Elderflower & Lemon Fizz

​A simple start to an alcohol-free night out (or in), reminiscent of a champagne cocktail. The quickest drink to make – so good for busy moments and large parties!
Ingredients:
 
25ml elderflower cordial
10ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
200ml good quality naturally sparkling mineral water
 
Method:
 
Put a small amount of elderflower and lemon into a glass with ice, pour over the mineral water and serve with a slice of lemon.

 

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Super Squash & Sweet Spud Soup

Ingredients

• Knob of coconut oil
• 2 onions – red or white
• 2 thumbs of ginger
• ½ 1 lrg red chilli
• 3 garlic cloves
• Pepper & Himalayan salt
• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 medium butternut squash
• Cavelo nero
• Boiling water

Method
1. Chop the squash & sweet potatoes into chunks and roast in the oven for 35 mins. Add a few garlic cloves too

2. Whilst your veg is roasting away, finely chop onions, garlic, chilli & ginger.

3. Add coconut oil to your pan and add the onions, garlic, chilli and ginger until slightly golden
.
4. Once the roasted veg is ready, add to the pan and cover with boiling water.

5. Add seasoning and then blitz up in your Magi-mix or blender.

6. Pour the soup back into the pan and add chopped cavelo nero. The heat of the soup will cook the cavelo nero perfectly – al dente!

Voila, Enjoy!

 

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Light Vegetable Barley Soup

We really enjoyed this soup tonight. It is very light, yet tasty. It’s actually slightly sweet, from the parsnips.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 large parsnips, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1/2 medium celery root, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1/2 cup pearl barley (dry)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil of choice
• 4 cups vegetable bouillon
• 1 teaspoon sambal oelek, (optional but nice)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons soy yogurt
• 1 springs parsley, finely cut

Directions:

1. Peel and cut the vegetables.
2. Heat the oil in a large soup pot.
3. Add the cut vegetables and sauté until they begin to soften.
4. Once they have softened, add the vegetable bouillon.
5. Add the pearl barley.
6. Turn the heat down and allow the soup to simmer.
7. Shortly before serving, taste the soup and season with salt, pepper and optional sambal oelek as desired.
8. Snip the curly leaves of the parsley finely and add to the soup.
9. Blend the 2 tablespoons of soy yogurt into the soup broth and mix to a light creamy blend. This is not a thick soup. If you want it thick, you can add a paste made from cornstarch and water, or flour and water.

Notes:
We usually include an onion, and garlic in most of our soups, but this time we just wanted the flavors of the pure vegetables. We also wanted the soup to be on the light side, so we did not include potatoes. Of course that can be added to make a more substantial soup.

Related Posts:

• Beet Ravioli Hearts with a Light Vegan Cheese Sauce
• Winter Root Vegetable Salad
• Cauliflower, Barley and Big Bean Salad
• Review: Sklandrausis – Latvian Vegetable Tart
• Review: Black-eyed Pea and Barley Stew

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Our Carrier Bag

As most people in the UK will already be aware, from 5th October 2015 the UK Government introduced some new legislation. This was a call for large retailers to charge a minimum of 5p for single-use carrier bags. The reasoning behind the scheme was to minimise the use of these single-use carrier bags and their associated litter by encouraging people to re-use bags.
 
The Government expects the following benefits from the scheme - An overall benefit of over £780 million to the UK economy; Up to £730 million raised for good causes; £60 million savings in litter clean-up costs; and Carbon savings of £13 million.
 
Here at Planet Organic, our heritage is based on our core principles - Organic, Natural and Sustainable, so for us this new legislation was a blessing. And although we encourage our customers to reuse first and recycle second, we often get asked about the logic behind our own 10p bag charge, so wanted to include you, our valued customers, into our thought-process.
 

 

We originally charged 10p for our cornstarch carrier bags which although biodegradable, were still classed as plastic under current legislation. We changed to a paper bag in October and decided to retain the 10p charge because we want to deter the use of carrier bags altogether and encourage people to purchase our cotton carrier bag and reuse it: It’s multi-purpose and technically should be a bag for life…!

 

You can buy our organic cotton shopping bag here

Proceeds from the carrier bag charge contribute to the charitable donations we make within the locations of our stores. We hope you’ll agree that maintaining a 10p charge has the environment’s best interests at heart. 

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Winter Root Vegetable Salad

This delicious salad was inspired by the Polish ‘Sałatka jarzynowa’ and is often served as a side-dish at Christmas meals or at Easter meals, but it is delicious anytime of the year. We enjoyed it as our lunch and looked forward to having it again as a side-dish at supper.

Serving Size: 6

Ingredients:

• 2 medium carrots
• 2 medium-large parsnips
• ¼ medium celeriac or celery root
• ¾ cup dill pickles, not the sweet sour
• 1 large apple
• 1 cup peas
• 1 cup corn
• ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped

for the dressing:

• ¾ cup non-dairy yogurt
• 2 teaspoons spicy mustard
• 1-2 teaspoons horseradish
• ¾-1 teaspoon black salt
• black pepper

Directions:

1. Peel and dice the vegetables. All the vegetables should roughly be the same size.
2. Place them in a steamer and steam until they are soft but not mushy (5-8minutes).
3. Plunge them into cold water and then drain.
4. While the vegetables are draining, chop the dill pickles.
5. Place the drained vegetables in a large bowl and add the chopped pickles.
6. If using frozen peas, thaw or if using canned peas, drain.
7. If using frozen corn, thaw or if using canned, drain.
8. Add the peas and corn to the rest of the vegetables
9. Chop the apple and add to the salad.
10. In a separate bowl, mix the dressing.
11. Mix the dressing ingredients and season to taste with pepper. It should be slightly sour and spicy from the horseradish and mustard, yet enjoyably flavorful.
12. Add the chopped parsley and pour the dressing over the vegetables.
13. Gently mix the salad well.
14. Place a plate over the bowl and place in the refrigerator to season overnight or at least 4-6 hours.

Note:
It is important to use the black salt, as it gives a sulfur flavor to replace the eggs that vegans do not eat.

Related Posts:

• Warm Lentil Salad with Celery Root, Apples and Hazelnuts
• Review: Sklandrausis – Latvian Vegetable Tart
• Winter Squash, Barley Orzotto with Toasted Walnuts
• Winter Squash and Kale Risotto with Golden Raisins
• Review: Roast Parsley Root and Lady Apples

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Tackling Morning Sickness: How to nourish your body

This week Mamalina discusses the dreaded morning sickness that some women encounter in the early weeks of pregnancy.
Mamalina offers up tips on how to help tackle it by nourishing your body the Planet Organic way.

Whilst some women glide through their first trimester feeling strong and healthy without a trace of illness (some don’t even realize they’re pregnant – I still can’t quite fathom that), others are struck down with serious sickness and struggle to maintain a normal life for at least the start of their pregnancy and spend large amounts of time with their head down a toilet. (Note - these women are warriors, as life becomes extremely tough.)
 
I was somewhere in between. From weeks 8 to 16 I would vomit occasionally but far worse than that was the all – consuming nausea that overcame me for what felt like an eternity. The kind of nausea where all you want to do is curl up in bed and close your eyes, but then you remember how sick you feel so you open them, slowly get up, venture downstairs, and then realize how sick you feel again and retreat back to your bed. This pattern pretty much repeated itself for two months, every day, with some very miserable days at work in between. They call it morning sickness but that’s because you’re just more likely to feel even worse in the morning since your stomach is empty (especially when having to pass McDonalds every day on your way into work) but the nausea can strike at any time.
Along the way, and again working with Angela Heap from Planet Organic, I picked up a few tips and tricks to help nourish my body and tackle the dreaded morning sickness.
 
1. Eat first thing in the morning - and certainly before you leave your home for the day.
 
It’s amazing how much difference eating something small can make. For me, just nibbling on a piece of wholemeal toast with some raspberry spread on my way to the tube would make all the difference and would get me as far as work (where I could resume eating, once I had dodged aforementioned McDonalds. In fact, I advise you to stay away from places serving hot food which emanate strong smells - cafes, canteens and often my own kitchen were out of bounds for me in those early weeks!)
 
2. Keep something to nibble by your bed.
 
For those times that you cant even muster up the energy to eat, let alone cook yourself dinner, this is the moment to give yourself permission to lie in bed and eat. I would keep a pack of the delicious Nairns ginger oat biscuits beside my bed and I can’t say for certain that there weren't times I would wake up in the middle of the night, feeling rotten and turn to my biscuits.
 
3. Keep a snack on you
 
I found it absolutely crucial to keep a snack in my bag at all times, particularly if you have to commute in and out of work. I’m 20 weeks now and I still carry something small around with me as I just find being underground with no air and moving a particularly sick-inducing combination. To be honest, I would actually get a little anxious if I didn’t have food on me -  I have Bounce Energy Balls constantly knocking around the bottom of my bag these days for just those moments. In general, remember to eat small meals and often as the worst thing is to leave yourself with an empty stomach.
 
 4. Listen to your body
 
Now is not the time to try to implement any sort of diet. At this stage it’s all about just trying to get through the day. In fact, consuming copious amounts of carbohydrates helped me as they would release energy slowly and keep my (already huge) appetite satisfied for slightly longer. Then I would try and combine these with a protein such as cheese or alternatively foods rich in vitamin b6 like bananas and avocados. This avocado humous worked wonders for me in the early weeks.
 
5. Don’t make plans and prioritise getting sleep
 
Tiredness always made my nausea so much worse so make sure you are getting enough shut eye. I actively made no plans in those first few months and just rested up as much to conserve energy. Run yourself a long bath, light a Neom tranquility mini candle and just relax.
 
6. Hot drinks really help.
 
Whilst we know that caffeine is best avoided during pregnancy, there are a plethora of other delicious and nourishing hot drink options out there. My favourite hot drink comes from pukka teas – their organic Three Mint tea got me through many a tough morning, and they do a beautiful Three Ginger tea. I would make myself a brew (or better still, get the hubby to bring me one) and sip it as I got ready for the day. I also found the Pukka tea bags quite strong so was able to reuse them and just top up with more boiling water. (bonus)
 

 

7. Distract yourself 

Contrary to what I thought, being around my toddler Jack was actually one of the best remedies for my morning sickness as he distracted me so wonderfully. So whether it’s another small child, a hobby, a partner, some close girlfriends you can be yourself around, or just your favourite TV programme, get yourself busy to take your mind off whatever is going on in your body.
 
 8. Sip on water between meals
 
I always struggled with this but I know full well that drinking enough water helps ward off sickness. Unfortunately though I just couldn't stomach much at all without it making me feel more nauseous. Consequently, I lived off Belvoir Organic Elderflower Cordial to get some flavour in to my water to ensure I was getting enough down me.
 
Those early weeks can be really tough and although morning sickness can make you feel miserable, it is a good sign! It means that you are producing high levels of pregnancy hormones which serve to nourish your baby until the placenta has grown enough to take over nourishing your baby. And of course, if it's really awful, or you're throwing up constantly, consult your doctor -  there are anti -sickness medicines you can take that at perfectly safe during pregnancy. On the other hand, not having morning sickenss is perfectly normal too(you lucky thing! )
I hope you've found these tips helpful, and as ever if you have any questions just let me know. Pregnancy, just like motherhood, is wonderful but brings certain challenges. You got this though. Good luck, and stay smiling.

Mamalina - Founder 
www.mamalina.co

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Recovery Bone Broth

Refined and delicious, spicy and aromatic, full-flavoured and satisfying, broths are the perfect nourishing meal.
Ingredients

• 500ml Ossa The Bone Broth (either beef or chicken varietal)
• 2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
• 2 chopped organic leaks
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground cinnamon
• 1 inch piece of turmeric root, peeled and grated
• 1/2 a chopped organic red chilli
• 6 chopped organic carrots
• Freshly ground pepper
• Pink Himalayan salt
• 4 cups of filtered water
• 1/4 cup full fat organic coconut milk

Method
1. Heat the coconut oil to slowly cook the leaks, ginger and chilli. As the leaks soften add the carrots, salt, cinnamon and turmeric, constantly stirring the contents.
2. Add the water and bring to the boil before reducing heat cooking the carrots until soft.
3. Puree the soup.
4. Serve warm and stir in the coconut milk. 

 

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