A quiona salad

A good friend treated me to lunch one day, and made a yummy quinoa salad. Quinoa is a seed (a grass seed, to be precise) rather than a cereal, making it a great gluten-free alternative to couscous and bulgar wheat. Quinoa is also manufactured in a pressed form to mimic porridge.

The ingredients for the yummy quinoa salad were: Red wine vinegar and Lemon olive oil to make the dressing; Quinoa mixed with Green lentils, Rocket, toasted Cashews, grilled Red peppers and sliced Fennel.

Afternoon tea with the Girls, and Mum’s famous gingerbread

The snow caused havoc with my foodie plans the other week: not only did our Burns Nicht supper have to be hastily altered (guests being unable to attend at the last minute!) but our afternoon tea up the road the next day was cancelled (again, due to the roads)! So we had an impromptu afternoon tea at home and invited ladies who could walk to us.

Mum made the most superb chocolate gateaux – it was perfect! I’m not sure how she got it to come out perfectly flat on top, but it did. We think, perhaps, because we’ve found the oven thermometer and have begun using it, so we now know what the actual temp is.

Caroline brought some delicious tattie scones, and we have some scones in the freezer which was were popular iwht our guests.

I made Mum’s famous gingerbread, and did a fine job (if I do say so myself!) – almost as good as when Mum makes it. The orignal recipe was from Maud Gall of Gateside, and is as follows:

Ingredients

1. 1lb plain flour plus 5 level tsp baking powder
   8oz caster sugar
   1 1/2 tsp groudn ginger
2. 3/4lb treacle
   180ml oil
3. 1/2 pint milk
   1 egg

Method
Sieve together ingredients 1.

Melt together ingredients 2 in a pan and bring to the simmer.

Beat together ingredients 3.

Take 2 off the heat. Immediately stir in 3. Immediately stir in to A.*

Immediately put in to a prepared baking tin. Bake at 160C/325F/Gas 2.5 for 1 1/2 hours.** Check the cake is done by piercing the middle with a cocktail stick; if it comes out clean the cake is done.

*I used a ballon whisk throughout the stirring, and it worked a treat.
**We use three smaller loaf tins and make for 25-3o minutes.

A braw Burns Nicht supper

To start, we had haggis topped with a spot of whisky and a dollop of whipped cream.

The main was:

• chicken breast stuffed with MacLeod’s of Stornoway black pudding, wrapped in bacon
• roasted Chantenay carrots
• creamed potatoes
• creamed neeps (aka swede)

I had to improvise dessert and came up with a cranachan/Eton Mess mix: whisky cream mixed with crushed meringues and slices of orange.

Another slow cooked chicken

Another lazy Sunday, another slow cooked chicken. This one was cooked on a bed of onion with lots of oregano sprinkled on top. I took off the skin before cooking, nad removed the visible fat – so it was tasty, moist and Syn free.

Another Slimming World pancake recipe: cous cous pancakes

Well, I finally got around to trying this cous cous pancake recipe and it worked a treat. They were like what I’d call drop scones or Scotch pancakes, so I had mine with butter spread on top.

Tips:

• I used slightly less egg than the recipe called for (two would do)
• once you’ve added the egg make sure you stir before dropping the mixture in the pan (the cous cous will sink!)
• use a ladle to spoon dollops of the mixture in to the hot frying pan
• don’t lose your cool and try to flip the pancake before it’s ready – wait until you can shake them free from the pan before flipping, or they will break up

Toppings? How about sliced banana and a drizzle of honey (count the Syns), or freshly squeezed lemon juice and sweetener.

Enjoy!

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Slimming World Syns: these pancakes are Syn FREE. Don’t forget to top up with Super Free foods!

Joyful shopping at Whole Foods Market, Giffnock

I can’t wait to get back to do some more shopping at Whole Foods Market in Giffnock. It’s a real treat to find such a well-stocked (what I’ll call alternative food) supermarket. As well as lots of organic vege (including an unimaginable eight types of aubergine!) they also have the best selection of free-from foods I’ve ever seen! As well as vege, they also had lots of other fresh foods (the deli counter caught my eye), breads and beers. I’ll already planning a dinner party as an excuse to make a trip for some foody delights.

Limoncello jelly shots

We’re pretty obsessed with limoncello in our house, so I was super excited when a friend pointed out a recipe for jelly shots named after the delicious liqueur.

Thanks to Bex for the recipe, and apologies to the author whose book it was stolen from!

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Ingredients
Gelatine leaves (six 6.5×11.5cm or 7.5x11cm leaves)
Lemons (7 medium or 5 large)
135g pack of lemon jelly
350ml hot water
150ml limoncello
1 tbsp caster sugar

Method

• Put the gelatine leaves in a small wide bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside to soften.
• Cut the lemons in half lengthways and, using a spoon, scoop out the juicy flesh (and expect to get squirted with juice!) making sure not to break the skin.
• Set each lemon shell half, cut side up, on a large tray.
• Break up the jelly a bit and put in a heatproof measuring jug. Pour over enough hot water to reach 400ml in the jug.
• Pick up the gelatine leaves (which should feel nice a soft by now) and gently squeeze out as much liquid as you can; discard the water; and put the soft gelatine leaves into the jelly and hot water. Stir constantly until it dissolves. Add the limoncello and sugar until it is dissolved.
• Fill each lemon shell with the jelly, right up to the top so it is almost overflowing. Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then: put them in the freer for 30 minutes (no longer!); or the fridge for 60 minutes.
• Once they are firm, remove them from the fridge/freezer and cut in half lengthways. Serve!

Cocktails at Metropolitan and Chaopraya

I had some inspiring cocktails on a recent trip to Glasgow, including:

• a Pink Cucumber Martini at Metropolitan
  A yummy, fresh, pink drink, containing: Hendricks gin and St Germain elderflower liqueur, muddled with fresh cucumber, a twist of black pepper, lemon and cranberry juice
• a Strawberry and Chili Caipirinha at Metropolitan
  A tasty, fiery cocktail, containing: Leblon Cachaca muddle with fresh strawberries, lime, brown sugar and a fiery kick from fresh chillies
• a Made in Thailand at Chaophraya
  A fruity beach-type cocktail, containing: Ketel One Citron Vodka with a splash of Malibu, muddled with lime, lemongrass and coriander all shaken and served tall over ice topped off with ginger beer and a hint of pineapple juice.

Eating Out: delicious lunch at Esca

Another 5pm.co.uk deal for lunch at Esca (we were there at the start of the month), and another fabulous meal.

I had the calamari to start again, and it was superb – again!

For my main I had Steak Rossini – a dish I’ve never heard of, but will be trying again! It’s based on Tournedos Rossini and consists of steak, on a crouton, with a dollop of pate on top, and it was delicious.

And for dessert I had the tiramisu, which was very good.

Excellent service again. We had the house white this time and it was fine.

Top notch grub!

Another Slimming World cheese and onion pie

I made a massive Slimming World cheese and onion pie the other day and kept half to have another night: same amount of work, and two meals out of it!

So, I didn’t have peas and carrots to add to the pie, so I added a can of sweetcorn and a can of mushy peas; the latter made the pie green, which was fun! I didn’t add the cheese to the top, which saved on Syns. And, to mix it up a bit, I added king prawns to the mix, and the herbs were coriander and Thai spice mix.

A great Slimming World meal in a pie.

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Slimming World Syns: this recipe is FREE on Extra Easy.