Maple pork with pomegranate and mint couscous

Despite seeming a bit fancy, this is stupidly quick and easy to make: five ingredients and about 15 minutes cooking time total including prep.

Ingredients:

• Pork medallions
• Couscous (I used a Mediterranean flavour I happened to have in the pantry)
• Maple syrup (or glaze, we actually used golden syrup in maple flavour as that's what I had in!)
• Pomegranate seeds
• Fresh mint

To Make:

• Glaze uncooked pork with syrup and place in a griddle pan (I didn't bother leaving it to marinade although you could)
• Cook pork as normal, applying another layer of syrup each time you flip it
• Cook couscous according to instructions (in our case, add boiling water, cover for five minutes and then separate with fork)
• Sprinkle pomegranate and mint over couscous, add the pork and sprinkle another topping of pomegranate and mint

And that's all! Really tasty, quick and a bit fancy which makes it ideal to serve to mid-week  guests.

Steve is away this weekend and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pretty excited to have a chilled weekend with just me, the boy and the bump! Happy Friday folks- we made it!

Easy peasy very meaty meat loaf

This isn't my cup of tea as I eat very little meat but as Steve and Ben are avid carnivores, I thought I'd have a go at this simple meatloaf suggested by my Slimming World group. Steve had it hot and declared it very tasty but apparently it's great cold too so my plan is to use it in packed lunches.

You need:

Sausages
Bacon
Chicken Breasts
Low cal oil (I use Fry Light)
A loaf tin

1. Spray the loaf tin lightly with Fry Light and then line with bacon

2.Take sausages out of skins and mash with hands/ fork in a bowl

3. Cut chicken breasts in half so the depth of them is thinner

4. Layer the sausage mix thinly, then cover with a thin layer of chicken. Repeat until the loaf tin is almost full.

5.Once you've added the final layer (it doesn't matter whether it's chicken or sausage), wrap the bacon around the top. Mine didn't quite cover the whole top so I just added a slice down the middle.

6. Pop in oven for 35 minutes at 190.

7. At this point, remove and pour out any juices, then pop it back in the oven for a final 15 minutes.

8. Done! Remove and eat hot and/or leave some to cool and have it cold. 

I like this as I can decide the type of meat etc I buy (in this case low fat as Steve is watching his weight) but you could also jazz it up (for example adding cranberries).

There you go, easy peasy but very meaty meat loaf. Enjoy.xxx

PS- Gizzy actually pinched this off the bench after I took this photo! Once a kennel dog always a kennel dog (I make this excuse even though we've had him over ten years)!

Weekend Toast

First off, I should say that I feel rather cheeky labelling this in the recipe section as it barely takes any crafting! That said, sometimes the simple things are the sweetest. This is one of Ben's favourite weekend 'treats'. On a weekend we like to have something more substantial for breakfast but on the days where we don't have time, I simply add a bit of edible glitter and a few sprinkles (the type you use for cupcakes) to Ben's toast and regular topping and there you have it- special weekend toast! It's even become a bit of a hit when he has friends over and I have mums asking me what the special weekend toast is!


Secondly, apologies for being missing from the world of blogging for so long. Sky have been rather slow at sorting our phone line when it went off OVER THREE WEEKS AGO (shakes fist in angry rage)! Nevermind, it's back on now and probably the most exciting thing missed is that my brother and his partner Kim are expecting a baby boy! Needless to say we're all very excited at the moment. I feel frustrated that we've just got internet access back and we're off again on our holidays next week so that'll be a month with no blogging! I promise I'll make up for it when I return with many gorgeous photos of France... I can't wait! 


Very exciting times in the Sanderson Smith household!xxx

Inspired by you guys... Glazed Pork

I was vegetarian from the ages of 11 until a year or so ago; I stopped eating meat because I felt the treatment of animals before slaughter (such as transportation) is often unethical. However, now you can pay a bit more and buy really decent meat that has had  a good life. I tend to get mine from the Blagdon Estate as much of their meat is born, raised (free range) and slaughtered on site (no hours of transportation or being cramped inside all their life). Since starting to eat meat again, my taste in meat has changed a lot from my preferences as a child but one of my favourites now is pork.


After reading this recipe here- link! I thought I'd have a go at this. I just simplified it down to two ingredients, Dijon mustard and an apricot glaze (you could use jam but I found this glaze in the baking section of the supermarket for cheaper than the price of the jam). Again, the recipe itself was slightly simplified (I did it two times and I can't say I didn't notice much difference when I didn't bother leaving it for hours to marinade).


Ingredients: 
(For four chops)
*Dijon Mustard- 2 tablespoons
*Apricot glaze or jam (I assume you could swap this for other flavours)- half a standard size jar
*Pork chops (again, I assume other meats would work)


Recipe:
1. Take the two condiments and mix then in a bowl. I used two tablespoons of mustard and half a standard size jar of the apricot. It seems like a lot but the flavours really mellow in the cooking.
2.Baste the meat with some of the glaze and heat a griddle/ frying pan. Pop the meat on (I didn't bother with any oil).

3. After a couple of moments, flip the meat and baste the other side. Repeat this until all the mixture is used.

4. After ten minutes, remove from the heat and enjoy!

The Verdict?

Yum yum yum! The flavours were subtle and we allowed the meat to go brown on the outside but the glaze meant that the meat was still very tender on the inside. We made this again the following week because it was so tasty! This is a really quick way to add a bit of spark to your dinner.

Thank you Becky for the inspiration!xxx

Inspired by you guys... Green Smoothies

I was reading an article about targets for the following year and it made me realise that I need to try and be more organised and get things done! I see so many great ideas from fellow bloggers and think 'Ohhhhh, I must try that...' but it always gets shoved to the bottom of the pile as more practical day to day snores, opps, I mean CHORES, take over.


So here is a pledge to try and get one thing done per week, either after being inspired by others or my own little brain waves.


Starting this week, I'm adding some green to a smoothie after seeing this idea here- link! (Note: I heart the brilliant ideas from A Beautiful Mess and recommend you check them out).I don't think I'll manage a full week of smoothies but one day per week is a do-able trade up on my usual fruit-based smoothie. 


Here's how I was inspired by the great gals at A Beautiful Mess:

Usual Smoothie

Ingredients:

Blueberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Plain yogurt

Cherry yogurt

Water

Mint

Vanilla extract

Sweetener

Green Smoothie:

Ingredients:

Spinach

Banana

Raspberries

Coconut

Yogurt

Water

The Verdict:

The spinach was great as I couldn't taste it at all, I'll definitely be adding leafy greens to my smoothies from now on. However, do not add desiccated coconut- what a lumpy mess, think dog vomit! In future I'll opt for fresh coconut.

Feed My Family! (Dale Potato Pie)

This is yummy in your tummy, comforting, filling and tasty without being stodgy or fattening- perfick! 


Pros: 
Tasty
Low fat
Cheap 
Easy as pie (cringe!) to make


Cons:
Long (ish) cooking time
Personally, I've always found squirty cheese a bit creepy


You'll need (to serve six):
800g potatos (peeled)
one cal cooking spray (or similar)
600g fresh spinach (I'm not a fan of the frozen stuff)
Salt and pepper
480g Primula Light Cheese
2 x 28g bags of tortilla chips


To Make:
1. Pop your oven on high and boil your potatoes for 20 mins (I won't patronise you with an image of this!)
2. Wet your spinach, spray a pan with the one cal and pop the spinach in. Heat it for a couple of minutes until it's just starting to wilt.
3. Spray your oven dish with one cal and place half of your spinach in a layer.

4. Slice the potatoes about half a centimetre thick and layer half on the bottom of the dish (ideally you wait until they cool as they cut smoother but I can never be bothered and don't mind if a few crumble).

5, Squirt half of the Primula over the top (I use a spoon to smoosh it around and yes, I know smoosh isn't a real word but it describes the action perfectly!)

6. Repeat the process: spinach, potato, squirty cheese.
7. Crunch up the tortillas and layer them on the top.

8. Cook for forty minutes until it is golden and bubbly.

9. Enjoy- yumma yumma! 

Hope you don't burn the top of the tortillas like me! Happy Friday everyone. x

Choc full of yum.

Home-made chocolate- yum! I saw this idea on a blog about two months ago but I'm afraid to say I have no idea which one it was (I would hate for someone to read this and think I tried to pinch the credit). I know it seems to be a bit of a theme with anything I make but... this is really simple!

You Need:
1.Chocolate(I like a good quality organic one but buy one that suits your own taste)
2. Topping of your choice (I like sea salt, macadamias and cranberries) 
Note: sea salt works great with any topping. Other ideas that work are caramel/ fudge chunks, small chunks of white chocolate, any type of nut, crushed cinder toffee etc.
To Make:
1. Fill a pan full of boiling water. On top, place a heat-proof bowl- the key is to ensure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl, even when boiling.
2. Snap up chocolate and pop it in the bowl.

3. When the chocolate is all melted into liquid, it's done. You may need to stir it to get rid of lumps.

4. Use baking paper to line any sort of dish/ tray with sides. Pour the chocolate in and spread thinly with a spatula.

5. While chocolate is still gooey (Mmmmm) add the topping so it sets in the chocolate.

6. Pop it in the fridge to set. Once it is hard, remove and peel off the baking paper. You should be left with a slab of chocolate.

7. I prefer to snap it into chunks. I pop it in a plastic bag that I get from Hobbycraft but I'm sure you can get something similar from most baking/craft shops.

Tie a pretty bow and viola! Yummy 'homemade' chocolate. Enjoy.x

Pancake Monday (and a low fat/ no flour batter recipe)

Yes, I know, it should be pancake Tuesday but tomorrow we're at the theatre and so won't have a chance to make them, Ben didn't want to miss it so we brought it forward by a day. Check out my fabulous flipping action!

{The real deal-with fresh raspberries and syrup}

(Low fat imitator}

Firstly, I should mention that US/ Canadian pancakes are different to the English version (we call your pancakes 'dropped scones'). If you fancy attempting the low fat version of English pancakes, see below:

Low fat/ flour free pancakes:

You need:

1. Two eggs

2. 2 tablespoons of vanilla essence or extract

3. 4 tablespoons of sweetener

4. Fry Light (or similar one-cal spray)

5. Topping- I used raspberries and fat-free creme-fraiche mixed with roughly one teaspoon of sweetener per 3 table spoons of creme-fraiche

To make:

1. Separate the yolks and the whites into two different bowls

2.Add sweetener to the white and whisk as if making a meringue, I used an electric whisk, until it forms peaks.

3. Add vanilla essence/ extract to yolks and fold mixture gently into egg whites.

4. Using Fry Light (or similar), spray and then add half of mixture. As it has a foamy texture, you may need to spread it out a little in the frying pan.

6.Turn (with spatula) once it has began to lightly brown (see note at bottom). 

7. Serve with desired topping

Note: the 'batter' is actually more like a foam and it does not flip! I used a spatula to turn it. Also, my second one worked much better, this is similar to English 'dropped scones' where you are encouraged to chuck the first batch as it works better once the pan has some mixture on bottom. Finally, these aren't tasty enough (at least, not for me) to eat alone but tasted great with a tasty topping. I'll be cooking these again as a low-fat treat.

Happy Pancake Day for tomorrow everybody. xxx

Feed my family Friday: Soup-er easy

Chant it like a mantra: 'this is easy, this is easy'. Yes, it really is becoming the theme of anything vaguely home-made that I do- I'm all about the simplicity!


Pea and Mint Soup:
Pros:
1. Full of taste
2. Tastes better second day
3. Few ingredients (most are store cupboard)
4. VERY low fat
Cons:
1. Rubbish if you don't like pea... or mint!

You need:
1. Salt and pepper to flavour
2. 600g Frozen peas
3. 4 tablespoons mint (I used fresh)
4. 3 tablespoons basil (I used dried)
5. Stock (I used a mix of veg and chicken but either will do)
6. 5 Shallots (I'm sure onions would work too)
7. Fat-free natural yogurt or creme- fraiche
NOTE: this recipe lends itself to variation: I've put more/ less peas/ basil/ shallots etc in and generally it makes no difference!


To make it:

1. Chop everything except peas and yogurt/ creme-fraiche and pop it in a pan.
2. Pour over about 1.2 pints of stock made with boiling water and boil for ten minutes.
3. Add frozen peas and cook for another five minutes.

4. Turn off the heat. Using a hand blender, er, well, blend it!
5. You're done! Now wasn't that easy? Serve up with a nice dollop of yogurt/ creme-fraiche (note- I keep this on the table as it's great to add more as you go). If you're feeling fancy pants, add a mint leaf to garnish.

A hit with the whole family and whole thing completed in twenty minutes. 


For more ideas, check out the blog where this started here-link! Today is a yummy looking sauce.


Tonight we're off out for dinner (it's the first night we were all free to celebrate my dad's birthday). I have a banging headache so have been lying in a dark room for the past two hours, it doesn't appear to be shifting so I've just had aload of painkillers and am hoping it goes before I need to get ready for the meal. Fingers crossed and Happy Friday folks! xxx

Feed my Family Friday

I think this is amazing and I knew I wanted to take part. So, here it is: the tasty low-fat paella all the family could enjoy. 


Pros:
Tasty
Simple
Ingredients are easy to come by
Very low fat
Lovely cold too


Cons:
Takes around an hour in total
Saffron can be expensive (although it isn't essential)


You'll need:

You'll need:

• Fry light one cal spray or similar (this is just to keep the fat content low
• 900ml vegetable stock
• 300g dried paella rice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 large pinch saffron threads (not essential but yummy)
• Handful fresh flat leaf parsley (dried will do but not as tasty)
• 2 chopped onions
• 4 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 deseeded and chopped red peppers (again, others would do)
• 2 carrots chopped into small cubes
• 2 roughly chopped tomatoes
• 100g frozen peas

To cook:

• Prepare by chopping all your veg 
• Spray your paella/ high-sided frying pan with lots of Fry Light and pop in the onions, gently cooking on a medium heat for about 5 mins 
• Add garlic, peppers, tomatoes and carrots, cooking for another 5 mins
• Stir in the rice and add the bay leaf, paprika, saffron and stock. Bring to a simmer then cook for 12-15 mins 

• Cover (I used a large metal baking tray as this pan didn't have a lid) and cook for another 12-15 mins on a low heat. The veg should be cooked and all the liquid absorbed without being dry
• Add frozen peas and allow another 5 mins cooking time (covered)

• Remove from heat but keep the cover on for 10 mins
• Remove the bay leaf, add the parsley and you're done

There are quite large gaps in the cooking time so I made a soup while I was in the kitchen (it was vile so I won't be sharing). This is a handy dish as even though it takes around an hour, you can get on with other jobs and still tastes wonderful cold which is great for lunch the next day.

Enjoy! x

Deeply Dippy

So, you get some people who acknowledge that they have a real sweet tooth then, you'll have those for whom the sweetness doesn't suit. "Ohhh no, I'd much rather have savory." they'll say, "Give me a starter rather than a desert."


I, on the other hand, am neither exclusively sweet or savory: I'm just a 'food' lover, I'm not prejudice- I love it all. 


So, here are some savory dips for your nibbles and as I'm on a diet healthy eating plan, they are all very low in fat.


Low Fat Dips
Pros:

• Tasty
• Cheap
• Quick
• Can be used next day or two

Cons:

• None I can think of! If I was being picky, you may have to fiddle with amounts until it suits your taste e.g. more/ less garlic.

Very Low Fat Houmous:

You'll need:

• 1 tsp lemon juice (fresh if you have it but store cupboard squeezy if not)
• 2 cloves garlic
• Salt to taste
• 1 level table spoon Tahini
• Chick peas- 1 400g can
• Blender

Dead easy:

• Cook chick peas according to instructions (normally boil for 5 mins)
• Put all other ingredients into blender, add a couple of table spoons of water and chick peas. For ease, I just add ingredients to pan used for chick peas and blend with a hand blender. Done!

Note: this tastes better with added extras, I like: fried red onion (fry using 1 calorie spray), chilli flakes, pesto, shredded beetroot, peri peri sauce etc. Yummy.

Virtually fat free Yogurt Dips: 

(Great as salad dressing too)

You'll need:

• Garlic
• Salt and pepper
• Mint (or other herb you love)
• Yogurt
• Cucumber

Are you ready for the most patronising instructions ever? Here goes...

• Add a few tablespoons of yogurt to two separate bowls (or more if you want to make a lot)
• Chop around 8 slices of cucumber into small squares, put half in each bowl
• Add around 1 tablespoon of mint (or preferred herb) to one bowl and 1 clove of garlic to the other
• Season to taste
• Boom! Done- told you it was simple.

Lovely with salad, vegetable batons, in sandwiches etc. A great guilt free snack. Would love to hear about yours. x