Woof woof WWOOF....

A big thumbs up to WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. This UK registered charity holds a list of organic farms, smallholdings and even gardens that offer food (organic of course) and accommodation in return for working the land. In the word of Blackadder's Lord Flashheart a big Woof Woof from me! The best thing of all, any one can doo-ooo-it! You don't have to know a thing about organic farming, just be eager to learn and not afraid to get your hands dirty. Running since 1971, they must be doing something right. There is a membership fee of £20 (or £30 for a joint membership) and this gives you access to the list to select your farm, contact your host and arrange your stay. You can stay a long weekend or you can stay for the whole summer...perhaps you'll never want to leave!

Sprouting Little Sprouts...

In the midst of launching Little Sprouts...the kid's version of Nutrition in the Kitchen. The concept is introducing the under 5s to fruit, vegetables and cooking away from meal times. Have a hoot with a root without having to eat 4 forkfuls before being allowed to leave the table! With a parent present interacting with their child through out the class, it is an education for adults and children alike. An all singing and dancing experience in the kitchen for little ones who are less than confident about the food that is put on their plate. Positive reinforcement, patience and repetition are, other than Little Sprouts, the name of the game. And yes...brussel sprouts will feature on the menu...and more than just once a year. The next session is planned for January 2010.

Leon - Ingredients and Recipes : Allegra McEvedy...my inspiration for Julie & Julia?

For me this book embodies the essence of comfort eating (without the hot chocolate brownie, with chocolate chips covered with hot chocolate fudge sauce and vanilla icecream, and chantilly cream for the truly sinful). It's like a crisp Autumn day with soup from a flask and hot sausages after setting the bonfire alight...and maybe a refreshing cider on the side. I could almost dedicate this blog to recreating each of the McEvedy's recipes, just as in julie and julia when Julie Powell (Amy Adams) blogged her way through Julia Child's (Meryl Streep) 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. Except not being a fan of all that cream and butter...I think I'd have way more fun. The imagery, the family connections, the personal recipes gives me that warm fuzzing feeling of happy childhood memories in times gone by. One of my favourite, both at the restaurant and homemade, is Sweet Potato Falafel. It's given me inspiration to experiment with different vegetable flavoured falafel...watch this space. The Leon Original Superfood Salad was a roaring success at our Summer BBQ - no soggy salad leftovers with this one. However, my all time culinary love at Leon is the the Leon Gobi...the perfect balance of spices and sweetness. Apparently, it's all down to the ground almond...who knew!? I recently experimented with Susi's Pumpkin Pie for our annual University Thanksgiving supper and it went down confusingly well. I'm not always a fan, but when teamed with my Nutmeg Icecream...sweet veggie pie wasn't the conundrum it usually is for me.

For the all encompassing Leon dining experience follow the directions to: http://www.leonrestaurants.co.uk/ ....or even order a takeaway!

Portions for the right proportions...

When eating superfoods galore, it is all to easy to forget that too many calories is still too many calories no matter how many antioxidants they provide. Of course practice and a mindful eye for what works, is the route to the right proportions, but in the mean time until you get there, a great tool is the LoveFoodHateWaste website : http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/perfect_portions

They have a range of foods you can choose to cook from, enable you to select how many you are cooking for (adult and children sized plates differ), and they then inform you how many florets of broccoli you need or how many mugs of rice you need to start off with. They even have a Christmas Lunch perfect portion planner to guide you through the festivities without panning your perfect proportions.

The website also advises on how you can save money and time in the kitchen, as well as recommendations on how NOT to waste food. In their own word:

Love Food Hate Waste is the ‘Waste Not Want Not’ of the modern day, providing handy tips, advice and recipes for leftovers to help everyone waste less food.

It's wartime advice at its finest! I love it. Along with 'Make do and Mend' these are the motto's that can (hopefully) rebuild the nation...one vegetable/elbow patch at a time.

Cook Book Reviews...coming soon

On the infrequent occasion when I have the day off and have nothing planned, one of my indulgent treats ...is to deposit myself for a good hour or so in my favourite bookshop. The best ones have the cookery section downstairs, so only the truly committed will trouble themselves. No time wasters, no passers by waiting for their companions to make an appearance, no unwelcome space occupier to hover just in front of my coveted tome of resplendent recipes.

I usually pick up my take away coffee on the way in so I can take my time in the exceedingly difficult and ruthless decision of which one to take home with me.

Decision made...it's back home, most likely via the supermarket (or market if it's a Saturday) for those exciting new ingredients, and then the experimentation begins. And thus I'm overdue a fair few cook book reviews. To follow...

The Cauliflower's Fluffy Song...

Cauliflowers Fluffy and cabbages green
Strawberries are sweeter than any I've seen
Beetroots purple and onions white
All grow steadily day and night

The apples are ripe and the plums are red
The broadbeans are sleeping in their blankety bed

Blackberries are juicy and rhubarbs sour
Marrows fattening hour by hour
Gooseberries hairy and lettuces fat
Radishes round and runner beans flat

The apples are ripe and the plums are red
The broadbeans are sleeping in their blankety bed

Orangey carrots and turnips cream
Reddening tomatoes that used to be green
Brown potatoes in little heaps
Down in the darkness where the celery sleeps

The apples are ripe and the plums are red
The broadbeans are sleeping in their blankety bed, Yea!

Brenda the Blender and our Magic Potion...

One wet Monday in Bognor Regis, the day had every potential to turn into one dreary blip on the calendar. BUT, instead I got to spend the day talking about my favourite topic to a class of 5 year olds who are learning about healthy eating this term. What didn't we do?! Well, we couldn't play outside! We sang songs about cauliflower (I'll post that later), we thought of as many fruits and vegetables that we could that were RED, YELLOW, GREEN, PURPLE or ORANGE, we read Charlie and Lola's experience with Moonsquirters, we counted, drew and coloured in all the fruit that was going to go into our magic potion (excluding the smelly sock) AND then with an abracadabra, a zippidy doo dah, and no spoonfuls of sugar to help the medicine go down, Blue Class were sipping their magic potion that was going to give them super douper magic powers! Thank you Brenda (the Blender).