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Here is my latest veggie burger, topped with halloumi and sweet chilli jam. Like the look of it? Well I am afraid the recipe isn't here, it is over at The Good Food Channel and is my first recipe published there. If that isn't exciting enough, they also interviewed me. You can read the interview on The Good Food Channel too. If you haven't heard of The Good Food Cha
It's a beauty isn't it? It has to be my prettiest picnic basket. I do love a picnic and next week is National Picnic Week, so ahead of the event, I am giving away one of these beautiful baskets courtesy of First4Hampers. First4Hampers have been delivering luxury hampers for the last 30 years. They sell fruit baskets, gourmet food baskets and also gift and wine baskets.
My latest smoothie is sludgy swamp green, but don't be fooled, it's really refreshing. This is my entry for this month's No Croutons Required. Yes, it's usually a soup and salad challenge, but if you think about it, a smoothie containing veg is a bit like a smooth raw soup. If you would like to join in, post your own smoothie, which should contain at least one piece of salad or veg.
This week I had my first post published on Great British Chefs. They were looking for a post on BBQs or barbies as I like to call then, so I created a new veggie burger, a Green Lentil, Potato and Mushroom Burger. I was really pleased with my new burger. It's easy to make, very frugal and healthy. It contains no eggs or dairy and is made with only a few simple ingredients.
I've been using Pinterest for a while now. I didn't realise it was an American site. To celebrate it launching in the UK, I thought I would share it with you. Have you heard of it? I'm sure you have, but just in case you haven't it's a pin board for collecting photos and graphics from around the web. It's a great place to save ideas and each of your visual pins links to the original p
June has arrived, quicker than I expected. The year is whizzing by for me. Do you feel like that too? Anyway, it's time for the next No Croutons Required challenge and I am sitting here pondering and procrastinating. Do I ask for soup or salad or both? Do I go crazy and ask for something completely different? Can I think of a new angle to mix things up? How about smoothie? They are
Bookmarked Recipes: a monthly event to encourage food bloggers to revisit the recipes they have bookmarked from magazines, newspapers, cookbooks. websites, blogs, to try them out and post about them. Read on to see all the entries. If you recreate any bookmarked recipes in May 2013, you can join in by adding them to the linky at the end of this post for the next roundup.
I've always fancied making veggie meatballs to top a bowl of spaghetti, but I just never got around to it until now. I think of them every time the 'on top of spaghetti' song pops into my head. It was a song I learned in Brownies. You don't know it? On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when
You know how much I like my smoothies. Here is my latest offering The Mean Green Smoothie. I call it mean because of the kiwi fruit I added. Boy does it give it a kick! Kiwi are usually sweet with a bit of tang right? Juice it and it becomes a monster that hits you at the back of the throat. Not in an unpleasant way, but it does have a kick. Cooper really didn't like this one, but
Fast day soup equals happy tummy, in fact any day soup equals happy tummy, but knowing it is helping you lose weight makes it even more special. A simple, fresh green soup that is frugal too. Broccoli, potato, celery and a bag of mixed leaves that needed used up were the base for this soup. Oh yes and did I mention it is only 111
I started following the 5:2 Diet back in August last year after watching the Horizon documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer. In the documentary Dr Michael Mosley examined the science behind fasting and how it could help us all to lose weight and live longer. There is science behind the diet and you can read about it my original 5:2 Diet post, but for this post I wanted to
It's National Vegetarian Week here in the UK and what better time to celebrate the best vegetarian and vegan food bloggers. Yesterday I talked about my Top 7 Vegetarian Food Bloggers and today I would like to introduce you to some of my favourite vegan food bloggers. This post is dedicated to my lovely hubby (well lovely when he isn't being grumpy, especially in the morning
I thought it would be nice to celebrate some of the best veggie and vegan food bloggers this week. I won't be able to include all of the wonderful veggie and vegan blogs I visit, but I would like to introduce you to a few of my favourites. Today I would like to introduce you to some of the best vegetarian food blogs. 1. Allotment 2 Kitchen Vegan Chocolate Ginger
Here is my quickly put together meal plan for National Vegetarian Week. I would have liked to have made a more exciting plan, but sometimes life is just too busy. This had to be an easy plan for a week where I work four days and two late nights. A week where Cooper has two martial arts classes. A week where Graham won't get home until after Cooper is in bed and a week where I
Occasionally I'm sent new products to try or I try something new myself. Here are the newest discoveries in my kitchen. I may love or hate a product, but I will be honest about it. Let me know if you've made any great new discoveries. 1. Eclectic Cutlery Set I got this colourful cutlery set from notonthehighstreet.com. I thought they would look great in food photos. There w
I made these burgers today and I'm super pleased with them. Yes, I have veered off my meal plan already. We were supposed to be having Pasta with Roast Vegetables and Feta tonight and going out for a meal tomorrow, but the meal has been cancelled, so with a day off and a bit of time on my hands (after cleaning the house from top to bottom), I decided to make us some lovely homemade burger
Well a week has come and gone since my last meal planning post, in fact my last post and you may have wondered where I've been. Excruciating pain! That's where I've been. Ulcers on both eyes. One trip to see the doctor and three trips to the hospital. Not good! My eyes are a lot better now, just a bit uncomfortable, but they tell me that it could return. After a week of pain, hiding in the
I can't believe that Monday has come around so quickly again. It's time for me to plan my meals for the week. Last week's list didn't exactly go to plan, but it was helpful. I'd forgotten that I was going out with friends on Wednesday night, so that night's plan was scrubbed. I had macaroni and salad while chatting to my friends in our favourite pub and Graham and Cooper had the las
Drinking this pretty pink smoothie is like sipping Summer. It's been a long time coming, but the sun is finally showing her face and everything feels more positive and optimistic. So what is summer in a glass? It's strawberries, mango, banana and peach. I also added some baobab powder to the smoothie. I like to give my smoothies an extra punch of nutrients. In case you ha
Two forlorn and every ripening mangoes staring up at me from the fruit bowl. What could I do? It may seem a little cruel, but I chopped them and whizzed them and concocted this glorious dessert around them. A base of sweet mango puree, studded with ripe mango pieces, layered with creamy coconut swirled Greek yoghurt and topped with strawberries and mango and chocolate dipped banana.
I have two winners to announce in this quick post. The first is the winner of this beautiful cast iron casserole by Denby courtesy of littlewoods.com. The winner is Claire Bbdiva Butler. Congratulations Claire and thanks to everyone who entered. If you weren't lucky this time, why not enter my Yoghurt Maker Giveaway. And now on to No Croutons Required. Something
I have long known that most of my wage flows straight out of my purse into Tesco's coffers. It's time to get a grip on the spending and what better way to do that than make a meal plan for the week. I am linking this up with At Home with Mrs M, who hosts this event. I also thought if I made a meal plan, I could include a new dish each week from a cookbook. One of the ones in the
Ever fancied making your own yoghurt? I've been having a go with this Easio Yoghurt Maker from Yoghurt Direct and it's really simple to use. A great way to eat really fresh & healthy yoghurt. All you do is: 1. Mix the sachet contents with cold water in the 1kg jar (with the red lid) and shake thoroughly. 2. Pour boiling water to the line marked inside the yogu
For this month's No Croutons Required I asked for soups or salads using Indian spices. I didn't manage to make one myself in time and this roundup is late too. Lets just say this hasn't been a happy household with all the poorly people in it. So for my entry I am dipping into my archive. I do hope you enjoy the roundup. Be sure to vote for your favourite entry. No Croutons Required
Copper pan for jam making. Stuart (Cakeyboi) and myself were lucky enough to have a tour around Mackays jam factory in Arbroath, on the East coast of Scotland. Mackays was founded in 1938 by the Mackay brothers, but is now owned by the Grant family. The brand is very much a family company and most of their staff live locally. In fact the lovely Claire who showed us a
I'm always looking for treats for my fast days. I have quite a lot of recipes now for my evening meal, which is my main meal on a fast day, but not many treats and the treats I do have are all bought. This time I wanted to make a low calorie treat. I had to think long and hard about this one. It had to be something really low calorie, so I'd still have plenty of calories to play wit
From time to time I'm sent a new product to try or I stumble across something new myself. I thought I'd take a few minutes to share my latest discoveries with you. Sometimes I'll like a product, sometimes I'll love it and occasionally I'll hate it. Do let me know if you've made any great new discoveries. 1. Gulluoglu Turkish Delight I used to hate Turkish delight, un
It's Smoothie Time!! You're gonna love this one! It's thick, tropical and delicious. It's creamy, but dairy free. It's the perfect smoothie to make today, especially if it's as wet and dreich where you are as it is here in Scotland. Pineapple, pears, banana, coconut milk and orange juice. Have I told you recently how much I love my Vitamix recently? It made swift work
I have an amazing giveaway for you this month. &nb
Have you meet my wee boy Cooper yet? If you're a regular visitor to this blog, then you'll know he loves cooking and baking. In fact, he has his own wee series over at Baby Centre called Cooking with Cooper. Each of Cooper's recipes are really easy to make and have step-by-step photos to follow. So far Cooper has made: Homemade Easter Eggs White Chocolate and Pepperm
It's April and time for a new No Croutons Required challenge. As ever I am looking for soups and salads that are suitable for vegetarians. And the topic this month? Well after much thought and deliberation, I decided it would be: Indian Spices There are plenty to choose from and you can feature one or several. It's quite straightforward to add spices to a soup, but what about salad
Bookmarked Recipes: a monthly event to encourage food bloggers to revisit the recipes they have bookmarked from magazines, newspapers, cookbooks. websites, blogs, to try them out and post about them. Read on to see all the entries. If you recreate any bookmarked recipes in April 2013, you can join in by adding them to the linky at the end of this post for the next roundup.
Easter eggs are such a treat, aren't they? The secret is not to over indulge, but to go for one really good quality Easter egg. My egg this year is a sumptuously thick white chocolate egg from Hotel Chocolat. An extra thick white chocolate egg, each half completely filled with white chocolate fried eggs and dippy toast, white chocolate pralines, vanilla truffles and the m
It's time for the promised trifle. The one I made from vegan vanilla cake. As you will see, it has the jelly, the fruit, the custard and the sprinkles, but no cream. I had a bit of problem with the cream. I couldn't get any vegan cream anywhere on a Sunday, so I had a look on line and what I found got me really excited. You can make whipped cream
I wanted to make trifle, I haven't made it for such a long time and I do love it. My next thought was Graham. How to make it vegan? That's easy I thought, I have jelly that is suitable for him and he's had a dairy free custard before that he really enjoyed. Tumpty, tumpty tum! All great. Project Trifle has lift off. But things are rarely that simple are they? The bloomin' cake! It need
I really enjoyed this salad, it was a bit different from my normal salads and I love the crunch of the nuts and the sweetness of the grapes and apple. A base of mixed salad leaves, topped with grated apple and courgette, slices of creamy avocado, then topped with red grapes and hazelnuts. Such a good contrast of flavours and textures, all topped of with the most luxurious dre
the minimalist lentil burger Yes, it caught my attention too. A meal in only 10 minutes made from only 5 ingredients. I was rather intrigued to see what meals could be made in 10 minutes. I had a think about it and all I could think of was spaghetti with oilve oil, black pepper and parmesan, boiled egg on toast, beans on toast or an omelette. Maybe I'm not creative enough with
Photo: IRockSoWhat I continue my quest to find sweet treats for my vegan husband. When I saw these cookies on Pinterest I just had to make them. I popped over to IRockSoWhat for the recipe and introduced myself to Jess, the author. Jess writes about herself and her family on her lovely blog. Her posts have such evocative photographs, I found myself browsing for ages. Jes
A wintry looking cake. Which is quite appropriate as there was snow on the ground the day I made this. Yes, we have snow in Scotland in March. And yes, that seems wrong to us too. This cake came about when I bought some reduced price blackberries and still hadn't used them several days later. What to do with them? Smoothie or cake, smoothie or cake? This time I opted for cake.
Homemade pizza can't be beat. Of course you need the perfect pizza dough, a tasty pizza sauce, some soft, milky mozzarella and a medley of colourful vegetables. If I make homemade pizza, it means my vegan husband doesn't miss out. All the lush flavours, just hold the mozzarella. I usually use bog standard olive oil to make my pizza dough, but this time I used a ric
From time to time I'm sent a new product to try or I stumble across something new myself. I thought I'd take a few minutes to share my latest discoveries with you. Sometimes I'll like a product, sometimes I'll love it and occasionally I'll hate it. Do let me know if you've made any great new discoveries. 1. Rachel's Fat Free Mango, Pineapple & Passion Fruit Yogurt
Shepherds pie is a great favourite in our house. It's meat free, but it's still sometimes called shepherds pie, shepherdess pie or cottage pie. I decided to call this version Cottage Garden Pie as it's stacked with vegetables. I can just imagine someone going out into their cottage garden and picking all the veg they need for dinner, then bringing it in with warm earth still clinging to it.
I have two giveaways for you this month. The first is this fine hamper from Greek Gods. The hamper contains: 1 x high-quality extra virgin olive oil 1 x jar of organic mixed olives 1 x jar of stuffed vine leaves 1 x organic Greek honey 1 x Greek Delight 1 x nifty garlic zoom 1 x stylish lemon squeezer 1 x set of two oil drizzlers Greek Gods ar
I'm rather excited about this recipe. There are quite a few of us doing the 5:2 diet at my work, so conversation at work often revolves around our diet and what we are eating. I tell you we must be saints to have a break in our staff room. One of our workmates Shirley piles the table high with goodies and we have to try and resist on our fast days. Mind you she may think twic
..........and the winner of this month's No Croutons Required is... Russian Winter Salad by Mariyaka's Food Marina and her husband are giving up meat for 40 days for lent. Their blog is following their adventures into meat-free cooking, so it is especially nice she won the challenge. Congratulations Mariana. I hope this inspires you to e
Bookmarked Recipes: a monthly event to encourage food bloggers to revisit the recipes they have bookmarked from magazines, newspapers, cookbooks. websites, blogs, to try them out and post about them. Read on to see all the entries. If you recreate any bookmarked recipes in March 2013, you can join in by adding them to the linky at the end of this post for the next roundup.
What would you serve for breakfast if royalty popped round? It would have to be something special. None of your usual cereal and toast malarkey. Mind you they'd probably enjoy a bowl of porridge as they love their holidays in Scotland. I wouldn't give them porridge either. I'd give them this! I had this breakfast of kings on Wednesday. Did I have royalty round for br
I put out the call for potato salads for this month's No Croutons Required. It was a bit slow going at first and I was worried I wasn't going to get any entries, but my Croutonees didn't let me down and I have a rather exciting and diverse range of potato salads to share with you. Thank you to everyone who submitted a salad. No Croutons Required Februa
Another Charlotte potato salad, this time one suitable for fast days. I wasn't sure this one would be suitable when I made it. I mean come on, it has potatoes, cheese and dressing. Surely not? But it is. It comes in at 300 calories per portion. Here is the calorie breakdown: The salad: 500g Charlotte Potatoes = 380 calories 20 baby plum tomatoes = 36 calories 1 ball of light mozzarella
