THE Haggis…

Tags

buckwheat, Burn's Night, Burn's Supper, carrots, gluten free vegan, gluten- free, lentils, mushrooms, oats, Scottish, vegan, vegan haggis, vegetarian, vegetarian haggis

I totally get the simplicity of the “meat and two veg” thinking of yore- its simple, requires little effort and is hugely satisfying. The thing with and (in many ways) the beauty of plant based cooking is that you have to think a bit more creatively. Sure you could serve a block of plain tofu or a pile of freshly cooked pulses but i feel like theres something lacking, a little wanting on the flavour scale or my much adored textured requirements.

Perhaps its just me but sometimes i want a slab of delicious protein.

Mwah ha ha, so this is where THE haggis comes in. A veritable kaleidoscope of mouthy textures, deep, rich, addictive flavours. Heady smells that permeate the very walls of your home (not in a gross way mind). If it were an album it would be The Who’s “Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy”. Its the Tom Weir of plant based protein- resplendent in an Aran knit jumper and full of magical tales of the good old days. Its comfort, its satisfaction, its that Sunday Roast feeling anytime you make it.

Oh and it just happens to be super healthy- full of slow releasing carbohydrates, earthy minerals and healing spices. Its the perfect fuel for these cold, long Scottish evenings.

(Serves 6-8, Vegan, Gluten- free is omitting Pearl Barley)

• 1/4 cup Puy Lentils (/other lentils, split peas) soaked for a few hours
• 1/4 cup Buckwheat (or Pearl Barley) soaked
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1/2 Leek, diced
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 large Carrot, diced
• 5 Mushrooms, diced
• 1/2 cup Oats (Pinhead if you can)
• 500ml Vegetable/ Mushroom Stock
• 2 tbsp Coconut Oil (other oils/ butter)
• 1 tsp Allspice
• 1tbsp ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• Sea Salt, generous “pinch”
• 1 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 180c, grease a medium sized casserole pan
2. Drain the lentils and buckwheat and cook in boiling water for 15 minutes (35 minutes if using Pearl Barley, Split Peas) until tender, drain
3. Add the oil to a medium/ large pot on a medium heat
4. Add onions, leeks and carrots and cook for 5 minutes
5. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for 5 minutes (adding a splash of stock if necessary)
6. Add the all the seasoning and the oats, lentils and barley, stir thoroughly
7. Add the stock and sugar and cook on a medium low heat for 10- 30 mins (depending on your pulses) until the mixture is thick and almost all of the water has evaporated
8. Remove from the heat, spoon into casserole tin and cover with foil
9. Cook for 30 mins before removing foil and baking for a further 30 mins.

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The Loaf

Tags

bread, buckwheat, chickpea, compassionate, gluten free vegan, gluten- free, healthy, holistic, homemade, homemade gluten free bread, millet, nutrition, oat, psyllium, red teff, rice, vegan, vegetarian

Winter is here and i have fallen in love all over again.
Autumn, you are pretty hard to beat but the light has just been too beautiful not to melt my heart.

Things round here have been suitably wonderful- big socks, bigger jumpers, mugs of tea, long walks and soup. So much frickin’ soup! I’m kind of kicking myself for not joining the soup party earlier but hey ho, everything happens as and when it should.

And of course soups best friend- bread. Lovely home made bread. Bread that is beautifully soft inside, has a pleasing crust but most importantly (to me anyway) has substance- a real bite to it. Bread that can handle being lovingly dunked into soup, slathered in coconut oil and zesty avocado, bread that hold its weight under thick swatches of peanut butter and jam. God damn, bread is where its at!

I’ve tweaked and tinkered this recipe for the best part of a year now. I’ve had woeful evenings where greediness has prevailed, leading to completely mangled loaves, tenuous afternoons where slices have scattered into dire sand like crumbs, and then finally, mornings of elation where i slice open a perfectly mishapen loaf to discover to my utter joy that, yes, yes, yes, we have lift off.

I’ve tried this with every gluten free flour i could get my hands on and i’m pretty darn confident that you too can play about with whatever mixes you fancy with perfect success. My personal favourites are: Red Teff, Millet, Buckwheat, Oat, Rice, Chickpea.

Red Teff + Millet lends to a brown (yes, slightly rusty coloured) loaf,
Rice + Buckwheat create a happy white loaf,
Chickpea + Oat somehow manages to produce a loaf that tastes exceedingly like Yorkshire Pudding (hells yes!)

You can chuck in herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, dried fruit- get creative. Or don’t, just keep it simple and you’ll have a delicious loaf of bread that is super healthy, good for your gut and lovingly made by your own fair hands. But pleeeeease, let it cool completely before slicing. It might seem like a good idea at the time but you will end up with a loaf that is both half mush and half cavernous.

• 2 cups warm Water
• 5 tbsp Psyllium Husk
• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1 tbsp Fast Action Yeast
• 1 tsp Salt (or to preference)
• 2 cups gluten free flour
• (1 tsp Xanthan Gum- optional but aids binding)

1. Combine the psyllium and water in a large bowl, mix well and leave for 10 minutes to gel up
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until it starts to come together, use your hands to combine the remaining dough into a bowl
3. Tip onto a floured surface and “knead” for a few minutes until the dough is quite smooth (it will be stickier than standard dough)
4. Pop into a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour
5. Heat your oven to 200c, line and lightly flour a loaf tin
6. Tip the dough out and gently form into a fat sausage shape, pop into the tin, sprinkle with a little water and bake for 50 minutes
7. Allow to cool completely before slicing. Keeps best, sliced up in the freezer

Many Grains Magic Muesli

Tags

amaranth, breakfast, buckwheat, clean eating, coconut, compassionate, dried fruit, flax, gluten free vegan, gluten- free, grains, holistic, homemade, millet, muesli, nutrition, oats, quinoa, raw, rawvegan, seeds, superfoods, vanilla, vegan, vegetarian

We had an amazing holiday in Blair Atholl the other weekend, staying on an organic small holding. Waking up to chickens, ducks and cats roaming the land right outside our kitchen window- thats pretty much my idea of perfection right there. The boundless countryside, the unspeakably clear night skies, walking in fields, huddling round a wood burning stove. I am so grateful for that weekend. And even more excited by the fact that we get to return to a similar place in just a few weeks time.

What was especially nice was that we got to share the experience with two of our best friends. One of those being my sister (from another mister) Natasha. Its all too easy to forget how close we are. That kind of magical relationship where you can just babble on to someone and they know exactly what you mean. Incredible tonic for the soul those people in our lives.

The owners of the cottage provided us with some delicious fresh veggies- oh my word- Black Radish people?? What a flavour explosion that guy is! Freshly baked bread, fruits, eggs and organic muesli. Of course, the bread and muesli were out of the question for me but that did lead me and tash to a conversation about muesli.

Yup, a pretty banal topic but one that we really focused on, albeit for only a matter of seconds. It basically went like this: “What is the difference between granola and muesli?” “Well, you toast granola and muesli is raw”. Ha, simple, but it really stayed with me.

It was only when i returned home and a few days later whipped up some incredible gRAWnola that the conversation came back to me. Why had i never made my own muesli before? Its so freakin’ easy. After a wee peruse of the internet i found loads of basic, 5 second muesli recipes. But you know, i’m me, and if i can make something A: more delicious, B: more exciting and C: more nutritious, then i’m in happy B land. So thats what i set out to do.

The base of the muesli started off pretty bog standard- gluten free oats, fried fruits and seeds. A quick scan of my shelves showed that we had a couple of jars of grains and seeds that were running pretty low, as in, the perfect amount to add to the muesli. From that second on i knew this was going to be a truly awesome recipe. A magic muesli was well under way.

I threw quinoa, millet, flax and amaranth in a jug and let them soaked in plenty of water for 18 hours then i drained, rinsed and dehydrated them for about 8 hours. I know this is not an option for most of you but you could totally dry them out in oven (at the lowest setting with the door ajar). Or even, just leave them out entirely and t5he base muesli will still rock your breakfast worlds.

Once everything was dry, i combined them all in a large jar with all the seeds and dried fruit i could get my hands on. The final flourish, the truly magical part came when i stirred in a tablespoon of vanilla pod powder. That smell- dreamy, whimsical, heavenly.

The end result is a truly royal muesli. Packed with so much goodness- protein, amino acids, vitamins, omegas. Aaaahhh, the perfect fuel for the busiest of days. Magical muesli, my love, where have you been all my life?!

For the base:

• 2 cups Oats (gluten free preferably)
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Powder
• 8 dried Figs
• 8 dried Apricots
• 1 handful Sultanas
• 12 dried Dates
• 1/4 cup dried Coconut Flakes
• 1/4 cup Pumpkin Seeds
• 1/4 cup Sunflower Seeds
• 1/4 cup Sesame Seeds (i used black and white)
• 1 tbsp Poppy Seeds
• 1 tbsp Chia Seeds

For the many “grains”:

• 1/2 cup Flax Seeds
• 1/2 cup Buckwheat
• 1/4 cup Millet
• 1/4 cup Quinoa
• 2 tbsp Amaranth

1. Soak the “grains” in a large jug for a least 8 hours (overnight is easiest).
2. Drain, rinse well and drain again
3. Tip these onto a few sheets of a dehydrator (or oven) and dehydrate for 8 hours (i’m guessing when it comes to using an oven but maybe 2-4 hours?)
4. Roughly chop the dried fruit into small pieces
5. Combine everything in a large (dry) jug and mix well
6. Store in a clean, airtight jar.

Green Smoothie Sessions- Liquid Happiness

Tags

buckwheat, cacao, coconut oil, glutenfree, glutenfreevegan, green smoothie sessions, green smoothies, happiness, hollistic, maca, minerals, nutrition, quinoa, raw, rawvegan, sprouted grains, vegan, vegetarian, vitamins, walnuts

Happiness.

That golden veil that permeates intention, action and thought. The driving force that compels us through life. Inconstant, variable, relative. The quest in each persons story that remains a constant goal. The most treasured of prizes.

Happiness.

An emotion, but deeper than that- an overall state.

It is said that, being a state of mind, happiness is something that we control. Our perceptions are our reality. Thus if one wants to be happy, one need only take control and allow happiness to flourish.

And yet sometimes, no matter how hard we try, our emotions can, and do in fact, take control of us. Other emotions, emotions that we may not wish to feel, they can grow so heavy as to cause us to falter under their unbearable weight.

The battle between human consciousness and animal impulses. We are both sentient and feral, both intelligent and wild.

We acquire involuntary, subconscious, psychological responses as we grow. These automatic processes generally operate without our knowledge. That is, until they interfere with the rational, cognitive elements of our minds.

This is when we truly feel the full force of our emotions. This is where i was yesterday.

How do i face this? I accept the feelings for what they are. I give them room to roam about in my mind. I take a long walk and listen to Bach. Always Bach when i need something to drown out the sound of the traffic. I walk and think until the thoughts and feelings run their natural course. Then i listen to whats left inside me- a drop of positivity, and i let this fill me.

I think of all the things i am grateful for, all the things i am proud of myself for, i find all the silver linings. Then i do something, anything, that will make me happy. Yesterday it was buying some fruit, and as i was walking home i felt that spark. That tiny, shimmering light of hope. I got home, made a beautiful smoothie and drank. As i drank i started laughing. Laughing at myself, at my sadness and the incredible way food can alter my mental state and i got to thinking.

Thinking of what it was in the smoothie that helped to ease my mind. I starting researching. A lot. I found all the incredible minerals and vitamins that produce happiness- be it straight up serotonin and dopamine or things like magnesium, B vitamins and selenium- which contribute to an all round strengthening of the nervous system and health of the brain.

So it was that i came up with the next smoothie in our sessions, because for all it was I that brought on this change in mood, a little good food can always help. And if it makes any of you laugh with happiness in the way it did for me- then that’s no bad thing is it?

So tell me- what do you do to bring about a sense of happiness? Got any activities or recipes that make you laugh it out? As always, please feel free to share. Much love, and heres to laughing at the silliness xx

(Makes roughly 1 litre)

• 2-4 cups of Water (depending on desired consistency)
• 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
• 5 Walnuts
• 3 handfuls of Spinach
• 1/4 cup soaked/ sprouted grains (i used a mix of sprouted quinoa and buckwheat)
• 2 tbsp raw Cacao Powder
• 1 Banana
• 1/2 tbsp Maca Powder

1. Add the water to the blender, then the remaining ingredients, blitz for a few minutes until smooth

Buckwheat Granola

Tags

breakfast, buckwheat, cardamom, chia, cinnamon, clean, flax, ginger, gluten- free, granola, green smoothie, healthy, nutmeg, nutrition, pumpkin, raw, raw vegan, seeds, sesame, sunflower, vegan, vegetarian

So, how do we face this year?

For me, with love, honesty, intention and spirit. And for all this we need energy- straight up, brilliant, clean energy.

I want to share with you what i do, i.e, how i fuel myself throughout the day. With the thought that our bodies are truly temples guiding the recipes and tips i offer. Yes our bodies- the true work horses of our existence. We want them happy, healthy and full of as much good stuff as we possibly can.

I start my day, first thing, no matter what, by drinking a litre of water. It both flushes the body and floods it with oxygen- this pretty quickly wakes up all your beautiful cells. Shortly after that i make a tonic, sunshine tonic if you will. Warm (or hot) water mixed with a pinch of turmeric and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. If i’m feeling a bit sluggish i will add 1/2 tbsp of Cider Vinegar, really sluggish and i add a pinch of both ginger and cayenne pepper. This tonic is not only the brightest, happiest colour but it instantly gets your metabolism going, and alkalises your system. The turmeric has awesome anti inflammatory properties and ginger and cayenne are anti- bacterial and great for digestion.

Then, when i’m hungry, i have a big bowl of green smoothie. I’m going to start a series called the Green Smoothie Sessions so i’ll leave out the recipes just now but its always vegetable dense, all, if not more of your five a day and delicious. I top my bowl with whatever fruits and seeds i have to hand- i like to have a mixture of textures in there to keep things exciting. Which is where the Buckwheat Granola comes in.

I love, love, love having something amidst all the green grooviness to sink my teeth into and granola is obviously a good option. However, i don’t really want all that much going on when i’ve already got a bowl full of awesomeness. My Instagram feed is constantly littered with beautiful breakfast bowls and this is where i first encountered Buckinis. In short, activated, flavoured and dehydrated buckwheat, intrigued, i set to making my very own. Once i’d soaked my Buckwheat i thought, what the heck, may as well put the dehydrator to good use and throw into the mix what i would top my smoothies with anyway. And so, 8 hours later, the granola emerged.

Its a lighter granola than most- i omitted nuts and used but the slightest amount of oats so theres really just heaps of seeds, some coconut flakes and some deeeelicious spices. Gently fragrant and perfectly crunchy- happy days. As it is, its rammed full of protein, omegas, calcium, magnesium, vitamin E, fibre, the list goes on. Perfect fuel for your perfect body. Its keeps you full but not heavy and does wonders for your bones and muscles.

So, please, start your day with foods that will nourish, replenish and excite you and this granola will certainly help.

(This makes 1 small-ish jar so you can fully increase the quantity to last you as long as you need and if you don’t have a dehydrator- no worries at all, simply cook in your oven at the lowest setting for a few hours with the door ajar or bake at 180c for 10 minutes if you’re not fussed about the rawness)

• 1/2 cup Buckwheat (soaked for 12 hours or sprouted, for even more nutrition)
• 1/4 cup Oats
• 1/2 cup of Seeds- i used a mix of Sunflower, Pumpkin, Flax, Sesame, Chia
• 1/4 cup Coconut Flakes
• 1 tbsp Agave Nectar (or liquid sweetener of choice)
• 1 tbsp Maple Syrup (not raw so again its your choice)
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• pinch of each: nutmeg, ginger and cardamon

1. Once activated (or sprouted) drain your buckwheat and rinse really well (it releases a funky goo so make sure that all rinsed off)
2. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients until everything is fully incorporated
3. Tip onto a baking sheet and dehydrate at 42c for 8 hours (or bake) until dry and crispy. Keep in a clean, sealed glass jar for about 2 weeks

One Dough (to rule them all)…

Tags

bread, buckwheat, chickpea, dough, flour, gluten- free, psyllium, vegan, yeast

My (culinary) life has been changed. Thanks in no small part to Solveig at Gluten Free Vegan Girl. In that we now have a gluten free, vegan dough that actually works. Works as in i’ve made bread rolls, baguettes, pizza bases, herbed garlic pull a parts and peshwari naans. All a complete, 100% success. So thank you Solveig. Our kitchen will never be the same again.

Previously my doughs have always been on the heavy side, not awful at all, in fact they’ve made great toast, but not versatile and certainly they have never risen like traditional doughs.

Solveig’s trick is to use psyllium. Ah, our good friend psyllium. If you follow us regularly you know that i use this guy in many of our dishes- a great binding agent (that also works wonders on flushing the digestive tract, but enough about that). Yet, i usually use him sparingly. Until now. There must be some crazy good magic happening when the yeast meets the psyllium, something in the fibre husk that feeds the yeast and causes a traditional rise.

I’ve tried this with a heap of flours and they’ve all worked swell but the most versatile mix for me ended up being buckwheat and chickpea. And i ended up using way more flour than Solveig suggests, so i’ve adapted her recipe to suit the success of my baking endeavours.

So here is the recipe for the one dough to rule them all. I’ve left it as a standard bread recipe but chances are i will be posting my other glorious creations soon enough. So bookmark this page- i’ll be referring to in future.

Happy Baking lovelies…

(Makes 8 rolls and 2 baguette-esque batons, Vegan, Gluten Free)

• 5 cups Gluten Free Flour (i did equal buckwheat and chickpea) + a few extra cups on standby (for kneading)
• 5 cups lukewarm water
• 8 tbsp Psyllium Husk Powder
• 2 tbsp Fast Action Yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1. In a large bowl, mix the psyllium with the water, stir well and set aside for a few minutes
2. Stir in the yeast and salt real well and leave for 10 minutes
3. Add the flour and mix until you get a sticky dough
4. Leave to raise for 30 minutes- 1 hour
5. Heat the oven to 200c, line two trays with baking parchment and a sprinkle of flour
6. Tip the dough onto a well floured surface (this is where you may need the extra flour because you cannot knead the dough if its too wet) and add enough flour until the dough ain’t sticking to your hands/ everything it touches but is still very malleable
7. Knead for a few minutes and then roll into a long sausage
8. Cut the dough in two, form 8 rolls with one half and two batons with the other half
9. Pop into your trays and leave for another 30 minutes/ 1 hour
10. Brush the tops of the dough with water and bake for 30- 40 minutes, until you have a nice golden crust
11. Allow to cool completely before serving

Buckwheat & Chickpea Flatbreads (& An Everything Salad)…

Tags

buckwheat, chickpea, everything salad, flatbreads, flour, gluten- free, gram, vegan

I first encountered this flatbread recipe on the beautiful site of Golubka. I made them, per recipe for Callum’s birthday and they went down real good. However, the original recipe called for a mix of Buckwheat flour and Rice flour. I have a very good friend back home who avoids both wheat and rice, therefore i wanted to create a flatbread recipe that she would be a- okay enjoying. This ones for you Lucy…

The only thing i would change about this recipe is that i did not roll/ press the flatbreads out enough before they went in the fridge- they were still delicious its just that they were a bit on the thick side of flatbreadness.

Now, i’m not going to do a right up of the salad that accompanied our flatbreads. For a mixture of reasons- one, to say i got a little carried away would be a huge understatement. Two, there are far too many ingredients to make it viable for most households (in my defence, i was using up a lot of things that needed eating). Three, it was pretty much a case of throw everything onto a (very large) platter. Anyway, i will say that it was a true multi-taste, texture, colour spectacular, that i ate with my hands- in order to fully appreciate each mouthful, each beautiful taste. Theres a name for these kinds of salads (i didn’t make it up)- An Everything Salad. Maybe if you have a surplus of salad vegetables, fruits, legumes to hand you can do the same. Its a feast if ever there was one.

Buckwheat & Gram Flour Flatbreads:
(Makes 4, Gluten- free, Vegan)

• 200g Buckwheat Flour
• 200g Gram (Chickpea) Flour
• 250ml Water
• 1 tablespoon of Apple Cyder Vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of Sea Salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of Sugar
• 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of Gluten- free Baking Powder

1. Sift the flours together in a bowl
2. In a measuring jug, whisk the water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the sugar until dissolved
3. Add the vinegar and whisk again
4. Weigh out 190g of your flour mix, add the remaining sugar, salt and baking powder and mix
5. Add the liquids and stir until you have a smooth, runny paste
6. Slowly add the remaining flour until you are able to handle the dough
7. Turn onto a floured surface and knead (with floured hands) for 2 minutes
8. Divide into 4, lay a piece of cling film onto a surface and add one piece of dough, cover with another piece of cling film and gently press until you have a large, flat disk
9. Repeat with the remaining dough, pop in the fridge for 30 minutes (or overnight if you want to make in advance)
10. Heat a griddle pan until smoking hot and cook each flatbread, 2 minutes on each side.

Now, just incase your curious, the everything salad contained:
Leaves, Carrot, Cucumber, Raisins, Blueberries, Apple, Celery, Red Onion, Toasted Nuts & Seeds, Sweetcorn, Avocado, Roasted Kale, Broccoli, Aubergine, Courgette, Red Cabbage, Plum Tomatoes. Dressed in a Sweet & Sour Sweetcorn Drizzle. Phew!

Raw Buckwheat Porridge…

Tags

bee pollen, blueberries, buckwheat, dates, gluten- free, goji, porridge, raw, seeds, vegan, vegetarian

After our juice fast i needed to make something easy to digest, something delicate on the stomach but filling and wholesome. Its not a good idea to overload your organs with heavy solids- there needs to be a gradual reintroduction. The Superfood Smoothies were the perfect beginning to our return into the world of solid food. Then i came across this recipe for raw Buckwheat porridge from the lovely folk at Green Kitchen Stories and i had to try it. I ended up making a few changes to their original, to work with what i had available, mainly i swapped orange juice for lemon and walnuts for some almond butter i had left over from making milk.

The resulting porridge isn’t what you’d expect but then i think thats the beauty of raw food- it changes your preconceptions, opens your mind and palette to another world of flavours and textures. Next time i would definitely stick to orange juice though- the overall finish was quite tart, not that i minded so much but for breakfast you may want something more mellow. This is a very easy dish to prepare, after the soaking process it comes together in 2 minutes. You can increase the quantity to make a larger batch to get you through a few mornings and because you store them in a jar (and they’re raw) they are a great, transportable, on-the-go breakfast. Buckwheat is relatively cheap and a little goes a long way. It’s gluten- free and has a wonderful creaminess when blended. You could jazz your porridge up with any number of delicious things, i went with toasted seeds, cinnamon, dates and bee pollen for one and blueberries, toasted seeds and goji berries for the second. You could change the fruit, perhaps banana, and different spices? Once you have the basic porridge its extremely versatile, so go with your stomachs and see where they take you…

(Makes 2 jars/ 4 portions, Vegan, Gluten- free)

• 100g Buckwheat groats
• 1 Green Apple
• 2 tablespoons of Almond Butter (or any soaked nut of your choice)
• juice of 1 Orange
• 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of Agave Nectar

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons of toasted Seeds
• 1 tablespoon of Bee Pollen
• 10 dates, chopped

1. Rinse the buckwheat real well
2. Pop in a bowl and cover with plenty of fresh water
3. Drain and rinse well before covering with water again
4. Repeat this step every so often over the next 36 hours
5. Drain and rinse for the final time before adding to a blender
6. Add the other ingredients and blend until slightly smooth, but still with some nice chunks
7. Layer in a clean jar with your topping
8. Keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days

Buckwheat Salad & “Life- Changing Bread”…

Tags

broccoli, buckwheat, chilli, gluten- free, home grown, kale, lemon, nuts, orange, pomegranate, raw, salad, seeds, spinach, vegan, vegetarian

I have found two new, favourite blogs/ websites. I won’t try to convey how good they are- i urge you to go look for yourselves. First: My New Roots which is where i found the life- changing bread and second, Sarah’s friend Earthsprout. These two ladies have quite possibly changed by life, outlook and spirits, go go go, look!

With my new found zest i whipped up a super nutritious salad. The perfect dish to take the edge off Monday. I utilised my left over Raw Pesto to coat my just- cooked greens and finally tried out my Pomegranate Syrup which coated the Buckwheat just beautifully. Its sounds like a bit of a faff and i totally understand that you may not have such goodies to hand- fret not, a wee bit of Balsamic Vinegar would work happily in place of the syrup. Instead of the Pesto you could just tear up a few fresh herbs. Basucally, i was using up what left overs we had so feel free to use any veg/ salad you’ve got to hand. This is a punchy, flavoursome dish that lifts the tastebuds and excites the belly. Sounds pretty good for a Monday evening right?

(Serves 2 hefty portions with a good size lunch portion left over, Vegan, Gluten- Free)

• 1/2 cup of un- roasted Buckwheat
• 1 cup of fresh Water
• 2 handfuls of Spinach, wash and left in a colander
• 1 handful of Purple Kale, torn
• 1/4 head of Broccoli, torn
• 1 Bird’s eye Green Chilli, finely chopped
• juice of 1 Lemon & 1 Orange
• handful of Olives, roughly chopped
• 1/5 Cucumber, finely sliced
• 1/5 Red Pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon of Raw Pesto
• 1 tablespoon of Pomegranate Syrup

1. Rinse the buckwheat real well, pop in a small pan with the water, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes
2. Reduce to a light simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until pretty much all the water is absorbed,
3. Cover and leave for 10 minutes (just to make sure all the water is sucked in)
4. In a medium pan, bring some water to the boil, take off the heat and add the broccoli and kale, leave for 60 seconds and drain by pouring over the spinach
5. Return all 3 veg to the pan and stir in the pesto
6. In a small pan, heat the chilli, lemon and orange juice for 2 minutes, add the pomegranate syrup and cook for 2 more minutes, stir into your buckwheat
7. Lay some lovely salad leaves in a large bowl, add the cucumber, peppers and olives
8. Then add the spinach mix followed by the buckwheat
9. Toss everything until its all coated in the lovely juices
10. (I sprinkled some fresh cress and mustard on top to serve, but that only because i was excited to harvest our first home grown veg!)

I won’t disrespect Sarah and try to tell you how to make the INCREDIBLE bread. I will leave that to her, she has mad knowledge skills and her site is beautiful. I will tell you that it is both vegan and gluten- free and is definitely the healthiest bread you will EVER eat…