"We demand the finest vegetables available to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now." - 10 / 10 club - all welcome

[FrannyandZooey]

For anyone who wants a boost to their general health. The suggested goals are:

EAT 10 PORTIONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY - if you don't usually eat much fruit and veg I would build up gradually or you could upset your digestion.

DO (AT LEAST) 10 MINUTES OF EXERCISE EVERY DAY - can be yoga, stretching or something more energetic. The plan is that the idea of doing 10 minutes is not too daunting, and having started you may well find you want to do more.

There are no restrictions on what you eat so long as you get your 10 fruit and veg as well. The focus is not on weight loss but on improving our energy levels and hopefully our general mood and well-being. Sign up below and post here to tell us how you're getting on and how you are feeling.

Basic guidance on what constitutes a portion of fruit and veg here and you can download more detailed information by following the link at the very bottom of the page

I am going to cook a big soup, I think, and make HC eat it when she comes to stay next week. I've got carrots, onions, parsnips, turnips, beetroot. That will all go together, with some lentils, won't it? But the beetroot will take hours to cook compared to the other stuff, am I right? Better to leave the beetroot out?

(MrsC once had some choclate that actually made her cry. It was rose and geranium flavour. We are split here on the delights or horrors of this chocolate)

oven roast the beetroot first.

you are going to make it and still have some next week? Either you are making bloody loads or you already plan it to be horrible so no one will eat it.

BBB are you ever so slightly hungover?

no - why did I seem drunk?

leave the beetroot out and make LL chocolate nad beetroot muffins.

Oh I always make loads, and freeze it, and rotate what's in the freezer, and don't cook all week. I am Queen of Bulk Cooking, I thought I had bored everyone silly with it already.

oh no I didn't know that. YOu must have big pans and a big freezer.

I have to go to supermarket.

I want to talk about:

coffee
vegetable boxes

will you purree or leave it bitty?

Yes you did and I thought maybe you were grumpy hence telling us to fuck off

please tell me exactly what to do with the beetroot. I eat scads of it but it is all that precooked in vinegar stuff. Whenever we get some in the veg box and I try to do anything with it, the kitchen ends up looking like an abbatoir, and I get scared, so half of it just sits in the fridge decomposing gently.

oh and I want to talk more about crying chocolate.

I have a huge soup pan. An ex p was a fab cook and had 3 pans of ginormous size. When we split he got the large one and the small one and I got the middle size one. It holds a LOT. Plus, yes, big freezer I do use it, though

I will puree half to make it thick and leave some pleasing lumps in too.

Crying chocolate was LAST week BBB

if you will swan off then you miss these things

Franny, please teach me how to bulk cook. I spend far too much time in the kitchen. In return I can tell you how I make borshch...
Alternatively you can just grate beetroot into salads.

no - I don't drink at home and I always swear a lot.

Now beetroot. wash it - but don't peel, bake in foil in a low oven for hour or so then peel off skin and do with what you will. I make a georgian beetroot salad with potato, boiled egg and finely diced onion in layers with a yoghurt and mayonaise dressing or just grate it and serve with yoghurt and ground corinader and fresh coriandre.

LOL at amincable pan dividing

Don't peel and then the skin slips off, is that right? Do you end up purple from finger to elbow? Will it be soft after an hour? When do I put it in the soup?

TooT I will happily drivel on about it for hours. You need BIG pans and a big freezer. Once you get in the swing of it you can cook only about once every 3 weeks. Marvellous.

I haven't any foil. Is it essential?

But doesn't it take ages to do? What do you freeze it in? I always wonder if food is less nutritious after being frozen. Yes, definitely bigger pans. If I fill my largest one with veg stew and dumplings it lasts - well, one meal.

well the foil helps it kind of steam in it's skin and that helps the skin slip off. It doesn't exactly slip - you need to kind of peel a bit and you do end up a bit red TBH.

I love beetroot thoguh. When it features heavily in vegetable boxes loads of people give it to me. J'adore. My dad thinks it must contain something vital that I require and my body craves.

Anyway supermarket....

TT - I too have small pans. I must get a big pan.

okay am going to clean my teeth and then go - anything good I should get?

Where are you going?

tatties do your children eat the curry?

Hmm at redness [cold feet] I love eating it but I really dislike cooking it. I read you can just peel it and grate it raw, as well - which way is least messy do you think?

TooT yes it takes a while, you have to spend the afternoon cooking. Then you don't cook again for about a week at first, and as I say, for up to 3 weeks once you get it working properly.

I'll try and write a sample of how it could work. I don't know if I can make it clear.

am going to sainsbastards.

have to hang washing before I go...