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!
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Thursday, 19 September 2013
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!!
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
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
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
Thursday, 5 September 2013
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!
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!!
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!!
Monday, 2 September 2013
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!!
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!!
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