Category Archives: food

Chilli roasted vegetables 

We eat roasted vegetables at least once a week. It is such a versatile dish and one that involves minimum effort – perfect 🙂

Invariably we have it as a supporting dish but it is worthy of being a main dish.

This dish posted is simply an assortment of vegetables – carrots, parsnips, peppers and sprouts – roasted in a drizzle of coconut oil for about 40 minutes with the occasionally gentle turning.Then I mixed in a tin of chopped tomatoes and a generous tsp of chilli powder and  topped with grated cheese. Back in to the oven to heat through. Serve with crusty bread.

Stem ginger gluten free sponge pudding – microwaved

I don’t use my microwave very much – heating up milk for my coffee, defrosting some things. However, when a speedy pudding is needed then it comes in to its own. From getting the ingredients out of the cupboard to eating the pudding takes about 12 minutes!!

Ingredients:

170 g self-raising flour – gluten-free      4 eggs (3 if not using gluten free flour)

140 g butter – softened

100 g muscovado sugar

4 pieces of stem ginger – chopped in to small pieces

2 tsp ginger powder

1 tbsp syrup from the stem ginger jar

Method:

Put all the ingredients (except stem ginger and syrup) in to a bowl and mix well.  Add the stem ginger pieces and syrup and mix until combined. Put in to a microwave proof dish / bowl – I line a 2 lb pudding bowl with cling film so the pudding turns out easily.

Cook on a high setting for 5 – 6 mins and check whether the sponge is cooked – skewer test. It should not take any more than 7 minutes to cook.

Delicious with custard 🙂

 

Banana, orange and currant gluten free mini bundt cakes 

I do love a bundt cake – makes an ordinary cake look so pretty. i was thrilled when I discovered the mini bundt tins 🙂  Of course these would be just as tasty in cupcake tins.

Preheat oven 180 c / Gas 5   Makes 12

Ingredients:

140 g butter                                    1 banana mashed

120 g muscovado sugar               Rind of an orange

170 g gluten-free self-raising flour       1/2 cup currants

4 eggs (3 if using non gf flour)

Method:

Put all the ingredients in to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Spoon the mixture in to the tins and  bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

 

Breakfast muffin (gluten free)

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, eating disorder, eggs, food, food is medicine, fruit, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, home grown, home produce, recipe, Uncategorized by

One of my daughters is always dashing around, frequently doesn’t have breakfast and often ‘picks something up’ on the way in to work when she gets her daily caffeine hit.

I know you can buy breakfast bars etc. but when I have looked at the ingredients I can’t really say I would want to start my day in this way.

So, I had a session experimenting at the weekend and created a muffin – full of breakfast  ingredients. Tasty, filling and nutritious.

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Makes 9

Preheat oven to 180c / Gas 4       Lightly grease a muffin tin

Ingredients:

1 cup of rolled oats      1 cup of milk           2 eggs (1 if using non gf flour)

1 cup of gf plain flour    1tsp baking powder   1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup coconut sugar / muscavado sugar       1/2 cup stewed apple    1/2 cup raisins

Method:

Put the oats, milk and eggs in a bowl. Stir in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Finally add the sugar, apple and raisins. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

I served them with Greek yoghurt and a dollop of apples sauce.

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…my daughter took a couple to test – had them for ‘breakfast on the go’ – thumbs up from her 🙂

Food traditions

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, food, home baking, home cooking, recipe, Uncategorized by

I was making the Christmas cake last week (late, I know but circumstances have meant it has taken me longer to get around to it) when a friend came to visit. All the ingredients were in the bowl and the final mixing was taking place. I invited my friend to have a stir and make a wish. This intrigued her. She had never heard of this tradition – something I have done since … well since I can remember. In fact we used to queue up to stir the cake and make a wish at my primary school. Interestingly another friend arrived shortly after and promptly stirred and made a wish – she too followed has followed this tradition.

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This brought the conversation around to other food traditions – such as using the top tier of a wedding cake as the Christening cake. Again, first visitor had not heard of this. I wonder whether this is dying out with the advent of cupcake wedding cakes etc.

I don’t think I have made these up and I don’t think they are traditions peculiar to our family household…unless you tell me otherwise! I know we do have our own traditions – one of my daughters has to have mint jelly with her Christmas dinner and has done so since being very young (now 28).If I was to forget this – well –  I don’t know what would happen.

Just wondering what foodie traditions you have in your household…?

Roasted vegetables, watercress and chicken soup

I always make this type of soup using leftovers. When I make a roast dinner or a dish involving roast vegetables I ensure there are some leftover to make soup the next day. Perfect if the roast was chicken as the scraps can be added to the soup and the carcass can be boiled / simmered to make a nutritious stock.

So, to a few leftover roasted vegetables – including potatoes – I add a bag of watercress and pint of stock. I simmer this for 10 minutes, blitz and then add the chicken scraps. Quick. Easy. Delicious.

Seasons

Posted in Aga cooking, eating disorder, food, food is medicine, fruit, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, home grown, home produce, jams, preserves, pudding, recipe, salad, sorbet, Uncategorized, vegetables, vegetarian by

Chatting with a friend the other day, we started to discuss the seasons – random I know – and tried to pick a favourite.

I found this really difficult but in doing this task I realised that my love of the different seasons revolves around food choices!

Spring: I love spring – the fresh colours – vibrant greens of new buds, blossom laden trees – replaced with fruit in the autumn, blankets of yellow for daffodils. Planting of vegetables under glass ready for the frosts to stop. Hens, ducks and quail come back in to lay.

Summer: fruit sorbets / nice cream. Arrays of salad vegetables. New potatoes…yum

Autumn: the amazing palette of colours and the trees enter their quiescent phase for the winter. This is when I really wish I could paint. With autumn comes such a marvellous bounty of fruits and vegetables and the sound of the tractors harvesting wheat, barley, maize. hay for the animals etc. Nights turning cooler – one pot suppers / casseroles / fruit crumbles  /  jam/ liqueur and chutney making / freezer filling.

and then there is winter…curtains closing early, log fires burning, mulled wine, fruit cakes, mince pies, rich food and of course – family gatherings.

If I had to choose one…probably  autumn.

How about you?

 

 

Leek and potato soup 

Posted in Aga cooking, beating cancer, coeliac, dairy free, eating disorder, food, food is medicine, fructose free, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home cooking, mains, Uncategorized, vegetables, vegetarian by

I love autumn and winter – perfect weather for a bowl of warming and filling soup. I tend to make my soups hearty rather than a consomme type.

This soup is so easy to make and quick – from thought to tableware in half an hour😊

For a pan load that will provide 4 generous servings I use:

Ingredients:

3 leeks washed and chopped

5 white potatoes  peeled and chopped into small pieces

1 pint of stock – vegetable  or chicken

Cup of milk – optional

Salt and pepper.

Method:

Put the leeks, potatoes stock and seasoning in a pan. Cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until soft. Remove from the heat and blend until nearly smooth. I like to leave the odd chunk. Put back on the heat and add the milk if desired. bring up to boiling and serve.

Marathon or sprint?

Posted in eating disorder, food, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

In my younger days I was always on some form of diet – I’ve tried many – the ones where you spend a weekly fee, get weighed and celebrate ‘loser of the week’ (whole new meaning to the term ‘ loser’!); ones where you eat cabbage soup and very little else; meal replacement – shakes; meal replacement – shakes, protein bars and gloopy soups; not carbohydrates at the same meal as protein; very low calorie diets; eating very little carbohydrate and freely eating protein and any fats and so on…and so on.

Gosh – when I read that list back it is frightening.

What was even more frightening was that if I had put some weight on I would start one of the diets again with the view, ‘Well…it worked last time’. Thankfully I am beyond all that now. I was, however having a chat with a someone recently for whom this cycle of diet, put weight on , diet was a regular occurrence. When they uttered the words, ‘I’m doing that diet because it has always worked,’ I couldn’t stop myself from saying,’But it doesn’t work!’  They looked so affronted. I then explained my thinking – ie. if you are repeating a diet format to lose weight, again, then it hasn’t worked…as you have put weight back on. The restriction for a set time frame enabled  / facilitated weight loss but once stopped the weight piles back on. Enforced change has taken place – not actual changes…healthy changes that can become habit.

So I believe to get your body to its healthy weight is not about a sprint diet but more of a steady marathon of small changes over time that can be sustained.

Your thoughts?

 

Lemon and poppy seed gf cake 

Prepare a 2 lb/ 900 g loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 180c / gas mark 5

Ingredients:

170 g Self raising gluten-free flour      120 g light muscavado sugar    2 or 3 tbsp poppy seeds

140 g softened butter          4 eggs ( 3 if using non gf flour)    1 tsp baking powder

Juice and rind of 2 lemons – juice of 1/2 lemon for cake and 1 1/2 for drizzle topping

80 g sugar for topping (mix the sugar and lemon from 1 1/2 lemons together)

Method:

Put all of the ingredients for the cake (except lemon juice, rind and poppy seeds) in to a bowl and mix well. Add the lemon rind, juice from half a lemon and poppy seeds and combine. Put mixture in to the prepared tin and bake for about 35 mins – until skewer is clean.

Whilst the cake is still hot and in the tin spoon the lemon/sugar mixture all over the top of the cake. Once cool, remove the cake from the tin.