Warm autumn soups

It is one of the best things when it becomes chillier in autumn - to make hot soups. I am hugely ffond with all kinds of pureed soups. Here are a few ones I made recently, which I liked really much! Really simple but good. Root vegetables are a Big Word.

Red turnip-soup

1 large turnip
1 beetroot
1 small onion (or half big)
salt & pepper

Peel and slice the vegetables into a kettle, and pour water just enough to cover them. Let simmer under cover until soft. Puree with a blender and add salt and pepper to your liking.
I didn't really add any spices here, because it tasted so velvety and soft on it's own, the apple gives a nice flavor. But I ate this with blue cheese and sprouts!

Beetroot-celery soup

4-5 beetroots
1 red onion
few garlic cloves
4-5 stems of celery
few tbsp coconut milk
coconut oil
herbs, cumin seeds, salt, pepper

Peel and dice the onion and garlic, saute them in the coconut oil for a while. Add the celery and beetroots, pour water until they are just covered. Let simmer under cover until soft. Add spices and coconut milk, puree with a blender. Taste if needs to be added something. Serve with roasted sun flower seeds.

Rhye-flaxseed rieska

I craved for something warm and I craved for bread. I found an inspiring recipe of a rhye-bread on a flax-seed package, and I used the idea from it. I ended up making these flat breads, which they call "Rieska" in finnish.

Rhye-flaxseed FLATbreads!

3 dl sesameseed (or any other, like oat, coconut) milk
(soaked sesameseeds+few figs, dash of salt & cardamum and blended with water)
1 tsp of baking soda
½ tsp of baking powder
dash of salt
cumin seeds
few tbsp of sugar / syrup
½ dl flax seeds (whole)
about 5 dl rhye flour

Mix all the ingredients except for the flours, add them last. The batter becomes quite thick but sticky. Let the oven heat in 200 degrees. Take small balls of dough and pat them into round flat breads on the baking sheet. Stick with a fork and let bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until slightly brown. Enjoy warm with a splash of olive / coconut oil (or butter), salt, pepper and herbs!

Pies and food.. but just one recipe

I made so many delicious things in the summer, but this time I only want to write down the pie-recipe we used last night for making lingonberry-pie for dinner. I mean as a dinner. I'll post images later on.. I'm just lazy. But our recipes are always so good and successful that I have to start writing them down more often! Here of course you can use any berries you wish, we just had a craving for lingonberries. Or at least I did.

Lingonberry-pie

The base:

Wet mixture:

0,8 dl oil (we used coconut oil, feel free to use butter etc)
1,5 - 2 dl oat milk
1,5 dl muscovado sugar

Dry mixture:

5 dl flour
1 large teaspoon of baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
spices : cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg

200 g lingonberries

Mix separately the dry and wet parts and after that whisk together. If the batter seems to sticky add some liquid. Heat the oven in 180 degrees and pour the batter on a round pie casserole (the base becomes quite thick this way, you can use also baking tray to make a thinner pie) and put on the lingonberries. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes (or until the base seems cooked), and if you wish add after that some crumbles :

2 large tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 dl oat flakes

Mix together the oil and sugar, add oat flakes. Pour evenly on the lingonberries, and cook for another 5-10 minutes until slightly brownish.

Kitchen meme

How do you enjoy your coffee/tea?

Usually I drink tea - coffee is a speciality for me, and then it should be of good quality and well made. I prefer tea plainly as it is, in winter I tend to use honey, but not much and it must be solid (the running kind of honey seems to be sweeter). I'm up for everything except for black tea or cheap teabags. Green & herbal teas are good. Fruity teas not. When I drink coffee I usually take a cappuccino, or then coffee made in a pan (or a presso-pan) just plain or with hot milk.

What's your favourite breakfast?

It depends, on the season and what I'm doing. Often I like just plain liquid breakfasts, water, tea and some fresh squeezed orange juice for example. Or then smoothies, raw porridge (i became so fixated with this last winter, I ate so much raw porridge - just soaked over night in oat milk, seeds and some berries and indian sugar&spices, yam). Or just fruit.

Peanut butter?

YEs... But I have to keep myself from buying or making it too often because I spend one can in a wink of an eye. ;) All the nut spreads are a weak spot, tahini even more. (By the way, banana with peanut butter/tahini is super)

What kind of a dressing do you want with your salad?

Olive oil&vinegar

Coke or Pepsi?

Neither

You're feeling lazy, what will you make?

Eat fruit, yoghurt? Tea? Skip?

You feel like cooking, what will you make?

Start composing with the ingredients, take a recipe but do it differently in the end. IT depends ;O)

Does some dish give you bad memories?

Yes. Spinach soup from the early school years, and some salty porridge we had one time. Those are the few times I couldn't eat because the food made me feel like puking.

Does some dish remind you of someone?

Of course. Kampanisut reminds of my grandmother in the north, also makaronilaatikko (macaron casserole). Some certain candies remind me of my childhood friends (still friends though). Chocolate pie reminds me of my friends last year in study, 'specially my room mate. Fish soup reminds me of my grandfather (the best I've ever had, the school soups are disgusting compared), and fish anyhow of the other grandfather from mom's side.

Is there a dish you would refuse to eat?

Yes. Very many ready-made-dishes you can buy in the stores I'd refuse, meat (i do eat fish occasionally), chicken no, sodas. But mainly I eat pretty much anything, if it's not spoiled and gone bad. And milk I wouldn't drink, it just disgusts me (Although in this same breath I say, I could try fresh milk just because of interest).

What was your childhood favourite food?

Makaronilaatikko, meatballs, spaghetti&tomato-tuna-sauce, candies and pulla, chips.. everything trashy :-D

Is there a food you hated as a child but now love?

Very many. For example olives, many vegetables and root vegetables, coffee, green tea.

Your favourite fruit and vegetable?

It changes. On the season and location - in Finland you can't get the delicious fruits you can get abroad. In finland best are apples in season.

Your favourite junk food?

Hmmm. I don't know if I really like that much junk food, I'm sad to say. For ex. I don't like pizzeria-pizzas (and part of this is that the few times I've had it I've felt horrible after it, like I couldn't move for the rest of the day) but I do like home-made pizza. But I don't think that is any more junk food. BUt hey, does ice cream count? But that I mostly like the italian gelato and sorbet kind of things.

Your favourite snack?

Fruits, nuts

Do you have any weird food habits?

I like cold porridge. I mean the oat porridge that has been cooked and cooled.

You're on a diet. What shall you eat?

Mmm, well, I don't think so much of diets but I think I would mainly watch I don't eat anything that makes me feel heavy and uncomfortable, like candies, chips and food with preservatives. Drink much liquid. Eat liquid.

You finished your diet. What would you like to have?

Mmm..

How hot do you order your Indian/Thai food?

I like hot. But the finnish hot is different from Indian hot..

Something to drink?

Water, with lime/lemon. Wine.

Red or white?

Winter mostly red, summer white. It's not that black and white but red feels sometimes too heavy to be drunk in summer.

Your favourite dessert?

I like desserts of many kind.

The perfect nightcap?

Nightcaps are totally unfamiliar to me

What's your first baking or cooking memory?

Mm, well, I remember I used to make pulla when I was younger and that felt quite difficult. Don't know if that's the first one but..

Who has most affected your cooking?

Many things. My mother, all the information including books, blogs. VEry much vegan, vegetarian and living food-stuff. Nigella Lawson - although i haven't made her recipes but I love her presence.

Do you have a photograph as an evidence from your early cooking?

Hmm. No? Not sure.

Do you suffer from any sort of a cooking fear, does even a thought of cooking a certain dish make your hands sweat?

Naaahhh... I'm quite fearless

What's your most used or valued kitchen utensil and/or your biggest disappointment when it comes to your kitchen utensils?

I like a blender. You can do so much with it. I'd really love some really professional knifes - but ... the truth is that I always have used really crappy knifes. Maybe when I grow up ;)

Name a funny or weird food combination that you really like.

Dhmm, mmm. Banana and blue cheese is good, but dunno that's weird

Name three eatables or dishes you just can't live without.

cheeses, fruit, mm,, ahh, I get confused

What's missing from your cooking?

Mm, ahh, many things, my focus is now spread too much to think on this

Beetroot pie

Beetroot pie

Well, okay, maybe this is more of a bread, but because it's kind of sweet I do call it a pie. I felt the need to write down this recipe, because this was such a success! The result was soft and moist, and I think a lot if it had do to with the ingredients. I used organic spelt flour with gives a nice taste for this.

Wet setting:

2 dl of almond milk (soak overnight and blend with water and soaked raisins - or just use some other kind of milk)

0,5 dl olive oil

1 dl muscovado sugar (or indian sugar)

0,5 dl crushed almonds (use the leftovers of the milk)

2 dl grated beetroot (1 big or 2 small)

Mix separately:

4,5 dl finely ground spelt flour

1 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp clove

½ tsp cardamom

Mix the wet and dry portions together nicely. Lay the ready dough evenly on a baking sheet or muffin tins, if you like. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes in 175 degrees.

Confessions on raw food

I've been eating for some weeks more and more living, raw food. I travelled for couple weeks, so I ate a little unusually for some time, but am back to basics now. I do eat some cooked foods, but try to maintain mainly raw foods. I'm hoping I could transfer more and more to living foods.

I have noticed, that in the last six months, I have been more often sick than in many years in total. One factor is that I've worked with children, but I just can't put all the blaim in that. I know that emotional and spiritual state has it's meaning, but I've been eating a lot of dairy products, bread and sugary foods. It's almost like a slip back, before I've been quite mainly vegan. But the result is quite noticeable, definitely!! Energy level is lower, I gained some weight (even I wasn't in any ways fat, but it felt like over my ideal weight, and I think you should feel good in your body and come to terms) and felt quite bloated almost all the time. And the feeling of real hunger was rare. I just ate in the rhythm of the work, and felt like I wasn't hungry but had to stuff in food, because it was been offered. And then felt more stuck and bloated. Like there was no time for my metabolism to work, so it just got stuck. And dairy products develop definitely mucus for me.

Now I just have made the promise with myself, to listen to my body and what it would like. I've been struggling with the thought, that if everyone else reads dairy and bread without complaining, then why don't I? But if I don't feel good eating that way, then why should I. I thought that I should just "eat anything and be happy", but noticed that was not working.

So, now I've been changing little by little what I eat. For the first weeks when I shifted, I would feel lot of symptoms of toxins being released. Some days I would feel really fatigue or powerless, having no energy at all. Or then I would feel really cold. I had some headache in the evenings, and then in the day also - but it disappeared, when I did yoga. And for some time my stomach was a bit unsettled and mixed.

But now I'm starting to feel like on the better side, my energy level has started to rise phenomenally, and I feel much lighter and my metabolism works. I sleep less easily, my skin is better, and my breath doesn't feel so smelly in the morning!

I don't feel like I should be all about raw and eat nothing else. I am quite happy to eat cooked foods now and then, but leave dairy products out and eat mostly organic food. I just don't want to stress about food, that is the least thing that you should be obsessed about. It's about feeling good, not being boring and stuck to some opinion.

In the morning I usually make myself orange juice with lots of pulp, and drink some green or ginger tea. I have my breakfast smoothie in noon, when I feel hungry. Now when blueberries can be picked just couple meters away from home, I've been doing blueberry smoothies like below, with a hint of star anis.

Sprouted hummus

Ingredients:

about 2 dl dried chickpeas

2 cloves garlic (or more, less to your taste)

1 tsp tamarind paste / lemon juice

sea salt

virgin olive oil

water

Soak the chick peas over night and sprout for 2-3 days, rinsing with water few times a day. Boil the chickpeas in water for 5-10 minutes, let cool. Put in a blender with seasonings, mix, add gradually some oil and water until makes a fine, creamy paste. Serve as a dip, with salad, bread etc. Store in the fridge.

Sunshine muffins & Raw cake

My updating has been low for many reasons, mainly because I'm switching to raw foods currently, and there's not too much to post about. But I had in stock these vegan muffins.

Sunshine muffins

Ingredients:

1,5 dl soy milk

0,8 dl fresh orange juice

0,8 dl melted margarine

1,5 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

4,5 dl flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cardamom

1 tbsp grated orange zest

1 dl chopped dried apricots

1 dl chopped nuts

Preheat the oven in 175 degrees. Mix together in a large bowl soy milk, orange juice, grease, sugar and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder and soda and spices. Do not overmix. Fold in the orange zest, apricots and nuts. Pour the batter in small muffin tins and bake for 13-15 minutes.

Raw banana-peach cake

I'm SO excited, this is the first time I actually made a raw cake, that has a solid texture! I bought some agar-agar and it worked well. It's not 100% raw since I added some potato starch to be sure, but I guess this would've been just fine even without.

Ingredients:

1 dl dried dates

½ dl sunflower seeds

1 dl nuts

½ - 1 dl coconut flakes

1 banana

2 peaches

about 1 dl soy yogurt

1,5 tsp agar-agar flakes

1 dl soy milk

(2 tbsp potato starch)

Soak the dates, sunflower seeds and nuts in water for about 6 hrs. Grind them in a blender and add the coconut flakes. If the mixture seems too dry, add some water. Set the base in a small cake tin, about 22x24.

For the filling, put the banana and peaches in the blender, add soy yogurt, and mix until smooth (add potato starch if wanted). Now heat the agar-agar flakes and soy milk in a kettle and let it boil, mixing all the time, for about 5-10 minutes. Add liquid if it seems to dry too much. Pour the agar-mixture in the filling and mix well. Pour on the base and let it cool for some time, and decorate with some coconut flakes. Put to the fridge for at least 2-3 hrs to settle.

Two ways to use coldsmoke-tofu

Life should be taken lightly at times! Celebrating is an important part of life. Now is the time when people unite to celebrate, ending school, graduating and welcoming the summer holiday (perhaps). If you have age, you will certainly be offered some sparkling wine or maybe even champagne! We had some dry australian rose-sparkling wine, Pink Yellowglen.

Cold smoke-tofu-pie

The base:

2 dl soy flour

100 g margarine

Mix the soy flour and margarine to a dough, preferably by hand. Press on a pietin evenly on bottom and sides. Stick with a fork a bit. Prebake in the oven for 10-15 min, in 175 degrees.

The filling:

150 g coldsmoke-tofu (half of a package)

1 onion

½ yellow paprika

2 dl of coconut milk

1 tsp of jeera

1 dl grated cheese

salt, pepper

Chop the onion, tofu and paprika and spread on the prebaked pie. Whisk jeera and spices in the coconut milk and pour on the filling. Sprinkle on top the grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Cold smoke-tofu salad

1 jar of leaf lettuce (I used tammenlehväsalaatti, I have no idea what it's in english)

½ yellow paprika

150 g cold smoke-tofu

1 tomato

1 apple

pumpkin seeds

Dressing:
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp honey
½ dl olive oil
½ lime's juice
salt, pepper

Chop the tofu to cubes, and roast on a pan (no oil) until slightly brown. Let cool. Chop the other ingredients and mix in a bowl, and add the tofu when cool. Mix the ingredients of the dressing and add salt and pepper to your flavor. Pour on the salad and mix. Roast the pumpkin seeds on a pan until they pop, and garnish the salad.

Banana-beetroot bread

I found yet another recipe from Veganomicon I just had to try (I haven't got yet to try the cookie recipes, but I'm anxious to make them!!). I variated the recipe by adding some beetroot and cardamom (once, again). I can't describe the aroma that came from the oven, it was so good. Maybe this is a more of a winterly thing, but why not ? On a rainy day.

Ingredients:

2 large bananas

2 beetroots (or 1 dl of applesauce)

1 dl melted butter (or oil)

1 dl sugar

2 tbsp syrup

5 dl flour (I used spelt-flour about 3 dl, and all-purpose 2 dl)

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmed

1 tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Lightly grease a 20x12 (about) pan. In a large bowl, mash the bananas well. Add sugar, beetroot, butter and syrup, whisk briskly. Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix until the ingredients are just combined. Transfer the batter to the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. The top should be lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Vegalicious pancakes !

Banana-nut-pancakes

I have started to take us of my new vegan bible. Vegan brunch part 704, these pancakes must have been..best ever! My only addition was replacing nutmeg with freshly ground cardamum. Banana and nuts are my favorites!! Eaten with a new find: coconut jam by Jam It! Suitable for vegans. They also have other exotic jam options, papaya and mango. But now for the recipe (from the book Veganomicon, the measures are translated from cups):

Ingredients:

about 4 dl of soy milk

1 dl of water

2 teaspoons apple honey vinegar

2 bananas

3 tablespoons oil / melted butter

3 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)

1 teaspoon vanille sugar

about 5,5 dl of flour (3½ dl of spelt flour, 2 dl of all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tsp cardamom (about 3-4 whole cardamoms)

2,5 dl of nuts (chop or fine with a blender)

Preheat the pan. Pour the soy milk, water and vinegar into a cup and set aside.

Mash the bananas well, add the soy milk mixture with oil, honey and vanilla. Now add the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and cardamom. Combine with a fork, don't overmix. Fold in the chopped nuts. The batter becomes quite firm.

Now add some butter or oil on the warm pan, and cook the pancakes. Because of the batters' texture I used a spoon to spread it evenly on the pan. Serve with ice cream, jam, fresh strawberries etc..

Salty Goodness

I ordered myself a vegan cookbook from the States, and it arrived on friday! I read a lot of cookbooks, mainly from the library. Even though I rarely cook the recipes on the books, I find reading them very inspiring. Often you get ideas from the books that can be variated as you like. Now I have my first own vegan book, Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I have given it only a quick look, but seems nice! Though it lacks photos it is a good package full of information.

We ate some feta-cheese (tomato, salad, honey melon, fetacheese, yellow paprika, onion) salad and cheese-croissants today. This recipe is good for the croissants, I like that it's not too greasy. Using spelt flour gives a nice taste on them. I added some turmenic, which gave them a fun yellowish color. For the filling you could use some blue cheese, or as I did now, Grana Padana etc. I prefer quite sour cheeses on these, like Emmental and Polar. You needn't add any salt, since the cheeses use to be quite salty.

Cheese-croissants

Ingredients:

4 ½ dl of flour (3 dl of spelt flour + 1 ½ dl of wheat flour)

4 dl of grated cheese + 2 dl for the filling

3 tsp of salt

2 sp of cumin seeds (2 tsp of turmenic)

100 g of room-temperature margarine

1 ½ dl of soy milk / water

Mix the dry ingredients. Add in the butter until the batter becomes crumbly. Add liquid and knead into a firm dough. Heat the oven in 200 degrees.

Share the dough in 3 portions. Roll the portions to a round shape, and divide in eight sections, like a pizza. Now sprinkle some cheese on each part and roll them from the wide end to a tight croissant. Apply some soy milk on the croissants before putting to the oven. Bake for 13-15 minutes.