A Lazy Day With Stuffed Pumpkin!!!

I don't know about you but there are some days that I just cannot be bothered!!! Today for me is that day.After running around all day and going a bit mad chasing around work and home and the allotment and all sorts of things I'm not sure I can honestly be bothered at all. To top it off we have very little left in the cupboard and fridge and for the next week I think living out of the freezer might be the outcome.

It really is one of those days where if you aren't feeling like kickstarting your brain into gear you know you either go hungry or end up eating something you truly shouldn't!!! I stood in our conservatory (prep kitchen) and looked about me, at the moment there is pure chaos as our kitchen looks like this ....

Yes that is our poor little kitchen with its bench fallen off the wall... so no bench space for making anything .... all our kitchen stuff is all over our couches in the living room and to be honest its not something I wanted to make more "interesting" by cooking....however I bit the bullet and grabbed the few bits I could and looked at it thinking .... What the hell am I going to do with this lot ???

Well here it is ....

SPICY STUFFED PUMPKIN

I started with a pot of rice and threw in some spices

NIGELLA

CHILLI FLAKES

CUMIN

SZECHUAN PEPPERCORNS

CELERY SALT

Bring to the boil ....

 Whilst this is occurring you can prep your pumpkin, some people call these squash to me its a pumpkin either way you scrape out the seeds and the stringy bits ... I save the seeds from every second pumpkin and roast them off the others end uop in the compost and free plants for next year !!!

 Straight onto a roasting tray and sprinkle a little oil over them and salt and pepper, if you want to add honey or maple syrup go for it I really didn't feel the need today. Pop them in the oven at 200C ....

At this point my rice has come to the boil so I turn it off ....

 and cover it ... this method is awesome the heat from the hot plate cooks the rice without using anymore electric and you don't run the risk of burning your rice. It does take about 10-15 minutes and that's it!!!

 I did find some red onions ... sliced them up and chucked them in here with a little olive oil ...

 some sliced peppers and squished garlic....

 saute them well....

 Lucky me I found some cashews and pine nuts too and popped those in as well ....

 until the nuts started to brown and then tool it off the heat....

 At this point the rice was ready and i discovered I'd added a little bit too much water ... it happens to the best of us but hey in this recipe it dried out a little in the oven so not to worry!!!

 Add your saute veg to about half the rice... I always make to o much so I have some rice ready for the morning ...

 Add a little fresh herbs of your choice I used coriander....

 At this point your pumpkins should be about half cooked ... turn the oven down to 180C and stuff them with the rice mix and pop them back in the oven until the pumpkin is fully cooked. About 45 minutes...

 Once cooked you have something that not only smells amazing but looks amazing and really hasn't cost you that much time and effort to do... for me this is more than enough dinner for the next 4 days .... of course you can serve it with homemade garlic bread or a loverly salad or just tuck in as it is!!!

Whilst this was in the oven I was able to get on with writing other blogs and get on with all sorts of paperworky stuff... I love cooking in the oven or one pot dishes .... especially on days like today ... chuck all in and walk away ... doesnt mean it has to be dried out and boring ... it can be filling and tasty.

Until next time

Enjoy and take it easy

xox Bloo xox

Cuppa Soup!

It is getting chilly around here, I love autumn, actually I love all seasons, I love the fact we have seasons altogether but September comes around and all of a sudden the temp drops enough to notice.
To me this is soup weather. Running around all day and needing something quick to eat because some of us are very good at forgetting. I put this recipe together today to make sure this wouldn't happen.

I love soup I love thick soups and stoop style soups and creamy soups and cold soups and fruit soups ... but most of all on a day like today when I have loads and loads to do .. all I want is a cuppa soup. Something I can drag room to room with me and drink up like a cuppa tea or coffee... perfick for today ... and being as its the day before payday it generally means there is precious little in the fridge so chucking it all together in the pot sounds about perfick!!!

So here we go ...

CUPPA SOUP 

I wrangled together 

CAULIFLOWER

BROCCOLI (or what was left of one)

ONIONS

GARLIC

CHILL FLAKES

NIGELLA SEEDS

HOMEMADE CELERY SALT

 Me being me I chunk chopped everything and chucked it in the pot with a little vegan spread and some water

 after covering it and simmering it all for about 20 minutes you end up with a mix that looks a little like this.

 Into the blender it goes

 back in the pot and add almond milk

 then straight in my cup ... ready for slurping!!!

 When you are making soup .. use everything .. all the veg.. why waste anything ... unless of course its an icky bit and needs to be cut out... but honestly this was made stalks and all and you can do that with mushrooms and carrots and anything really. 

Waste not want not is a very canny saying and one that quite honestly is a big one in our kitchen. If I can use it somehow I will... 

This of course is me ... researching other recipes and working out modifications for much loved "traditional" recipes. Not alot of time for this at the moment what with Bloo and Perkle Foods being set up and off and running in the next few days ...so taking this moment to get on with things and find some newer yummy bits and bobs is always something I like to do when I can. Cuppa Soup at the ready of course!!!!

"Quiche"

I have to admit this is one recipe that I really really really wanted to work out .... I LOVE quiche and I miss it soooo much. It truly is one of those dishes that is so easy to grab a piece of for a quick munch or make little ones for a party ... To be fair as well the amount of different falvours you can make them is in uncountable so I figured I really really really have to find an alternative I can make because if I don't I am going to go a little insane!!!

So I did .... and here it is ....

BASIC QUICHE RECIPE

Gluten Free Pastry

 So I used HAZELNUT MILK but you can use Soy or Rice or Oat or whatever your preferance is 

VEGAN CREAM CHEESE

VEGAN CHEDDAR

BROCCOLI

COURGETTES

ONIONS

 Chop your veg up into bite sized pieces ....

 Saute them off gently in a pan or pot

 Add your cream cheese to your milk

 and mix well

 grate your "cheddar"

 Make a roux using vegan spread or olive oil and cornflour

 add some of your milky cheesy mix to the roux and mix well until it becomes a paste and then add a bit more ... just like making a white sauce ... only thicker

 Once you have a very very thick sauce in the pot add your grated "cheddar"

 Roll out your pastry and add it to your tin or whatever you are using for your quiche... line the base with your veg ...

 and then pour the sauce over the top ....

 Pop into a 200C oven for around an hour or until the pastry is golden ....

You will need to let it cool ... preferably over night in the fridge.... if you cut it now you will have a plate of goo... thick goo but goo none the less... 

Please remember this is my first attempt and I will try another again in the future.... 

right now though this will fix my raving me thinks even if I have to wait until tomorrow to eat it !!! 

Just as a side note the browny colour is the hazelnut milk ... different milks have different colours and if you want your quiche to look more eggy add some saffron water to the wet mix or a little pinch of turmeric.

Until next time 

Enjoy 

xox Pam xox 

Thai Inspired Salad

I'm not going to call this what it isn't really it is inspired by a Thai Tuna Salad that I used to adore and could eat by the bucket load but having to really think about putting things together that I miss, I thought I really had to do something with this salad.

So here it is ....

THAI INSPIRED SALAD

Ok so my main ingredients are those that I would put in the original salad and a couple of addition
MINT
CORIANDER
RED ONION
CUCUMBER
PEPPER

I decided that due to the lack of protein element in this one that I wanted to bulk it out somewhat.. So I grabbed a bag of mixed crunchy salad .... I like the crunchy freshness of this one It is perfect for this salad.

 I made a dressing out of cider vinegar, olive oil and a Dry Thai Spice Blend that I put together myself and have just in case ....
CHILLI
GARLIC
SHALLOTS
GINGER
LEMONGRASS

 Last minute the decision was to grab the last of the cherry tomatoes and chuck them in with the salad and then dress it with the dressing...

A really fresh and lush salad that if you wanted to add some vegan cheese or sauteed mushrooms too they wouldn't be out of place at all...

It was a bit of a quick fix this one but sometimes thats all you need.

Until next time

xox Pam xox

"Cheesey" Toastie with lots of nommy bits

Ok so I got rather excited finding a Vegan Cheddar in our local wholefoods shop. That very night I decided that i must have a cheese toastie... something I have missed for months and months and really really love and to be fair I'm pretty sure its one of the basic things we all miss when we first walk this path.

So yes I have add ons in mine but these are entirely up to you... I have to say however I have found out that the both the bread I am using and the Quorn bacon strips have reconstituted egg white in them so if you have to be a little more stricter than I do then use what you choose too. I have to admit that eggs seem to be ok at this point for me. Who's to say that wont change later on though ???

So here we go ...

CHEESE TOASTIE

Ok so these were my ingredients ... add your own according to your taste.

 4 slices of bread

 butter your bread .... BUT ... on the wrong side of the bread

 add whatever is less wet as ingredients first against the bread to save it from soggyitis from tomatoes or whatever

 then add your wet ingredients in the middle like these overly quickly sliced tomatoes...

 CHHHEEEEEESSSSSEEEEE GROMIT!!!!

 yeap slices like cheddar, smells a little like feta... but it definitely gives the impression of cheese and that's all i care about right now!!!

 top slice on .... if you wanted to you can add your favourite mustard or whatever on the top slice ... i was far too excited for fripperies!!!

 straight in a pan that you have preheated on a medium temp.. not hot or your bread will burn before anything has time to cook or warm up inside !!!!

 flip your loverly golden nomminess

 I did turn the temp down at this point and popped a lid on as it did appear to be cooking a little too quickly and I wanted the filling to be hot and gooey

 and I did charcoal the other side of my toastie which is why its sitting side up on this one... ready to eat ... I don't mind a bit of charcoal I have to say it stops the "vegan butt ruptures" for a little while at least...

They were utterly yummy but in my haste of wanting a toastie I forgot the A toastie and made the 2 and paid for it ... 

Oh well ... I know we all think it's worth it .. but really really it isn't ... pain isn't a good thing it means we did something bad... in my case my body is desperately trying to cope with solid food and it really isn't. This is a learning curve not just for me but everyone. My lesson today has been 1 is enough!!! 

Until next time 

xox Pam xox