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!

Food round-up

I know its January and we should all be about the healthy eating and all that, but let's face it, sometimes you just need a little cheat and so I have a few things for you today which are mainly healthy - ok apart from one, but you need something to look forward to hey!

First up are these Carrot cake Cookies from Deliciously Ella.  Ella was a massive success in 2015 and will have more I am sure to come in 2016.  She is all about healthy but tasty eating and I really need that in my life.

Next is a side or snack recipe of Carrot Salad from Le Pain Quotidien.  I love visiting this place when I am in London and so to make a little healthy treat at home can only be a good thing.  Also a great snack for when I am at work trying not to have an afternoon sweet treat.

Last on the savoury front are these Asian-style seafood parcels which were on Jamie and Jimmy's Friday night feast.  I love this programme and not only because the food is good, but they do some great bits about cuts to eat and how to save a bit of cash, what's not to like.  These seafood parcels seem nice and easy for some friends coming over, which is always good.

Lastly is the very naughty treat of Vegan Chocolate Cake from Jamie Oliver's website.  He has a really good website which means you can find all the recipes by meal type, occasion, main ingredient or special diet like my dairy free type.  Makes cooking so much easier as a not very competent chef, but I like to try!

Would any of these be on your meal plans for January.  I am trying meal planning again this year as I found it really helps to keep my motivation for actual cooking and saving a bit of cash too of course.

H,xxx

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Food round-up: Comfort food

 It's November so of course the Food session this month had to include some comfort food.  I love food and when the weather is changing and cold I like to make some good old comfort food to keep me going.  I can only wish I was one of those people who could live off vegetables, but at least these all have fruit and veg in them!

First up, is my new obsession, Pitta Pizzas!  As I can't have cows milk, pizzas are a bit harder to find without cheese and any dairy.  So using Pitta breads as the base and making my own is the only way to go.  I use spinach as a base on top of sweet chilli sauce and tomato paste.  Then a mix of red onion and different coloured peppers that have been already cooked to add on top with goats cheese and pop under the grill.  Yummy.

Next up is another obsession of Jamie's Superfood series and this Chicken & squash cacciatore which just looks delicious!   I so want to eat this right now!  Looks like a great food to have around with lots of friends popping over.

Bottom right is another great Quinoa recipe, as I have said I am sure before, sometimes you just need a great way to have quinoa as it can be a bit well, just bland.  This recipe for Miso, Carrot and Quinoa One pot from Madeleine Shaw looks super good and as its from Madeleine Shaw you know its going to be so good for you!  She is a superwoman of healthy food and knowing what would be great for your body.

Lastly, well there just had to be a pudding on here somewhere and what better comfort food for this time of year than a crumble!  This one is dairy free too and so I can have it guilt free. Crumble was always my favourite thing to make at home and I was chief crumble maker.  This apple crumble recipe just uses Pure Soya instead of butter for the crumble mix and so so simple to replace.  yey.

Well, that's just made me all kinds of hungry!  My lunchtime salad is not going to cut it is it!  I think I am going to have to start making a big pot of some of these tonight for my lunches!

Which comfort food recipe is your favourite to have?  One of these take your eye, or your favourite own recipe?  Let us know in the comments and we can take a look.

H,xxx

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Makers Month: Food Round-up

Well, we couldn't leave the food out of Makers Month could we?!?  After all, we all need a bit of sustenance to keep us crafting and reading all these blog posts.

So I thought I would try and find some Dairy Free and just darn tasty treats to keep us going, seem as though the weather seems determined to just be drab and make us all want to hibernate and eat!

From the Top left is a recipe from Lucy Bee, these Smoked Salmon and Broccoli Muffins look amazing.  Lucy has her own range of Coconut oil and as the oil of choice at the moment and a great alternative to butter for those of us who need dairy free.  You can also get a free little recipe brochure so that you can start using coconut oil from their website.

Top right is another Jamie Oliver recipe, have you seen his new Super Food programme?  I feel its going to be a new like for me and the book Everyday Superfood may have to be purchased!  This squash dhal looks like a great way to mix up my dinnertime and have some leftover for work lunches too.

Bottom Left are the cupcakes I made for my youngest nieces 1st Birthday Party - yes I know, I made them - super proud.  I adapted a coffee cupcake recipe from Iced Jems and made Frozen style dairy free cupcakes with some help from some sprinkles from Sainsbury's.  I basically just left out the coffee and added some vanilla extract to the cupcakes and blue food colouring to the icing and also made them with gluten free flour.  They went pretty quickly so that must have been good.  I wonder if anyone noticed!

And lastly in the bottom right is this Mango and Passionfruit Coconut cake which I really want to try using my new dairy free best friend of Pure sunflower spread.  They also have an Olive oil version and Soya version, but I find this one is the best for cakes and for spreading on toast.  It's all about multi-purpose items when you need dairy free!  They have loads of recipes on this site too, so no excuses of not knowing what to make.

So, that's the food round-up for September.  Now just to get on with some baking and cooking.  I have been doing a fair bit of batch cooking at the moment as with the darker days, it's nice to come home and not have to prepare a whole meal.  Plus it makes it cheaper for me, always a bonus.

If you have any recipes I should try or have tried anything I have mentioned in the food round-up posts, do let us know in the comments, would love to hear how other people adapt or find them to make.

Off to go food shopping for all these ingredients now!
H, xxx

Note: Not all photographs are my own, from original websites linked unless stated.

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