Souvlaki made from my new cook book!

I didn't think my week could get any better, I was still on a high from taking part in the food blogger event and had my next challenge lined up with a small piece of chump when Amazon delivered a mystery parcel... drum roll please...in this next bit I get a bit sloppy and emotional!!!  Out of the box fell the cook book I was reading at Marie's house, I'd fallen asleep reading and next morning had commented that it was an amazing book and I hurriedly copied down the souvlaki recipe to try with my Jimmy's Farm bounty.  As a thank you for accompanying her to Ipswich Marie had sent me a copy of my own. If I hadn't been rewarded enough with a great day out, great company, a signed cooking book from Jimmy himself, a great lunch and a bag of meat... she sends me this!!! It brought a tear to my eye. Do you know what? Friends are the most important ingredients in the recipe of life... thank you Marie for my thank you gift, it was a pleasure spending time with you!

Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros

 Diced chump of pork, skewered ready for the gril.

I served it with Jamie's chopped salad, Tessa's Tatziki, pitta bread recipe from Domestic Jules  I grilled the kebabs for about 5 mins each side then left them to rest, by the time I was ready to serve them they were cooked to perfect.
I can't believe that I have now cooked two pork dishes without over cooking and drying them out... I'm on a roll; I might just cook pork again tomorrow!!!

For my IPD P2 followers, leave out the pittas the rest is good to go...

Jamie Olivers 30 Minute Menu - Stuffed Mushrooms Crispy New Potatoes & Beetroot & Feta Salad

Taken from Jamie's 30 minute menu, this was the one he made the steak sarnie with, we did it without as there was plenty of food for mid week.  It was easy to put together but wouldn't have done it in 30 minutes if I'd made the sandwich as well and the results we had were variable too. :-(

Beetroot and Feta Salad

Now I like feta and I love beetroot but this was so-so for me, probably not enough texture, soft beetroot, soft cheese, OK, though I won't be dashing to make it again!

Stuffed mushrooms -

I've made these before but by adding the chili and the lemon just takes them to a different level they were Divine!! Could have eaten more - Paul missed the meat!

The crispy new potatoes were easy to cook, with the wide pan and pre boiled water they didn't take long at all, drained and fried in the same pan saved washing up too.

Had the royal seal of approval from the kids too!

I am definitely getting this book , this is the third menu I've done and with the exception of the beetroot salad we've loved them all!

I've been instructed to make the sarnie from this one and leave the vegetables out... nuff said!

Noodle Bowl Salad

I love this recipe, its quick and simple to make. Its great anytime of the day but works really well in the lunchbox, so we had it for a light supper then packed the rest up to take to work tomorrow!
I use the recipe from an old BBC good food mag but you can find it by clicking here

Jamie's 30 minute meal

I sat watching Jamie O's 30 minute meals on catch up earlier today and watched the one where he makes mushroom risotto with a cucumber and spinach.

I checked the fridge and I had all the ingredients to do the spinach salad but lacked mushrooms for the risotto...

 but I did have asparagus, mint and lemon... so that's what I did, cooking it in the 30 minute style. It turned out fabulous!

 Didn't have the stuff to do the dessert he suggested but did have everything to make a huge banoffee pie!

This was delicious... expertly made by Jo.  The recipe she used as base loosely on this one here however she used butter and kept it plain.

Warm Shredded Lamb Salad

This can be dressed with mint and pomegranate or lemon if not in season. Again it's out of Nigella Bites.

2lb shoulder of lamb
2 shallots, halved but not peeled
3 cloves of garlic
1 carrot, peeled and halved
Salt
250ml boiling water
chopped mint
1 pomegranate or 1 lemon

Pre-heat oven to 170c
Brown lamb on top of the hob, fat side down
Remove when nicely browned
Fry vegetables in same pan briefly
sprinkle with salt
Pour water over and replace lamb
cover with tent of foil
Place in oven for 3 hours [or until it is falling off the bone done!]
When it is done, remove from tin and place on large serving plate.
No need to carve, just use two forks to shred meat, while still hot squeeze 1/2 a pomegranate and scatter the seeds the other half over the meet. Alternativly, squeeze 1/2 the lemon over the meet,
Sprinkle with chopped mint and serve!

Look what I got today....

The title is a little bit misleading but this post took a long time coming...there was oodles of fruit and veg to consider!

On the 12th December I received an email from Victoria Simpson on behalf of Abel & Cole. They were offering a free box of delicious organic food to some of their favourite bloggers.
The box they are giving away was the “Medium Organic Fruit & Veg box” worth £15.95. I went on to their website and was impressed when I read about....what makes them different? They support British farmers, they work with the seasons, they look after the environment. They give a fair deal to farmers, fund raise with local schools and insist upon the highest levels of animal welfare...Of course I replied straight away, saying yes please!!!

It was delivered the Tuesday after Christmas....timing was perfect as I had run out of all my pre Christmas fruit and vegetables and it kept me going through to the new year! so thank you Abel & Cole.As a bonus they were going to be running a contest - I had to simply take a photo of one of the meals I produced with the food, post it on my blog by 31st January and the winner of the best dish gets a £50 Abel & Cole gift voucher. I used everything in the box, photographed lots of it and have decided to post them all. Not sure if they're good enough to win, but I've enjoyed taking part and loved the free produce and the family have been fed into the bargain!!!!

How exciting....free organic vegetables.

wow - they looked delicious and were fresh as a daisy...

Well as you can imagine, I could wait to get stuck in and use it. I had cooked vegetables, leftover from the Sunday roast but there is never any roast potatoes left in my house so I used the potatoes first to make up my bubble and squeak!

A real mish mash of leftovers...including leeks in a cheese sauce!

I left a few out of the B&S so I could pan fried them and then top with grated cheese for Joanne's supper (I know she shouldn't eat cheese before bed, but she likes the dreams!!!)

The next day I used the cherry tomatoes to make this tomato, mozzarella balls & basil salad to go with a pasta dish the family were having.

The leftovers went into my salad.

Then it was the mushrooms turn to make my cheese & mushroom omelette's for breakfast ...

...then some of the leeks...(look at how fresh they are!!!)

...to make my leek and Parmesan soup for lunch!

I can truly say that not an ounce of the box went to waste. The swede was grated and mixed with a finely sliced leek to make fritters. (No photos..they were eaten too quickly!!!) The Carrots were glazed and served as a side dish. The only thing left to use up was the oranges, not a fruit that goes down too well in my house, I can usually get the youngest to eat satsuma or clementines, but not big oranges, so not wanting them to be wasted I turned to the recipe that was printed on the back of the invoice that came with the box. Clementine upside down cake... Now anyone who has tasted my banana upside down cake will agree, its the best....but Oranges??? Not even the proper oranges it calls for...but big oranges....oh here goes...

Clementine Upside Down Cake

A very moist heavy sponge with a sticky orange-y top! Not nearly as good as the banana upside down cake but in fairness I did make it with big oranges, I'm sure the clementines would have been sweeter, and there was a discrepancy with the recipe...it said 10g of butter to 150g of sugar???? I took it as a typo but maybe it wasn't...who knows!!! Those who ate it said it was nice! I have never bothered with box schemes before as I always thought I'd be given lots of produce that I would simple waste...either too much of one thing the family didn't like and or not enough of the things we do! How wrong can you be?! I loved the challenge of finding recipes to use all the produce with. I tailored my weekly menu around the contents and adapted it to suit what was still left...I made banana cake with the two bananas that were left in the fruit bowl as they had started to go a little speckled in my warm kitchen...I nabbed a couple of apples before they got eaten to make an apple cake for dessert, which left the box empty!

Old photo of the same recipe...I again I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

Thank you Abel & Cole, I am seriously impressed, not just by your generous free offer but the quality, variety and freshness of the contents...at £15.95 it has fed 2 adults 2 children and numerous guests in the form of cakes and puddings. After this week I've seriously changed my view on these box schemes...if I'd have paid for it, it would have definitely been worth its money!!!

Scotch Egg with Luxurious Coleslaw

Didn't have cashew nuts so threw in some flaked almonds instead which did the trick but cashsews would have given it more cruncy. Flavours were great! This is a keeper, i'll be making this again and again and again, it was great in Paul's lunch box next day too! Served it with the cold scotch eggs....wonderful!

I can't wait for Bee's other books to be published...its not going to take me long to get through this one now!

Roasted Vegetable and Pinenut Salad

(Will take a better photo next time!)

Well this is a first...

This dish didn't go down too well at first! Paul never complains, he eats what is put in front of him and ruddy well likes it or else....but not this time! I was of the same mind.

Now don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the dish, it was hearty, filling with a great taste, the pine nuts gave a good buttery crunch and the Cajun spice was just right! But for a lunch time salad on its own, it just didn't do it for us. Paul's first comment was, where's the meat...and that's what it needed for us! We used the leftovers (I made double) as a side dish to a roast chicken and it was fab... heating it up made it a little over cooked but the flavours had all gelled and it was very very good....I will serve this again as part of a main meal and use the leftovers in the lunch box with leftover turkey sizzlers. At room temperature, its great!

Leave me a comment and tell me if you have made this dish and what you thought....

PS - I didn't use the aubergine as I don't like them

Maggie - This is the dressing I use, the full fat one not the ikky low cal one. There is a blue cheese dressing in the IPD cookbook which is nice but this is handy to have in the fridge. They also do a ranch dressing which is great too. I use it in the cauliflower pizza base.

Chicken & Bacon

At the beginning of the week I fry up a batch of diced smoked lardons and small pieces of chicken breast, then if I'm pushed for time I can simply add them to lettuce leaves and Caesar dressing for a great lunch time salad.
(No photo of the finished salad - Paul took it to work before I could snap it! )

Turkey Sizzlers

Not unlike the turkey twizzlers I serve the kids, I usually sprinkle them with oil, garlic and herbs and thread them onto skewers to make them more fun for them.

These were brilliant, the Cajun seasoning gave them a bit of a kick, I cooked them on my stoneware pan so didn't need to turn them over. I served them with a green salad and lots of mustard-y mayo...unfortunately they didn't make it to the freezer but they were so quick to cook I won't mind making them again from fresh.

Out of the 3 turkey escallops suggested in the book, I made 4 lunch time salads.

Blue Cheese Dressing...

Add the dressing above the salad but under the meat,

this way it doesn't make a gooey mess on the lid of your lunchbox!

Left over rare cooked steak made a great topping for my blue cheese dressing.

All packed up and ready to take to work!

My lunch time salad

Roast beef, tomatoes, onions, lettuce (from my garden) and mixed olives with a mustard mayonnaise made the perfect salad

Pan Fried Salmon

A simple supper of pan fried salmon fillet on a bed of lettuce with red onion rings, chopped tomato and cucumber served with a large dollop of dill mayonnaise.

Tomato and Basil Salad

Too simple to warrant a full written recipe, but the flavours and colours need a mention!

Use really ripe tomatoes, remove their core and squeeze out the seeds. Cut them up so they are chunky, tear basil up and add to bowl season with salt and pepper then toss with olive oil and rosa balsamic vinegar. Leave to marinate before serving.

Red Curried Prawn Salad

Not the best photo in the world - I'll just have to make it again!

This started life as Marie's Green Curry Chicken Salad but I sub'd it till it turned into this. I have made it many times since then and its always a hit

1 cup of mayonnaise
3 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
4 cups cooked tiger prawns
½ cup shredded coconut
½ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup chopped fresh coriander
6 spring onions, minced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Whisk the mayonnaise, ginger, curry paste, lime juice, cumin and ground coriander together in a small bowl.
2. Combine the prawns, coconut, almonds, chopped coriander and spring onions together in a large bowl. Add the spiced mayonnaise and season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss to coat the prawns well. Chill for several hours.
3. Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce leaves with a sprig of coriander to garnish.

A Chip Off The Old Block

Bank holiday BBQ (indoors - as usual!) Jo made the tomato and mozzarella salad, with baby spinach and wild rocket and watercress salad to garnish, topped it with a basil and mint dressing*
4 tblsp olive oil,
2 tblsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp dried mint
2 tsp dried basil
salt & Pepper

In a screw top lid, shake to emulsify then drizzle over your salad! This will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Passley's Burgers

Made a salad and dressed it with a oil and raspberry vinegar dressing. Then I made Passley's burgers, the ones with the chorizo, I made mini ones, as it was late and they cooked quicker. They were easy to put together and cooked up a treat. Great flavours, lovely crusty bit from the bottom of the pan, went really well with our salad and dressing. Thanks Passley!!!

A Chicken & Parmasan Lunchbox

Mixed bag of lettuce,
2 small cherry tomatoes quartered
Diced cucumber
Sliced chicken leftovers from a deli chicken
shop bought caesar salad dressing (make sure its low carb)
grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on the top.

Feta, Olive and Butternut Salad

The cookbook says that the salads in the book have balls, they are man salads and they won't leave you mooching around the kitchen wondering what else you can eat....They are not telling pork pies this was very filling, tasty great texture and very colourful.



Just a point of interest, I roasted a whole butternut squash, sprinkled just what I needed for the salad with cajun spice and saved the rest for another meal. I made up a cajun spice mix, you can find the recipe here