Eggs Benedict Waffles

I was inspired to make these eggs benedict waffles by this recipe on BBC Good Food but leaving out the Marmite - my husband likes Marmite but I don't and as I didn't have it in the house anyway it seemed easier to leave it out!

I love eggs benedict and am often to be found trying to get the perfectly poached egg - my current favourite technique is to use a Poachie bag.

The idea of a savoury waffle instead of an English muffin was a new one to me but I have a waffle maker so I decided to give it a go. It tasted really good!

The eggs look a bit lost on top of the waffles - next time I would do two eggs on one waffle or add some strips of crispy bacon as well.

Read More

Ice Skating Decoupage Christmas Card

Here's another Christmas card I made at the end of last year but put away in my stash for next Christmas. The pieces all came free with a card making magazine so it was a pretty quick make. First a festive scene for the backing paper, then a strip of patterned paper vertically down the middle of the card. An ice skating scene in decoupage - I think it had three layers - stands out from the top third of the card, and a sentiment ' -Merry Christmas and a happy new year' - sits in the bottom third.

I hope I remember where I put these when it comes to Christmas!

Read More

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 19

Monday
Lunch: prawn cocktail salad
Dinner: home late (late meeting at work) so my husband will get his own dinner and I will have a low fat butternut squash risotto ready meal

Tuesday - working from home
Lunch: baked potato with bacon and sour cream
Dinner: at a circuits class and not home til 8.30: Slimming World cauliflower rosti pie I keep intending to make but not having time to

Wednesday
Lunch: chorizo and halloumi salad
Dinner: cod in a honey lime sauce based on this recipe I didn't do last week

Thursday - day off to do a macro photography lesson
Lunch:on the course
Dinner: spaghetti carbonara using the rest of the bacon and sour cream

Friday
Lunch: Tabbouleh from Leon Salads book with chicken
Dinner: something from the freezer with chips

Saturday
Lunch: eggs baked into bread rolls with diced bacon, grated potato and cheddar cheese hash based on Denny's
Dinner: Memphis style pork chops from this recipe with hassleback potatoes

Sunday
Lunch: out with my family
Dinner: home late -frozen pizza or similar

This is a blog hop, join in!

An InLinkz Link-up

Read More

Slow Cooker Baked Stuffed Butternut Squash with Walnut and Goat's Cheese

There's an easy way to cook a roast dinner for meat-eaters and vegetarians at the same time without needing a double oven, which not many people have in their kitchens. But there's one thing that many people do have: a slow cooker.

At Easter I really wanted to eat roast lamb, and had the idea of doing a roasted butternut squash for my mother-in-law who is vegetarian. I was worried that the smell of the lamb roasting would mean I couldn't cook the squash at the same time; I thought about roasting the squash while the lamb was resting but wasn't sure I had enough time. Instead, I decided to do the butternut squash in the slow cooker which meant I could put it on at the same time and not have to worry about it.

The recipe I used was a mish-mash of ideas I found online. I've made a stuffed roast butternut squash before; this time I decided to scoop out the butternut squash itself and use that as the filling.

To serve one, you need:
half a butternut squash
1 garlic clove, crushed
25g butter
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
30g walnut halves, chopped
30g goat's cheese, crumbled
1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Peel the butternut squash and cut it in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Place the butternut squash cut-side up. Cook on high for about two hours until the squash has softened. Meanwhile mix together the other ingredients.

Scoop out the centre of the butternut squash, leaving around 1cm around the edge so it retains its structure. Mash the butternut squash that you have removed in a bowl with the other ingredients.

Spoon the mixture back into the butternut squash; you can keep this warm in the slow cooker on low if you need to.

I'm sharing this with Meat Free Mondays, hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes.

Read More

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

I just had to share this with you even though it's not my own recipe. It's not only the best vegan cake I've ever made, but it's up there with the best cakes I've made, full stop.

Unlike other vegan cakes it doesn't contain a cupful of oil (I read the number of calories recently in a bottle of vegetable oil, and am still reeling). But it's still incredibly moist, so much so that you need to eat it with a fork rather than fingers, and really chocolatey. The peanut butter filling and topping are delish - even my husband loved this and he doesn't really like peanut butter. All together, it's a gooey cake that feels very indulgent - a real treat both for vegans and non-vegans alike.

I made this the day after my birthday as I had a couple of friends coming over to do a room escape game (which was brilliant by the way, I can't recommend them enough). One friend is vegan and I wanted to make a cake she could eat, so had a look online and found this recipe on Dora's Daily Dish - pop over and have a look.
The recipe was quite interesting - as I said a lot of the vegan cakes I've made use oil. This one uses melted vegan margarine, flax seed, almond milk and coffee.

It's really easy to make, you just mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

 

Here the cakes have just come out of the oven

The frosting unusually doesn't use icing sugar and is just peanut butter, vegan margarine and agave nectar. I spread half in the middle of the cake and the other half on the top.

A fairly simple, classic cake - the two layers were pretty deep, this is a good recipe in that sense - and in fact in every sense!

 

I'm sharing this bake with We Should Cocoa at Tin and Thyme.

Read More

Restaurant Review: Haskins Garden Centre, West End, Southampton

I’ve been to Haskins Garden Centre at West End, Southampton, twice recently. The simple reason being: when you find somewhere that’s easy to go with a small baby, you’re going to go there again!

 

I have a beautiful niece who is now five months old; when she was just a couple of months old and I was visiting my sister and her partner we went out for lunch at Haskins. The garden centre has a large café, with an outdoor area (which was too cold to use due to the weather) and a lot of seating inside not too close together so it was easy to find space for a buggy.

As it is in a garden centre I was expecting a few options along the lines of jacket potatoes and paninis (though as Woodcote Green garden centre in Wallington proves, you can get really good meals sometimes). I was really surprised when I walked in and saw multiple food counters, each offering something different - jacket potatoes and paninis of course, but also pizzas, fish and chips, a carvery, a Costa coffee bar and a very long cake and desserts counter. There was also a sign advertising Sunday lunch and another offering afternoon tea for Mother's Day - definitely something for everyone!

 

I had a tuna melt panini which came with a small side salad and was really nice.

 

Luckily we also saved room for dessert - I had a slice of apple cake which was really moist and tasty.

My sister had chocolate cake which she said wasn't quite as good and a little on the dry side - but otherwise we had a nice lunch while my little niece gurgled away next to us!

 

Read More

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 18

It was my birthday on Saturday so I didn't get around to planning this week's meals until Monday evening! This should be a quieter week where I can hopefully make a bit more effort with the diet - not so much birthday cake this week!

Monday - bank holiday
Lunch - sausage sandwich with friend who was staying over from last night
Dinner - spaghetti Bolognese with Quorn mince and plenty of veg as I haven't had enough lately!

Tuesday - working from home
Lunch - leftover spaghetti bolognese
Dinner - Slimming World cauliflower rosti pie I was going to make last week but didn't as I ran out of time

Wednesday - might be home a little late
Lunch - couscous, feta cheese and pomegranate salad- based on Jewelled Salad from Leon Soups, Salads & Snacks
Dinner - chicken chargrills and mashed potato (easy for my husband to cook if I am home late)

Thursday
Lunch: chorizo and halloumi salad
Dinner: cod in a honey lime sauce based on this recipe

Friday
Lunch: prawn cocktail salad
Dinner: something from the freezer with chips if I'm tired at the end of the week, something healthier if I've got the energy to cook!

Saturday
Lunch: scrambled egg on toast for him, poached egg for me, with thick cut ham
Dinner: fried chicken (which I might oven cook instead of fry) with 'dirty' wedges and green salad. Or maybe out if we go to the cinema

Sunday
Lunch: chicken Philly melt a bit like the one served at Denny's
Dinner: Memphis style pork chops from this recipe with hassleback potatoes

This is a blog hop, join in!

An InLinkz Link-up

Read More