Category: General ramblings

And some chilli, but that does not fit with the alliteration you see.

But first a little update- today is the final day of my antibiotics, and I am finally beginning to feel like my normal self (touch wood). On Thursday I was feeling optimistic and hoping that I could go to body pump (new release), but after a day at work I was not feeling great. I decided to have a walk after dinner instead, and that made me feel awful. It was about 3 miles I think but still hardly taxing. I then decided to have a little run after work Friday, but again I was still feeling bad- I am fine when sat down, but when I get up and move about for a while it seems to make things a little sore. So that was cancelled, and I decided to not even bother taking my running things with me to Brighton- I was planning on a run on the Saturday morning but I decided that more rest would do me good. Luckily as it turned out, as after walking around all day I was so tired on Saturday evening. I then thought I might have a run Sunday evening when we got home, but I was still not right. And it goes on! I was not sure if I was feeling a little paranoid, but really after that walk on Thursday I realised that I am still not right. Anyway, today after work I came home and rested, and am hoping that tomorrow I will have a short run instead of the usual aerobics- I think that I can always cut a run short, and it is more gentle than the super high impact stuff we do in the class. So fingers crossed please!

Anyway, on to the buys! First up I was super excited to visit the Montezuma shop! I could have bought so many things in there- they do giant jars of buttons but they were £20! Even I could not justify that. I settled on 2 bags of dark chocolate buttons and some Gourmet Gorilla (not just because of the name)- dark chocolate with almonds and hazelnuts- I have never seen this bar in Waitrose so decided to give it a try.

I also bought a couple of new books in Brighton- I had a WHSmiths voucher for my birthday and finally spent it.

I have wanted Sweet Vegan for ages (I actually found it in a Waterstones on the weekend of my cousins wedding, and nearly tried to buy it with my vouchers until Andy pointed out I was in the wrong shop- that would have been embarassing!), and then they had the National Trust Teatime Baking book (so many good words for me!) for £3.99! Bargain! 🙂

I have already made the Pumpkin spice cake from Sweet Vegan.

And then topped it with cream cheese frosting (although I think I made about 1/4 of the recipe).

Yummy 🙂

Then today I got on with making an autumn chilli for my dinner. Partly because I thought I ordered frozen butternut squash slices, but they were chilled ones, and partly because I fancied using up some tins.

So, follow the steps for some Autumn Chilli (serves 4- me plus 3 for me freezer).

So- get together the ingredients- butternut squash, carrots, pepper, chilli, molasses, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans and chick peas.

Fry the veggies in a pan- I used a tsp coconut oil for this, but any veg oil/ spray would be fine.

Add tomatoes, 1/4 tin water (e.g. refill the tomato tin and pour in) and 2 tsp lazy chilli (this made it quite spicy enough for me, but I am a little bit of a wimp with spice although I am getting better).

Drain and add the chick peas and kidney beans.

Then add a tbsp molasses, and leave to simmer for a while- maybe 25-30 mins.

Dish up (just look at that steam- mmmm)

I had mine with nutritional yeast and some food doctor seeds. It was super tasty and even better because the next 3 times I eat it I don’t even have to cook!

Oh, and the best thing today- Andy thought I was a little weird (understatement alert) for collecting stones on the beach and said I would be crazy to take them home with me. I did leave them there, but this morning at school a little girl in my class gave me some stones that she collected from a beach over the weekend! She must have known haha! 🙂

Random question- what is your favourite chocolate at the moment?

I often have this for dinner, but when I was searching on here the other day I realised I have never put the recipe on this blog- shocking!

It is loosely based on a Rachel Allen recipe from her Bake book, called simple sausage and bean bake. This makes 2 big portions and it is easily adapted to make it veggie/ non veggie without loads of pans (so ideal for me and Andy).

Preheat the oven to 220C.

If using actual sausages, pierce them and cook them in the oven in a dish for 10 mins while you get the rest ready.

Chop a red onion and soften in a pan- use a little spray oil.

Once the onion is softened, add 2 chopped peppers (can add other veggies here- we sometimes add courgette as that goes quite well). Once they are softened, add a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Then add one tin of chopped tomatoes, one tin of drained cannelini beans, some dried basil and some garlic paste (although sometimes I leave out the garlic- you could also add chilli here).

Mine is on the left, and Andy (with sausages) on the right- an easy meal to please veggies and meat eaters- although he does eat it without meat sometimes too.

Place this in an ovenproof dish. If using sausages, pour it over the top. (As Andy has this with sausages, we do 2 separate dishes. I did used to add veggie sausages to mine, but they stopped making the ones I liked, so I just have it without now).

Bake for 35 mins. Optional- 5 mins from the end top with some mozzerella. Or top with a little grated cheddar once it come out of the oven.

Serve with some delicious bread, like my seedy bread.

This is so delicious! I think I might try adding sundried tomatoes to the mix to amp up that flavour. Something about the cannelini beans and the bread just go so well together, and I find it so filling and a really warming comforting dinner. It really only takes ten minutes to do the chopping and cooking, then just leave it to bake while you get on with other things (like reading blogs, how handy– or having a shower if you just got back from a run).

Also, on a totally off-topic rant, I came across this news article, about vegetarian labelled foods in restaurants containing meat. Have you ever been given something that turned out to be non-vegetarian? Recently I was given a ham and cheese roll on a BA flight. A long time ago in France I was given a cheese croissant which turned out to contain ham, and in the USA some vegetable soup which had big beef chunks in it. I do get annoyed with resturants that label items vegetarian when they contain parmesan too, but that is another issue for another day!

(happily- get it?)

Yes, I have been getting a little obsessed with apples. You may realise I love them anyway- often having one for breakfast or lunch. I was given a big bag by my parents, so have been enjoying baking with them.

Last week I made some apple crumble bars. I based them on this berry crumble bar recipe by Katie.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Into a bowl I mixed 1.5 cups of flour (mixture of plain and wholegrain spelt), 1/2tsp baking powder, 1/2cup sugar (should be brown but I only had golden), 1 tbs melted coconut butter, 2tbs almond milk and a lot of cinnamon!

I sprinkled half into a dish and pressed it down quite firmly.

Then chop up some apples- I think I used 4 or 5 small ones, but next time I would use more- maybe double to have a massive apple layer in the middle. Mix these in a bowl with 3 tbs maple syrup, and 1 tsp vanilla, and then pour this over the base. Top with the remaining crumble mixture.

Bake for 45 mins.

When I take it out of the oven, I ease the edge of the bars away from the dish, but leave until cool to slice and remove from the dish.

Then enjoy with some custard 🙂 (well, this is alpro vanilla but it tastes the same).

Then I made some dried apple rings. I keep seeing them (and other dried fruits) in blog-land, so had a go at my own.

I cored and sliced some apples, sprinkled them with cinnamon, and then baked them in an low heat oven (100C) for about 2 1/2 hours.

While they were baking I was flicking on the TV and saw someone make these on Market Kitchen- how topical! She used hers to top an apple cheesecake which sounded lovely.

These are so tasty! I had these little vacuum pots from Lakeland, which are perfect for storing them- although I don’t think they will last long!

I also made some bread- I have posted one of my bread recipes before, but that was a cinnamon raisin bread. So here is my seedy bread. Makes one mini loaf.

First I start off the yeast- I use quick yeast but I still get better results if I do this first. By that I mean I put some warm water in a cup (a normal cup with maybe 100ml water in it?), 1 tsp yeast and a pinch of sugar, plus a tablespoon of bread flour in the cup. I leave it until the yeast bubbles. (If doing sundried tomato bread, chop up the dried tomatoes and add them to this- they will soak up some of the water and that is lovely).

Then in a separate bowl I weigh out 150g bread flour- I prefer a mixture of wholewheat and white, and I love canadian flour for this. I add a sprinkle of herbs- I love rosemary here. Also add a pinch of salt. When the yeast mixture bubbles, pour it into the bowl and mix it a bit with a spoon. It may look too wet/dry in places, but do not worry. Turn it out and knead gently- it should all come together after a few mins of kneading. Put it back into the bowl and cover with cling film. Now, if I am making it for the next day, I put it in the fridge. If not, leave it out to rise.

(This was in the fridge overnight, so I took it out for a bit to kick start the yeast again)

When it has doubled in size, knead it again and add in some seeds- I used the food doctor seed mix here. Then put it in a lightly oiled small loaf tin, and leave to rise again.

About to knead the seeds in above, below in the tin after rising again.

Then bake in the oven (200C) for about 35 mins.

Get your boyfriend to slice it because it is too hot to handle!

Serve with vegetable and bean bake. Mmmmm.

I have been at home from work, as the antibiotics do not seem to be working. So I rang the doctors and they told me to go back tomorrow once I have totally finished the course (it was only a 3 day course). I am getting a little fed up- today was the perfect day for a run or for some gardening, or even a walk, but I was not up to any of that. Plus I always feel bad when calling in sick to work. Can’t be helped though.

Fave apple recipe?