Munch on Monday

I wanted to post here my four favourite recipes from the last week. I love eating so many things but hardly ever post about them because I don't often have my camera in the kitchen (or, REALLY, I eat my goodies to quick to photograph, that's the truth). And mainly because I will be making these again over the week, and likely today to munch on this fine Monday.

Adapted from a recipe posted at Little Grubs, an easy peasy tomato spelt bread bread, 30 minutes max from start of baking to eating. A nice bread for those times when you need a fresh bread quick, like friends drop by or you need some to bulk up a stew/soup type of dinner.

Tomata Bread
200g wholegrain Spelt flour
pinch sea salt
3 level teaspoons baking powder
black pepper
lots of sun dried tomatoes
good sprinkling of mixed dried herbs
150ml natural bio live yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil

~Sieve flour, salt and baking powder
~Grind in black pepper and sprinkle in herbs
~Chop and then stir in sun dried tomatoes
~Mix yogurt and oil together
~Add to dry ingredients and gently combine to form a dough
~Roll out dough to 1" thick and form into round about 6" diameter
~Score into 6 triangles, dust with a bit of flour
~Bake in oven at 220 degrees for 12-15 minutes
~Break and enjoy immediately



This soup is a fantastic stand by, store cupboard soup. One of those days where you don't have much food in, a shopping trip is needed but you are all hungry. Or the need for soup sings out to you and you don't have much in the way of fresh produce around.

Lentil and Tomato Soup
200g of red lentils, rinsed
two tins of chopped tomatoes
an onion or two
a packet of bacon, maybe 4-6 slices (I always have a pack or two in the freezer)
Stock, 2.5 pints
sea salt and pepper

~Fry the chopped onion gently in oil (I use virgin coconut oil every single day in everything I cook so that's what I use :)
~Snip up the bacon and add, then the drained lentils
~Add tomatoes ( I have also used a jar of tomato based pasta sauce when it was all I had to hand and it tasted fab)
~Add stock, about 2 1/2 pints (I LOVE bone broth, I make some of some sort or other every week with organic bones simmered for hours and then freeze most in little batches)
~Bring to the boil then simmer in a merry fashion for about thirty minutes, then blend in a jug blend or with a hand held blender stick.

She's waiting, but not patiently...


My new favourite cookie. Made with brown rice flour, these taste like shortbread but much more melty in the mouth. Sincerely and unapologetically addictive. You might, like me, need to make three batches in the one week if you find greed exceeds sense.



Rice Cookies
8oz of butter, softened but not liquid
4oz of unrefined icing sugar, sieved (you could try subbing agave or maple syrup but these cookies need to be really light and I found they were heavy with liquid sweeteners)
2 eggs yolks
6-8ox of brown rice flour
optional additional cardamon or rose water for Persian taste

~ Blend the butter until creamy, then add the icing sugar, blend some more
~ Add egg yolk and blend for another minute
~ stir in rice flour until well combined and mix well to form a soft-ish dough
~ An hour chilled in the fridge makes the cookies turn out better but if you don't have that hour they are still fine.
~ scoop with a teaspoon and press into flattened balls on a greased tray, or if feeling inclined, shaped with damp fingers into crescent moon shapes
~ bake for 10-15 mins (maybe longer, just check) on a medium heat until slightly golden. I am not sure about the heat to be honest, I have no control over that on my Aga, so I just have to keep checking and the heat is pretty high.

Yum, yum yum. Try to share them with your children or guests but also make sure you have a few all to yourself and don't feel guilty either, they are so yummy. I keep meaning to try them with ghee instead of butter (we are slowly trying to transition towards less dairy and gluten here) and so will next time I make them. I'll try and remember to add here my results with that.



Also last but by NO means least. We eat these a few times a week and as far as gluten and dairy free go these are one of those recipes I fear will have to be phased out. Eventually. Not yet, because everyone here loves them. We found this recipe YEARS ago now, and it's a standard one in our family. It has spread outwards to my mother and sister and others too. These breakfast pancakes are not crepe like. They are thick and filling and took me some getting used to at first so much so was I enamoured with my life time of eating delicate crepe thin style pancakes. But I dived into these with everyone else in my family and have not looked back.

Spelt and Yogurt Breakfast Pancakes

2 cups bio live yogurt
2 cups spelt flour
2 eggs
1 tsp bicarb. of soda

~ Combine the flour and yog on the evening before you want to eat them (this is always my dh's job!), cover and leave in a semi warm place or just on your kitchen counter.
~ In the morning add 2 eggs and one heaped teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and mix really well.
~ I use virgin coconut oil for frying, it is such good stuff.

Favourite toppings:
~blueberries scattered into the batter and then more on top with drizzled maple syrup and whipped cream
~mashed banana (nice for little ones who don't know other options yet exist!)
~maple syrup and sliced banana
~fruit spread or jam
~chocolate spread