Eats - quick lunch with mushrooms

I had a load of mushrooms that were just about to turn in the cupboard so in order that they didn't go to waste I made this super quick, super simple and super tasty light lunch. I will certainly be making it again as it was not only delicious but proper healthy and low fat, bargain!

Ingredients

100g sliced mushrooms (I had a mix of chestnut and shitake)

1.5 tsp vegetable stock powder

2 tbs natural yogurt

splash of water 

tsp chopped chives

In a hot non-stick pan dry fry the sliced mushrooms for around 4 mins, or until they start to brown. Sprinkle the stock powder over the mushrooms and stir so that they are evenly covered. Add the water to the pan (this will steam the mushrooms and help them soak up the stock powder), when the water has almost evaporated away remove from the heat. Stir in the yogurt and chives and serve immediately. I served mine on toast but this would equally as well as a side to a chicken or steak dish.

Enjoy xx

eats - chicken, feta and red pepper

Well this is a quick recipe that got thrown together using up stuff in the fridge, it doesn't look that pretty (only got one dodgy photo, soz) but it sure did taste good.

Ingredients

4 chicken fillets
1 red pepper, diced
20gm feta cheese
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
juice of a small lemon
splash of soy sauce
a little oil

Preheat oven to 190c
In a pan heat the oil and sauté the onion and garlic, then add the pepper and warm through.
Allow to cool a little and then blend the mix together with the lemon juice and soy sauce until you have a loose paste.
Cut a slice lengthways in to each fillet to make a pocket and stuff with the mixture, crumble the feta on to the mix and place a little more pepper mixture on top of that. 
Place in the oven for 25 minutes and serve with a salad or vegetables.

Easy way to use those store cupboard goods, no?   

Eats - a bit of spice

A Happy Wednesday to you good people, I hope I find you well? This morning I am going to share with you the idiot proof recipe I use when making something curried, and the best thing is you can adapt it to your own tastes. And when I say idiot proof I mean that it is sooooo easy and even if you are missing the odd spice it will still taste good, promise.

I don't remember where I picked up this masala sauce recipe as it now just sits in my little book of cookery notes, but it is my go to for a dinner that is quick, easy and particularly good if there is a crowd to feed!

Ingredients

6 cardamon pods *

2 tbsp cumin *

2 tbsp coriander seeds *

4 whole cloves *

1 tsp black peppercorns *

1 tsp ground fenugreek

1 tsp ground turmeric 

1 tbsp paprika

1-2 tsp chili powder (strength according to taste)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp flaked sea salt

4 crushed garlic cloves

40g fresh grated ginger

100g low fat yogurt  

*remove seeds from the cardamon pods and discard the husks, add to a hot dry pan with the other whole seeds marked and toast for a couple of minutes. Take these spices and crush them before adding to the remaining spices.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together until to get a paste like consistency.

Once you have made your basic sauce you can the use it for spicing up pretty much anything. Add a can of chopped tomatoes to make a base for a beef curry, increase the volume of yogurt a little and marinate some chicken overnight then put them on the barbecue for party, or add coconut milk for a deliciously creamy curry.

This week I made the beef curry option, here's how...

Lightly brown some cubed beef in a pan with a large diced onion then add some broccoli and cauliflower florets, cover and allow to steam until slightly softened.

Next add the masala sauce and coat the beef and vegetables before adding a can of chopped tomatoes and 100g of mushrooms, bring to the boil and simmer until the beef is cooked through and still tender.

Serve with either rice and a little pineapple chutney or your favourite flat bread. Simple.

Note: I didn't have any fresh ginger in the store cupboard but the mixture didn't miss it.

Enjoy xx

Eats - choccie bite biscuits

These little biscuits are a nice bite size treat with a cup of tea, they aren't too sweet and have just a hint of cocoa to flavour them. 

Ingredients

• Preheat oven to 190C and line two 12 hole cake tins with small fairy/cupcake cases. 
• Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl. 
• Sift the flour, cornflour and cocoa powder together and add to the creamed butter mix. 
• Combine until you get a sticky dough consistency and then put a teaspoon of the mixture in each case (you should fill 18-20).
• Bake for 15-20 mins, leave to cool and gobble up with a cuppa!

Enjoy xx

Eats - salmon & broccoli lasagne

I love pretty much any pasta dish and this week I felt like making lasagna. Of course traditional is good but I felt a fishy alternative was called for this time, salmon and broccoli to be precise.

Ingredients serves 4

4 salmon fillets
225g broccoli florets
600ml milk
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp vegetable stock powder (Swiss bouillon)
2 tbsp cornflour
115g sliced mushroom (I used chestnut)
50g grated cheddar cheese plus extra for sprinkling
handful of chopped fresh parsley
225g non pre-cook lasagna sheets
salt & pepper for seasoning

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/375/gm5
2. Cook the broccoli in salted boiling water, drain and set aside.
3. In a pan over a low heat gently cook the salmon in the milk for about 5-6 minutes. Allow to cool and then remove the fish and flake it on a plate, taking care to remove all the skin and any bones.
4. Reheat the milk, adding the stock powder and mustard to the pan. Then slake the cornflour with a little cold milk and add to the pan, stir well to prevent any lumps.
5. Next add the mushrooms and grated cheese, mixing well. Simmer the mix gently until the sauce is of a coating consistency. Adjust with milk or cornflour if needed. Stir in the parsley and season the sauce to your taste.
6. In an ovenproof dish place a thin layer of the sauce and cover with lasagna sheets (not overlapping them). Add a layer of salmon and broccoli. Repeat this and finish with a layer of sauce on the top. 
7. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until bubbling hot. After 20 minutes of cooking sprinkle a little more cheese over the dish.

Have with a side salad and garlic bread for dinner or on its own for lunch.

This dish was adapted from a Rosemary Conley recipe.    

Eats - butternut squash & carrot soup

With all this snow and ice around I have just wanted warm comforting food and soup is always going to fit the bill, especially when homemade with winter root vegetables and served with warm bread!
Here is an easy butternut squash and carrot soup recipe for you to try if the mood takes you.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 butternut squash
• approx. 300g carrots, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp oil
• 900ml vegetable stock

Firstly you need to roast the squash, do this by cutting in half length ways and placing cut side up in a roasting tray. Drizzle the squash with half the oil and sprinkle with some favourite herbs if you like. Roast in a hot oven for 40mins (or until tender). When cool enough, remove the seeds and scoop the flesh of the squash into a bowl. 

When you are ready to make the soup heat the remainder of the oil in a pan and add the garlic and onion. Cook on a medium/low heat until softened and translucent.

Next add the squash and the stock and bring the whole thing to boiling point, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 mins.

Let the mixture cool and blend in a food processor or with a stick blender, season to your taste and reheat when ready to serve (or freeze for later).

You can add extra flavour by sprinkling with a few dried chili flakes, some crumbled goats cheese or drizzling with a little coconut milk.

Serve with warm crusty bread, de-lish!

Enjoy xx

Eats - quick pasta lunch

I thought I would share a simple pasta recipe with you today, it is great if you don't have much time and you want something that isn't too rich. It is a carbonara of sorts but is in no way made in a traditional manner, it is is my lower fat interpretation.

Recipe

serves 2-4 depending on portion size

• Any dried pasta you want, cook according to packet
• 600ml skimmed milk (2cups)
• 1 tbs corn flour, slaked with a little milk
• handful of mushrooms - I use chestnut - diced
• 4 rashers lean bacon, trimmed and cut in to small pieces
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 60g parmesan cheese, grated, plus extra for serving

Crack 1 of the garlic cloves and place in a pan with the milk over a medium/low heat to warm through, let the garlic infuse the milk with flavour, stirring occasionally to stop it catching.

With a little oil or low fat spray soften the onion and other garlic clove (crushed) in a pan, when they have become translucent add the bacon and cook until it is slightly crisp. Reduce heat and add the mushrooms, cover and let the mushrooms cook gently, stirring occasionally. 

Remove the garlic from the infused milk, season and bring to the boil. When at boiling point add the corn flour and whisk until it thickens. When at desired consistency melt in the parmesan and stir in the bacon and mushroom mix.

Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce and serve immediately.

Enjoy xx

Busy With Bakes & Makes

I'm very late writing up today, but I can't complain as I've been fulfilling some last minute Christmas orders!
I have also done some baking today, whipping up a batch of chestnut and brandy jam and my first round of marzipan mince pies. I thought you might like the mince pie recipe for any easy last minute bakes this weekend...

Ingredients

220g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, cubed
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp cold water
Mincemeat mixture
Marzipan

Method

• Preheat oven to 200*c/gas mark6

• Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter to create a rough sand texture.

• Sprinkle water in to the bowl and lightly work mixture into a ball.

• Wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

• Roll out to a thickness of approx. 3mm and cut out enough circles to fill your greased tray (usually 12).
Press the pastry discs into the tray.

• Roll the marzipan out thinly and place a small disc in each pastry cup. Spoon a teaspoon of mincemeat on top of the marzipan.
For the lids I cut star shapes from the rolled out pastry and placed them on top of the mincemeat.

• Finish with a milk wash and bake for 20 minutes, or till golden.

Enjoy xx

Wassail! Wassail! All Over The Town...

Over the weekend the Yuletide season went into full speed here, there was a dinner or two with old friends, a trip to the cinema for a Christmas blockbuster and more than a tot of something mulled! Now in the West Country we are obviously famed for our cider production, and whilst I do love a glass of German Gluwein, a cup of mulled cider will always go down a treat.
Traditionally hot mulled cider was drunk copiously at the Twelfth Night Wassail, where villagers and cider producers would gather around the largest apple tree, hang cider soaked toast on its branches and drink its good health with ale and mead laced with apple liqueur. In recent years it has become more associated with the festivities running up to Christmas, but which ever way you want to drink it there are many recipes out there to try. Here I have used Jamie Oliver's as an example for you to try, I would maybe add a tot of mead or Brandy to give it some extra warmth!

• 2 litres good cider, such as Scrumpy
• 6 cloves
• 3 or 4 star anise
• ¼nutmeg, finely grated into the pan
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla pod, halved
• Juice of 1 orange
• Juice of 2 clementines
• Juice and seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 4 or 5 tablespoons of caster sugar, to taste

1. Pour all of the cider into a large pan on a low heat and warm it through for a few minutes. Add all of the spices and fruit juices and turn the heat up. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and leave to tick away for 5 to 8 minutes. As everything infuses you'll get the most delicious layers of flavour. Just because this is a glorified Christmas punch doesn't mean you don't taste it like you would a sauce. Pay attention and add a few tablespoons of sugar to taste. You don't want it to be sweet; you just want the sugar to join up all the different spices so you get a harmonious taste.
2. When you are happy with the flavours, ladle the mulled cider into glasses or mugs and serve while warm and delicious. Personally I think it's nice to leave bits of spices floating around in the cider when you serve it but if you want yours clear and perfect just pour it into the glasses through a sieve.

Pumpkins and Packaging

So Hallow e'en has passed by without much fuss and bother, although I had the obligatory carved pumpkin and soup (most simple recipe ever!), one or two little witches and I finally managed to use the fake leaves I procured whilst doing a window display as a VM last year.

If you want to make the simple soup here's the recipe...

approx 1kg pumpkin, roughly chopped (mine was just the scooped out middle of this bad boy)
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1l stock (chicken or veg are best)
any seasoning or spice to your taste (I used salt, black pepper and a little ground cinnamon)
oil

Pop the onions in a large pan with a light coating of oil and sweat them down for 5 mins.
Add the pumpkin and cover with a lid, cook on a medium heat for approx. 40 mins, stirring occasionally to prevent any catching on the bottom of the pan.
Once the pumpkin is cooked add the stock and bring to the boil. Let the mixture cool then blend in batches.
Soup can be reheated when ready to eat. See simple!

I have just had a final bowl of soup for lunch and am now putting together some jewellery for the market on November 11th. I received some greetings cards I designed to go with my Forest Folk pendants this week, and I am so thrilled with them. Along with the cards I ordered from Moo.com (check them out, they are fab) I also ordered some new packaging, and I have to say everything is shaping up to look pretty cool for the holiday season.

Tuesday Treat - Creamy Coconut Ice

Coconut ice is a childhood favourite of mine, to me it conjures up sunny days at the spring flower shows with the sound of a brass band floating on the air. My dad worked for the Bath Parks & Gardens so, along with mum, was always roped into working the flower show. I practically grew up in the greenhouses, so all the folks at the show knew me and I used to roam the grounds all weekend with a sense of privilege only a 6 or 7 year old can get away with. Bag of homemade sweets from the craft tent in hand I would go to visit the animals, help sell programmes on the gate and get muddy demolishing the big displays at the end of the show. The taste of coconut ice always takes me back there, though it is never quite the same, it was always so creamy and covered in delicious chocolate. What better way to try and escape the rain that is over our shores at the moment than make some coconutty yumminess and dream of summer!!!!

The recipe I have put on here is from the BBC Good Food magazine, it is so simple and makes a great treat. I actually prefer to leave it all white and roll the mixture into a log, then when set it can be dipped in chocolate and sliced. Delicious.

BBC Good Food Magazine

I also had to add this recipe I found for coconut ice cream torte, looks like crowd pleaser!

Taste of Home

Enjoy xx

I Heart Japan (really must go someday)

A couple of weeks ago my pal Akiko came back to Bath from Japan, I was thinking today how I haven't managed to see her much since she got back, which then led me to thinking about a few of the Japanese things I love. Like many crafties out there I have fallen for moshi tape, is there nothing you can't decorate with it?

I like to imagine myself sometime this week with chopsticks in hand eating from a bento box whilst making masking tape pictures of cherry blossom trees, ahhhhh.

Click on captions for where to buy or how to make...

Torie Jayne

papermash

Kaiso Salad

                                                         

Yen Sushi

Hina Aoyama's Paper Art

Hokusai & Woodblocks

Akiko!!!

Turkey Treat

Morning, OK it's Tuesday and therefore treat day. However, at the moment I am not in the mood for sweet treats so today I am looking for something delicious and savoury. Of course the name treat suggests something you wouldn't have all the time, but who am I kidding, everyday should bring something to make you smile. So today the treat is more about a foodstuff that is a little neglected, but actually is an ingredient that is very versatile, yes, turkey. It is lean, nutritious and not just for Christmas, so substitute red meat with it and cook up a guilt free storm. The following recipes are from a website dedicated to showing you how to use this unloved meat and is all about celebrating the British turkey... I Love British Turkey.

Paella

With Potato & Olives

Turkey Burger

Lemon & Honey

Chowder

Enjoy xx

Tuesday Treat - Fresh & Sunny Salads

I think it is fair to say that there has been a sugar overload over the past few days, so I don't know about you but I am craving something lovely and fresh. I have been thinking about all my favourite places and flavours and put together a selection of lovely links which will leave you feeling healthy and all of a glow. Let these fresh salads take you away to someplace sunny and enjoy a delicious lunch.

Nigella Lawson Ultimate Greek Salad

Jamie Oliver Fresh Asian Noodle Salad

Jamie Oliver Mackerel Pasta Salad 

BBC Good Food Chicken Ceasar Salad

Raymond Blanc Green Papaya Salad

Enjoy xx