Mexicagne!

Yesterday I was a bridesmaid again. I worked out that it was the 10th time, if you count twice as a flower girl when I was teeny, and that one time I was a ‘groomsmaid’ or ‘best woman.’

So I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two about weddings. And if I know one thing it’s that the night before the wedding is often so crazy that no one has thought about food, and I do NOT do well if I haven’t eaten. So for this wedding I decided I would sort out some food for everyone, to look after them, and to avoid them having to see Hangry Becca! Lasagne seemed like an easy option to prepare ahead of time, but as I had decided to make two lasagnes, I thought maybe I would make one regular and one a little different.

I had a ton of pulled pork left over from dinner earlier in the week, so thanks to Pinterest and a bit of imagination, I created a pulled pork Mexican lasagne, or Mexicagne!

So the base is fried onion, garlic, pulled pork, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of sweetcorn and a tin of  kidney beans, with some fajita spice (I had some in the cupboard). I layered that up with regular white sauce like any other lasagne (I’m wondering if next time I could incorporate something more sour cream-esque here) but instead of lasagne sheets I used corn tortillas. 

  
And it was good!!! Really tasty, and the tortillas didn’t go as soggy as I feared they might. They didn’t have the same consistency as lasagne sheets but they were sturdy enough for the lasagne to hold its shape. 

  

I won’t write a recipe because to do so would be to pretend I have a clue how much of anything I used. I made it up as I went along, but it was good.

  
(Yep, crisps seemed like the logical accompaniement)

Lasagne is a great vehicle for putting together different food combinations and covering them in cheese, win win win!! A friend of mine has given me a spinach and Stilton lasagne recipe that I am going to try next. It helps that we have some Stilton in the fridge left over from yesterday’s wedding, it would be waste not to use it! 
What is your favourite lasagne? Or do you think the original shouldn’t be messed with? 

Spotlight on: The Spicery

Here I am with my promised more upbeat post. I can’t thank you all enough for the beautiful feedback my last post got. There are some very wonderful people in the world.

I wanted to post today to share a website that we’ve recently fallen a bit in love with. Back in October, some friends bought Matt a subscription to The Spicery. I had seen the subscriptions available before, but hadn’t known exactly how it worked, but we have LOVED it. Every month they send all of the spices and instructions you need to put together a meal from some corner of the world, . You have to buy the main ingredients yourself, but the meals we have had have been amazing. It worked well for Matt who likes detailed instructions when cooking (and follows them, to the letter! if that recipe says 100g, he will NOT be using 101g!) and he has loved the chance to do some more exciting cooking.

The flavours are just incredible, I have been amazed at how tasty it all is. You know when you want to try a new recipe but you need 10 different new spices to make it, and you know you’re only going to use 1tsp of it and then it’s going to fester in the cupboard for the next 5 years til you finally clean the cupboard out and add it into a bolognese to see what happens?…no? Just me? OK.  But this subscription means you get the right amount of spices mixed together with no wastage. And did I mention it tastes incredible??

We loved the ‘world kitchen’ subscription we had so much that we have recently signed up for a few months more of the ‘date night’ packs. Tonight we had the Thai date night pack. Thom Kha Gai (Thai chicken and mushroom soup) to start…

Pad Thai for main…this was AMAZING!

and then mango sticky rice for pudding!

I would highly recommend the Spicery if you want to buy a gift for a friend who likes cooking, or likes food. I love subscriptions generally as a gift, as every time it comes through the post it’s like another present. But you can also buy the packs directly on their website http://www.thespicery.com and we have re-bought some of the packs we got in our subscription because they were so good! They also sell some other brilliant bits including chai tea spices, jasmine for making tea and a variety of high quality spices for when you DO need random spices to make a recipe.

Do it! That’s all,

Becca xxx

Pasta pasta pasta

I LOVE pasta. I could eat it everyday. Quite frankly, it’s my ultimate favourite carb and the base for most of my favourite meals as well as being the reason I couldn’t eat totally “clean” (I also love cheese waaaay too much)! People often ask “what’s your signature dish?” In this age of “Come Dine With Me” and “Masterchef”, cooking has had a rejuvenation. It’s something that takes skill, creativity and patience. And I absolutely love to cook, although I seriously lack the skill and just make up for it in creativity! I find it massively therapeutic. For my birthday I was bought a pasta machine, which was honestly the most wonderful gift. This weekend I gave it a go for the first time and was mightily surprised as to how easy I found it! Totally straightforward and fun! And that inspired me to share with you 3 of my absolute favourite pasta recipes! One meaty, one fishy and one totally veggie and ridiculously easy.

1. What I call “Butternut squash pasta”

I reckon you can guess what’s in this one! As usual with my recipes, I guess as to the quantities, but this recipe has 5 basic ingredients (and four if you want to make it veggie). I sometimes even add a sixth, just to mix it up! But those five ingredients are:

• Pasta
• Red pesto
• Butternut squash
• Mozzarella cheese
• Chorizo sausage

For a sneaky sixth, spinach is also a fab addition just at the end!

So, to start with, peel and chop up the butternut squash. I HATE peeling butternut squash and usually ask Luke to do this for me, though I heard recently that the skin is nice when roasted… Anyone tried this? Anywho, toss the chunks about in oil and roast for a good 45 minutes on 180 degrees til it’s thoroughly cooked and falling apart. In the meantime, cook up the pasta, boiling it for 2 minutes and leaving it to simmer for a further 10, depending on how aldente you want it. With fresh pasta however, it just needs to boil for 2/3 minutes and it’s done. Whilst the pasta is simmering/boiling, chop up mozzarella into chunks (I usually use 2 balls because I eat most of it as I chop) and do the same with the chorizo. Drain off the pasta and throw in the mozzarella, cooked butternut squash, red pesto and chorizo. Mix it all on a low heat to melt off the mozzarella and YOU’RE DONE! Super easy and ridiculous tasty. And here’s a really poor photo! 

 2. What I call “That creamy seafood pasta”

I went to Jamie’s Italian recently and fell in LOVE with seafood in pasta. Since my pasta machine was also a Jamie’s finest, I thought it best to make my own pasta and give it a go this last Good Friday (growing up in a Christian household, we always had fish on Good Friday). I confess, I have a bit to learn with the fresh pasta, but am so excited to try out some different kinds! Anyway, for this dish you use:

• Fish of any kind (I went with prawns, scallops and mussels)
• Pasta
• Mozzarella (the hard kind)
• Parmesan
• Semi skimmed milk
• Mushrooms
• Olive oil
• Basil
• Red pepper flakes
• Garlic

First things first, chop up a couple of cloves of garlic (depending how much you like it) and cook off all of the fish in the olive oil, basil and garlic. When you think it’s done, throw in some chopped mushrooms and cook to your hearts desire. Once it’s all cooked through, add in 3/4 cup of semi skimmed milk (half and half to the Americans), as much of the cheeses as you require (which was a contentious issue in our household) and the red pepper flakes. Let this simmer and melt while you cook off the pasta. When this is done, throw the pasta in and give it a stir. Voila! Easy as anything. Awful photo number 2: 

 3. What I call “Lazy pasta”

This one is barely a recipe but it comes in handy if I’m ever eating alone and can’t be bothered to cook. 6 key ingredients:

• Pasta
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Pepper
• Salt
• Red pepper flakes

So, cook of the pasta, and whilst this is happening, mix the oil with chopped garlic (or my favourite, Lazy Garlic), pepper, salt and red pepper flakes. When the pasta is done, drain it off and mix in the wet ingredients and ta dah! A surprisingly tasty little dish. Super simple. Ready for the bad photo? 

 And that, my friends, is that. 3 super easy pasta dishes with all the yumminess you require- I promise! Please share your favourite pasta recipes and I SERIOUSLY urge you to try making your own, pasta machine or not! Hannah xo

Ultimate Roast Dinner

Lets talk about what qualifies as the ultimate roast dinner for you? Few meals can be quite as contentious or varied! People have very strong opinions on this subject in my experience.

For me, you can’t beat my Mum’s roast. But I don’t know if that’s because she does it best or because that’s how I learned to love roast dinners (they are basically my absolute favourite dinner!) Or it might be because I can’t even begin to get my head around how she did it. My parents are ministers and when I was growing up they were leaders of busy churches. Sunday would be a 9am prayer meeting, 10am services followed by Sunday school and church outreach activities, we didn’t get home til 2, and the evening service started at 5pm followed by youth activities til 10ish. Somehow on top of all this, Mum would bash out a roast, and (because we were obviously still hungry?!?) tinned salmon rolls for tea! She is basically superwoman! It didn’t even seem to phase her (except the once we got home from church and the fire brigade were there because she’d left the potatoes on the hob…)

Anyway, since leaving home I’ve been working on my own roast. And I think I do a pretty decent job these days. I flap a lot more than Mum used to…I can keep calm right up until the last 5 minutes, it’s that getting it all out of the oven and served up while it’s still hot that I struggle with!! I don’t think there’s really a way around that!

So I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite ingredients of a roast…

Roast chicken. Lamb is probably my actual favourite but chicken is more universally popular and quicker to cook. I use a recipe from a book called ‘roast chicken and other stories,’ which basically involves slathering a bird in butter (no one said this was healthy) and stuffing it with lemon, garlic and tarragon. Preheat the oven to 220c and cook the chicken for 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180c and cook for a further 45 minutes. Remove from the oven for 15 minutes to rest then carve. Easy right?!

So when that goes in, I also whack in some roast potatoes. I’m a par-boil and goose fat girl (roast potato technique is one of the most controversial part of a roast right?!) They stay in for the whole duration of the roast cooking, they’ve gotta be crispy!

I grew up in Yorkshire, so Yorkshire puddings are a non negotiable. These are probably the bit I’m most proud of mastering. So first the tray goes in the oven with 1/2 tsp of oil in each cup of the tray. This goes in the oven for 10 mins just before the chicken comes out for the oil to get good and hot. The Yorkshire mix is 140g plain flour, 4 eggs and 200ml milk. It has to be whisked really really well! Then the tray comes out of the oven, the mix goes in (don’t fill the cups much over half full) and they go back in the oven for about 20 mins while the chicken comes out to rest.

So that’s the staples. They don’t really change! Then veggies. I’m a bit more flexible on these, in fact in summer we sometimes have salad with roast meat and roast potatoes. I also usually add at least one boiled or steamed veg (beans today) but my fave additions are

These honey mustard carrots

This amazing roast broccoli

This braised cabbage

And my current absolute fave, This amazing roasted cauliflower with a beer and cheddar sauce (I add wholegrain mustard instead of the hot stuff…)

For gravy, I make up some instant (I know I know) but then pour it into the tray the chicken cooked in and whisk the juices from the chicken into the gravy.

And that’s it

I always forget about pudding because this is the centre of attention, but it’s a good one.

So tell me, what’s your perfect roast dinner?

Becca xxx

Why and How we celebrate Thanksgiving

Oh everyone is very cross on Facebook this week. It seems the British public are not happy that Thanksgiving and Black Friday have come over here. I won’t get into my opinions on Black Friday, however I do want to talk about Thanksgiving!

We started celebrating Thanksgiving 4 years ago. I know it’s not a British holiday, but I love the idea of a holiday that is all about giving thanks! The classic British ‘harvest festival’ has the same roots, when people took time to thank God for a successful harvest. I feel like there are so many things in life to be thankful for, but often life is busy and we don’t make time. I also think sometimes it’s easy to focus on ‘what’s next?’ We are always striving for better or newer or looking ahead, and that’s admirable in some ways, but it is great to stop and realise how blessed our lives are and to be thankful for what we have right now. I know not everyone shares my beliefs, but I do believe in a God who has blessed me and I want to thank Him for that. And even if you don’t believe in God there is actual science that being grateful is good for you, see this

We usually celebrate Thanksgiving the same week as they do in the States, rather than when Canadians celebrate, purely because that’s when we’ve thought about it! We have family in the US so it’s nice to feel like we’re celebrating at a similar time. Every year we have chosen to celebrate by having good food shared with good friends. We usually include elements of the American traditional thanksgiving foods (I can’t get enough of candied yams!) but leave room for Yorkshire puddings and roasties!

The first year was just Turkey rolls in my student flat, it has grown every year! And then we make time to say what we’re thankful for! That has, every year, been such a blessing.

I’ve been reading Ann Voskamp’s book ‘One Thousands Gifts’ and feel really challenged about the power of thankfulness and of stopping to think about how much we have. So this Thanksgiving I am thankful for…

– My husband. He is my Best friend, most enthusiastic supporter and my rock. I couldn’t be luckier.

– A God who loves me and who I trust with the stuff I don’t understand yet…or I’m trying to!!
– The Beautiful friends who let us use their kitchen to cook in yesterday and all those friends who are walking alongside us as we explore faith, work, life and all the other stuff.
– Our wonderful families. We are so blessed to have families who are also our friends! Within that, I am thankful for my sister in law and blog buddy Hannah/Hugo who has been one of my greatest supports in the last few years! This blog has been cathartic, and a source of much joy!
– Our new home! We exchanged contracts this week and move in two weeks!! We are SO excited!
– This bundle of joy, born this week to my sister from another mister, Mrs Carla Raymer. We love you Lucas

– A job that I LOVE! I am lucky not to dread getting up on Monday mornings!
– Having spiritual input into my life. Through my church family, my house group and through friends who speak wisdom and truth into my life so regularly. And that’s what I’ll leave you with…a friend sent this to me this week, it’s just beautiful and taking the time to stop and hear from God through this song was a time of real clarity in my week! Click to listen

What are you thankful for this week?

Becca xxx

Paleo Stuffed Squash

I hate this time of year, nights drawing in, a proper chill in the air, and (as we’re in England) rain, rain, rain. It makes me so grumpy!! I’ve been seriously grumpy all week.

HOWEVER, all the best food happens at this time of year. Thick winter stews and baked apple pies and oh goodness the butternut squashes! They are probably my favourite vegetables ever, and at this time of year they are so tasty. I love them baked and dipped in cream cheese, or roasted in a lasagne, or whipped into soup. YUM!

So tonight we tried stuffing one. I wanted some comfort food and have been craving carbs, so this needed to be a good one, and it did not disappoint! I did cheat on paleo a little bit by adding some mozzarella, I just needed it! But it would be good without too. I still think I have some work to do on this recipe, I’m not sure beef was the right filling, so I may well try some other options, but this is definitely a tasty meal for a cold autumn night, and worth a taste!

So here it is, stuffed butternut squash.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash

3 rashers non-smoked bacon

400g beef mince

2 small onions

3 mushrooms

4 sun dried tomatoes

Cinnamon

200g mozzarella (optional)

1 small apple

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees celsius.

2. Cut the butternut squash in half and place face down in a baking dish. Add half a cup of water and cover with foil. Place in the oven for 45 minutes

2. While the butternut is cooking, heat a glug of oil in a pan. Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside, leaving the bacon grease in the pan.

3. Add one of the onions to the pan and cook until soft. Add in the mince and brown it off, then add the mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes. Once they are softened, remove from the heat.

4. Remove the butternut from the oven, and scoop out most of its insides. Add the cooked butternut to the meat mixture. Spoon it all back into the squash and top with the mozzarella if you are using.  Place back into the oven for a further 20 minutes.

5. While it is in the oven, add the balsamic vinegar to a pan. Add the remaining onion and apple, both chopped and cook until caramelised.

6. Remove the squash from the oven, top with the onions and apples, eat and enjoy!

Becca xxx

Sweet treats

We’re back on the Paleo bandwagon. I know, I know, yawn!! Most of you get sick of me rabbiting on about it, and yet I continue!

I actually really struggle to find British blogs and websites with recipes for paleo foods, so I’m keen to share the ones I’ve found with other poor people who don’t have a Trader Joe’s to stock their every paleo wish (seriously Trader Joe’s…when are you coming to the UK?!) I hope someone will be inspired to try some of the recipes!

Tonight we’ve been out for dinner but wanted a sweet treat afterwards. I saw something like this in M&S last night and thought I could probably recreate it. So this is a mixture of crushed pistachios with honey and mixed spice, all heated up together in a saucepan briefly and then stuffed into a medjool date

YUM!!!

That’s all folks!

Becca xxx

Paleo lunch

This week my Facebook feed is full of people writing 3 things they’re thankful for each day! Isn’t that great? I have flippin loved hearing everyone be so positive about their lives. I enjoyed doing mine too! I have so much to be thankful for, and I lose sight of that too easily!!

One of the things I’m always thankful for is food! And it got it’s fair share of mentions in my Facebook lists! Curry with friends, dark chocolate on the sofa in front of the TV, gourmet burger competitions…my weeks are full of great food!! I’ve not written about the food we’ve been eating lately. This is for two reasons

1) I’ve cheated on Paleo quite a bit…and it’s usually Paleo food I like to write about

2) When I’m not cheating, we eat a lot of the same stuff!

Doesn’t that sound dreadfully boring? It’s not really though. The meals we eat do change and develop, I just don’t always remember to record them. We’ve successfully reintroduced dairy since the ‘whole 30’ days finished. I don’t mind telling you that there was some serious relief to realise that having cheese back in my life didn’t cause any dietary issues.

I continue to believe in the paleo diet because I feel so much better when I do it. And so much more sluggish and bloated and gross when I don’t. We’re sticking to it pretty rigidly this week because on Saturday my lunatic husband is doing this which is the whole reason we started!

So here’s a quick picture of my lunch today. Grated carrot and red cabbage with peppers, roast chicken and some toasted pine nuts and sesame seeds. So SO tasty and so easy! I roasted a chicken last weekend and froze it in portions. Mostly because I’d been having sardine salads and everyone in the office was complaining about the smell so I had to switch to chicken!

Lunch is often a tough call for me. Cutting out the starchy fillers has made it a struggle to know what to have. I’m learning that in the absence of carbs, I need protein and a good variety of flavour. Meat/fish/nuts/seeds are all great sources of protein and with a bit of imagination they can be a real lunchtime treat!!

Sunshine and salads make me happy.

What’s making you happy today?

Becca xx

Easy Pad Thai

In Becca’s absence (sob), it falls to me to provide a meal idea for this week! Now, I’ll say this from the off- this is NOT a paleo post. I’m ever so sorry but I don’t have Becca’s discipline in this area!!! However, it IS yummy and straight forward too- when isn’t that a win?!!

I love Eastern food, and fell in love with Pad Thai at Wagamama. Luckily, I have a fella who is willing to try my food when I experiment!! I do have Pinterest to thank for the basics of this recipe but, as ever when I cook, a lot of this is also substituting and guesswork! Ever the trier, am I!

Here’s the recipe:
Wide and flat rice noodles (I used udon noodles as I couldn’t find these in the supermarket)- just as many as you require!
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 spring onions, chopped and separated into green and white parts
1 garlic clove
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup coriander
1/3 cup finely chopped peanuts
2 tablespoons oil

Here’s the fun part!!
1. Cook noodles according to the packet if using rice noodles (soaking them in water first) (if using udon noodles then they come precooked and can be thrown in later!)
2. Heat the oil in a wok and then throw the white spring onions and garlic into the hot wok. Add in the eggs and scrape whilst cooking until ALMOST done (around 30 seconds) then IMMEDIATELY turn it out onto a plate.
3. Mix the brown sugar, lime juice and soy sauce in a bowl until sugar is dissolved.
4. Throw the noodles into a wok. Add green spring onions and the mixed sauce. Cook until noodles are done.
5. Add in the egg and mix it in, breaking it up as you go.
6. Serve with the coriander garnish and crushed peanuts!

TIP: I also added prawns which I cooked in the wok with the rest. However, any meat would work!

So give it a go! Add in your own little twists and enjoy your own little Japanese feast 🙂

Hannah xo

5 ways with Watermelon

Friday nights have become dangerous in our house…Matt goes to youth club to play football and spend his pocket money at the tuck shop (he claims he’s a responsible adult there…I will reserve judgement on that) and so I go and do the ‘big shop’ on my own. Only lately I’ve also squeezed in a trip to Costco. Be still my credit card! I could spend a small fortune in that place. Especially since being on this new diet, I have been bulk buying nuts and kale and frozen fruit for smoothies.

And this week, a watermelon! It seemed like the right time of year to do such a thing.

Only this watermelon was twice the size of my head and it’s been a challenge to work out what the heck to do with it all. Thankfully it’s a bank holiday so I’ve had plenty of time to try out some recipes. So here are my top 5

1. A smoothie

This is my standard go-to for any fruit. I have smoothies most mornings for breakfast these days.

This one was 2 cups of watermelon, 1 cup pineapple, 1 cup coconut water, 1 tsp of chia seeds and a handful of spinach. Blend until dreamy!

2. Ice lollys.

I filled some ice lolly moulds with watermelon juice and froze them. Easy peasy!

3. Sorbet

This was my favourite! So yummy and felt like a proper paleo treat without being naughty!

Freeze chopped watermelon, then add 4 cups of the frozen watermelon to a blender with 2 peaches (pitted), 2 tbsp honey, juice of 2 limes and 1/2 tsp of sea salt. The salt stops it from freezing up too much and keeps it at a sorbet consistency. Whiz it all together and whack it back in the freezer for a couple of hours. Take out 5 mins before it needs serving and serve with a sprig of mint

4. Wrap it in smoked salmon

As simple as that. A perfect breakfast. Served with some avocado because I’m determined to embrace the good fats a la the paleo pyramid!

5. Salad

This was something I made last summer (hence the bread in the pic, we’re pretty much sworn off bread now). Prosciutto and mozzarella with watermelon whacked on some leaves. Simple and delicious!