Cooking for a multi diet family of two

I wasn’t vegetarian when me and my husband met so we sometimes joke that I lured him in under false pretences, I would cook steaks and roasts and now I look lentils and tofu. Scott has taken to the diet changes with loving enthusiasm but he is not a vegetarian and I respect that so I make sure I cook him meat a few times a week.

The more I learn about food, and meat in particular, it makes me want to strive for maximum quality in whatever we eat and I try to keep the food we buy as close to its natural state as possible. The changes I have made for Scott are small but significant. For example I have stopped buying processed ham for sandwiches and I now buy an organic free range chicken every couple of weeks, roast it and separate it into portions to go into his lunch (something my mum has been telling me to do for years!). In fact all the meat I buy is organic and British and it is very much about the quality and not the quantity.

Evening meals can be a challenge when planning for us both. I am lucky because I have lots of time in the evenings to potter around the kitchen but it was not always so plain sailing. I have had to work out different menu combinations to ensure I am not cooking two completely separate meals every day. I have found the following tips have helped make meal times satisfying for us both without breaking my back in the kitchen.

One Pots:
I love one pot dishes because not only do they make cooking for different diets easier but it means you always have a portion of something delicious to pull out of the freezer when you know you will be pushed for time. I often make a big 6 portion stew based on vegetables and beans or lentils then I serve it with a portion of meat on the side for Scott and a portion of broccoli or kale for me.
The main base of the dish is made and all you have to do is oven bake or grill some meat and and boil/ steam your vegetables.

If I have time at the weekend then I sometimes make 2 big one pots, one meat based such as beef and ale stew or coq au vin and one vegetable such as lentil chilli or Irish stew. Then during the week all I have to do is heat up one portion of each and cook some vegetables to accompany it.

Curries, tagines and casseroles can all work for this!

Stir fries:
Kind of like an Asian one pot, you can easily either make one large vegetable stir fry in one wok with your vegetables, sauce and noodles and then in another frying pan first cook your tofu (or favourite veggie stir fry topping), keep it warm to one side under some foil and then cook your meat. Then you can serve up the vegetables and noodles followed by the separate toppings. Make sure you cook the vegetarian option first!

Of course you could always cook two stir fries in two pans but I personally only have one wok and then a few frying pans.

Roasted Vegetables:
I cook a big tray of assorted mixed vegetables pretty much every week. They make such a superb base to any meal and you can add bulky root vegetables along with lighter options such as courgettes, peppers and aubergines. Keep it light by using a spray oil and play with the flavours by mixing up spices and herbs or even adding garlic cloves and shallots.

I will often serve beef burgers/ beany burgers on the side or Scott will have a piece of meat and I will have a slice of lentil bake with a vegetarian gravy. The fact you can include the root veg and light veg means you don’t really need any extra sides except your protein.

Leftovers are also great chopped up and stirred into pasta.

Tacos/ Enchilladas:
We got into a routine of eating my butternut squash enchiladas once a week a while ago. The beauty is that the fillings are individually wrapped so do not mix. Fill 4 wraps (2 per person) with the butternut squash filling and then add some grilled bacon and even some cheese to two of them. Wrap them up, put into a baking tray and top with tomato sauce. Just make sure you remember which side is which

Tacos are also great for multi meal easy options as you can do a “fillings buffet” so everyone just helps themselves to what they fancy. Leftovers can be used to make a taco salad the next day!

This also applies to fajitas and quesadillas!

Soups:
Soup is a weekly occurrence in our house, whether it be at lunch or dinner time and it works perfectly at satisfying us both. I make a big batch of vegetarian soup to share and then serve crispbreads/ crackers or toast on the side. My bread will be topped with cheese or salad and Scott’s will be topped with lean meat.

Soup toppings can also vary, add lean chicken breast to bulk the soup up for your partner and add some cooked beans to yours.

I hope some of these tips have been helpful and showed how you can incorporate some easy meal options so that you don’t have to do too much juggling in the kitchen. Let me know what your “multi diet” tips are that you have developed!

A thought on eating out as a Dairy-free Vegetarian – Some ideas and observations!

When I was younger I would eat pretty much anything, in fact I think one of the most told stories from my childhood was when I was 3 and I went to China Town with my family for Chinese New Year. We sat in a restaurant watching the parade of dancing dragons and by the end of our lunch I had the staff at the restaurant gathered around me laughing and enthusiastic to see what I would eat next. I ate everything they put infront of me including Chickens’ feet, all washed down with 12 cups of jasmine tea. My mum thought it was really funny and has delighted in telling the story ever since.

When I hit my teenage years my adventurous side to food had not dwindled, although chickens’ feet never repeated themselves, and I was lucky to be a part of a family that enjoyed dining out, whether for a special occasion or just to have a get together. The main thing I loved about going out for dinner, apart from getting dressed up and having a good time, was the anticipation of what the night would bring. As a true foodie I loved the whole process of discussing what everyone was going to order. Indecisively selecting intricately described courses from a big menu, only to change my mind when someone orders another option that I know I will regret not ordering for myself once the meal is served! When the food arrived it was almost unheard of for us to not then pass forkfuls of our dish around so everyone could sample each other’s choice. As you can see I feel a night out at a restaurant should very much focus around the food, and the sense of togetherness that it brings.

My love for going out to restaurants is still with me but these days I have a slightly different experience, one which I think flags up a big gap in the restaurant market…I am now a vegetarian who cannot eat dairy (and is trying to not eat wheat)! Before I was always the sort of person to go online and check out the restaurant menu before actually going for dinner, it whet the appetite to see the options and it set the mood for the night ahead. Now I find it essential to check the menu just to see if I will be able to eat anything; I like to see if there is a backup plan which can be made in advance, such as a starter with a side order of chips that I could have as an alternative to a main course. This also means I can avoid looking awkward or fussy and asking too many questions on the day.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the restaurant industry is very clued up on the vegetarian world and I have had some fantastic offerings (beetroot scotch egg, potato and truffle soup and endless Asian inspired vegan dishes to name a few). However more often than not I am finding that the one or two vegetarian options that are available have been dominated by the dairy factor! Pasta is laden with cream, veggie starters are pastry based and filled with cheese, risottos have the full whammy and there isn’t a soup in sight that escapes the dairy obsession that has found its way into the “vegetarian option”. I probably find it strange because I am so used to making meals for myself without the need for dairy products that it surprises me how often it is relied upon as a meat substitute.

I have a few ideas on what I would suggest as a solution to my dietary requirement conundrum. There is a huge variety of food related allergies suffered by people worldwide and I think one great idea would be to make menus more transparent, with symbols showing what the dish contains and small print with alternative options (some places do this already but I haven’t found it to be many!). I’ve often ordered something, such as a simple vegetable soup, and it is only once it has been put in front of me that I realise it has cream in it. You then have the embarrassing moment when you have to send it back and start from square one with your meal selection.

Small icons or logos would alert the individual straight away if they are unable to eat it and it will make the whole experience more relaxing, just as it should be. By putting them on the online menu as well it means people can plan ahead and make informed choices so as to enjoy their night fully. Many restaurants may think they are offering a wide variety of choices for different dietary requirements, however by including small symbols for vegetarian/ gluten free/ dairy free dishes the restaurants will instantly be able to see which symbol they are missing on their menu. They can then adjust the selection so that they are catering for everyone.

Another idea is to have a weekly “allergy free” special to celebrate local produce cooked simply without the need for additional ingredients. This could include vegan/ gluten free/ plant based or dairy free specials which focus on being exciting and interesting but aware of different health aspects. There is a Fish and Chips shop in the midlands that would time their monthly  oil change with a gluten free day. The new oil would have no traces of the normal batter so they saw a business opportunity to start each fresh batch  of oil with gluten free batter etc. Before long word of mouth got around and the restaurant was always packed full on that day with people finally being able to enjoy the classic British fish and chips which they normally couldn’t have.

I’m not saying let’s make every restaurant a vegan health zone because, let’s face it, for a lot of people going out for dinner is a time to let our hair down, loosen the belt and indulge without guilt! But I would encourage restaurants to at least consider the growing number of us who can’t just turn up and eat anything without consequences. By making the decision for allergy sufferers easier and more informed it will mean everyone can eat well and, most importantly, just focus on enjoying themselves.

Bank Holiday BBQ: Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers and Root Veg Tortilla

For this years August Bank Holiday we planned a big family bbq at Scott’s parents house. Parties with the in laws and the extended family are always so much fun, we put up a big marquee and lined it with fairy lights and bunting and at the end of the garden is a bar with working beer pulls and enough room to get a cosy crowd and a barrel of ale. Scott was behind the bar most of the night pulling pints and making sure everyone was happy and I was in charge of making sure the vegetarians (there were three of us) had some nice food to eat.

The Marquee. I love that we pulled all of the pot plants inside the marquee, it gave it a lovely garden feel and made it look so pretty!

The Pirate Bar “Captain Fork Handles”….Four Candles? Nah I said Fork Handles

Rules of the bar

We scattered tables and chairs around and filled them with party foods and jugs of pimms so that everyone was in reach of some good food and alcohol The night soon got into full swing party mode so some good substantial food was needed to soak up all that pimms and ale.

I decided for the vegetarians I would do Hugh’s River Cottage Veg Root-veg Tortilla because it is so pretty and I could make it in advance then just  put it out on the table for everyone to help themselves. This went down really well with the veggies and the carnivores and was all gone by the end of the night.

Summery tortilla made with root veg, courgette, beetroot, dill, mint and eggs

I also wanted to make something which would use the actual BBQ so that we weren’t missing out on that lovely Summers BBQ experience. I decided to make peppers stuffed with rice, feta, sundried tomatoes and herbs. I actually followed my recipe for Rice, Feta and Sundried Tomato Filo Pastry Parcels but instead of wrapping the filling in filo pastry I stuffed it into peppers and grilled them on the bbq.

The stuffed peppers prepared to be put on the BBQ

It was very easy to prepare the peppers, I used a sharp knife and cut around the stalk in a circle and then pulled the stalk to lift the lid out. This pulled most of the seeds out with it so all that was left to do was cut the seeds off from the lid and remove any pith from inside the pepper. I stuffed the peppers with the pre made rice mix and then tied them with string so that they would not fall apart when being cooked.

Just before putting them on the BBQ I soaked them in some water so that the string would not catch fire or burn. We cooked them on a separate plate rather than directly on the coals mainly to keep them separate from any meat but also so that the filling would cook thoroughly and evenly without the outside burning.

BBQ Stuffed Peppers

 

Makes 8 Peppers

1 Onion – finely diced
2 Garlic cloves – Crushed
8-10 sun-dried Tomatoes (from a jar) – Roughly chopped
100g Feta Cheese
bunch Mint
bunch Parsley
large handful Spinach – wilted
300g Cooked Brown rice
8 Peppers
Salt and Black Pepper

Fry the onion in a little spray oil for a few minutes then crush the garlic into the pan and fry for a further 2 minutes. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and herbs roughly then add them to the pan with the crumbled feta, wilted spinach and the cooked brown rice, stir to mix it all together well, season, and then take the pan off the heat and put to one side.

Using a sharp knife pierce the top of the pepper and cut out a lid around the stalk (leave about an inch of pepper around the stalk). Pull the stalk to remove the lid from the pepper and then remove any left over seeds and pith. Cut the seeds away from the lid.

Stuff the rice into the peppers and then place the lid back on to the pepper. Secure with string and run under the tap to wet the string then put in the fridge untill ready to cook.

Once the bbq has heated up place them on a cooler part of the grill and turn frequently untill the pepper is cooked and the filling is hot.

Serve straight away.

Inside the BBQ peppers – don’t eat the string!!

Photos from France: Part Two

I love taking photos of food but I also love taking photos of wildlife, animals and occasionally people. The house in France is very rural so there were plenty of opportunities to photograph some wildlife, including a frog who enjoyed the pool a bit too much and a cricket who clearly was happy to pose for the camera.

I think my photography is getting better however most of the time it is just a case of playing around the with settings and trying again and again until I have produced the photo I was after. Because of this I find food the easiest…it doesn’t move! In France I was using my mum’s camera so I found it interesting seeing the differences between the two, I think I soon picked it up though.

Here are a few photos I’m quite proud of and wanted to share with you all

Cricket on the pool net

He’s an Iberian frog we found hiding in the pool after the spring dried up

 

He was a friendly little chappy!

As you can see the swimming pool net features in all of the photos since we were forever saving things from the water and then I’d rush to try and photograph them before they got away!

I saw one of our cats Tibbs looking very excited sat by a bush waiting patiently and after going to investigate I found a few more interesting looking crickets. Unfortunately for Tibbs I had to shoo her away to get a good photo.

Clinging on for dear life!

One evening we went to a fireworks display in Sauveterre de Rouergue, a beautiful little town in Southern France. It was a very relaxed evening with a bar selling wine or beer in plastic cups, children playing in the square and entertainment which, for a small town, was simply fantastic! The apartments lining the square all had candles in their windows and we were all handed a candle as we entered so once it got dark there was a real peaceful ambience, helped along by some orchestral music!

My favourite parts of the night were the chinese lanterns and the acrobatics show which we weren’t expecting!

Our candles – We drew a heart in the sand and wrote France Rocks around it

Some children concentrating hard on lighting their lantern

Girl sitting on her fathers shoulders

All of a sudden some dramatic music came on and the crane which I had not really noticed before began lifting this giant metal sphere into the air, from it were some ropes dangling. Everyone stood watching in suspense wondering what would happen as people ran around the bottom of the ropes securing their places. What followed was just magical. Some girls dressed in old fashioned bloomers with lights attached to their skirts climbed up the ropes and began doing acrobatics and balancing.

Like little Glow bugs, these girls were amazing at capturing the magic of the evening

Don’t you just love that you can be stood in any country with any language and the visual power of humans doing mid air acrobatics can cause hundreds of people to simutaneously say “oooooh” and “aahhhhh” with admiration.

Acrobatics

The night ended with fireworks which were bigger than any I’d ever seen! For 5 Euro entry this really was an unforgettable night. I tried to photograph the fireworks however there were none worth showing off! After a while I decided to just enjoy the show rather than try and capture a firework through the lense.

Finally I had to share a photo of the new addition to the French family – Lottie. She is seriously cute and such a sweet natured dog! Very playful and loving

Who could ever say no to those big brown eyes!

I Can Eat A Rainbow….Or Two!

When you think of a rainbow of food do you think of sprinkles, icing, colourings and sweets or maybe do you think of bright and vibrant vegetables and fruits? It’s not a bad thing if you think of the first option!! But maybe don’t eat a rainbow of those foods on a regular basis. Fruit and Vegetables on the other hand – you should eat a rainbow of these every day!

Different coloured foods have different benefits to them and to make sure your body is getting everything it needs it is important to eat a wide variety of colours. Just like you wouldn’t only eat one food group every meal time then you also shouldn’t only eat one type of vegetable every time.

Now I shop on a budget so I understand that it can be daunting to try to buy tonnes of vegetables which eventually might just go off in the fridge but here is a list of a few fruits and vegetables which I love and find easy to incorporate into my every day diet.

RED: Peppers, Tomatoes, Chillis, Red Onions,  Strawberries, Apples, Rhubarb, Cherries and Watermelon etc.

I have focused on Red Peppers as I love eating them with salads, in stirfries, as crudites with hummus, stuffed with more veggies, roasted and added to pasta, chopped and sprinkled on pizza, added to soups or even blended into a smoothie with other fruits and vegetables.~
They are extremely versatile and will be happy to be cooked in so many different ways. They have high levels of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and Vitamin B6 along side a very long list of other vitamins. They also provide a source of fibre and have hardly any calories!
Best Eaten: Raw in a salad.

ORANGE: Carrots, Butternut Squash, Oranges, Pumpkin, Peaches, Mangoes.

Out of all the orange fruits and vegetables the main vegetable in my fridge every week is the carrot! Again it is so versatile and can be used in soups, stews, sliced thinly into stirfries, grated onto salads or in sandwiches, cut into sticks as a snack with dips, roasted as a side dish, mashed in with your potatoes for a more colourful mash. They contain Carotene (which is turned into Vitamin A), Vitamin B, Vitamin C and they are packed with anti-oxidants and can lower cholesterol.
Best Eaten: Unpeeled and roasted with some spray oil then mashed.

YELLOW: Lemons, Bananas, Yellow Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, Pineapples

I love lemons and use them often in my cooking and also in other meals. For example the other day I had a slice of lemon in a mug with fresh mint and a drizzle of honey with hot water and it was lovely. The zest and juice can add a fresh flavour to meals, it can be roasted or chargrilled for depth of flavour, slices can be added to soups and stews, it can be preserved and added to tagines. It’s lovely for sweets and savouries! It’s a great source of Vitamin C and it is good for your immune system. Also adding lemon juice to an Iron rich source such as spinach will help your body absorb the Iron better.
Best Eaten: Squeezed over some steamed greens.

GREEN: Spinach, Broccoli, Kale, Peas, Limes, Salad leaves, Mange Tout, Apples, Grapes, Asparagus

I think Green vegetables are the easiest to fit into your diet! There are so many options and varieties. My favourite is Spinach and I do think I get through a bag a week easily! With greens you should remember that the darker the leaf the better for you – and Spinach is a very deep green colour! Spinach contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6 etc. You can eat it raw in salads and sandwiches, steamed, stirfried, in soups, stews, pasta, any kind of sauce, as a side dish, in a curry and many more ways.
Best Eaten: In a soup with garlic, lemon and butter beans

PURPLE: Pomegranate, Aubergine, Red Cabbage, Prunes, Figs, Plums, Purple Carrots, Beetroot

I think Aubergine is probably my most eaten “purple” vegetable however I am focusing on Pomegranates here because I have been loving them recently! They have no cholesterol or saturated fat, it is high in fibre and has plenty of that good old Vitamin C. It also has Vitamin B, Calcium and Magnesium. It’s said as well that it can help reduce the risk of prostate cancer. It’s not as versatile as some of the other purple contenders but my favourite way to have a pomegranate is to squeeze all of the juice from the seeds into a jug, add slices of lemon, plenty of ice and sparkling water. It’s a gorgeous pink coloured healthy drink! Much better than fruit squash. You can also pick out the seeds to snack on, add to salads, cous cous or rice etc.
Best Eaten: On a Sunny day.

So there you go, a little inspiration to get some colourful food into your diet x

Web Sources used for this post: Whfoods, Disabled-World, Self Nutrition data, carrot museum, Nutrition and you

My Second Vegetarian Dinner Party!

I really enjoyed having family over for dinner in January (see that post here) and being able to cook for everyone felt very good so I thought I’d do it again! I’ve always wanted to throw dinner parties but this year is the first time I’ve really been able too because we finally have a dining room table! I’ve made pizzas and tapas for parties and gatherings before and even in January (my first veggie dinner party) I stuck to my trusted favourite lasagna and I bought in a pudding.

This time I wanted to create a real cosy dinner party atmosphere with lots of dishes everyone could share and a variety of flavours! I loosely based the theme of the night on Moroccan foods and matched the food with plenty of wine! I cooked some of my own recipes and some from other places such as Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, Jamie Oliver’s 30 min meals, Hugh’s River Cottage Veg and BBC Good food website!

I served everything in different baking dishes and colourful bowls to make the table look really interesting and rustic! It looked lovely.

Here are a few pictures of the food and my menu (photos taken during the day before everyone arrived) Please click on the name of the dish to find the recipe!

Starter:

Crudites including radishes, celery, carrot sticks, cucumber and peppers
Wholegrain and White Pitta Breads (toasted and sliced)
Hummous
Olive Selection
Hugh’s Cambodian Wedding dip (I know it’s not Moroccan but I desperately wanted an occassion to make it and everyone enjoyed it very much!)

Hugh’s Oven Roasted Tomatoes (These were amazing and so much nicer than shop bought sundried tomatoes- these disappeared quite quickly!) This recipe can be found in River Cottage Veg pg 304. they take up to 4 hours to slowly roast so start these early!

I also made Jamie’s Stuffed Peppers which is a recipe from his 30 minute meals cook book in the tapas section. Again these aren’t really Moroccan but they are delicious and so easy to prepare in advance!

Ok and after we’d polished off most of the starters I served the main course which was:

Fruity Vegetable Tagine (My own recipe)- I doubled the quantities and made enough for 6 plus 2 left over portions! (that’ll be a nice meal next week!)

Roasted Vegetable Cous Cous (I roasted red onions, white onions, courgettes and peppers then mixed them into cous cous which I had cooked with vegetable stock. A few herbs and a squeeze of lemon finished off this dish nicely!)

Some Steamed Green Vegetables including Brocolli, Asparagus and a mix of green beans. I like to have something green to offer and it made the table even more colourful

And the final savoury dish served up with the main course was the amazing Moroccan Carrot Salad from Ottolenghi’s Plenty cookbook page 14! This went down really well but I had made so much of it that I have had it for leftovers for a few days now! It’s delicious.

As you all know I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but I was determined to make the pudding this time so I served Sticky Cinnamon Figs which is a recipe from the BBC Good Food website! This recipe was perfect because it was light enough to enjoy after all the main food, and also it was easy enough to make after quite a few glasses of wine!! I didn’t get a picture of it but please go look at this recipe on the link because it is so pretty

Ok so I’m feeling good after the dinner party and am definitely happy that vegetarian food could be so interesting and vibrant and delicious! I don’t think meat would enhance this menu although Scott may feel like he’s eaten his 5 a day for a whole week in that one sitting

Whats your favourite dinner party dish? Do you have a fail safe theme you always cook?

A week in my Foodie Life – Meal Planning and Budgets!

I’m the sort of person that likes writing lists, all sorts of lists ranging from meal plans, food shopping, future dreams, to do lists, wish lists, monthly spending allowance and more! My handbag is stuffed full of scraps of paper and every book I’ve read has some kind of list lost in it which was once also used as a book mark!

I recently bought myself a diary for the sole purpose of writing down things I needed, weekly meal plans etc as I felt like my habit may be destroying a rain forest somewhere and also it would be handy to have it all down in one place. I love it and take it everywhere with me! I always plan meals a week in advance as I find it the cheapest way to do my food shopping, I love flicking through my diary to see what we’ll be eating for the week and reminding myself to put some beans in to soak overnight if needed etc.

I was talking to a friend this week who is the opposite of this and will buy food as and when he needs it and picks up a lot of “ready to go” food. He said that when he tried to eat healthier and be more organised it was much more expensive and so he gave up. This is a common thing for people to believe that healthy eating is more expensive but it really doesn’t have to be! You don’t have to buy organic whole foods, flax seeds, coconut oil etc if you are wanting to make a change to your diet. Start by planning your week well, cooking in bulk and buying fresh ingredients!

I thought I would share a typical weeks dinner menu with you and show you some little things I now do to make the week cheaper but still really healthy! I don’t make anything extravagant so hopefully this will help those who don’t cook too often as well as the more seasoned home cooks.

Monday – Wholemeal Superfood Pizza (a future Meat Free Monday post)
One thing about writing a food blog is that you do alot more cooking than you used to so I make sure I incorporate veghotpot recipes into weekly dinners rather than it being extra cooking. I made the pizza base from scratch on the sunday before and put it in the fridge ready for this dinner. I made a double quantity and froze half just for convenience next time I want a pizza rather than to save money. I used vegetables like spinach and asparagus for the topping and any left over were put back in the fridge ready to be used for another meal.

Tuesday – Homemade Soup and left over pizza
I had 2 slices of pizza left over so I ate those with a bowl of home made lentil and cauliflower soup (the recipe I posted this week). I made a big batch of soup (6 portions) and put it in the freezer for lunches to take to the office, every evening I take a portion out and by lunch its defrosted and ready to heat up. The soup used up the left over spinach from the pizza recipe so nothing wasted there! I now have some carrots and celery left over to use but often these will last for the next weeks soup or can be a good side dish! I just want to point out too that I only bought the two tomatoes needed for the soup as I knew I wouldn’t be using them for another recipe.

Wednesday – Moussaka, Sweet Potato Mash and Asparagus
Atleast once a week I try and make something which will produce leftovers for another night so I made a large moussaka that night and put the remaining 4 portions in the freezer, I bought a large sweet potato and only used half for the mash- by planning to have a meal which will also use sweet potato in the same week nothing will go to waste and it wasn’t expensive to buy one potato. I also served it with the left over asparagus.

Thursday – Lentil “Meatball’s” and Rice with Roasted Carrots
A possible future recipe for the blog (after tweaking) inspired by a recipe for lentil patties that I used to make. I’m going to use the left over carrots (from the soup) as a side dish by slicing them in half, spraying with oil and a sprinkle of dried herbs then roasting them. I always have lentils and rice in the cupboard and I had left over Parsley from my soup recipe which needed using. I also never buy breadcrumbs, we always have a loaf of bread in the fridge so whenever I need any I just toast a slice of bread and pop it into a blender! I did buy some beef mince so Scott could have meatballs and I divided the mince into 4 portions – he’ll be living off meatballs now untill I buy more meat for him

Friday – Moussaka, Sweet potato mash and peas
This is now a very easy meal as all I need to do is heat up the moussaka in the oven, mash the sweet potato and cook the peas. Scott didn’t like the moussaka so he will have beef meatballs with sweet potato mash and peas! Perfect for a Friday night with a beer!

Saturday – Leftover Lentil “Meatballs” for lunch in a Pitta. Takeaway or a meal out for dinner
We don’t have takeaway every week but most of the time we are either out on a Saturday night or we’ve been out all day so this is my day of lazy food! We usually share the Dinner Special that our local Indian does – £10 in total for a main course which will be Chicken Tikka Massala for Scott, Side dish which is usually a lentil dhal and I have that as a main course, then a rice dish and a naan to share! I think they expect most people to buy that per person but I find the side dish portion perfect for me!

Sunday – Friday Challenge day! (Also the day I do the food shopping)
I usually cook a few things on a sunday including whatever I need to make for this month’s Friday challenge! We have this as a late lunch (to catch the natural light for photos) then dinner will be a portion of soup or something snacky! Before doing my food shop I will look at what is left in the fridge and freezer then decide on meals from there – for example I can have another Moussaka meal next week with a different side dish so that’s one day sorted already! Also if I have all the lentil ingredients in the fridge I’ll make them again changing anything that I didn’t like ready to post it for you all, again this is good for using up leftovers.

Do you do a weekly food shop or do you find it hard to plan ahead?

My first Veggie Dinner Party!

At Christmas I told my grandad that instead of buying him the usual ginger cookies and a bottle or red I’d instead like to take him out for a nice dinner. He came back promptly saying he’d much prefer it if I cooked him a meal as a present as it would be more special. So this week I had my grandad, his wife and my sister around to join me and my husband for a dinner party!

I had excitedly started planning elaborate menus then I realised that this might become stressful for me as I work full time and they are coming on a week night! So I  made my Roasted Vegetable Lasagne (with a few extra veggies thrown in that I had in the fridge). I served this with a big salad, some different garlic breads and a nice bottle of red wine. This seemed to me to be the best solution to a stress free veggie dinner party as The lasagne was made at the weekend and put in the freezer and I had bought breads and a pudding (sorry to all the keen bakers!).

The main thing I had been doing in the run up is cleaning my house. The dining room is full of boxes of wedding decorations which I haven’t decided what to do with yet so we set up a dining table in our kitchen and I bought new place mats to match the turqouise walls so it actually looks really pretty. I also got some new salt and pepper shakers at christmas which look great and I have some lovely Salad bowls which I used! My husband probably thinks I am mad because I had the table all set up a couple of days in advance butI was just over excited

It made me think about future dinner parties, it’s my birthday in February so I think I’d like to do another one, I could cook a starter and even make my own pudding! I think I find it scary because you never want to be judged on something you are passionate about but at the same time I think it’s important to share something you love so much, especially when that thing is food! Last night’s empty dishes and murmers of appreciation left me feeling very confident to invite more people over though.

The best part of having a dinner party is that I had a left over slice of lasagna which I am looking forward to eating at lunchtime!! Got to love left overs

My Christmas in Rural Southern France: A Few Pictures!

This year I spent 5 fabulous days in the South of France over Christmas and had such a great time! We relaxed, took in the clean fresh air of the country side and enjoyed home cooked meals (every thing was home-made - the canapes, bread, every meal and even the beer!).

Some of the high lights included standing out in the garden one evening and seeing the most amazing view of the stars. At home we don’t see many stars but in France the sky was so clear it sparkled. This is something everyone should experience!

Another highlight was having a bonfire one evening, we all sat around with jacket potatoes and salads followed by marshmallows toasted on the fire, all washed down with home-made mulled wine in mugs!

My husband entertained us with some of his juggling skills using UV Juggling balls and they made for quite a fun photo! He’s a very good juggler! I’m learning but I don’t have the patience.

I got to spend some time with my cats Murphy and Tibbs (they also moved to France and are enjoying it very much!) – Murphy is the ginger cat shown here.

I made a new tree friend hehe. There were so many beautiful trees in the country side but this one caught my eye!!

The final highlight was finding this amazing Romanesco Cauliflower! I kept hearing about it and in one of Jamie Oliver’s books he describes it as a spiky green cauliflower. I just couldn’t picture it in my mind at all, how could a cauliflower be green and spiky? Then, strolling through the local town I spotted one outside a small little green grocers. The shop keeper must have thought I was crazy because I dragged everyone over to see and took photos! Now I’ve just got to track one down in the UK and cook it… to be continued…

Practise Makes Perfect

I’ve learnt a lot of things over the last few years which have helped me grow as a person but I think the main thing which has stuck with me is not to give up if you have a disaster or it all goes wrong. When I was younger, if anything I tried to do didn’t quite go to plan I’d run away from it and decide to try something new – while this meant I have tried ALOT of hobbies and creative ideas in my life, it also means I have a lot of things I look back on and wonder if I could have been really good at it!

This lesson I have also taken forward with my cooking. My family and friends laugh because I am a pretty ditzy person and I have had some disasters in the kitchen which every now and then get a mention and a giggle! I thought in the spirit of being able to laugh at myself and also because I have learnt so much from each experience I would share some of my most memorable disasters with you. so here goes….

Food Tech at School: Age 12:  Project – Baking Bread Rolls:
I’m the first to admit that baking is not my strong point, but back then it really wasn’t something I thought I should ever be allowed to attempt again! I remember being excited at trying to make bread and thinking that when I grow up I’ll be a baker or one of those women who makes her husband a fresh loaf of bread for his sandwiches every week. Well the end result was some very bad tasting, hard as rock and oddly shaped bread rolls which my mum ended up varnishing and using as decorations! I didn’t attempt bread again untill I was nearly 18!

My First Dinner Party: Age 16: Project – Spaghetti Bolognese:
I had 6 friends come over for my birthday and I was cooking dinner for them all. My mum had suggested I made Spaghetti Bolognese because it was simple and easy to make for lots of people. She wrote out the recipe for me and went out for the day so that I could get to it on my own. Only I read the recipe wrong and where she had written “tomatoes x2″ instead of seeing the two cans of tomatoes and adding them, I took 2 tomatoes from one can and added them to my mince. I served up very dry rather bland tasting Bolognese to my laughing friends and I decided from that moment on that I obviously just couldn’t cook!

Making Christmas Gifts: Age 19: Project - Brandy snaps and chocolate decorations:
This is one occasion which gets brought up all the time because it really was my biggest disaster! I had decided to make my dad some food gifts for christmas and decided that brandy snaps would be nice because he could have one with an after dinner drink and it would be ever so sophisticated! Well I didn’t have any golden syrup so I thought “I’m sure black treacle will do the same job”- ugh it did not!! Harsh tasting, gooey, chewy brandy snaps which my dad politely accepted and we all fell about laughing and daring each other to taste them! The chocolate decorations were even worse – smeared, grainy chocolate which looked a mess! Although I have since found out chocolate is quite hard to work with so I’ll forgive myself for that!

Cooking at University: Age 20: Project – A Roast Beef dinner for 5 hungry boys!
I wanted to impress the guys so I decided to cook a roast fillet of beef with all of the trimmings! I had under estimated the need for good timing and also how hard it would be to cook in their tiny oven which had a broken door and it’s only heat source came from the bottom! I took the beef out and it was still pink so I put it back in…for 20 minutes….it was dry and flaky! Gutted! Then I took my roast potatoes out and a sense of pride came over me as they looked delicious…then I turned them over and the bottom of every potato had a thick black crust of burnt potato. And I over cooked my veg. They all happily tucked in but I felt so embarrassed serving it up when all I’d wanted was to be a domestic goddess haha!! I’ve learnt lots since then!

A Romantic Meal with my (then) fiance: Age 21: Project – Champagne and pomegranate Jelly:
My starter and main course = success! My pudding can only be described as tough and strangely chewy, with pomegranate pith and seeds broken into it, and it had a cloudy almost dirty colour to it. And it tasted disgusting! Can’t have been that bad though because we’re married now

Veghotpot recipes: Age 24: Project – Pesto:
I actually had this disaster last night which inspired this blog post! It’s a recipe which I am hoping to post in the next week so don’t be put off as it’ll be perfect when I’ve made it again – Ok so first disaster, after finishing the pesto and thinking it tasted very strange I looked and realised I’d used a whole bunch of coriander instead of parsley! I blame it on end of year tiredness! then to make matters worse I used the wrong measuring spoon for my salt and without thinking tipped a whole teaspoon of salt into about 200ml of pesto. Well after a bit of tweaking and ALOT of lemon juice I salvaged enough to have for our dinner but I now have a huge bowl of awful pesto which I can’t bring myself to throw away. Take two is happening on saturday, with the correct herb and a pinch of salt.

I think that’s the difference now – I allow myself a take 2 or a take 3 untill I have perfected my recipe to the point that I feel proud enough to put it on the website. Sometimes I make something and first time I’m like wowee and sometimes I make something and know it would never taste good even with a few tweaks. I realised it’s the mistakes which make you better because you have to learn to improve and decipher what could be done differently. I have since baked very nice bread rolls and this year I’m braving chocolate gifts again, just this time I have given myself a few days back up to try again if it goes wrong

Have you had any disasters but managed to pull back from it and ended up learning something great?