Food for feasting this Christmas

I don't know about you, but all thoughts go to food at this time of year and that's even before Christmas Dinner!

All star American 4th July food

With it being 4th July and we know alot of our readers are from the US, we thought a nice little round up of a few delicious and quite frankly making me drool, recipes would be good for today!

March Food roundup

Its finally starting to come into Spring! Yey. And that means for me a want to be a bit more healthy and try new things.  There is something about a bit more sun and the idea that all is going to be ok.  Also we have a holiday coming up in June and we all want to be a bit more toned and healthy for that - if only so we can eat what we are like when we get there!  ha ha.

So this month I have been looking at meal prep videos and seeing how people eat on a budget so that I can have healthy living without spending too much.

First up, is this Salmon Sushi Salad which a friend sent me from the Good Food Magazine, also on the website.  I love this kind of food and it seems so simple for me to be able to pack it all up for lunches at work.  Just a bit of planning on a Sunday night I think.

Next is this Not Quite Banana Bread, a few of my friends are currently working their way through Sarah Wilson's, I Quit Sugar book and this recipe looks like a good alternative for a treat.   I love banana bread and as is dairy free too, seems like a good choice for us all.

Bottom left of the pictures, is a bit of a sinful treat in this Rhubarb baked Oatmeal and I can't quite work out what appeals for me most as I am not a big fan of Rhubarb, but I want to try more fruits, so this seemed like a good place to start.  A bit more sinful than the last cake but it looks so good.

Last, but by no means least is this Cauliflower Coconut & Chickpea Curry, all the C's.  I love a good curry and this seems too good to miss.  I have been loving the Mind over Munch website too, so many good ideas for lunches and planning meals.

I am definitely in the meal planning zone at the moment as it saves so much time and money.  For little old me on my own too, its a great way to have a variety and not resorting to bad foods or takeaways.

Do you meal plan?  What are your tips?  I am loving to freeze a portion of everything I make too, so that I can always have it another time, when I am not in the mood to cook.

H,xxx

Please note:  All photographs are from the websites listed with each recipe.

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Christmas Food Round-up

It's nearly here, fill your face with food Christmas time!  I thought a few little treats to keep me on the dairy free straight and narrow would be good to take a look at and of course get me drooling a little bit early!

First up, this perfect roast chicken from Elena's Pantry, lets face it most roast chicken is dairy free, but I am yet to get my roast chicken quite right, so looking up a recipe is always good for me.

Next, these amazing looking sticky roasted parsnips from BBC good food would be the perfect accompaniment with the chicken and some roast potatoes and stuffing of course!

Add a bit of bread like this one from the Pure Dairy free website and you can mop up all that gravy left over.  yum. Seriously I am drooling here just writing this!

Then, the most difficult of projects to get dairy free, the pudding!  I am not a fan of Christmas cake or Christmas Pudding or even Mince pies, but I do love a Chocolate Yule Log!  My mum made this amazing one with Coconut cream last year - hoping for that again if your reading mum.  But this one from Lachie's Allergy Cookbook looks great too.

I definitely need to go and get some lunch now.

What's on your Christmas food list this year, any new food for the table?  Let us know in the comments below and maybe we can add them to our table this year too.

H, xxx

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November food Round-up

As November is the time for snuggling up under blankets and eating yourself into a food induced coma, I thought I would go for a whole selection of not going out of the house treats.

I have found some very cool new foods and websites - Sorted food anyone?! and of course there is a dairy free treat too.

First up is this recipe for sausages with sweet potato chips, from the good food website.  There is just something about sausages and potato on a grey winter day and with the food of the moment, sweet potato chips, you just can't beat it.

Then you gotta have snacks right, and this recipe for roasted edamame just will hit the spot for me, I may be a little obsessed with them and buy a pot whether I see them and so making a batch of these at home is next on my list.

I felt like a little something different for the sweet treat this week and this Cherry Bakewell hits the spot.  Its one of the things I miss about being dairy free, a good Mr Kipling's cherry bakewell, so I think I might have to give this one a try.

And up last is Sorted Food's whole website!  ha ha, I chose this Chilli beef recipe for now!  You may see them again on here!  I just love these guys as they make cooking so fun and easy.

That's it for now, I am definitely going to have to hit the supermarket for those sausage and sweet potato chips tonight, just drooling talking about it!

H,xxx


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Food Glorious Food

Over June and into July I have had a few friends over and so I have been trying a few new recipes and so I thought I would share them with you.

These are not my photos and so I cannot take any of that credit, but I can say that they are definitely tried and tested.

First up is a recipe that my friend cooked up for me yesterday morning, always good to have a great cook around the place and we added extra blueberries to this easy 2 ingredient recipe, I found this similar one from the Top with Cinnamon blog.  Very yummy and a great way to start a Sunday, dairy and gluten free.

Next, something which has changed a few of my friends opinion about Quinoa.  This really simple Quinoa, lentil and feta salad from the BBC good food website is super easy to make and I made such a big batch, it kept me going for lunch most of the week too!

and, lastly for today's post is this dairy free Eton Mess recipe, I mean, summer is all about Eton Mess and being as I cannot have cream it's all about finding other ways to enjoy it without suffering.  This recipe from the Lick my Spoon blog is very yummy and curbs those Eton Mess cravings.

Time for lunch methinks, these posts always make me crave food.  Hopefully that has given you some fun things to try.  What's your favourite recipes?  Let us know in the comments below.

H

Note: Photos are not our own, taken from individually linked websites.

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Spanish Food Round-up

Photos are courtesy of recipe websites, see below for links

In a few short weeks we will be off to Barcelona, for some relaxation, alot of culture and bestie time and so I thought the food roundup this month could have a little Spanish theme to get us in the mood for all that Catalonian food we will be eating.

First up is of course Paella, well it wouldn't be a trip to Spain without it!  This recipe is from Taste.com.au and so wings it's way over from Australia, but it looked so simple I thought it had to go in the mix.

Next up is the start of the Tapas, I mean, who doesn't love tapas.  I am looking forward to having some real Spanish Tapas, as I haven't really found any in the UK that quite hits the mark - any places I should try please do comment below.

So first up is this Mediterranean Feta Dip I found on Cookie & Kate and I think I may have just found a new food blog to follow, yummers.

Next, is the one and only Potatoes bravas, it's making me drool just thinking about it.  This recipe is from Tesco's website - who knew they had recipes!  Another one to add to the follow list!

and lastly for this post is a Spiced Tortilla, so easy to make and so yummy.  These usually get made in my house on days where I cannot be bothered with anything too complicated, but when I have a few leftovers!  This recipe is from the BBC good food blog, these guys never let me down!

What would be on your Spanish wishlist for food?  I really found it hard to choose.

H, xxx

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February Food round-up

Yey, we made it to February, to the snow, to the cold and to the month with Pancakes and Chinese New Year!  What's not to love!

So with that in mind I thought a little round-up of fun food for February was in order.

First up is some dairy free pancakes - of course you can make them non dairy free too, but I thought it would be good to find a recipe that I could have this year.  As I do love pancakes and I don't seem to have them enough!  These ones are from the BBC Good food website, always a great resource for all kinds of recipes.  I have found that its really simple to find recipes for people with intolerance's here too, alongside a search option by the ingredients you have in the cupboard.

Next up is these Sweet Potato Fries - I mean who wouldn't want some of these!  I would skip the cheese part, but apart from that they look so yummy.

Then, of course to go with some fries, try out this Vegan Burger that I saw Jamie making with Ellie Goulding on his Friday Night Feasts programme with Jimmy.  I do eat meat, but this looked so good to try and its always good to have some meat free days, so why not make them really really tasty!

and last, but definately not least, with Chinese New Year upon us soon, why not try your hand at these Chicken Wontons, how good do these look!  I really want to try these and so I feel the year of the Dragon will give me the excuse to have a go.  Not that I need an excuse really, more of a reason to get off my backside and have a go!

I hope you enjoyed this little round-up and of course you can always give one of these a go for Valentine's day.  Although I am not sure the meat lovers will appreciate a Vegan burger, but you could try!  Failing that, there is always the meal for 2 at M&S!

Now, I'm off to make a big shopping list,
H

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Christmas Food round-up

It's nearly here, that Christmas thing and it's the time of year where we indulge ALOT!  Always with the excuse that it's Christmas! Now it will be my first year knowing that I should try and keep it dairy free, so I thought I would have a look out for a few new recipes to try.

First up is from Jamie Oliver for the main course of Lemon and Rosemary Chicken, yum!  We don't usually have a dairy laden Roast for Christmas Dinner and yes we have Chicken instead of Turkey.  But this year it would be nice to try something a bit different right!

Next up is the parsnips, the perfect accompaniment to a roast.  These ones from the BBC good food site and Honey roast Parsnips, droool.

Then, it's over to pudding and one of the biggest things I miss about being dairy free is Cheesecake and Pannacotta and so I found this recipe for Coconut and Lime Pannacotta on the all recipes website, so I thought it might be worth a try.

And lastly, my new favourite thing to make and a bit of an obsession is these Dairy free chocolate cookies from Lily Pebbles blog.  I saw these the other week and have already made two batches!  They are amazing and so moreish and easy to make.

Yes, I know, your welcome!
H


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Make it: Blueberry and Coconut Cake

In my bid to make dairy free good stuff, I came across this recipe on the BBC Good Food website.

I took it to work and I don't think they even noticed it was dairy free, so that's always a bonus.  It was really really yummy and so easy to make.  I also decided to make this gluten free too and used Doves Farm gluten free flour.

You will need:
250ml rice bran oil, plus extra for the tin

3 eggs

225g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

300g self-raising flour - I used Doves Farm Gluten free flour

50g dessicated coconut

175ml soya milk

140g fresh or frozen blueberries, plus extra to serve

icing sugar, to dust

Put your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and grease a 22cm tin.

Whisk the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla and in a separate bowl combine the flour and coconut.

Alternately, fold the flour mix and soya milk into the wet ingredients, starting and ending with the flour.

Spoon about a quarter of the mixture into the tin and then fold the blueberries into the remaining batter, before adding it to the tin.

Bake for 1-1¼ hrs, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely and then dust with icing sugar.

I think the next time I make this, I might make some dairy free icing.  It did stay really nice and moist, but maybe a bit of icing would be good.

I'd never used rice bran oil before and I really think it worked for this recipe as it made it really wet - which is always what you need when using gluten free flour.  I will definitely use the oil again. I am already looking out for recipes!

Do you have any failsafe recipes that you use, let us know in the comments below.

H

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Food for the January Blues

Now, we all know that January can leave people feeling all kinds of glum, its the come-down from Christmas and the depressing weather no doubt.  This January has felt particularly bad with all the wet weather and floods the UK has been having, its been difficult to keep ourselves upbeat.  Every week, each Monday seems to have been given the Blue Monday tag, probably meaning people feel sad just thinking about it.

However, the best way to keep yourself chirpy, is with some serious comfort food, nothing better than a bit of stodgy food and cake to banish those blues!  And you know what, sometimes only some beans on toast or grilled cheese will do, but for those times when you just want a little something extra, we bring you some tasty recipes to try.  Your welcome!

We all know that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and so why not start with pushing those blues away at breakfast time!  These Overnight Oat recipes from A Beautiful Mess are on the wish list of things to make.  They will give you a great boost first thing to help you deal with your day and so its the perfect thing to try.

Next up is some tasty treats to help you get through the day.  These Toffee Ginger cupcakes look amazing and they are Gluten Free!  The girls over at Domestic Sluttery do some great Gluten free recipes and so there are no excuses to get that cake fix, sorry.

Or, if you are a biscuit fan rather than a cake fan, these Raspberry and White Chocolate cookies from the Turquoise Lemons blog are making us drool as we type!  We are partial to this particular pairing of ingredients and what's not to love about a cookie with a cup of tea?  After all, tea solves everything, right? 

Over to some serious savoury dishes for dinner.  You can't beat a big dollop of Shepherds Pie to warm up your cockles on a dark and dreary day.  This recipe from Rosalilium just makes you want to dive right on in there.

For the veggies, or just don't fancy the meat tonight, there is always Mac and Cheese!  This used to be one of H's old housemates fail-safe dishes for making her feel better and we can see why.  Pasta, cheese and more cheese, yummy.  This one is from the Eating well website and so it is a little better for you than the usual.  Guilt free comfort food, even better.

And, last but not least is your dessert to round off with.  This Toffee Apple Crumble is going to happen, alot!  It comes from the BBC Good Food website and does not disappoint.  H love's to make a crumble and has never had any complaints, but this little beauty looks like it will surpass her other versions.  The only last decision to make is whether it should be covered with cream or custard!

Well, that's the round up of some favourite recipes to banish those blues.  Do you have any recipes you like to use on those glum days?  Let us know in the comments below and we can have a go.

Remember that Food feeds the soul, and so it would be rude not to feed it right?!

H & Sammy