Weekend Carnivore

All this fluke warm weather we have been having in London has gotten me thinking about summer eating.  Hot evenings of eating hearty salads for meals are just around the corner. With those light meals I know we are also going to be craving refreshing desserts.

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 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

Ever have those times in your life when you just want life to go back to normal? All the travelling I have been doing has been great (especially the nephew part of it!) but it does always shake up life a little bit. It hasn’t been the main hurdle between us and a normal life at the moment though. No, that would be the fact that our bedroom currently only has one fully standing wall!

Just a few days into the New Year, we moved some furniture in our bedroom and noticed some mold on the wall. Not just any mold but a nice black fuzzy variety that had worked its way up the back of our two wardrobes, our bedside tables and a few other items.

I have been having repository problems at night for over the last year which often would turn into morning nosebleeds. Problems which have proved baffling to various doctors who despite x-rays could find nothing wrong with my body. Gee, I wonder if I have been sleeping with my head next to this mold for so long and didn’t know it!

I would guess so. For the last month we have been having to cram all our things into our spare bedroom while the landlords drag their feet to repair the leaking roof, which apparently is the source of the problem. They have also taken three of the walls in our bedroom all the way back to the concrete brick to allow the walls to dry out before eventually (who knows when!) rebuilding them. In the time we have been sleeping in there (all our clothing in suitcases since we don’t actually have wardrobes now) I haven’t had a single night of breathing problems or any nose bleeds. I take that as proof.

In all this upturn, I haven’t done all that much proper cooking and my diet is suffering. Yesterday, I decided even if the walls are (literally) crumbling around me, I can still at least take control of what I eat.

So, back on the wagon, I go once again and started with this lunch dish. Sometimes I just need a sandwich to throw together to satisfy my grumbling tummy at lunch. It is also exactly this meal of the day where I am at most danger of reaching for meat. Aware of this problem, I have set myself the challenge of coming up with vegetarian sandwiches.

This week, I made a pickled carrot recipe as part of my monthly vegetarian recipe swap on Recipezaar. It was an intriguing concept and turned out to be rather nice. The recipe was posted on the site by Magpie Diner, who has many vegetarian and vegan recipes in her collection, and can be seen at – Carrots In Vinegar.

In the recipe, Magpie Diner suggested that they would go nicely with black olives. My brain started to work in the strange ways that it does and I wondered how the two items would work together in an egg salad sandwich.

For my British friends, in the States, egg salad is what you call egg and mayo. For my American friends, in the UK, something called egg salad would involve egg and actual salad such as lettuce. It is just one of those differences that took me a while to get used to when ordering food in the UK.

It turns out the combination worked rather well. The sharpness of the pickled carrots added a depth of flavour to the egg salad recipe. At the same time, the mellow nature of the black olives kept them from taking the sharpness over the top of acceptability.

Why not try out the pickled carrot recipe and then see what you think of them in this egg salad recipe. Otherwise, you could do this recipe without the pickled carrots and still have a nice olive an egg salad sandwich.

Vegged Out Egg Salad

Vegged Out Egg Salad recipe

Ingredients:

2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped
30 grams celery, finely diced
10 grams pickled carrots, finely diced
25 grams black olives, sliced thinly
50 grams extra light mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Mix everything together in a bowl.
2. Put between bread or stuff into pitas with some lettuce or other salad items.
3. Eat and enjoy

Makes: 2 sandwiches

I hopped across the Atlantic again this week. My younger sister gave birth to her first child on the 14th. That was followed closely by me buying transatlantic ticket to meet my nephew and help out a bit. When I spoke to my sister on the phone shortly after she had given birth, she met my call with “you have to make me cookies”. Drugs, are a wonderful thing.

After a bit of probing, we established that it was oatmeal raisin cookies that both my sister and her husband were craving. Of all the cookies in the world they could ask for, they picked one that I had never actually made myself. I went on a hunt to try to find what I thought would be the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to celebrate the birth of my nephew.

After all that searching guess what oatmeal raisin cookie I finally ended up making? The oatmeal raisin cookie recipe on the back of the Quaker Oats box! You know what though? It was a pretty outstanding cookie recipe. I guess they really do know their oats!

The best thing out them is that since they include oatmeal, you can make a fairly convincing argument that they are acceptable as a breakfast food. At least that is what I am telling myself!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Oats, uncooked
1 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Add combined flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Makes: 4 dozen cookies

Everybody loves it when they get the chance to post one of their award winning recipes on their food blog. Well, I can’t do that because while I entered this recipe into a cooking contest it didn’t actually win. However, I was really proud of it. So, I am taking this opportunity to show off my non-award winning tart recipe!

A few times throughout the year, Recipezaar hosts cooking contests that start off with all the contestants being given a list of ingredients. Right up until the great ingredient reveal, it is a complete mystery what will be on the list. Once we have the ingredients list, you then have to create a recipe using at least five of the ingredients on this list.

The list of ingredients for this latest contest was:

1. Beef broth
2. Canned tomato soup
3. Prepared yellow mustard (American mustard)
4. Sour cream~ all varieties
5. Prepared pie pastry- frozen shells, refrigerated rolled dough, or homemade (shortcrust pastry)
6. Sliced almonds
7. Prepared horseradish ~jarred, not raw
8. Balsamic vinegar
9. Blue/ bleu cheese
10. Red onions
11. Mini marshmallows
12. Brown rice
13. Plain bread crumbs
14. Shredded coconut
15. Fresh broccoli
16. Red miso paste
17. Canned salmon
18. Ground turkey
19. Liquid smoke
20. French fried onions
21. Worcestershire sauce
22. Evaporated milk ~any
23. Canned DICED tomatoes ~ no additional seasoning or ingredients
24. Flour or whole wheat tortillas
25. Pumpkin pie spice
26. Hard Pretzels ~any shape

This latest recipe contest, had the additional twist that the recipe have to fit into a specific category.

The categories we could pick from for our recipe contest entries were:

1. Appetizers
2. Brunch Buffet
3. Potluck at the Office

It is a good thing that I like a challenge because it certainly was a mixed bag of ingredients! As soon as I got the list I put my thinking cap on and I eventually came up with these balsamic onion, mushroom and blue cheese tarts.

The recipe development period of this contest took place over the build up to Christmas and the judging period took place over the holiday. So, I wanted to come up with a recipe that I thought would fit into the party season. The judging is done by the other contestants and general Recipezaar members doing blind tastings (your name isn’t on the recipe at this stage) and then rating them. So, if you want to be in with a shot you have to actually get people to make the recipe. I went with the idea of these little blue cheese tarts thinking that since they are served cold they would make good make ahead party food.

In the end, my balsamic onion, mushroom and blue cheese tarts didn’t win the contest. They did get some good reviews though and really just having people try and enjoy what I come up with for these contests is the fun part for me. That is especially true when the contest ingredients force me to learn how to prepare a recipe I would never have made without the extra push.

I was really happy with the sweet tangy taste of the balsamic onions and how well it paired with the earthy tastes of the mushrooms and blue cheese. I am sure I will be making the recipe again myself rather than just for the contest. That has to be a good sign that it wasn’t that bad! Try them and see for yourself!

Balsamic Onion, Mushroom & Blue Cheese Tarts

Balsamic onion, mushroom and blue cheese tarts

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/4 cups chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
350 grams shortcrust pastry, the store bought pre-rolled variety.
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream, reduced fat is fine (you can also use creme fraiche)
1 pinch salt
1 pinch fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
70 grams blue cheese, a nice squidgy variety

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400f/200c/gas mark 6
2. Put a pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
3. Once the butter starts to froth, put the thinly sliced red onions in and turn the heat down to low.
4. Cook, stirring often, until the onions have become translucent. This will take about 10 minutes but keep an eye on them.
5. Add the sugar and the balsamic vinegar to the onions and cook on low, stirring often for about 10 minutes until the onion mixture is sticky and the liquid thickened up.
6. Set the onions aside to cool.
7. Melt the remaining butter in another pan and cook the mushrooms for a few minutes until they have just started to change colour.
8. Set the mushrooms aside to cool.
9. Whilst the onions and mushrooms are cooling, layout your pastry. You want the pastrt to be about as thick as a pinkie finger. If your pre-rolled pastry is thicker roll it out to the desired thickness.
10. Using a round cookie cutter or a glass, cut out 12 rounds of the pastry.
11. Press each round of pastry into a hole of a 12 yield muffin tin. If your pan usually sticks, spray each hole with cooking spray before hand.
12. Next, put the egg and sour cream into a bowl with the salt and pepper and beat together.
13. Stir through the dried parsley and crumbled blue cheese. Set aside.
14. Spoon a bit of the balsamic onions into the base of each tart.
15. Top the onions with the mushrooms, trying to cover as much of the surface as possible.
16. Spoon the blue cheese mixture over the top of each tart.
17. Put tarts in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the pastry has gone golden and the cheese mixture has set.
18. Take out of the oven and allow to cool before serving so the cheese mixture can firm up a little bit.

Serves: 12

The new year has arrived and yet again many of us are hanging our heads in dietary shame. Things have been bad enough in our home that I am not even allowing myself to step on the scale for the next month. If I see the number without having a whole month to do damage control I may end up beyond depressed. If I didn’t gain ten pounds I will consider it a result. Yup, that bad!

All of which means it is time to get serious again and shift this weight. I am so sick of stagnating with my weight loss. Which is more or less what I have done for the past year. I know I can get to the finish line. It just requires me to focus and and not be sidetracked.

So, to usher back in my diet blinkers I am starting the healthy eating over with a new version of – what you must know by now – is pretty much my favourite dish. What you have to love about hummus is that once you have a basic hummus recipe down you can play with it in any number of ways. Even changing up just a few ingredients can make, what tastes like, a totally different hummus recipe.

In addition to jump starting the diet efforts, I am also aiming to use up things lurking in the back of my fridge before I allow myself to buy any ‘new and interesting’ items. I am always wanting to try new things but then I end up with half a jar of something that I don’t know how to use in enough ways to finish off.

Preserved lemons are something I was playing with not too long back. When I opened the fridge to try and brainstorm for a new hummus recipe, sure enough, that partially used jar of preserved lemons was sitting right there between the fish sauce and the the mango wasabi mustard. After a bit of contemplation, I took up the challenge.

Guess what? It turns out preserved lemons can work really well in a hummus recipe. Since both have Middle Eastern origins that shouldn’t be too shocking, I suppose. Plus, most hummus recipes include lemon juice. So, the basic flavours are already accounted for in the classic recipe.

Most things I have read about how to use preserved lemons in recipes, only includes using the skin. I couldn’t find anything about using the preserved lemon pulp but it felt so wrong to just throw them out. I threw them into the mix rather than throwing them away and it turns out that it actually really worked. I think that is because they carry the salt content. So, if you just either skip or limit the salt in the rest of your hummus recipe it works well and you haven’t wasted any of the lemon.

I have a feeling this won’t be the last hummus recipe I develop over the next year as I try to continue down the scales. If they all work this well, I will be a happy – hopefully smaller – woman.

Preserved lemon hummus

preserved lemon hummus recipe

Ingredients:
1 (400g) can chickpeas, drained but the liquid reserved
1/4 cup tahini
3 cloves garlic
2 preserved lemons, including the pulp, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons reserved chickpea juice
freshly ground pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste, if required
fresh parsley and lemon zest, to garnish

Directions:

1. Put the chickpeas, tahini, garlic and preserved lemons into a blender or food processor.
2. Blitz in short bursts, pushing the mixture down when needed until everything is combined.
3. Add the chickpea juice and mix for a few more seconds. If you want it less thick you can always add more of the juice.
4. Taste a bit and decide if you need to add any salt. If you do add the salt and pepper. If not, just the pepper and mix for a couple seconds.
5. Roughly chop parsley and zest a lemon.
6. Serve topped with the parsley and lemon

Serves: 2 to 4