Lentil Pot Pie with Pumpkin

My children love pies – and they ask for them all the time. However, these are not sweet pies or desserts they are hoping for – they are wanting a savory pie made with lentils, beans, vegetables and anything else on the go.

With all my years spent being either vegetarian or vegan, this was not a dish I had ever taken to much. I wonder if I had always associated pot pie with those little dishes that come from a factory with bits of chicken in them….

Having trained in those factories during my time as a Food Hygiene Inspector and again while completing my degrees in food and packaging – I would never have been drawn to eating them, making them or buying them. They kind of creeped me out....

But of course now when I am creating, making and cooking all our food from scratch, I know I can make pot pie with anything (and everything!) with some wonderfully delicious results.

Yesterday I had a huge pot of lentil stew ready – it kind of got away from me – as I had vegetables to use up and just kept loading them into the stock pot. After everyone had been well fed, I decided to use up the rest of the stew and make some pot pies – as a surprise.

After taking some of the liquid off – but not too much – I cooked even more vegetables (pumpkin and sautéd onions) to create a thicker filling. These were added to the deep dishes ready to be filled, I also buttered the inside of each dish a little before filling.

Next I covered the pumpkin mixture with scoops of the lentil stew until each dish was nearly full. After liberally salting and peppering over the top of the vegetables, it was ready for a crust. A thicker topping is something that seems to go very well with this type of dish as well. 

I was a bit dubious about how to go about this – I wanted it to lend a very savory flavour to each dish – mainly because the lentils are so earthy, so I made a bread with spelt flour, goat’s milk and water, lots of rosemary, thyme, baking soda and my homemade cinnamon mustard.

This was spooned over the top – and spread it out a little around the middle of the lentils – leaving room at the edges for the pie filling to bubble up.

I think it turned out very well – there’s nothing left!

April

Lentil Pot Pie with Pumpkin

Winter Vegetables - Warming Soups & Stews

I am a great lover of soups, stews and all warming hearty dishes that can easily be filled with wholesome veggies. These days with the weather the way it is, is a perfect time for soup. Of course the best ingredients are also available....

Right now we are in the middle of root and winter vegetable heaven. This is the season for many of the greatest vegetables on earth which just happen to make wonderful soups, stews and other succulent dishes. I happen to love root and winter vegetables and include them as much as possible in meals.

Some of my favourite ones would be sweet potato, turnip, carrot, beetroot, celeriac, fennel, celery root and there are a few which grow above the ground such as pumpkin, squash, cabbage, kale and broccoli. I can't wait for a few more such as Brussels sprouts to come into season as well.

Any combination of these hearty vegetables can be included in a warming soup for rainy wet cold days such as these. I really enjoy anything with pumpkin and carrot for instance - spice it up with coriander and turmeric plus lots of garlic or leeks as this makes a creamy filling soup.

One thing I do to enhance soups in particular is to put about a 1/2 cup to a cup of lentils or beans in with the vegetables. The beans are usually soaked overnight to soften them and then cooked beforehand with a little seaweed.

However, with lentils you can place them into a pot of cold water in the morning for your evening soup. Let them sit for a few hours if you have the time and then cook together with the vegetables as the soup cooks.

Today I placed a couple of handfuls of brown lentils into a pot with some seaweed. Left it to sit for the afternoon until I was ready to make the soup. Once I was ready to start working with the vegetables I turned on the burner to give the lentils a little head start.

To the water, lentils and seaweed I added salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin at the beginning and then the vegetables. Half of a pumpkin, 5 carrots, 1 chopped onion and another onion, leek and garlic sautéd in a little olive oil.

This cooked for about 45 minutes until done. I then added 1/2 cup of chopped fresh coriander and blended the soup into a thick paste. It smelled divine and my daughter loved it! This is usually called orange soup in our house...

Great with a fresh loaf of herbed spelt bread right out of the oven...mmmm!

April

Winter Vegetables 

Raw Pumpkin and A Scary Night

One more day until Samhain - this is such a big time of year for us here - things really get down to the crunch of detoxing after this last Feast of the season. What we try to do then is really enjoy this week and this season to the fullest.

When we strip away the commercial aspects of Halloween, the sugar, candy, and the near Christmas like atmosphere it has started to resemble - what are we left with? Perhaps a raw pumpkin and a scary night.

Of course being an Intuitive I am always trying to figure things out, I need to know why we think a certain way, why we eat the food we do and then how to make it better. There is no doubt the veil between worlds is thinner at this time of year.

What that means is that beings from other worlds can move more easily back and forth. But it also tells us they are supposed to - otherwise this time would not have been possible and built into the nature of the earth herself.

Why might this be important for those of us living here on this planet? And what does this all have to do with the food we are eating, detox and cleansing....well. Perhaps there are both living and dead parts of ourselves - in the same manner we would eat some of our foods dead.

In times past animal meats from game such as deer, rabbits, ducks and fish would have been consumed fairly regularly. To use such meat meant giving thanks for the souls of each animal as well as providing them with a place (and a space) to leave the earth on their own journey.

This is the time of year when these animals would have traditionally been hunted and killed for our food. It would have been important to the ancient Pagans that the spiritual aspects of these animals would be able to move on after death.

When we eat animal meats from animals who have been ill treated or are unhappy about being part of the food chain, we do end up taking on that energy. Perhaps that's why many people have trouble digesting meat in any quantity. 

Of course we only need a little meat (and many would argue none at all) - I have personally spent more than a few years as a vegan and would now only eat meat selectively. I would also prefer game meat and home raised food animals over commercial types of meats.

Maybe during this Halloween season you can give thanks in some small way for the animals who gave their lives for your dinner - mindfulness.

April 

Goose in the grass

The Scary Part of Halloween, the Sweets

I remember a few years ago when I was completing a diploma course in Nutrition, one of the many things we learned during those years was some of the specifics about Halloween candy. Yes, apparently there are brands of sweets that you might only see around this time of year and they are nasty...

Actually I think I can remember some of them... not that there were many sweets in the house where I grew up. However, at Halloween it was expected, right? I mean children come around to your door and you provide them with the material to degrade their gut bacteria, rot their teeth and otherwise cause harmful effects on their health. 

It's a great time of year all around. 

Of course, if we really stop and think about it - no one wants to be party to any of these negatives listed above. We would all like to think that we know better, so we can do better. But how many of us really do - or do we still choose to take the 'easy' way out?

And for the life of me, I am not certain why caving in to the marketing campaign, then handing out sweets to unsuspecting little children is an easy way out... who wins in the end? Parents putting hyper strung out sugar drunk children to bed or the children themselves with sore tummies and worse?

The interesting thing is it doesn't have to be this way. We all know by now you can have your cake (sugar free) and eat it too....What better message to send to children then to be, act, live and do - in as responsible manner as possible. 

Perhaps here is as good a time as any to remind you of some basic energy laws - it's never about them, it's always about us. So, if we feel the need to cave in and fill up our families with sugar or any manner of rubbish - what need in us are we filling? 

And who is really in charge here, of you and the foods you choose to eat? 

April 

Pumpkin vines in the garden...

Sweet Potato Samosa's

There are a few recipes I have been wanting to make but have been putting them off mostly because I have never made them before and need to have some space to 'create'. Getting the kitchen to myself doesn't happen very often, so these experiments do tend to be put off indefinitely.

Today however, I decided to throw caution to the wind and to get the kids to join in with me as I figured out a recipe for sweet potato samosa's. Once again this is not a food I would have been very familiar with, as I don't eat out or order take away, but, I was fairly certain they appeared to be easy enough to make.

I am still working on overcoming this level of resistance to some new recipe tastes and flavours - you know how we kind of get set in our ways with all our old standby's. Well, time to branch out!

So, the first thing on the agenda was to decide what I wanted to use as a filling for these samosa's - I wanted sweet potato and soft cooked vegetables. But I also wanted veg to be baked and not boiled, so as not to be too watery. Sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and shallots were chopped up, wrapped in foil and placed in the oven for an hour.

Roasted vegetables and stir fry mixed with spices

Next, to make this dish a little spicy I used an onion, a leek and garlic - chopped finely which was sautéd in a saucepan with a little oil. To this I added turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. I didn't want to go overboard with spices because the children would not eat them.

Once the vegetables were done, I added the stir fry onion mixture in with that to make a lovely fragrant vegetable filling.

In the meantime I made a dough from 2 cups of spelt flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon bread soda. I added 6 tablespoons of milk and about the same of cold water until it looked like a slightly sticky dough and formed a ball.

Dough forms a ball 

This was then easy enough to roll out flat enough to make round cut outs. To make my samosa's I used 2 pieces of the dough for each one, placing the filling in the centre and pressing it together with a fork. 

Samosa dough ready for filling 

This was actually a very easy to make recipe, tasty and quite filling. The nicest part of this is the way the filling can be nearly anything - rice with vegetables, spicy mince lamb, feta cheese or any different combinations of these.

They were in the oven for about 23 minutes or so and then we got to have samosa's with our dinner. I used my homemade honey mustard sauce for dipping and it was delicious! 

Well, I hope to make another new dish again tomorrow... keep it new and exciting LOL

April

Samosa! 

Warm bread, Pumpkin soup and Date squares...

Today we are slowly getting back to some soft foods after fasting for 10 days during our Master Cleanse - this is always a lovely day for me because right now my senses are still really sharp from the all the detoxing.

I can smell, taste and feel each food more deeply, all the subtle notes and flavours roll around with each bite - it is a great feeling to enjoy good homemade food knowing everything I am eating is good for me and nourishing.

Late last night I had dates on my mind so much, I decided to finally listen to them calling - I ended up making some great smelling date squares, which of course I couldn't eat until just now, I had a small bite of one. It is divine. There is something decadent about dates, combine them with the subtle tastes of toasted oats, butter and spices and this is close to heaven for me! 

Date squares piled on a plate - calling my name! 

I actually hadn't made them in quite a while, but now have my orders to make them far more often. Perhaps I will make another batch this week with a little twist of orange flavours for something different.

Early this morning I also made my bread, this is something I do most days, I even make honey oat spelt bread fairly regularly, however, once again tonight as everyone had a slice of the bread, it was as if it tasted so wonderful. Even better than usual.

It has not got me wondering if perhaps our taste buds have been extra cleaned out or something from this last 10 days, more so than usual for us after a detox. Something is different and this food tastes great! Just as I wrote this I realized the one thing now different! LOL

The last few vestiges of processed foods such as mustard, mayonnaise, jams etc. which were getting into our diets have been gone for some weeks now. Might this be making such a dramatic difference to our palates? Possibly.

For our soft, easily digested dinner tonight, I had soaked azduki beans, added lots of vegetables but mostly pumpkin, spiced it a little as this gently cooked - and then we all really enjoyed a nourishing bowl of pumpkin soup. 

All the food today tasted fabulous - can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Have a healthy day,

April

Pumpkin and azduki bean soup - lovely flavours and tastes