Posts Tagged Food

Visual Review: Delia’s Complete How to Cook

deliaThe other half is an excellent cook. He received Delia’s Complete How to Cook for his birthday and since then he’s made one meal and one desert almost every weekend. I’m going to share some pictures of the delicious things he’s made, and as for the book, I’d recommend it to anyone! The resulting food is beautiful, the recipes aren’t excessively difficult and everything’s explained very thoroughly throughout the book, complete with excellent photographs. The information about eggs, fruits, veggies etc is also very interesting to read.

In addition to the recipes after the jump, we’ve also had leak and goats cheese tart and souffléd omelette. This weekend we’re having a blue cheese gratin and lemon roulade.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Photographing food for a healthy lifestyle?

IMGP0808-450Inspired by something someone said at work about photographing everything you eat I’ve decided to keep a food diary in this way (starting with a week and seeing how it goes). I feel that this will help me to realise just how much crap I’m eating, and make me think twice before having that second or third cookie.

We also likened it to what they do in the weightloss TV shows, where they take all the food a person has eaten in a week and dump it on a table. I imagine looking through my photographs is going to be something like that!

My CC blog for yesterday is up here: http://caloriecount.about.com/users/jaz_desig n/307162.html

I don’t know how successful it will be, but it can’t hurt. More awareness of what one is eating can only be a good thing. I know I tend to mindlessly eat, not enjoy my food and not realise how much I’ve actually eaten. Seeing is believing they say!

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Recipe: Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Lasagne

April 26th - Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese LasagneI can safely say yum! When we went to Avebury last week the pub had a “butternut squash and goats cheese lasagne” on the menu. I couldn’t afford it, but it did sound delicious. I googled and googled until I could google no more, but no recipes were found! A Sainsbury’s product was found which was a bit more descriptive and so on the basis of that I came up with a recipe. It’s a bit labour intensive and took about 2 hours to make and cook. But it was delicious! There will be a picture to follow!

Since it’s a made up recipe and all new, there are some kinks to work out. This is exactly what I made, however you might wish to double the tomato sauce to add more tomato layers, or change the order of the layers. Any suggestions for improvements are welcome.

Vital Stats

Serves four with a side salad or green veggies. I ate two servings and felt like I’d over eaten so it is quite filling.

Suitable for vegetarians

450 calories per serving. 25.4g fat – 15.2g saturates (this is high, but it’s a cheesy dish…). These are rough estimates gained by putting the recipe into a calorie countingmagig. I have more stats if need be.

The Ingredients

For the tomato sauce:
1 tbsp oil
227 g canned tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

For the veggies:
1/2 a butternut squash (chopped into 2cm cubes)
1 leek (chopped in half lengthways, and smaller if desired)
1 red onion (quartered, will spread out once roasted)

For the cheese sauce:
1 mug milk (around 300 ml based on Wikipedia)
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp flour
240g goats cheese (not all of this goes in the sauce, about 1/4 will be saved for crumbling on the veggies)

Extras:
3 lasagne sheets
Some grated cheese (I used Derby for it’s mild flavour)

Instructables

1. Preheat the oven to 220*C
2. Chop up the squash, onion and leek ready for roasting

3. Throw the veggies into a pan, coating with oil (jumble it up with your hands if you will) and roast for 45 minutes – checking every 10/15 minutes

4. In the meantime, heat some oil in a frying pan and add the canned tomatoes, garlic, tomato puree, sugar, salt and pepper, bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for 10 minutes. If you double the sauce, up the time to 20 minutes

5. While this is doing, chop up 3/4ths of the goats cheese as best you can (tricky stuff, unless you use the hard variety and can grate it) and put in a saucepan

6. Add the flour, milk, butter and any salt/pepper/paprika to taste. Heat on the hob and keep stiring until it’s thickened. Don’t allow to boil.

7. With all this preparation and sauce making the roast veggies should be done, put half in the bottom of the dish, crumble some of the remaining goats cheese on and cover with the tomato sauce. Put the lasagne sheets on top.

8. Put the rest of the veggies in, crumble the remaining goats cheese and cover with most of the cheese sauce, put lasagne sheets on.

9. Put the rest of the cheese sauce on top and add a bit of grated cheese.

10. Bake for about half an hour at 220*C

11. Enyoy the deliciousness!

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Uploaded!

The last 13 days (minus the one I missed, oops) are now online.

Jan 12th - the pancakes have landed Jan 13th - Work work work Jan 14th - Egggggs Jan 15th - Be nice to me! Jan 16th - Silly Barbie Jan 18th - Magnet floor Jan 19th - Vanity Jan 20th - Delicious Quiche Jan 21st - Do not attempt to get inside me! Jan 22nd - Advertising Jan 23rd - Boring Jan 24th - Sweeney Todd Jan 25th - Chocolate

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This year quizzle…

1. Who did you have relationships with this year?
Edward, aka the mister

2. Have you had your birthday yet?
Yes, it was an interesting couple of days

3. Kissed two people in the same night?
Er, no. Just the one, and only the one.
4. Been on a diet?
Nope

5. Pulled an all nighter?
Surprisingly not, there’s been some very late nights though!

6. Drank Starbucks?
Yeah, caramel frapps
7. Went Camping?
Ew, no.
8. Bought something?
A fair few things, most recently Christmas presents, this pink laptop…

9. Met someone special?
I have someone special :)

10. Been out of the country?
No… really had to think about that. No.

11. What are you thinking about?
Tired, Friends is funny.

12. Have you hugged someone this year?
Yeah. Hugs are awesome.

13. Slept in someone else’s bed?
I’ve slept in so many beds, but they’ve all been mine or the mister’s, just at various different places. And the bed at the Travel Lodge.

14. Had a job?
Yeppers, I miss it a little.

15. Loaned out money?
The mister and I are always in debt to one or the other of us.

16. Gotten in a car accident?
No, don’t jinx me, I still have to make it to Harpenden before 2008.

17. Gone over your mobile phone bill?
I don’t spend much on my phone.
18. Been called a fucker?
Haha, probably.

19. Who was the last person you hugged?
Err… Michelle. It’s been a huggy week.
20. Who was the last person to call you?
Mum
21. When was the last time you felt stupid?
The other night, trying to reverse the car out of the drive

22. Who did you last yell at?
My housemates in my head

23. What did you do last night?
Built a fort, played Uno on MSN with the mister while watching Tru calling.

24. What is the name of your hometown?
Guildford

25. Describe your hairstyle?
Choppy, multicoloured.

26. What is your relationship status?
In a relationship :)

27. How tall are you?
5 ft 8ish
28. Do you have any pets?
Nope, unless a play-doh parrot counts?
29. What sort of mood are you in?
Chocolatey
30. Where would you rather be?
With my mister

31. What was the last thing you drank?
Water
32. Do you believe in love?
Indeed
33. Why did your last relationship fail?
Er, wow, that’s going back years… to do with an ex if I remember correctly

34. Have you ever broken someone’s heart?
Don’t know
35. Have you ever fallen for your best friend?
I did many many years ago

36. Have you ever loved someone and not told them?
Yes, I waited a whole year before I told him. Twas worth the wait.

37. Are you afraid of commitment?
Not anymore
38. Have you had more than 5 serious relationships in your life?
No
39. Are you missing someone right now?
LOADS
40. Are you happy?
Pretty much
41. Are you eating anything?
Praline seashells
42. Do you like someone right now?
I love someone right now…

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May Goal

Just a quick note really, since I have so much to do…

I’m thinking for my May goal (I know it’s a bit late, but, moving!) I’m going to aim to eat at least 4 different fruits and veggies a day. I know they say you should have five, but, considering my number usually ranges between 0-2, it’s a change, and chances are if I’m thinking about it I will be more. I went to Sainsbury’s t’other day and spent way too much on fruit and veggies which will probably only last me until tomorrow anyway. That being the only food we have, my start’s been quite good. But thus far…

Sunday – sultanas, grapes, apple, cucumber, celery, whatever’s in a nut cutlet and a Grassington’s veggie waffle thing, sweetcorn.
Monday – sultanas, banana, grapes, cucumber, celery, red pepper, two satsumas…

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Brocolli Pops not as Popular as Expected

Just a general blog about general things. I was thinking about what kind of focus this blog should have, maybe think about target audience, but I think I’d find that too hard. I like to talk about random things, things that go on in my life an so forth. Thus, I suppose my target audience is people with similar interests (I do need to update my profiley thing actually…), and my focus is just plain everything.

I’ve had a good week. Made my second trip to London since I’ve been ill, mostly to see my Mister, mostly :) It was good to have a day out. I’m not a fan of London but I did have a good day.

We had lunch down at St Paul’s – there’s a large Marks and Sparks food court there, they had this amazing vanilla and maple syrup smoothie thing – lush!

Then we hopped across the river to the Tate Modern. I’m not big on modern art, but I do love Cy Twombley’s ‘Four Seasons‘. Mostly because of the way he uses such a variety of materials, mostly. They’re just stunning pieces. I also really liked ‘Billingual’ by Juan Usle – however I can’t find a good photo of that online.

We were going to get the boat to the Tate Britain but missed the last one, so hung out on the grass outside the Modern for a while since the weather was so nice. Mosied back in a Waterloo direction and watched the sunset from the banks of the Thames over the Houses of Parliament.

We found dinner at a fancy Pizza Express restaurant, and ate far too much. It was so good though. I haven’t been out to dinner in ages, much less taken out to dinner, so I felt really spoilt :D We wandered down the river and looked at all the lights. All in all, a good day out.

Monday I did my first ever drive to Bognor to see Linz. J used to take me but we used to go the long way round, so going the proper way involved a lot of guesswork and following road numbers. We got some chips and wandered down the beach at dusky time. It was really good to see her.

I took my Mum to Brighton on Tuesday, we went shopping (picked up some guitar strings for the acoustic – my Mister appears to have got me back into playing), and then got ice creams and fell asleep on the beach.

Wednesday I drove up to see my Mister in Harpenden, got stuck in the most horrendous M1 traffic I’ve ever seen, and so came off at the first junction and guessed my way to his, and got quite lucky with my guesses really. Had a couple of nice meals with his family over the duration of my stay – tried some new food too which is unusual for me, it was good.

Friday we came back and went to Sainsbury’s in search of this easter egg I’ve wanted for about a month. They didn’t have it, which is very unfortunate as all their eggs were 75% off and as the one I wanted was a tenner originally, that would have been an amazing deal. I got a different egg that would have been equally expensive – a Lindt chocolate thing with a box of chocolates – and while the chocolates were amazing, there’s no way I would have paid a tenner for it! The Mister picked up a load of little Lindor eggs which were only 13p – if you wish to stock up on chocolate, head over to Sainsbury’s.

The past few days, when not working or doing other things, have been spent playing Sim City 3000. The Mister built up a city together and have actually done quite well so far. We got hold of a copy of SC4 Deluxe, and have developed a region as a starting point for both of us to see how we do things differently. I swore I’d never play Sims games again, but I guess I was mistaken. We’ll have to wait and see how City of Ghosthands does :)

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Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?

Wouldn’t it be amazing if, one summer’s day, when there was gridlock on the M25 and countless people were sitting with their windows down, waiting for the traffic to move, if, someone put a song on that everyone knew the words too, some kind of cult legend, like Bohemian Rhapsody, loudly, and started this chain of singing that moved through the traffic like wildfire. I think that would be awesome.

That’s what I thought when I was in traffic on the M1 yesterday anyway, singing along with Freddy Mercury.

April 2nd

Sugar Puffs
Sandwich – houmous and celery
Jelly bugs
Chocolate eggs
Half a box of chocolates

Roasted carrot, parsnips, garlic potatoes and broccoli with a Quorn mushroom and garlic escallop thing.
A few glasses of peach schnapps and lemonade

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Welcome to April

Another new month. Where does the time go? WHERE? I’d like answers!

So a goal for April, something to track. Since Easter is in April (a time of chocolate apparently) this is probably the worst possible time to start tracking this, but, food. I have a terrible diet. I’m a vegetarian, but more of a cheese-a-tarian really. I haven’t had chance to look into those two cookbooks I bought yet, however when I return from Harpenden that’s something I will start looking at. I found tracking expenses you really do question what you spend, so perhaps tracking food, I’ll start looking more closely at what makes me tick. I think I’ll split it into good and bad, I can only go so far with that but I don’t know how else to measure things.

We did another car boot sale this morning, I did fairly terribly. Seems people don’t want Beanie Babies and things anymore. Ebay and television have ruined car boot sales, everyone wants something for nothing. Cheeky. Getting up at half five for it seemed pointless, it was freezing, sunrise did not lighten my mood at all. Never mind, we shall prevail in the end I suppose! We’ll have to, one month until the move. Or 30 days.

Also, if you’d like to check it out, we have a preliminary website for my Enterprise group’s company, Clockwork Green. We aim to start trading after Easter so if you like things environmentally friendly, stylish and retro – check it out. Products will be available on Ebay and at sales in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

April 1st

Italics = bad

1 slice sunflower seed bread with lemon curd
2 small donuts
Some tortilla chips
Some Minstrels (chocolate)

1 sandwich (sunflower seed bread) with vegan edam, marg, houmous, celery (1 stick) and cucumber
Couple of slices of pizza (four cheese), oven fries, 2 veggie waffles, 1 red pepper, celery, cucumber
Chocolate chips
1 litre water
Tesco effervescent vitamins
A few yoghurt covered raisins

3 portions of fruit/veg – not brilliant. More than usual. Chocolate and donuts notwithstanding.

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Evaluation of the first two weeks…

I don’t think I’ll have time to evaluate this tomorrow, so I’ll look at it now.

The two weeks of normal spending is pretty much up. It’s so easy to see the common places I waste money. There was also the near miss with Sonic & The Secret Rings (Wii) (would have been £17 as my boyfriend and I were going to split it, but in the end we completed it and returned it :S haha) and also I get so tempted by books but I’ve been really good with that for quite a while now.

Amazon used to be my worst thing, but I really tried to cut that out at the beginning of the Uni year. Although as a result my wishlist is triple it’s usual size :S (Or it was until I was really cruel with it yesterday and hacked it to pieces)

Looking at my old Amazon orders, I’ve only ordered myself one book since the end of August and it was a uni book. I did however blow £350 on a camcorder not long after that

Anyway, looking at the spending… The totals for two weeks and the cost should I live like that for a year (which is unrealistic but it’s a nice shocktastic way to curb the spending)

Alcohol - £13.55
Cost – £352.30
I doubt I’ll be drinking again for a while anyway, considering the other night…

Chocolate – £8.29
Cost – £215.54
That’s really scary… although I did vow at the weekend to not buy myself chocolate

Other junk food – £9.42
Cost – £244.92

Total – £812.76

Not really surprisingly, since I already curbed the book/music/game outlet at the end of summer, it’s all foooood. Vending machines are definitely my downfall. I’ve been taking a bottle of water to uni to stop myself buying Ribena and I really have got to remember to eat before going to uni. I’m sure that would stop the vending machine snacking. As for supermarket bought snacks… I’m trying.

It’s definitely been interesting. The next two weeks are no doubt going to be difficult, I do so love my M&Ms :(

I’m contemplating keeping a food log in conjunction with this, although I’m really not sure I want to know what I’ve been eating. I’m sure if I have to blog it I’ll think twice before looking like a gluttonous heifer… so maybe it would be a good thing.

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