Weekend Carnivore

I am not a coffee drinker. In fact, until today I don’t think I have ever drunk a full cup of anything that included coffee. I tried several times when I was younger but always found it too bitter and not really to my taste.

I do, however, like coffee ice cream. With all the cream and sugar the bitterness is cut to make it enjoyable. Lately, I have been thinking maybe it is time to try coffee again but this time experiment with different types until I find one that works for my tastebuds.

My chance came this week when I, once again, participated in Recipezaar’s Pick A Chef event. In this event, you adopt one or more of your fellow Recipezaar chefs and agree to make and review at least three of their recipes. In exchange, somebody adopts you and you get three of your own recipes reviewed.

White chocolate Bailey's latte recipe

One of the chefs I adopted was Shuzbud. As I was perusing her list of recipes I spotted this White chocolate Bailey’s latte recipe.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about Recipezaar events is that they push me to try new things. It is as a direct result of various events held on the site that I found out I love marinated artichokes, sundried tomatoes and polenta. With such a track record I decided it was worth giving this white chocolate latte recipe a try too.

Of course, I had to do things my style. Which means cheap and cheerful! Instead of actual Baileys I used the Irish whiskey cream brand that you can buy in Lidls. I also bought my white chocolate there (on an aside they have this super yummy strawberry white chocolate bar there now!). I even bought a jar of Fair Trade instant coffee there. I love that Lidls is doing so many Fair Trade items now. It is great that you can make the responsible and ethical choice without having to worry about your own budget all that much.

The white chocolate latte recipe was so simple to prepare. Simply heat the milk (I used skimmed because it is what I keep in the house) on the stove, stir in the white chocolate until it melts and then add the coffee and the Baileys.

I am sure it is because the drink was mostly a white hot chocolate with a little bit of coffee but I really enjoyed it. It was lush tasting without having to cost me much in either effort of money.

Perhaps getting myself to enjoy coffee isn’t a total lost cause and having this latte recipe taste this good is just the springboard I need to explore further.

There is a party in my mouth and you are all invited!

Okay, well maybe that is a tad extreme but I have been on an adventure with this recipe all day. I woke up with an idea for a new dip recipe floating in my head. By the time lunch came around I just knew that I had to try it out and see if the new dip recipe I had dancing in my brain would work. Caution was thrown to the wind and I decided to have a crisps and dips lunch.

I was aiming for a creamy dip recipe but I didn’t want to go the normal onion or spinach dip path. Instead, I thought that mixing together some Italian themed ingredients was the way to go. I knew that I wanted sundried tomatoes to be a key feature to the new dip recipe and that I wanted to use low fat cream cheese as the base.

A good rummage in the fridge helped be bring my plan together. You can’t have something Italian without garlic. So, a few cloves had to go into the dip recipe. Then, I thought that throwing some green olives could add a nice hint of salty depth to the dip. Lastly, I threw in some lemon juice and zest in an attempt to lift the whole flavour of the low fat dip.

The results of the dip experiment? Yummy! All of the fresh flavours work very well together and make the taste buds pops. Plus, the light cream cheese means all the lovely creamy dip texture is there without nearly as much fat as you would think. Perhaps best of all, it takes a total of 30 seconds in the mini chopper to make!

Easy Sundried Tomato and Olive Dip

East sundried tomato and olive dip

Ingredients:

1 cloves garlic, minced
25 grams pitted green olives
50 grams sundried tomatoes in oil, drained but leave a bit of the oil clinging
200 grams light cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of half a lemon

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients into a mini chopper or food processor and use the pulse setting for about 30 seconds until everything is mixed up but there is still a bit of texture to the tomatoes.

2. Get the crisps and enjoy! It would probably be really yummy spread on a bagel too.

Serves: 4

It is vegetarian swap time again over at Recipezaar and this month I selected SarahBeth131 as my swap partner. A good choice, if I do say so myself, because she has some excellent vegetarian and vegan recipes in her cookbooks.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am trying hard to get back on the diet bandwagon as of late. I tend to find lunch to be my calorie flashpoint in the day. I have a fairly routine breakfast which is easy for me to repeat every day and I am good at planning a low calorie vegetarian evening meal. However, at lunch I am always needing something quick and so that leads to me reaching for things without counting the calories.

What I have been trying to do is have lunches that I can prepare in the morning when I am making by breakfast and then just take out of the fridge for lunch. In theory, this allows me to write the calories down before I get too busy with my working day.

Things like potato salads have been working out well because they benefit from chilling in the fridge for all those hours. So, when I saw this SarahBeth131′s creamy lime potato salad recipe, I knew that was going to be one I made for the veggie swap.

Creamy lime potato salad recipe

If I am honest, I was unsure how the lime mixed with the mayonnaise would work with potatoes. Yet, at the same time it was that uncertainty that intrigued me. I don’t think I had really had a citrus based potato salad in the past.

Then, the addition of thyme to the mix left me further scratching my head. I have a weird relationship with thyme. Over the last few years I have discovered that I really don’t like the dried version of thyme. Not just the taste but the smell can even turn my stomach at times. Then by complete accident I discovered that fresh thyme can be rather enjoyable indeed. Perhaps it is because it is a much more mild flavour.

As it turns out, both flavours worked really well in the salad. In fact, the lime worked so well that I have set myself the challenge of figuring out what other salads I can make with that lime mayo dressing. The juice and the zest of the lime really lifted the taste to make everything dance across the tastebuds. The fresh thyme was a nice little accent too though I will for sure make sure it was always fresh thyme when I make this in the future.

The creamy lime potato salad recipe was really easy to throw together in the morning. Even more so because I used some new potatoes that were leftover form the main meal the evening before. I simply mixed up the mayonnaise dressing, for which I used extra light mayonnaise and reduced fat creme fraiche (sour cream can be hard to find in the UK and creme fraiche is a very good substitute for it) and combined it with the potatoes and put it in to chill. I think the lime worked especially well to take away that slight after taste that fat free mayonnaise can sometimes carry.

My lunch turned into bit of a desk picnic with a serving of this wonderful creamy lime potato salad recipe, some honey and linseed crackers and a bit of mature cheddar cheese. So full of flavour and pretty healthy too!

It was party time again this weekend. This time it was an anniversary party for a London based sci fi group I attend. Yup, I am a geek and not afraid to admit it! I was asked if I would mind bringing some cookies and cakes for the party. Me, mind a chance to bake and share food? Not a chance!

Baked Cheesecake Brownies Recipe

The only question was which recipes to add to the menu. I knew it had to be something chocolate but wasn’t sure in exactly what form. That was until I saw a post about these cheesecake brownies on MaryMoh’s Keep Learning Keep Smiling blog.

Cheesecake brownies are an evil invention of some cook that decided chewy chocolate brownies weren’t tempting enough and needed a layer of cheesecake baked on top. I suppose, it does save you from having decide which one to have when you can have both at the same time.

This particular cheesecake brownies recipe was really easy to put together and ended up tasting great too. The cheesecake part of the cheesecake brownie recipe is especially nice and rose to great heights over the rim of the brownie pan. It is the baked sort of cheesecake and so you get that lovely springy texture.

I saved a couple of the cheesecake brownie squares back from the party plate and put them in the fridge for a naughty breakfast the next day. It turned out that the cheesecake portion of the baked cheesecake brownie recipe got even better after spending a night chilling!

I think these cheesecake brownies are going to come out again and I can see myself making all sorts of adaptations to the recipe. Even as I am writing this, I am imagining what they would be like with some chocolate chips mixed into the cheesecake mixture. Surely chocolate chip cheesecake brownies can’t fail!

Who ever said that vegetarian food can’t be comfort food? Not me! Even when I am in full Weekend Carnivore mode there are times when I just need a comfort food hit.

Mashed potatoes are a classic comfort food and the great thing is that unless you are making them in a very strange way they are a vegetarian dish. Another great thing about mashed potatoes is that there are so many things you can do to your normal mashed potatoes recipe to jazz it up. As long as you stick the the basics – potato, some sort of fat and a bit of liquid you are able to experiment to find just that right combination for any occasion.

In a recent experimental mood, I thought ‘hey, I wonder what happens if you put saffron into your mashed potatoes?’. At the same time, I was getting hungry for some buttermilk mashed potatoes. In the end, I decided to mash (pun sort of intended) the two ideas together and see what happened.

You know what? It worked! Saffron buttermilk mashed potatoes were born and my tummy and tastebuds thanked me.

Buttermilk is underused in the UK, I feel. Despite the name, it is actually a very low fat ingredient. Yet, it can work towards making some great creamy dishes and even salad dressings.

In this saffron buttermilk mashed potatoes recipe, the combination of the creamy buttermilk and the indulgent saffron work together to make something as classic and commonplace as your normal mashed potatoes feel like something really special. Yet, by using the skim milk and buttermilk it isn’t going to break the calorie bank – result!

Saffron Buttermilk Smashed Potatoes

Saffron buttermilk mashed potatoes recipe

Ingredients:

1 kilogram potatoes
150 millilitres skim milk
40 grams butter
pinch saffron threads
60 grams buttermilk

Directions:

1. Peel potatoes and chop into chunks.
2. Put into a large pot of salted boiling water and cook until tender which is usually about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine the skim milk, butter and saffron into a small saucepan.
4. Heat gently, stirring often, until the butter has melted and combined with the milk.
5. Remove from the heat and allow the saffron to infuse into the liquid while your potatoes finish cooking.
6. Drain the potatoes well and then mash together with the buttery saffron mixture. I have taken to using an electric mixer on a slow speed to get a whipped potato texture.
7. Stir in the buttermilk and serve.

Makes: 4 servings