It's been a crazy week both at work and personally. On Thursday night I did Sleep Out for Centrepoint which was very cold and uncomfortable but an amazing experience. My dinner that night was cooked by the RAF (chicken curry); the next night, I had a takeaway pizza with my husband as I was far too tired to cook, and the next night I didn't get home til 9pm so we went to the chip shop! My diet has been really bad for several days and as a result I'm really craving broccoli!
I'd already done this week's meal plan and here is...
Monday, November 28, 2016
Sunday, November 27, 2016
I found this recipe for broccoli bites in a book called America's Most Wanted Recipes, which aims to recreate dishes from popular US restaurant chains. This one comes from Bennigan;'s, which I've never heard of, despite having visited 21 US states over the years.
This is broccoli, but not as you know it! I guess this is one way to get people to eat their vegetables... it's mixed with bacon, cheese, onion, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried! So it's...
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
After a few road trips around the US I bought a cookery book called 'America's Most Wanted Recipes' - it contains copycat recipes based on dishes served at some of the biggest restaurant chains across the US.
I hadn't used the book in a while so a couple of weeks ago went through and picked out several recipes to try. This one, called Santa Fe Chicken, is apparently based on something served at Applebee's, a restaurant chain I've heard of but never...
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
I had some filo pastry left from making a pie and decided to use it up in a dessert. I found a recipe for molten chocolate parcels on the Good Housekeeping website and decided to give them a go. They did taste nice but were very messy!
To serve 4, you need:
250g dark chocolate, chopped
60g butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
40p plain flour
6 large filo pastry sheets
icing sugar to dust
First...
Monday, November 21, 2016
This week should be an interesting one as I'm spending a night sleeping outside on the streets to raise money for homeless charity Centrepoint. It's an organised event that people from companies all over London are taking part in at the same time, so should be perfectly safe, but will certainly be cold - and hopefully not wet! It's quite different to anything I've done before but am going with a team from work (not the team I work with, but a group I belong to within the organisation) and am starting to look forward to it as something of a challenge...
Sunday, November 20, 2016
I love lamb though my husband doesn't eat it so I don't cook it very often. But when I was looking through my Sophie Grigson recipe book Country Kitchen I decided it was worth cooking this dish even if I had to make him something else!
The book is divided into seasons and this recipe comes from the autumn section; even though I think we are probably in winter now it is really good for this time of year.
You can find the recipe on the Good...
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Coming back from our honeymoon in the Galapagos Islands earlier this year, we had a very long layover at Miami airport. To kill some time we went to a nearby shopping mall and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory - the third US city where I've eaten at one of those restaurants. I can't get enough of the cheesecake!
This time I had the caramel pecan turtle cheesecake - named after a particular brand of chocolate called turtles....
Friday, November 18, 2016
Poached eggs seem to be a bit of a thing with me at the moment. My team had a very early start recently when the company we work for reported its Q3 financial results, so when all was done, we went for a team breakfast (as it was also my manager's birthday) at the Bishopsgate Kitchen. I didn't realise until I looked at the website just now that it is run by Benugo's which actually runs the café in my office building!
This was definitely better as...
Thursday, November 17, 2016
I love the breakfast egg pots at Leon. Have you come across Leon before? They are largely based around London with branches at airports as well as a couple of other cities and their motto is 'naturally fast food'. I first went to a Leon at Heathrow airport but now there are several around where I work.
I still remember how good the egg pot was that I had at the airport three years ago - it was simple but a combination I hadn't come across before,...
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
While I was sorting out my craft cupboard - which is a narrow (single) wardrobe from Ikea, with shelves and two drawers instead of a hanging rail - I came across some cards I made ages ago (probably a couple of years).
Sometimes you need a card for a sombre or sorry occasion, or sometimes just to wish people well and let them know you are thinking of them. All the elements on both of these cards came from one big pack; the butterflies are die...
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
This pie is based on an idea I saw in a Slimming World book or magazine a while ago but isn't actually particularly Slimming - I wanted an excuse to use my cow print rolling pin again! It came from Etsy and was a Christmas gift last year I think but I've only used it a few times. The rolling pin leaves an imprint of a cow pattern on anything you roll out!
I decided to theme a pie around it and use it to roll out the pastry to go on the top. The...
Monday, November 14, 2016
I was supposed to be away for three nights this week but have cancelled as my cat is very ill and I don't want to leave her on her own. It's been a very upsetting few days as I'm so worried about her. I don't much feel like eating but know I need to eat proper food and not live off junk food, and we are going back to the vet on Wednesday so hopefully will get some better news, otherwise the rest of the week's meal plan might go out the window.
Prior...
Sunday, November 13, 2016
I love prawns, and think they work really well with pasta or curry, so when I came across this recipe for a coconut fish curry on the BBC Good Food website, where the prawns took centre stage, I knew I had to make it. The flavours are inspired by both India and Thailand and doesn't take that long to cook -the part that took longest was probably finding all the ingredients in the cupboard! So it makes a great mid-week meal.
The shrimp paste in...
Saturday, November 12, 2016
I treated myself to the latest Great British Bake Off recipe book since it was only £7 at a Book People book sale at work. This was when the series was only part-way through and I wasn't sure what they would be making each week though the recipes in the book do give a clue. I really liked the look of the pistachio and white chocolate churros, which I think I remember were made by Jane, the eventual runner-up of the show.
The full recipe is available...
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