With life starting to slowly return back to ‘normal’ (ha), I find by Friday I am a little bit frazzled/ broken/ exhausted from all the yo-yoing. Take this week for example: Monday was counselling, Tuesday I was at work, Wednesday we saw our therapist back at the maternity unit, Thursday I had to have some blood tests, followed by a day at work, then last night I didn’t get to sleep till around 4am, but woke up at 7.30am when Peter did. Today – I am exhausted.
It’s a stunning day, the view from our apartment is incredible, London looks gorgeous in the sunshine. However I have decided to stay indoors. If you are good at putting on a front (guilty as charged) then I think people assume you’re fine? That’s ok, I need to carry on ‘carrying on’ and can’t talk about what has happened all the time. However it’s surprisingly tiring. I struggle to concentrate. My time was my own before to think about Archie whenever I liked, where as now I go out, do things, work, see people. Just when I think I’ve got my head around the landscape of my grief it changes and I feel a bit lost again.
So today I’ve gone back to the start. The Archers is on the radio, I’m still in my PJ’s (it’s 2pm) and I’ve made myself some good wholesome grub. We bought some gorgeous baby veg from the market on the weekend and I wanted to showcase them quite simply – something nutritious and healthy, whilst getting the most out of these beauties. So here they are, lightly spiced but not hot, with a refreshing yoghurt dressing. A truly perfect sunny lunch. Delicious.
Now, I’m going to go treat myself to a nice long bubble bath, then who knows, maybe I’ll crochet. I hope you all have a lovely weekend x
- 300g baby carrots, scrubbed
- A romanesco cauliflower, trimmed (or just a regular cauliflower if you cant get romanesco)
- 150g curly kale, washed and stems removed
- A drizzle of runny honey
- Olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 juicy lime
- 4 heaped tablespoons natural yoghurt
- Handful of mint leaves
- A small cloves of garlic
- 2cm piece of ginger, peeled
- 1/2 a green chilli, deseeded
- 2 tablespoons of dried cranberries
Preheat your oven to 200/400/ gas mark 6.
Trim the cleaned carrots, and halve any larger ones lengthways. Cut the cauliflower into even sized florets and place all the veg in a large roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil, a squeeze of runny honey, and sprinkle over a pinch of salt and pepper. Bash the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar until mostly ground, but with a bit of texture still, and scatter over the veg. Toss everything together, mixing it well and spread out in one layer. Pop in the oven for around 20 – 25 minutes, stirring once or twice, until almost cooked through and starting to caramelise (this will depend on the size of your carrots, if they don’t feel quite ready roast them for a further 5 minutes). Remove the tray from the oven, scatter over the washed and torn kale, toss with a little olive oil and return to the oven for a further 6 – 8 minutes until the kale starts to turn crisp and the veg is cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to one side to cool a little.
Whilst your veg is cooling make your dressing. Spoon the yoghurt into a mixing bowl and squeeze in the juice from the lime. Finely grate in the garlic and ginger. Finely chop the chilli and most of the mint leaves and add to the bowl. Mix everything together and season to taste. Spoon the dressing onto a large plate and pile the roasted veg on top. Scatter over the cranberries and reserved mint leaves and serve.
