Summer soup – Kesäkeitto

Summer Soup – Kesäkeitto

This is one of my favorite soups, and in Finland it is eaten in the summer when you get fresh new vegetables. As a kid I hated all the vegetables in it, and wanted my mum to make it without them – leaving only potatoes in the milk. And loved it like that! But now I love the vegetables in it.

carrots

potatoes

peas

cauliflower

green beans

salt

water

milk

butter

I have not put down how many carrots or potatoes etc, as it depends on how big a pot you have. I used a couple of each, small cauliflower.. Boil the vegetables until almost soft, add salt, teaspoon of butter and about a pint of milk. Let gently boil until all vegetables are soft. Season and serve.

I like to eat this made of cow milk, but you can use any milk you like. I don’t use dairy much any more in my diet, but haven’t been able to replace it in recipes that come from my childhood, as the memory of the taste sticks in my mouth and head, and it’s not easy to change.

Here is a picture of Muumi meeting the calf’s that are the same size as her!

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Where does our meat come from? Ever thought about it, really?

Have you ever been thinking where your food comes from? What happened to it before you bought it from the supermarket? How was it treated, if it is meat, how was the animal treated and what did it eat while it was living? If it is vegetables, is it full of pesticides and/or is it genetically improved? And does it matter to you?

For me it matters. I want to eat vegetables that are not genetically modified and that are free from pesticides. So I choose organic, and hope that by doing this I am voting as a customer for supermarkets to buy more organic, and so pushing for more organic farming. I want to know what I eat and where it comes from, because I want to eat healthy and think of the planet. Also it matters what the animals eat while they are growing up, because we will end up eating them. So if they are full of hormones, or antibiotics, we will get them in us. Did you know that you can get immune to antibiotics because of what you eat? Or that children die after eating hamburgers in the US because the food is dirty? It’s all so sick.

Everyone should watch Robert Kenner’s film called FOOD, Inc. We watched it yesterday evening, and it was really good. Shocking really, and while it is based on the US food market, I have little doubt that Europe is better.  You can also take a look at a German documentary called Unser Täglich Brot , which shows you how the food we eat in europe is processed.  I was really shocked to see the cows in it, they were SUPER muscular and looked unreal. They were so muscular, that they could not give birth to a baby cow normally, but needed to have caesarian?! How sick is that. And when they took the cows to the factory and killed them, I cried. You can find the link to it from here, it’s on the blog of “Uusi Musta” . And the chickens… they have so much muscles that they are only able to walk 2 steps and then fall down. They are kept in the dark all their lives.. and treated in the end so bad, it made me sad. 😦 There is much more in these films, have a look please and tell me what you think? Want to continue eating meat?

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“Munkki” and Introduction of the Animals

These are Finnish doughnuts, called “munkki”, and you eat these on the first of may with “sima” (Finnish lemon drink). While taking the picture my Russian Blue cat Fedor came to sniff the plate wondering if it might be anything he would fancy eating. It wasn’t, and that is good as he is a bit fat.. 😉

Munkki recipe: (vegan)

1 cup oat milk (or soya milk, almond milk…)

25g yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cardamom

2,5 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup oil (not olive oil, any other oil that has smooth taste, like rapeseed oil )

– Mix all the ingredients, and leave in a warm place and covered until double the size. Make small rings and leave again to rise. Then heat in a big pan perhaps a litre of oil, and when the oil is hot but not boiling, put the doughnuts one by one into oil. Turn them around when they get brown. When they have nice brown colour they are ready. Take them out and dry in a plate covered by kitchen towel. Put sugar to another plate, roll the doughnuts in sugar and serve!

We also have another cat in the house called Hugo, and he is a Cornish Rex, and has a big character for such a tiny cat. Meaning he “talks” a LOT, sleeps under the arm pit of my partner, gets easily very cold, and follows you everywhere, and that is why this breed is known as Velcro cat.

Then, the new comer, our best friend, the Irish Wolfhound. She is now 2 years old and called Muumi (like Moomin Trolls) She is our baby and goes everywhere with us. She also keeps me fit as she enjoys nothing more than run around in the nature (and hoping to see a sheep and run after it, but that is being very naughty!) She also enjoys eating and absolutely LOVES everything I cook.

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Sima – summer lemon drink

I am drinking this Finnish lemon drink called “sima”, even when it is full of sugar and I am trying to fit into my wedding dress in a couple of weeks time. But it is just so refreshingly gorgeous summer drink that I cannot help myself. And there is a lot of lemon in it, so it is almost healthy right?

Here is how you can make it:

8 litres of water

1/2 kg brown sugar

1/2 kg sugar

2-3 lemons

1/4 tsp yeast

(raisins)

Boil some of the water and add the sugar. Let dissolve. Best is to use a big bucket.

Add rest of the water together with the lemon juice. When the liquid is hand warm, add the yeast. Also add lemon zest (wash the lemons and skin them, and add all the skins)

Now let “sima” rest in the room temperature for 1-2 days. After this put into bottles (add raisins if you like them, they help you to find out when sima is ready to drink as they will pop up to surface of the bottle when sime is ready) and let rest in a fridge for about 5 days and then enjoy!

In Finland we drink this lemon drink during the summer, but especially on the first of may, as it is a labour day and traditionally celebrated with sima and some finnish dougnats called “munkki” 🙂

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