I slept really badly last night and that often leads to a lazy day where I eat too much and crave and then over-eat sweet and carby foods.  However, eating so many whole foods and plant foods makes you want to eat more  of the same which is a surprise to me and one I am happy to have discovered.  So I didn’t win a battle with my will power; I actually had no battle as I continued to want healthy food and only healthy food.

Breakfast was quick and easy.  I made a smoothie with 2 small bananas, some frozen raspberries, a splash of coconut water,  1 tbsp hemp seeds and some coconut yogurt.  A modest portion but it kept me going until about 3pm.

My sister Abi was coming for lunch so I made her a healthy soup I had seen on Jamie Oliver’s Instagram.  He has recently started including some vegan recipes and today I decided to try the red lentil, tomato and spinach soup but as I didn’t have spinach I used cavolo nero and Lancashire kale instead.  I made twice as much as the recipe so I have some to enjoy in the week. We also made the Hugh F-W bread recipe I made a couple of weeks ago. While the bread rose and the lentil soup settled in to itself, we went to Hemstead with Annette and Ebony for a walk.  The dogs and boy were distracted by a large and muddy puddle. There was then apparently a heat wave but we three ladies didn’t seem to notice it! Back at home, all we had to do was roll out and cook the wraps and warm up the soup.This was excellent.  I left the soup chunky and it seemed more like a stew.  The bread recipe is already on the blog (look it up on the ‘recipes’ page) but here’s my version of the Jamie Oliver soup recipe.

If you want to see Jamie’s original recipe, look it up here .  If you want to know how I made mine, here’s the recipe as I made it.

Red lentil, Tomato and Kale Soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 small bunch of coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
4 leaves of cavolo nero, sliced
4 kale leaves, stalks removed and chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can of tomatoes
320 g red lentils (or 250 g red lentils and 70 g mung dal)
1 litre organic vegetable stock

Method

1. Place a large pan on medium heat and add the oil.
2. Add the onion, garlic and celery
3. Chop the coriander stalks and add the stalks to the pan and set the leaves aside
4. Cook for 10 minutes until soft and golden
5. Add the turmeric and cumin, cook for a couple of minutes while stirring
6. Add the kale, potatoes, tomatoes, lentils and stock
7. Bring to the boil then simmer for about half an hour until the potatoes are soft and the soup has thickened.  If it is too thick, add some more water
8. Season if required with salt and pepper
9. If you prefer a smoother soup, blitz in a blender, either all of it or half of it.  I left mine chunky.
10. Serve garnished with the coriander leaves and some bread
    Supper was a very simple affair. Rosti ( a Swiss style of grated potatoes) with some oven roasted peppers, courgettes and butternut squash.  I roasted them with some olive oil, salt, thyme and z’atar.  Simple but satisfying.

So I did well today, despite the sleep deprivation.  Everything I ate was healthy and I went on a walk which took about an hour.  I very much enjoyed seeing Abi and Annette too so this was a good day.