HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THINKING AHEAD TO COLDER WEATHER

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THINKING AHEAD TO COLDER DAYS.

I wish you a good year, time to dream and time to enjoy each day. We have all had a week end of eating and drinking, enjoying cakes ,cookies and candies. Now back to the regular routine.
We suddenly have the weather change and feel the need for a good soup, perhaps a warm bowl of food, a casserole and hot meals .

Here are a few ideas to create winter ideas, for colder evenings.
Firstly reorganize your grocery cupboard. Prepare grains and soup ingredients. Do not rely on packaged soups, Do your own.
There are brown and orange lentils, whole-wheat rice, wild rice, barley, all kinds of beans, wheat, oats, soya products, dried green peas, dried mushrooms, garbanzo, chickpeas pastas and noodles.

You do not have to invest in large quantities. Better to buy for two to three weeks at a time. I take the dry goods and place them in air tight containers. I wash them well , when I use them and many need to be soaked overnight or for a few hours.

Create a collection of containers that are suitable for freezing. Not every kind of plastic is good for the freezer. Go into a reliable store and find medium size containers for cooked soups, beans and vegetarian dishes.

I buy small quantities of herbs and spices. Try to use as many fesh products as you can. Use frozen products when you haven’t enough time to create meals with fresh ingredients. I like to have peas and beans in the freezer.

BASIC VEGETABLE SOUPS.

You need a large pot and a variety of vegetables. Go for yellow, greens and sweet potatoes, white potatoes and grains and beans. If you want to use lentils, beans, wheat and barley, wash and soak for a little while. Use fresh parsley, carrots, pumpkin, onions, garlic, dill and good greens like zucchinis, celery and cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Simply wash well and cut up, place in the pot of water, add vegetable salt and pepper. You can add a dash of curry, sweet paprika and a few herbs. Cook on a medium flame and let it boil for a few minutes, lower flame and let if cook until the vegetables are soft. Do not store until the soup is cool.
Freeze soups in medium size containers and thaw before warming up. There is an added advantage when reheating soups, just re energize them by cutting up a carrot, onion and a few grated carrots . Jus drop these into the pot. Looks great and tastes good. This is also when you can add a cup of peas or cut up beans from the freezer.

Serve soup in bowls, with cooked rice, a whole-wheat bread or slices of toast. Enjoy Love and light Rona

 

 

TAKE THIS DAY AND MAKE IT WONDERFUL. TAKE EACH MOMENT AND MAKE IT COUNT. THE MOMENT DOES NOT RETURN. LIVE EACH DAY WITH A SENSE OF MAGIC AND WONDER. LOVE AND LIGHT  RONA

  VEGAN and VEGETARIAN NEW YEAR IDEAS.

We have many people who have  become Vegetarian and Vegan in the last few years. Plan the meals for New Year with dishes that are easy for everyone.  here are some easy and tasty ideas. 

BEETROOT

  Cook four or five beets and peel the, let them cool.  Slice thinly and arrange on a plate with thinly sliced re d onions, flaked almonds and techina.  Serve cold

 CARROTS  

.  Cook ten carrots, slice them thinly and they cook fast.  Arrange in a bowl, ad half a cup of thinly chopped parsley,  a grated apple,  a dressing of two tablespoons olive oil, juice of a fresh lemon  and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Serve cold/

  RICE AND PEPPERS  .  Cook two cups of wholewheat rice.    Saute two onions thinly slice, two  crushed cloves of garlic, have a cup of parsley, a little dill and salt and pepper and half a cup of crushed walnuts or pecan nuts. Add salt and pepper and a teaspoon of honey and   a dash of cinnamon.  Mix all and   fill the red peppers, that were sliced in half and soaked in boiling eater. Arrange in an oven dish and bake for tem\n minutes  in a moderate oven.

OLIVE DIP  .  Open a tin of black olives, no pips. Place in blender, with salt, pepper, two tablespoons of olive oil,  ten cashew nuts. some parsley and four soaked  dried apricots.   Mix well and use as a spread on baked potatoes, with bread slices or  with  mozzarella and thinly sliced tomatoes.   Sprinkle  a dressing over the salad and arrange the olive spread  on the salad.

VEGETABLE PATTIES.   cook a few vegetables like pumpkin, carrots,  sweet potatoes,  potatoes and parsley.  Mash them all and form into patties. Mix in one grated apple and two teaspoons of linseed and two tablespoons of oats. Mix all and shape into patties. Keep in fridge for twenty minutes. Fry in hot oil or bake in and oven dish that you have wiped with olive oil.  You can soak three automates in boiling water, remove skins and crush the tomatoes over the patties in the oven. Medium oven Fifteen minutes.

  Look at my blogs for Dates, Beets, Potatoes, Hot and cold Soups New Year dishes and more.  Have a great New Year.

   Love  and light Rona