Autumn Mood Lentil Stew (Mmmmm....)

I LOVE AUTUMN VEGETABLES!! There is something about sitting down on a cold night with a steaming pot of stew and some roasted squash, in front of a roaring fire and watching some rom -com!  Ahhh that is just the best!!! This stew will warm your insides and is perfect for one of THOSE nights (mentioned above!). (Do you know what nights I mean?) Haha :)

Ingredients 

• 750ml of vegetable broth (I use a 1 kallo veg stock cube) 
• 200g of red lentils 
• 3 tbs of chopped tomatoes (I used from a tin but you can 
• Two handfuls of spinach 
• 1 large sweet potato or 1/2 a squash cut up into small chunks 
• 1 tsp of medium curry powder (I used one that I got in whole foods and it is the BEST) 
• 1/4 tsp of garlic granules 
• 1/2 tsp of cumin powder 
• 1/4 tsp of garam masala 
• dash of of each: turmeric, ground cardamom, ginger, amchoor powder (optional) 

Method 

1. Chop the sweet potato/ squash into small chunks and chop up the spinach into strips 
2. Put the water and lentils into the saucepan and cook on a high heat until boiling. Turn onto a low heat and simmer. 
3. Add the spices and the chopped vegetables to the lentils 
4. Stir and then put a lid on the stew and simmer for 20 - 30 mins or until the lentils are mushy and the sweet potato/ squash is very soft. 
5. Enjoy on a bitterly cold Autumn/ winter evening! :) 

Apricot Teriyaki Vegetable Noodle Soup

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found in a book, which was an Apricot Teriyaki stir fry, and I though it was absolutely delicious. However I recently found these yam noodles which claim to have 0 calories in them, so I wanted to give them a try. They have the same kind of texture as slightly thicker rice noodles, and take the flavour of whatever they are put with - so I highly recommend them, as you wouldn't really be able to tell the difference between them and real rice noodles!
This is a delicious hot soup that is both filling, but great for those who are trying to keep it low on calories!

Ingredients 

Serves 2 

• 1 leek 
• 1/2 red onion 
• 3 slices of white cabbage 
• 75g of baby mushrooms sliced up 
• 1/8 of a large daikon radish 
• Optional: 1 carrot (only not added because I didn't have any) 
• 1 packet of yam noodles (Shirataki Noodles) / 1 packet of miracle noodles / 2 portions of noodles of your choice
• 1-2 cloves garlic 
• 3 tbs of vegetable broth + enough to cover the vegetables and noodles 

For the Sauce 

• 5 tbs of apricot jam (I use St Dalfour) 
• 1 tbs of tamari 
• 1 tsp of teriyaki sauce 
• 1 tsp of brown rice vinegar 
• 100ml of veg broth 
• 1 tsp of cornflour 

Method 

1. Chop up all vegetables and mince garlic 
2. Heat up the 3 tbs of veg broth in a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat and steam fry all vegetables (including garlic) in the broth for around 8mins 
3. While the veg are steam frying, mix all ingredients for the sauce together 
4. Add to the vegetables and mix in thoroughly. Add yam noodles (or precooked noodles of choice) and remaining veg broth - enough to cover the vegetables and noodles. 
5. Put a lid on the saucepan and let simmer for around 8 mins 
6. Serve and enjoy! Mmmm...

Baked Apple Dessert

This dessert is a super delicious but super healthy alternative to apple pie or apple crumble! As I said before, I am looking for ways to use up the apples I collected from my Grandmother's apple tree, and found this as a perfect healthy dessert to use them in. It is also so easy and quick to make!

Ingredients 

• 2 large cooking apples / 4 granny smith/ eating apples 
• 3 tbs of water
• 3 tbs of raisins 
• 1 tsp of cinnamon (your choice on how much you want here) 
• 4 cloves 
• Optional: 1/4 tsp of almond extract 
• 1 stevia packet (or sub in 3 tbs of sugar)
• 1 tbs of coconut palm sugar or 1 tbs of maple syrup/ honey/ brown sugar 
• 35g of xylitol or coconut sugar / caster sugar or brown sugar 
• 35g of Jumbo oats (for topping) 
• 35g flour of choice (I used oat flour) - topping
• 3-4tbs of milk -topping
• 1tbs of oil (melted coconut oil or olive oil) - topping
• Optional add ins: 3 tbs of nut of choice (walnuts or almonds might be good)

NOTE: In the photo above I didn't make a topping (only sprinkled some oats over) - however the topping I have put into this recipe I use on special occasions and it is very delicious! 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius 
2. Peel and core the cooking apples then cut up into smallish chunks 
3. Heat up the water until boiling then add the cooking apples, raisins, spices, almond extract and sweetener
4. Cook on a low heat for around 20-30 mins or until apples are relatively soft but not pureed (the cooking apples that I have only take around 10 mins to get really soft) 
5. Meanwhile mix all the topping ingredients together - it will be softer and of a more squidgy consistency than normal apple crumble topping at this stage but don't worry it gets more crumbly in the oven (if you want a less healthy but more authentic version of apple crumble topping sub the 4 tbs of milk to 4tbs of margarine). It should still be quite crumbly, so if it sticks together in one big clump like a dough then add more flour. 
6. Pour apples (make sure to drain out any additional water and take out cloves) into a heat proof dish and mix in optional nuts. Then crumble over the topping. 
7. Bake in the oven for 30 mins or until the oats on top have gone a golden brown colour. 
8. Enjoy! 

Unsweetened Apple-sauce Recipe

On visiting my Grandmother's house I didn't expect to come home with bags and bags of apples, but I did and now I am trying to find ways of incorporating them into my cooking! The most important recipe I wanted to try was apple-sauce, because it is so useful to use in making all sorts of delicious bakes as a sweetener and also as a replacement for oil and butter. So first up when I came home I got started on peeling and coring a few of the apples to put in the sauce... 

My sauce is unsweetened, using only apples and some squeezed lemon, however you can add your own sweetener, cinnamon, maple syrup etc. to make your own flavours!

Ingredients 

(Makes around 1 medium sized jar) 

• 4-5 large cooking apples (will be around 1.2 kg) - you can use normal apples too but make sure you use to same amount (1.2kg) 
• 160ml of water 
• Juice of half a lemon 

Method 

1. Peel and core apples and cut into smallish chunks 
2. Heat the 150ml of water until boiling and add the lemon juice and apples to it 
3. Turn the heat to low and place a lid on the saucepan
4. Let apples simmer for around 15mins. By this point, when you take the lid off the pan, the apples should have become a apple-sauce mush and puréed themselves (I didn't even need to put them in the blender) 
5. Add to a jar and let cool before putting on the lid. Store in the fridge and enjoy in your cooking!