Roasted Veg and Quinoa with Tahini and Lemon Dressing aka the BEST dressing

I really struggle with putting the effort in to make a tasty and healthy packed lunch each day. Generally my cooking-laziness sets in and I just have rice cakes with peanut butter (not particularly yummy). Sometimes though, I think ahead and cook a bit extra for dinner so that I can have it for lunch the next day and that's what I did yesterday when I found my new favourite thing - tahini based dressing. It is SUPER YUM.

When I popped into Sainsbury's a few days ago I stumbled upon a reduced butternut squash. This was quite an exciting find as I have never cooked with one before. I read a few recipes that included butternut squash and decided that I wanted to do something simple (I'm tired after a long day of work) and that would also use up my rapidly going off veggies so I decided on roasting it.

First - prep the squash. I read that you are supposed to peel it first but I don't actually own a peeler. This made the job quite tough! I had to use a (pretty blunt) knife to scrape the skin off. I only cut myself once but it did take me quite a while. Then cut the butternut squash into bite-sized chunks and shove in a roasting tray with some olive oil, garlic, red chilli, salt and pepper.

Next - prep all the other veg you want to use. I had a wilting red pepper, a small courgette and some mushrooms which I put in at 10 minute intervals.

Whilst the veg is roasting away the quinoa needs to be cooked. I put 60g of quinoa per person into a pan with 250ml of water, a scrunch of salt and the juice of half a lemon (though I couldn't taste this at the end). You need to cook the quinoa until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa looks soft and fluffy. Mushy, wet quinoa is pretty gross! It took 20 mins for me then I took it off the heat and let it rest.

Now for the best part.. THE DRESSING!
I made this for 2 people so the proportions and had some left over at the end.
You will need:
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Juice from 1 lemon (try to avoid getting the pips!)
A splash of soy sauce
Water to get it to the right consistency for you

Put these all in a measuring jug and whisk away until they've all blended into a mix of loveliness.

Once these were all reading I cooked some kale and green beans to have as well.

I dished the cous cous up first and then sprinkled the roasted veg over the top. I put some dressing on then and then built the bowl up with kale and green beans and added a little more dressing.

I was so excited to eat it that I couldn't actually wait to eat it so no photo of my dinner plate, but I did manage to get one of my packed lunch boxed filled up with it.

Seriously, so good (and healthy too!)

What are your favourite dressings? I would love some recommendations!

Love, Lottie

Pottery Painting

With my job taking up the majority of my life, I found it quite challenging last year to get out and try new things. No more.

You can even enjoy a cup of tea while you paint

During the half term holidays I rounded up a few friends and off we went to Clapham to try our hand at pottery painting. Now, this is a brave move from me. I am not very artistic. When I was in secondary school I remember very clearly being required to make a clay pot in one of our art classes. Being the typical nerd I tried my best on it only to have the art teacher burst out laughing when she saw it and then proceed to pick my pot up and take it through to the next door room so that the other teacher could laugh at it! I would have been offended if I wasn't already aware of my low ability..

To prevent embarrassment I went on Pinterest to get a few ideas before I got there. My plan was to go simple: a watermelon bowl. Paint the inside red, the outside green and add a few black dots for seeds. Unfortunately when I got there they were out of bowls and I was left with a blank mug and no clue what to do. Fortunately, Pinterest once again came to save the day. I saw a mug with a giraffe painted on it so I adapted it to do a giraffe one side and a flamingo the other. I spent so long sketching it in pencil that by the time I started painting some of my friends had finished already!

So much concentration!

I had such a great time and it didn't even matter that I wasn't an arty person. You can get so many ideas online and a lot of them are a lot easier to carry out than they look. I was incredibly happy with how my mug turned out. Unfortunately I'm too scared of breaking it to actually use it!

The results:

Flying High at Go Ape

This was, without a doubt, the best day out I have had in a long time. It was active, thrilling and fun. Everyone should go, unless you have a phobia of heights in which case stay well away!

In December, when London was feeling particularly grey, Mike and I decided that we would book a day out doing something different in the countryside. We had a quick Google and stumbled upon Go Ape. The website was green and full of people smiling and zip-wiring through trees. From what I could tell it was a giant adventure playground for adults - ideal. We saw that a new centre had opened in Battersea Park but, as we wanted to get out of London, we settled on Go Ape Alice Holt in Surrey.

On the morning of our adventure, the nerves started to kick in! I suddenly realised that being 14 metres up in the air, balancing on wires was a little bit dangerous. When we got there, there was no time to be nervous. We signed some forms, bought hats and gloves and had our safety briefing. I was very proud of being far better at working out how to clip my harness onto the safety wire than Mike! After a quick demonstration, we were off!

There were quite a few young couples starting at the same time as them and, as I was determined to be the best, I pushed myself quite hard. The hardest part actually was climbing up the rope ladder to begin the course. It was really wobbly and as I was nervous I kept making it worse! By the time I got up the adrenaline kicked in and I launched myself at every crossing, determined  not to be the slow one! We had to negotiate lots of different obstacles, such as wobbly wooden slats, stirrups and a set of Olympic rings! The best parts of the course were the Tarzan swings though. You have to clip yourself onto a dangling wire from above and then jump off a platform high up in the air! You swing through the trees and smash into netting on the other side. When you manage to catch hold of the netting, you need to climb up it and pull yourself onto the wooden platform on the other side. My arms were not used to this and the next day I couldn't move them at all! There were 5 different courses and you finished each one by zip-wiring down to the ground. The landing sites became progressively further away with the last one being 126 metres long!

It was an amazing day out and I will definitely be booking to visit a different Go Ape site soon!

Mike bracing for impact!

Dinner - Mac 'n' cheese

Cannot get over how great this tasted!

Last night my boyfriend came home from work and said the words, "Can you make Mac 'n' Cheese tonight?"
I swear I could have heard angels singing. Mac 'n' cheese is my ultimate meal - I could probably manage to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week straight.
So, what makes a tasty mac 'n' cheese?
First of all, it has to be creamy, gooey but with a crisp top. Now the crisp top is probably the most important part for me which is why I always leave it under the grill for probably a liiiiittle too long!

Ingredients:
Macaroni
500ml milk
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp mustard
250g cheese - I use mature cheddar
8 cherry tomatoes
Half a red onion

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

2. Cut the red onion into long thin strips and put into the oven covered in olive oil to roast. They only need about 10 mins.

3. While the onion is roasting, put the pasta on to cook for a couple of minutes less than however long it says on the packet. The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce in the oven.

4. Once the pasta has been put on, it's time to make your amazing cheese sauce!! Melt the butter in the pan along with the mustard and slowly mix in the flour to make a smooth paste. Then gradually add in the milk stirring the whole time to avoid lumps. When all of the milk has been added, turn the heat down a little and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened.

5. Take your sauce off the heat and add most of the cheese leaving a little to grate on top. Season the sauce and then stir in the pasta and red onions.

6. Pour your cheesy mix into an oven-proof dish, place the cherry tomatoes on the top and cover with the remaining cheese.

7. Pop it into the oven until bubbly and golden (probably about 20 mins).

8. If like me, you love your bake to have a bit of a crunch, put it under the grill for a couple of minutes at the end.

Voila! You end up with an amazing, comforting Mac 'n' Cheese!

Let me know what added extras you like with your mac 'n' cheese!

Lunch/Dinner - Feta Cheese and Tomato Open Omelette

A fantastically fresh frittata!

In search of a lighter dinner option tonight, I decided to go for a frittata. I searched through my recipe books in search of one that I thought looked a mix between interesting and comforting and ended up settling on a feta cheese and tomato omelette in my amazing 'Easy Vegetarian One-Pot' book (published by Ryland Peters and Small). I didn't have all of the ingredients so missed out a couple, but what I did use ended up tasting really good!

Ingredients:




4 eggs
3 spring onions
8 cherry tomatoes halved
A handful of fresh basil
75g feta cheese cut into cubes




Method:

Mix, mix, mix!

1. Break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk up so that the yolks and the whites are fully mixed together.

2. Finely chop up the spring onions and basil and add to the eggs along with 2 tablespoons of water. Season the mixture, ready for cooking.

3. Heat some oil in a large frying pan and pour in the mixture.

4. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the feta and the tomatoes with the cut side facing up.

5. Cook for a further 2 minutes and then transfer your frittata to under the grill to finish it off. Wait until it is lovely and golden and then serve! I chose to serve mine with broccoli.

This meal tasted really fresh and was really simple to make. It took less than 15 minutes from walking into the kitchen to sitting down and eating! I will definitely be making this again - a major success!

Brunch - Buck Rarebit

Buck Rarebit - a brilliant brunch!

As a massive Masterchef fan I am always really keen to try out the recipes that I see, especially those in the skills test part. In Series 8, episode 4, the chefs were given the challenge to make a Buck Rarebit which is something that I have never heard of. However, the sound of cheese, bread and egg was very appealing to me so I decided to have a go! I was not disappointed. It tasted absolutely amazing - cheesy, carby and wonderful. It's definitely not a low cal breakfast/lunch option but definitely worth it for a 'first day of the Christmas holiday' treat!

Ingredients:


2 eggs
1 bagel/bread
20g cheddar cheese
15g of flour
15g butter
120ml milk approx (I measured out 140ml but didn't use all of it)
Pinch of curry powder





Method:

1. First job is to cut the bagel in half (if you're using a bagel). No matter how hard I try, one side always ends up fatter than the other!

Just an incy pinch of curry powder.

2. Start to make the cheese sauce. Cook the butter and flour in a small saucepan whisking quickly until it forms a kind of paste. Slowly add the milk stirring constantly to avoid making lumps. When the sauce is smooth and thick, add an egg yolk and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of curry powder (seriously, a really small pinch, you don't want it to taste of curry, just have a slight kick). Once seasoned, add the cheese a little at a time until it's melted into the sauce.

3. Toast your bagel/bread.

4. Spread the sauce thickly over the toasted bagel and put under a preheated grill until the cheese sauce is bubbly and golden!! This will only take a couple of minutes so keep an eye on it.

I had made more sauce than was necessary and, embarrassingly, ate the remaining sauce straight from the saucepan..

5. While your cheesy bread is toasting, it's time to make your egg! I think traditionally Buck Rarebit is meant to be made with a fried egg, but I much prefer my eggs poached so I used my amazing poaching pan to make my egg. I know it's cheating, but it works perfectly every time!

6. Take out your bread and plate up. Pop your egg on top and enjoy!

Nom! This was amazing!
A perfect runny yolk too!