Porridge Toppings

5 Inventive Ways to Make Porridge More Delicious!

1. My Favourite - Top it with chopped banana, blueberries, raspberries, tinned prunes, yoghurt and jam or honey

2. Health Freak - Top it with flaxseed, linseeds, yoghurt and honey

3. For a Serious Morning - Stir in some brown sugar and add chopped banana and nuts

4. Feeling Christmassy - Top it with dates, apple and cinnamon (optional: walnuts)

5. Feeling Naughty - Top it with a dollop of Nutella and chopped banana.

Creative Carrot and Coriander Soup

Ingredients (For Four)

3 large carrots, chopped

1 potato, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped, grated or minced

3cm piece of ginger, grated

1tsp ground coriander

1 large handful of fresh coriander with stalks, roughly chopped

1.2l vegetable stock, I added two stock cubes to boiling water

1. Start by chopping the vegetables. Then fry the onion, garlic and ginger in a saucepan with a little vegetable oil. 

2. Add all the other ingredients and leave to gently boil on a medium heat with the lid on for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked right through.

3. Take the pan off the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to cool down. Blend up the soup when desired and garnish with a few coriander leaves.

YUM!

Roasted Pumpkin, Butternut Squash and Carrot Risotto with Pesto

This is my own recipe and I think it's delicious.

Serves 4

To roast with a little oil for 20-30 minutes at gas mark 200:

1 medium pumpkin, cut into small squares with skins on - keep one quarter of the pumpkin for the puree (cut the skin off)
2 carrots, chopped
half a butternut squash, chopped into similar sized pieces

For the risotto:

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g risotto rice
2 tbsp white wine
pumpkin puree - pumpkin cooked in water and blended into puree
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock

Add a little oil to a large pan and then start frying the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Then place the rice in before adding the wine. Slowly start adding the stock and after about 10 minutes, put the pumpkin puree in with the rice. When the rice is cooked, add the roasted vegetables to warm them through and season with pepper. Serve with some pesto and basil leaves.

I Love Boscanova!

Blueberry Pancakes with Banana and Maple Syrup

BEST Banana Cake!

Rachel and I baked this cake for our housemates birthday and it was divine. This is a very trusted recipe which my mum has had for years. Check out my earlier post for the details...enjoy!

Crunchie Yoghurt Ice Cream

This is an extremely simple way to make yoghurt ice cream. Just add 2 tsp of honey and a roughly chopped crunchie bar to 200g of yoghurt. Then place it in the freezer overnight and eat it whenever.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

 Roasted sweet potato goes with anything!

All you need to do is chop up a couple of sweet potatoes with their skins on and put them in the oven for 20 minutes (or until soft) at 200c.

For the yummy dressing:

1 crushed garlic clove
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 honey, optional
1/2 tsp worcester sauce
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Serve the sweet potato with anything you want!

Most amazing curry I've ever made

I was so impressed with myself when I made this curry, as I just whacked a load of ingredients together and it worked perfectly. It actually tastes like a proper India take-away!

For the sauce you will need:

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tsp groundnut oil

1/2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 tsp mango chutney

1 tsp curry paste (I use Patak's Korma paste)

3 garlic cloves

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp curry powder

chilli flakes to taste
1 tsp ground ginger
4 whole coriander seeds
seeds of 2 cardamon pods
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 handful of fresh coriander, stalks included
pepper
200g runny yoghurt

2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1 onion, sliced

Place all the ingredients for the sauce, except the yoghurt in a mixing bowl and grind up with a hand blender or food processor. Once it resembles a smooth paste, mix in the yoghurt to form a light yellow sauce. You can either marinade the chicken in the sauce in the fridge for a while, or cook it straight away with the onions. Fry the onions brielfy in a little oil before placing the chicken and sauce in a large frying pan. Cook for about 20 minutes, adding some water to make it more saucy.

Enjoy!