Roast tomato and carrot soup

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know it’s all been a bit souptastic of late. 


My husband has been making a concerted effort to eat healthier so I have been making big batches of soup and freezing it in portions for him to take to work for his lunch. I’ve tried to make lots of different flavours so he doesn’t get bored and I think this one is my favourite. 

Makes 4 generous portions 

Ingredients

Approx 2 tablespoons coconut oil 

900g tomatoes on the vine (or thereabouts, I went to make soup today and SOMEONE had eaten 2 of my tomatoes) 

8-10 large carrots peeled & chopped

3 large garlic cloves

1 small onion

Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C

Grease a large ovenproof dish with coconut oil 

Remove the tomatoes from the vine, wash and cut in half. Place cut side down in the dish. 

Peel and chop the onion into large chunks and place the pieces among the tomatoes. 

Chop the ends off the garlic cloves but add them to the dish in their skins. 

Melt a tablespoon of coconut oil in the microwave until liquid (30-60 seconds) and drizzle over the top of the tomatoes. 

Roast in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes 


While the tomatoes are roasting prepare the carrots and boil them in a large pot until soft. 


When the tomatoes & carrots are cooked and the dish is cool enough to handle place the tomato, onion & juices into a blender and add the garlic by squeezing it out of its skin. 


Blend until smooth (some bits of burnt onion/tomato skin may remain. Do not worry as the next step is to sieve the mixture into a large bowl. Use a sieve with reasonably big holes in the mesh, I bought one specially as my baking ones are quite fine and I was losing too much of my life to sieving tomatoes!


Press and stir the mixture with a spoon until all the liquid has passed through and you are left with the seeds, skins and bits of onion. 


Once you have done this blend the carrots (you can add some of the cooking water to loosen them up in the blender) and then stir them into the sieved tomatoes. 

Season with salt & pepper to taste. You can add more water at this point if the soup is very thick or you could stir in some dairy free milk. I divide the soup into portions to cool and then store in the fridge if they are to be eaten in the next couple of days or I freeze for easy weekday lunches.  


Serve with a spoon of plain dairy free yoghurt or creme fraiche. 

Chocolate beetroot brownies

I’ve been playing with this recipe for a while and I think I’ve cracked it. My kids love these brownies and are oblivious to the beetroot despite the colour!

Ingredients

3 small cooked beetroot (I buy these in the vegetable department in Tesco or Morrisons)

150g plain dairy free yoghurt (I’ve used Alpro soya and Koko successfully)

200g soft brown sugar (yes it looks a lot but they are brownies and hey they’ve got beetroot in them)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup cocoa (20g)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

150g plain gluten free flour (I used Doves Farm)

Up to 1 cup dairy free chocolate chips or a full 85g Kinnerton free from chocolate bar broken into chunks

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a baking tin (I used a 20cm square tin)

Chop & blend the beetroot till smooth

Mix the sugar, yoghurt, beetroot and maple syrup together in a large bowl

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt together and whisk to combine

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined then stir in the chocolate

Pour mix into the prepared baking tin and smooth to the edges

Bake for 35 minutes

Cool on a rack before slicing (or eat warm and burn your tongue a little, maybe, I might have, it was worth it)

Also lovely cut with a large heart shaped cookie cutter

These stay moist and delicious for a few days if they haven’t already been eaten

Double chocolate pancakes

The kids are off school Friday-Monday for the May weekend (well they have been back nearly two weeks so it was about time for a break *rolls eyes*). We’ve no grand plans as we’re all choked with the cold and it is properly freezing. Like snow freezing!! This is the view out my window last night!

  
After a lazy long lie in watching back to back Transformers episodes with my boy my daughter appeared and requested chocolate for breakfast. While I wasn’t up for Easter chocolate for breakfast – that’s purely something we do on Easter Sunday and how on earth does she still have chocolate?? The boy had polished his off by Easter Monday! – I was up for something chocolatey so I threw together double chocolate pancakes with chopped dates and banana. Free from gluten, milk, eggs & nuts. They were so simple and so good I thought I’d share. 

Double chocolate pancakes

Makes approx 12 

Ingredients

1 cup gluten free self raising flour (I used Doves Farm)

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons cocoa (I used Tesco’s own)

1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed 

3 Tablespoons water

1 cup dairy free milk (I used Koko)

Generous squirt of lemon juice

Handful chopped dates

Handful dairy free chocolate chips (I used Plamil)

1 chopped banana

Sunflower oil for the pan

Instructions

Place the flaxseed and water in a small bowl and sit aside

Squirt some lemon juice into a cup measure then fill with dairy free milk (could use a teaspoon cider vinegar but my fridge was closer than the cupboard)

Measure 1 cup self raising gluten free flour into a bowl, add sugar & cocoa and whisk to combine

Add the flaxseed mix and the dairy free milk to the bowl and mix well

Stir in the dates, chocolate and banana 

Heat a frying pan wiped with oil on a medium/high heat. I use 7 on my induction hob

Spoon a small amount of mix onto the pan to check its hot enough. If it is bubbles will rise to the top, flip with a spatula and cook for a few seconds on the other side. 

Cook by generous spoonful, 3 – 4 at a time depending on the size of your pan. Stir well between batches as the chocolate chips are inclined to sink to the bottom of the bowl. 

  
Once cooked place on a plate lined with a piece of kitchen roll while you make the rest

  
Serve warm with dairy free spread and toppings of your choice. The boy had jam and honey and big sis had maple syrup. 

Proper yum!