All posts filed under: Cooking

Nourishing and healthy soup

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Last week, I had dear friends over for lunch. Generally, I love making my own food when I have people over so the day before the visit I rushed into Tesco’s before school pick up and lifted off the shelf a pack of what I thought were split lentils and thought no more of it. After dinner that evening, I decided to make a start on my soup and placed about 300 grams of my pulses with half a pack of cut up veggies and a cube of chicken Knorr in a pot to boil. It usually takes less than half an hour for lentils to boil but when I checked, my pulses were nowhere ready. That is because…they were split chickpeas! You will not blame me as according to the picture below, lentils and split chickpeas can look quite similar. They do even more suspiciously so when you are in a hurry and plan a nice soup for friends the following day, haha!   Anyway, once the realisation settled in, I had to decide …

Canned Food Challenge

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I love a challenge, of any sort, so when CannedFoodUK approached and challenged us to cook using canned goods, rather than fresh, I, of course, had to say yes! We do use canned food in this home already, don’t get me wrong but it is only for a few recipes. Our famous spaghetti bolognese is most of the time made with canned tomatoes and we have also been known to resort to a can of rice pudding, when in need for a sweet treat but other than that, we are limited in our consumption of canned goods. I do think that this streams mainly from the recent food scares and theories that fresh is best and we are certainly victims of the latest health trends here. But are those trends always accurate and is canned food to be demonised? I embarked on a virtual search to find out what the real truth(!!) might be and I did discover some stunning facts: Canned fruits, vegetables and beans are considered minimally processed. After being picked at peak …

#CookTogether with Riverford

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I love cooking. It all started when I was a little girl, with me watching my mum cook all our meals from scratch. My first memory of getting involved (and my mum was great at that, she always had the patience and the enthusiasm to have both my brother and myself “help” her out) was making dough balls on a winter’s day in my mum’s cosy, steamed up kitchen. My love affair with food grew as the years flew by and I got to travel and see the world. There is nothing I love more than a hot fondue after a day out and about in the snow, when in Switzerland. Or a fresh salad, full of earthly goodness and some Feta cheese, as a bonus, when dining out in Greece! I had hoped, once I had children, that they will inherit my love for travelling and adventure. My wish came true! Emma is becoming a passionate and astute traveller who can charm the socks off a Turkish palace guard for a smile(and a picture!), …

Spanish Rice Recipe

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Tonight, I decided to make paella. I hadn’t made it in ages and I am partial to chorizo and sticky rice so it had to be done. Emma smelled the chorizo being cooked and asked: “Mum, are you cooking bacon?” She wouldn’t admit it but she is getting a taste for good bacon. She is an Irish born and bred girl, after all, it was just a matter of time until it happened :-). I said: “No, Emma, it is not. I am cooking Spanish sausage.” She then went, out of the blue, “Oh, Spanish sausage! OLE!” When did this child of mine become such a polyglot?!? Moving on… This is my recipe, in case the picture made you hungry for it: Step 1   Add 400 gr. of turkey steak, bite size, to a frying pan with two tablespoons of virgin olive oil. Step 2 When your turkey is nearly cooked, add chorizo cubes. I bought mine from Tesco, comes in a very handy little 200 gr. box. Let it cook together with the …

HelloFresh: Review

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I love cooking. It relaxes me and it helps me express love. The months I spent in hospital with Georgie were really hard for me from this point of view as well. I express love through service and although I was there looking after my precious boy I felt that I was neglecting the other members of the family by not being able to provide meals cooked with care and love for them. Once we came back from Greece, after our time away this summer, I found it hard to get into cooking again. Not having cooked for almost half a year(!!), I had a hard time finding motivation, getting the portions and quantities right…etc. When I came across HelloFresh, who were running an offer at the time and offering their classic box for £20 instead of the usual £39, I decided to give it a go. I needed some professional help to get me out of my cooking stupor! I am so glad I did! 1. The box comes with three COMPLETE meals inside. …