Just Humans Being...

We like to keep our meals simple, preferably in one pot and do eat lots of stews, chilis and curries. We also never throw food away and any leftovers will get added to the next day's meal and so on... All our meals start life as a pan of freshly chopped veg. So far we have: 3 onions, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 sweet potato, 2 medium tomatoes, 1 large red pepper and 1 courgette with a good sprinkle of dried basil, oregano and smoked paprika. This is a tub of leftover stew from the weekend. If you follow us on Instagram @thesmithsontour you will see a post from Saturday regarding the ingredients, some of which is from the garden. The leftovers whizzed up and added to the mix as a thick stock. We also added a little water and stir-fried/simmered for around 20 minutes. Next up mushrooms. Sliced and chucked in for a further 5 minutes of simmering. Then added chopped kale from the garden... and lastly - we added beans (today we used Suma's tinned black beans) and juice of half a lemon. Co...

We are living in a time when seemingly healthy people are susceptible to germs, disease and even die. We often hear of the shock family and friends feel when their loved ones depart this world..."they were so fit and healthy”! What most people don’t realise is that exercising and calorie counting doesn’t necessarily make you healthy and it is a combination of things that cause dis-ease. Those underlying problems may just be simmering away and if you are busy, work long hours and have a stressful job – you probably won’t even notice. Most illnesses will come along because of a build up of toxins in the body over a number of years, which is why it usually hits us in our 40s... from eating a poor diet full of processed foods, large quantities of animal protein, fats, dairy and foods sprayed with nasty chemicals. Top this off with living in a polluted city or large town, along with being employed in a job with many rules, regulations and other people and you have the perfect ingre...

  The idea for this stew came from Caldwell Esselstyn's book  Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease . His recipe for Marrakesh Express Red Lentil Soup is delicious, but we wanted something more filling. I added celery seed, as we didn't have any fresh celery, a pinch each of sage and thyme instead of a bay leaf and ground coriander (cilantro) instead of fresh. Along with fresh garlic, carrots, potato, leek and kale. Ingredients 1 large onion 4 cloves garlic 1 leek Small knob fresh ginger 2 large tomatoes 2 large carrots 3 medium potatoes A few handfuls of kale 300g dried red lentils 300g cooked chickpeas 1/2 tsp dried turmeric 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp celery seed 1 tsp ground coriander Pinch each of sage and thyme 1 litre or more of cold water Juice of half lemon Few drops liquid aminos Instructions 1. Chop all the veg into required size and place into a large pan. 2. Add herbs, spices and enough water to stir-fry ingredients. 3. Fry for around 10 minutes. 4. Add lentils and the res...

  A simple and comforting favourite! Ingredients 1 litre of homemade stock - 4 cloves garlic, 2 medium potatoes, 2 large carrots, 1 apple, 1 tsp each of dried sage, thyme and cumin, 1 tsp yeast extract, a pinch of ground black pepper and 1 litre of water. 700g onions  200ml French red wine 2 tablespoons cognac Instructions 1. Chop all the veg for the stock and put all the ingredients into a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. 2. Whizz up with a hand blender until nice and smooth. 3. Slice onions and fry in the red wine until translucent. 4. Add the onions and wine to the stock and simmer for 45 minutes. 5. Add the brandy and serve. Taking the time to make your own stock turns this soup into a filling meal and the apple adds a subtle sweetness, which is lovely in this savoury dish. We use Essential Yeast Extract, probably available from most UK health shops and must say it is worth the extra dosh! We had this for our New Years Day supper...delicious! Hope you enjo...

All this cold weather makes us crave warming stews or hippy slop as we usually call it! For this one we fried 1/3 of a butternut squash, half a red pepper, 2 carrots, a handful of green beans and a bulb of garlic with a good sprinkle of mixed herbs, water and a splash of red wine for around 10 minutes. Then we added a can of chopped tomatoes, 8oz water, 4oz washed red lentils, a teaspoon of ground cumin and simmered for around 20 minutes. We made the dumplings earlier, as it's good to let the batter stand for at least 15 minutes. We used to make the dumplings with vegetable suet, but have used rice as a replacement for years now. This time we used 6oz brown rice cooked in turmeric, 3oz wholemeal flour, half a chopped apple, 2 teaspoons of ground flax seeds, 1 teaspoon each of  baking powder, dried sage and thyme, a good handful of fresh parsley, a pinch of Cornish sea salt and a sprinkle of black pepper. Use a tablespoon to scoop enough of the mi...

It is the final day of World Vegan Month and here is this morning's second breakfast! For the pancake batter: we use a 200ml cup each of oats and stoneground wholemeal flour, then a tablespoon each of ground flax seeds and maize flour. Add a teaspoon each of baking powder (baking soda), ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. 200mls plant milk and top up with water...around 100mls for thick pancakes and add more for crepe like pancakes. Whizz up with a hand blender and leave to stand for 10 minutes and then fry in a hot non-stick pan. Today we added blueberries and banana... Which kind of caramelise when the pancake is flipped over. Delicious! We love how the blueberries sink into the centre. We served them with a squeeze of clementine and soya yogurt. They are so easy to make and are lovely! Love from a cold, wet and very windy Cornwall! Kay and Sime xx

Day 29 World Vegan Month. This is what happens when we suddenly run out of porridge oats... We had enough for a spoonful each, so instead of our usual bowl of joy - we made smoothies with pretty much the same ingredients with added greenness: Spinach, apple, banana, raisins, rosehips, seaweed, cinnamon, ginger and turmeric. Our mix of flax, hemp and pumpkin seeds, a spoonful of porridge oats, matcha green tea powder and water.  Wonderful stuff!  And here's Fleaby - he just wanted to say hello! xxx

Day 28 World Vegan Month. Organic whole wheat spaghetti, butter bean, red pepper and mushroom pasta sauce with salad leaves. Such a busy time for us, so sorry we're not keeping up with the posts!    Night, night...Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 16 of  World Vegan Month. We eat lots of fresh seasonal organic food, so the ingredients are often similar for a few weeks - we are using a butternut squash and kale from the vegetable garden here at  Cotna and all the other veg is from  Riverford . We fried onions, garlic, ginger and butternut squash with soy sauce and dried spices - cumin, coriander and mustard seeds. We added kale and savoy cabbage, while at the same time cooked up the red lentils... They look dreadful...Hahaha! We decided to add some soya cream, which made it look strange - but it tasted great, especially once all the veg was added. We served it up with brown basmati cooked with turmeric. And as you can see, Sime really enjoyed it! Here's Our Curry Recipe from a previous post, if you are interested in making a similar dish. Enjoy! Love Kay and Sime xx

Day 13 World Vegan Month. Tonight's dinner has a spicy and nutritious kick. All organic, our chilli contains: onions, garlic, fresh ginger, butternut squash, red pepper, mushrooms, finely chopped tofu, brown lentils, red kidney beans and haricot beans.  Fried up in red wine, turmeric, cumin, chilli flakes and smoked paprika. We also added yesterday's leftover potato wedges, which we chopped into bite size pieces, some French passata and the juice of one lemon. Served with brown rice cooked in turmeric, as well as crispy kale and sesame seeds fried in soy sauce and black pepper. This meal contains lots of plant protein, calcium, iron and various B vitamins, as well as numerous other minerals and vitamins. It's also oil free, easy to make and absolutely delicious! Here's another version of  Our Chilli Recipe if you are interested - this previous post also features our cornbread recipe. Enjoy!!! Love Kay and Sime xx

Halloween and All Saint's Day (La Toussaint) is a big event here in France and it has been for a long time, probably as big as in North America. We remember being in Paris with our kidlets many years ago over Halloween and seeing lots of decorated places and kids dressed up, which we didn't really see much of in the UK at the time. Our hotel overlooked one of the city's large cemeteries and on November 1st, we woke up to an incredible sight - the cemetery was absolutely buzzing with people bearing flowers and gifts...it was fascinating for us all to see and experience.    At the moment, we are house and kitty sitting in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of France and there is much activity in the cemetery of this rural village this week, as families honour their dead loved ones. Today has been a quiet day for us, we are happy to stay away from the Halloween celebrations and instead just enjoy the peace of this lovely house, cuddle lots of kitties, feast and relax....