Brighton: A city close to my heart!

Colourful doorways built under the walkway along the sea front.

Brighton has become like a second home to us. We came here for the first time together on our mini honeymoon and the memories of that wonderful weekend are made even better by the fact that we have continued to create new special memories every time we go back. From the moment we step off the train and head down to the sea front to make our way to the fantastic Pelirocco hotel I can feel myself relaxing, all worries drift out to sea.

It’s not just the fact were on holiday that makes me feel so happy and its not just the sound of the sea that makes me feel relaxed, it’s the friendly people and interesting architecture. It’s the quirky shops, free spirited fashion and huge variety of restaurants and bars.

It brings out my creative side and I can’t help finding beauty in every detail of the city! Needless to say, it is obvious I am in love with Brighton!

Every pebble is beautifully unique.

For our birthdays this year we took the train down to Brighton on a Thursday and came home on the Monday after. Some of the things we got up to included an afternoon playing in the arcade on the pier – the machines where you drop 2p in to a slot and try to use it to nudge more 2ps off a ledge is so addictive! It makes you feel like a kid again

We had a few walks along the beach, we were lucky to have bright weather when it had been predicted to rain. We also had tickets to the Brighton tattoo convention which was so much fun. We sat with a couple of beers and ‘people watched’ for hours, admiring the quirky fashion, big hair and endless ink proudly on display. The event was held in the Hilton hotel which is very classy and it was good fun to see the shiny hallways filled with leather jackets and doc martens!

Brighton is full of artwork, graffiti and sculptures. It brings character to the city!

Another thing I love about Brighton is the artwork on display at every corner, there is official artwork being show cased but also more free style pieces such as amazing graffiti and murals painted on the sides of shops. Unlike messy tags and profanities which graffiti can become, they have a great balance of unique personal style and crowd drawing points of interest.

The sculpture pictured above was first placed there in 1998 and was renovated due to damage in 2007. The artist is called Charles Hadcock and the piece was funded by The National Lottery. It had mixed reviews when it was put up but I personally love it, it’s strong, rustic and full of possible meanings and interpretations… Just how art should be in my mind.

I could spend every day sat on this beach lost in thoughts, happiness!

It wouldn’t be the British seaside without a seafood hut!

You can walk around for hours and the scene changes, you go from generic shopping centre and high street chain restaurants through trendy wine bars and boutiques to the boho vintage vegan friendly lanes. One day we walked into a park and stumbled across the council building…in amongst the modern shop fronts is the most extravagant building ever! The photo below is the entrance to the council gardens. Isn’t it fab!!

Extravagant architecture

The Aladdin’s cave of spices

I had loads of fun in this shop, the woman working that day was more than happy to describe spices I hadn’t heard of before and chat about different uses of ones I was more familiar with. I decided to buy these Annatto seeds because I had no idea what they were and thought it would be interesting to have a go at using them. Annatto seeds are used mainly as a colouring in foods such as cheese (specifically Red Leicester) and it can be used by boiling the seeds or infusing oil with them.

I’m not sure what I will use them in yet but I’m tempted to try things like risotto and maybe using it to colour tofu! You can find more information on these seeds here.

Traditionally used as a natural food colouring in items such as Red Leicester cheese

I also picked up these spinach and beetroot powder which could also be used as colourings, the lady suggested using the beetroot in cakes as colouring such as red velvet so I’m very excited to try that! It sounds a lot less messy that using fresh beetroot which just gets everywhere!

I’m not sure about the spinach powder, I can imagine using it to make coloured flat breads, spinach muffins or to create green sauces! I can’t wait to start experimenting!

Brighton, we’ll be back! Thank you for being an amazing city and if anyone has any suggestions of cool things to do when we’re back that’d be fab!!

Do you have a regular city you go to on holiday? What’s your favourite city in your home country, in the world?

Pumpkin and Greens Lasagna with Butterbean sauce: Meat Free Monday

Remember back to my post about cheese alternatives I mentioned using white beans such as butter beans to create a mock cheese sauce? Well this recipe is a great example!

Two layered vegan lasagna

This lasagna has been a work in progress for a while but I think it is now good enough to be showcased! I love the idea of a very neat lasagna with two defined layers, here we have one layer of roasted pumpkin and onions in a tomato sauce and the second layer is a leafy greens and courgette layer in a creamy butter bean sauce.

Even better is that I used this beautiful pumpkin that my mum bought home from her garden in France for me -

I have made mine so that the top layer of pasta is a little chewy and browned however if you like yours softer then simply add more sauce to the top! The best thing about this recipe is that you kind of build it up in the lasagna dish as you go, the first layer of pumpkin is roasted in the dish, tomatoes are added and it’s put back in the oven, then you create the layers on top! I have done some step by step photos for you below!

I love colourful food!

The other thing I love about using butterbeans in the sauce is how firm the sauce becomes, its creamy and delicious but also sliceable! and it goes perfectly with the green veg, I’d be tempted to make just that again with some rice as a nice comforting dinner.

Serves 6

450g Peeled Pumpkin (1 small pumpkin or enough to cover the bottom of your dish)
1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
1 tblspn Chilli Powder
1 Can Tomatoes
2 Courgettes
1 Stick Celery
Large Bunch Spinach|
1 Can Butterbeans|
240ml Soya Milk (1 Cup)
8 Lasagna Sheets (I used the spinach variety)

Peel and cut up the pumpkin into large chunks, roughly all the same size. Roughly chop the onion and put into a lasagna dish with the pumpkin and a drizzle of vegetable oil and the chilli powder.

Pumpkin, Onion and Spices – The way a lot of my recipes begin!

Roast in an oven heated to 200c for 20 minutes uncovered. Take it out of the oven and add crushed garlic, the canned tomatoes and a little seasoning, stir to combine everything then add back into the oven for 10 minutes. This forms the base layer of your lasagna.

Canned tomatoes added to create the sauce

While the lasagna is in the oven blend the butterbeans and milk together and put to one side.

In a frying pan heat a little oil and add the thinly sliced celery and courgette and fry until softened, add a splash of water if it starts to brown too much. Add 3/4 of the butterbean sauce and spinach to the frying pan and simmer for 10 minutes. You leave the other 1/4 of butterbean sauce in the blender until the lasagna is assembled as it will be poured over the top.

Spinach pasta!

To assemble place enough lasagna sheets to cover the tomato pumpkin mix. A little bit of over lap is ok but not too much! Press the sheets down unto the sauce a bit.

Butterbeans are the base of this creamy sauce

Top the lasagna sheets with the creamy greens and spread out to form an even layer. The sauce will soak into the lasagna sheets making it lovely and soft after cooking.

More Spinach pasta then more sauce to finish!

Add more pasta sheets to cover the green vegetables layer and pour over the rest of the sauce. At this point you need to press the top lasagna sheets down so that all corners are covered by the sauce. This means they will go soft and not burn.

Once cooked the butterbean sauce firms up abit, the top pasta goes slightly chewy and the middle pasta goes beautifully soft! Serve with a nice green salad or some steamed brocolli and green beans! This recipe also freezes well so is a great one to make in advance for the week/ month ahead.

Lovely cooked lasagna!

Gnocchi Gratin (‘The Domestic Goddess Challenge’ recipe): Friday challenge

This is one of those recipes that is just a really great weekday meal, it would have been quicker if I hadn’t decided to make the gnocchi from scratch but hey practise makes perfect! I found this recipe on “The Domestic Goddess Challenge” blog so please follow the link to see the full list of ingredients and method! I’m not sure my photo does it justice (it’s hard to make bakes/ gratins look pretty!)

I was so pleased with how my gnocchi came out this time, it felt better doing it a second time around because I knew what to expect. I made the following changes:

• I cut the potatoes up into quarters before boiling them so they would cook quicker
• I boiled the potatoes for longer and only took them out when I pressed down on them with a fork and they broke.
• I got Scott to mash them, he has stronger arms than me so got a much smoother mashed potato to work with

I added some carrots and mushrooms along with the veg Sian suggests in her recipe and also I didn’t add the wine because I didn’t have any! I also roasted my own peppers, it’s very simple just coat a little oil on a whole pepper and put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Once cooked you can pull the green stalk out and all the seeds will come out with it. Then peel any thick skin off and slice!
Also, I agree that the bread crumb topping is a must! It just finishes it off beautifully and adds a little crunch.

I served Scott’s with a chicken leg which had a sage and garlic butter under the skin, such a simple addition to the chicken but made it a bit special! I will often serve us up the same vegetarian one pot dish and I’ll have salad and Scott will have chicken, beef or sausages. It’s a lot easier than making two gratins/ casseroles/ curries etc, one veggie and one with meat. Of course Scott doesn’t always have the meat sometimes we just have a complete vegetarian night!

I’ve decided I’m a massive fan of gnocchi in all forms! I love making it, kneading an impossibly soft dough is so relaxing and then it is so easy to cook because it tells you when it’s done. I love how the most fragile little pillows of dough become quite resilient when cooked and can then be popped into a sauce or mixed with vegetables and baked.

What I have learnt about Gnocchi:
Now that I have the basics of how to make gnocchi I can see how versatile it can be and there are plenty of ways to experiment with flavour combinations. They key is to make sure you have a perfectly smooth mashed potato to begin with, any lumps will be very obvious in your gnocchi (trust me I know!).
Secondly you have to make sure you don’t use too much flour otherwise it’ll over power the flavour of the gnocchi, you need a soft but still slightly sticky dough.
And last but not least make sure you cook them in batches (I had a large pan so did 10 at a time) to stop them sticking together.

Can’t wait to have a go at my own recipe, I have some great ideas so I think I may be eating gnocchi every day next week in preparation! mmmm

Summer ‘Green’ Smoothie

Summer hasn’t quite come to the UK yet this year, we’ve had a few early weeks of sunshine in April and the odd afternoon of heat here and there but it’s just not a normal year for weather. For me this means I haven’t quite got into my summer eating habits, soups haven’t been swapped for salads and I’m still cooking comforting stews and curries instead of grilled veg and summery bbqs.

The other day I decided enough was enough I need to get some sunshine food into my day (if just to help me budge the winter pounds I’ve kept on) so I went to the market and bought loads of fruit to make smoothies. I’ll start my day with sunshine with or without the actual sunshine!

I did feel abit silly photographing this smoothie in the garden just as it was about to rain again though (I got a strange look from the neighbour haha) but it made me happy!

The fruit and veg I chose for our breakfast smoothies were bananas, strawberries, mangoes, spinach and limes. I also bought some coconut water as the base because it is really refreshing and good for you.

The great thing about Luton Market is that is has a very strong African / Carribean vibe to it so there were so many exotic fruits to choose from, also the coconut water was so much cheaper than the supermarket. I kept it safe with my choices of fruit this week but I was constantly asking the man who ran the stall what the different items were and how they could be used.

Buying veg off the market is definitely cheaper and you get a lot more of it! But it does come quite muddy and in all different shapes and sizes so it took a while to clean everything up (like the spinach above).

The quantities I use in the smoothie differed each morning, I always have 1 banana then would add a handful of each fruit (in this case strawberries and mangoes), a handful of spinach and then just under half a can of coconut water and blend untill smooth then add the juice of 1/4 lime and stir.

This morning all of the mangoes had been finished so I added a handful of blackberries and used apple juice (not from concentrate) instead of coconut water for a delicious alternative.

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi (BBC Goodfood recipe): Friday Challenge!

So I thought I’d got my head around Gnocchi, three simple ingredients – potato, flour, egg. Then I find this recipe which is cheese, spinach, flour, egg and it’s all thrown up into the air again!Where is the potato? Apparently gnocchi can be made without potato which has opened up many doors for my own recipe, can gnocchi be made out of anything pureed and mixed with flour and eggs?

I decided to cook this recipe to get a better understanding of the different textures of gnocchi and to see how it would turn out after being cooked. The recipe is from BBC Goodfood website and most of the comments were from people praising the recipe so I had high hopes. You can see the recipe here.

The raw mixture was much softer and stickier than the potato gnocchi so using wet hands to shape the dough was essential. Instead of rolling out a log and cutting it into little pillows this dough is scooped up and rolled into balls. It’s far too sticky to do anything else with it.

I love the marbled colour effect from the spinach running through the gnocchi, uncooked they looked really pretty!

When cooked they were very pale and to be honest I don’t think they looked that appetising, I served them with a tomato sauce, salad and garlic bread. I think I added a little bit too much flour because I could taste the flour but that may have been down to quality of parmesan cheese I had used. Also I agree with someone who commented on the BBC website that by cooking and draining the spinach you actually lose all of the goodness so these aren’t very healthy. I’d like to try them again with more cheese and maybe a different way of cooking the spinach.

I also noticed that in the recipe they say to cook for a further 1-2 minutes once the gnocchi float to the surface whereas for the previous recipe I tried they say the gnocchi is done as soon as it floats, this must be because these are bigger than the potato gnocchi. That’s something to keep an eye on when making your own.

What I learnt about Gnocchi:
I learnt that Gnocchi is not neccessarily made from potatoes and you can add other flavourings, herbs and spices into the mixture to make the actual dough more interesting. I learnt that the larger sized gnocchi should probably be cooked for a little longer once floating (they don’t just cook for longer then float?) although this may be open to debate.

I am starting to realise that gnocchi is the sort of dish made as a starter because everyone seems to serve it with ‘a little sprinkling of cheese’ or ‘brown butter sauce and sage’. I prefer to have more elements to my main meal so I’d like to see gnocchi being part of a proper dinner!

Tomato and Chilli Pantry Pasta: Meat Free Monday

For this weeks Meat Free Monday recipe I would like to direct you all to the lovely Jennifer’s blog “Down Home South Jersey” where she featured a recipe I made for her Pantry Pasta Challenge! Make sure you have a good browse over there as there is so much to read and see! Here are a few photos to get you in the mood for some good hearty pasta!

Thanks for setting an inspiring challenge and also for featuring me Jennifer Your a star!

Lentil and Spinach “Meatballs”: Meat Free Monday

This is a recipe I’ve been playing around with for a few month’s now and I think this simple version is actually the best so far! Sometimes all you need is a few ingredients and a little imagination!

I have seen different versions of vegetarian meatballs around but most of them have a lot of cheese in them and that’s something I always try and avoid! I experimented with different ways to bind the lentils to form the meatball shape and good ole egg and breadcrumbs worked fantastically so I kept with them.

I tried making these first by wilting the spinach and combining that into the mixture but it was quite soggy. For this recipe I blend the spinach leaves raw with a splash of water and one egg, the egg helps the spinach blend down into a smooth puree and these combined become a fantastic was to bind the ingredients together!

I love the vivid green colour of the meatballs, so much prettier than a beef meatball! They just look healthy!

I made 3 large meatballs per person to serve 2 and simply served it with basic tomato sauce but if you wanted to add pasta then I’d recommend making smaller sized meatballs and it could easily serve 4 people.

200g Cooked Green lentils
125 Spinach
1 Egg
1 Lemon – Zest and Juice
1 Garlic Clove
60g (1 cup) Fresh Breadcrumbs
Spray oil or olive oil for frying

Wash the spinach and put it in a blender with the egg and a splash of water and blitz untill you have a smooth paste. The colour will be a gorgeous vivid green!

Scrape the spinach puree into a large bowl and add the lemon zest, juice of 1/2 the lemon, crushed garlic clove, the cooked lentils, the breadcrumbs and some salt and pepper.

Stir the ingredients all together and then shape into balls using your hands (the large ones are slightly bigger than a golf ball). Place on a large plate or tray and put them in the fridge for half an hour at least.

Heat some spray oil or 1-2 tblspoons olive oil in a large frying pan and when hot add the lentil meatballs and fry for about 8 – 10 minutes untill beginning to brown and hot in the middle. I found that as they were frying the bottom would begin to go flat so as you turn them use a wooden spoon to gently pat the edges to keep them in a nice round shape.

Serve with a simple tomato sauce and some spaghetti if you are making the smaller balls – they are filling!

Cauliflower, Lentil and Spinach soup: Meat Free Monday

I never used to be a big fan of soup I thought it was boring…then I started making my own and realised just how good soup could be. It’s a fantastic way to pack some vegetables into your day, it’s low fat and it’s versatile – you can have a different flavour every week!

I got the idea for this soup after making a rich tomato and bean soup and I had some left over cauliflower so I threw it in and it tasted great! I decided to use lentils instead of beans, and stir some spinach in for a different colour variety within the soup! I try to eat lots of different colours everyday, not only does it look visually more appealing but it means your taking in lots of different varieties of vitamins.

I don’t like blended soups, I like to be able to see each ingredient and taste all the individual flavours…it just make the meal a bit more interesting I feel.

Serves 4-6

1 Large Onion
1 Carrot
2 Sticks Celery
2 Tomatoes
150g (1 cup) Green Lentils
1.3 Litres Vegetable Stock
1 Small Bunch Parsley
1 Whole Head Cauliflower (200g)
100g Spinach
Vegetable Oil for frying
Seasoning

Finely chop the onion, carrot and celery and fry it on a low heat in a drizzle of vegetable oil for around 8-10 minutes.

Add the finely chopped tomatoes, lentils, chopped parsley and the vegetable stock and stir. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and add the sliced Cauliflower and some salt and pepper.

Put a lid on the pan and simmer for 12 minutes, stir in the washed spinach and take the pan off the heat and serve hot with a big chunk of warm bread,

NB I have entered this recipe over at Wellness Weekend! Go check it out it’s a great source of information and recipes x

NB2 I have also entered this recipe at the Superfood sunday feature at painfree pregnancy.org ! x

Aubergine Roll-ups with Pepper Sauce: Meat Free Monday

One of my husbands favourite meals is chicken stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in parma ham, in fact it was the first meal I ever cooked for him way back in the day! It’s quite a rich meal so it’s not one I cook often but I decided to make it for him the other day! I wanted to make myself something similar so I decided to replace the chicken and parma ham for some thick roasted slices of aubergine. I think it worked really nicely and it was nice to be eating a dish which looked similar to his just a vegetarian version!

This pepper sauce is so quick and easy to make and it will go with anything so is really versatile! You could jazz it up with some capers and parsley or even stir in some other vegetables and turn it into a ratatouille!

I use Philadelphia cream cheese (it seems less rich than other brands I’ve tried and doesn’t upset my stomach) but you can use any brand you like, you can even buy cream cheese with added herbs which would taste really nice.

Serves 2

1 Aubergine
1 Red Pepper
1 Onion
1 Red Chilli
1 Garlic Clove
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
Extra Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese
100g Spinach
Spray Oil for frying
Drizzle of good quality olive oil for Aubergine
Salt and Pepper

Mashed Potato to serve – I leave the skins on my potatoes for extra nutrients and make my mash with a small amount of low-fat margarine and some soya milk!

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Finely slice the pepper, onion and chilli. Heat some spray oil in a frying pan and soften the peppers, onion and chilli for a few minutes. Crush the garlic into the pan, add the paprika and give it all a good stir then continue to fry for 2 minutes untill the garlic is cooked. Add a can of tomatoes, season and leave to simmer for 10 minutes stirring frequently.

Slice the Aubergine thinly down the length of the aubergine so you have long sliced to roll up (around 1 – 2cm thick), place the slices on a baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for 10 minutes.

Wilt the spinach by steaming or microwaving it in a bowl covered with clingfilm.

Once the aubergine slices are cooked spread the cream cheese on to the top of each slice, place some spinach on one side and then roll them up. Place them back onto the baking tray and put them back in the oven for 3-4 minutes to heat the filling through.

Plate up the mashed potato and pepper sauce then place the aubergine rolls on top and serve hot.

Spinach Pancakes: Meat Free Monday

I love this recipe, not just because it tastes nice but also because it makes me feel really healthy! Many people have asked me how I keep up my iron intake as a vegetarian because its most commonly known that you get iron from red meat, but there are plenty of other ways to get iron. I’m not an expert on nutrition but it is shown that by eating iron rich greens (Non-heme irons) such as spinach, broccoli and dark green leaves with a vitamin c rich ingredient then the Iron is absorbed better into the body. In this recipe I have included lemons which are high in vitamin c, so over all this should be an iron rich recipe! It has also been shown that you would have to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron as found in 100 calories of spinach. (please see http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm for more information!). This recipe also includes soya milk – calcium and eggs- protein!

So now to the recipe:

Spinach Pancakes. Makes 8-10 large pancakes

110g Self Raising flour
1 Egg
100ml Soya Milk
100g Spinach
1 Lemon (Juice and zest)
Salt
Chilli flakes
Black Pepper

Mix the flour, beaten egg and soya milk in a jug and whisk together making sure there are no lumps in your mixture. Wilt the spinach and then press out some of the moisture with a paper towel. Finely chop the spinach then add it to the pancake mix with the juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 lemon zest, chilli flakes and some salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan with some spray oil and using a ladle spoon the mixture into a hot pan. Spread it out as thin as you can (it wont be as thin as a normal pancake) then when it is browned on the bottom flip it over and cook on the other side. This should take a couple of minutes in total.

Pile up on a plate, sprinkle over some parmesan and a squeeze of lemon and tuck in!