More soup - this time spicy spinach & coconut - suitable for 5:2, too!

As well as the parsnips, we also said goodbye to the last of our over-wintered spinach at the weekend. This meant that I had 250g (leaf & stalks) to turn into something delicious.

Now, I absolutely LOVE spinach - it is one of my most favourite things. I love it steamed, on toast, topped with a poached egg, may be some bacon. I also love it creamed, or in a gratin with anchovies, or just steamed with a grating of nutmeg. It's super healthy too. Unfortunately, the kids are not so keen, though, so rather than either concealing it in something else, or subjecting myself to the grimaces and whinging that tends to accompany a brazen appearance of the stuff, unadulterated on their plates (somethimes, you just have to take the path of least resistance) I thought I'd see if I could enhance my 5:2 fast days by creating this batch into some tasty soup.

Turns out that I could. I have worked out as accurately as I can that 400ml of this will work out at a smidge over 119 calories. 400ml might actually fill me up, which is a huge bonus. I was going to have a  fast day today, but then I remembered that I was going out to night, so it will have to be tomorrow. I had some of the soup for lunch today anyway, and it's very tasty. The chilli and ginger give it a little something extra which makes me feel like I've eaten more than I actually have - always a bonus, even when it's not a fast day, if it will stop me reaching for the bread...

250g spinach - leaves and stalks (doesn't need to be baby spinach or anything), thoroughly washed
2 shallots, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 Kallo organic chicken stock cube made up with 500ml boiling water
1 can light coconut milk
1 dried chilli

Put the shallot, garlic and ginger into a pan that will eventually take all the liquid, and which has a lid, and just cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer till softened and the water is all but gone - it won't take too long and if everything looks softened before the water has all evaporated don't worry too much, but do keep an eye on it to avoid it boiliong dry. Sprinkle in the dried chilli, pour in the stock and coconut milk and bring back to a simmer. Add in the spinach and cook for 5 mins or so till the spinach is wilted, then blitz.

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Tomatoes on toast

Did I mention that we are going away for a week? 

I'd like to say I'm being ever so casual about it, that it's no biggie, but who am I kidding? 

We are going to ITALY. To Rome, then to Naples.

I am very, VERY excited. 

Of course, in the run up to any holiday there is the finishing up of work. 

There is the 'weather checking and clothes washing' to be taken care of (you might not like me to mention that it's currently getting up to 28C in Rome - now where did I put my sandals?)



There is the consideration and purchasing of useful literature (I am very pleased with my 'overlay' book of ancient Roman sites (which has photos of the current ruins, with artists impressions of how they used to look which you can overlay onto the photos), purchased on Amazon for a mere 1p as opposed to the 10 Euros I am informed it will cost us in Rome)

There is the finding of the passports and the checking of the tickets. 

There is the daydreaming of how perfect it will all be as long as we don't try to do too much and wear the kids out on day 1 (actually unlikely as we are staying with friends just outside Rome first and we have been promised a relaxing day on Sunday revolving around lunch somewhere very lovely.)

And then there is 'Operation Fridge Run Down'. Easier said than done when the courgettes are still coming, as are the tomatoes.

I managed to get a whole yellow ball courgette into a quiche the other day - grated and squeezed out before I cooked it up with 3 thinly sliced onions. It made a delicious supper, and the courgette went completely undetected by those who did not know it was in there.

I could have cried when the next day, the Husband brought 2 more green courgettes in from the garden...

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are something I never tire of. The kids eat them raw and cooked, and it's very easy to turn them into soup, passata, anything really. Proper tomatoes, grown with some love, just smell delicious - of sunshine, of warmth, of halcyon days. If I had nothing else to do, I'd quite happily sit in a greenhouse of tomatoes and smell the smell all day. A bit like Ferdinand the bull smelling the flowers all day - but he was in Spain, and not many people know that story these days...





If you've never smelt a freshly picked gorgeously ripe tomato, you might think this all sounds a bit wierd, but I'm betting I'm not the only one who feels like this...

Tomatoes, of course, remind me of Italian food - the classic insalata tricolore with mozarella and basil, all that pasta sauce flavoured with basil, with chilli, with all sorts of things, brushcetta... I'm anticipating more than the odd stop during our sightseeing to partake of all things gorgeous, Italian and tomatoey - plus the odd glass of chilled white wine, of course.

For now, though, something much more English. I could have gone the bruschetta route for lunches the last few days, but these are English tomatoes, and oddly, bruschetta never occurred to me until just now when I sat down and started writing this. So I've been eating tomatoes on toast - inspired by a friend who's on the 5:2 diet and who advises me that if you use Nimble or Weightwatchers bread, 2 pieces come in at around 132 calories - including a dollop of Lidl's lowest fat mayo. Now I am no longer following the 5:2 diet. I'll tell you about it sometime, so my tomatoes were sliced and arranged on slices of homemade bread, drizzled with some (Italian) olive oil, sprinkled with some sea salt and pepper and served with some delicious Hampshire watercress. I decided to pass on the mayo...

Tomatoes on Toast (serves 1)

2 reasonably thick slices of good bread
tomatoes (the exact number will depend on the size of your tomatoes, how thickly you slice them, also the size of your slices of bread - may be 3-4 small to medium sized tomatoes as a guide)
Olive oil, seasalt and fresh ground pepper
Watercress to serve

Toast the bread lightly on one side under the grill. Flip the bread over and cover the uncooked side as much as possible with slices of tomato, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, then pop back under the grill for a few minutes till the tomatoes are starting to soften. Alternatively, you could sprinkle a little sugar on the tomatoes for a more caramelised effect.

Serve on a plate with some watercress.

Ciao!

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Simply Healthy Dinner Recipes are a Breeze with a Well-Stocked Pantry

With today's hectic urban lifestyle, working professionals often resort to fast food after a busy day at the office. It's convenient but also unhealthy. Fixing dinner shouldn't have to be a chore. Even if you're no culinary whiz, simple healthy dinner recipes are possible if you have a well-stocked pantry. The idea is to avoid the need to go grocery shopping every time you cook, because it cuts through the food preparation time.

Knowing what to keep on hand makes it easy for me to cook a delicious, nutritious meal every night of the week that doesn't involve burgers, fries, pizza or anything deep-fried. The benefits of cooking my own meal over opting for take-out are fairly obvious - I control the amount of salt, fat, sugar that goes into everything as prepackaged food items contain preservatives and additives that have no business in my food or my body. Eating real food goes a long way in improving my mealtime habits.

Still confused on what to pick at the grocery? Allow me simplify things by sharing food items that could be staples in your home. Adjust it according to your family's lifestyle and eating habits and you'll be whipping up a meal in a snap.

Flours - unbleached white, wheat, rice, cake, almond

Sugars - brown, cane or beet, powdered, turbinado or demerara

Dry Pastas - a few different shapes and sizes

Grains - couscous, rice, barley, quinoa, oats, flax, cornmeal

Oils - olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil, peanut oil, sesame oil

Vegetables - onions, potatoes, garlic

Canned/Jarred Tomatoes - sauce, diced, stewed, paste

Spreads - peanut, almond & hazelnut butters, jam, jelly

Natural Sweeteners - honey, maple syrup, agave

Vinegars - balsamic, white, red wine, apple cider, rice wine

Specialty Sauces - hot sauce, Tabasco, oyster sauce, mirin, rice wine, soy sauce

Nuts - almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, coconut

Dried Fruit - raisins, apricots, dates, cherries, cranberries

Dried or Canned Beans- black, navy, pinto, kidney

Canned fish/seafood - tuna, salmon, clams, sardines, anchovies

Specialty Items - artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, olives

Herbs and Spices - oregano, basil, parsley, rosemary, cumin, peppers and many more

Salts - kosher, sea salt, pickling salt, rock salt

Baking Ingredients - baking powder, baking soda, yeast, cream of tartar, chocolate

Extracts - vanilla, almond, lemon, peppermint

Beverages - coffee, tea, cocoa

You don't have to buy everything at once. The trick here is to consider the food items you eat regularly. Make a list of the foods you eat at least once a week because chances are you will need the same items when you replenish your stock. Build up your pantry gradually. Remember to also clean out your pantry occasionally and dispose of anything past its expiration period. A well-stocked pantry makes grocery shopping easier because you only need to buy perishable items (meat, vegetables and other fresh ingredients) and not every herb, sauce or condiment needed for a particular recipe you have in mind for dinner.

I cook from time to time so I'm pretty much familiar with the stuff I have in my kitchen. Mom says I make the best buffalo wing sauce while my raspberry vinaigrette dressing recipe is fast becoming a favorite at family gatherings. I've recently experimented with marinades using what I have in my pantry and I'm close to perfecting what I consider to be the best marinade for chicken. Now who says cooking is boring, huh?

I credit my love for the culinary arts in keeping me healthy all these years. I am now conscious of what I eat and even more with the food preparation. To eat healthy, I made healthy choices in what I eat all the time - meals and snacks. Eating a healthy, balanced diet provides me the necessary nutrients I need. These nutrients give me energy and keep my heart beating, my brain active, and my muscles working. And it's all thanks to my well-stocked pantry.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

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Banana Cake - Refreshing, Tasty and Healthy

It is a proven fact that the banana cake has as an abundant supply of different types of nutrients such as vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium and the like. The banana cake is also said to have the capability to prevent different types of kidney diseases including kidney cancer to a certain extent. Here are some of the superb banana cake recipes.

Ingredients

Desiccated coconut 2 ½ cupsMashed ripe bananas 750gRice flour 1 ¼ cupsWhite sugar 1 ½ cupsCoconut milk ¾ cup

For serving

Desiccated coconut ½ cup

How to prepare it?

Take a cake pan and properly grease it. Introduce desiccated coconut into a bowl and add cold water into it. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Strain it using a fine sieve and get rid of the excess water, if any. Shift the sieved coconut into a bowl of large size and add the combination of ingredients such as banana, rice flour, sugar and coconut oil. Stir it well so as to make a perfect mixture out of these ingredients. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Cover it well with foil. Introduce the cake pan into a steamer. Carefully set it over a large saucepan containing boiling water. Make sure that the water does not make any contact with the base of the pan. Cover the steamer with a lid. Steam the cake for at least 2 ½ hours or until it is fairly cooked. Take the cake out of the steamer. Keep it cool. Carefully transfer it onto a plate. Spread the toasted coconut over the top. When this is finished, serve it. It would be better if you serve it along with fresh fruits.

Upside down banana cake

Ingredients

Melted butter 6 tablespoonsBrown sugar 1 cupRipe bananas 5Yellow cake mix 18 ouncesEggs 3Rum/ milk / water 1/3 cupVegetable oil ¼ cup

Method of preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Take two 9 in round pans and properly grease and flour them. Melt the butter by heating it over low temperature. Split up the melted butter between two pans. Disperse half of the brown sugar into each pan. Take one ripe of banana and cut it into pieces. Then, arrange it on the bottom of the pan. Take another ripe banana and cut into small pieces so as to arrange the bottom of the pan. Make a combination out of the ingredients such as cake mix, eggs, oil and rum. Beat it well using an electric mixer so that all the ingredients are properly mixed for at least 2 minutes until the mixture is fairly moistened. Mash well the leftover bananas and introduce the mashed bananas into the cake mix. Split the mixture into each pan. Keep it in the oven and bake it for 30-35 minutes until the cake tester inside the cake mixture comes to vision clearly. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer it into serving plates. Then you can serve it.

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Pasta bake for days that don't quite go your way

There are some days when I almost feel like life is under control, that I know what I'm doing, that I'm parenting brilliantly, everything is running smoothly.

When I say some days, I mean, the occasional day.

Like may be once a year.

More often, I don't feel like that at all. And some days it's worse.

Days when I have to get a trombone, a bicycle and a dog up to school as well as the kids (on foot).

Days when I have no idea how I'm going to fit work in, and end up burning the midnight oil.

Days when I realise that they haven't forgotten, and not one but both children want to enter a Fairtrade cake in the Fairtrade cake competition the following day (and you know my views on such things, having vented here before).

They are BANANAS. OK?.

No, it's a fair trade logo & some bananas not a rampant blue & green Pacman

Days when I realise that the maths homework due the following day isn't a series of 'mental maths' tasks on the computer, but a full on 'investigation' of the type school helpfully expect parents to be on hand for the execution thereof: draw a grid 5 by 5 squares big, and then using 13 coins place them so that there is an odd number in each row, column and the main diagonals. Just try it OK.






Days when I have too much stuff to use up in the fridge.


Last Tuesday was one of those days.







Fortunately, there was a bag of pasta, and the things that needed using up were 2 courgettes &, a head of spring greens from last week's veg box, 4 mini chorizo sausages and half a tub of ricotta cheese. I put the pasta on, almost on auto-pilot, and as icing flew, and coins were placed and re-placed on the grid with accompanying sound effects (I'll leave you to imagine), I  engineered tea.

Having put the pasta on to boil, I fried off the chorizo, till the fat was running, then added the diced courgettes to the pan. Once the courgettes were a bit soft, I chucked in a can of plum tomatoes and a good dollop of sundried tomato pesto. 

Once it had all cooked down a bit, I stirred in the ricotta, stirred in the pasta, into a baking dish grated cheese on top and in the oven for some time. Probably about 20 minutes. And steamed the greens.

Oh did I mention, days when you can't get the photos to rotate and upload properly?

We eat something similar at least once a week. The chorizo could be leftover bacon, or cold meat - or no meat, in which case  I might use garlic and smoked paprika and an onion. The courgettes could be red peppers. The sundried tomato pesto could be tomato puree, ordinary pesto, harissa paste - frankly what ever is in the fridge without mold on it.

There's no recipe, and occasionally it's literally just cooked pasta and a tin of tomatoes cooked down with some garlic stirred through the pasta. 

I commend it to you!

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Cook healthy meals with children (India)

Healthy foods help kids grow healthy and strong. And cooking with your child gives you the chance to introduce them to the food groups and highlight healthier choices like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, meat and seafood. Children helping to pick and prepare foods are more likely to try them--and develop a taste for them. the work in the kitchen with your young children from also provides you the opportunity to teach them about food safety and food handling to avoid common food-borne diseases. How to design these cooking classes will have a direct impact on whether or not they enjoy the experience. Here you can set your aspiring chefs on the right culinary path.

Children will have fun--and be more likely to get--if you choose a healthy Recipes geared to their level. Introduce children to the "cooking" by making a simple trail mix with nuts, dried fruits and whole grain pretzels or crackers. Little hands can ladle out each ingredient and maneuver a large spoon to mix them together. Even if you're a measurement, have your child count off each nut or cracked--you can even make a game of it. Prep work a child can do naturally increases with age. Disassemble the lettuce leaves and give them a water spray is a fun introduction to make a healthy salad as a 2-or 3-year-old can handle. Three-year-olds can also knead dough and put premeasured ingredients in a mixing bowl. 4-to 5-year-olds usually have enough finger dexterity to be able to measure the ingredients. a 5-year-old is not old enough to use a knife to cut carrots, but can wash and peel them with a peeler. Related jobs like cleaning up and set the table can be assigned by age, too.

A better idea is to choose from a specific recipe and prepare it with your baby just for the experience. Make shopping for the ingredients for a special outing, just as you would go to an art shop for craft supplies. It's always smart to have extra ingredients in case you have a cooking mishap and must begin the recipe from scratch. Let's discuss such recipes that you can easily cook with your kids.

* Prep time: 45 minutes
* Cook: 10 minutes
* Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/4 TSP baking soda
* 1/4 cup shortening or vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup lukewarm water

Directions

Put flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Mix shortening or oil into the flour mixture until it forms pea-size balls. Add lukewarm water, a little at a time, until the dough is soft and pliable.
On a floured surface, knead dough until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and let it "rest" for 30 minutes. Knead the dough and form 8-10 balls. Roll them so thin and smooth as possible.
Heat an ungreased GRIDDLE or cast-iron skillet. Cook tortillas on GRIDDLE one at a time, turn when a bubble forms (less than a minute). Put the cooked tortillas in a plastic bag until ready to serve, to keep them warm and soft. Serve with butter, or fill with eggs, cheese or cooked chicken.

How kids can help: sometimes Garcia gives her grandchildren a small cookie cutter to press out fun shapes. Ashley's favorite way to eat his tortilla is warm and filled with scrambled eggs or cheese.
Per serving: 175 calories, 7 g fat (5 g saturated), 292 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol.

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Make Healthy & Scrumptious Salads - Four Bean Salad (India Network)

All you need are the ingredients mentioned in the shopping list, a bit of pre-preparation, and some smart and practical tips that will help you cut down your cooking time considerably. Follow the best recipes and you will have a delicious and nourishing meal ready within no time. Quick and easy to make, salads are the best way to absorb the benefits of fresh vegetables and fruits. Cool and refreshing, salads make an ideal summer brunch. As vegetables and fruits have high moisture content, salad is an excellent way to stay hydrated during summer.

Eat it as a main course, as an accompaniment to a spicy dish or simply when you feel like a bite. You can make your own salad combinations or try out our delicious and quick to make Quinoa Salad, Chilled Melon Ball Salad as well as Barley and Crunchy Nut Salad. Salads are no longer just diet food, composed of lettuce and dressing. There are large numbers of delicious concoctions available, including light and fresh, hearty and savory -- these big, bold combinations of prime produce and flavor-packed add-ins make it easy to get your veggies on.

You can use chicken breast and turkey bacon for a leaner version of many popular salads. If you prefer, you can use roasted turkey breast instead of poached chicken. There are many healthy salad recipes that can be made in a very little time that includes various beans and vegetables. These salads are high on health quotient and also never fail to tingle your taste buds. Let us discuss on such salad recipe that should definitely be the part of your dinner plans. It is regarded as one of the healthiest salad recipes, four bean salad.

Four Bean Salad
Nutritious bean salad.

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 30-40 minutes
Category: Veg

Ingredients
*White cow beans (chowli/lobia), soaked 1/4 cup
*Red kidney beans (rajma), soaked 1/4 cup
*Green gram (sabut moong), soaked 1/4 cup
*Salt to taste
*French beans, 1/4 inch pieces 10
*Lemon juice 3 tablespoons
*Fresh coriander leaves, chopped 1/2 medium bunch
*Fresh mint leaves, chopped 1/4 medium bunch
*Green chillies, chopped 2
*Chaat masala 11/2 teaspoons
*Onion, 1/4 inch pieces 1 medium

Method
Boil the three soaked beans separately in one cup of salted water each till soft. Drain and let them cool. Boil French beans in one cup of salted boiling water till done. Drain immediately (you may reserve the cooking liquid for some other recipe) and refresh with cold water. Dilute lemon juice with equal amount of water. Stir in chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chilies and chaat masala. Shake well and refrigerate the dressing for at least an hour. Mix all the cooked beans with diced onion and add the dressing. Toss the salad to evenly mix the dressing and serve cold.

India Food Network is a website that provides a number of salad recipes online. It is home to recipes of many types of cuisines like Continental, Chinese, Indian & Italian cuisines. You can enjoy a large number of recipes available on the web at the ease of a single click. Don't miss out on these exotic recipes and encourage the chef in you right away.

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Plethora of healthy vegetarian food on a pure vegetarian restaurant near you (John H.)

It was my birthday last week, and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the day. From when my wall clock stuck 12, started my mobile telephone. There were back-to-back calls with pip by messages of birthday greetings. When the pace of these messages began to slow down, then started bouquets raining. It went to 12 o'clock at noon. I was overwhelmed with all the messages, calls and bouquets, which I had not expected such a response from my friends and relatives. The reason I did not foresee when all of this is that last year on my birthday I received not a single call from my parents. And because I thought people might have forgotten that I am far away from those seated in the capital.

Since I stopped reminiscing about earlier and came back to the present. I thought they made my day, and now it is my turn to show my gratitude to them. And then the idea though of a celebration that also serves as a get together. But there was a dilemma in my mind and that was where I would give this party, for most of my friends are vegetarian and only a few are non-vegetarian. So, if I go for a non-vegetarian restaurant, friends they are vegetarians will not be happy. Therefore, it is best to go with a vegetarian outlet, for non-vegetarian does not remember eating in a vegetarian place.

In my search to find a good restaurant, I checked out almost a hundred hotels and restaurant, but to my surprise, I was not a good restaurant. That's when I called up one of my close friends for his proposal. He told me if I really want to enjoy my birthday party in full, then I have to choose, Sudh restaurant you have everything necessary for a good party. Each party is given on birthdays, anniversaries, marriages and for all other occasions, is known for the quality of the food served there. And when it comes to food, it's no match for taste and lip-smacking kitchen supplies. So I booked a table for 20 persons and messaged my near and dear ones to invite them over the party room at 8 o'clock in the evening.

All collected it before time and that staff had made all the arrangements right from balloons to garlands to music. Everything was in order, the cake was cut, flowers were showered on me and birthday wishes were recited and after everything started dinner party. The food was so delicious that all of the invited licked the fingers until the last piece of the food, it was followed by sweet desserts and it was an absolute ecstasy.

That day was unforgettable with much joy, entertainment, and food and if you are also planning to throw a party, then I suggest you to join Sudh restaurant, as they deliver food (vegetarianmat vegetarianmat for children, low-calorie and vegetable soup) everyone's choice.

The author of this article is an economy in a leading company, he shares his experience when he goes out to eat healthy vegetarian food with their friends.

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Stripy Meringues - my BakingMad favourite summer dessert

What’s your favourite summer dessert?

That's the question BakingMad asked me recently, and invited me to write a post about it. 

BakingMad.com have loads of ideas for summer recipes, from cupcakes to take on a picnic, to luxurious cheesecake. Check out the website for more inspiration.

I tend to ignore dessert in the summer – not that we don’t have 'pudding', but there’s so much fantastic fruit around that it’s easy to just bring out a plate of strawberries & raspberries without further embellishment.

If pushed, well, Summer Pudding has to rank as one of the best puddings ever, and is certainly the Husband's all out fave, but it's not quite the right time for that yet. The currants in the garden are still green.

On the other hand, there are Hampshire strawberries around. Strawberries apparently go with black pepper, with balsamic vinegar, with a whole host of things. Call me traditional, though, but I like them with cream. And meringues.

I know a lot of people get the fear from meringue. 

I don't want to sound smug, but making meringue doesn't phase me. My mum always had a tin of meringues in the cupboard, and it's never given me much of a problem. On the other hand, chewy and delicious as I like it, my meringue never looks particularly beautiful. If it's for a pavlova, well, cracks are part of the charm, and anyway it'll all be covered in cream and fruit anyway. Individual meringues, well, again, if they are a complete disaster, you can break them up for an Eton mess kind of thing. More cream and fruit. Believe me, no one's going to complain.

So to make this a little more of a challenge, I decided to embrace something that does give me the fear - piping. For too long, I have looked at photos of beautifully piped cupcakes, cakes, petit fours on OPB (Other People's Blogs), and known with certainty that in my hands, a piping bag could only lead to one thing:  complete and utter disaster. You only have to look at the mess I made of my hot cross buns, cutting the corner off a freezer bag...

BakingMad sent me a variety of cake decorating paraphenalia, including some Silver Spoon food colouring, and a booklet which included a picture of beautifully striped meringues, and something clicked in my head.  "I'm going to have a go at that" I thought. "I'm going to get me some striped meringue" (in my best Southern drawl).

Cue a trip to Hobbycraft and confusion in the cake icing aisle, while Pink roamed the store unchecked, looking for things to spend money on. We exited with some disposable piping bags, 2 nozzles and a 'coupler'. Plus some face paints and a bag of fizzy sweets.

Anyway, back to the meringues. This is my basic recipe, which you can increase or reduce as you like. As I use my trusty Kenwood to make the meringue mix, I'd never make less than 2 egg whites' worth.

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

225g caster sugar

1 tsp cornflower (to make chewy meringue)

Whisk the egg white with the salt till stiff but still wet.  Add a couple of tablespoons of the sugar, whisk in, then sprinkle on the cornflour and carry on whisking, slowly pouring in the rest of the sugar, till the meringue is looking shiny, and you get stiff peaks.

At this point, you can then make a large meringue for pavlova, or spoon dollops on to baking paper lined baking sheets, and bake the meringues for 1-2 hrs till dry and lift from the paper. Alternatively, just turn off the oven and leave while the oven cools down (just don't forget to take then out before you turn the oven on again).

So if you're not going to dollop with a spoon, you could use a piping bag and pipe out the meringue. And you could colour the mix, to make coloured meringue, or simply (Ha!) paint a line of food colour up your piping bag and Bob (or striped meringue) would be your Uncle. 

Well, call it a fluke, but it really worked. I made up my meringue, and took it slowly. I used gel colour for the stripey meringues, and used the Silver Spoon food colourings to make the pink and green meringues. For the stripes, you literally use a brush or a cocktail stick and paint a line of colour up the inside of the piping bag, then spoon in your mixture for piping, and pipe away.

The actual piping itself left something to be desired, certainly I didn't get it right every time, Pink had a go with a few of them, and there's no way I could offer you my 'top tips' for piping meringue, because there's a whole host of talented meringue-pipers out there in internet-land, and I am not about to try and compete - but I managed to get enough of them looking pretty good.

So there you have it. Our favourite summer dessert. Strawberries (& raspberries) with stripy meringue. And cream.

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Green garlic in your veg box?

Spring is definitely here, no doubt about it. All of a sudden, the garden has spring into life, and the veg box is full of more interesting stuff, and I haven't had a swede for weeks...

Two weeks on the trot, we've had green garlic on the veg box. Looking like garlic, but not, with the 'scapes' - the long green leafy bits, still intact, smelling beautifully of garlic, yet not as strong. 

Imagine walking through a wood perfumed with wild garlic, and you get the idea. 

When you cut through the bulb, you can see where the garlic cloves are forming.

I'm not sure if you would eat green garlic raw, although I expect that sliced finely and mixed in with a salad, it would be pretty good. Gently cooked, though, it imparts a wonderful flavour to dishes.

On Saturday  evening, I sliced up the 2 bulbs, with their scapes, and cooked them gently in a good knob of butter till they were soft. 

I mashed them into potato with some milk, for a gorgeous garlicky mash to go with a roast chicken. Unfortunately, we were all so hungry that it all got eaten up with no time for photos.

Last week, the garlic starred in a quick and easy chicken dish that worked brilliantly. It also used up the rest of the courgettes which had served so admirably in the Blackcurrant Slice. Fortunately, unlike the mash, I had time to take a photo of the finished dish...

Chicken with bacon, courgettes & green garlic

6 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces
10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 bulbs of green garlic, with scapes
200ml chicken stock
1-2 courgettes, cubed
1 lettuce, trimmed and sliced
2 tbsp sour cream

Gently dry fry the bacon in a large pan until the fat is released and the bacon starts to brown. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and add the chicken to the pan, adding a little olive oil if the bacon didn't release much fat.

Brown the chicken pieces, then move to one side of the pan and add the sliced garlic to the pan, and cook for 30 seconds or so till the garlic scapes go bright green. Return the bacon to the pan and pour on the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then cover and  simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the courgette to the pan, return the lid and cook for another couple of minutes, before adding the lettuce, then cook for 4 minutes or so till the courgette is cooked and the lettuce has wilted.

Check the chicken is cooked through, stir through the sour cream, and season if necessary.

Serve with wild rice.

 
I'm linking this up to Simple and in Season, hosted by Ren Behan a great place to find more seasonal inspiration.
 

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Make Healthy & Scrumptious Salads - Four Bean Salad (India Network)

All you need are the ingredients mentioned in the shopping list, a bit of pre-preparation, and some smart and practical tips that will help you cut down your cooking time considerably. Follow the best recipes and you will have a delicious and nourishing meal ready within no time. Quick and easy to make, salads are the best way to absorb the benefits of fresh vegetables and fruits. Cool and refreshing, salads make an ideal summer brunch. As vegetables and fruits have high moisture content, salad is an excellent way to stay hydrated during summer.

Eat it as a main course, as an accompaniment to a spicy dish or simply when you feel like a bite. You can make your own salad combinations or try out our delicious and quick to make Quinoa Salad, Chilled Melon Ball Salad as well as Barley and Crunchy Nut Salad. Salads are no longer just diet food, composed of lettuce and dressing. There are large numbers of delicious concoctions available, including light and fresh, hearty and savory -- these big, bold combinations of prime produce and flavor-packed add-ins make it easy to get your veggies on.

You can use chicken breast and turkey bacon for a leaner version of many popular salads. If you prefer, you can use roasted turkey breast instead of poached chicken. There are many healthy salad recipes that can be made in a very little time that includes various beans and vegetables. These salads are high on health quotient and also never fail to tingle your taste buds. Let us discuss on such salad recipe that should definitely be the part of your dinner plans. It is regarded as one of the healthiest salad recipes, four bean salad.

Four Bean Salad
Nutritious bean salad.

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 30-40 minutes
Category: Veg

Ingredients
*White cow beans (chowli/lobia), soaked 1/4 cup
*Red kidney beans (rajma), soaked 1/4 cup
*Green gram (sabut moong), soaked 1/4 cup
*Salt to taste
*French beans, 1/4 inch pieces 10
*Lemon juice 3 tablespoons
*Fresh coriander leaves, chopped 1/2 medium bunch
*Fresh mint leaves, chopped 1/4 medium bunch
*Green chillies, chopped 2
*Chaat masala 11/2 teaspoons
*Onion, 1/4 inch pieces 1 medium

Method
Boil the three soaked beans separately in one cup of salted water each till soft. Drain and let them cool. Boil French beans in one cup of salted boiling water till done. Drain immediately (you may reserve the cooking liquid for some other recipe) and refresh with cold water. Dilute lemon juice with equal amount of water. Stir in chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chilies and chaat masala. Shake well and refrigerate the dressing for at least an hour. Mix all the cooked beans with diced onion and add the dressing. Toss the salad to evenly mix the dressing and serve cold.

India Food Network is a website that provides a number of salad recipes online. It is home to recipes of many types of cuisines like Continental, Chinese, Indian & Italian cuisines. You can enjoy a large number of recipes available on the web at the ease of a single click. Don't miss out on these exotic recipes and encourage the chef in you right away.

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Butterflied Bangers with Beetroot - or bread & butter. But no Brownie(s)

Did you see what I did there? I love a bit of alliteration.

So, according to Nigel Slater, there's lots of beautiful beetroot around at the moment, and he's not wrong. 

Beetroot has grown on me over the last few years, and now I really love it. It's delicious in a salad, or roasted as a side vegetable, and I've got my eye on this Balti which includes beetroot and cheddar in a kind of Anglo-Indian fusion curry. I got a great big bunch of it in my veg box this week, and curry aside, up on my Twitter feed popped our Nige as featured on the Guardian's website - a recipe for a sausage and beetroot type of pan fry: chunks of beetroot and carrot slowly fried with garlic and chopped rosemary, then add in chunks of good herby sausages to cook, and finally some red wine vinegar to finish off. Oh so simple.

I'd got my meal plan, sorted out on the basis of the contents of the veg box, and I was really keen to give the beetroot a bit more than the usual  treatment, so this fitted in perfectly. I'd also neglected the previous week's carrots so they'd ended up in a last minute carrot cake (noting wrong with that, but, you know, not necessarily the most ideal), so I wanted to give this week's carrots some love too.

I loved the idea of the sweet veg with the sausages - our butcher does some fantastic Cumberland bangers which always go down a treat. You get the idea. I was REALLY looking forward to eating this. 

I just shouldn't have attempted it last night when I was feeling grotty as you like with that most of English of things - a summer cold; when I was on a schedule to get the kids home and fed and turned around in time for Pink to go to Brownies at 6.

I should have known not to attempt something with no guidance as to cooking time, only suggestions for 'speeding things up' (i.e. use pre-cooked beetroot). My beetroot were small, so plenty of opportunity to get covered in red as I peeled them (no CSI gloves for me, Ms Lawson). I didn't start cooking early enough, and as the time approached to leave for Brownies, with Pink still not fed, I ended up having to 'butterfly' the sausage chunks (slice them down one side to open them out and cook the middles) in order to get them cooked properly for her to eat. 

And the potato chips I was making in the oven (I was baking bread at the same time, so the oven was on) hadn't cooked, so she had to have bread and butter... The rest of it had to wait on the stove as I dashed down the road to get Pink to Brownies.

Except Brownies wasn't on. In my befuddled summer cold induced haze, I had forgotten that it was cancelled.

By the time I got back home, with Pink in tow, the chips were finished, but everything else - well, let's say it hadn't necessarily benefited from sitting around...

Still good, but I'm willing to bet not quite as good as Nigel's... Better luck next time, hey.

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No mobile phone? Don't worry, there's always Blackcurrant Slice

Do you carry your mobile phone around with you always?

I'm certainly guilty of treating mine like a 5th limb sometimes, carrying it with me everywhere, yet I can also get very irritated with other people doing the same. I remember one summer before the kids came along, when the Husband was due to go on operations, but we had been allowed to continue with a holiday to the north of Scotland provided he had his phone with him and remained in contact. It drove me mad - not least because the best mobile phone signal was out in the middle of the local loch (unsurprisingly given the prevalence of fishermen in the local community), so we had to make sure that we took the dinghy out onto the water everyday regardless of the weather while he stood there in the boat trying to get a signal and make sure he wasn't required back on darkest Salisbury Plain, while I tried to keep her steady. Not a situation guaranteed to enhance marital bliss, I can tell you.

But this isn't about him - it's about me. The problem is that sometimes, I don't have my phone with me and because I almost always DO have it with me, this can cause problems - or not, as it turns out.

The Husband is panicking a little because our currant bushes appear to be on course for a bumper harvest.

He'd found some blackcurrants in the freezer from last year, and texted me while I was walking Pink to Brownies the other night to ask me to get some preserving sugar so that he could make jam, but I didn't have my phone with me.

He was a little annoyed - not just because he'd been thwarted in his preserving ambitions, and because blackcurrant jam is a particular favourite. "You ALWAYS have your phone with you!" he said. "We need to make space in the freezer".

Well, it was a good job I didn't have the phone, because if I'd bought the sugar and he'd made the jam, I wouldn't have had any blackcurrants left to add to a cake.

This cake is a bit of an oddity, and you may look at the recipe, raise your eyebrows, and say  "Really?" but I'm here to tell you, it's a winner. We all loved it. The Husband thought it was quite tart, but then that's blackcurrants for you. And it didn't stop him having a second piece.

Using up some of the courgettes from the veg box also gives this cake more brownie points. I mean, it's too early in the summer to have too many courgettes, and I got 3 in last week's box. Getting some good recipes up my sleeve now thought will stand me in good stead for later on, no doubt. This cake started off as Harry Eastwood's Coconut Lime & Blueberry Slice from Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache, a book I'm turning to more and more at the moment for sweet treats, but as you'll see, I didn't have limes or blueberries, and not enough coconut...

Blackcurrant Slice


80g caster sugar
30g unsalted butter
 pinch of salt

100g dessicated coconut
50g oats

2 medium eggs
150g caster sugar
150g courgette, peeled & grated
zest & juice of half a lemon
120g rice flour
2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
200g blackcurrants (frozen is fine)

icing sugar

20cm square loose bottomed tin, lined with greaseproof, then lightly brush the greaseproof with sunflower oil. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan.

First, heat the sugar and butter together to make a paste then mix in the salt, coconut and oats and press into the bottom of the prepared tin. Bake for 10-15 minutes till golden, but keep an eye on it.

Make the sponge by beating together the eggs and sugar till light and pale, then add in the courgette & lemon zest, beat again, then finally add int he flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice. Pour this quite liquid mixture onto the base, scatter the blackcurrants on top, then return to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

Cool for a few minutes before seiving some icing sugar over the top, and serving up. We had it warm with some leftover sour cream and it was delicious.

 

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