlic cloves i used, but if you're a fan then feel free to garlic it up! (the knife is a small kitchen knife)

4) add the tin of chopped tomatoes and the chopped garlic to the onion and simmer for a few minutes.

5) remove from heat and stir in the lentils so that everything's mixed together.

6) boil the kettle and then add enough hot water to completely cover the lentil mixture plus about an inch of water on top. stir to make sure nothing it stuck to the bottom of the saucepan and then cover with the lid. bring to the boil and then turn down to low heat and simmer for about 15-20 mins, or until the lentils have swollen up and gone all fluffy. (if it's too dry add more hot water at anytime.) stir it every 5 mins so the bottom doesn't burn.

it should look like this when it's cooked

7) add the chopped chillies and stir them in.

8) blend it all up! i use a hand blender, just because i find it easier and it means i don't have to wash up another jug! also, if you like chunkier soup then only blend it roughly for a few seconds. this is naturally quite a thick soup because of the lentils, but you can always add more hot water to thin it if you wish.

9) now add the mixed herbs and a good load of salt and pepper and stir it all in.

this soup goes great with seeded, wholemeal bread cut thickly, or a wholemeal baguette. or, if you're like me and can't eat bread because of wheat or yeast allergies, (or if you fancy a change from bread) then may i suggest ryvita's sesame crispbread :)

thats it! you're done! now serve it up in pretty bowls and enjoy!

all of my recipes always are, and always will be completely vegan :) x

Sunday, 1 January 2012

resolutions

number one
visit two new places, someplace i decide and someplace not of my own choosing.

number two
finish the book i have already started and look at publishers.

number three
begin another book.

number four
begin saving money.

number five
read more.

number six
start blogging on a set day each week...shall we say 'wonderful wednesdays'?

x

Friday, 30 December 2011

time to brush off the chalk and begin once again

these aren't a years worth of pictures, and neither do they show my year in its entirety. they are merely a glance back through at the times that brought a smile.

january