Lunch Box Heaven

My favourite lunchbox is a big hearty salad that will not only fill me up but also taste delicious. One of the best bases for this kind of salad is quinoa. Yes I know people go on about it but there is a very good reason for that - it's really bloody tasty (AND filling AND nutritious)! It has a high protein content for a grain and this seems to keep me fuller for much longer than if I had just put rice or pasta in its place. Having said all that if you don’t like it feel free to substitute - I do often have a bit of brown rice pasta knocking about so will use it to bulk up a salad when the urge takes me.

The great thing about a quinoa base is that you can top it up with pretty much whatever you fancy. I will always add some avocado because I love it (so much so that my mum called me the avocado baby after the brilliant kids book when I was little). I’ve always got my jarred roasted peppers knocking about the in cupboard and frozen peas so both of them normally go in - another 'top tip' is that if you add the peas frozen in the morning it keeps things fairly chilled through your morning at work.

Basically all this rambling is to tell you to throw whatever you want in. the below is a guide based on what I like but you may want to mix things up a bit! I’ve not included amounts below as I think it depends how many meals you want out of it - I tend to do a huge batch on a Sunday so I have plenty of lunch options but unless you want soggy lettuce don't add it and the dressing until the day you are eating it.

Quinoa Salad Box

Cooked quinoa (cook a big batch on Sunday according to the pack instructions - I try to soak mine before cooking)

Spring onions

Little gem lettuce

Cherry tomatoes

Roasted red peppers

Avocado

Spinach leaves

Frozen or fresh peas

Pesto

Lemon juice

Good olive oil (extra virgin since you’ll be eating it as is)

Crushed chilli flakes

Salt and Pepper

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Season your cooked quinoa in a bowl with salt, pepper and crushed chillis.

Chop or slice up all your veggies.

Chuck them in with the quinoa.

Mix together pesto, lemon and olive oil.

Pour over the salad and stir through.

Scatter seeds over the top.

Have some for dinner with a seared steak (as below!) and box the rest up for lunch!

Something for the weekend...

As the weekend is nearly upon us I thought I should share a variation on a recipe my housemate is currently obsessed with - if you haven’t already come across one allow me to introduce the Dutch Baby. It is basically a cross between a pancake and a yorkshire pudding. We discovered it in Waitrose magazine around Easter and they have been kind enough to share the recipe online. The only change I would make is to swap the 65g of plain flour for spelt as I just find it's better for my slightly hit and miss stomach.

While it's lovely just as it is with a bit of maple syrup or the classic can’t-be-beaten combination of sugar and lemon I would really recommend going that little step further and topping with a generous scoop of frozen yoghurt - maybe with some sugar and lemon on top of that!!

The below recipe is something we always have the ingredients for in the house and it's great if you fancy a quick sweet treat that won’t leave you feeling overstuffed or reaffirming your intentions to eat better!

Easy Peasy Frozen Yoghurt

Half of a 500g tub of natural yogurt - we have Skyr in our fridge but literally anything unflavoured will work equally well

The same again of frozen berries - I used blueberries and raspberries because that’s what we keep in our freezer

Honey or coconut nectar to sweeten to taste - I’d start with a teaspoon

Squeeze of fresh lemon or lime

Put all the ingredients in a processor or use a stick blender and just blitz them up.

Once the mix is smooth have a quick taste and adjust for sweetness.

As mentioned above this is great on a Dutch Baby but makes an equally good sweet treat all one it's lonesome. As with a lot of my recipes it is more an idea to inspire you so feel free to swap in whatever fruit and sweetener you like, feel free to also add nuts, seeds, leftover breakfast bars - anything you fancy. If you’re going to add the latter I would wait until it's smooth then add your nuts and do a quick blitz so you get nice chunky bits in there too.

An experiment in deprivation

Having shared a few hints in my recipes last week I wanted to share in more detail the experiment I carried out last Monday to Wednesday. I was listening to The Mind Palace Podcast a week or so ago and they mentioned a deprivation/stoicism experiment. When I mentioned on Twitter I might try it the girls were kind enough to pass on the original mention of it on the Tim Ferriss experiment.

The idea I took from this was deprivation in terms of a lack of variety rather than starving yourself - lucky for me as I don’t think I could have not eaten for three days and still been a functional human being at work!! The stoicism experiment mentioned by Tim Ferriss is inspired by the many instances of fasting in religious culture. The focus is on simple living and the spiritual growth that can be experienced through a lack of excess. The participant is encouraged to eat and dress simply over the course of a few days.

To give an idea of what this change would mean compared to my own diet here's an idea of what I might eat on the average day. Overall I try to eat a fairly healthy diet but I am a bit of a grazer. My typical day will consist of lots of snacks interspersed with copious amounts of tea and water. I mostly drink green or mint tea but there will be the odd cup of builders thrown in there too.

My day starts with my dragging myself out of bed, maybe managing to squeeze in 20-30 minutes of yoga and making my way to work followed by breakfast at my desk at 8.30am - normally crunchy peanut butter on rye with a banana/apple or a couple of boiled eggs, again normally with a piece of fruit.

Mid-morning around 11am I’ll probably have a nakd bar or if I’ve been really organised a homemade protein ball. More often than not it will just end up being a handful of raw nuts and some dried fruit.

Lunch will be next about 2pm or soon after, more often than not it will be leftovers from last night’s dinner so all the kinds of things you see my Instagram littered with! I’ll often have an apple after lunch for ‘pudding’ if I didn’t already eat it in the morning, if the apple is gone then it's normally a sugar free chewing gum to remind my brain we’re done eating!

Late afternoon around 4.30-5pm I’ll likely have another handful of nuts or the nakd bar if I didn’t eat it first thing before heading home for the day. If I’m feeling particularly frazzled that day I might cave and raid the snack cupboard at work for some kind of chocolatey treat.

If I’m not out for dinner or drinks that night when I get in I’ll start dinner, often with a cheeky G&T or glass of white wine in hand. Dinner could be stir fry, risotto, gf pasta with greens - again pretty much any of the things my Instagram feed is full of. When dinner is ready my housemate and I will normally flop down in front of the TV for the next few hours until we’re ready to go to bed, often with a square or two of Green and Blacks dark chocolate.

My personal ‘fast’ consisted of the following over three days:

Brown, camargue and wild rice

Fasoulia - basically healthy baked beans - see recipe from last week

Chunky vegetable ratatouille - again see recipe from last week

Herbal tea - mostly mint and green

Water

No other drinks or food (including alcohol, coffee and chewing gum)

No more than 1 hour of TV each day

I did a big cook up on Sunday so I'd be well stocked for the week. I packed my lunch boxes and my breakfast boxes and took myself off for a nice early night.

Day one

Nothing too strenuous but I did find myself really fancying something sweet especially after lunch. I definitely missed my apple/chewing gum but resisted the urge and just make myself a pukka three mint tea. I did find myself getting hungry as I had chosen to stick to only three square meals a day rather than trying to pack mini snacks of rice and beans. Having said that it wasn’t a hunger that was unmanageable and did make me question how much of my snacking was hunger and how much was habit.

After dinner that first evening I watched one programme then took myself off for a good soak in the bath. I’d done a 40k walk on the saturday before so my poor feet were still a bit ravaged. I also found I was really tired by the end of the day but I think that was the aftermath of the walk rather than because of my diet - either way I slept very well that night!

Day two

My colleague Matt made scones and brought them in with clotted cream and strawberry jam - I nearly cracked! Luckily I have lovely colleagues who saved my scone for Thursday and it tasted all the better for having waited until I was back on other food.

Other than that again the food was good although I was starting to get a bit bored of having the exact same meal again and again. I was highly tempted to add some chilli to my evening meal but decided it would slightly defeat the object if I started messing with my standard fare.

Day three

Definitely bored of rice and beans but I still wouldn’t say it was a hardship. There is a strange comfort in knowing exactly what you’re going to eat. It made me think of the various information out there about our decision fatigue - The Minimalists podcast mentioned it in a recent episode and it seemed fitting timing. I pretty much wear a uniform of jeans and black top to work so by pre-planning my meals too I had much less to think about.

Overall

Not snacking really highlighted how often I normally eat, weirdly if I ignored the urge to eat for long enough - and had a cup of tea! - it tended to go away. I also craved sweet foods quite a lot, I normally eat loads of fruit and raw nuts, as well as the odd chocolately treat around 4.30-5pm so it was strange having mint tea as the sweetest thing in my diet.

While its not something I would want to do continuously it reminded me how good it is to just eat simple food. As a result I'm going to try to eat more vegetarian meals and only snack if I'm actually hungry. I'm also going to try and think more about my food decisions and which of them are a result of hunger vs habit like my automatically reaching for the chocolate after dinner.

That said that the scone on Thursday and that evening's G&T were both lovely!!

How to cook a rat...

Was mine the only household that habitually referred to ratatouille as rat?

To make it even better in our house it was cooked a lot in the 12 years I was vegetarian (age 6-18) and often served as 'rat and beans' - a charming combination I think you'll agree!

Anyway its something I make a lot, I've taken my mum's method of separately cooking thin slices of aubergine. It does take a bit longer but makes it tastes amazing. In restaurants ratatouille is often neatly diced vegetables, lightly cooked - this is delicious but mine is much more like a hearty vegetable stew (which I like to kid myself is much more like the original French Provençal dish).

Again I'm sharing this recipe as I made the biggest batch ever for my current experiment. I'm on day three so I'll be back to normal meals from tomorrow but I've still got lots of lovely rat to get through.

Chunky Vegetable Ratatouille

The recipe given here is to give enough to serve a big group or a houseful with lots of leftovers, obviously it can easily be scaled up or down to suit the occasion.

2 red onions, peeled and cut into eighths
8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped or crushed
2 aubergines, sliced
3 courgettes, cut into chunky slices
3 red peppers, cut into chunks
2 x 400g tin a tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato puree or Bomba
Dried basil and oregano
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil, chopped
Olive or flavourless coconut oil

Preheat your oven or grill to high - I go for oven because our grill is rubbish and it lets me do multiple layers at once.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan, fry the onion and garlic.
As the onions start softening add the red peppers - this should all be done on a fairly low heat, you want them to cook and soften not brown.
Meanwhile spread your aubergines on baking trays (or greaseproof paper slid onto the shelves if like me you only have one baking tray) with a sprinkle of salt.
Put in a hot oven or under a grill until they take on some colour. Once they are cool enough to handle quarter or halve them and add to the pan.
Now do the same with your courgettes.
Add your two tins of tomatoes, swilling out the contents with a bit of water then adding the tomato puree and dried herbs.
Let it all cook down for half an hour or so, season to taste and add more herbs if you think they're needed.
Once the vegetables have softened stir in the fresh basil and you're ready to serve.

Fassoulia aka garlic baked beans!

Fassoulia is one of my favourite things to eat, when asked at a foodie event a few months ago I realised it would be an integral part of a last meal if I ever have to choose one. For me it conjures up memories of my childhood and is the ultimate (healthy!!) comfort food.

My dad would say it really should have slow cooked lamb as part of it but I very rarely include it and it makes a great veggie dish. The traditional recipe doesn't include onion or passata but I think both make a great addition - I'm always looking for ways to add more vegetables - feel free to leave them out if you're a purist. You'll also notice the recipe has lots of options of what to use, this is because for me this is a store cupboard staple and we eat a lot of beans when we're running out of food!

Part of the reason I've finally got around to sharing the recipe is that I'm currently doing a three day experiment of eating only rice, beans and veggies. I will write more about this in a later post but I wanted to share one of my favourite things with you.

Apologies for the atrocious picture - my hob lights are broken and its making everything very shadowed at the moment!

Fassoulia

Whole bulb of garlic, cloves peeled and finely chopped or crushed
Large white onion, finely chopped (optional)
Dried oregano, a good couple of tablespoons
500g bag of dried haricot beans, soaked overnight
Tomato puree, at least half a tube
Passata (optional)
Olive or coconut oil (flavourless variety)
Water or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Fresh squeezed lemon juice (or bottled for emergencies only - it really does't taste the same but sometimes needs must)

Heat your chosen oil in a large non-stick pan, fry your garlic (and onion) until soft.
Add your oregano and beans, cook through for a minute or two coating the beans in oil, add a good pinch of salt.
Cover with boiling water or vegetable stock and allow to bubble away for about 30-40 minutes - you need to take the bite out of the beans before you add any tomato or it takes what feels like forever to cook!
Once your beans are part cooked add the tomato puree and passata if using, stir through and allow to bubble away for another hour or so until the beans are fully cooked through.
Once your beans are cooked season to taste - you need lots of fresh ground black pepper - then add the juice of a couple of lemons.
Scoff with rice, baked potatoes, toast, any carb you like!

The joys of British veal!

I know I've spent time on this blog before extolling the virtues of British veal but I'm going to harp on about it one more time. If anyone shops through Ocado its often in the 3 for £10 meat offer so its great value. Not only does it taste wonderful but it is an industry we really want to keep alive in the UK as otherwise dairy calves won't get to live past day one and people will only have the option of continental veal if they want it.

I've shared my favourite mince recipe before but this was such a delicious meal I felt it warranted another one! The recipe came out of us running low on food (as often happens towards the end of the month). It means this contains lots of store cupboard staples and can be knocked up at fairly late notice.

British veal and free range pork mince

400g British veal mince (if you can't get British veal please use beef instead of any continental options)
400g free range pork mince
Large white or two red onions, diced
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
Coconut (or olive oil) for frying
2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
Good squirt of tomato puree
Roasted red peppers, sliced (as usual I use the jarred ones but feel free to make your own or use fresh if you have them in)
Dried chilli, oregano and basil
Bay leaf or two
Salt and pepper

Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until soft, add the mince and fry off (in batches if your pan isn't big enough to fit it all at once).
Add the herbs and spices followed by the tomatoes (swilling out the tins with a bit of water), tomato puree, and sliced peppers.
Allow to cook down until most of the liquid is absorbed and the meat is tender.
Taste and adjust for seasoning - feel free to add more chilli or herbs at this point too.

I served mine with a brown basmati, red camargue and wild rice mix topped with a dollop of goat's cheese and dried chilli. It would be equally good with a baked sweet or normal potato, quinoa or pasta.

Coeliac friendly pancakes

This actually evolved from my mad panic on pancake day when I realised my coeliac friend was staying the night so I better get inventive with my pancake recipe. It was such a success that I have made them several times since as a cheeky brunch with a glass of fizz. The only thing I would say is that this recipe works much better for savoury pancakes. The sweet were still tasty but the rice flour means this is definitely made for a lovely savoury filling.

Now I'm not going to pretend I've invented a pancake recipe because they are all some variation on the same thing. Last pancake day I used a BBC Food recipe - all I did was replace the 100g plain flour with 100g rice flour. I could patronise you with a copy and paste version with my one tweak but there is no point, you just need to know that rice flour works well in this particular recipe.

The other thing that's good to have up your sleeve is a great savoury filling to go in these. I know some people think savoury pancakes are a bit odd but if you haven't tried them I promise this filling will convert you.

Garlic mushroom and goat's cheese filling

Small white onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Butter
Chestnut mushrooms, sliced
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
Goats cheese - I used a creamy one

Gently fry the onion and garlic in the butter until soft.
Add your mushrooms, oregano, salt and pepper then keep frying.
When the mushrooms are cooked stir in the goats cheese and allow to melt into the pan, taste and adjust for seasoning.
Stuff into your waiting pancakes!

Easy peasy chilli oil

I'm easing myself back into writing with a super simple, barely counts as a recipe post. Call me lazy but its well worth making your own chilli oil and I've started using it so much in cooking I thought I'd better post the recipe before I start referring back to it in other posts!

Now before you point out to me - yes I know you can buy some great chilli oils. I do still buy my favourite chilli oil from china town although may start making my own version of that before long too. I think its really worth making your own because it means you have much more control over how hot you want to go. Anyone reading my blog or scrolling through my Instagram feed can't miss the fact that I'm a bit of a chilli-fiend so often for me chilli oil really does miss the mark. Making my own enabled me to make something which actually has a proper kick to it and also I know will be good for me because the base oil I use is not heated.

Chilli Oil

Olive oil (I used a basic extra virgin as its all I had but any olive oil will do)
Variety of chillis (I used jalapeño, scotch bonnet, birds eye, homegrown dried chilli)
Garlic

Peel and finely slice your garlic.
Finely slice all your chilli including the dry if whole - if you don't have whole dried chillis then crushed dry chilli will do just fine.
Place in the oil and leave for a minimum of 24hrs before using (shaking the bottle whenever you remember to).

NB: While you don't have to use olive oil as your carrier oil there have been some studies that show olive oil to have a lot of heart benefits when included in a balanced diet - the same benefits haven't been shown at the moment for rapeseed or vegetable oil. Having said that what we're told is 'healthy' changes all the time so go for whatever you fancy!

Clearing the air...

First of all apologies for the huge gap since I last blogged. I've been taking some time thinking about what I want to focus my energy on. I started a new job in February and needed to take some time out to think about where I want to focus my time.

Now I need to admit straight away this is a non-food post - a first for me - but its been a big change in my life. I think that when you try to eat well you also need to treat yourself well and that means looking after your mental wellbeing too. I started meditating in January after being given three free months of Headspace by my mum and its made me think about things a little differently. I should admit I also tried headspace last summer and only managed to fall asleep every time I put it on but seem to be getting the hang of it this time round!

The other major change was back in January when I read 'Spark Joy' by Marie Kondo - I cannot recommend it enough and have been waxing lyrical to my friends and family since I read it. As I was off work at the time I had a complete overhaul, I got rid of four bin bags of recycling, a couple of rubbish, nine of charity donations, two boxes of DVDs to Music Magpie, a pile of eBay bits and countless little giveaways for friends and family. I've reorganised my surroundings and it really has made a difference to my mood.

I started off with clothes as recommended, I've done a few clear outs over the years but have been guilty of keeping loads of things 'just in case'. Just in case I lost weight, gained weight, got a job where I needed to wear suits again, went skiing again, took up climbing again etc etc. This time I was more strict, anything stained, ill-fitting or broken went first or went straight to the tailors to get fixed. Then I went through each item to see if it was worth keeping - sometimes it was as simple as holding the item and sometimes I needed to try it on. Once I'd sorted through everything I began the folding. This is very much a Marie Kondo technique and is quite time consuming initially but it has well over halved my getting ready time in the morning, because everything is laid out in front of you there is no rifling through overfilled drawers to find that certain top.

The other big thing for me was the kitchen, I had things stored all over the flat. Now I won't lie I still have loads of kitchen bits, not surprising for a food blogger! I did however manager to get rid of several boxes of kitchen things. I don't have a car and they were too heavy to take to a charity shop so I left them by the lift and stairs in our building with a note telling my neighbours to please help themselves - I was overjoyed by how much went, it was so fantastic to know other people were getting value from things I no longer needed.

Now if you've read any of Marie Kondo's books you'll know its not about getting rid of everything you own. It has a lot of parallels with minimalism - its even mentioned in a couple of podcasts I love The Mind Palace and The Minimalists, they have differing views on it but both agree its a useful tool. I don't think I would go as far as to call myself a minimalist but at the same time there are no rules - I think minimalism gets a bit of bad press because people imagine it has to mean an extreme lifestyle in stark surroundings (think Ab Fab minimalists with white walls and no furniture).

I'm working out what I want to keep, what 'sparks joy' or adds value to my life. A great example as I mentioned is that I still have vast amounts of cooking equipment, bowls, plates, serving spoons etc. Bit by bit I am letting go of other things but there is no rush, its about what will make me happy and adds value to my life not about fitting in with other people's ideals.

I still have a pile of things to add to eBay so watch this space! If anyone has any tips or ideas I would love to hear them :)

Blue cheese and butternut squash pasta

Continuing my love of butternut squash this week I wanted to share another recipe that uses some of the roast butternut squash I shared in this blog post. This one was lunch for me but would work equally well as a dinner. I used brown rice pasta because I like it and I've found minimising the amount of wheat I eat helps. If you're ok with wheat obviously feel free to use whatever pasta you like. This recipe is for one but you can easily scale up or down!

Blue cheese and butternut squash pasta

80g brown rice pasta
100g roast butternut squash with garlic
40-50g blue cheese, I used gorgonzola but I think I may try St Agur next!
Salt and pepper
Toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Cook the pasta according to pack instructions.
While the pasta is cooking toast your seeds in a dry pan.
Once the pasta is cooked drain and reserve some of the cooking water.
Put the pasta back in the pan with the squash and blue cheese, warm through over a low heat and mix in some pasta water if it needs loosening up a bit.
Once the blue cheese has melted in taste for seasoning.
Serve up with some extra cheese scattered on top along with the toasted seeds.

Cafe Murano

I've been meaning to go to the Covent Garden branch for ages - every time I go to the theatre I eat at some boring chain then remember on my way to the theatre that Cafe Murano is there!

I finally organised myself last weekend and was so pleased I did!! I didn't manage to get as far as pairing theatre and food but had been on a Walk London guided walk round the City which ended nearby. If you are interested in history at all I'd really recommend them - the next ones aren't until May unfortunately but they are totally free so its worth keeping an eye out.

We arrived at Cafe Murano to find a fairly busy restaurant but they quickly found a table for us, the staff were attentive and helpful although sometimes the gaps between dishes could have been a tiny bit longer. This is probably more related to the fact that I ate way too much as I know a lot of people like a speedy lunch. Once we'd ordered drinks they brought us some bread and some of the tastiest olive oil I've had in ages - so tasty we marched over to the shop straight after lunch and bought a bottle each.

We went for the set menu as it sounded delicious and was such amazing value at £16.50 for two courses or £21 for three. To make the most of that value we had a full three courses and carafe of wine! I must admit I was so busy stuffing my face I let myself down a bit on the photo front - initially by eating half the dish before I remembered to take a picture then eating the entire dessert without even a thought!

The starter was a beautiful risotto with chicory and toasty pine nuts. I cook risotto a lot myself as anyone who follows my Instagram will know but don't normally think to top with pine nuts - I definitely will be for future dishes. The consistency was perfect as you can see from the gap appearing in the dish above.

The main I went for was game meatballs with parmesan polenta. The polenta was so cheesy and comforting I immediately added some to my Ocado order - must learn how to cook this! The meatballs were flavoursome and comforting with their deep sauce and crisp cheesy topping. The only thing I would say is that after a starter of risotto it was a bit filling - I may have got overexcited in my ordering while my sensible mother went for minestrone soup followed by hake.

Having said that it meant she had a lot more room for dessert. We shared a poached pear with salted caramel ice-cream and a nutty crunchy topping followed by castelrosso and mustard fruits. Both were delicious although the pear could have done with a tiny bit more cooking as it was on the hard side. The mustard fruit and cheese combination was particularly good.

Overall we had a fantastic meal and I will definitely be heading back as soon as possible! www.cafemurano.co.uk

A Twist on a Classic

This blog could also easily be called 'The Versatility of Squash' - I think its a great ingredient and have more squash than needed most of the time. I particularly like butternut squash and will often have a whole one in the fridge and cut up squash in the freezer in case of emergency!

One of my favourite butternut squash recipes is a really simple baked squash with blue cheese and walnuts from a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall cookbook - it was the inspiration for the butternut squash and blue cheese risotto recipe I created and it's delicious. Sabrina Ghayour also has a beautiful lamb neck tagine with butternut squash in (although I make it without prunes).

The below recipe uses my standard mince recipe - I tweak it a bit each time I make it and this time cooked it on the hob rather than the slow cooker but the essentials remain the same.

Roast butternut squash - can be made ahead.

Whole butternut squash
Garlic cloves - 4/6 depending on size
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, halve a butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.
Score the flesh to allow more heat in, season with salt and pepper.
Slightly crush several garlic cloves with the skin on - the side of a knife works well for this - and put in the hollow then drizzle oil across.
Cover with foil and put in the oven until soft, this can take up to an hour, sometimes more - if you're pushed for time put the temperature up a bit.
Once its soft allow to cool slightly - just so you can handle them - scoop out the flesh into a bowl, don't forget to squeeze the roast garlic out and mash it in with a fork.
Taste and adjust for seasoning if necessary.

If you are pushed for time then with is delicious just served with some mince as in the picture below - I've also scattered some dried chilli across the top for a little kick.

If you have a bit more time this is delicious layered up into a cross between a cottage pie, lasagne and moussaka. I'm still unsure about the name so suggestions are welcome!

Twisted cottage pie - this recipe serves two but can easily be scaled up or down

Double portion of mince
Double portion of roast butternut squash
Aubergine
Salt and Pepper
Dried chilli flakes
Cheddar cheese - feta would also work well

Preheat oven to 200 degrees - if you cooked your squash just before then just turn the oven up when you take it out.
Cut an aubergine up into slices (approximately 1cm) and cook them either on a griddle or under the grill. Ensure they are cooked through as you don't want them to leak water into the dish - a little sprinkle of salt helps this along but is optional.
Once you've cooked your aubergine its time to assemble - start with a layer of mince, follow this with squash, then seasoning, dried chilli and cheese.
Place a layer of aubergines slices on top then repeat the layers - depending on the size of your dish you might be able to put two or more layers of aubergine or you may only have one, however many you have finish with the cheese so it can bubble on top.
Put in the oven for 30-40 minutes if you're cooking from room temperature or slightly less if everything is going in hot as you just need to get the cheese browned.
Once its ready cut into portions and enjoy!

January indulgence (aka best leftovers ever)!

True to form I shared health food in December now I can't resist a cheeky pudding for January. Yes its post Christmas and we're all battling the bulge but that should mean balance rather than abstinence! This was more a war on waste mission as my flatmate had bought herself some chocolate brioche before Christmas and has now gone sugar free for January. Not one to waste even a crumb of food I had to find a way to use up these sad, stale brioche. I also used the small bit of double cream I had leftover to fatten up my semi-skimmed milk. This would work with any kind of stale bread, pastry, pantone or pomodoro so make sure you get your leftovers to work. I've got to say the result was amazing and I was chuffed to bits!

Now I have to apologise for the ugly baking tray background - I had no intention of posting this as a recipe as it was developed out of pure greed but it was so good it seemed selfish to keep it!

Chocolate brioche bread and butter pudding

4 chocolate chip brioche buns, stale
3 large eggs
Drizzle of leftover double cream (30-50ml?) made up to 200ml with semi-skimmed milk (200ml whole milk would work equally well but I went with what I had in the fridge)
Splash of vanilla extract
2 tbsp golden caster sugar + extra for dusting over the top
Optional extras of butter and a few chunks of dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Chop up your brioche buns and arrange in an oven-proof dish, if you're feeling really decadent spread each chunk with a bit of butter (optional).
Put your cream/milk and eggs in a measuring jug or small bowl and beat together.
Mix in the vanilla extract and a scattering of golden caster sugar (about 2 tbsp).
Pour the liquids over the bread, push down into the custard mix and leave to soak for about half an hour (up to 2 hours if you can wait that long).
Just before it goes in the oven you have the option of adding a few chunks of dark chocolate in the custardy gaps, then sprinkle some sugar over the surface to create a crunchy topping.
Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until set, leave to cool slightly (essential to allow the custard to set properly) and then tuck in!