Product Cheats + Mushroom Soup

Hello everyone.

I realise I am writing about once a month and I feel, for those of you who don't know me all that well, why my mind is not on the blog. I am going to New Zealand!! That's right, folks, in two months today, I will be heading off to New Zealand with one of my best friends, on an adventure of a lifetime for a whole year. Or as she tells it, a six month extended trip. I will try update my blog as much as I can, probably with all the Kiwi recipes I'll try out! 

For now, however, I've got a big stinking cold so my appetite has gone and I've done no cooking since... last Friday! So, I'm just going to give a little list here of things I have found that are dairy free, and not listed as dairy free on any supermarket website. These things I have found under recommendations of others and by reading the backs of packets really carefully!! Be warned - although some of these are dairy free, they are not necessarily gluten, wheat, egg or soya free!

I realise most of things I've listed are sweet things, but when you go to a posh restaurant or wedding and they realise you have allergies and go, "how about a fruit salad?", don't you feel a little bit annoyed?

Sainsbury's (Own) Jaffa Cakes
Jammy Dodgers
Tesco Value Plain Chocolate (100g is only 30p!!)
Scotmid Apple Pies (big ones)
Sweet Popcorn
Meringues
Mrs Crimble Coconut Biscuits
Nairn's Dark Chocolate Oatcakes
Nairn's Raspberry pieces Oatcakes

Don't Go There! (things to avoid which you think SHOULD be dairy free)
Check the packaging EVERY TIME
Chorizo (sliced and the bigger wedges from supermarkets)
Sausages (read the information; some do, some don't)
Mayonnaise (again, some do, some don't)
Pate (see above)
Most Ready Meals
Pre-prepared Fish with "special herb crusts"
Bread (white bread is the worst culprit)
Smoothies


And lastly... yes, a recipe. I gave my friend a recipe last January, which I had completely forgotten about. She told me just now that she's making it, so I thought I'd let you see the recipe too. This is altered from a Jamie Oliver recipe, who went on about truffle oil and fancy mushrooms! Tastes just as good without the posh nosh!


Dairy Free Mushroom Soup (Winter Warmer) Serves 4

2 medium Onions
Olive Oil (I used sunflower)
1 veg/chicken stock cube
1/2 bunch fresh thyme (or 3 teaspoons dried thyme)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
300g mushrooms (any kind)
100g basmati rice
1L boiled water
Salt + Pepper

Method

Peel, halve and finely slice the onions and put them in a large pan or pot with 2 tbsp of oil. Crumble in the stock cube, add a pinch of salt, the thyme and the garlic.

Tear in the mushrooms by hand, add the rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the boiling water and boil for 10 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

Use a hand blender to reduce the soup to a thickness you like and season to taste.
As not everyone reading this is dairy free, you can add a bit of single cream or milk to finish if you like. But it's not needed. Really. A warning to the wise, this soup can be really thick if you want it to be, so, along with it being quite filling, you may not need bread along side, but this is up to you!

This picture is taken from 'Taste Inspired' on Wordpress as I still have no camera.

  Enjoy!! If you have any comments or recommendations, as always, leave me a wee message!!

Chicken & Ginger Stew/Soup

Hello all,

Hope you all enjoyed my last post! This is another warming recipe and since my camera is still broken, there is no picture, but I'm going to see if my flatmate can take a picture for me later! It's a stew and/or a soup because, well, I'm sure it can be both! It's also dairy and gluten free! Feel free to add any carbs if you like, I'm sure it'd go pretty well with noodles!

Chicken & Ginger Stew/Soup, serves 3-4 large bowls

1/2 (leftover) Chicken, taken off the bone with your hands, shredded a little.
Thumb sized piece of ginger
2 large garlic cloves
1 tin sweetcorn, drained
3 medium sweet potatoes, washed and chopped into little chunks
1 chicken stock cube (I used a Kallo organic one)
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into slices
1 litre of boiling water (at least)
salt & pepper
sunflower oil

Method

Put your sweet potato onto a baking tray and sprinkle in oil, put in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes. While they cook, do your veg prep. Peel the garlic and cut into little bits (not tiny or crushed), do the same with the garlic. Cut your onions and start taking the meat off the chicken. Don't put in too much skin, unless your chicken skin has some flavour to it (like herbs, mine was just plain).

Heat up some oil in a pot on the hob until hot, then throw in the onions. Make sure you stir these as to not burn. After a few minutes add the ginger and garlic (keep stirring). Check on the sweet potatoes, make sure they're soft before you take them out of the oven - and put them in your pot too. Add the shredded chicken and the sweetcorn and mix well. Boil your kettle! Squish your stock cube in it's packet and then throw it in, dry, and mix well. Add the hot water, mix well, and boil on a low heat for around 15-20 minutes, until the soup/stew is thick yet still watery. 

Make sure you test your mixture before you season with salt or pepper. Because of the salt in some stock cubes, it may not be needed. I'm not a salt-loving person, so I didn't put any in.

Ladle into bowls while still not, and serve!! Enjoy!!

Roast Tomato Soup & Lasagne

Hello everyone!!

Well, I know I suck for not updating this but I have some very sad news... my camera has died a sorry death so there will be no pictures from my kitchen anymore. However, this will not stop me cooking, so let's carry on shall we? I will take pictures from online where possible!!

I know a lot of people make everything from scratch but I'm afraid I do cheat sometimes, and I do this only with lasagne!!

Cheat's Lasagne, dairy free! (Serves 4-6)

Pack of lean mince 500-750g
2/3 jars of tomato pasta sauce that you really like, I use LIDL 89p a jar sauce or the £1 Bolognaise Sauce from Farmfoods
1/2 pack mushrooms, quartered
2 medium onions, peeled, sliced or chopped
1/2 courgette, cut into small cubes
HP Sauce
Tomato Ketchup
Worcester Sauce
Glass of red wine (optional)
Pack of lasagne sheets, can be gluten free (available from Real Foods, Asda & Tesco)
Large casserole dish
A medium-large pot
sunflower oil
salt & pepper
basil/oregano/Italian

Optional ingredients: olives, sweetcorn, peppers, spinach, chorizo...

Method

First off, what you are basically doing is making a meaty bolognaise without the spaghetti. Lasagne is in no way complicated and is very simple so take that out of your mind right now!

In the pot, heat up some oil and throw in the onions. Stir them to stop sticking. Cut up the mince with a knife while still in the packet, remember to take off the sheet of paper that's always at the bottom. Throw in the mince and stir it around until it starts to brown. Add a few squirts of ketchup, HP and Worcester sauce, this will flavour it nicely.

At this point you can also add the red wine. This makes your sauce richer and it also infuses the meat. I don't do this often (and hardly do so) as I don't drink red wine and then the bottle goes to waste, but any drinkers out there, feel free to add some of your glass into this recipe.

Add in one jar of tomato sauce. Re-fill the empty the jar with water, stick the lid back on, shake it so that all the remains of the sauce comes off the edges and pour that all into your pot. Leave this to boil for a while, mixing occasionally. If you have more than 500g of mince, I would say put in another half a jar of sauce, though it is up to you how you like your sauce. While you are doing this, pre-heat your oven to 180C.

After about 10 minutes, chuck in your mushrooms and courgette, stir it in nicely and add any herbs. I don't add seasoning until the very end or until I taste it, so don't put it in automatically as sometimes it's not needed. There's already a lot of salt in there from the various sauces after all.

After about another 10 minutes, your sauce should be ready. Make sure everything is piping hot and taste some of the sauce with a teaspoon to make sure it is to your satisfaction.

Take it off the heat and leave to cool and congeal slightly. In your casserole dish, spoon out one thin layer of your meat sauce and flatten it down. Add one layer of lasagne on top. Make sure you fill in the edges. Lasagne never cuts the way you want it, just break it and fill in the gaps, don't worry about any extra pieces. Fill in another layer of sauce and another layer of pasta.

You can do this until you run out of sauce, pasta or space, but always make sure you've got one final layer of pasta on top. I only do two layers because my dish is quite shallow. On top of the final layer of pasta, pour onto - and spread - more of the tomato jar sauce. Slip the dish into the oven, on a medium shelf, for 35-45 minutes. After 30 minutes, test your lasagne by slipping a sharp knife through the middle to check that the pasta is cooking.

After 40-45 minutes, your lasagne should be ready to take out. Make sure you leave around 10-15 minutes for the lasagne to cool down slightly. Divide up into squares, and serve with a green salad and if you want, garlic bread (I use toast with garlic rubbed onto it). Yum!


Here's something else to warm you up on a cold winter evening... for all allergy sufferers: dairy, gluten and wheat free!! Vegetarian and vegan!!

Simple Roast Tomato Soup (serves 3-4)

(this picture belongs to Allison Kaplan of askinyourface.com)

4 large tomatoes, washed and halved
100g or more cherry tomatoes, washed
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced/chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper (optional)
Medium sized pot
Baking tray

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Method

On a baking tray, spread out the tomato halves and the cherry tomatoes, sprinkle in balsamic vinegar and oil and pop in the oven for 20 minutes.

Just before they're ready (you'll smell them, don't let them burn), fry up the garlic and onions in a pan. Take the tomatoes out of the oven and put them straight in the pan. Mix them in well, add 1/2 litre of hot water and simmer for 10 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and whizz mixture before returning it to the boil.

Serve up in big bowls, season to taste!

Well, I hope these recipes warm you up a bit as they have done me, and if you live alone, also like me, then the soup will do for lunches and the lasagne for dinners! Though you will have to put 2-3 portions of lasagne in the freezer for another time! If you do take the soup for lunch, here's a tip: freeze it the night before, then let it melt beside the sink in your staff canteen, then it'll be ready to pop it in the microwave (2 minutes) for lunch!


Lastly, I'm going to do a restaurant review. This is for the meat eaters, or carnivores as my vegetarian sister A likes to put it!

Zico's Grill Bar
97-101 Morrison Street, Edinburgh
http://www.zicosgrillbar.com/#!/home

What the restaurant says... "Feel the heat at Zico's Grill Bar, an authentic churrascaria, catering to diners with a love of the grill. The meat at Zico's Grill Bar is served in the traditional rodízio style, in which expert waiters come to tables with knives and a skewer, cutting freshly cooked meat while it’s still hot."

What I say...

I went as part of a Meet Up group, an online groups community, much like the sports and societies at School. It's free to join and this was the first time I'd been somewhere with this group. There were 18 of us hungry carnivores and we weren't disappointed. We'd all signed up to a Living Social deal, where our leader Jey had bought a 6 2-for-£23 deals originally and everyone else just bought their own. So my meal came to £12.50 plus drinks and a tip. I had a large guava juice for £2 (bargain!). A normal dinner here is £19.95 per adult.

First, we were all welcomed to the restaurant as a group and given a large table at the back. We were all told to help ourselves to the salad and carbs buffet which included all the normal things plus spicy rice and a creamy beef stroganoff. Water jugs were aplenty at our table, re-filled quickly (unlike some places!).

Soon the meat came out... on every table there were little white bowls with tongs, so that we could help the waitresses with the meat. One at a time, the servers would bring out a long skewer, squashed with meat, freshly hot from the kitchen. Each one would start slicing off the skewer (vertically) and someone at the table would have to take each slice from her and put it in the bowl. These bowls were added to in three different places up and down our table and then shared out among us.

First up there were some sausages followed by, in no particular order, honeyed ham, roast beef, top side beef, chicken thighs, chicken legs, beef rump steak, chicken hearts, beef ribs and garlic picanha. All rubbed with amazing herbs and spices! The garlic picanha was the best for sure, followed by the rump which was with rosemary. I have never been so full, it was all amazing! Lastly, a surprising pudding of roast pineapple with cinnamon!

(this picture belongs to http://heatheralex.blogspot.com)

Would I recommend it? Yes! There is nothing for a vegetarian here, sorry! But the meat is amazing, very well cooked and made to perfection! The staff were friendly, the drinks were cheap and the company was good too (go join a meet up group!). ****

Kiwi & Plum Crumble

Hello All!

Been away too long, sorry!! Now working 6 days and 2 evenings, haven't done as much of this as I'd have liked! I have two recipes for you this evening - and only one photo, sorry!

First things first... it's cold weather now, it's officially autumn, so that equals warm meals, so I may leave off the salad for a bit!!

Roast Sweet Potato Soup (Serves 4)

3-4 sweet potatoes
1-2 medium onions
1 vegetable stock cube
1 pint of water
Sunflower oil
Salt & Pepper

Method

Heat your oven to 180C (Or 200C for non-fan ovens). Prepare a large baking tray (or 2 medium ones) with tin foil and oil.

Wash the sweet potatoes and scrub the skin. You can peel them if you like, but the skin is good for you so leave it if you want! Cut off the ends and any not-very-nice bits. You know what I mean! Cut the sweet potatoes into chunks, probably around 1/2 inch thick.

Peel the onions and cut them how you like! Make sure the pieces aren't too thin. I cut them into strips. Arrange both sweet potatoes and onions on the tray, sprinkle in oil and slide into the oven. They should take around 20-25 minutes and if you can squish a bit of sweet potato with a spoon, then they're ready to come out.

On the hob, put a large pot and scrape your vegetables into it. Add the stock cube and the pint of water. You can add more water at a later stage if your soup is too thick, so make sure you boil at least 1 litre.

Stir all this in the pot, and if you want, whizz it. Put it back on the hob, and heat it up. If your sweet potatoes are straight out the oven and your water was ready boiled, you may not have to do this!! Season to taste, and... serve!!

Second warm thing!! Pudding!! Now, I just used what was in my cupboard and needed eating. You can use anything. Apples, sultanas, raisins, peaches, blackcurrants, brambles, strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb... up to you! My plums had been sitting there, hard, for three weeks when all of a sudden they all ripened together, so I had to do something!!

This recipe is dairy free so I omitted the butter, but if you like, you can make an ordinary crumble topping with flour, butter and sugar (http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/desserts/crumble/raspberry-crumble.html).

Kiwi & Plum Crumble (Serves 6)

12 small, ripe plums
3 kiwis
Pack oat biscuits
Tbsp. caster sugar

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C (or 200C for non-fan ovens like mine!!)

In a large dish, cut your fruit into 1/2 inch pieces and lay down on the bottom. Your fruit should come up to about half way up the side. Make sure to take all the kiwi skin off and the plum stones away. Sprinkle a light layer of sugar over the top of the fruit.

In a large bowl, crumble the biscuits with your hand and then use the end of a rolling pin (or potato masher) to crush the biscuits into small pieces. Once satisfied with this, sprinkle them over the top of your fruit.

Pop in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until topping is slightly crispy looking. With a normal crumble topping, it takes 40 minutes, and since this was an experiment, my picture is a little burnt.

Leave to cool for around 5-15 minutes (don't burn yourself!). Best served with custard or ice cream. My flatmate L said that it was really "yummy" on it's own. So if that's not praise, I don't know what is :)

 

If you have any comments, please leave them below!!

Author's Note

Hello folks!!

No recipes today (or this morning)! After writing up recipes of the foods or meals I eat most often, I need to remember the rest of my recipes and make them soon - along with photographic evidence. A lot of my recipes come from something my sisters have made, recipes in books or online, or just from me looking in the fridge and thinking, what can I eat here? I want to thank you all for reading my blog and for those who know me, your lovely comments on the book of face! I am busy for the next few evenings so probably will not be updating any proper recipes, etc., until Sunday but you never know. As always, watch this space!

Kirsty

Ps. I hope you are all having a lovely (dreich) week as we are in Edinburgh!

Scottish Lamb & Scottish Mackerel (not together!)

Hello all!

Have realised, looking at my stats, that some people who have viewed this blog aren't British and therefore I want to apologise about my last recipe. Sweet Potato = Yam!! Or at least, in the same family! I have a few recipes for you tonight and one... or 4 recommendations!

First was my lunch yesterday. I had the day off and because Scotland seems to have gone straight from summer to winter (autumn/fall where are you??) I spent the entire day in the flat, trying to stay warm. I have the kind of flatmate who believes fresh air is a given (yes that is true), but not just outside, INSIDE the flat too. So waking up with a cold nose because he has left both the windows in the bathroom and kitchen open over a foot wide (no joke!) when he has gone to work. Nooo! I am constantly closing them after he's gone, just to stay warm! So here are a few recipes to warm you up.

Like me, if you are a single person, you may have had leftovers of your salad on Tuesday. So I added some more lettuce leaves and some smoked (Scottish) mackerel fillet. Mackerel fillet is really, really cheap over here, maybe £2.50 at most for 5 pieces, and it's a really good source of omega 3. This was the result of my salad, and I must say, very tasty!



 

Next was my dinner this evening, definitely something to warm you up!

 

Scottish Lamb with Sweet Potato and Veg

 

Serves 2

 

What you need:

 

3-4 lamb shoulder steaks (if it is a different cut then look it up as it will be cooked differently)

1 medium-sized sweet potato or yam, cut into 1cm cubes

1 onion, peeled and sliced into strips

1 courgette (zucchini) cut into coins

2 cloves garlic, sliced but not finely

3-4 mushrooms, cut into quarters

A handful of cherry tomatoes, washed

Italian herb seasoning, e.g. oregano, rosemary, thyme...

salt & pepper

2 tbsp oil

 

Method

 

Warm up the oven and stick the sweet potato in a baking tray with tinfoil for around 20-25 minutes at 180C. Take your lamb pieces out of the container and rub with olive oil and herbs. Make a small slice in each part twice and stick a slice of garlic in. Season lightly with salt & pepper and rub into meat and oil and herbs with your fingers. You can let these rest for 10-15 minutes or longer. I didn't have a lot of time so just stuck to 15 minutes while everything else cooked.

 

Slice your onion, courgette, mushrooms and garlic and put in a pan with a little oil over a medium heat. Let them fry, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes. While you are doing this, heat up a heavy based pan with a little oil and after a few minutes throw in a slice of garlic in the oil to make sure the pan is hot.

 

Carefully place lamb steaks into the pan and let sizzle for around 2 minutes before turning them. For rare, you'll want about 2-3 minutes on each side, medium 3-4 and well-done 5-6+. I don't see the point in going over 4 minutes as it's a shame to not be able to taste the meat as lamb is a wonderful flavour. Do keep an eye on your meat, you do not want it to be overcooked!

 

Test your sweet potatoes. You should be able to squish them with a spoon and if this is the case, take them out of the oven. Your vegetables in the pan should now be ready and your steaks almost done. Ladle your veg and sweet potatoes onto a dish, shortly followed by the hot lamb, and serve. Lamb goes really well with mint jelly, so if you have some you can add some to the side of your plate, but I didn't bother.

 

 

 

 

As I am only cooking for one, I'm even managing to take some of this to work for leftovers tomorrow. Yum! Can't wait for lunch now!

 

And a recommendation last. Now, I know chips aren't exactly healthy and in Edinburgh, this means salt 'n' sauce, the sauce being some sort of malt vinegar mixture with, I believe, brown sauce. So here are my top 3 places in Edinburgh to find chips, a bit on the healthier side!! I know all of these places are in New Town, but these are all near where I work.

 

1. Holyrood 9A

Sweet Potato fries (and I usually have the Pioneer burger with this, mushrooms, yum!)

£2.75

 

2. Hemma, Holyrood road

Herby fries, fries with Italian herbs, no need for salt or any kind of sauce!

£2.50

 

3. Serenity Café (an eco café run entirely by volunteers), The Tun, Holyrood road

Chunky fries with a homemade burger and 'slaw

£4.50

 

And one more recommendation. I had a bit of a late night last Friday (dressed as the Tardis no less, from Doctor Who) and while coming home, I passed a late night Italian take away. This is not unusual in any city I am sure! They were selling pizza and chips galore, but as I hadn't eaten very much that night (silly!) I needed something a little less greasy so ordered their Bruschetta. I was given 4 large slices of garlic/herb toast with the juiciest chopped tomatoes on top I have ever tasted. So, go and try it!

 

Dario's

85-87 Lothian road, Edinburgh

Bruschetta, £2.95.

 

 

As always, please read and review, in case you have some views on my cooking!!

 

 

 



 

Lunchtimes

Hello everyone

Many apologies not to write anything for a week. I've been a bit busy in the evenings so have been not eating as well as I should but... to make up for it, I will give you a recipe for a healthy lunch, snack and also a recommendation!!

First off, a snack!! For the past year I have been obsessed with humous. I'm sorry to say but this time I cheated but it is just as healthy! I chose lemon & coriander to go with this very simple elevenses idea!

1 Celery heart
2 Carrots, peeled

Chop both into long strips and.... done!! Dip into humous and eat!

It's so simple yet so tasty!

Second... lunch. This can also be dinner, it just depends on your portions! Every ingredient here is OPTIONAL. Use what's in your fridge as I did. My sister H makes a variant of this all the time, so the idea has come from her. This recipe should keep you eating for at least three meals!

1/2 bag salad, around 60g. I used Florette four leaf salad, washed.
Handful cherry tomatoes, washed & halved.
Cooked beetroot, chopped.
Sundried tomatoes, chopped.
1/2 large or 2 small sweet potatoes, washed and chopped into 1cm cubes.
1 red pepper, sliced.
6 garlic cloves, whole.
Handful olives, type your choice.
Balsamic vinegar
Sunflower oil
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

In a baking tray, lay down tin foil and throw in the sweet potato, red pepper and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with a bit of sunflower oil, mix together and put in the oven around 200C for 25-35 mins.

In the meantime, put the salad, tomatoes, beetroot, olives and sundried tomatoes into a salad bowl or large container (lunch box). Make your salad dressing with the olive oil, and balsamic vinegar and season to taste.

Once the sweet potato can be squashed with a spoon, it is ready to go in your salad. Throw the roasted veg into your salad, with the vinaigrette you've just made, toss and serve. Tah-dah!

Other variants you can put in your salad are: any seeds, carrot, celery, onion (raw or cooked), apple slices... it's up to you!

Doesn't this look amazing? I can't wait for lunch tomorrow now!! NOTE: Please wait for the roasted veg to cool before sticking anything in the fridge!!

Lastly, a recommendation. Once a week I volunteer within the marketing department at work, which means I get to go out for lunch and not just stick to our work canteen... which had chips and baked beans on the menu EVERY DAY.

Last week I went down the street to Let Me Eat (Holyrood Road, Old Town, Edinburgh).
http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/let-me-eat-edinburgh
I had a Weeping Tiger Wrap which was a toasted wrap with pulled pork, salad and an amazing homemade chili sauce. I really recommend this place. Not only did they take my allergies into account when I ordered (it can come with mayonnaise) but the service was quick and it, plus a can of juice, only cost £3.95. Very, very impressed!! *****

As always, please leave any comments below, I'd love to hear from each and every one of my readers!!

~ Kirsty

Snack - Olives on Bread

Hello everyone!

Is it just me or does that cricket google front page today remind you of Tunnock's Teacakes (amazing Scottish biscuit with chocolate and marshmallow)? No? Just me then!
http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/images/large/SGN2536.jpg

Today, or this morning rather, my doctor diagnosed me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS. I have a lot of the symptoms and, to not go into the not very nice factors of it, it limits my food intake again. There's a list of things that could be good, and fibre especially, has a lot of pro's and con's. So before I read through the whole list and ban myself from certain items, I'm just going to give you a recipe for an afternoon snack/lunch/early dinner/starter...

I hope you all enjoyed the chilli recipe from last night!

Olives on Bread (serves 2-3)

Ingredients

Pot olives (I used herby green olives with semi-dried tomatoes from Tesco)
Crusty bread, any type, sliced.
(No butter needed)
Additional ingredients: garlic, parsley, olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes etc.

Method

Mash or whizz your olives from the pot, including all oils and herbs left behind, and spread onto the bread and eat. SIMPLE!!

Healthy snack (tick)! Yum!

Vegetable Chilli

I'm just back from dinner at my sister's where we had pork goulash, roasted & spiced butternut squash and sweet potato plus a delicious salad. This is a normal dinner for her. For me, that is an amazing feast which doesn't come to me naturally. I'm hoping eventually it does because I'm crap with putting spices and herbs together with actual ingredients - unless it's in a recipe or a simple pasta sauce. The same sister, let's call her H, also gave me my belated birthday present, which was a Leon cookbook (along with some very nice earrings, thanks H!). I mention this because the cookbook is split into two parts. First an explanation of ingredients and what goes with what (including herbs & spices) and the second is the recipes. I'm very excited to delve into the book and share some recipes with you - or at least my way of doing them, but first I thought I'd share my recipe of the week instead. This is actually my older sister's recipe, let's call her A, which has been changed in places by me to make it more friendly and also to make it less spicy. Korma is spicy to me. Let's just leave it at that and hope my taste buds improve with age!!

Vegetable non-spicy Chilli, serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil (olive or sunflower)
1 pepper (red, green, yellow or orange - your choice), de-seeded and sliced into long strips.
2 small white or yellow onions, sliced into strips then cut into half.
100g (more or less) button or closed cup mushrooms, chopped into quarters.
100g (more or less) cherry or on the vine tomatoes, left whole (but washed).
1/2 courgette (Britain's zucchini), chopped.
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely.
2 tins chopped tomatoes (around 400g each)
1 tin chickpeas
2 of:
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin pinto beans
1 tin butter beans
[I used pinto and butter beans] Rinse beans from tin in a colander, use cold water.
1 tin sweetcorn
olives (colour and quantity your choice)
1/2 vegetable stock cube
turmeric
cumin or caraway seeds (I used seeds as had run out of cumin!)
coriander
salt & pepper

Method

On a medium heat, fry garlic in the oil until it turns slightly golden, then add the onion, pepper and courgette. Leave to fry a while until the onions are easily bent in the pan. Add the mushrooms and stir gently.

Add the herbs/spices. As I find it impossible to stick a teaspoon into a herb jar, I use the other end of the teaspoon. Lift out one heaped tsp handle of each spice and sprinkle in. I used around 1/2 tsp of each.

Once sizzling, add the tomatoes, beans and chickpeas. Also add two tins of water (from the tomato cans) plus the 1/2 veg stock cube, crumbled in. Stir and leave this to bubble for around 10-15 minutes.

Add olives and tomatoes and leave to bubble for another 30 minutes on a lower heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Ta-dah! It is up to you how you serve this. Rice or crusty bread is good, I just had it on it's own.

As I had it a few days ago, this is a picture of my leftovers from the fridge! I really hope you enjoy it - I did!!

About Me

Hello everyone!

I'm Kirsty, I'm 26, I live in Edinburgh (Scottish capital city for those not in the know) and I started this blog because I am a fussy foodie! This is not due to me being choosy about foods but because for the last five years I have been intolerant to dairy products (milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt, cream etc.) including those from cows, sheep, goat... and therefore it kind of restricts me from eating the things I love. I know there are a lot of other people out there with intolerances too and therefore I just wanted to show what it's like being me, what I've tried, what's failed and most of all, where you can get a good meal in Edinburgh without too many problems! I'll also write up a few recipes I've tried too.

I'm afraid also that sometimes I cheat, and although it does make me ill, the one thing I really miss is chocolate. I do like plain chocolate best since discovering my intolerance, but it does have "traces" of milk. I have tried all sorts of alternate milks too and there is a lot out there. I get weird effects from soya so that's out. I've tried hazelnut, almond, rice and coconut too but don't really like the taste. Rice milk also floats in tea - yuck! So for the past year or so I've been having oat milk, or "oatly" as it's called in supermarkets. I also cook with it, but only for sweet things like pancakes (which because it's oat milk, for some reason this makes thicker pancakes, yum!). I would love, one day, to be able to make white sauce again. I tried this once for lasagne, and it was literally like having bolognaise sauce with custard!! AVOID!

Recently other things have made me ill and at the doctors last week, I had a blood test for celeriac and gluten. I sincerely hope this is not the case as it will limit my diet even more and I don't want to have to take multiple supplements to be healthy. My younger sister is gluten and wheat free, I am dairy free and my older sister is now vegetarian. We do have meals together but it can be hard finding recipes that combine all three.

Let's start out with a simple recipe, for banana milkshake. I had this this morning and it was lovely and filling, and if you are on any diet, fits in with all three said above!

2 large bananas or 4 small ones, peeled and mashed with a fork
1 pint milk (any, I used oatly)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Mash, blend, pour into a jug and serve!
It's best if the milk is cold from the fridge as it's not brilliant warm, as I'm sure you can guess, and also because it's not a good idea to but the shake in the fridge as the bananas will go brown! There is no need for sugar either, this is something that is very good for you, don't ruin it by adding sweetener!

Okay, I stole this picture online from http://cdn.barbadostoday.bb but I'm afraid I didn't manage to take a picture of my own shake as I finished it too quickly!!

So, reviews and comments welcome, next time I'll add somewhere good to eat!!