Recipe | Butternut and pomegranate bulgar wheat salad

This recipe is another attempt to brighten up my daily lunch box at work with something I could make in a big batch that would keep well. It turned out better than I hoped and was pretty easy (except for the pomegranate faff) that I thought I’d share with you all! This makes five portions which is enough for a week’s worth of lunches.

Ingredients: 200g (one cup) brown bulgar wheat//one pomegranate//one vegetable stock cube//one medium butternut squash//15 cherry tomatoes//one red pepper//tumeric//cumin//paprika//one red onion//spray olive oil//

First up pre heat your oven to 200oC and peel and chop your butternut squash into cubes. Put in an oven dish, spray with olive oil and sprinkle with the spices. Give it a good mix around and pop in the oven for 25 mins.

Whilst the butternut squash is roasting, put the kettle onto boil. Put the stock cube into a saucepan with two cups of boiling water and put onto boil. Once the water and stock is boiling away take off the heat and add in the bulgar wheat. Give it a little swirl, put a lid on it and leave to one side.

Now start prepping your veggies. Halve your cherry tomatoes, chop up your pepper and slice and dice your onion. Add it all to a big mixing bowl, awaiting the remaining ingredients.

After the squash has been in for 25 minutes take it out, give it a shake and put back in the oven for another 15 mins. Now’s the time for the faffy bit, getting all the seeds out of the pomegranate! Oh my this is a bit of a messy, fiddly job, but those little dark plum seeds of juicy goodness are worth it, and cheaper than just buying in a tub from Waitrose. If you didn’t want to use pomegranate I think this would work well with raisins and flaked almonds, or you could even add in some feta cheese or mozzarella at this point too.

Butternut squash out of the oven, add the cubes to your onion, pepper and tomato, and then add in your pomegranate jewels. Fluff up your bulgar wheat (it’s very similar to couscous if you haven’t cooked with it before, and a bit easier than quinoa to cook with), make sure all the liquid is absorbed, and then add to your other veggies. Give it all a good mix together, have a little taste to ensure it’s up to scratch, and then try to stop yourself eating any more by portioning it up and putting in the fridge for your lunches.

I served mine with plenty of lettuce leaves and some carrot sticks on the side and it made a nice change to my usual salad mixtures. It was a really easy lunch to prepare on a Sunday evening and probably took 40 mins in total as you have to wait for the butternut squash to cook. Plus it’s really, really healthy and good for you, which has to be a good thing, right?

If you have any other recipes for bulgar wheat please let me know!

Cook book challenge | Strawberry jam

Strawberry jam has been at the top of my ‘fill the 48 jars I bought last year’ self imposed challenge I set myself last year and when I saw strawberries were being sold pretty cheap in the supermarket I knew I had to have a go. I used a recipe from the Preserves book Bess bought me as my secret santa last year, written by Pam Corbin.

Ingredients: strawberries//granulated sugar//jam sugar//lemon juice

Taste: Ummm, I haven’t tasted this yet from the jar, but I licked the spoon after I’d finished putting it all into jars and it tasted pretty good!

Time taken: I couldn’t get over how easy and quick this recipe was. I made it one evening after work and I was done and washed up by 7.30. I’d say with chopping up your strawbs etc give yourself an hour.

Likeness to the book: The book doesn’t have any photos of the jam unfortunately, but I’m going to say it looks like strawberry jam to me!

Improvements: I had 100g less of strawberries after I finished hulling them than I needed despite buying over what I needed, so I guess I’d buy an extra punnet just to be sure.

Cost: Three large punnets of strawberries cost me about £4 in total, lemons were about £1 fresh for three, and I’m not sure on the sugar as I had both already, but I think jam sugar is about £2 a bag and I only needed half? So, in total, £6 and I made five jars, so not too bad really at approx. £1.20 a jar.

Overall score: 4.5/5. I haven’t tasted it from the jar yet so don’t want to give it a full score just yet!

What I ate Wednesday

As always a big thanks for Jen for hosting What I Ate Wednesday, I really love looking to see what everyone eats and getting inspiration! This week’s post is my eats from Monday, so enjoy!

Raspberries, frozen banana, spinach, porridge oats, and almond milk, all blended up and put in my favourite drinks beaker, and enjoyed at my desk. This kept me full until lunchtime, a perfect breakfast.

Lunchtime rolled around and I delved into a new salad I created on Sunday night trying to use up some odds and ends in the cupboards. It was so delicious, I’ll be posting the recipe soon! A bed of salad, balsamic vinegar, butternut squash, bulgar wheat, pomegranate and more. Yum!

Mid afternoon I snacked on an unpictured apple, and drank plenty of herbal tea.

As dinnertime rolled around I ummed and ahhed over what to do with a chicken breast I defrosted earlier in the day. In the end I settled upon another salad and to roast the chicken. It really hit the spot for what I was fancying. Another success! The chicken was so succulent, I just sprinkled a little olive oil over it, a little garlic powder, a shake of chilli powder, wrapped in tin foil and then popped in the oven for 25 minutes. Nothing could be more simple.

A great, nutritious day of eats, if only every day I can be this good with my eating!

Recipe | Summer frittata

Finding interesting and easy meals to make ahead and take to work for my lunch is a constant challenge! Sandwiches don’t do it for me and I’ve eaten more variations of tuna/ham/sausage salad than you can shake a stick at. Browsing through various recipe websites on the hunt for lunch inspiration I came across a few variations of frittata that could be cut up and put in the fridge to take to work. I decided to combine what I’d seen online and have a go at making my own. The result was easy, filling, delicious and something I looked forward to come 1pm!

In the mix:

Four eggs, whisked

100g bacon lardons (could use chopped up regular bacon, or ham or sausage etc)

Two onions, chopped

Spray olive oil

Two peppers (I used one yellow and one green)

300g of new potatoes

Salt and pepper

Start by boiling your new potatoes. Once cooked through, drain and leave them to cool down. Next up add the sprays of oil to your frying pan and put in the onion to fry off. Once they begin to soften add in the bacon lardons to cook. You want them to start to turn golden. Then add in your chopped peppers and give them a few minutes.

Whilst cooking, hopefully your potatoes will be cool enough to cut up into slices, so you can add them to the pan too. They should be cooked enough they go slightly golden around the edges. Make sure everything is pretty evenly distributed around the plan and then pour in your whisked egg mixture. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on, turn the heat down to a medium low on the hob and let it bubble away.

After about 8-10 minutes the frittata should be cooked through but a little runny on top. You want to then put it under the grill for another 5 mins or so until it starts to go golden on top and there’s no runny egg. I sliced mine into five pieces, wrapped in tinfoil and put in the fridge to have for my lunches all week, but it would also make a really good warm dinner if you cut into bigger slices.

WI bake club #3

A couple of weeks ago I headed to my third bake club meeting. We’d decided beforehand to do biscuits and cookies, so I was looking forward to seeing what everyone would make. I took a portion of the lemon and rosemary shortbread I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

N made pistachio and chocolate cookies which she then dipped in chocolate, oh my they were so good. I think possibly my favourite of the evening!

Next up was P who made another variation on anzacs. These were good, but they didn’t beat N’s cookies!

R made a Nigella recipe for peanut butter cookies, and I could have very, very easily eaten a whole stack of these. I love me some PB!

Pip made biscotti, and these were really good too, especially as she made them at such short notice. and I thought they looked fantastic too. They would have been great with a glass of lemoncello, I have to say!

Finally it was the turn of M who made another variation of pistachio and chocolate and cranberry cookies. Again, these were really good but I think N’s just had the edge!

May’s challenge is savoury pastry, and I’m thinking possibly sausage rolls…If you have any other suggestions, please let me know!

The Dining Room

This week I was lucky enough to go to a nearby restaurant for dinner with the WI. I’d heard many things about The Dining Room, and I was really looking forward to it. For the evening we had a set menu with a set price for three courses, which I thought was pretty reasonable. Here’s the menu:

I chose the roasted Mediterranean vegetable start, followed by fresh asparagus risotto and then finished with sticky toffee pudding. I had hoped for a slightly more exciting and unusual menu, as these were the sorts of things you could probably get in a lot of gastro pubs, let alone a ‘posh’ restaurant run by a TV chef. Anyway, I digress. To drink P, S and I shared a bottle of merlot which went down pretty easily!

My starter arrived and I was impressed with the presentation, it looked beautiful. However, when I cut into it I was expecting something with a few more whole veggies, this kind of reminded me a little of a mousse quiche which was hot. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I wouldn’t have it again.

Plates cleared and wine topped up it was time to head onto the next course. I ummed and ahhhed about what to have for my main, but I ultimately decided the confit of duck would be a little too rich for me and the creamed potatoes may be a bit risky, whilst I’ve eaten so much fish this week that posh fish and chips didn’t seem too appealing. The asparagus risotto seemed nice and seasonal, and I haven’t had a risotto in ages, so I went for that. Again, whilst it was good, it wasn’t outstanding, and on the way home I said to my Mum I thought I could probably rustle up something not too dissimilar!

Savoury belly’s full and wine glasses empty we were soon served dessert. I haven’t had sticky toffee for ages so it wasn’t too hard to make a choice, although the thought of chocolate and pistachio was pretty tempting! P said she thought the sticky toffee was a little dry, but I quite enjoyed it, although a little more sauce would never go amiss!

I left the restaurant having had a good meal with good company as always, but I’m going to wait a while before going back to see if they have a different menu to try.

Recipe | veggie stuffed peppers

Inspiration for this recipe came from a need to use up veggies in my fridge before heading away for the weekend. I’ve tried making stuffed peppers before but they’ve never turned out the way I hope, however after a little trail and error I think I’ve worked out the key to tasty meal.

This makes enough to stuff two peppers and also have leftover fillings for lunch the next day. I only started taking photos halfway through too, sorry! #badfoodblogger

You’ll need: 1 garlic clove//1 carrot finely chopped//2 chestnut mushrooms//1 courgette finely chopped//15 cherry tomatoes cut in half//2 handfuls of spinach//handful of raisins, soaked for about 12 hours//quarter cup of quinoa//tbsp pumpkin seeds//quarter cup of flaked almonds//2 peppers//squeeze of lemon//sprinkle of cumin, turmeric, ginger, chilli powder//

First up cook the quinoa according to the packet’s instructions. Meanwhile, set your oven to 200oC to preheat and start chopping your veggies.

Once the quinoa is cooked set to one side, add a little olive oil to a big frying pan and add in the garlic too brown off slightly. At the same time, after cutting them in half and removing the insides, place the peppers on a baking sheet, inside facing downwards.

Next up add in the courgette, carrots and mushrooms to soften to the frying pan. After 5 minutes add in a sprinkle of the different spices, depending on your tastes. I’m on a big turmeric kick at the moment so I added a few shakes of this!

Add in the cherry tomatoes, raisins and almonds, and allow the cherry tomatoes to really soften under the heat. Give this another 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how fresh your cherry toms are! Mine were a little soft to begin with, so took less time!

Once the tomatoes have softened add in the spinach, almonds and pumpkin seeds and allow the spinach to wilt.

Spinach wilted, add in the cooked quinoa and mix everything though so it’s all evenly distributed amongst the mixture.

All mixed in, take the mixture off the heat and pull your peppers from the oven. They should be softened and slightly black on the outside. Turn the peppers over and stuff with your yummy mixture!

Return to the oven and roast for another ten minutes or so, so that everything is warmed through and a little crunchy on top. At this point you could add cheese, but as I avoid dairy, I left this out!

Take out of the oven, and enjoy!

Cookbook challenge | madeleines with lemon curd

Summer holidays as a child were often spent in France, and one of my favourite things about visiting the country was buying the huge bags of madeleines. Small enough you could reasonably eat them in just two mouthfuls, yes, really, but still satisfying enough to feel like you were eating a cake, what’s not to love? I remember watching A Little Paris Kitchen on the box a couple of years ago and watching Rachel Khoo (yes, my obsession with her continues…) and thinking how wonderful to be able to whip up such delicious looking recipes from a tiny kitchen in a corner of Paris. It gave me hope for my then student living ways! Anyway, when I got the book over Christmas I knew I had to make these madeleines, and so with a free weekend I decided to go for it.

Ingredients: eggs//sugar//plain flour//baking powder//honey//milk//butter//lemon zest//icing sugar//raspberries//lemon curd (homemade preferably, but I cheated and got shop bought!)

Taste: Fresh out of the oven these taste like little pieces of heaven, they’re so good. I took them into work and my manager liked the contrast of the sweet lemon curd with the sharp raspberry, high praise indeed!

Time taken: You’re meant to leave these quite a while for the batter to chill in the fridge. I admit to being slightly impatient and not leaving them quite as long as I should have done, but I don’t think that altered them. According to the original recipe they should take about 3 hours, I’d say mine were done in 2.

Likeness to the book: Spot on in my opinion, what do you reckon?

Photo taken from the BBC website

Improvements: Next time I would like to have a go at making my own lemon curd, and seeing if this makes a difference to them.

Cost: I bought a terribly cheap garish jar of lemon curd, probably less than 50p, raspberries are about £2/punnet and you needed a whole punnet, lemons are 30p each, and everything else I had in the cupboard, so I probably spent an additional £3-ish on ingredients on top of what I already had.

Overall score: 5/5. These were well worth a slightly faffy recipe and two years of waiting after seeing Rachel make them on the TV, I’m already trying to think of more reasons to make them.

If you want to have a go at making them yourself, the recipe is on the BBC website. Enjoy!

Cook book challenge | lemon shortbread with fresh rosemary

My first cook from One Girl Cookies book, this recipe was the reason I bought the cook book. Rosemary and lemon shortbread sounded so simple, fresh, summery and delicious that when I had a free Sunday a couple of weeks back I knew this is what I wanted to make.

Ingredients: plain flour//salt//unsalted butter//granulated sugar//grated lemon zest//chopped fresh rosemary//egg//vanilla extract//raw Demerara sugar

Taste: These biscuits are good. Light, fresh and just enough rosemary to know that it’s there, but not enough to overpower. I took them into work with me and they were gone by 10am. That’s a good biscuit.

Time taken: These take a little while as you leave the mixture in the fridge for 30 mins to cool, but I figure that’s enough time to get the first batch of washing up done! Otherwise they’re about 12 minutes to bake, and maybe 20 mins or so to put together the batter, so not too bad.

Likeness to the book: Aside from choosing a different shape cutter to the book I was pretty pleased with how they came out. I’m still not great at knowing how my oven works, so some were a little more golden than others, but I think they all tasted good.

Improvements: None to the recipe apart from my own lemon zesting ability! I think next time they would be great with lavender.

Cost: If you search around a little you can normally find rosemary growing outside so I pinched some from a bush at the top of my road. Lemons are about 30p each, and I everything else aside from the Demerara sugar, which I think was a little over £2, but will last me ages as you only use it to sprinkle on top. So not an expensive one really.

Overall score: 5/5. Loved these little biscuits, and I think they’re going to be my entry to the next WI bake off which sees us doing biscuits!

Sloe gin and vodka jelly

Last Winter I went foraging for sloes with my friend P so we could make some sloe gin. It turns out we picked so many sloes I had enough to also make some sloe vodka. Since November the sloes have been doing their thing in the vodka and gin and I’ve been eagerly anticipating the first taste! After opening the bottle and deciding the booze was ready to drink I started scouring the internet for ideas on what to do with the sloes. Options for reusing them included making port, chocolate, and my preferred option (mainly because I still have a billion jars to  use!), was jam or jelly.

I followed this recipe, which was very straightforward, if a bit time consuming. Despite having what I thought was a huge amount of sloes, they vodka only made one jar, and the gin made a jar and 3/4. I think the problem was I click that making a jelly would be ‘bit free’ whereas a jam is more pulpy. After throwing away the apple and sloe mixture it did feel a bit of a waste, but the result was really tasty. I’ve brought a jar down to my parents and I’m really looking forward to trying it with them over Easter.

Next year I’ll be looking to go foraging again, and using the sloes to try and perhaps make a jam instead, although the tricky part is removing the sloe stones!

If you have any tips or recipes for things to do with leftover sloes, I’d love to know…