Vegetarian Toastie For Lunch

My lunch.
A sandwich.
Full of colourful flavours.
Toast the bread and you'll get some crunch.



In my sarnie:
Toasted home-made bread
Slices of fresh tomato
Slices of fresh, ripe avocado
Marinated sundried peppers in olive oil - straight from the jar (From a jar? So what, they're good!)



The photo in this post is my entry for this month's 'Click', a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: Red
You can view the gallery here, it's updated as the photos come in.

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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. cherrapeno.blogspot.com
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Keep Warm with Vegetable Soup

It's that time of year when sore throats reign supreme. Add a blocked nose, throw in a cough and you have a recipe to spend the day in bed.

Soup can be nourishing, warming and filling. My mum used to make this soup when I was young, there is nothing fancy about it. It just tastes good and makes you feel a little better, especially when you can't face something more solid.



Easy Vegetable Soup
Recipe from my Mum - thank you!
Makes roughly 4 servings.

1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
2 leeks, sliced and washed
2-3 medium carrots, finely diced
5-6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
Vegetable stock powder or cube (or vegetable stock)
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to serve

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large saucepan and sweat the onion for about 5 minutes. Add the leeks and carrots and cook for about another 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Add the potatoes and enough water or vegetable stock to cover the potatoes. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down low and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

If you used water instead of vegetable stock, add a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder or cube at this stage. Taste and add more if it needs it, then season with salt and pepper.

Blend the soup in batches until it is smooth. Return to the saucepan to heat through. You may need to add some more water or stock at this stage if you want the soup to be a little thinner.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top. You can add a swirl of cream if desired.

Note: Sometimes when I make this soup I like to add a small chopped red chilli at the onion stage to give a little heat. BUT I don't recommend you do this if you are serving to someone who is poorly or has a sore throat!

Printable Recipe



This soup is headed to an event called No Croutons Required, a monthly blogging event alternately hosted by Lisa's Kitchen and Tinned Tomatoes. The theme this month is "nourishing veggie soup" and is being hosted by Lisa's Kitchen.

This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. cherrapeno.blogspot.com
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Chocolate Covered Honey Roasted Cashews

Until you've tried them, don't say 'ewww, gross', because these are brilliant!

I had some honey roasted cashews left after Christmas, and even though they are good straight out of the bag, this is a new way to enjoy them.



I think I was eating some chocolate at the time and on the table was a plate of nuts left over from my son's birthday party. The rest, as they say, is history.

It's probably better to use the jumbo honey cashews because they are easier to coat, and any good quality chocolate you like - I used Belgian milk chocolate.

Gently melt some chocolate using your own tried and tested method. Carefully drop 3-4 cashews at a time into the melted chocolate and turn them over using a fork until they are thoroughly coated.

Use the fork to lift them out of the chocolate and place onto baking sheets covered in non stick baking parchment. You don't want them touching each other so space them apart. Continue with the rest of the cashews. Just make sure that you don't pour the nuts straight from the bag into the melted chocolate, because there is a lot of the sugary 'dust' flying around in the bag.

Pop them into the fridge until the chocolate has hardened - if you can wait that long!
Sometimes, the simple things really are the best!



I've had a good look to see if someone has already done this - there are plenty of chocolate covered cashews but not chocolate covered honey roasted cashews. So I'm submitting this to an event called Original Recipe Round-Up, a fabulous monthly event hosted by Lore, from the food blog Culinarty.

This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. cherrapeno.blogspot.com