Carrot and Cumin Soup

Carrot and Cumin Soup is another one of my favourite soups. This recipe comes from a Mindfood email I got sent. It's worth signing up for their daily recipes (I delete most of the emails but the good ones are just pure gold).

 

2T ground cumin

1T vegetable oil

1 large brown onion

2 garlic cloves

1T curry powder

1.2kg carrots

4 cups vegetable stock 

Optional; 

2T fresh coriander 

2T fresh chives 

Heat oil and add chopped onion, crushed garlic, curry powder and cumin. Cook until onion is soft. Add chopped and peeled carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes. 

Add stock and bring to the boil and simmer for 35 minutes until carrots are soft. 

If you have a whiz stick use it to purée the soup. Or use a masher to mash the carrots. 

Spoon into bowls add sour cream and cheese. Serve with cheesy bread. 

I like my soup thick so I don't add extra water but if you like your soup thinner add 4 cups of water.    

I normally make a double batch so that we have plenty of leftovers. 

This soup is surprisingly sweet. Have you made carrot soup? or what's your favourite soup.

Madeleine  x

Natural cough relievers

I'm sick at the moment I have a wonderful cold that John gave me. So generous. From this I have got the nastiest cough. So nasty it's waking up everyone in the house. Not to mention how S**** I feel. Yes I'm feeling a tiny bit sorry for myself. 

So after a few days of just using honey to suppress this cough. It does work for a little while! I decided to check out some natural cough relievers. 

For healthy reasons I can't use the store bought stuff though Weleda and Kiwiherb have fantastic cough medicine that work well and are safe for children.  

I thought I'd share this recipe that I adapted from nourishing joy. I adapted it as I didn't have all the ingredients she used.

Cough mixture: 

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp fresh grated ginger or 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, grated (I used minced garlic)
2 T raw honey
2 T lemon juice

Add all the ingredients in a jar and stir. I zapped mine in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften the honey. Take 1 dessert spoon(s) every few hours or as needed. Store in the fridge and make more as you need. Will keep for several days.

Warning: This mixture looks, smells and taste disgusting! I honestly think it is THE most disgusting thing I have EVER tasted! But boy does it work! I got a great night's sleep last night and feel much more human today. So even though it tastes foul it is totally worth making. Just eat something yummy after taking it. Actually if you like the taste of ginger, garlic and lemons you might like this but I sure don't. Mr Ecochick wouldn't even try it after I told him how bad it tasted ha ha wuss.

Chilli cough mixture:

This is a recipe my best friend gave me and swears by. She never buys cough mixture and her family has been using this recipes for generations. Personally I haven't made this one but I trust her completely so I thought I would share.

300mls cold water

1 dozen small chillis (whatever hotness you like)

1 (large)T honey

1 large or 2 small lemons

Boil chillis in water, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and honey. Stir well, strain and bottle. Keep refrigerated.  Take 1 dessert spoon as often as needed. 

Have you ever made your own cough mixture? Or what do you use? 

Madeleine  x

This recipe was mentioned by green goddess herself, Wendyl Nissen, in her weekly newsletter. Thanks so much Wendyl! 

Lemons all around

I  bought this huge shopping bag of lemons from a lady for $4! Pays to ask your neighbours and people around you who have trees if you can have or buy their lemons. Home grown lemons are so much juicer and fresher than store bought ones.

I got out my old juicer that I've owned since I was 15. Normally if it was only one or two lemons I would use my glass hand juicer but with so many lemons to do old faithful it was. It was so much quicker with the juicer (even then it took about 3/4 of an hour to do them all!). I grated the skins of the nicest lemons as well.   

I got about 1.5 Ls of lemon juice! plus a lot of peels and some zest.  

I made a double batch of lemon curd. The rest of the juice I froze for later. I froze 2 jars of lemon juice all ready and measured for lemon curd plus four jars of lemon juice which could be for lemon cake. I also filled an ice cube tray which would be perfect for soups or the other million uses lemons are good for. 

What do you like to use lemons for?

Madeleine  x