lemon waffle recipe with strawberries and cream

Some of those waffle recipes are mine but others are the culinary brain child of other great cooks. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been taking part in a cooking event that has be teamed up with other members of Recipezaar as we try out recipes from around the world. When my team captian, the wonderful Andi of Longmeadow Farm posted these lemon waffles as one of her offerings for our team’s Scandinavian cookbook I just knew I had to try them.

What I especially liked about this lemon waffle recipe is that the waffles didn’t have so much of a lemon flavour to them that I was sent into an involuntary pucker. Instead it was as if the lovely crisp but fluffy waffles were lemon scented. A perfect treat for a naughty breakfast recipe but I couldn’t help but think the lemon waffle recipe would also make a fantastic base for a vegetarian dessert recipe.

Being June in England, the idea of strawberries and cream is never far from a foodie’s brain. So, I threw the two together and boy was it good! As soon as the lemon waffles were off the waffle iron I got out the spray cream (hey, it was spur of the moment..no time to whip!) and piled those tasty waffles high with cream. A few sliced strawberries on top and it was perfect!

Ever since we have decided to go full force into the weekend carnivore lifestyle of eating mostly vegetarian recipes, our vegetable drawer is bursting at the seams anyway but I do tend to get more adventurous when the summer recipe season hits. I will buy any vegetable that looks good and challenge myself to come up with a new healthy vegetarian recipe that I can work into my diet.  This week, I picked up an aubergine with no real plan as to which vegetarian recipe I would be making. 

An aubergine, by the way, is what my fellow Americans call an eggplant. So, if you are scratching your head wondering what I might be talking about with this recipe just rest assured that this is simply an eggplant recipe by another name. I knew I had been living in the UK for a long time (14 years this month) when I caught myself thinking aubergine rather than eggplant. When your mind thinks the word of the country you moved to instead of the one you grew up with you know you have finally gone native!

My husband has come a long way with his vegetable eating habits and will try just about anything.  However, I knew from the past that unless it is very well hidden he isn’t going to be a big fan of any aubergine recipe. So, that meant that my newly purchased aubergine was destine for a vegetarian lunch recipe.

For the past month, I have been participating in a cooking event over at Recipezaar (yes, I do spend a LOT of time there..such great people and recipes!) where we cook food from different regions of the world.  One of the regions we have just finished “visiting” is Greece. So, I had a whole bunch of Mediterranean bits and bobs hanging around in the fridge. Aubergine fits so well into Greek cooking that I knew it wouldn’t be hard to come up with a Greek vegetarian recipe.

Not having a clue how the eggplant recipe would end up, I started by slicing my eggplant lengthwise and griddling them.  If you do it well there isn’t much that is better tasting than grilled aubergine because it really works so well as a base for any other flavours you want to add to it. Which, is exactly what I did because amongst the remains of my Greek cooking ingredients was a little bit of feta.  I took a little bit of a gamble and cut up some fresh basil I had laying around and mashed it into the feta. You know what!? That was a stunning combination and I will be using it again in other recipes. The fresh basil really took that salty feta to a different level.

I spread that mixture over the griddled aubergine and then raided my fridge for any jarred Mediterranean vegetables and added them to the aubergine and feta stacks.   Then I plated up and tucked in to my newly developed low fat vegetarian recipe.  That was followed shortly by giving myself a nice firm pat on the back because they were SO good. The artichoke might have been chunky enough to make them slightly unwieldy when transferring to the plate but it was worth it for me since I can’t get enough of artichokes lately. Really though, this aubergine and feta recipe is so versatile and you could add any vegetables you desire to the top.

For me, two of these slices made for a perfect light vegetarian lunch recipe but I  could see this aubergine and fetish recipe being served as an appetizer recipe before a special meal. Equally, I could also see a side salad being added for a lovely summertime meal on the patio.  If you have a barbecue you could even do the grilling of the aubergine on that and make it an easy outdoor meal. Why not try them and let me know how that basil and feta combination worked out for you?

Mediterranean aubergine and basil feta stack recipe

Mediterranean aubergine and basil feta stack recipe

Ingredients:

2 lengthwise slices of aubergine (eggplant), about as thick as your small finger
60 grams reduced fat feta cheese
3 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
20 grams sundried tomatoes from a jar, drained well
30 grams marinated artichokes, drained well
30 grams green unstuffed olives

Directions:

1. Heat a griddle ban until very hot and then grill your aubergine slices until done. You can lightly oil the pan if you wish, I just used the tiniest amount of light cooking spray.
2. Mash the feta up in a bowl and stir in the chopped fresh basil until well combined.
3. Put the aubergine slices on a plate and spread an equal amount of the feta mixture over the top.
4. Chop up the sundried tomatoes, artichokes and olives and pile them on top of the feta mixture.

Serves: 1

As I have mentioned before, I love dips and spreads. Sadly though,If I am ever going to shift the rest of this weight then I either have to pretend they don’t exist or come up with healthier versions. That is what I have done with this creamy avocado and lime spread.

I came up with it some months ago when I was looking for something to quickly fill me up and tickle my tastebuds. I know that a lot of people use lemon juice with avocado but I have found that lime really works very well to lift the creamy texture of the avocado and give a real zip to the spread.

With a little bit of salt in the mix that lime and avocado combination becomes a real culinary match made in heaven. To me, this is one of those cases where it really is important to use coarse sea salt rather than the normal table salt. The slight crunch really works to bring the flavours of the creamy avocado and lime spread bursting forth.

Since its creation, I have used this avocado and lime spread in any number of ways. I have been known to spread it simply on some toast in the morning instead of butter or jam. Scooping it up with some tortilla chips has a certain charm too.

However, as of late, my favourite use for the creamy avocado and lime spread has been to make a quick and healthy lunch. I have been spreading it high on some crisp breads and then topped it with slices of cucumber and cherry tomato.

As summer approaches I can see myself adding a piece of fruit on the side and calling that a perfect hot weather lunch.

Avocado and Lime Spread

avocado and lime spread

Ingredients:

1 small avocado
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon Greek yoghurt

Directions:

1. Scoop out the flesh of the avocado
2. Put all the ingredients in a blender or mini chopper.
3. Pulse for between 15 and 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth.

Serves: 1

It was during just such a period that I developed my red pesto ciabatta pizza recipe. Truth be told, I feel a bit dramatic even calling it a recipe because it is so simple and easy to put together. All you need to do is take a quick trip around your local supermarket to collect the items that make up the ciabatta pizza recipe and within 15 minutes of returning home you can be serving up a meal.

I feel no shame either in saying that all of the ingredients for my red pesto ciabatta pizza recipe all came from Lidls. Some foodies can really look down their noses at the Lidls and Aldis of this world. However, there is no shame in buying affordable food and considering the prices, both stores have some quality hidden gems on their shelves.

Due to their reach across the continent, they have managed to bring in ingredients from all of the other countries where they do business. Amongst those items are some interesting Italian ingredients ranging from various types of pesto, nice cheeses and really nice antipasti. I am particularly fond of the jarred mixed mushrooms and I have used them in this recipe.

The great thing about this red pesto ciabatta pizza recipe though is that if you don’t have or like a particular ingredient you can just swap it out for another item. Also, if you have family members who aren’t ready to go fully vegetarian then you can put slices of meat on their part of the ciabatta pizza recipe.

Red Pesto Ciabatta Pizza

Red pesto ciabatta pizza recipe

Ingredients:

1 ciabatta loaf, if part-baked bake it until just underdone
70 grams onions, thinly sliced
115 grams red pesto
200 grams shredded cheese (I used a reduced fat cheddar and mozzarella mix)
130 grams roasted red peppers from a jar, diced
125 grams antipasti mushrooms from a jar

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven grill.
2. Slice the ciabatta loaf in half lengthwise and put on a baking sheet.
3. Lightly sauté the sliced onions using a cooking spray or a tiny bit of oil just until they have lost their bite.
4. Spread the red pesto evenly over the two halves of the ciabatta
5. Sprinkle the cheese over both sides of the bread.
6. Pile up the rest of the ingredients making sure each half of the bread has roughly the same amount.
7. Stick the baking sheet under the grill and cook for about 7 minutes until the cheese has melted and started to go golden. Keep a close eye on it to make sure it isn’t starting to burn.
8. Slice both long halves into slices width wise.

Serves: 4

Market Kitchen Set

It turns out there are two Market Kitchen filming sessions in a day. We decided to go for the afternoon session which turned out to actually be one and a half shows being recorded. That means that we are in the audience for two episodes. The first of which aired yesterday and the second of which is being broadcast tonight. It seems that when they have a chef in they cook a few of their recipes in a day and then spread it over a few shows.

When we arrived at the Market Kitchen recording, we had a short waiting period downstairs in the lobby. It was at this point that we learned that one of the guests on the show that day were The Wurzels. They were there for a cider tasting segement and turned out to be really nice men who asked us how we enjoyed the light and sweet “lady cider” we had been sipping during the tasting. Too funny!

Their arrival was entertaining because the receptionist clearly had no idea who they were and thought they were part of the studio audience. Once, they had cleared that up they went up to the Market Kitchen studio and the rest of us followed shortly after.

Market Kitchen set decorations

My first impressions of the Market Kitchen studio was a feeling of having a slightly surreal moment. We were in an office building in a leafy area of Camden (no where near Borough Market despite them clearly suggesting the show is related to the market) that resembled more of a dusty warehouse then a studio. Yet, when we made our way up the stair case we were suddenly in the brick walled set that looked exactly as it does on television.

All of the food you see in the background in the show is there and looking great but largely it isn’t real or has been rendered inedible so that it will survive under the hot studio lights. What is real though, is the coffee bar at the back of the studio. All throughout the filming there is a real staff back there serving coffee, tea and hot chocolate to Market Kitchen studio audience.

Market Kitchen coffee bar props

Market Kitchen studio

Our hosts for the day at Market Kitchen were Matthew Fort and Tom Parker Bowles. The chef’s were Richard Corrigan and Luke Dale Roberts.

Matthew Fort at Market Kitchen

Tom Parker Bowles at Market Kitchen

It has to be said that the menu for the day wasn’t very vegetarian friendly. Richard Corrigan cooked us two dishes that were spread across the two shows. One was roasted apples and sage with calvados with black pudding. If the black pudding was removed, that would be a really nice vegetarian dish. It isn’t the healthiest in the world as it uses both butter and cream but still yummy. The other dish was mackerel with a beetroot salad.

Luke Dale Roberts cooked a springbok dish which we weren’t allowed to taste. I suspect that was based on cost as the information pack they gave us at the show lists the cost of springbok at £7.99 per 160 grams.

With all that meat being cooked, the dish of the day for me was actually a vegetarian dish. I was somewhat shocked it was by Matthew Fort since I am rarely overwhelmed by his recipes on Market Kitchen. However, when you do something right, then you do it right and he did with his mango fool recipe.

Matthew Fort's Mango Fool Recipe

It was such a lovely and very simple recipe that I went home and made it the next day. I followed his recipe apart from in two aspects. Firstly, in his version of the mango fool, Matthew Fort used Alphonso mangos. I have never seen that variety on sale at any of my local stores. So, I used the same weight of normal mango flesh and added a bit of the suggested caster sugar to sweeten it up slightly. Then, at the last moment I decide to add some lime zest to the top of the mango fool recipe. I think that worked very well to lift the whole flavour of the delicate tasting dish.

All and all we had a wonderful day out at Market Kitchen and I would love to do it again. If they ever do a more vegetarian friendly show I would love nothing more than to be in the studio audience one more.

I have heard so many times from people back home about how bad they think British food is suppose to be. Let me tell you, that is a total falsehood. If you can’t eat well in the UK then you simply didn’t try.  In London alone, you can get food cooked by some of the finest chef’s in the world.  In just this past week, I have eaten Turkish food, Czech food, Indian food, Chinese food and Middle Eastern food while out and about in the city.

British food treasures aren’t just found in the restaurant scene though. The true richness is found in those passed down family recipes that have been made for generations. British food is wonderful and it should be celebrated. The classic British dishes are often master classes in making filling meals out of inexpensive ingredients.

Pan Haggerty is just such one British recipe. It is one of those recipes that is more of a concept than an exact recipe. Traditionally, it would have a bit of meat and then a whole lot of root vegetables.  From what I have learned since moving here, most families have their own idea of what makes a pan haggerty recipe.

My mother in law, makes a dish that is near enough a classic pan haggerty but it uses bacon.  She never calls it pan haggerty but I was watching a British cookery show and saw them making pan haggerty and thought ‘hey, that is that recipes!’.

My husband has always really enjoyed her recipe but there is no danger of him learning to cook well enough to be the one to pass down the recipe. So, I figured that I would take it upon myself to learn a pan haggerty recipe that I felt was as tasty as my mother in law’s version.  Of course, as we are trying to eat a vegetarian lifestyle most of the time, I wanted to make it a vegetarian pan haggerty recipe.

I tinkered around with bits and bobs of vegetables I had and decided upon making it a carrot, butternut squash and potato vegetarian pan haggerty recipe.  For a while, I was afraid there was going to be too much liquid in the pan but by the end of the cooking period I was left with just the right amount of ultra tasty juices.

I sliced up some freshly baked bread and that was all we needed for a truly lovely and very British meal.

Vegetarian Pan Haggerty

vegetarian pan haggerty recipe

Ingredients:

30 grams butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
200 grams onions, sliced in thin rings
550 grams potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
300 grams carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
50 grams, butternut squash, peeled and sliced thinly
500 ml vegetarian chicken flavoured stock or vegetable stock
100 grams cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:
1. Melt the butter with oil over a medium low heat in a pan that will be safe to go into an oven.
2. Sauté the onions until cooked down and just starting to go golden.
3. Scoop out onions and set aside.
4. In the same pan, layer up the vegetable slices with potatoes, reserved onions, carrots and squash. Repeat the layers making sure to end with a potato layer on top.
5. Add the stock on the pan and cook on a medium high heat and covered for 15 minutes.
6. Take the cover off, reduce the heat and cook uncovered for 10 minutes until most – but not all – of the liquid has reduced.
7. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and put until a pre-heated grill for a few minutes until it is melted and started to go golden brown.
8. Serve

Serves: 4

My husband really enjoys those ice pops you can get in a any number of unnatural colours from the corner store. This year, I thought I would try my hand and learning to make my own healthier versions of those frozen ice pops. Also, with a little imagination I thought I might be able to come up with some interesting varieties to keep the idea fresh throughout the summer.

Not only will they be far better for both of us but they don’t actually require all that much effort or money to produce. The ice pop molds are available at any number of supermarkets at this time of year. I picked my set up at Ikea for just over a pound. Apart from the molds, the cost comes down to whatever you decide to put into your ice pops.

For my first attempt at making my own frozen ice pops I went for a kiwi and lemon ice pop recipe. My mother in law had recently been staying with us and left behind several kiwi fruits. I didn’t want them to go to waste and I was sure I could work them into the recipe. For the lemon, I went with a diet cloudy lemonade.

For any American readers, in the UK lemonade means a carbonated drink such as Sprite. However, the cloudy version is much closer in taste to what Americans think of as lemonade. The only difference is that it is carbonated. However, I am sure this kiwi and lemon ice pop recipe would work with non-carbonated lemonade too.

It really couldn’t be much easier to make these kiwi and lemon ice pops and the great thing is that a total of three ingredients goes into the recipe. I can’t even begin to think how many chemicals go into the ones we had been buying!

I am looking forward to a summer of trying out new ice pop varieties. I am sure the possibilities are endless. I am even thinking of “adult” cocktail varieties that could be done.  There is some ginger wine in my fridge that is begging to be used.

Kiwi and Lemon Ice Pops

Kiwi and Lemon Ice Pop Recipe

Ingredients:

80 grams kiwi flesh
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup cloudy lemonade

Directions:

1. Purée the kiwi flesh. You can use a traditional blender or a stick blender to do this. I went with the stick blender.
2. Stir in the honey.
3. Pour in the cloudy lemonade and mix everything together until well combined.
4. Pour into the ice pop molds and freeze overnight.

Makes: 6 ice pops

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.

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

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!