Dreaming of summer...

Sunshine in a glass...

What a stunning morning it is!  Cold but sunny with blue skies - just perfect for walking the dog.  Before I went out, we had a lovely breakfast smoothie I whipped up for us in the blender - banana, mango, pineapple (frozen leftovers), plain yogurt, milk, a dash of apple juice and topped off with some cinnamon.  De-li-cious!  I didn't fancy a "proper" breakfast first thing but knew I needed something before the walk, so this was perfect.  I often freeze leftover fruit in small batches to use up in smoothies - it also means I don't have to add any ice to the drink which is great, especially in summer.

Lamb & Feta Burgers...

Last night I tried out another new recipe I had found: lamb & feta burgers.  Oh, they were good!  I changed the original recipe a little and we had them with homemade potato wedges on a little piece of focaccia bread.  I can definitely recommend these as a nice change from beef burgers (although I dare say these would work equally well with minced beef, poultry and possibly even with vegetarian mince, although I have not tried this).  On the BBQ these should be lovely.

Do you get the feeling I am ready for summer? :-)

From the garden into the pan (hopefully)...

Roasted vegetable pasta with chorizo & feta

Good morning!  Brrrr - it's cold today!  But the sky is blue and I think it is going to be another beautiful sunny day.  I did a little bit of tidying in the garden yesterday and am getting excited about planning my vegetable garden for this year.  When I say vegetable garden, I mean my one raised bed and containers - small but I think just right for a beginner like me.  I grew dwarf peppers last year (indoors) but this time, I am going for the larger ones.  And I will definitely grow more cherry tomatoes - I love those!  Both would go perfectly in today's recipe...roasted vegetable pasta.

This dish is a great "fridge cleaner" - you can use up leftover vegetables, slightly bruised tomatoes,...

For this version, I used chorizo sausage and feta cheese together with roasted vegetables but anything goes really.  I roasted peppers, red onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes in the oven with a good drizzle of olive oil, salt & pepper and some Italian herbs for about 20 minutes at 180c (fan oven).  Whilst they were sizzling, I cooked some dry pasta according to the packet instructions and set that aside.  Once the vegetables were done, a few bits of chorizo sausage went into my wok (no need for any oil) and fried for a couple of minutes before I mixed in the cooked pasta and vegetables, heating everything through.  And just before serving I added a bit of crumbled feta cheese.  Quick and easy and ever so tasty!

I love how you can just amend it to whatever you like and have to hand - you may not have feta but want to grate some hard cheese over the top.  Or maybe you want to keep it vegetarian and leave out the sausage, giving extra flavour by adding a couple of spoons of pesto.  I think this makes a lovely lunch or quick dinner for during the week.