Come rain or shine...Mexican corn soup

We've had rain.  Not a lot but after three weeks of heat, it is very welcome in the garden.  Keith the dog is also a bit happier as he's not been too thrilled with all this warm weather...imagine wearing a fur coat all summer and you know why.

Summer might be a strange time to eat soup but when I found this recipe I figured that if they can eat soup in Mexico, then I'll manage here. And boy, did I manage :-)

This Mexican sweet corn soup is packed full of flavour and piles of vegetables and is creamy but low in fat.  Perfect!  I must admit that when I first saw the list of ingredients I wasn't sure because celery and fennel are not my favourites.  I tried it anyway and I'm glad I did.  The fennel and celery are not overpowering at all - just a hint of it in the background.  And the soup is quick to whiz up - ideal for lunch or a light dinner.

Back again

Oh, my poor little blog has been suffering from neglect this last week or so.  Hopefully, we will be back on track now.  The kitchen is almost fully functional and life is beginning to return to normal.  Phew!  I've got a couple of new recipes I have tried out and will be writing about this week.  For today, however, here is a nice and easy one to get back into the swing of things. 

This was my lunch yesterday: wholemeal wrap with smoked salmon and chive yogurt.  Some might say this was to celebrate the arrival of a certain royal baby but I just fancied salmon :-) 

Have a look here for the wrap recipe I wrote about previously.  They are lovely!  For the sauce/dip I simply combined 0% Greek yogurt with salt, pepper, chopped chives and garlic - utterly delicious and goes extremely well with salmon or equally well with veggie sticks as a dip.

Back tomorrow with a yummy Mexican soup recipe - can't wait to share that one!

Quick marinated vegetable salad

It's Monday and the start to another sunny week!  I've been busy packing up my bits and pieces in the kitchen again as after a break of 2 weeks our builders will be back tomorrow to finish off the job.  I can't wait to have it all done, even if it means being banished from "my" space for a few days.  I shall use the time to make some progress in the garden.

The forecast is great for the next few days with heaps of sunshine and high temperatures.  It's just the right weather for gardening and also for this marinated veg salad with quinoa I made the other day.  So refreshing and light - just the perfect lunch or side dish for dinner. 

I love how cheerful this looks...and even more how cheerful I looked after eating it :-)

In celebration of simple food, sunshine and health

This is what my lunch looked like today.  It's funny how fresh food never disappoints and makes you feel just so good when you eat it! :-)

This was merely half an avocado mashed with a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper on top of a seedy roll with a few spinach leaves and tomato slices and yet it tasted absolutely divine.  A few radishes, cucumber slices, a nectarine and bright sunshine rounded it all off.  It made me feel grateful and happy - not bad for a Wednesday lunch :-)

"Wales - Japan - Peru" or "The perfect herb dressing"

Summer has arrived in Wales and it's another gloriously sunny day here today!  The dog is lazing in the shade and just looking out into the garden with the washing drying on the line makes me feel happy and grateful.

With it being so hot, I've been craving salads and lighter meals.  I used to love having sushi for a summery lunch at my old job and one particular place had this amazing sauce that came with one of their meals.  It was a herb dressing, mainly with coriander (cilantro) and utterly delicious.  I've been trying to find a recipe for it for ages (they obviously don't disclose theirs) and was surprised to find one not from Japan but Peru.  Very intriguing! 

Anyway, I made a batch and am already addicted to it :-)  It's super easy to make and tastes like the best thing ever (if you like coriander, that is) and very similar to that from the sushi place.  Drizzled on my salad today, it was amazing and it would go equally well with grilled meat or fish or small new potatoes or avocado or...I can imagine it with the salmon burgers I wrote about the other day.  In fact, I am salivating at the thought already, so that will be on the menu later in the week.  Food bliss!

Biscuits, gravy...what???

If you are a sports fan and British (or nearly British after having lived in this country most of your adult life as in my case), yesterday was a fantastic day: Britain's Andy Murray won the Wimbledon tennis championships (the first British male in 77 years) and for just a brief moment, nothing else mattered. Yes, there are more important things in life but it was just so lovely to see someone achieve their dream - heartwarming stuff :-)

Talking of heartwarming stuff, there are some dishes that are just so comforting and satisfying, they deserve a special mention.  For me a great example of this is biscuits and gravy which I tried for the first time during our recent trip to the US.  Now, I was a little confused as biscuits here are what I guess other countries would call "cookies", so having those with gravy was not exactly on the top of my breakfast wishlist.  Once I realised though that biscuits are what we call scones and the gravy a type of savoury white sauce, it made more sense.  I tried it, loved it and promised to recreate it at home.  So that's what I did this weekend and we were very happy with the result :-)  I "slimmed down" the recipe a little by omitting the bacon fat. 

A great dish for brunch/lunch or a small evening meal - filling and satisfying and whilst I am sure there are hundreds of variations and handed down recipes for this around, I hope that this version is acceptable :-)

"Out with the old"...or "A new tortilla wrap recipe"

Isn't it funny how we sometimes hold on to a recipe because we have always used that particular one?  A while ago I found a recipe for tortilla wraps and have made these a few times since.  Given that the recipe was from my treasured River Cottage Bread book, I didn't think I could find a better one.  These are good and quick - what's not to like?

Fast forward to today and I have to say that I think I have unearthed the ultimate tortilla recipe for lovely soft wraps which are no doubt going to be my new favourite (sorry, River Cottage).  I love the soft texture which makes wrapping them so much easier. 

On this occasion I used wholemeal flour and filled the wrap with leftovers from yesterday's salad - delicious!  My dough-rolling skills were obviously not quite up to scratch today, resulting in the wonky shape you see in the picture but hey, it's homemade :-) 

I hope you'll give these a try - so simple and yet so satisfying.  And if you make a couple of batches, you can always freeze them for later use.

Boys' salad

I woke up early today and couldn't wait to get up.  Some mornings are just like that, aren't they?  It makes for a good start to the day.  The dog was very excited to see me so early (but then, he is always excited) -  we snuggled up together, drinking coffee (me) and planning the day ahead (possibly both of us).  Those early hours of the morning are my favourite time of the day - it's peaceful and quiet with just the birds singing outside.  Beautiful! 

It didn't take long for my thoughts to steer towards food.  Earlier in the week I had already bought the ingredients for a salad recipe I came across whilst we were away.  Now, to be honest, the thought of chowing my way through a plate of limp lettuce and cucumber is not exactly my idea of a great meal but luckily this recipe is far, far removed from that.  Think roasted squash, spicy chorizo, yummy beans,...delicious!

I call it a boys' salad - it's big and satisfying, full of flavours and textures and would even fill up the hungriest of males.  I made it for my lunch today and LOVED it - it certainly didn't leave me feeling hungry and really delivered on taste :-)  If you prefer to make it vegetarian simply leave out the chorizo - it'll still be lovely.  Luckily, I made enough to have another portion later in the week and as an added bonus I roasted a further batch of just squash at the same time which made good use of the already hot oven. 




I can now honestly say that I just had a salad for lunch :-)

Like a fish in water...Salmon with a twist

"I can do it..."

Yippee - we are home!  And whilst there is still chaos everywhere, it is just so lovely to be back in our own home again!  We have missed being here and Keith the dog spent a lot of time sniffing around.  I spent the same amount of time dusting, hoovering, dusting some more and smiling to myself.  How lucky we are to have a home, to feel warm & safe.  We had a lovely time where we were staying - Keith even improved his swimming a bit although he is still not too sure about deep water, judging by the photo ;-)  Still, it's good to be back!

Before cooking

Salmon burger...yum!

Not all the work has been completed yet, so there is stuff all over the house but we can work around that for now.  I couldn't wait to get back into the kitchen and try some of the recipes I promised to write about.

If like me you are quite partial to a burger, you might enjoy what I cooked for my dinner tonight: salmon burgers. 

Making these couldn't be any quicker or easier and I really loved the taste and texture.  And if you want to reduce the amount of red meat you eat or just fancy a change, then I can highly recommend these.  You could also replace the salmon with fresh tuna.

Home, sweet home...almost

We are back home!  Well, sort of - I was there for a couple of hours and am now travelling to an event (F1 racing) for the weekend.  As of Monday, however, I will be home for good - finally :-) The kitchen/diner is looking incredible - there are a couple of things still to be finished but I am amazed at how beautiful and light it all looks.  There will be plenty of space to cook, bake and enjoy meals and lots of storage space as well.  One of my favourite things will be the large pull-out larder - no more hunting for ingredients in the depth of the cupboard we had before.  It did the trick (and I am very grateful that we had a kitchen at all) but the new set-up will just be so lovely to be in.  If I was grateful before, I am even more so now!

Have a lovely weekend and I will be back with the first of many new recipes next week...yippee!