On the road again...

It's 7:15am and I'm on the train to London to catch a plane to Germany.  I'm very excited to be visiting my youngest sister and her family and to be there for my nephew/godson's 8th birthday.  Yes, it did mean waking up just after 4am today to get the train at 5:27am but it's so worth it.  Mr Happy Larder even got up to take me to the station - best husband ever!  Keith the dog was slightly puzzled to see us so early but pleased nonetheless.

I do have some more recipes I want to write about.  There is the one for chickpea burgers and red pepper hummus I promised but also another one: Mexican chicken mole (mole means sauce & is not to be confused with the blind furry critters answering to the same name & living underground :-)).  It's a one-pot slow cook sort of meal and very tasty indeed - next time I'll tweak it a little as I was a bit conservative with the chilli but I'll write about all of that early next week when I'm back.

In the meantime, have a happy & healthy weekend! xx

A nice cup of tea...Masala chai made easy

Oh, I love drinking tea and coffee!  There is just something about starting the day with a hot drink.  And whilst I am trying not to overdo the coffee consumption, a nice cup of tea can't be that bad for you, can it?

Masala chai - a spiced tea

For a while now I have been meaning to make masala chai, a spiced milky Indian tea.  Now, from what I understand this is usually quite sweet but in my recipe I cut down on the sugar since I always have my tea and coffee unsweetened.  It was delicious with all those wonderful flavours of the spices and yet I don't have to fear that my new addiction will cost me my teeth.  Yes, after having had just one cup of the stuff I am already hooked :-)  No doubt families all over India have their own recipes for this and I bet it tastes different in every other household.

If you don't have the time to make this from scratch whenever you fancy a cup, why not put ground spices together with a little dried milk in a jar and when you are ready for your fragrant tea, simply pop a tea bag into a mug, add some of the mix and pour hot water from the kettle on top.  Leave to steep and enjoy - couldn't be easier!

Easy-peasy pitta (pita) bread

Pitta pockets

I've not done that much baking lately but put that right over the weekend when I made pitta breads for the first time. 

These little pockets are a lovely alternative to sandwiches, especially when stuffed with all sorts of things - salad, hummus, chicken,...the list is endless.  The version I tried didn't contain any yeast and was therefore a lot quicker to prepare.  I opted for wholemeal flour and am really pleased how these came out :-) 

I turned mine into a yummy lunch with red pepper hummus and a vegetarian chickpea burger - delicious!  I will post the recipes for both soon.  For now, I can highly recommend giving these a try!

Fragrant food...Malaysian curry

I am discovering a lot of new flavours and foods at the moment.  And the more I eat fresh or freshly prepared meals, the more I crave these.  Putting together different herbs, spices and other ingredients and eating fragrant, flavoursome food at the end of it is just pure joy!  Who would have thought that healthy food can taste so good?

Malaysian curry

I found this Malaysian curry recipe which is bursting with flavour and is really simple to make.  Apart from the lemongrass the ingredients were easily available at my small local supermarket - they did have lemongrass paste which I used instead of the fresh stuff and it worked fine.  Anyway, I hope you will be able to find the ingredients easily because this dish is just so well worth making!

I love how versatile it is - I had the curry with tofu but you can use chicken, prawns, just vegetables...your choice!  And instead of rice, noodles would also be great.  Oh, and why not make double the spice paste and freeze half of it in an ice cube tray for another day?  That way you can serve up a yummy and healthy meal in no time.

Have a lovely, healthy weekend!

PS:  I had lots more sauce than the picture shows :-)

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 :-)