I tried to revert to macrobiotic eating today and started with egg fried rice and vegetables.  I picked 4 types of leaves from the garden: beetroot leaf, broccoli, chard and spinach.

I received a package from my favourite on-line health food shop this week and the package included some coconut oil.  I ran out ages ago and was delighted to get some more.  The smell alone is wonderful and it is a great oil to cook with.

I fried some onions with some purple carrots

added rice leftover from the Thai green curry Lara made the other night and wilted the leaves on top,

and then added the egg.  It was delicious but the purple carrots stained everything purple and made it look most unappetising.  I seasoned it with my new posh soy sauce.

Harvey and I took the dogs on a lovely long walk while our lunch cooked.  I used the slow cooker to make a delicious soup with aduki beans and lots of vegetables.  I had been soaking the beans since the previous day and after rinsing them well, I boiled them for about 15 minutes and then drained them and placed them in the slow cooker.  This lovely recipe comes from one of my most treasured and well thumbed cookbooks, Entertaining With Cranks.

Aduki Bean and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 100g aduki beans (soaked overnight)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 level tsp ground cumin
• 900 ml vegetable stock
• 1 can tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 leeks, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used parsley, oregano and thyme)

Method

1. Boil the beans for 15 minutes, drain and transfer to slow cooker.
2. Heat oil in pan and fry onion, garlic and cumin for 5 minutes.
3. Add to slow cooker with vegetable stock and can of tomatoes.
4. Turn slow cooker on to high.
5. Fry the leeks, celery and carrots for 5 minutes.
6. Add to slow cooker with seasoning and fresh herbs.
7. Cook on high for 4 – 5 hours until the vegetables are soft.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic and cumin in a large saucepan.  Add the stock, tomatoes and puree.  Add the beans, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about an hour.  Add the leeks, celery and carrots and cook another 20-30 minutes.  Season to taste and stir in the herbs.

This is delicious, cheap and healthy and definitely worth making.

Our Jubilee celebration continued this afternoon in Hawkhurst.

We started with afternoon tea (i.e. tea and too many cakes) at Lucy’s where her sister Megan and family were visiting.  We wandered over the road to join in the festivities on The Moor.

This was more of a traditional fun fair then a Jubilee celebration but with a smattering of bunting and Union Jacks, the Jubilee atmosphere was maintained.

Nothing healthy in a bag of candy floss but it’s all the fun of the fair!

The dodgems were very popular 🙂

Despite the wet start to the day, it ended with a lovely evening.

The evening sunlight cast a beautiful glow over the ancient St.Lawrence church.

We returned home in time to catch the last part of the Queen’s Jubilee concert.  I continued my Jubilee celebrations by embracing the Commonweath.

We have been to Houghton’s vineyard which is in Perth, Western Australia.  So from around the globe, feeling proud to be British but being mindful of the extent of the Queen’s reach to the far corners of the Commonwealth, we celebrate the Jubilee, again.  Cheers 🙂 .