It’s a collage

It’s a collage, that’s what it is, it’s a coll-fucking-age

How much fruit and veg is ‘ten a day’

New research has indicated that people should eat 10 portions of fruit and/or vegetables every day if they want to achieve a longer and healthier life.

I wondered what 10 portions would look like so I raided the fridge and fruit bowl and added fruit and veg until it weighed 800 grams, which, according the the NHS, is what 10 portions weigh at 80 grams each.

Prices are based on the costs of the fruit and veg from local supermarkets and greengrocers’ shops, not the cheapest places to buy, not the most expensive either.

Bon Appétit!

Half-Baked Potatoes

These are golden crisp outside and creamily soft inside.

Cut baking potatoes in half along the length so that you have two flattish halves

anoint with veg oil and sprinkle with seasalt.

Place the potato halves flat side down onto a baking tray, cut a little cross in the top bulgy bit and bung into a fairly hot oven for about an hour. Turn now and again to ensure they don’t stick and cook evenly.

Sweet Potato and Aubergine curry

Last night’s meal.

INGREDIENTS

1 large sweet potato – diced into medium cubes
1 aubergine – diced into medium cubes
1 onion – sliced thinly
5 cloves garlic – crushed
1 strong chili – chopped finely *
1″ ginger root – chopped/crushed *
2 tablespoons ground coriander *
2 teaspoons ground cumin *
2 teaspoons ground turmeric *
cup of frozen peas
2 cups tomatoes – passata, or tomato puree + water, or tin of tomatoes, or fresh
vegetable oil
salt

(substitute everything marked with * with your favourite curry powder if you prefer)

METHOD

Saute the onions, garlic, ginger, chilli, aubergine, and sweet potato until the aubergine and sweet potato are almost cooked
Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, (or the curry powder) – and salt
stir over the heat for a few seconds
Add the tomato in whatever form you are using, the frozen peas, and water if necessary
bring to boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or so until everything is cooked and the oil begins to separate

Serve with roti/chapati or rice

Vegan burgers and the Con club

When I was growing up in Llanelli we always referred to the Conservative club as ‘The Con Club’. There was no malicious intent in this, after all, in those days, the Conservatives, in Llanelli at least, were not even significant enough to be regarded as a sideshow. I have noticed that in Cardiff the Conservative clubs are referred to as ‘Cons Clubs’ and even labelled as such on their signage. I suspect this is because when you add the ‘s’ it sort of dilutes the meaning of ‘con’ which, when you strip away all the bollocks, is what all political parties, and in particular the Conservatives, are – a great big fat con.

Riverside ‘Cons’ club – open for business – hmm!

But never mind about all that – I’ve typed the word ‘Conservative’ far too many times for my mental health so I want to turn to the issue of making a decent vegan burger.

This one is pretty good :

Vegan Black Bean and Mushroom Burgers – Gluten Free

We made these last night, I forgot to write down the ingredients so I hope I haven’t forgotten anything

Makes about 6 burgers

2 or 3 cups of cooked black beans – mashed roughly
bunch of spring onions (scallions) – sliced thinly
1 chilli – chopped
4 large cloves garlic – crushed
2 tablespoons gram flour
1 tablespoon ground flax / linseed
1 dessert spoon chia seeds (optional)
1 huge mushroom – chopped finely
salt
pepper
tamari
some liquid from the beans
rapeseed (canola) oil for frying
a bit more gram flour for coating

Mix all the ingredients adding salt, pepper and tamari according to your taste – the mixture should be firm but moist

Form into burger shapes
coat with a little gram flour each side
chill before cooking if you like
fry on a moderate heat until browned and warmed through

voila!

not been out

I’ve not been out the door today and it’s eleven pm already so it’s not likely to happen. Come to think of it I have been out the door, or doors, both back and front, but only to get the rubbish from the yard and put it out the front seeing as it’s bin day tomorrow.

It was a bit of a faff putting the bins out since it’s black bag / general waste week, and for once we’ve got a quarter bag of unrecyclable rubbish to put out. Trouble is, something’s gone rotten inside the bag because it’s probably been sitting there for a few weeks since we hardly ever have enough black-bag rubbish to put out.

Also, the top of the bag has been left open so it’s half full of stinking fetid rainwater, which could explain the smell that was hanging around the other day. When I lift the bag up, after recovering from the stench released, I notice that the water is not leaking, so I decide the best thing to do is to go out the front, find a drain, and stab a hole in the bottom of the stinking bag with a screwdriver, thus allowing the filthy water it contains to flow away as harmlessly as possible, then I will stuff the broken bag and it’s contents into another black bag, and another, until the smell is buried too deep to detect.

That’s what I did

Besides that I’ve been working most of the day on typesetting and applying the almost final edits to the WSSN book and fiddling about with the cover layout too.

I also made some soup. It was nice – spicy!

What was left of the Soup

Onions, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, chillies, red lentils, water, rapeseed oil, potatoes, sweet potatoes, kale, carrots – Clean, chop, chuck in pan, boil, simmer = ready!