Sushi days

Made my first attempt at sushi today - and hey it turned out pretty nice!!

Ok so firstly hubby hates fish unless it has batter on it so he was not keen on the sushi idea until I pointed out that sushi actually means sticky rice and does not have to have fish in it - instead I swapped out some teriaki marinated chicken, some carrots and some cucumber.  I got a sushi for 2 kit from the local supermarket - which is a great way to have a try with out having to buy in a load of stuff - even better it comes with instructions - although to be honest it is pretty easy!

So you need

Nori sheets - sheets of dried seaweed - shiney on one side and lined on the other
Some sushi rice - other rice will not work you need the real thing
your choice of filling - really it is entirely up to you what goes in it, cooked meats, fish or just veggies
a rolling mat - yes you can make it with out but life if easier if you have one
sushi vinegar

and thats it you are ready to roll!!

First cook your rice as per the instructions in it, Lay a sheet of Nori shiney side down on your mat
Spread the cooled rice over it leaving a 1 cm gap at the top - dipping your hands in water/vinegar mix will stop the rice sticking to you

Lay your filling in a line at the bottom of the sheet and then get rolling - remembering to move the edge of the mat out else you will get in a pickle

Dip you knife into the vinegar water and slice into 1.5cm rolls - eat dipped in soy or your favourite dipping sauce and enjoy!

The chicken one I made works out at about 30 calories per item - makes 18

Fish ones need eating with in 24 hours but the meat ones can last in the fridge for 48 hours

Ways to improve corporation pop!

So anyone one who knows me knows I am on a bit of a health kick at the moment - the whole lifestyle change kit and kabudel - it is going pretty well - I still have the odd tasty treat (couldn't give up the welsh cakes 100% they are part of hubbies heritage!) but I found I have one massive stumbling block - Water!!! I dont like it - well no it is ok but I would rather not drink it as nature intended if you get my drift! I have tried flavoured water in the past but most of them have either aspartamene (can't have it - it makes me ill) or sugar or they taste well rank to be honest - then a friend waved a concept under my nose and I sat up and took note!

Make your own flavoured water - and no I dont mean by adding cordial!

Basically the method is this - grab a clean glass jar or jug - make it at least a litre in size else you will end up filling it up more than you drink it! Pop in your fav fruit and herbs and pop it in the fridge for at least 24 hours - the fruit will survive for 3ish days and you can smoothiefy it after so it gets used up!

My current favourite is Watermelon (which I freeze first) with a sprig of rosemary and a couple of mint leaves.

The taste is very subtle - so much nicer than the bought stuff and the great thing is you can make it exactly the way you like it and with your favourite combinations of fruit/herbs

Plus it looks really pretty! - Science dude is optional!

Once you drink it simply top it up again






The other alternative I found to plain water this week is iced herbal tea - I am not fond of hot herbal tea - infact I could say the only real way I can drink it is by holding my nose but brew it and stick it in the fridge and it suddenly becomes a refeshing alternative - or blitz it with some cubes of watermelon (hey they are on offer in the super market!) and a squeeze of honey - yum!

When is a sandwich not a sandwich

When it is a bento box!

When I was a little girl I was lucky enough to sample the best of japanese food but nothing in my mind compared with the mystical Bento Box  (which is a tradional japanese packed lunch) My dad would make a phone call and 20 minutes later a little box of wonders would appear, presented so even the most mundane ingredient looked beautiful, it tasted exotic and facinated me - especially the little soy pot which came in the shape of a little fish - I was clearing out some of my old stuff round at my parents the other day and came across a whole box of these little fish and a flood of memories came with it!

So when I was sat thinking of a tasty, healthy alternative to the boring butty for lunch time I thought Bento!

If you google bento you will get ALOT of sites with pictures, ideas, equipment etc. and you can spend hours (which I did) browsing, drooling and getting over excited!!

Soo here is my first attempt of a Bento Box - I went for a deconstructed version of hubbies fav sandwich the BLT with a twist and with out any bread - it is made up of


2 x Quail Eggs hard boiled and peeled
A couple of baby plum tomatos
Cucumber butterflies (made with one of my little icing cutters)
Salad Leaves
Shreaded Gammon
A bit of salad cream for dipping

I really hope he likes it :)




If you fancy a go at making a bento box then all you need is a sandwich box/something to form dividers - I used cup cake cases/ your imagination and some tasty ingredients! Traditionally it would contain rice and meat/fish and most importantly an assortment of colourful tastey bites - but the beauty of this is you can make it your way - happy bento making!

Mushroom soup

A quick and easy use for mushrooms past their best!


Ingredients:
1lb Mushrooms chopped
1 onion sliced finely
1 bay leaf
sprig of tyme
1.5 litre of chicken stock
1 clove of garlic
2tbs plain flour
1/2 cup milk

Put onion, tyme and garlic into a pan with a little oil and cook on a low heat until the onion turns transparent. Add in the mushrooms and turn heat up and fry them for a couple of minutes until they start to brown, add in the flour and mix it with the mushrooms and onion. Pour in the stock and bayleaf and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the bayleaf and liquidise the soup.  Add in the milk and return to the heat and bring to a simmer then serve - if you want it is a little thicker add in some more flour

Quinoa pancakes

Quinoa if you haven't come across it - is a grain which acts a bit like cous cous and tastes a bit like wheat but is a great source of protein, iron, fibre and calcium - you will find it hidden amongst the lentils in the supermarket and a little goes a long way so dont be put off by the smaller bag - you do need to rince the grain before you cook it and because it has a high fat content it is best stored in the fridge

So you can use it like cous cous as the basis for salads and a replacement for rice but you can also use it in a whole multitude of other ways from muffins to pancakes - which we are making today!

Ingredients: makes 12 panckes and average at 65 calories for one pancake

1 cup of cooked Quinoa - 1/4 cup of uncooked, 1/2 cup water - cook it just like you would rice or cous cous
1 egg plus 1 egg white
3/4 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs butter - melted
1/4 cup semi skimmed milk
2 tbs maple syrup


You do need to be a bit organised to make them as you need to cook the Quinoa first!





In a bowl combine flour, Quinoa, baking powder and salt and mix
In another bowl combine butter, eggs, milk and syrup and whisk until pale yellow - add the dry ingredients and whisk well to combine

Heat a flat bottom frying pan with a little oil over a medium heat
Place a table spoon of batter into the pan - I cook them in batches of 3
allow to cook for a few minutes until the top sets
Flip over and cook the other side

Place on kitchen paper to drain while you cook the others - can be served hot or cold and eaten either dry or with jam, a little more maple syrup or fresh fruit

To mix up the pancakes a bit add half a cup of fresh blueberries to the mix before frying - if you want a real treat add 1/2 a cup of dark chocolate chips - you will need to keep the heat low as the chocolate will burn - serve with fresh summer strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup - it ups it to 86 calories - but man it is soooo worth it if you are a chocoholic!!!

They taste somewhere between a scotch pancake and a crumpet but with little beads of melting tastiness - can you tell I like these!

Goji berries

Am always one to try new things and the latest thing to make it off the shelf and into my shopping basket is some dried Goji berries - they are weird little red shrivelled things and I have skirted round them for some time (remind me to tell you about the pomello one day!) but I am on a healthy eating kick at the moment and so with all the hype around celebrities living off them I figured why not.

Should have more been Why bother to be honest - they are weird things and no doubt. Pop one in your mouth and the first sensation is ohh I have eaten a dusty seed! the second is a taste of old raisin which has been left in the sun too long - the ones they sweep on to the floor and the rats turn their noses up at! 

Here I am with a bag of shrivelled red things and I need to use them up - well waste not want not as my granny used to say - so I have started adding them to smoothies - the liquid seems to rehydrate them a bit and at least remove the dusty old seed flavour!!!

So if you have bought a bag and are thinking hey what can I do with these other than force my self to eat them as a snack and pretend they are nice!!! then this one if for you!

Ingredients:
5g Goji berries (dried)
1 Kiwi peeled and chopped
100g blueberries (if you dont like bits then you should blitz these alone and sive the pulp)
1tsp runny honey (optional)
150g Pouring Yoghurt

Chuck it all in your blender and blitz - when you think it is done blitz it a bit more - it should be a rather nice orange colour and tastes slightly of toffee which I can only think is the berries - actually maybe that is what I am doing wrong maybe I should soak them . . . hmm think I will try that . . .

Adobe Pork

'Adobe do you mean we are having PDF pork' - sorry that was hubby's dreadful joke when I answered his whats for tea?? But no there is no paper involved and you dont need to down load software to eat it! Rather it is Pork (or chicken) which is roasted having been brushed with a marinade/glaze - which is really simple to make and can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days if not longer


Ingredients:
3 tbs olive oil
3 tbls red wine/sherry vinegar
2tsp paprika
1 clove of garlic

Pork steaks


Throw everything in the blender (not including the pork) and blitz until it is well combined. Store in the fridge in a sealed jar - will keep for a week or so.

Brush the sauce over both sides of the pork and roast as normal

Also great on vegetables, chicken and fish!

Bumble Jelly

What could be a better use of a rainy June day but to start making jam and in my case our favourite Bumble Jelly - you might think it is a bit early in the season to be making jam but I had a pile of fruit from last summer in my freezer and (purists block your ears) you can make jam anytime from frozen fruit from the supermarket.

You might think that there are plenty of jams on the very same supermarket shelf I could buy rather than go to the effort of making my own but I have to say once you have tasted homemade you will know exactly why I invest the time - besides the pride of having your jars of glistening jam on your pantry shelf and being able to say to guests I made that! the other benefit is you know exactly what went into it - there are no preservatives, no colour additives to make it pretty and if you are lucky enough to grow your own then no pesticides either.

Making Jam is a bit of a labour of love - especially if like me you prefer seedless (jelly) rather than everything in (jam) and you do have to get a little bit organised in advance (see my Jam post) but trust me you will be rewarded tenfold

Our favourite jelly is Bumble Jelly - so call because my little fruit patch doesn't really give me enough of any one fruit to make specific jam so it all goes in - so rather than just call it mixed fruit I call it Bumble Jelly in honour of all the bees who work so hard to pollenate my fruit plants!

Ingredients:

At least 4lb of fruit (frozen or fresh)
Equal amounts of sugar to juice - so if I make 2 pints of juice I will use 2lb of sugar

                                                      1 lemon juiced & zested

Day 1 - place all your fruit and lemon zest into a large saucepan over a low heat and allow the fruit to soften - crush the fruit with a potato masher to release more juice. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil - stirring or else it will burn! simmer for 3 minutes.

Turn off the heat and crush again with the masher.

Now you can do one of two things - if you want clear jam then skip the step below - if you don't mind it a bit cloudy then follow the step below - personally I prefer to get as much juice out as possible and I am going to be eating it not entering it in the WI bakefest so . . .

Put a fine sieve over a large bowl and ladle some of the fruit mix into it - squish gently to pass the liquid through - be careful not to press too hard or else little seeds could pass through into your jelly

Take a smaller bowl and line with a large muslin square which has been run under the cold tap and wrung out and ladle your sieved (or not) fruit mix in - once all your fruit is in the square carefully gather up the edges and wrap with a piece of string and tie securely. Now carefully hang your muslin ball of goo above the large bowl and allow gravity to do its work for 24 hours

Day 2 - Carefully cut down your by now red muslin ball and squeeze gently to get out any remaining juice - now at this point I will remove the fruit mix and rub through a sieve again.  Dispose of your seed mix - the butterflys and bees and some birds will relish a pick/suck at this mush so I always pop it out for them. Rinse off your square and pop it in the next wash.

Add your lemon juice and carefully measure out your juice in a measuring jug and pour in to a large heavy bottom pan.

Put your oven on low

Measure out an equal amount of granulated sugar to the liquid - so for every pint = 1lb - place in a heat proof dish and place in the oven to warm up

Wash fully all your jars and disinfect - I use miltons. Dry full and then place in your oven along with their lids

Get out all your equipment ready

Pour the warmed sugar into the pan with the fruit juice and put over a low heat stirring until the sugar melts. Turn the heat up and place the thermometer in - once the liquid has come up to the marked Jam temp allow to boil for 3 minutes and then start checking for setting point

Once you are happy that it has reached said point turn off the heat

Take the jars out of the oven and stand on a heat proof surface - carefully ladle the jelly into them top with a wax paper circle and leave to cool

Do not put off washing up your jammy pots and pans - it you do it straight away it is much easier - if you leave it then you will be chipping toffee off them as the heat from the pan carries on cooking the leftover jam.

Once the jam is fully cold pop on the lids and lable and you are all ready to spread some on a slice of toast. . . heaven!

Chicken Paprikas

This is a firm family favourite which works great in the slow cooker so you can shove it in and forget about it! My lovely hungarian friend Norbert introduced me to this dish which I have tweaked a little to match an english tastebud!

Serves 8

Ingredients
4 skinless chicken breasts - cut into cubes
1 1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup plain flour
1 cup diced green pepper
1 onion finely diced
4 tbs of paprika (smoked or not it is your choice)
1 pint chicken stock
1 tin of chopped tomatos
1 tsp of tomato puree
1tsp garlic granuals

Fry off the chicken to brown and then place in your slow cooker - switch on to a low heat.
Fry the onion in a little oil until it goes transparent then add the paprika and the pepper and mix well. Add in the tinned tomatos, puree and garlic granuals and mix well. Pour over the stock and bring to the boil

Once it comes to a boil pour over the chicken and leave to cook for around 6 hours (or one hour at 180C if you are doing in a casserol dish)

Half an hour before you want to serve mix together the sour cream and flour and add to the chicken mixing well - if you can turn your slow cooker up to high for 15 minutes to cook out the flour - if not 30 minutes at low will cover it.

Serve with rice or dumplings or chips - it is also popular to wrap it in pancakes and then pour over the sauce

It freezes really well

Blueberry and Strawberry Smoothie

It is summer time and rather than tuck into a bowl of cereal I would much rather have a homemade fruit smoothie to start the day

Now this brings me to my newest kitchen gadget which I got for the bargin price of £10 thanks to supermarket vouchers! I have been hankering after a juicer for some time - I used to have one but it was so lumpy and cumbersome that I rarely bothered to get it out - a while ago the Magic Bullet caught my attention but was an un justifiable expense so I stuck to making smoothies in my blender and picking seeds out of my teeth!  Then I discovered the Hinari Genie - which does everything I could want it to do and more - so now I have a shiney new kitchen gadget which doesn't take up much space and am happily consuming fresh juice and smoothies to my hearts content! The blender part turns into a cup so there is less washing up and it even comes with lids so I can take my smoothie with me!


ingredients
50g strawberries hulled
100g Blueberries
1 kiwi (peeled)
1 banana
1 tsp runny honey
150ml pouring yoghurt (or similar - you could use milk if you prefer)


First task is to juice the strawberries, blueberries and kiwi - if you dont have a juicer you can either chuck them straight into the blender and live with the pips or squish them through the sieve to cut down on most of the seeds

add the banana, honey and yoghurt and blend until smooth it is as simple as that

enjoy! this works out at about 296 calories a glass and is a great start to the day

Citrus Chicken

There is nothing better than getting out in the countryside and having a picnic - but if like me you are not a keen butty eater and you are on the look out for something tasty to take along then look no further than these - especially good if you are going to a group picnic - these fresh and zingy strips of chicken will disappear like mist on a summers day and have people queueing up to get the recipe!  They are also lovely served at a bbq or cooked at home with salad and can be eaten hot or cold.

You do have to get a bit organised to make them as the longer you leave them to marinade the better - 24 hours if you can!

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts cut into strips (or if you can get them mini fillets)
1 Lemon
500ml fresh orange
1tbs runny honey
1tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
1/2 tsp garlic granuals (optional)


Place the orange juice into a measuring jug and add in the honey, soy, paprika and garlic (if using). Zest the lemon and add to the mix and then juice it and add that too. Stir to melt the honey into the juice
Get a large water tight sandwich bag and put in your chicken pieces. Pour in the liquid and seal well before giving it a shake to ensure all the chicken is covered. Place in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 175C and pour the liquid and chicken into an oven proof dish.

Cook for 25 minutes until cooked through.

Remove the pieces of chicken - you can now eat them as is, pop on the bbq to get that additional smokey taste or brown off in a frying pan and leave to go cold ready to pack in your picnic hamper to wow your friends, family or just yourself! - even better they are low fat so wont ruin your diet!