Winter Warmer

Isn't it supposed to start warming up by now?  We're having some very cold weather in the UK right now (colder than normal) and i'm really feeling it!  Probably because the heating in my flat is rubbish - does anyone know how night storage heaters actually work?  Think i'm going to need a trip to Argos to invest in a portable electric one.  At least it's not snowing where I am, :-)  it's been beautiful sunshine every morning when I look out over the Church from my bedroom window but that just hasn't taken away from the coldness.

So in my quest to warm myself up, I thought of putting together a warming recipe.  I've made Spinach Masala on the basis that the spices will have a warming effect on me...errrrr, it didn't work, ahem, but it does taste good, so here's the recipe! :-)

Spinach Masala

Prep time 25 mins  Difficulty *(1 star) Click here for scale

Ingredients

250g spinach

1t Himalayan salt

1/8c onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2t minced fresh ginger

2t mustard seeds

2t ground cumin

1t ground corriander

1t ground turmeric

1T garam masala

1c fresh corriander, roughly chopped

1c diced mango

1/2c raisins

1t lemon juice

2t macadamia oil (or substitute with olive oil)

2c cashew or macadamia nuts

1c water

2t agave

2t shoyu

Method

- Wash 'n' chop the spinach then in a large bowl mix the spinach, lemon juice, salt and oil.  Massage with your hands until the spinach becomes soft and creamy.

- Add the mango, raisins, mustard seeds, onion and fresh corriander and mix again.

- Next we need to make some sauce so put the remaining ingredients in a VitaMix or high speed blender and process until smooth.  You may need to add more water to the mixture to get it to the consistency of yoghurt.

- Mix the sauce in with the spinach and you're done!  This also tastes great if you put it in the dehydrator for an hour at 115 degrees.

Remember to wash your blender straight away by filling it half way with water, add a little washing up liquid and blend for a few seconds.  This is a good habit to get into but will also stop your smoothie tasting of curry the next day!

In the end, to get myself back to room temperature I put on a second jumper and had a pot of lemon and ginger tea.  I had this tea when I was in Thailand, you make it very simply with a few slices of lemon and a few slices of ginger, both in a pot with some hot water.  You can then sweeten it with honey or agave.

Comments

[Emma]

oooh good recipe - thanks! and with the storage heater... it is a matter of being a bit of a clairvoyant. you need to know two days in advance that it will be cold (hence turn it on) and then two days in advance that it will be warm (hence turn it off). they take ages to heat up and ages to heat down. but once they're up, they're really up and once they're down (as you are experiencing now!!) they are really down! good luck!:)

[Russell James]

Thanks for the advice! It's actually snowing now so looks like it might be cold for 2 days at least...heaters on!!!