Bah! So what if there is a recession? Who needs pounds if you can enjoy decadent desserts with mere pennies?
Bell Peppers Stuffed With Couscous, Pine Nuts and Raisins
Friday, 2 October 2009 By 1 Comment
Bell peppers were created hollow so that you could stuff them with whatever tickles your fancy.
Spiced Chickpea, Carrot, Raisin & Cashew Rice Pilaf
Friday, 28 November 2008 By 2 Comments
Sharing an office with a 20-month old is anything but dull. Extreme vigilance is required if you don’t want to trip over a ball (or 5), books, pieces of Lego and wooden bricks, an old telephone, plastic trucks, a tub of Play-Doh and a xylophone. Just when I think he’s busy amusing himself with building Lego towers, I sneak off and place my bum on the swivel chair. Unfortunately, as soon I start navigating the PC with my mouse, the cursor suddenly jerks 180 degrees in the other direction as my right arm gets tugged by a little hand.
Courgette, Red Pepper & Mushroom Rice
Monday, 10 November 2008 By 3 Comments
When I think of dieting food boring salads, boiled vegetables and banned sweets come to mind. Worse still, has anyone seen the 1974 recipe cards of Weight Watchers? Hah, now you have. It got just too lonely getting scarred for life viewing these grotesque food pictures that I had to drag you along. What happened in the 70’s stays in the 70’s. Thankfully, 30 years later chefs, photographers and food stylists’ skills have improved. Hooorah!
Broad Bean & Lemon Risotto
Thursday, 7 August 2008 By 13 Comments
Inspecting each packet at the vegetable seed stand carefully, broad beans immediately caught my eye. Not having a clue what I was about to grow didn’t matter much to me for as long as it came out of my garden I was happy. Strangely, the plants weren’t like the ordinary bean ones, i.e. needing poles and stood proudly on their own without the need for assistance of any kind. They flowered, and then the beans came. Since I have more ants in our garden than I would dare to imagine I came across something unexpected. One day when I looked a bit closer at the plants, I noted black patches at the top. Tiny black little bugs sat fixed to the stem and flowers. This was the first time I came across these little, disgusting plant lice; blackfly. The ants protect the blackfly, while the blackfly produce honeydew which the ants eat. It’s a match made in heaven for the two species and the pests from hell for me. The blackfly sucked every last drop of life from my beautiful green soldiers until they resembled the poor unfortunate souls captured by Ursula, the Sea Witch, in The Little Mermaid. (No, I haven’t watched the movie with Gabriel for like 10 000 times already. Oh dear, I’m not fooling anyone, am I?) I salvaged one meal’s worth of beans before they bit the dust and they tasted divine simply boiled. Year after year I keep trying to grow broad beans and every single time the ants/blackfly get to them! It leaves me feeling quite depressed…
Sweet Potato Rice
Thursday, 13 March 2008 By 7 Comments
I keep a stash of recipes that are ready for publishing in a folder. Ready to do some spring cleaning I paged to the oldest one. Yikes! September was only yesterday, wasn’t it? But…but…but it’s 6 months ago! How could this recipe go unnoticed by me? Okay, let’s admit it; it’s not as fancy as some of the dazzling recipes on Greedy Gourmet but that doesn’t mean it’s less tasty. The reason why I really like this recipe is because it takes boring boiled rice and adds a dash of flavour, a splash of colour and sweetness to it, which makes it a very appealing and appetising side dish.
Baked Pumpkin with Mushroom & Leek Stuffing
Saturday, 27 October 2007 By Leave a Comment
Dark green, pale green, gray, orange, yellow, white, red, knobbly, smooth, ridged, small, enormous, round, oblong or ovoid. Ah yes, you know it is autumn when pumpkins start appearing at your local supermarket in all shapes and sizes. They are so versatile in cooking and yet I know few Britons who have even tasted it.