Salmon Patties with Chia

So here we go with more delightful low carb eats!!

This recipe was super easy, super quick and really delicious.  I'm glad it was easy because I'm pretty tired after a weekend of building, hauling and cleaning. I'm starting to think I need to book in some back massages!

I have to apologize, this was so quick, easy and delicious that I completely forgot to take some pics for you fine folks!

back & livin a low carb life

So it's been awhile....that's for sure! :)

A lot has happened in the last year, we moved to a new country (er, back to an ol country...), bought a house, new jobs and all that jazz that comes along with new adventures!

Easy Peasey Choccy Fudgey

I'm a baaaaaack. Well, for how long I do not know, but I am aiming to get back into this and start posting some GLORIOUS eats with you again. 

So why not start with a bang and some fantabulous chocolate fudge?! I have to say I cannot take any credit for this recipe - it comes originally via Carnation (https://www.carnation.co.uk/Recipes/64/Easy-Chocolate-Fudge).....but I will say it's one of the easiest fudge recipes ever. And it's bloody delicious!

So every year at Christmas it's kind of a family tradition to do some Christmas baking to share with friends/family. Having very little time on my hands recently to get stuck into proper baking I decided I would try making a new fudge recipe. I had a weekly group coming up at work and I wanted to provide the folks with some treats, I also had our annual ball hockey Christmas Do and so I thought well why not go all out??!

Harrissa Spiced Lamb Burgers AND Chipotle Beef Tacos

Whoa logging back in after over a year and I had these saved on draft! I'm assuming it's because I had taken some photos to go along with the post but I suspect I might have deleted them by now so here you go anyway! Tasty foods.



DOUBLE HEADER THIS WEEK FOLKS!

Double BOOYUMS!


Over the last few years I have really started to discover lamb and how flexible it can be as a main dish. You can have it in one of it's more traditional way, with the traditional jar of mint sauce on the side.
But I enjoy finding more interesting ways of eating lamb, and I find that lamb mince is one of the more flexible options at the moment.

3 Delicious Dishes

So it's been a long time since I've posted, no really good excuses to give for not posting and lots of great treats were had!

Justin and I have just recently returned from Canada, from getting married, which will have a post of its own soon because I have been dying to post the wedding cake recipe for months now!!

But for now, I have one main dish and two dessert treats to share with you!!

The first recipe is a simple and delicious recipe that we picked up for free from Waitrose. They have these great recipes cards that you can pick up in the shop and they are usually relatively simple and easy enough to make!

Desert Island Starter

As we are finally starting to get some summer days and nights here in Newcastle, I've been feeling a bit happier. I've come to learn that the weather has a huge effect on me and how I am feeling - and the constant rubbish weather has really started to make me feel a bit of gloom and doom. I like my sun and I like my warmth...I like to swim, I like to sit under the sun and read or have a picnic, I like summer. There's no doubt about that.

I also love summer because it means light late nights, pints on the patio, bbqs and great summery nights with friends.

Friday was turning out to be a beautiful day and it would have been a shame not to take advantage of it! Some last minute planning lead to a short stroll through Jesmond Dene with Justin and our buddy and fellow blogger Adam. On our way back to the flat we picked up some meat, and a crate of San Miguel and we were ready to rock! We were having a great time bbq-ing, having a wee dance around around the coals whilst we grilled, and this lead to an interesting conversation.

Oreo. Stuffed. Chocolate. Chip. Cookies. & Reeses Delciousness

GLO-RI-OUS

Honestly!

I have wanted a reason to make these for some time now. Last Sunday Justin, his teammates and also our friends, travelled down to Sheffield to take part in the National Ball Hockey finals, so I thought what better opportunity to make them then to share them with a large group of amazing people who will need that extra boost! Plus it allows me the joy of cooking without adding to my waistline and also enables me to make other people happy :)

But first....let's talk about the homemade Reese's Pieces wanna-be squares that I made!

a lil bit o'this, a lil bit o'that

So I haven't done any major new recipes lately but I have tried some new things, and because we have had quite a few social occasions recently I have some new eating out experiences to share!

Poached eggs
Firstly, Justin and I both love eggs. Omelettes, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, frittatta, quiche I've done it. But at the age of 31 I have yet to try making poached eggs at home. What a revelation and how easy and more healthy then frying of course! 

So here was my first attempt at doing it - I think that by the time I got all the eggs in the water and all out, although still with a runny yoke, they were about a minute overcooked. 

Challenge Accepted No. 1

So a few weeks ago (at least, sorry I've been really busy with wedding things!) I asked on my Facebook page what sort of things people would like me to make. Two things that stuck out for me was the request for a different type of pizza dough - a flaky one and a gluten & dairy free dessert that wasn't simply a fruit salad. Challenge accepted!!

Paying Nomage to Street Spice

Normally I blog about recipes but today I'm going to blog about a great foodie experience I had tonight!

From 28th Feb to 2nd March there is some great food feasting going on in Newcastle in front of the Centre for Life which is (in memoriam) in aid of Brain Tumour UK. This is probably one of the best foodie festivals I've been to; well organised, great selection and the line ups were manageable.

Spice Street is its name and pleasuring the palate is its game!

Restaurant Replicas - Polenta Chips

One of my favourite things to do is try something new in a restaurant and try to replicate it at home. But this has become a bit of a 'double-edge sword habit' of mine.....

On the one had it's absolutely great if I get it pretty close, then I can enjoy the yum at home!! I've made a couple things on here that I had originally had in a restaurant - take my Chorizo & Sweet Potato Dumplings as one example.

On the other hand, once I realise I CAN make it...and it's simple...and it's cheap, I have a hard time then going about ordering it in a restaurant if it's quite overpriced! This is partly why I rarely ever get salad in a restaurant....I refuse to pay for a simple salad I could make at home and feed 20 people with at the same cost! :)

But as I said replicating restaurant food is a favourite past-time of mine, one which I just can't stop doing - let's call it a 'good, bad habit'!

Pork and parsnip mash a la Monsieur Justin

So...not too much to say in front of this post, thankfully tomorrow is Friday!!!

Been feeling pretty Canadian this week! We had enough snow to go sledding this week and we will be skating and watching hockey on Saturday. Happy days!

Straight to the food..... Justin's in the kitchen again! :)

Homemade chicken burgers a la Monsieur Justin

So I was having a crumby Monday....had some slight frustrations at work and then the exercise class I was looking forward to, hoping it would brighten my spirits, was cancelled due to 'weather'.

So by the time I finally got home I was tired, annoyed, frustrated and thinking tomorrow would be a better Monday. Then Justin reminded me our Tesco delivery had come in. Blargh.....wasn't in the mood to cook yet so proceeded to play with interwebs. But then....I remembered Justin did the grocery order this week.......

Me - "Justin, are you waiting for me to cook supper?"

Justin - "No."

Me - "Is that no...you aren't waiting....or no....I'm not cooking?"

Justin - "No, I'll cook it."

Me - (sly grin forming.....) ,"Were you planning on cooking all week?"

Justin - "Yep!"

Me - "YEeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss! Things are coming up rosey!!!!"

So this weeks blog posts are going to be devoted to Justin's cooking endeavours!

Chickpea Curry....drooool

I absolutely love this recipe!

Why? Because it's tasty, easy, and versatile!

I have been making this recipe (or versions) for years, and I'm not sure why I haven't put it on the blog until now.  I'm putting it up partly because I wanted to share it with all of you lovely foodies, but also because when ever I forget one of the ingredients....I'll know where to find the base recipe!!

main ingredients

Sausage Kale Bowl o' Deliciousness

So I first had this tasty dish a few years ago when the wonderful Sarah cooked it for me at hers. I don't know where she got it from (possible Smitten Kitchen??) but it's absolutely scrummy! I've adapted it slightly given that I can't recall what spices go into it...and sometimes I change it up a little, but the recipe below is one I think works quite well!

Epic Post 2013

So I'm a baaaaad blogger......it's been a while....a sad long while! Especially since one of the last times I blogged I promised I would be back to it and well.... epic fail.... so I have a lot of time to make up for!

I will try to blog a bit more and I will try to get back into being more creative with my cooking and baking. I realise I let this go last year when I became busier with work, and although I did make some fab food, and cook some new recipes I failed to share the delightfulness with you lovely folk!

So to make up for it here is some of what happened between the last post and now...I'll post the recipes if I can find or remember them otherwise please enjoy the drool-worthy photos below! (also I wrote this blog mostly while watching Flight of the Navigator!!)

Lesson in food 1 - In Britain, they're biscuits!

So I came across an interesting magazine a few weeks back which I have never seen before, it's called 'oh comely' (www.ohcomely.co.uk/) and it had a really interesting article about the history of the biscuit. I thought I would put it up here for friends to read because it needed to be shared.

Healthy-ish Hangover Hash

I've realised since I have been back at work I have been slacking a bit on the blog. To be honest I've been spending the last month building a new website at work so I haven't spent much time properly in front of the computer on my time off except to do more mindless tasks like reading ebooks, watching movies and my new addiction drawsomething.

But I also haven't been doing to much cooking of exciting things either. So I thought I would ease back into it slowly with a simple throw together breakfast that I made this Saturday after a night in the pub.

Happy Chocolate Courgette Cake and More!!!

Well this was meant to be my last post of 2011 but I lost track of the days and so it's now my first post of 2012! Yipeeeeee!


So how was everyone's holiday break? Mine...well mine was excellent. You see, Justin and I have been 'dating' for almost 9 years now and on Christmas Eve he took the leap and proposed to me! That's right, he plans to make an honest woman outta me! So I have about a year and a half of fun filled wedding planning to do, which will include trying new cake recipes because I plan to make my own wedding cake! So stay tuned for all that fun stuff!

3 Cheese Mac

I. AM. SORRY. 


I have not properly blogged since starting work again. It's amazing how much more 'creativity time' you have when you are out of work!!! But I have noticed and I will make a concerted effort to be better! 


So, my first effort back into the blogosphere is homemade mac & cheese which admittedly I've not ever made before. I fell into the North America KD trap many times for the sake of ease and now not living in the N.A. anymore it's not as readily available. Also, as I get older and realise just how utterly unhealthy boxed KD is I've decided to make a concerted effort to make REAL mac and cheese. So VOILA!