Category Archives: food

One Lovely Blog Award

Posted in food, food is medicine, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, home grown, One lovely blog award, Uncategorized by

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A huge thank you to the lovely Dolly of koolkosherkitchen, an extremely supportive and helpful blogger-friend with an amazing blog, who has nominated me fo One Lovely Blog Award.

Here are the rules:

 

  • Post to accept the nomination.
  • Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.
  • List 7 things about yourself.
  • Link to the blogs you nominate.
  • Notify the recipients of their award.
  • Post the rules!

Seven things about me:

  1. I have a wonderful husband, family and friends who support me through the ups and downs of life and whom I feel thoroughly blessed to know.
  2. I am and always have been an animal lover – taking  in waifs and strays all my life. Presently I have 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 horse, hens, ducks and quail. All keep me busy and keep me out of mischief!
  3. I love music – having a truly eclectic taste. One minute I may be listening to AC/DC and the next listening to Faure’s Requiem.
  4. Books, books and more books – I love reading. Shelves are bending as I add to my collection. I have a few favourites that I read every couple of years – To Kill a Mockingbird, A Suitable Boy, An Equal Music (am a Vikram Seth fan) and Shipping News.
  5. Poetry – have always loved it – ever since my daddy bought me my first book of verse when I was six years old. I love words – I love to learn new words – language is such a delight to explore and use, yet we tend to stick to a core vocabulary.
  6. Nature – flora and fauna – love it all and the magical sights and treasures this planet has to offer.
  7. Lastly, if I can only share 7 things – I love cooking and exploring flavours and playing around with ingredients. Cooking gives me a real freedom of expression.

Now the difficult part – nominating 7 and only seven other blogs. I apologise if I have not included you but I have so many fantastic blogs to choose from 🙂

  1. Lathiya from Cookwithsmileblog https://cookwithsmileblog.wordpress.com 
  2. Jack from Pepsfreefromkitchen https://pepsfreefromkitchen.wordpress.com
  3. Daal from Happiness Between Tails https://happinessbetweentails.wordpress.com
  4. Amanda from A Thousand Crumbs https://athousandcrumbs.com
  5. Jane from Cakes, bakes and simple suppers  https://cakesbakesandsimplesuppers.wordpress.com
  6. Aleks from Healthy food and travel blog https://aleksdajcz.wordpress.com
  7. Rachel from How to provide https://howtoprovide.com

Thank you, Jo x

The Black Cat, Blue Sea Blogger Award

Posted in Aga cooking, food, food is medicine, functional food, home baking, home cooking, The Black Cat Blue Sea blogger award, Uncategorized by

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Thank you very much to What Katie Did Next who has nominated me for the wonderful Black Cat, Blue Sea Award.

“This award is for bloggers who strive to write for everybody, and no matter how many viewers they get, make an impact on a reader. This award is an expression of gratitude to the nominee.”

A wonderful gesture from Katie whose blog is both insightful and a fascinating read 🙂

Anyone nominated has to answer three questions, set by the person who nominated them, and then nominate their own recipients whilst also setting them their own three questions to answer.

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The questions set for me to answer are:

1. If you could swap lives with someone for a week, who would it be and why?

It doesn’t say the person has to be living – I would have loved to swap places with Charles Darwin, as he spent time on the Galapagos Islands. Why – because his finds on the island supported his theory that species of living things have changed over time leading to his publishing of The Origin of Species and his theory of evolution by natural selection. Life changing.

2.What is your favourite book, movie and CD?

Favourite book – very difficult to narrow it to one book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (just beats A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth)

Favourite movie – Old: Breakfast at Tiffany’s   Recent: Pretty Woman

CD – this is so difficult… Pink Floyd – Dark side of the moon.

3.Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

If I’d been asked this 2 months ago my answer would have been very different but having been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy and drug therapy…I just want to be here.

I would like to nominate the following people:

Sara Ms.Health-Esteem

Laura Feast Wisely

Fran Nelipot Cottage

Sumith Keralas.live

Dolly Koolkosherkitchen

Grace wingingitbygrace

Deborah and Charlotte Desires of the Foodaholics

My questions for you are:

1.If you were an animal what would you be and why?

2. What is your favourite book?

3. Who is your hero / heroine?

 

 

Mushroom ‘stroganoff’

Posted in Aga cooking, cheese, coeliac, food, fructose free, functional food, gluten free, home cooking, mains, meat free, recipe, Uncategorized, vegetarian by

A thoroughly delicious but incredibly simple meal. I used full fat everything…but all the relevant ingredients could be substituted for reduced calorie if so desired.

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I didn’t really measure anything so this is rough guide:

Ingredients:

Punnet of button mushrooms                          Parmesan      Butter/oil to cook

Brie – chopped into chunks                               Single cream

Garlic clove – finely chopped                            Onion – finely chopped

Method:

Saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms in butter/oil.

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Add the brie and stir until melted.

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Stir in sufficient cream to make a sauce – do not boil.

Serve immediately. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Delicious on naan (gf) bread.

 

Irony

Posted in beating cancer, breast cancer, cancer, cancer treatment, chemotherapy, eating disorder, food, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, positive mind, Uncategorized by

…a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.

I believe I eat healthily. I have a number of friends who frequently message me, after seeing something I have posted on my Instagram account @jfb50, asking me, ‘What on earth is that?’ or ‘So what does that do?’  I even have one particular checkout assistant at my local supermarket who quizzes me on everything that passes along the belt – ‘How are you going to cook that?’ and one day popped up in the spice aisle when I was looking for sumac and followed me around the supermarket asking me all about the food I was buying!

I eat a balanced diet and thoroughly enjoy what I eat. I ‘listen’ to my body and respond to any dietary preferences. Talking of preferences – I avoid taking tablets of any kind if I can – unless prescribed.

So…with this in mind, this week, I ‘willingly’ signed the consent forms for a 6×3 week treatment cycle of chemotherapy. The impact of these toxins: the destruction of the flora in my large intestine that I have nurtured with my daily kefir and frequent meals of beans and pulses; the stripping of calcium from my body and all manner of other unpleasantness that I don’t really want to think about! But of course, the pay off is, I hope, the destruction of anything lurking in my system that shouldn’t be there.

I know that the food I eat will heal me and my positive attitude will see me through 🙂

Any tips gratefully received 🙂

Banana cake -gluten free

Posted in Aga cooking, cake, eggs, food, fruit, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, recipe, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

The perfect way to use up the last, lonely bananas sitting in the fruit bowl looking brown and not remotely appetising.

Prepare an 18cm square tin or 2lb / 900 g loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 150c / Gas 2

Ingredients:

170 g gluten-free self-raising flour       140 g butter

100 g light muscovado sugar         4 eggs (3 if not using gf flour)

1 large /2 small ripe bananas – 5/6 slices for the top and the rest mashed (I leave mine quite chunky) or 1 large mashed and 2 split in half for the top of the cake if making a square cake.

Method:

Put all the ingredients (except banana) in to a bowl and mix well until smooth. Add the mashed banana and ensure all mixed in. Put the mixture in the prepared tin and place the sliced banana on the surface of the mixture.

Place in the oven and cook on the low heat for about 45 minutes – until the mixture is firming up. Then increase the heat to 180 C / gas mark 4 and cook until a skewer comes out clean – about 1/2 hour.

Turn on to a rack and allow to cool – or eat as a delicious pudding whilst still hot from the oven!

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Changing tastes

Posted in beating cancer, breast cancer, cancer, drink, eating disorder, food, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, home cooking, positive mind, recipe, Uncategorized by

I have been informed that when I start chemotherapy food just won’t taste the same. Now for a food lover, I find this prospect quite unnerving. Talking to other people who have undergone the same therapy, I have been warned that sometimes taste preferences change from day to day, or the desire for sweets goes – not a problem for me..phew, or I will have a bitter or metallic taste in my mouth, or I will no longer enjoy red meat – again…phew -don’t eat it any way.

This all got me thinking about how my taste buds have changed over the years and foods I once enjoyed I now know longer eat or vice versa. I distinctly remember when I started to enjoy ‘grown up foods’ – in my early 20s. Until that age I couldn’t bear foods such as parmesan or blue cheese or very oddly – kedgeree!. It wasn’t until my late 30s that I could eat and enjoy olives – I frequently tried as they always looked so delicious. As I have got older my once ‘sweet tooth’ has gone and I will choose savoury over sweet every time.

I understand the medical reason – I was born with approximately 10,000 taste buds that are replaced every two weeks or so but over time they aren’t replaced and the numbers start to decrease and so flavours that were once too intense are now more palatable. I ‘get’ this but still find it fascinating.

What foods did you dislike as a child and now enjoy?

Vegetarian chilli

Posted in Aga cooking, casserole, coeliac, food, food is medicine, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, home baking, home cooking, meat free, recipe, specialised diet, Uncategorized, vegan, vegetarian by

This is my go to speedy chilli dish. One pot does the cooking so limited washing up – always a bonus. Have played around with my spice mix and this is a moderate chilli- the addition of the cayena guindillas do give it an additional punch so can be omitted. Chewing on a hidden gem does give your tongue a bit of a zap!

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Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil       1 white onion – chopped

1 pepper – deseeded and chopped

250 g of vegetarian mince

1 large can of kidney beans – washed and drained

1 large can of chopped tomatoes      1 can of water

5 guindillas chopped (optional)

Spices: 2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 2 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of raw cacao powder

Method:

Saute the onions and pepper until softened.

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Add the vegetarian mince and stir until heated through.

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Add the tinned tomatoes and kidney beans.

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Stir through and fill the tomato can with water and add to the mix.

Add the spice blend, stir thoroughly, cover and allow to heat through thoroughly.

 

 

 

Is 3 the magic number?

Posted in food, gluten free, healthy eating, healthy fats, home baking, home cooking, mains, meat, meat free, pudding, recipe, salad, starter, Uncategorized, vegan, vegetarian by

The other day I fancied a super speedy breakfast – in truth I couldn’t be bothered to put much effort in! So, 3 minutes later I was chomping on a piece of gluten-free toast slathered (such an onomatopoeic word) in crunchy peanut butter and topped with slices of banana.Delicious.IMG_20160812_100340My caption within my IG post stated, ‘Two’s company but in this case three is definitely not a crowd.’ This got me thinking… I often eat a combination of 3 flavours without thinking about it.

This morning I had a kefir, coconut and maca smoothie. Yesterday’s lunch for my hubby – quail eggs and bacon on gf toast. The day before…avocado, scrambled eggs and oatcakes.  Don’t worry I’m not going to list all my meals over the last month. But, when I look back over my IG account over 50% (always like a statistic) of my meals are a 3 flavour combination.

I started to think about old childhood favourites …fish, chips and mushy peas, beans on toast with grated cheese on top…ooh…choux pastry, cream (i.e. profiteroles) and chocolate sauce.

I have just looked up from typing at my cookbook selection and there on the shelves is Three Good Things by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Not sure whether I feel a challenge coming on…would I have to count spices and seasoning as one of my three?

Another winning combination – smoked salmon, lemon juice and bread. Must stop||

It does make me wonder though how much we complicate things – do we need to combine so many flavours in one dish or do we actually savour simple, more?

Love to know your thoughts and your favourite combinations of 3.

 

 

 

 

Ginger and lemon gluten free muffins

Posted in cake, coeliac, dairy free, eggs, food, ginger, gluten free, home baking, pudding, recipe, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

Recipe testing this afternoon coincided with visitors arriving so these muffins had willing victims / volunteers to test them. With the mention of ginger within, one of the visitors who normally resists cake grabbed a sample with gusto. The cakes didn’t let me down. I am using coconut sugar in lots of my cooking at the moment – still a sugar but with less fructose content.

The resulting cakes were flavoursome, light and an even texture…success 🙂  We ate them whilst drinking tea…they would be delicious served as a desert with vanilla ice cream / Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of Limoncella!!

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Preheat oven to 180c / gas 4

12 muffin tray  – good quality non- stick ( I used Prestige – didn’t need to grease)

Ingredients:

170 g gluten-free self-raising flour       150 g butter

150 g coconut sugar         4 eggs (3 if not using gf flour)

2 pieces of stem ginger chopped into fine pieces

1 tbsp of syrup from stem ginger jar

grated rind of 1 lemon

Method:

Put all the ingredients  for the muffins in to a bowl and mix well until smooth. Spoon the mixture in to prepared tin.

 

Bake for about 15 mins – until skewer is clean.

Place on a rack to cool.

Devour 🙂

 

Corn on the cob curry 

Posted in food, food is medicine, gluten free, healthy eating, home cooking, meat free, specialised diet, superfood, turmeric, Uncategorized, vegetables, vegetarian by

A really simple, mild but full of flavour curry. Served on a bed of brown rice.

My daughters don’t enjoy hot and spicy food but this curry goes down very well indeed.

The blend of peanuts and yoghurt ensure a creamy sauce that coats the accompanying rice well.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 corn on the cob – chopped in half and then split length ways

50 g gram / chickpea flour         3 tbsp groundnut oil

1 450 g carton of Greek yogurt

250 g unsalted peanuts – ground

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

500 ml water

Method:

Cook the prepared corn on the cob in boiling water for 6-8 minutes. Drain.

On high, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the flour – stirring continuously for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat down to a moderate temperature and add the ground peanuts, Stir for a coupe of minutes. Add the yoghurt, turmeric and chilli and stir till mixed thoroughly.Slowly add the 500 ml of water stirring all the time to create a thick sauce. Add the corn on the cob and simmer until all heated through.

Serve on a bed of warm rice.