3 Ways to Honour Mother Earth this Mother’s Day

by Liz Child

Mother’s Day is coming up and I’m very excited to receive my homemade cards, breakfast in bed and I’ve got my fingers crossed for some of these Booja Booja chocolates! Mother’s Day is all about saying ‘thank you’ to the people that nurture us and take care of us, be they our biological mothers or not. So the one mother we shouldn’t forget to show some love and appreciation to is, of course, Mother Earth. So here are some ways to honour our mothers and our incredible planet at the same time this year.

Plant Trees

Buy your mother some native trees or hedgerow to plant this year. If she doesn’t have her own garden why not donate to a native tree planting scheme in her name or get involved in a tree planting event? It is national tree week 20th-26th March and the Tree Council have organised a nationwide program of events here. Is there one near you? We plant native trees every year on our organic farm in Galway and are raising money to donate to tree planting charities too. Here is a list of Irish tree planting charities in Ireland:

Eat Green

Make a home-cooked meal to celebrate Mothers Day and Mother Earth. Include lots of locally grown, in-season vegetables and buy organic and plastic free. Our 100% Irish box ticks all the boxes. Click on the photo to see what is included this week. What could you make from all that Irish produce? We have lots of ideas here on the blog. Here’s a menu idea for you:

Clean Up

Don’t leave the cleaning to your mum! Get involved and think about Mother Earth at the same time. Use eco-cleaning products to clean up inside then how about a lovely walk in your local woodland or at the beach? Take a bag and some gloves and pick up litter as you go. Here are some of our favourite green cleaning products from our online shop. You can add them to your next fruit and veg order along with lots of other organic groceries.

Colcannon

by Liz Child

This St Patrick’s Day favourite combines the two best vegetables of all time – potatoes and kale. Don’t let anyone tell you these humble vegetables are nothing less than extraordinary!

Potatoes (especially when you leave the skin on) are a delicious source of fibre, energy giving carbohydrates, antioxidants, potassium (more than a banana!) and magnesium. They also contain vitamin C, calcium, folate and vitamin B6.

Kale is well known for being a superfood. The humble kale, grown right here on our farm in Galway, is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and contains well over 100% of your daily needs for Vitamins A, C and K as well as a whole host of other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre and even an omega 3 fatty acid!

So we say this dish is not just for St Patrick’s Day, make colcannon regularly as a side dish or as a topping for your pies.

Liz x

Ingredients (per person)

  • 1 large or a couple of smaller potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into even chunks
  • 3 kale leaves, rinsed, tough stems removed (save the stems, they are delicious finely chopped and added to stir fries, stews, soups etc)
  • 1 scallion, sliced
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Get your potatoes boiling in a large pot of water. Meanwhile tear up your kale leaves into small pieces and place them in a steaming basket or metal colander.
  2. When the potatoes are nearly cooked through, place the steaming basket/colander of kale over the pot and put the lid on. Let the kale steam until wilted and soft – this only takes around 3 minutes so keep an eye on it.
  3. Remove the kale and drain the soft potatoes, then tumble them back into the warm pot. Mash the potatoes with the butter and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Then stir through the wilted kale and chopped scallions.
  4. Serve with an extra dollop of butter as a side dish. It’s also delicious as a shepherd’s pie topping, baked in the oven to crisp up – see pic below.

Dairy-free Soda Bread

by Liz Child

Soda bread is so easy to make and a delicious Irish classic. You’ve got to try a fresh, homemade loaf for St Patrick’s Day! Perfect for breakfast with sweet or savoury toppings or for lunch with a bowl of soup. We make versions of this loaf at least once a week, sometimes with a handful or two of dried fruit in the mix for a sweet version, and it’s the perfect loaf to make with kids as it’s so quick and simple.

Traditional Irish soda bread contains buttermilk so it’s easy to make a dairy free version with oat milk and a little apple cider vinegar to make it acidic. The baking soda needs something acidic to react with otherwise it will not rise, so don’t be tempted to skip the vinegar. I promise, you can’t taste it in the bread. We choose creamy, Irish oat milk and raw apple cider vinegar from Clashganny organic farm. Here’s our easy recipe.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 300ml oat milk
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 400g white flour
  • 100g wholemeal flour
  • a handful of porridge oats (optional)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • a handful of optional seeds or dried fruit

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 200C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
  2. In a mixing jug, mix the milk, vinegar and oil and let it sit for a few minutes while you prepare the dry ingredients. This is your vegan buttermilk.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, measure the flours, oats (if using), salt and baking soda and mix well with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the middle. You can also add dried fruit or seeds at this stage if you would like to.
  4. Then pour the ‘buttermilk’ into the well and stir with the wooden spoon until the ingredients come together into a rough, sticky dough.
  5. Now use one hand to turn and squash the dough together in the bowl. You may find it is too sticky to handle and needs an extra handful of flour. Careful not to add too much flour though, the dough should be slightly sticky otherwise the loaf will come out too dry and crumbly. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead briefly, just for a minute or two at the most.
  6. Shape the dough into a disc that is around 3 cm high and place it on the lined baking tray. Using a large knife or bread knife, cut a deep X into the top of the dough, around 1 cm deep. Dust with a little flour or an optional sprinkle of seeds or porridge oats.
  7. Bake in the oven until risen and golden – around 30-40 minutes. The loaf should sound hollow when you tap it. Enjoy warm or cold slathered in butter (we stock a really good vegan butter here if you need).

The Benefits of Buying Local

by Liz Child

With recent world events, it has become startlingly clear how important being self sufficient as a country can be. Don’t get us wrong, we love to trade with the world, we all love oranges, olives, wine, tea, coffee, chocolate etc. Keeping our fridges full with a healthy variety of fresh fruits and vegetables year round means importing from our organic farming connections around the world (by the way, we never use airfreight). Trading with the world is a positive thing, being friendly with our neighbours and part of unions benefits us all – nutritionally and to promote peace and prosperity. But, it’s also important to us to support local and buy local food as much as possible. Food security is a real issue and supporting local farmers and paying them fair prices (we’re looking at you supermarkets!) is always going to be an important topic that we will talk about regularly. So this week, with St Patrick’s Day on the calendar, we are celebrating all things local and Irish.

Good for You

Local food is fresh, more flavoursome and even more nutritious than food that has travelled! When there has been less time between harvest and your home, there are more nutrients. Did you know that as soon as a fruit or vegetable is picked it starts to loose nutrients? So the quicker it gets to your plate, the better. Locally grown food intended for local consumers will be picked when it is ripe too, so you’ll be getting the best flavour as well as avoiding waxes and preservatives found on food that has travelled a long way.

Good for the Planet

Buying locally produced food, of course means less food miles. ‘Food miles’ is the term for the distance food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer. Choosing local food requires less transport, therefore less fuel/energy is used to get the food to your plate – so local food has a smaller carbon footprint because it produces less transport related emissions. Less transport usually means less need for packaging too. We use as little packaging as possible to get our food to you, and where we do use packaging we choose paper or compostable bags over plastic.

Good for your Community

Supporting local food producers means more work and more money in your community. Spending money with Irish business will mean more Irish jobs, more Irish tax and therefore better services for everyone. Shopping locally strengthens the local economy too. Local businesses are more likely to recirculate the money locally – not just on wages and taxes, but also on local suppliers and services. This leads to a stronger financial foundation for our neighbours and communities and a more recession-resilient local economy.

Will you support the local economy and help Ireland build better food security by buying a box of organic fruit, vegetables and groceries from us today? We deliver nationwide. Have a look at all we can deliver to your door here.

Ukrainian Mushroom & Barley Broth

by Liz Child

Here’s another Ukrainian recipe inspired by Olia Hercules. If you love mushrooms, you’ll love this broth. It packs a mighty umami punch and is dark and delicious. I serve is as it is for a lighter meal or for a more filling meal, with these stuffed buns or with creamy mashed potatoes. If you add a spoon of soured cream or crème fraiche when you serve, the flavour is really reminiscent of a stroganoff, and of course, these flavours of umami rich mushrooms, onions, pepper, dill and cream are popular in Eastern European and Scandinavian countries, post-Soviet states, Russia and more. We all have so much more in common than what separates us, and food is one of those things where we can clearly see our commonalities.

Buckwheat is a highly nutritious, gluten free whole-grain, a great source of protein, fibre, potassium, magnesium and energy. We sell the whole grain in compostable bags here (and also useful buckwheat flour and flakes). As well as extra nutrients, buckwheat brings a bit of body and texture to the broth but you can switch it with noodles, pasta or rice as you like. Happy cooking!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 200g buckwheat groats
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp crumbled dried mushrooms
  • 1 litre of boiling water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 3 white onions, roughly diced
  • 3 carrots, chopped chunkily
  • 500g chopped mushrooms (a mix with some wild mushrooms is always more interesting, but chestnut mushrooms work well too)
  • a large handful or two of chopped dill
  • sour cream, yoghurt or creme fraiche to serve
  • mashed potatoes/cooked noodles/pasta/rice to serve or toast or stuffed buns…

Method

  1. Start by making a mushroom stock. Put the bay leaves and dried mushrooms in a glass measuring jug and boil the kettle. Pour a litre of just-boiled water in and let the stock brew.
  2. Next toast the buckwheat groats in your soup pot. Put the pot onto a medium high heat and tumble in the buckwheat. Stir or shake the pot regularly until the buckwheat is perfectly toasted. Then tip all the grains into a bowl to use later.
  3. Now, in the same pot, add the oil and onion. Sauté with a big pinch of salt until the onions start to colour and soften. Then add the mushrooms and carrots, more seasoning and sauté again for another 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
  4. Add the mushroom stock and the toasted buckwheat and simmer with the lid on until the buckwheat is cooked through but still has some bite. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with more salt and pepper.
  5. Just before serving, add the dill. Enjoy as is in bowls with a dollop of cremè fraiche or with toast, buns, mashed potatoes, pasta or anything you like.

Ukrainian Stuffed Buns

by Liz Child

The invasion of Ukraine is causing a huge humanitarian crisis as millions flee the violence. So this week we are raising money for UNICEF who are on the ground providing life-saving aid to refugees. Thank you for your charity box orders, we are adding an extra €10 to each and donating them (as cash, not boxes) to Unicef Ireland.

Ukraine has incredibly fertile farm land and a rich and diverse food culture. One of my favourite Ukrainian chefs is Olia Hercules. Her food (and instagram account) is always so inspiring. I’ll be sharing some plant based twists on some of her recipes this week too. Celebrating different cultures than our own through our shared love of food is one way to honour, respect and bring some humanity to an awful situation. Do you have any Ukrainian experiences or recipes to share?

First up are these fried buns. Think of them like savoury donuts (although you can stuff them with fruit or jam before frying too and make delicious sweet versions) they make an incredible snack or packed lunch on their own or I often serve them as a side to a brothy Ukrainian style stew or borshch.

Liz x

Ingredients (makes 12)

  • 250ml oat milk (or any milk)
  • 1 tsp sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 7g dried yeast
  • 350-400g flour (plus extra for dusting)
  • 300g potatoes, boiled
  • 150g cheese, crumbled or grated (feta works well, have you tried my tofeta recipe?)
  • 1 white onion (sliced and fried until caramelised with a pinch of salt and a tbsp of sunflower oil)
  • a handful of chopped dill
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • about 100ml sunflower oil, for frying
Just sealed bun on left, 3 buns on right after being turned and gently squashed.

Method

  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the milk, sunflower oil, salt, sugar and yeast until frothy. Add 350g of the flour and mix with one hand into a sticky dough. If too sticky to handle, add the remaining 50g of flour and fold and knead in the bowl until you have a soft, smooth ball. Cover with a clean tea towel and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
  2. Meanwhile make the filing. Mash the potato then mix in the fried onion, dill and cheese. Taste the mixture and season well with salt and pepper. Of course you make any kind of filling you prefer. We love sautéed cabbage and mushrooms, mashed beans… or for sweet fillings, chopped fruit with a drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of sugar.
  3. When the dough has risen, tip it out onto a floured work surface and cut it into 12 equal pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece into a circle. Then place a heaped tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the circle. Bring up the sides of the dough and pinch them together ensuring there are not holes. Then turn the bun over so the seam side is down and gently squash the bun with the palm of your hand. You should end up with palm sized, lemon shaped buns. Repeat with all the dough and keep them on a lightly floured work surface or tray, not touching each other, until you are ready to fry.
  4. Heat the sunflower oil in a wide frying pan until very hot. Carefully fry the buns in batches for 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Turn the heat down a little if you find they are catching. I find a medium-high heat works best. use metal tongs or two spatulas to carefully turn the buns. Be careful not to splash hot oil onto yourself.
  5. Serve the buns whilst still warm or enjoy them cold on a picnic or for a packed lunch.
Golden, fluffy bun after being fried for 3 minutes on both sides.

Fundraising for Ukraine’s Children

by Liz Child

The brutal invasion of Ukraine has us all in shock and we have been thinking about the best way to help children fleeing the war. So we have decided to fundraise for UNICEF who are already on the ground, working hard to deliver life-saving aid to the country’s 7.5 million children.  (UNICEF are a trusted charity who help children fleeing conflict around the world. Please consider a monthly donation to them to help children of all races, suffering in all war zones.)

How You Can Help

Just by placing an order you are helping us raise funds this week. We will donate €1 for each order made this week and if you would like to add one of our charity boxes to your order (€30) we will top it up by an extra 10 euros and add all those €40s to the donation pot too.

We will announce how much we raise together for UNICEF on the 15th of March.  Thank you so much for your orders and generous charity box donations.

What are UNICEF doing?

As the crisis escalates, UNICEF is working across eastern Ukraine to scale up life-saving programmes for children. This includes trucking safe water to conflict-affected areas. It also includes readying health & education supplies and working to make sure there is instant help for children and families in need. UNICEF-supported mobile teams are also providing psychosocial care to traumatized children.

From their four offices located on both sides of the front line in Kramatorsk, Mariupol, Luhansk and Donetsk, UNICEF is working to:

  • Repair schools and water points damaged by the bombardments and ensuring access to drinking water for more than 1.7 million people.
  • Support the health care system. This includes providing necessary vaccines for preventable diseases like polio and measles.
  • Provide psychosocial support to more than 200,000 families and children.
  • Repair damaged schools and kindergartens, as well as vital water and sanitation facilities.
  • Deliver vaccines, essential supplies, and cold chain equipment, support national efforts to strengthen the health care system and work with the community to ensure better service and coverage.

Parsnip Tarte Tatin

by Liz Child

A tarte tatin is traditionally made with apples as a dessert, but we love making savoury versions too. It’s a great way to showcase a seasonal vegetable and make it the star of your meal. The result looks fancy and tastes amazing, but the secret is it is sooo easy to do. Serve with some fresh salad and a zingy dressing, with some cheese, nuts, seeds or beans scattered on top for a little protein and you’ve got a wonderful, balanced, plant based meal ready to share with friends or family.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6 -8 depending on sides)

  • 50g butter (we love our new Naturli vegan butter) – chopped into small pieces
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 2 tsp thyme leaves (fresh or dried)
  • black pepper to taste
  • 2 large parsnips sliced into finger sized wedges (enough to tightly cover the base of your dish)
  • a sheet of puff pastry (check the ingredients, many are made dairy free now – or make your own)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C and find a large, round oven proof dish. Or you can use a square/rectangular dish too of course, anything that your sheet of pastry will fit in comfortably.
  2. Dot half the butter around in the base of your dish. Drizzle over half the olive oil and then evenly sprinkle the sugar, half the salt, half the thyme and a good grind of black pepper.
  3. Arrange the slices of parsnips over the butter and seasoning. Aim for complete coverage and one tight layer.
  4. Dot over the remaining butter and drizzle the oil, sprinkle the rest of the salt, thyme and another grind of pepper.
  5. Place the dish in the oven until the parsnips are soft and starting to caramelise. This should take around 30 minutes but keep an eye on them as ovens vary.
  6. Remove from the oven then quickly and carefully place the sheet of pastry over the hot parsnips and put the dish back in the oven right away.
  7. After 15 minutes or so, the pastry should be risen and golden brown. Remove the dish from the oven and place a large, heat proof plate or chopping board over the dish.
  8. Then use oven gloves to carefully, but very quickly, flip the plate/board and dish over. Still using gloves, pick the now upside down dish up off the plate/board and you should be left with a beautiful parsnip tarte tatin!
  9. Slice and serve whilst still warm with salads. It’s delicious cold too, so if you have any leftovers, eat for lunch the next day.

Vegan Pancakes

by Liz Child

Is pancake day is the best day of the year? How do you like yours? The classic lemon and sugar? Rolled up with chocolate spread? Or filled with something savoury like wilted spinach and cheese. We love this simple crepe recipe that happens to be egg and dairy free.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 mug of flour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 & 1/2 mugs oat milk
  • dairy free butter for frying
  • fillings of your choice

Method

  1. Measure the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and olive oil into a mixing bowl.
  2. Whisk whilst slowly pouring in the milk until you have a smooth batter. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes before frying or you can even make it the night before and keep it in the fridge overnight.
  3. Use a cast iron or non stick pancake pan for best results. Heat the pan to medium-high and add a tsp of butter. Let the butter melt and tilt the pan back and forth to spread the butter evenly around the base. Add a ladle of the batter to the pan and tilt it again to swirl the batter into a thin, even layer.
  4. Cook on the first side for a couple of minutes or until golden brown underneath. Then carefully flip the pancake and cook on the second side for another minute.
  5. Repeat until you have used all the batter and enjoy with your choice of fillings. Our favourite? A squeeze of fresh, organic lemon or blood orange and a small sprinkle of raw cane sugar.

The Dirty Dozen

by Liz Child

Have you heard of ‘The Dirty Dozen’?

The Dirty Dozen is a list of 12 fruits and vegetables which have been found to contain the highest levels of pesticides. The aim of these lists, which are updated yearly, is to inform consumers about which fruits and vegetables to prioritise when buying organic. Of course we dream of a future where everything in our shopping carts is organic, but we know that right now, not everyone has access to organic foods. We work very hard here in Ireland to make organic food accessible to as many people as possible. Please take a look at what we can convieniently deliver to your door here.

Dirty Dozen lists are fascinating and highlight the danger of the cocktail of chemicals found in our food. Unfortunately you won’t find a list of the pesticides used on most fresh fruit and veg. However we found it very interesting looking at this label on lemons from a popular online supermarket here in Ireland. Although it is shocking to see, at least it is upfront and evident and we hope that labelling like this will soon become the norm so that consumers can make informed choices. What do you think?

For a ‘Dirty Dozen’ list most relevant to us here in Ireland we’ve been looking at PAN-UK. Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is a network of over 600 participating nongovernmental organisations, institutions and individuals in over 90 countries working to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. Here’s a screenshot from their website on the latest list:

Fruits (especially citrus) and salads seem to be the biggest culprit. But it’s important to remember that these are just the top 12 fruits and vegetables containing pesticide residue, almost all non-organic foods will contain pesticides. Unfortunately washing or peeling your fruit and veg will not be totally effective in removing the pesticides. Many pesticides are systemic, meaning they are absorbed by the plant and can be found throughout, not just on the surface.

There is a growing body of evidence that pesticides can become more harmful when combined and the ‘cocktail effect’ has long-been recognised as an area of concern. Despite this, little has been done to understand or prevent the human health impacts that may occur due to long-term exposure to pesticide cocktails. Find out more about the cocktail effect.

Let us make it easy for you to avoid the cocktail of chemicals found in your supermarket trolly. Order a box from us today, we deliver to every address in Ireland and Northern Ireland and we would love you to join the Green Earth Organics family.

What are your thoughts on organic farming versus the over-use of pesticides on most (but not all of course) non-organic farms? Do you think pesticides are essential to produce enough food for a growing population? Or is there a better way with tried and tested organic systems? We’d love to chat in the comments. We’ll leave you with this quote we love from Mary Jane Butters.