‘Eating the rainbow’
Speak to farmers or retailers. The over-riding issue in buying food for consumers in the UK is price.
Garden produce
Read about food from chefs, nutritionists and medics or listen to podcasts and the issue is food quality.
Diet-related disease is now the biggest cause of avoidable illness and death in the developed world. The UK’s NHS is projected to spend more by 2035 on treating type 2 diabetes than it does on all cancers today…
Food price and quality are not incompatible.
Many local authority allotment sites have vacancies giving the opportunity to be in a healthy outdoor environment growing nutritionally-dense, organic fruit and vegetables.
Satisfying. Fun. With the capacity to combat the some of the health issues we now face.
Once you’ve got that food, it’s so easy to turn it into wonderfully tasty meals.
Around 500g of washed and chopped veg per person
This week we made a seasonal vegetable soup with added chana dall (split peas) and accompanied it with homemade wholemeal bread.
By using a wide range of colours and cultivating organically without digging the soil you’ll be filling your soup bowl with organic flavonoids and antioxidants, fibre and vitamins. Your gut health will improve and with that many of your body processes.
Here we go…
And for those wanting to hit their thirty plant species a week I’ve numbered-up the plant species as we’ve gone along.
Chopped into 1cm cubes and oven roasted at 170C until softened
Drizzled with olive oil:
Leeks
Carrots (not peeled)
Potatoes (not peeled)
Squash (not peeled)
Rhubarb chard
Kale
Garlic
Rosemary
After roasting put in pan and add:
10. and 11. Roasted tomatoes and onions
Add stock ..
Add
12. ground coriander
Bay leaves
Then add vegetable stock and after a bit of a simmer give it a blitz - or apply your trusty potato masher. Leave some ingredients unblitzed if you like it chunky.
13.Add cooked split peas
14. Our secret ingredient at the tasting stage is a teaspoon or so of ginger paste.
15. Garnish with chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Season to taste.
Go to it with homemade bread!
Soup serving:
Et voila…
2 scoops = 250ml = 1 bowl
3 scoops = 400ml