Baby flapjacks

I I finally had a) the baby napping solidly enough and b) the energy to try baking something new! As a household we've always had a pretty healthy diet, so we're not making major adjustments now our son in on solids, but it did make me realise that while a biscuit when you're peckish isn't so bad for an adult who should know better, it's not really desirable for a baby who doesn't know better! Our son eats enough fruit at each meal time to keep Dole in business for many years to come, so I scoured the offerings of Pinterest for something a little different he could have for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Lo and behold, the sugar free baby flapjack has been baking in our oven.

This is the original recipe, but please carry on reading to find out how I found it and what my end result was: http://www.myfussyeater.com/sugar-free-flapjacks-for-baby-led-weaning/

The ingredients are (and I used cup measurements just because they were available, though my scales were handy and they definitely didn't match the weights to cups conversion on the original recipe):

2 cups rolled oats, ground up a bit in the food processor

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

1/3 cup butter, melted (you can use coconut oil but mine is for my hair!) - also, be careful if melting it in the microwave, I hadn't done it before and have ended up with a butter-coated microwave interior to clean

3 dates, pitted

1 & 1/2 bananas

4 tbsp orange or apple juice (I had orange open)

1. Mix the processed oats and coconut together in a large bowl

2. Put the other ingredients into a blender / food processor and blitz till they're paste-like, or at least combined and not too lumpy

3. Pour the wet paste into the dry mix and thoroughly combine

4. Line a tray with parchment (I used Fry Light to grease my tray and help the parchment stick)

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tray, then pat it down tightly with a spoon to make it nice and dense

I had preheated the oven to 170 Celsius (actually 150 due to mine being fan). When I do this again I'm going to put it at at least 170 fan, if not 180, to encourage a bit more colour and less drying out. 

The original recipe says to bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden, but mine were in for much longer... Maybe 40 minutes. Hence the idea about upping the temperature next time. 

This recipe should make 8 to 16 bars depending on how greedy you are. I'm actually giving my son no more than half a 16th of the total at a time (a 32nd??!?) because I made them quite thin but they're pretty wide. You can just slice them into however many you want once they're a little cool.

I had licked the spoon as I out the tray in the oven and really enjoyed the taste. I then shared a bit with my son after they'd cooled a little, and I have to say, neither of us were disgusted at these healthy little bars! Normally with healthy versions or sugar-free things I usually think I'll just make the sugared version and eat less, but these are pretty good. My husband tried one and he won't be stealing them; they're not quite up to his sweet tooth requirements, but I think we'll happily make our way through the remaining 30 32nds! 

The original recipe says they can be frozen in parchment and defrosted with 30 mins notice, this excites me quite a lot but I've run out of parchment so they will be plastic-tubbed until I can get some more parchment tomorrow! 

Whoops, but... yay! We're back!

I know, I know... I leave you for a whole year and then come back with a post that doesn't even have photos on it. Sorry about that.

To fill you in, I've been a little busy for the past 12 months or so. I grew, birthed and am raising a lovely baby boy. It preoccupied my mind somewhat and baby brain destroyed my ability to sew and cook (no joke, I tried to make him a room decoration at Christmas and ended up in tears with mis-shapen fabric swatches in front of me!). Blogging was at the back of my somewhat shrivelled mind. But my post isn't about the whole baby thing. It's about something I cooked tonight!

I have reignited my love for cooking proper food and eating well, and this is echoed not only by my husband but my son has some pretty healthy eating needs too!

On Saturday we had reheated cajun chicken (home cooked a week or so ago) with rice and vegetables for dinner. Not any old rice though - cauliflower rice! Or should I say "riced cauliflower"?

I steamed it in big florets for about 20 minutes, then put it through my potato ricer. The first lesson I learned was that what looks like a lot of cauli doesn't go very far in rice form. The second lesson I learned was to rice it into a sieve, to allow the water (soooo much water) to drain away leaving fluffy "rice". The third and final lesson I learned was that everyone loved it, including me! I normally like a bit of cauli but only if it's smothered in cheese sauce and served with a Lincolnshire sausage. It's acceptable in curry too. At Sunday roasts it's one of the things that gets eaten off my plate first to get it over and done with. Saturday's attempt was a revelation.

I promise next time I make it (it'll be soon, I have half a cauli to use up), I will take photos and make them available! Yippee for riced cauli.

I wonder what else I can rice...

P.s. you know the last post was about beetroot? Turned out that was a massive craving. Madness.

Tried and tested: BBC Good Food beetroot falafel

I've recently been loving beetroot, and today I woke up with inspiration to turn the beets I had in the fridge into beetroot falafel. Courtesy of BBC Good Food, I found a recipe that I could do without having to pop to the shop. I had 250g beetroot available so I halved the recipe. Here's what I did.

250g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 egg (should have been half an egg but who's got time for that)
50g breadcrumbs (I toasted the end off a frozen loaf before whizzing to crumbs, one slice was exactly the right amount)
400g can of chick peas
1 tsp peanut butter (supposed to be tahini but I don't have any)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. I chopped the onion and put it on to fry in the olive oil. I did this as gently as I could to just soften the onions and to buy myself some grating time...
2. I grated the beetroot on a box grater. Took ages and was incredibly messy. But fun.
3. I added cumin to the frying onions, and continued to fry it off for a further minute.
4. My breadcrumbs were already in the mixer where I'd used the blade to create them, so on top of the breadcrumbs I added the chick peas, peanut butter, egg, onion and cumin mix and then two thirds of the beetroot.
5. Next came whizzing time. This took forever - I think because my mixer isn't designed for such hardcore work and I perhaps should have split the batch into two. I blended until it came to a paste (with lots of poking to get it there).
6. I put the remaining beetroot in a big mixing bow, then added the paste and stirred together.
7. The mixture was very wet, so with moist hands I rolled out little falafel sized balls and placed them on a baking sheet lined with parchment. The recipe said it made 10 (as I had halved it) but I ended up with 14.
8. Last thing to do was to grease the tops of the falafel - which I did by spraying Fry-Light on to each one. Simple and easy and cleaner and making another utensil bright pink.
9. The falafel then went into the oven on 180 degrees (fan oven) and I sat patiently until they looked done, which was about 30 minutes.

I was a little disappointed when they came out of the oven, I expected them to be slightly golden which they weren't. Next time I might try shallow frying them. However, I've done a taste test and they're super; really earthy like all good beetroot based things should be, and delicately spiced. Next time I would add more cumin but I am rather partial to it.

Right, I'm off back downstairs to partake in a couple more. There are 14, after all.

Smooth talking

I recently decided that my diet could be improved. Not that I don't enjoy what I eat, far from it, and indeed I am healthy, but I realised how many days I go without the full range of vitamins and nutrients I should be having daily. In a bid to fix this, I started making myself breakfast smoothies.

Here are some of the recipes that have worked for me (and some tips about what doesn't work for me!). Bear in mind I'm not a nutritionist and have applied the standard "make it up as you go along" principle to my recipes as I do for anything else...

I've been having my smoothies where possible with a coffee by its side, and the combination is dynamite for brain power and motivation (with no slump when the caffeine wears off, wow!).

Glorious greenie

1/2 cup pineapple (from the freezer)
1/2 a banana (frozen or fresh)
4 strawberries
Big handful of kale
About 200ml almond or soya milk (but eyeball it to the right consistency - you can always add more but you can't take it away!)

Blueberry delight

1/2 cup pineapple (from the freezer)
1/2 a banana (frozen or fresh)
1/4 cup blueberries
Big handful of kale
200ml almond or soya milk (as above)

Fruity Popeye 

(pictured above)
1/2 cup pineapple (from the freezer)
1/2 a banana (frozen or fresh)
4 or 5 strawberries
Big handful of spinach
200ml almond or soya milk (as above)

I've been preparing all of these with my hand blender. I put the fruit into a plastic beaker (the one that came with the hand blender) and then have just used the blend attachment to mix everything together. It's not a perfectly smooth end result but the texture is really pleasant, and makes you feel like you haven't been diddled out of a "proper" breakfast.

Tips

Freeze as much fruit and veg as you can, chopped and ready to use. I freeze pineapple in chunks (makes a 75p pineapple last weeks), bananas are amazing peeled, sliced and frozen, and spinach and kale work as well from the freezer as they do fresh. I've also used frozen berries on occasion but while they're in season I've been adding fresh ones from the fridge. I tend to put the frozen fruits in my mixer jug as soon as I get up, then shower, dress etc and go back to make the smoothie at least half an hour later, allowing some defrosting to take place. Oh and keep the prepared fruit in freezer bags, not a box; significantly aids retrieving as much as you want without breaking your fingers.

Make sure you add enough liquid. One day I didn't add very much and the the smoothie coagulated before my eyes. Hard to suck up through the straw and the gelatinous concoction nearly put me off the whole affair. I've been alternating between almond and soya milk - based on availability and nothing else. I prefer almond milk but soya is no hardship and my local Co-op stocks it.

Lob in a bit of what you fancy. Trusting your taste instincts is underrated. If you think it'll work it probably will.

Greens make the smoothie richer. Don't know why, they just seem to. None of my smoothies have tasted green or veggie either. Weird.

Don't leave the smoothie alone for too long. Another coagulation issue could arise. Or the dog could steal it.

Use a straw. Not only does it give you something to stir it with as you get down it, it makes it feel like you're at a kids party too!

Raspberry salad dressing

Oops! It's been a really long time since I wrote any posts, and for that I apologise! Things have been pretty busy recently and I haven't had time spare to invest in my hobbies and interests (booooo).

I managed to do a couple of things today that have delighted me in the kitchen department, and I thought I'd share one of them. I'd share the other but who really wants to see my online shopping order? No, didn't think so.

The item worth sharing is this; raspberry salad dressing. Oh my. Quite the unexpected delight.

It really is this simple:

1 tablespoon of raspberry jam (yes, you heard me)
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
Splash of water

I put the jam in an empty and clean old jam jar, then added the balsamic, screwed the lid on tight and shook it like a Polaroid picture (that's "vigorously", to young folk out there). Then I added a splash of water to loosen the whole thing, and hey presto, salad dressing enough for two meals. I'm keeping the second serving in the jam jar in the fridge for tomorrow lunch time.

I would recommend making homemade croutons to go on top of whatever salad you choose to dress with this, because you're going to want to soak up every last drop. It was delicious. It was sweet, but didn't taste like someone had put pudding on dinner.

Greek meatballs

A little while ago I bought loads of chicken thighs and froze them. They seemed like a good idea at the time, but really I missed chicken breast too much and they got ignored in the bottom drawer. After last week's salad extravaganza I had some halloumi left, so I decided to see if I could turn the halloumi and chicken into some sort of Greek delight. It was a success. Here's what I did:

2 chicken thighs, cut into chunks
A clove of garlic
A generous teaspoon of dried parsley
A slice of white bread
One large egg
Half a teaspoon of cumin
Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
A handful of black olives, chopped
500g passata
100g spaghetti

1. I placed the parsley, garlic and bread in the mixer and whizzed until I got breadcrumbs

2. I then added the chicken thigh chunks, as well as the egg, and blended together until the mixture was a consistent but rough texture
3. I scooped out small portions about the size of a walnut and placed them on a plate in a ball form, covered them with cling film and popped them in the fridge.

4. It was at this point I wandered off for a while. Sometimes you just need to walk away and check your Twitter feed.
5. Then I returned and got to work with a frying pan at a medium heat. I popped some olive oil in, and fried the balls in batches until they were cooked through.

6. After removing the balls from the pan, I used the same pan and added the passata, cumin, cinnamon and olives.

7. Once this was heated up, I returned the meatballs to the pan.
8. It was at this stage that I put the pasta on to cook, simmering everything for 12 minutes.
9. Just before the end of cooking, about 2 minutes from serving time, I added the chunks of halloumi to the tomato and meatball sauce. I didn't stir it - I wanted to warm it without melting it into the sauce.
10. I then drained the pasta and added half of the meatball sauce mixture. The remainder of the sauce and meatballs is sitting in a plastic box in the freezer, waiting for my to finish work late one night. Can't wait.

Banana & oat pancakes

I've done a classic "Lucy". Tried out a new recipe and forgotten to take photos. In all fairness, there aren't a lot of photos you can take in 4 minutes without it overtaking what you're doing.

Today's breakfast was banana and oat pancakes. Health food, if you will.

1/2 cup oats (I've gone all American, sorry)
1/2 a banana, ripe
2 egg whites - and frankly a bit of yolk because it slipped in

I whizzed these simple bits in my hand blender, and then poured the "batter" in 3-inch discs onto a hot dry non-stick pan. Simple as that. They take about a minute on each side - you can lift up the edge and see if the underside is golden, before flipping it onto the other side for the same treatment. It made 4 little pancakes which were plenty filling, let me tell you.

They are fat free and flour free and all that healthy-what-not. Which means they don't taste like normal pancakes, however... if you're trying to be a bit healthy and you want a full tummy without the guilt, they are really very agreeable. I will admit to adding a tablespoon of golden syrup to them after serving, as they don't have much "pep" - but I might try adding some fruit to the mixture next time (after I've been to the shops) for a healthier topping.

Monthly Menu - March

Week One
Monday - Sausage plait
Tuesday - Asparagus, tomato and spinach quiche (courtesy of Mother In Law)
Wednesday - Basil and tomato pasta
Thursday - Giardiniera pizza at Pizza Express
Friday - Goan Fish Curry (takeaway at my Mum's)
Saturday - Dinner out at Shakesby's in Horncastle - spiced parsnip soup, rib eye steak and raspberry meringue roulade
Sunday - Spicy fruity couscous

Week Two
Monday - Spaghetti bolognese
Tuesday - Butternut soup
Wednesday - Bacon salad "thing"
Thursday - Fish plait
Friday - jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn mayo (Weight Watchers, no less)
Saturday - Sausage plait (new family favourite, by all accounts)
Sunday - roast chicken dinner

Week Three
Monday - chicken fajitas
Tuesday - meatloaf (courtesy of Mother In Law) - it was GOOOOOOOOD
Wednesday - baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn mayo (again)
Thursday - breaded chicken tenders, baked potato and a massive crunchy salad
Friday - take out
Saturday - steak night!
Sunday - roast chicken dinner with homemade Yorkies

Week Four
Monday - Thai green curry
Tuesday - chicken, asparagus and halloumi with crackers
Wednesday - cauliflower fritters
Thursday - Greek chicken meatballs and spaghetti
Friday - curry night!
Saturday - buffet at a party. Woohoo.
Sunday - curry night!

Basil and tomato pasta

A couple of weeks ago I found some exciting pasta in Aldi - basil and tomato flavoured farfalle. Stripy pasta, no less! It's green and red striped, and was too good to miss. I kept it simple and served it with a tomato and mascarpone sauce and basil for garnish, topped with parmesan. Once cooked the colours looked a little more washed out, and honestly I couldn't taste the apparent flavours (maybe because of the sauce I added). Still good pasta though!

Isn't it pretty!

Sausage plait

Poor man's Beef Wellington or luxury sausage roll? You decide!

400g pack pork and apple sausages - about 6 fat sausages

1 roasted red pepper from a jar, patted dry with kitchen paper

1 large egg

½ tsp chilli flakes

2 tbsp tomato purée

flour, for dusting

250g ready-made puff pastry

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (mine's a fan). Line a baking tray (so much easier to wash up than a greased tray. 

2. Remove the meat from the sausage skins by snipping off the ends, then squeezing the sausage meat into a bowl. It's really quite fun.

3. Cut the pepper into small pieces. Break the egg into the cup, beat with a fork, and save 2 tbsp for glazing. Add the red pepper and remaining egg to the sausage meat with the chilli flakes and tomato purée. Mix - I recommend using your hands because once you've squeezed the sausages you're in the mood for some mess.

4. Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and roll out the pastry to about 30 x 30cm. Put the pastry on the lined baking tray.

5. Spoon the filling down the middle of the pastry in a sausage shape – leave a little gap at the top and bottom (about 3cm).

6. Cut the pastry at a slight diagonal, on either side of the filling, into 1.5cm strips, the same number each side. Brush the pastry all over with most of the saved egg.

7. Tuck the top and bottom edges of the pastry over the filling. Now we're making a faux plait - starting at the top, lay the pastry strips over the filling, taking one from each side, to cross like a plait. Now brush the top all over with the last of the egg. 

8. Bake for 35-40 mins or until golden.

I served mine with baked beans because I felt like sausages and beans should be brought together once more. I considered adding them to the filling but thought it might be too wet.

This isn't an original recipe by me - I got the bones of it from my mother in law's recipe collection, I believe she tore a page from a cooking magazine some time ago with it - and because of that I'm not sure where it's from.

Monthly Menu - February

Week One
Monday - baked potato with tuna
Tuesday - Caribbean chicken pilaff (cooked by my lovely mother in law)
Wednesday - butternut soup (I can't get enough)
Thursday - gammon, mash and winter veggies
Friday - pizza night!
Saturday - Thai green curry and rice
Sunday - curry night!

Week Two
Monday - Roast chicken
Tuesday - chicken soup
Wednesday - baked cod and braised fennel (it was appalling!)
Thursday - soft boiled eggs and soldiers
Friday - steak my husband's way (I'm going to try to get him to write down what he does)
Saturday - home made pizzas with pepperoni and jalapeños
Sunday - take out - from the local rib house

Week Three
Monday - beef stew
Tuesday - piri piri chicken soup, from Asda
Wednesday - Caesar salad (but with bacon, asparagus, baby corn and fine beans)
Thursday - butternut soup and tiger bread
Friday - spaghetti bolognese
Saturday - Subway; Italian BMT with all the salad options (I needed it, actually needed it)
Sunday - roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, including Yorkies

Week Four
Monday - chicken fajitas
Tuesday - cod in parsley sauce with mashed potatoes (courtesy of my father in law)
Wednesday - goats cheese and vegetable pizza (out of the freezer, sadly)
Thursday - paprika chicken
Friday - baked potato with cottage cheese and pineapple
Saturday - curry night!
Sunday - slow cooked lamb hotpot

Slow cooked lamb hotpot

I make beef stew quite regularly in my slow cooker, and whilst it's one of my favourite meals to make and eat, it's easy to just stick to that and try nothing else, which isn't very adventurous. As the sun is out and spring looks like it's on its way, I thought it was time to vary the contents of the slow cooker and do something with lamb. As always the first thing I did was preheat the slow cooker, then I started with my ingredients:

500g lamb leg steak (I used leg steak because it was meatier than the chops in the supermarket)
200g Chantenay carrots, topped and tailed
2 sticks celery
1 white onion
1/2 swede
2 tablespoons plain flour
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons dried rosemary (my shrub has had it, so we're back to dried)
Two tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1.5 pints of beef stock (I thought I had lamb stock in the cupboard, but was wrong)
Sliced waxy potatoes - enough to cover the meat, veg and gravy in the slow cooker - for me that was 4 small spuds

1. I diced the lamb into bite size cubes, then coated it in seasoned flour and sealed it in a frying pan. Then I transferred this to the pre-heated slow cooker (on high).
2. I chopped the onion and fried this in the juices left from the lamb. I added the remaining flour which had not stuck to the lamb, and made sure I'd got all the goodness out of the pan by adding some of the stock until a thick gravy was produced. That was then added to the lamb.
3. To the preheated slow cooker I added the carrots (whole), celery and swede (which were chopped into bite sized pieces). I then added the herbs and Worcestershire Sauce, gave it a good stir and added the remaining stock.
4. I added the sliced potatoes to the top - I sliced them to about 5mm thick so they would hold shape without staying uncooked. They were layered up - just enough to ensure all of the top of the stew mix was covered. I added a little salt and pepper so that the top wasn't completely boring. A sprinkle of extra rosemary might have sneaked in too. I left the slow cooker on high for the first 30 mins, then turned it to low for the rest of the cooking time.
5. I started this around 12pm, and served it at around 7pm with green beans and a little cabbage

Comfort food for breakfast

I love porridge. Especially the jumbo oat variety, but porridge in general is my go-to breakfast. I fancied trying something different with my oats this morning, so this is what I did.

1/2 cup porridge oats

1/2 cup milk

Just less than 1/2 cup water

Handful sultanas

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 manky old green apple (you can use a nice one, I only had manky ones left)

Put the oats, milk, water, sultanas and cinnamon in a pan and bring to the boil slowly, stirring a little. Let everything cook through until you've got pretty much the texture you want, and the oats are cooked (about 2 to 3 minutes). 

Grate in the apple and stir. Heat the mixture through - I just left it while I cleared up the mess of grating a juicy apple - et voila! Breakfast is served. 

It did look a little bit funky because of the colour of the cinnamon, but it tasted lovely. Putting the sultanas in at the beginning means that by the time the porridge has come together they're juicy, fat and bursting with sweetness. 

No need for sugar when there's sultanas and cinnamon!

French macarons

I made French macarons! Ooh fancy!

I was trawling through Pinterest a few evenings ago and stumbled across a recipe for French macarons that promised to be easy, so I thought "heck, why not give it a go", and did just that.

The recipe I used is this one, courtesy of Martha Stewart.

I halved the recipe in order to halve the risk of wasted ingredients, in case it all went pear-shaped, so I used:

Just over half a cup of ground almonds
Well over half a cup of icing sugar (some of which I made by grinding caster sugar, as I ran out of icing sugar)
A pinch of salt (which you'll note isn't actually added in the instructions Martha gives, though is in her ingredients list... hmmm)
2 egg whites
1/4 cup caster sugar
A drop of vanilla essence
Raspberry jam, stirred into a runnier consistency

I sieved the ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl and put them to the side. In a large bowl I whisked the egg whites and salt until they were frothy, then slowly added the caster sugar while whisking until the mixture formed medium peaks. Slop in the vanilla essence somewhere along the way too.

Then I folded the sieved mixture into the eggs (it said to do it the other way, but I had to use the big bowl for the eggs so I just kept them in it and added the dry ingredients to it). The whole lot was mixed together thoroughly, keeping in lots of lovely air.

I then used a sandwich bag and a piping nozzle (I tore the proper piping bag doing some hardcore cupcake icing last year) to pipe what should have been inch wide blobs onto a lined baking sheet. Note for next time - if it looks like an inch when it lands it will spread to 2 inches (minimum!).

I then let them sit for 30 mins (should have let them sit for 1 hour, in retrospect) and then baked them at 170 degrees for 14 minutes, turning once. 

This gave me 16 halves. It should have given me quite a bit more than that, and if I'd done them small enough it would have done!

I let them cool, which took hardly any time at all, and then squashed them together with jam in between.

They tasted lovely and for a first attempt I'm pleased. Next time, however, I'll let them sit longer, make them smaller and use less jam. They were very very soft in texture and could really have done with being harder. But yay for trying.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We don't really do Valentine's Day in this house - I like the idea of it (who doesn't want to be romanced regularly?!) but my husband doesn't like to conform to society's expectations... so, we do a little lop-sided thing where I make a fuss and he doesn't mind too much.

This year, the man of the house will be cooking steak his way (in lemon and butter, with lots of resting and mess) and I will be spending lunchtime today baking little heart shaped shortbread biscuits to have with our post-dinner cup of tea.

I've got him a silly gift and a cute card I found on Etsy too!

Monthly Menu - January

Week One
Monday - balsamic roasted peppers and veggies, couscous and crumbled feta
Tuesday - asparagus risotto
Wednesday - cauliflower fritters, salad and grilled tomatoes
Thursday - herby-crusted salmon, roasted celery and carrots and salad
Friday - curry night!
Saturday - chicken fajitas
Sunday - roast chicken dinner

Week Two
Monday - chicken soup
Tuesday - emergency meal - week-night fry up
Wednesday - crispy chilli beef and egg fried rice
Thursday - classic quiche and salad
Friday - Lucy's lasagne (with a big glug of wine in!) and coleslaw
Saturday - Lincolnshire sausages, mash (a la potato ricer) and winter veggies
Sunday - Lucy's beef stew in giant yorkshire puddings

Week Three
Monday - baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn, with leftover coleslaw
Tuesday - risotto
Wednesday - butternut squash soup out of the freezer and minus the finger
Thursday - sesame peanut noodles (or at least a version of based on what was in the fridge)
Friday - amazing fillet steak from Aldi in lemon and butter (cooked by The Man of The House)
Saturday - curry night! Chicken balti and a chapati for me!
Sunday - roast chicken with the family

Week Four
Monday - cheesy brocolli pasta bake with parsley breadcrumb topping
Tuesday - butternut squash soup out of the freezer - it's so darn good!
Wednesday - Princess salad
Thursday - chicken fajitas
Friday - curry night!
Saturday - chicken stir fry, with sweet chilli sauce and noodles
Sunday - roasted cow and home made Yorkshire puddings

Princess Salad

All because I had bacon to use up...

I made the most amazing salad today. Seriously good, seriously superfood, seriously delicious! It wasn't fat free but it was gorgeous and fairly healthy. Here's what's in it:

1/4 bag of salad leaves (including baby spinach and rocket)

2 small vine tomatoes, quartered

An avocado, roughly chopped

3 rashers (I know, I know) of smoked streaky bacon, fried till crispy

Half a pomegranate

Lashings of Waitrose Mango and Chilli salad dressing

A taste sensation, full of salty, sweet, crunchy, spicy, smooshy yumminess.

Cheesy broccoli pasta bake

I had broccoli to use up, so this is what I made!

Half a head of broccoli
Handful of wholewheat pasta
Large knob of butter (about 1cm by 3cm by 4cm)
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
Milk
Parmesan and cheddar to taste
Parsley breadcrumbs (I froze what I had leftover from my herby crust salmon earlier in the month - just finely crumbed bread with salt, pepper and parsley)
Small onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. I boiled the pasta in a large pan and and mid-way through cooking I added the broccoli, which I'd chopped into small florets
2. Make a cheese sauce by melting the butter, adding the flour and mustard powder to form a paste, slowly adding milk until it's the right consistency (thick and smooth) and then adding grated cheese in. At the end I added the onion - that's why it's important it's finely chopped, it doesn't get much heat exposure!
3. Then I added the sauce to the drained pasta and broccoli, gave it a good stir, popped the majority of it into a small pie dish (seriously, how cute?!) and ate the rest out of the pan like the greedy pig I am.
4. I sprinkled a layer of breadcrumbs on top and popped it in the oven at 180 degrees (fan) for 15 minutes

Serve it up with some clean and springy leaves. I was impressed how tasty this was given how few ingredients there were, and at least now there's broccoli in my tum and not going beige in the fridge! I don't know how but broccoli always tastes nicer when it's been baked a while!

Roasted butternut squash soup (with added finger...)

After making myself and the house look nice I decided to cook! I've been feeling shattered and run down lately so my last trip to the supermarket saw me stock up on veggies galore. In my veg haul was a gorgeous large butternut squash, which I decided to turn into a spicy soup (and which resulted in me cutting my finger!). Here's what I did:

Spicy butternut soup

1 large butternut squash,  peeled and diced into one inch chunks CAREFULLY!
1 medium brown onion
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
850ml chicken stock
Salt and pepper

1. Roast the prepared butternut squash in olive oil in the oven, on a tray,  for about 30 mins at 180 degrees.

2. Finely cut the onion and fry gently in butter for ten minutes,  then add the garlic,  also chopped finely,  and continue to fry for a further ten minutes. Add the chilli flakes about 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

3. Once the butternut is cooked add it to the onion and garlic pan,  pour over the stock and whizz with a hand blender until the desired texture is reached. I like mine thick with some lumps,  so it's not like baby food!

It serves four people,  or three greedy pigs. Very tasty.

An abundance of tomatoes

My lovely neighbour has been contributing to my nutrition again, by giving me a bag full of tomatoes he grew himself.

"What's something interesting I can do with them?" I thought to myself. And then I asked Delia.

She suggested (via her website, via Google and the phrase "tomato tart"):

Roasted Tomato and Goats' Cheese Tart with Thyme

725g medium ripe tomatoes
150g soft goats' cheese
4 level teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

The directions are:

To begin the recipe, first of all unwrap the pastry and place it on the baking tray (I rolled mine out to about twice the size - it just looked too thick). Then, using a sharp knife, carefully score a line on the pastry, about ½ in (1 cm) in from the edge, all the way around, but be careful not to cut it all the way through.

Now tip the goats’ cheese into a small bowl, add the crushed garlic, chopped thyme and a good seasoning of saltand freshly milled black pepper. Then give it all a good mixing and, using a small palette or other round-bladed knife, carefully spread the cheese mixture evenly all over the surface of the pastry, right up to the line.

Next, thinly slice all the tomatoes (there is no need to peel them) and arrange them on top of the goats’ cheese in overlapping lines lengthways; overlap one line one way and the one next to it the other way.

After that, season the tomatoes and then drizzle the olive oil and scatter the sprigs of thyme all over them. Bake in the pre-heated oven on the middle shelf for 55 minutes or until the pastry is golden-brown and the tomatoes are roasted and slightly charred at the edges.

If you are going to serve the tart warm, leave it to settle for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

I'll be serving it with a rocket-based salad and balsamic dressing.

**Update**

It was a roaring success! Delicious! Small warning - this is really garlicky, which is great if like me you love garlic and aren't too bothered but if you're not struck by garlic breath then halve the amount of garlic!

All credit to Delia Smith for the recipe.

What's your favourite tomato-based recipe?