Just Humans Being...

  Red lentils are an absolute favourite and we have both felt the same way about them for many years...our go to comfort food, whatever the weather!  Put them together with some vegetables, miso and brown rice and we have the ultimate in simple, nourishing food.  It's one of the first vegan ingredients we attempted to cook over 34 years ago - with very little in the way of recipe books and we had no idea how to get them just right; resorting to beans on toast over and over again, but sheer determination and much experimentation got us there in the end! Now we enjoy them at least twice a week, these days in a pan of seasonal vegetables cooked with spices and fresh herbs - sometimes using the leftovers for roasts and burgers...they are just so versatile and we adore their subtle, almost bland flavour and creamy texture.   Red Lentil Dhal Recipe   (4 Servings) Ingredients 8oz red lentils 1 medium onion 4 garlic cloves Selection of seasonal vegetables Selection of spices (black cumin,

 Holidaymakers are swarming down to Cornwall, so we are enjoying a couple of days being homebased and it's finally warm and dry... instead of the cold, wet and windy weather we have had over the last weeks or is it months? We have much to do in the garden  jungle, and after being crazily busy for what seems like forever - we were dreaming of spending some quality time at home with the kitties, pottering about outside...and now we have exactly what we have been craving. Yesterday we visited our local farm shop and for the first time we bought some Green Wheat Freekeh from Palestinian company  Zaytoun  and we love it! We cooked up some spicy veggies and added the soaked Freekeh at the end and served on a bed of salad and topped with chopped coriander. We have also been experimenting and decided to have a go at making our own version of a vegan frittata using silken tofu and buckwheat - it was delicious! We'll make it again and share the recipe soon. The weekend wouldn't be co

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

  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 rest

  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 enjoy it and

Our cabin looking cosy from outside. It has been stormy all day today and right now we have gale force winds and the torrential rain continues, but we are experts at Hygge and feel so happy and grateful to be indoors, to be dry, warm and snug.. We have a pot of lentil dhal bubbling on the stove... And both kitties are snoozing. Floobs is on the kitchen worktop tonight... While Tiky is sticking with the table! The woodburner is crackling away and we have plenty of dry wood. Hope you too are keeping warm, dry and grateful for everything you have. Lots of love, Kay and Sime xx  

  These beauties are super easy to make and are delicious with a vegan breakfast! Ingredients 100g plain flour (we actually used wholemeal bread flour) 1 heaped tablespoon yellow pea flour (we use Hodmedods ) ½ teaspoon baking powder 2 carrots – grated 1 onion - finely chopped Water – enough to make a gloopy mix 1 teaspoon dried sage  Salt and pepper to taste Recipe Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix and leave to stand for 20 mins. Heat a non-stick frying pan and add enough mixture to make a pancake. This recipe should make 4 medium sized pancakes, but if you prefer to have a more crepe-like consistency just add more water and whizz the ingredients with a hand blender. Enjoy! Kay and Sime xx

  We were asked recently if we still stick to Ann and Caldwell Esselstyn's principles...being vegan and oil free and yes we do. It's over 8 years now since we stopped using oil and apart from when other people cook or we buy something while out we continue to eat the same healthy way - always vegan and oil-free.  Simple vegan meals really don't take long to make and are easy enough to cook from scratch each day. There isn't any need to spend huge amounts of money on junk food, when simply cooked vegetables taste so good! We wrote a blog post about this some years ago:  When Everyone Runs, Stand Still  but thought it would be good to remind people... It was Caldwell's 87th birthday on December 12th and he continues to enjoy good health...35 years of eating a whole food, plant based, oil-free diet has obviously worked wonders!  As a reminder, here is the list again... 1. Eat oats  (Old Fashioned) for breakfast, any way you can as oatmeal, as a cold cereal as we do

  After years of making big pans of porridge every morning we have discovered a new and improved way to eat our daily portion of oats. Ingredients 50g Oats (we use Mornflake Organic Oats) ½ tsp each of dried Turmeric, Cinnamon, Ginger and Rosehips 1 tbsp raisins or sultanas 1 tbsp ground seed mix - Flax (linseeds), Hemp and Pumpkin 1 tsp Blackstrap Molasses 1 heaped tsp peanut butter (Essential is our favourite) ½ chopped apple 1 tbsp berries (if in season) 1 small or ½ large chopped banana Boiling Water Plant Milk Sprinkle of Terra Nova Living Wellbeing Powder   Method Put all the dry ingredients into a breakfast bowl and mix well. Add Molasses, peanut butter and the chopped apple. Pour the boiling water over the mixture – we fill our bowls and leave for 5 mins. Mix well again. Top with the banana, berries, powder and milk.   Hope you enjoy it!   Love Kay and Sime xx

Bakes are a great way to use up the end of a loaf and any leftover cooked veg. The mixture can be made into patties, sausages and balls, but the laziest easiest way is to bung it all into a tin and bake! We make them a lot because they are easy, tasty and filling... This one has 1 tin of chickpeas, 4oz of our homemade sourdough crumbs, leftover purple sprouting, leeks fried in soy sauce and spices, a blob of tomato puree, wild garlic and nettles. We put all the ingredients together in the food processor...  Then into a loaf tin and bake on a medium heat for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave for 10 minutes before turning out. We had half the bake between us for our second breakfast on Sunday and the leftovers on Monday with bread, salad and pickles. It really is easy to eat simple, healthy vegan dishes and we love it! Hope you are all keeping well. Love Kay and Sime xx

We realise just how lucky we are to be living in the countryside. Lockdown for us is quite different and although, like lots of other people, we have lost the majority of our income - we find it easy to adapt and already live very frugally... Our work on the outside world has reduced to one day a week and instead, we are able to help out on the farm in return for rent and some food. We have an organic veg and fruit box still being delivered to supplement what is available here and have no need to venture out to supermarkets or nearby towns. Those of you who know us are probably aware that we are not big supermarket shoppers anyway, so we feel no loss for them.  We don't have a freezer and cook from scratch, often making extra for the next day.  We eat simply...oats for breakfast, homemade sourdough for lunch and usually rice, quinoa or very occasionally pasta for dinner. All served with fresh veggies and pulses. Easy.  We've already dried a jar full of you

Oven baked potatoes with haricot bean hummus, baked tomato and mushrooms and silken tofu pan-fried with kale, onion and lots of crushed garlic. A simple tasty feast...vegan, organic and oil-free. Today's hummus is made with haricot beans, fresh lemon juice, fresh parsley, ground cumin, smoked paprika, a tiny pinch of Cornish sea salt and some crushed peppercorns.  We love baked tomatoes. These have fresh oregano pushed into the centres and a sprinkle of black pepper. We bake them for 30 minutes. Kale, onion and garlic frying in water and soy sauce, turmeric and cumin. We added silken tofu after 10 minutes and fried for another 10.  Sime's plate...piled high, as usual! Since we stopped using oil some years ago, we found that soy sauce, miso and lemon juice are great alternatives, though organic vegetables seem to be naturally more flavoursome, especially oven roasted vegetables. We rarely follow recipes and tend to make up meals wit

We made these quick burgers for lunch today. In the food processor, we whizzed up firm tofu, garlic, leek, carrot, green pepper and mushrooms. With soaked sundried tomatoes, cumin, chilli flakes, black pepper, tomato puree and maize flour. We were hungry so we just used raw vegetables, but the burgers are tastier if you fry the veggies first in a little soy sauce, or better still - use a variety of roasted veggies.  Once all whizzed up - dollop on to a baking tray and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes, then turn the tray round and bake again for another 15 minutes...no need to turn the burgers over. Leave them to stand for around 10 minutes... And serve them up! We had them on sourdough rolls with dry roasted potato wedges. Delicious!!! Here's our Simple Burger Recipe again if you are interested in trying this method. Night, night, Love Kay and Sime xx