Fudging it!

Yes, today I am dealing with writing this blog in a vague and inadequate way (definition of fudging!) I am totally unprepared and therefore winging it.

I have decided to share with you my recent invention. I start each morning with a bowl of porridge. It used to be with full fat milk, then semi, now skimmed. It used to be with Golden Syrup, then honey, now fudge! Yes! I have recently discovered that a cube of fudge melted into my bowl of goodness is a delicious sweet treat. Oats, of course, are the good guys. They are high in fibre, a source of carbohydrate and help to lower my cholesterol as well as keeping me full until lunchtime. 

In my defence, I don't have fudge every day. Most of the time I have porridge with blueberries or a chopped banana. But, if you do have some fudge lurking in the back of your cupboard, go on, give it a try!

A Box of Tricks or Pure Magic?

Having recently signed up to a food box delivery, Hello Fresh, I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. I was persuaded to sign up on my own doorstep by a very nice representative who was also a vegetarian (they do meat and fish boxes too). I undertook to pay around £25 for a vegetarian box containing 3 meals each serving 2 people along with the 3 recipe cards.

The following Monday a large brown cardboard box arrived containing fresh veggies, some fruit and herbs, storecupboard ingredients and some well insulated fridge foods along with the recipes. Everything looked fresh and had good use by dates.

I cooked the first recipe that night and got my non-vegetarian daughter to share the meal. The portions were generous and we actually stretched it to 3 portions to include my son. Delicious! And so the week went on. All meals are made using produce from the best British suppliers and the idea is that food is cooked from scratch, reduces food waste and gets good food from farm to fork in the shortest time possible. The food was indeed tasty and I have learned to use some ingredients I would not habitually buy and combine them in different ways. The recipes are easy to follow and many items are already weighed out for use. The scheme is now endorsed by Jamie Oliver.

Now for the downside. I am the only vegetarian in my family so had to persuade someone else to eat the other portion. I found that the recipes used numerous pans and took 30-45 mins to cook which became a juggling game when trying to make a meat/fish based meal for the rest of the family at the same time. I have been left with bits of ingredients which I thought might be incorporated in the next meal but weren't. I sometimes eat out in the evening or sometimes have a main meal out at lunchtime, eat takeaways or simply just fancy a jacket potato with cheese and beans for tea. This meant that by Sunday I was panicking about using the food and not wasting it so I had to use up the ingredients and follow a recipe dictated by the scheme. As the rest of the family tucked in to a Sunday Roast I was having a Chinese based meal!

Two of the meals I cooked - Hoisin Stir Fry with Rice, Yellow Pepper & Sugar Snap Peas and Rustic Butter Bean Cassoulet with Herb Dumplings.

So I have had my 2 weeks worth at a total cost of around £50. This was the trial period. If I continue the price goes up to around £35 a week. For me, it just isn't working out and so I shall pause or cancel my deliveries. However, if your family are all vegetarians it would probably work out quite well. I do think the concept is good, the ingredients fresh, if you don't leave until the 6th day, and the recipes inspiring. I shall definitely go out and shop for the ingredients and revisit the recipe cards!

If Laughter be The Food of Love!

This year my Valentine weekend has involved a romantic dinner out, gifts of flowers, heart chocolates and a lurve candle and a card filled with lovely words followed by a brunch of rhubarb compote pancakes. Lucky me - married 31 years and still being spoiled!

Last year my husband and I spent Valentine weekend in Chester. After walking the walls, lunch and a spot of shopping we ate our evening meal in a lively Italian restaurant. The food, drink and service were excellent and, just as we were about to leave, my husband pointed to something black under the table and questioned "what's that?" Upon closer inspection, by way of prodding it with our feet, it revealed itself to be a long black sock. "I think it might be mine" he hissed. The bottle of prosecco we had shared may have had some bearing, but I fell about with laughter. "How?" "Aren't you wearing a pair?" "Are you sure?" "Pick it up then!" "No way!"

We paid the bill and ran back to the hotel giggling like schoolchildren. Taking the stairs two at a time and bursting in to the room he pounced upon the laundry bag before holding a solitary long black sock aloft! Yess! Between undressing, bathing and redressing he had managed to trap a dirty sock in the leg of his trousers before depositing it on the Italian Restaurant floor.

We're just wondering what the staff made of it as they swept the floor after closing that night!

Flippin' Crazy!

What a great run of events we have this week! Today is National Yorkshire Pudding Day, tomorrow is Chinese New Year and the following day is Shrove Tuesday! 

Q: What do all these days have in common? 

A: Flour, eggs and milk!

So today we can tuck into our Sunday Roast (nut roast for us) alongside our vegetables, roast potatoes and good old Yorkshire puddings.

Tomorrow we can enjoy a lovely Chinese takeaway, restaurant meal or homemade dish. I love to make the following Mushroom Fried Rice:-

Cook long grain rice as per instructions (adding frozen peas for the last two minutes of cooking)

Cook mushrooms in a little oil and butter and season with pepper (add chopped spring onions)

Scramble an egg and add to the cooked rice

Add the mushrooms and onions and a good long slug of soy sauce

Serve with sweet chilli sauce and a side of Thai crackers (suitable for vegetarians).

Another favourite is Veggie Chinese Pancakes using either tofu or mushrooms instead of duck.

Then, if you haven't had enough batter in one week, you can go for lovely sweet or savoury filled pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Below is a picture of my breakfast this morning (just a rehearsal for Tuesday) and my waffles eaten last weekend using the same recipe!

If you want to bump up the entertainment value you could have a pancake race. In my camping days we used to have a sports weekend and one of the races for the adults involved lighting a Primus stove, cooking a pancake and tossing it three times before running across the finishing line. A child-friendly version is sometimes done in primary schools and I remember my daughter's class excitedly discussing who was the "biggest tosser" in their year, whilst the teachers passed secret smiles to one another!

I DO(n't) like Mondays!

As more and more people are cutting down on their meat intake for personal health or financial reasons, to help combat global warming or just to try out new and exciting recipes, the idea of Meat Free Monday has become more and more popular. Obviously this does not have to be on a Monday but the theory is that meat eaters should have a day off and enjoy the foods that we vegetarians eat. There is a website offering support, recipes, celebrity endorsements and restaurant reviews as well as a book which can be purchased.

Some friends started with Meat Free Monday and have now extended it to two days a week. They once served me the following dish and, instead of me giving them vegetarian recipes, they have given me the following.

Roast vegetables of your choice (e.g. Courgettes, aubergines, onions, tomatoes, peppers) in a little oil. With around 10 minutes to go, add slices of halloumi cheese to the roasting tin.

Cook your choice of pasta (e.g. Fusilli)

Add Sacla pesto to the pasta (I use part roasted pepper or sun dried tomato and part fiery chilli)

Stir in the roasted veggies and halloumi

Easy and delicious for vegetarians and Mondays!

Telling Porkies!

Yesterday I met the daughter of a friend on the train. She is at University studying food technology and was very excited about a forthcoming interview for an internship with a company who predominantly produce baking ingredients.

A few years ago I participated in several market research sessions, one of which was for that same company. The research concentrated on their packaging rather than their product but was, nevertheless, interesting. I have also discussed sofas, mobile phones, crisps and snacks (accompanied by free samples) and ... PORK! 

'Charlatan!" I hear you cry. Well, yes, the pay offered was certainly an incentive and no, I did not disclose the fact that I was a vegetarian (nor was I asked) but, thankfully, they were not offering free samples! In actual fact the survey questioned the provenance of meat and how the labelling of pork can influence our decision to buy.

For example, Red Tractor is a farm and quality food assurance scheme launched by the food industry to promote clearer labelling and ensure food originates from a trustworthy source. As this covers dairy, cereals, fruit and vegetables (as well as meat) I felt I could answer the questions by substituting the word "pork" in my head with "vegetarian foods". Anyway, that was my reasoning and I'm sticking by it!

I do believe that all food products should have clear labelling and, being vegetarian, it certainly helps.

Below are some of the labels we have come to trust.

So, now you know the extent of my deceit. However, I am not alone. Whilst chatting to other market research participants, I discovered a non-smoker who did one on cigarettes and a man who had to pretend he ate several bars of chocolate a day! If only I could have been on that session ...

Inspect-a-Gadget!

A friend of mine was listing the fabulous kitchen gadgets she had acquired recently but bemoaned the fact she didn't own a spiraliser. "That's so last year" I comforted her. However, it seems the spiraliser is here to stay and, if you don't own one, you can buy pre-spiraliser food from the supermarket.

Every year has its share of gadgets. The 1960s saw refrigerators becoming popular and revolutionising the way we shopped and ate. My own favourite 1960s gadget was a wall mounted tin opener in our pantry. I would slide the door shut and then wind the tin opener before announcing "third floor - ladies hats!" Yes, I did have a vivid imagination.

During the 1970s home freezers brought women freedom. They could buy ready frozen foods and cooked in batches to freeze food for future meals. This eased the time constraints caused by more women working. The other 70s gadgets I remember were the fondue and the soda siphon - ideal for any dinner (or anyone aspiring to host their own Abigail's Party!)

With the 1980s came sandwich toasters, electric carving knives and, of course, the microwave. This used an electromagnetic wave to cook in a fraction of the time of a conventional oven. It could also be used to defrost frozen foods. A scare about waves escaping and harming humans meant people invested in another gadget which would then monitor whether or not the microwave was leaking!

The 1990s continued what the 80s had started - to show off with cafetières and pasta machines. Where previously there was a cupboard cemetery of unused and unloved gadgets, now your items were on show and no trendy kitchen would be seen without a Philip Starke juicer standing like an alien upon your worktop.

In the noughties I remember watching Ready Steady Cook with my young children who would hand me plates of plastic egg and chips or pizza at the "stop cooking" command. I would then have to hold up a green pepper or red tomato to whichever dish looked the most (erm) appetising! After watching this programme sales of kitchen blowtorches took off, enabling us to make perfect creme brulees.

Christmas 2015 saw us with a new waffle maker and some onion glasses. Whilst chopping onions I can now look like Dame Edna without shedding a tear - erm, and that's a good thing?!