Seasonal Eating: February Food To Keep You Warm

February is round the corner, which means that some new foods are coming into season! I always love cooking, but more than ever I have also been finding it a great tool for self care. As the world seems determined to keep chugging through crazy town for a while, I find my mental health is a lot better when I take a few hours to simply focus on making something right in front of me. Plus when it’s done I get to feel smug about the yummy food I made!

Below I’ve collected some of my favourite recipes from across the internet, which feature some of the ingredients that are perfect for February and a great introduction to seasonal eating. The main fruits/veggies that are in season around February are:

Apples, Bananas, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, Chicory, Clementines, Grapefruit, Jerusalem Artichoke, Kale, Leek, Oranges, Onions, Pak Choi, Parsnips, Pepper, Pomegranate, Rhubarb, Swede, Sweet Potato, Turnips.

So much yummy goodness! And here are some of my favourite options to cook with partially/fully seasonal ingredient lists. If you’re wanting to start eating seasonally, I think the best way to get the ball rolling is starting to up the amount of seasonal, local ingredients you use and decrease the rest over time, so hopefully these recipes get you going!

With any recipes that call for cream, you can easily veganise them by switching it out for cashews and water blended in the food processor – works just as well! Some of these original recipes do have meat elements, but in such a way that they aren’t vital to the dish and can easily be removed, which is what I do (or try using Minimalist Baker’s coconut bacon recipe). You can also switch out meat stocks for vegetable ones easily.

Here goes:

Winter Leek and Potato Soup

Winter Minestrone Soup

Carrot Soup