Kohl rabi coleslaw

Last week kohl rabi appeared in my organic veg box.  Usually I would use it in soup or a dauphinoise style dish but there was a nice recipe on the leaflet which came with the veg so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  As is my wont I adapted the recipe a little but it basically amounted to finely sliced kohl rabi, carrot and onion in fat free Greek yogurt mixed with a teaspoon of white wine vinegar, chopped fresh mint and a jigger of sun dried tomato pesto then, once mixed, sprinkled with smoked paprika. It was delicious although my husband wasn't very open to the experience! 

Hey man, I just want some muesli...

After months on holiday I do believe my Foodie Muse has returned, yay!  ;oD 

A little update if you can bear it, if not, feel free to skip over this bit!  ;o)  Most folk who know me relatively well will know that I like to cook, I like to try new stuff, I hate to waste stuff, I love using leftovers, I love to bake, I try to avoid processed foods, I have a thing about The Devil's Supermarket (aka Tescos) and a bee in my bonnet about organic food and I'm trying to be healthier and lose weight, to name but a few food related facts!  Over the last few months, I know not what happened or why, but I slipped into some dirty habits... processed food has been creeping in, I've not been baking or cooking nearly as much as I'd like to, my health has suffered, I've put weight back on, yada, yada, yada!   But, for a variety of reasons, the rot has stopped and I'm getting back down to it, yippee!  ;o) 

Yesterday my husband chalked cereal (well, he actually chalked CERIAL but his spelling misdemeanors are a whole different story!) on the board in the kitchen as he'd run out, he's pretty much the lone cereal eater in this house, his breakfast is always cereal, 365days a year he'll start his day (and sometimes end it) with a bowl of cereal.  I try to ring the changes when I buy cereal, keep any boredom setting in and normally buy 3 or 4 different sorts each time but yesterday I'd just declared that we need to go on a serious economy drive so instead of going out to buy said cereal I rummaged about in the pantry and decided to make Maz's Marvellous Muesli thereby saving some money and using up various bits and bobs in the process.  The hubster loves muesli, he favours Alpen and I don't blame him, I've bought cheaper stuff in the past and they've amounted to a bowl of dust with a couple of sad raisins if you're lucky!  So, museli making it was....

I use my casual chuck it and chance it method when making muesli so no two batches will ever be the same! This time I used porridge oats, natural puffed rice (I found half a bag cowering at the back of the meat safe), a handful of nuts (husband isn't a big fan of nuts), shredded coconut, dried apple, mango, banana and pineapple, figs, sultanas, cherries, cranberries and I even threw in a jigger of chocolate chips.  The wide variety of dried fruit was mainly courtesy of Graze boxes.  I had a little backlog of these lovely little boxes and decided to put them to good use.  Incidentally, if you've never tried a Graze box, go to the website and use this code, CR1BJYV, and you can have a free one.  ;o)    

And hey presto.... muesli.... ;o)

Squash Soup

I had this beautiful beast of a squash in my veg box...

Don't you just love the glorious colour?  Such a blast of sunshine in these dismal winter days!  So, sunshine soup was on the cards.  ;o)  I used half of the beast, chopped up and then fried with chopped onion, garlic and cumin...

Then sploshed in a bit of stock and simmered until the squash was soft.

Then I whizzed it all up with a few jiggers of milk and served with a swirl of cream and some bacon flavoured bits, oh and some hot buttered toast of course!

Squashes make such gorgeously smooth, sexy soups!  Soup-a-rama!  ;o)

Egg Bound!

Our chickens are giving it some!  They are laying eggs like it's going out of fashion and consequently I have some serious egg cookery to indulge in!  ;o)

Lunchtime today we had scrambled egg and baked beans on toast and for dinner this evening it was veg tortilla.  ;o)  Thinking about blogging earlier today I fell to pondering what the difference is between tortilla and frittata?  It would appear they are the same thing, both omelettes basically but tortilla is Spanish and frittata is Italian.  So, now I know!  ;o)

Whichever this is, I can confirm that it was delicious!  I love a simple dish and this is one of those.  ;o)  I just fried an onion in a little olive oil with some herbs, added it to a dish with cooked broccoli, potatos and carrots and poured over an ad hoc egg and milk mixture with some seasoning, sprinkle it with grated cheese and bunged it in the oven for about 40 minutes.  Eggorama!  ;o)

Now that we, well, my husband and daughter really, have ploughed through biscuits, cakes and mince pies leftover from the festivities I will be able to use up some eggs in some baking.  I haven't baked since Christmas Eve and I'm feeling in need of a blast of baking therapy!  ;oD  I may indulge my husband in some custard tarts to use yet more eggs up, watch this space!

New Year, Renewed Blogging!

It's been a while since I've blogged in a foodie manner and here I am set to pick up the reins as we gallop into 2011.  ;)

For dinner this evening we had slow cooker macaroni cheese, a dish we usually have at some point over the festive period.  I can't remember just who I got this recipe from, otherwise I'd credit them, but it was via one of the Yahoo groups I used to belong to.  You need to get over the fact that it's not really akin to "real" macaroni cheese made with cheese sauce but it has a charm of it's own.  Made as per the recipe it has about 300 calories per portion - if divided into four portions which is really a quite generous portion.  So, the recipe...

From this...

...to this!

Slow Cooker Macaroni Cheese

2 cups uncooked macaroni
2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups grated cheese
2 cups boiling water

Layer first three ingredients into slow cooker.  DO NOT MIX.  Pour the boiling water over and cook on high for three hours.  Stir very well and serve.


That's all there is to it but, true to form, I do tinker with the recipe a little!  I often make it with milk instead of water, just heat it up before pouring it in.  It can be a bit clarty so if you like it a bit more saucy add another half a cup of liquid.  It doesn't look very pleasant when it's cooked but perks up no end after a good stirring!To add a bit of variety, cottage cheese with onion and chives or other flavour is nice.    This evening I served it with some grilled bacon and a speinkle of extra grated cheese.  ;o)