Sometimes you need that quick fix to get you through the mid morning or afternoon slump!! This peanut butter fudge is the fix you need. No bake, 5 ingredients and flavours that were made for each other.
They keep perfectly in the fridge or freezer. Keep them in bite sized pieces for easy eating. The best part is that all the fabulous ingredients are available in groceries #organicingredients
These pumpkin brownies are incredible….I even surprised myself with this one! The bitterness from the chocolate works so well with the earthy sweetness of the pumpkin and the warming spices too. Make sure to have a nice warm drink, tea or coffee or a spiced latte, if thats your preference, and get cosy with this sweet autumn treat!
Liz on a previous post laid the foundations for this recipe and gave instructions on how to make your Autumn Flavour Kit with pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice mix, check it out and come back here to make these brownies. I’m a little bit obsessed with the pumpkin (aka Kuri squash) at the moment, I’ll be cooking them for all things sweet and savoury over the next few months.
Once you have your pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice at hand, there is an endless amount of autumn baking recipes to sift through and experiment with. My first thoughts were cake, cookies, bread and then this brownie. I did extend my research to the US where many bakers have a whole catalogue of spiced pumpkin recipes. I did a bit of tweaking with this recipe and the result was much better that I could have hoped for!
This is a real hearty seasonal soup. My organic veg box was delivered this morning (Fri) and seeing the earthy parsnips just made me smile because I only live 15km from where they were pulled from the ground! #buylocalproduce Parsnips and leeks are at their very best in autumn.
Leeks and parsnips are two of my favourite vegetables. I usually keep the flavours simple but couldn’t resist adding lentils and curry to make this soup a substantial meal.
The best part of this soup is that it only has a handful of ingredients, make it as spicy as you like and serve it with big generous chunks of organic sourdough bread.
Scrub and dice the parsnips. Theres no need to peel them when they are organic, just wash them well.
Wash the leeks, cut the root off and most of the hard green tops. (These can be used for veg stock #zerofoodwaste
Slice the leeks finely.
Warm the pot on the hob, low to medium heat and add a tablespoon of light oil.
Tip in the sliced leeks. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper and cook down for a few minutes.
Add in the curry powder and turmeric and cook to toast and awaken the spices for a minute or two. (Add a splash of water if its catching on the bottom of the pot)
Next toss in the diced parsnips and stir them through the leeks.
Pour in the water and pop the lid on if you have one.
Let the soup simmer on the hob for about 40 minutes, the soup is ready when the parsnips are soft when squished with the back of a wooden spoon.
While it’s cooking away. Open the tin of lentils and drain and rinse them.
If you like chunky soup just add in the lentils now, but if you like a smoother soup blend first and then add the lentils.
Check the seasoning and serve with crusty organic sourdough if you have some.
Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish made with mashed potatoes “spuds” and cabbage or kale. When I was a child we had spuds 7 days a week, to have mash was a treat and to have colcannon with lashings of butter was heaven! This is traditional warming comfort food perfect for an Autumn supper.
You’ll find the purple kale, new potatoes and carrots all in the Irish Farm Box this Sept ’22.
Preheat the oven to 180℃. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Begin by scrubbing the dirt off the potatoes in cold water. Chop into quarters or halves of similar size and steam until cooked through – roughly 40 minutes. You can boil them too if you prefer. (When you cook with organic veg keep the skins on that’s where the nutrients are)
Likewise, scrub the carrots and pat dry. Chop in half lengthwise, toss in oil, salt pepper and lay on the baking tray, sprinkle with the thyme leaves and drizzle with honey.
The carrots:
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, or until cooked to your liking.
To prepare the kale, wash first in cold water.
Then pick the leaves from the stem and add to a mixing bowl. (Tip: You can reserve the stem and chop finely to add to a stir fry.)
Once all the leaves are picked, take a handful of the kale, roll it up into a tight roll shape and finely chop it into bite sized pieces.
To steam fry the kale.
Warm a wide pot, with a lid, on a medium heat.
Add the knob of butter and melt, then add 100ml of water to create steam.
Add all the kale at once, stir and put the lid on the pot.
Give the pot a shake to agitate the kale and wilt it, it will take 3-5 minutes for the kale to soften.
Add a small pinch of salt and mix.
When it’s cooked to your liking, take off the heat and set to one side.
The mashed potatoes.
When the potatoes are fully cooked, tip them into a big pot or bowl.
Heat the milk and butter in a jug in the microwave for 1 minute or on the hob.
Mash the warm potatoes along with the hot milk and butter, add a pinch of salt. The skins may get caught in the masher but keep on mashing until its creamy. Add more hot milk and butter if needed.
Fold in the cooked purple kale, taste to check the seasoning.
Take the carrots from the oven when they are roasted nicely.
To serve, add 3 or 4 carrots to a plate with a big spoon of hot colcannon, top with a knob of butter and a crack of black pepper!!
Its the end of the summer holidays and back to school and work routines for most! If you are looking for ways to get a bit more veg into yours and/or your child’s lunch box then give these muffins a go. They are lightly sweetened and alongside a sandwich, some fruit and raw veggie sticks they are the perfect lunch. #backtoschool
They freeze really well so why not pop some in the freezer that are handy to defrost overnight, making filling the lunch box a little bit easier. #freezerstash
If you have kids get them to help make them, let them grate the courgette and carrot. Let them get used to cooking and baking with seasonal Irish vegetables and have a chat about where they are grown too. Cooking together creates great opportunities for learning about where our food comes from and why it’s important that we support our local farmers.
Lou 🙂
Makes 18 regular muffins – approx
350g Self raising flour or Plain flour with 3 teaspoons baking powder
Galettes are the easiest pies to make. We love their beautiful rustic shape and the flexibility they bring. You can get creative and make them sweet with fruit, jam, chunks of marzipan or chocolates, or savoury with vegetables, cheese, pesto etc. Use your favourite flavours and the results will always be delicious! I use the same, sugar free, shortcrust pastry for both sweet and savoury versions, but of course you can add a spoon of sugar to the pastry if you like it a little sweeter. You can also add extra flavours to the pastry to match the fillings if you like. For example cinnamon in an apple galette, lemon zest and fresh rosemary in a parsnip galette, switch out some of the flour with ground hazelnuts or almonds… the possibilities are endless. We would love to hear about your favourite galettes in the comments please.
Liz x
Ingredients
200g plain flour
125g butter
pinch of salt
3 tbsp cold water
3 apples, peeled, sliced and placed in water with a squeeze of lemon juice to stop it going brown
a handful of sugar
Method
The easiest way to make pastry is with a food processor with the ’S’ blade attachment. If you don’t have one you can use a bowl and your hands to rub the butter into the flour then bring it into a ball with the water.
If you have a processor, place the flour, salt and butter in the processor and pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then run the processor and add a tbsp of cold water while it is running, after a few seconds, add another tbsp and see if it forms into a ball. If not, add another tbsp of water and the dough should gather up and spin around into a ball. Stop the processor as soon as a ball forms.
Gather the dough into a neat ball and place in a bowl. Cover with a lightly damp tea towel and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 180C and prepare the filling. This time I peeled and sliced apples and placed them into a bowl of acidulated water (water with a squeeze of lemon juice).
When the dough is rested, remove it from the oven and place it onto a floured baking sheet. To be sure it will not stick, I usually line the sheet with a piece of baking parchment too, but this is optional. Press the dough down into a round disc then roll it out into a large, 4mm thick round.
Arrange the fruit in the middle of the pastry, sprinkle with sugar and then gather up the sides. Remember, rustic is beautiful so no need to worry about tears and uneven folds here.
Place the baking sheet and pie into the pre-heated oven (180C) and bake until golden. In my oven, this usually takes around 30-40 minutes, but do keep an eye on yours as ovens vary so much.
Remove from the oven and enjoy hot or cold in slices with ice-cream.
Thank you so much to everybody who responded last week to our plea it made a tremendous difference and whilst we won’t ask again, every order you make during the summer makes a massive difference and keeps us going!
I will never forget when myself Jenny and my dad put up our first polytunnel back in 2005. It was a milestone and like a dream come though, I will never forget it.
We were so proud of ourselves, that was our first season growing food and we tried it all. We were so enthusiastic, we wanted all the plants in that little tunnel, aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers. If truth be known there was very little harvest from that tunnel in the first year. We had plants but little enough of the fruits of our labour! Nevertheless, this did not discourage us in any way.
We were on a journey we had closed the door on a different chapter of our lives, lives lived far from the land and with little connection with our food. Certainly, there was always a burning deep desire to do the right thing by the environment and this our mad chance to embrace that vision.
It was two years later in 2007 that our first child was born and that was a momentous occasion. I do remember many things from that day, but one that I am sure most people do not experience on the birth of their first child was the doorbell ringing (We had a home birth) and a guy that was fixing a fridge on our van wondering if he could talk to me about a problem he was having. I think the noise in the back round ended that conversation swiftly.
Then we watched Hannah grow and at the age of two she was able to go and pick her own tomatoes and cucumbers from the polytunnel. When Ella came along it was clear she was going to be our earth child and she spent more time in those polytunnels than anybody else, I am surprised we had any tomatoes left to harvest for you, our customers.
In hindsight remembering those moments and appreciating them seems like it was a perfect and ideal life. There was of course plenty of smiles but there was all the other stuff too. We were guilty of having no time, no money, and no energy, it was truly exhausting, starting a farm, a business and a family at the same time. I would recommend that if you are embarking on this journey that you spread those events out a little!
But we got through. The days when we have had schools on our farm, and you see the amazed face of a child when they pull a carrot from the ground it makes you remember what is important
The journey has certainly left its scars, but it has also allowed a deeper appreciation of what we have, how lucky we are. If nothing else seeing the respect Ella, Joe and Hannah have for the environment is something that I am proud of. If we achieve nothing else on this journey, we will have achieved something positive.
Our job here is to spread a message that nature and our land are beautiful and precious, and all living things are to be respected. We as a business, a farm and individuals really do have an obligation to take care with our actions.
It is on us all, of course we can all point the finger but what good does that do? We need to take responsibility for our actions and do the right thing, is that easy? Absolutely not. Is it necessary? Completely. Therein I believe lies our greatest hope for our children and all that we share this land with.
Have a fantastic and amazing week and thank you for your continued support.
This is our new favourite way to serve barbecued vegetables right now. It’s quick and simple but so so delicious! Serve as a meal in it’s own right or as a side to your usual barbecued things and salads.
Did you know that we stock organic cous cous (and many more dry goods) in clever compostable bags? When you empty your cous cous into a storage jar, pop the bag into your home compost or your council compost bin and it will break down in 12 weeks. We have loads more than just fruit and vegetables on our website for you, and we deliver to every address in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Don’t forget to stay hydrated and find shade over this heatwave lovely people!
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 6)
For the cous cous:
1 mug of cous cous
1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic granules (or season to your own taste)
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 & 1/4 mugs boiling water
For the barbecued vegetables:
1 courgette
2 red peppers
2 onions
1 fresh chilli
10 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Light the barbecue and prepare the vegetables for grilling. Cut the courgette into large chunks and the peppers in half and remove stems and seeds. Cut the onions in half and remove the skin. Keep the tomatoes and chilli whole. Place the vegetables in a bowl, drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep aside in the bowl until the barbecue coals are ready.
Meanwhile prepare the cous cous. Measure the cous cous into a large, heat proof salad bowl. Add the chickpeas, seasoning, lemon juice and olive oil. Add the just-boiled water and stir to combine then place a large plate over the bowl and let the cous cous absorb the water for 5 minutes.
Remove the plate and fluff up the cous cous with a fork. The barbecue coals should be ready to get grilling now.
Cook the vegetables on the barbecue until they are beautifully blackened and soft. As they become ready, use tongs and place them back into the bowl. When they are all cooked through, smokey and delicious, tip onto a large chopping board and chop into bite sized pieces. Scrape the barbecued vegetables, along with all their juices into the bowl of cous cous and stir.
Serve with salad and sauces or with your other usual barbecue items. Enjoy!
A brunch dish bursting with goodness and flavour! Roasting veg is very satisfying. A potato hash with added veg made this way is very simple and uncomplicated, any left over veg can be use for dinner the next day #zerofoodwaste. Roasting veg brings out the natural flavour of the vegetable adding sweet and charred notes, made with gorgeous organic Irish grown veg…..well there is nothing better.
This dish was inspired by the Irish Farm Box. Its packed full of seasonal locally grown veg! You can make a version of this all through the seasons adding squash, broccoli, kale, courgettes, beets, carrots or parsnips too……just keep your hot sauce handy!
8 organic eggs – or for a vegan alternative add scrambled tofu
Hot sauce to serve
Preheat your oven 180℃.
Prepare 2 large roasting tins with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Wash the potatoes, give them a scrub until they are clean.
Chop into cubes roughly the same size, add to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and a good glug of oil, toss to coat.
Pour onto a large roasting tin and put into the oven to roast for about 1 hour, check and toss the cubes every 20 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the veg, you can add the veg to the same mixing bowl.
Chop the romanesco into bite sized florets and chop the mushrooms into quarters.
Chop the onions into quarters but break up the layers, bash the garlic cloves with the back of a knife and add to the bowl. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper and coat with a tablespoon or two of oil. Toss to coat and add to the second roasting tin.
Put it in the oven to roast for about 30 – 40 minutes. Check halfway and give it a toss.
Finley slice the scallions and keep in a serving bowl.
Wash the spinach and roughly chop. Keep in a container with damp kitchen paper on top until later.
The cubed potatoes are ready when they pierce easily with a sharp knife and they look golden brown. The veg will be soft and slightly charred in places. Squeeze out the garlic cloves and serve or discard if you find the flavour too strong, they will have done their job to flavour the veg.
Fry the eggs to your liking (2 per person) on a frying pan, cook on a medium to high heat for crispy fried eggs.
Reheat the potatoes on a frying pan along with the veg and at the last minute toss through the chopped spinach. (You could reheat in the oven also and stir through the spinach)
To serve, add the potatoes and veg to a plate or wide bowl, top with 2 fried eggs, sprinkle on the chopped scallions and add your favourite hot sauce.
This is a delicious dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
This simple pasta is very fast, very easy and very delicious. The perfect weekday supper. Courgettes are coming in thick and fast now so do enjoy them and use the search bar in the blog to find lots more courgette inspiration. You can substitute the cashew nuts in this recipe for sunflower seeds or any nut/seed you prefer. No need to be too exact with the ingredients, this pasta recipe is very easy-going, as all weekday dinners should be. Enjoy!
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 4)
200g cashews covered in just boiled water
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic granules
2 heaped tbsp nutritional yeast
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 courgettes, thinly sliced
4 portions of spaghetti, cooked in salted, boiling water
1 large mug of the starchy water that the pasta was boiled in
a large handful of chopped herbs eg dill, parsley and mint
Method
Soak your cashews and get a large pot of water on to boil. Thinly slice the courgette and find a wide pan.
When the water is boiling, generously salt it and tip in your spaghetti. While it cooks make the creamy courgette sauce.
Put a large pan onto a medium heat and add the olive oil and sliced courgettes. Season well with salt and pepper then sauté gently to soften and wilt the courgettes.
Blend the soaked cashews in their soaking water with the mustard, garlic granules, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Scrape the cashew cream into the pan of courgettes and steal a mug of starchy pasta water from the pot. Add it to the courgettes and cashew cream to loosen and simmer into a gently bubbling sauce.
Drain the pasta and toss it through the sauce. Serve with extra black pepper and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.
