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.

Chorizo and Sweet Potato Dumplings

If you regularly read my blog (or are a newbie and read backwards) you will remember in my post where I took a trip to Canada (I'm a baaaaaaaaack and I have food to talk about!) that I mentioned a lovely country pub that I went to with Justin's dad. When I was there I had some lovely dumplings and I told myself that I would have to figure out how to make them!


They were fried ravioli filled with sweet potato, chorizo and spinach (and what else I'm not sure!). So here is my dumpling experiment!!!!

More Autumnal

Here are some more recipes that I've made over the last new months, but have neglected to post! Most of these are from my Good Food Healthy Recipe app. 

Roasted butternut Squash 

Ingredients:

2 small butternut squash

garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

chilli flakes

1 tsp thyme, chopped

1-2 courgettes, cut into little chunks

1-2 red peppers, cut into little chunks

2 small or 1 large red onion chopped

200 g cherry tomatoes

50 g pine nuts

100 g goats cheese

1 tbsp bread crumbs

1 tbsp parmesan

1 tbsp parsely (dry or fresh)

Crab Cakes with Sweet Potato Chips

Here's a great low carb recipe, if it wasn't for the sweet potato chips we had on the side :)


Ingredients:

• 200 grams crab meat
• 150 grams cod or haddock (or other white fish)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp of dried crushed chillies
• 1 stalk of lemongrass peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• 1 egg white
• salt and pepper
• sunflower oil for frying
• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into chips and seasoned
• sweet chilli sauce for dipping

Monday = Minty Salmon & Sweet Tater Fish Cakes

Ingredients:
500g leftover cooked potatoes mashed (I used sweet potatoes instead because I find salmon too strong a taste so I wanted to mask it a wee bitty! Also it's better if the taters are cooked the day before and have time to cool and get nice and starchy.
418g can drained salmon (I poached fresh salmon and used that instead)
140g frozen peas defrosted
handful of mint leaves roughly chopped
1 tbsp spoon of tartar sauce (I forgot to buy some so I just mixed mayo and relish together!)
flour for dusting
olive or veggie oil for shallow frying
lemon halves to serve