I am wanting to take things at a slow pace this week as it’s important for you to feel comfortable with the lay out and demands of the course and what we are about to get started with.

For this course I would recommend getting a journal to write down notes, recipes and thoughts.

Creating rituals in the small things - finding times throughout your day to take moments just to yourself. Is there something you do daily that you could turn into a small ritual or way of connecting back and slowing down, such as making a nice warm drink, or going for a walk in nature?

Finding time to move your body and connect back to your senses can be a wonderful thing to do, as is bringing a little of the natural environment into the home - both of which create a feeling of stillness and calm to our system.

We will be covering all of this in more detail throughout the course but for now just begin to become more aware of your thoughts and environment and open to the idea of bringing rituals into your life… this can be as simple as making a gorgeous cup of cacao to meditation.

Try and start to practise your knife skills a little.

Practise on celery, carrots, and potatoes and why not get adventurous and make this gorgeous vegetable soup this week with your cuttings… next week you’ll be able to make sourdough to go with it! (spoiler alert! hee hee)

recipes

miso flapjacks

I don’t say this lightly but these are THE BEST flapjacks I’ve EVER made! In fact I didn’t make them my daughter cleverly wrote the recipe, using ingredients I’d have never have thought of (miso and rice crispies?!)
They are chewy and crunchy and salty and sweet and honestly AMAZING. You won’t thank me for them as you won’t stop eating them. Sorry.
Miso is a wonderful ingredient to add into your diet, in traditional Chinese medicine (@healingnutrition) they see miso as a neutral calming food boosted with nutrients but also a probiotic rich food as well as being brilliant at removing toxins from the body. I’ve added a pinch of @maldonsalt for tiny mineral boost and seeds.. Lily (daughter) is furious about this.. but I’m trying to stay true to my message of boosting.. the seeds will boost omega 3s and well it’s adding more diversity into the gut.

140g porridge oats @pimhillfarm are my favourite
140g rice crispies
90g light brown muscavdo sugar
200g butter melted
160-180ml runny honey
2 tablespoons miso paste - I like white miso by @clearspringuk
Sprinkling of mixed seed mix (flax, pumpkin, sesame etc)
Pinch salt

One key thing I didn’t have time to mention in the video is you need to get your hands into the oats and rice crispies and squeeze them, to crunch up the rice crispies a bit.. do this for a few minutes.. you don’t want a rice crispy bar.. you want flapjacks so squish.
Cook 180 for 15 ish minutes. Till golden and firm.
Slice.

QUICK MISO SOUP
This takes no time, is delicious, boosted and has the kind of cleansing taste that makes you real nourished and stronger.

Miso is a wonderful store cupboard ingredient to have and full of lovely probiotic richness. Full of that gorgeous salty, unami flavour and wonderful to stir through soups, strews, casserole to add depth.
Tofu is a complete protein so wonderful to have in it as a protein hit and to add some texture too.
Follow the LINK HERE for recipe reel or read below for written instruction

500ml vegetable broth - you can use Bouillon powder for this if not fresh.
Shiitake mushroom (I used oyster and they worked brilliantly too) x 3ish sliced or if you cant find these fresh you can use the dehydrated dried ones
1/4 sheet nori sliced
1 tbsp white or yellow organic miso paste (do use organic - it’s better for you when eating miso)
60-80g firm or soft tofu (this video is of soft)
1-2 teaspoons light soy sauce (or Tamari if gluten free)
1-2 spring onions thinly sliced
2 sticks choy sum thickly sliced or any soft greens will work well
Sprinkle of chilli flakes
toasted sesame oil for seasoning

Add the vegetable broth to a small saucepan and heat until just below boiling.
Next add in the sliced shiitake mushroom and sliced nori and allow to infuse - lowering the heat.
Add in the miso paste, soy sauce, tofu and choy sum and heat for a minute or so to warm through the tofu and wilts the greens.
Ladle into bowls and top with your spring onions. and sesame oil.

When adding the miso it’s best to use a sauce whisk to help prevent lumps.

practice

Knife Skills.

Watch over the videos provides and try giving them a go.

In our cook along we will be making a vegetable soup to practise these techniques.

Here is the recipe if you’d like to do it in advance

Knife Skills Vegetable Soup

Of course ideally we are wanting to create pieces of food that are uniform and similar size but let’s not worry about this for now. Simply practise your knife skills and throw these ingredients together - you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how delicious it is, with simply your chopping’s.

Practise chopping -

1 onion (dice and slice)

2 celery rolling chop

2 carrots - julienne, rolling chop, baton

1 leek - rolling chop and julienne

1 potato - baton and dice

Add in water, bouillon powder, salt and a dash of cream or milk to make smooth and creamy.

Method

Add some oil to a medium sized saucepan and heat to a medium to high heat. Add in the onion and allow to sweat gently.

Next add in your celery - cook out a few minutes before adding in your carrot pieces - again soften.

Next add in your potato pieces and again cook gently on a low to medium heat. When all feels a bit soft and less hard edged, gently add in some water to nearly cover and a sprinkle of bouillon powder and allow to cook, with the lid on.

Leave for 10-15 minutes for the vegetables to cook through.

Take the pan off the heat and blitz with a hand held blender. Add in a dash of cream or milk. Season and taste.

Serve with some bread (we are learning sourdough next week!) and fermented foods (covering all of this module 3 and 4)

practise cooking with grains

We cover grains and pulses in more depth in module 4 - but I would love for you to start experimenting with different grains and feel confident cooking with them.

Here in this video I talk a bit about grains and rice cooking. For rice cooking you can always follow packet instructions or the absorption method is the method I prefer to use.

For the absorption method for white rice - you would rinse your grains in cold water to help remove excess starch (or obviously you can soak your grains in advance which will also reduce the cooking time). For the absorption method you add your rice to the saucepan and cover it in double the amount of water. So one part rice to two parts water. You can then add in salt, or preferably some seaweed to flavour the grains. Bring the water up to the boil and then down to a simmer. Lid on and simmer for 5-8 minutes. Then take the pan off the heat and leave the lid on - allowing for the rice to continue to cook from the residual heat from the pan. Leave a few minutes, then check on the rice. It should be fluffed up and when folded through just right.

Rice will be done once it has gelatinised all the way through the grain - you can tell this by breaking the grain in half and seeing there is no white, chalkiness in the centre (when making a risotto however you would be looking for a tiny pin head amount of white to create that al-dente texture and bite).

All grains will vary from one another - going back to what I have said about all ingredients being a bit like different people, they all react differently and create differently.

White rice always cooks fast, where are brown rice will take longer. Couscous hardly needs cooking but can be simply placed into a bowl with boiling water covering it and cling film placed over the bowl to stop heat leaving the bowl and after approx 5-10 minutes it should be done and ready to fluff up.

55-85g of uncooked rice is approximately recommended per person.

NB for my finger test - it always depends on how much rice you are cooking - I am talking about approx 300g of rice in a pan

the power of writing

Buying a note pad or journal to write down thoughts and moments can be a lovely way of keeping notes on this course, but also becoming more aware of your thoughts and things that might be coming up for you.

The power of writing thoughts down is now widely documented and a great habit to cultivate, allowing you to look over notes and reflecting on how your felt during various times of the year.

RITUAL

CLEARING THE SPACE AND FINDING TIME FOR RITUAL

The power of sage - its believed that by burning dried sage that the smoke cleans and illuminates space, creates wisdom and heals disease.

It has been used for hundreds of years and in Native American ceremonies was/is called smudging - used to remove negative energies from the space.

The act of finding time for ritual is time for creating space for self love and kindness. This can feel like a radical act in this day and age when we are all so busy but see if you can find some time, to connect to your senses through burning some sage and carving out some time for you