Month: November 2012

Hey all,

Hooray for the weekend!

I was going to have a long run this morning, but it was raining, and drizzling, and as the weather is predicted to be lovely and bright and crisp tomorrow, I decided to have a shorter run today, and have a longer one tomorrow. Just as well as I was aching loads after body pump on Thursday. I did the same run as Wednesday (when my Garmin went crazy- those 2 and a half minute miles!)- when I downloaded it, it thought I was miles away at first, which is why I was apparently going so fast. Anyhow, the actual route I did today was 3.5 miles. Nice to stretch the legs.

Then I was going to make some panforte.

When we were in Florence we went to Siena, and the speciality there is panforte- a cake made with nuts, dried fruit and spices. We shared a slice for lunch one day, and it was amazing.  Some were made with cocoa, or covered in marzipan, but we stuck to the plain one.

I basically spent a lot of the time looking at it in all the windows!

Anyway, I googled it when I got home, and found so many recipes. I settled on this Jamie Oliver one, as it sounded fairly simple.

Chopped nuts (hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios), mixed peel, cherries (for colour), flour and spices in the bowl.

Honey, blitzed figs, sugar and more spices bubbling away.

I even bought some rice paper from amazon to use for the recipe (to line the pan with).

Ready for the oven. I had to cover it in clingfilm to press it down into the pan, as it was so sticky.

Then this happened:

Oh dear. It baked fine, I left it to cool in the pan, but then it was a total nightmare to get back out the pan! I checked and there was nothing about oiling the pan, but maybe that needs to be done?

So, another change of plan. I chopped it up (scooped up some of it) and put it in to paper cases instead. Still tastes nice!

I also marzipanned the Christmas cakes. It seems very early, but we do not have many free weekends left between now and Christmas, so I wanted to get them started. I might ice them tomorrow, and then all I have to do is find time to decorate them.

This afternoon I popped to the shops, and treated myself to a Starbucks- it is becoming a bit of a weekend habit. This time I asked for steamed soya milk with gingerbread syrup- seriously this is their best drink ever (and cheaper than a gingerbread latte)- they had the syrup for sale and I was very tempted, although it didn’t have a price on it.

I also got a very exciting delivery- gingerbread clif bars! They do seasonal flavours and they get rave reviews (coincidently, in the summer we tried a panforte “special” flavour which really was amazing- having never even heard of it before then)- anyway, they have been out of stock at i-herb, but I found them on amazon USA, and decided to treat myself. I also got some spiced orange yankee candle tealights (but from the UK amazon) because I just love their candles so much. Smells like Christmas in here now.

Any suggestions regarding getting the panforte out the pan next time? 

What are you up to this weekend?

Hello peeps

I hope you are all well.

I feel like I have gone a bit overboard with all the baking on here recently, so I thought it was time for a savoury post. When the weather starts getting colder, I really look forward to something warm for dinner (much less salads) and something that is cooked for a long time, like chilli, makes me feel even warmer.

The other weekend I had an afternoon of batch cooking, so my freezer has been well stocked for evening meals.

On of my favourite meals for this time of year is mexican casserole. I based it on Angela’s fantastic recipe, but mine is quicker. Sometimes I have it with spinach, sometimes topped with cheese, but my favourite way at the moment is with an avocado (and squirt that with a little lime juice). I make 3 or 4 portions at a time, and freeze the rest in little foil tubs so they can be defrosted in the week.

Bean wraps are so easy to make (and as a bonus, Andy loves them so it is a meal we can both eat together). They are also so quick, as the filling takes about ten minutes, then once you put them in the wraps they only need to warm through in the oven. Serve with a salad, and it is a speedy midweek meal. These ones had goats cheese in them, but often we use a little cheddar in there- it melts when they heat through- delicious.

I love cooking with quinoa- it seems very filling, and is easier than rice, plus it has a bit of flavour. But I like the idea of a risotto too, so I combined the too to make a quin-sotto. Last weekend I roasted a little pumpkin, chopped some sundried tomatoes and added these in to some cooked quinoa- I stirred a little pumpkin puree through the quinoa, and some rosemary too, as that goes so well with pumpkin/ squash. Topped with goats cheese- I promise it was nicer than it looks! This made 2 portions, so I froze one.

I also love chickpea stew. Anything like this is perfect to adapt because you use whatever veggies you like/ have on hand. I had some butternut squash left, so I roasted that with some red and yellow peppers and courgettes, then put it in a pan with tinned tomatoes, drained chickpeas, a little chilli and a tbs ground almonds. I would usually have it with some crackers or oat cakes or something- but I had to use pumpkin seed ryvita as that was all I had. It made about 4 portions I think, and the rest I froze in plastic “cups” (the ones with the screw on lids)- because I heat it in a pan once defrosted.

One of our favourite meals to have together is sausage and bean bake– we cook it together in a pan, then divide it in to two dishes to bake- I used to have veggie sausages, but they stopped doing the ones I liked (they were red pepper and courgette ones- I don’t like the pretend meat ones) so now I just have it with the beans. But it is an easy meal for both of us to have, as it starts off the same, so we often go for that.

Well, that should be enough savoury foods for now.

I have just realised that I have used a purple plate in each picture- we have 3 colours, green, blue and purple. The green is my favourite, but I try not to use them all the time as I think the colours fade. I will have green or purple, but never blue. I think that makes me sound a bit strange. I have certain cups for certain drinks too, and most of my cups are slightly smaller, and Andy’s cups are mostly huge. Is that just me?

On to the exciting news! I got an email today saying that my blog is featured (on a big list, but still, featured) on the Sainsbury’s corporate website- here. I managed to distract myself for quite a while today looking at some of the other blogs listed, and it is always nice to hear that someone likes reading my rambles! Plus the picture they used (I think) are of my stollen whirls- I will be looking forward to making them again soon.

I gave aerobics a miss on Tuesday (due to feeling dizzy) and missed my Sweatshop run on Wednesday, as I felt a little off that day, and there are loads of germs going around work, so I thought I had better be sensible. Tonight I was hoping to go to body pump, but I have a massive headache now, so I am not going to book on until that has gone. Honestly this week has not gone how I pictured it. Ah well, hopefully tomorrow (or tonight) I can get back to my normal routine.

Any exciting news to share? Do you have a favourite plate/ cup? Or use certain bowls etc for certain meals?