Yummy!

Nicole makes fabulous coconut macaroons...

 

...and today Jan made me the most fabulous tuna melt, like no other. In fact, on facebook today the theme seems to be a toastie one!

Coeliac's Cookery Course

Jan and I first met John Crompton and his wife when he popped into the cafe. We were chatting and discovered John is a chef with lots of special interests. One of which is recipes for coeliacs. John was busy with his business 'Cromptons Kitchen' but promised he would come back to the cafe to talk further when he could...and he did!

We met on Monday and have planned for John to come to the cafe to run an evening workshop where he will make gluten free savoury and sweet dishes from scratch with taste fabulous. Coeliacs don't have to settle for second best when it comes to the taste of their food. John will be making profiteroles and chocolate cake amongst other things. On his website it says,

John, who is an Artisan Salt Blender and a member of the Craft Guild of Chefs, has always stood by the maxim that "cooking is a marriage of flavours", and his aim has been to reproduce this belief in his blends.

So if you would like to book a place on John's subsidised course on Wednesday 16th February from 5:45-8:00 pm at Cafe Sustain, pop into the cafe or speak to Ruth Tucker.

Living Medicine - Alex Laird's Workshop

Medicinal Foods for Energy and Weight Loss Handout
Addes 24th November 2010...
This is my Greek Salad inspired Alex meal. 

It is a mixture of grains cooked as before, roast vegetables, fresh tomatoes and feta in a warm oregano, cider vinegar and olive oil  dressing.


Added 22nd November 2010...Ok Lottie and I have a new favourite Alex adapted recipe...

Now this might not look amazing but in the photo but this was the yummiest supper we've had in ages. So good it required a high-five between the chefs. It is our grainy mixure a la Alex, grilled mushroom with rosemary and butter, and Pipers Farm steak in homemade sticky sauce (3tbsp sunflower oil, 2tbsp soya sauce, 1tbsp Dijon mustard and 2 tbsp honey). Bit of a treat but so so good. We both had our special breakfast (see below) and Lottie was sure she wasn't as hungry when lunchtime arrived and thought it would be a good idea if she had some of the oatmeal mix after school sprinkled on her chocolate cake. I suggested it might be better in yoghurt and she agreed.

Added 21st Novemeber 2010...Well Alex has caused quite a stir with her workshops. I bumped into one course attendee on the way back from buying my ingredients and she had put what she learnt into practice with her whole family, I know Emma is trying things out because I see her progress on Facebook, Andi has written comments below and so it must have had a positive impact on her and I am well and truely on the way to eating better. What we are all amazed by is that a short session with Alex who taught us three simple recipes could have such an impact so quickly. I have found a breakfast that not only to I really enjoy but it is fun to make and it's doing me good. I have frozen raspberries in the freezer and I warm them in the microwave, spoon on organic plain yoghurt and then put 4 spoonfuls of my 'Alex mix' on the top. I don't have those mid-morning sugar cravings any more.

The salad and grain recipe are so simple and easily adaptable. I have put all my grains and pulses into jars so I pick and mix which makes it good fun and when Lottie (my little one) and I make dinner tonight it will be fun for her too as she can do the choosing. The grains are put into a pan with sliced root ginger, herbs (I love rosemary), garlic (unpealed), peppercorns and water and boiled gently until cooked. Then you use that as your staple. On Friday I mixed mine with tinned mackeral, Alex's beetroot salad, rocket and covered in dressing as an emergency supper after a long drive then yesterday I had it with sausages, sweet chilli sauce and left over roast vegetables. Tonight we are going to have it with thai curry paste and yoghurt. I am not sure what Alex would make of the mixing and additions but I will await her feedback.


I wasn't so keen on the seaweed and I have a lothing of bananas but I think that's ok. The point is that I am now eating fabulous things that make me feel so much better, they taste better than what I was eating before and they are wonderfully cheap to buy! The other bonus is that I have a store cupboard of things now to make a delicious instant supper with. I am always late home to an empty fridge but now I can always knock something up. Clever Alex and smug Joey. If this isn't very well explained and you would like to know more, email me. We can cook together at the cafe and I can do my best to show you what Alex showed us at her workshop. Or go to http://www.livingmedicine.org/ click on 'news and events' and then go to 'Foods for Energy and Weight Loss' and look at the notes.


This afternoon and tonight's course were excellent and I will tell you all about it at the weekend as it is too late in the evening to make any real sense and I am of to a conference for the next two days but I have put a link to the handout above and photos below.

Tell us your favourite soups

Dear Blog Readers,

Please comment below and let me know your favourite soups.We are doing a bit of market research.

Thank you,

Joey

The Devon Life Food & Drink Awards

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Devon Life Food & Drink Awards. Not because we were up for an award (!) but because I have a good friend who was. It was a fantastic celebration of all that is foody in Devon. Someone from outside the county stood up to give his speech and asked if we knew how the rest of the country viewed us. We laughed. But he genuinely meant that we are lucky to be in this part of the world with a wealth of locally grown/produced/foraged food that is fabulous. We love and support our local growers and producers and they support us :) Luscombe Organic Drinks, Maddocks Farm Organics, Pipers Farm and Hawkridge Dairy

Cafe Life

It has been a really busy week in the cafe. We have so many exciting things going on it is hard to let everybody know about everything without sounding like a stuck record. Ruth (our health facilitator) has just gone into town armed with a handful of bright orange Health Question Time posters. We have about 10 spaces left if anyone is still interested.

The community gardening group have been busy as usual. I always feel relieved when they sit down for a cup of coffee at the end as they do so much for us and I am hugely grateful for all their hard work. They are now planning to build a compost heap for the garden. They have it all in hand.

Helen Kearney who has given over some of her valuable time to get involved is also planning a series of courses on various aspects of gardening. It is fabulous that people come on board and work so hard in the name of the project and the community we are a part of and expect nothing in return. They are just all round good people.

I saw the video that was filmed here the week before last and shown at the launch of the New College of Medicine at the House of Commons. It was excellent. I can't download it as I don't have permission from the college but everyone was very impressed and it created a new buzz around what we are doing here. Hopefully it will end up in the public domain soon.

Ruth and I are beavering away on the new structure for the Health Facilitator program. We are inviting key community figures to come and get involved in what we are doing and be community links for us and us for them. I will keep you posted as to how it is progressing but we seemed to have designed a sustainable model which we have interest in from other areas of the country - fingers crossed we can make it work :)

The cafe kitchen have been busy as always. It is definitely soup weather Monday's cream of mushroom was fabulous. French onion today with a splash of something alcoholic to warm those cockles!

Saturday Flu Clinic

How many questions do you think we answer in a day? Or ask for that matter? The phrase, "Would you like hot or cold milk in your coffee?" rings in my head as I've said it so many times today. I have said it three times more than I needed to as I have repeated it often: I speak too fast and my customers are often hard of hearing. Other key questions that sum up my day...
"How were your tomatoes this year?"
"Has the garden done well?"
"What's in the soup?"
"Are you busy?"
"Earl grey or ordinary?"
"Another go on the tombola?"
"What are you looking for?"
So nothing very exciting but we did have a huge number of lovely people who appreciated our cups of tea and smiles after being jabbed in the arm with a large needle.

Sadly though...not even a sniff of a prize on the tombola! Though cunningly Jan managed a couple of second hand prizes. I think she will look fabulous in her new floral pinny whilst scoffing liquorice allsorts!

Lunch!

Pop in today...Nicole has farmhouse mince with smoked paprika and delicious home made french onion soup :)