Fresh and Filling.....Mood = Iron fill

So iv been feeling a little under the weather lately, and just could not shake it off. Its been about 3 weeks, but nothing has happened. I feel tired all the time, and sleepy and very irritable. Cant get any work done properly and just needed a little boost. After having some blood tests done, i was told that i was VERY VERY low on iron and my ferritin reserve iron was also low. Not a good sign. So im on a mission to eat myself better.

I will for sure have to take supplements aswell because of how low it all is but food also plays a huge part too. I do not lack iron in my diet but need to give it a little bit of a boost.

So the other day i went food shopping and came back with lots of red meat, prawns, raw beetroot, crab and lots of leafy veg and pulses.

I decided that i was going to eat all healthy fresh cold food to keep it in the rawest state possible to get every bit of nourishment i need.

I made a delicious salad that was so quick to make. iv had it 3 times already and can already feel something happeneing.

The body is such a funny thing, and we forget that it is a machine that needs to be checked once in a while. So now that iv had it checked, its time to fix it.

Super easy salad and SO good for you.

Recipe:

Baby gem, or iceberg lettuce
Extra large madagascan prawns,
Smoked salmon,
Fresh white crab meat,
Mint,
Coriander,
Asparagus,
Fresh raw beetroot.

Cut and mix of how ever much you need and place in a bowl

To make the dressing:

4T Extra virgin olive oil
2T sherry vinegar
1t salt
1t tabasco

Mix very well and pour over your salad and enjoy.

You can make any variation of this, by adding new potatoes, asparagus, fennel, but make sure you have a mix of everything.

You want to give your body a good mix of vitamins and protien, and in my case IRON.

Simplicty at its best!!!!

Spaghetti Bolognese..... Mood = My sisters recipe

I love a good old bowl of comfort food every now and again and spaghetti bolognese is probably high on the list. I make a really good one, but my sister tania makes it even better. She has a secret ingrediant, which is not going to be a secret anymore after this post. I found it truely wonderful to use this in this dish. It just takes it to another level. Keeping your guests wondering what the flavour is that they are tasting.

So this was years ago and i was staying at her flat in London and she was making dinner. For once i was not making dinner and just observing. Something I DO LIKE TO DO. And as well as the pasta, she made several other dishes. As i mentioned in other posts, we all love to eat and my mother, the Queen of multi tasking gave us this ability to just make many dishes at the same time.

So as she was making the spaghetti, i saw the ingrediant and asked her what she was doing, and she said just trust me. My father always told me never to trust anyone who tells you to trust them, but in this case, he was wrong.

Pommegranate sauce.

That is her secret.

Recipe:

500g lean beef/lamb mince

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

1t of nutmeg

3T pommegrannate sauce

7 tomatoes, cubed

2T tomato pureé

Sugar

1 cup red wine

Thyme

Salt

Pepper

Water

Spaghetti

Method:

• Sauteé the onions and garlic in olive oil

• Add the mince and brown well. Sprinkle to nutmeg and stir

• Add the thyme

• add the wine and the tomatoes and some water to cover everything.

• Add the tomato pureé

• Add the Pommegranate syrup and season to your taste.

• Add salt pepper and sugar.

• Let it boil

• Boil the pasta in a seperate pan, and salt the water well.

• when the pasta is 1/2 cooked drain some water from the pasta in to the sauce and let it reduce down by half.

• Then add the half cooked pasta to the sauce and continue to cook it.

• This way the flavour of the sauce will be soaked up by the pasta and it will be absorbed.

• This is how and Italian chef taught me how to make it. And it is perfect.

Add some grated parmesan and a sprig of thyme for decoration if you have guests over and serve.

Family recipes are the best and i intend on sharing them with everyone.

Buon Appetito!!!!

Marshmallow Pie..... Mood = Cloudy

My friend Nour has been telling me about her marshmallow pie for a while now and after seeing a picture of it the other day i had to make it. I heard about this pie from many people and it was almost becoming  legendary amongst our friends. So she came round to give me the run down of this delicious fluffy, bouncy, pastel goo, which was simply divine. She usually makes it with a digestive biscuit base, but she amped it up a notch and made it with an oreo cookie base, which i think just took it to a whole new level.

Nour is an amazing cook, and has a great passion for it, so when she said she would share her recipe, i was super excited. I love it when people are open and like to show others how to make something, especially something this good and needed to be shared with everyone. So it was sunday night, we were all recovering from a long night on saturday, and Marshmallow pie graced my kitchen and my belly. It couldn't have come at a better time.

I was the photographer for this and Nour was the chef.

Recipe:

150g butter
1 1/2 bags of marshmallows (large and small, Pink and white)
200ml of cream
300g philadelphia (light, optional)
30 oreo cookies
sprinkles

Method:

• Melt the butter

• Bash the oreos to make a crumble.

• Add the melted butter and mix together and place in a pie dish and flatten. Put it in the fridge to cool down while you do everything else.

• Put 3/4 of the Marshmallow in a pan and let it begin to melt.

• Add the cream and the philadelphia and stir.

• Do not have the heat too high as it will burn. It should take about 7-10 minutes to melt.

• When it has become lump free, add the rest of the mini marshmallows, and let them almost melt, but keep thier shape.

• Pour into the pie base and add sprinkles and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before removing from the fridge.

I never made something this quick, and this recipe definitley has a place for my kind of cooking. It is good for kids parties or just simply a little but of fun and also something that people have not really had before. Totally American, totally fattening, and totally perfect.

It simply like eating a cloud.

The Burger KING.....Mood = My own!!!!

I recently found my love of hamburgers and have found that i cant stop eating them. I rarely eat burgers out so i will always try to make my own. I dont think it is about the meat for me, but more about the additions, such as gherkins, ketchup, red onions, lettuce, tomato, and mustard.

The meat is ofcourse the star of the show, but as with all stars, the extras make all the difference.

I had some minced meat in the fridge and i had just bought foccacia bread, and was craving. I was also a little lazy to make my own dough as i had just had the longest week, so i began with my craving.

I chopped some onion up into small peices, added them to the mince, added some ketchup, mustard, parsely, tabasco and seasoned it well with salt and pepper. I shaped the patties and pan fried them to get colour and then finished them off in the oven to cook properly all the way through.

I toasted the focaccia, layered it with goodies, mentioned above, and just before the meat was done i added some cheese to melt on top.

Within 15 minutes my burger was done and i have to say that it was just perfect, hit the right spot and made me realise even when you are lazy you can create great things. Who needs a buger king when by the time it takes you to get up, get in your car, park, order, and collect then dirve back, you could have made you own!!!!

Have a go and tell me how it goes.....

Lahme and fasoulia.....Mood = Tradition

My mother is the BEST cook EVER!!!! She makes a different dish every day, and this dish was one of those that really stuck in my mind. I love it. It is healthy, tasty, has texture, and quite simply so worth it. You can make this with OKRA, or ladys fingers, but i prefer this with string beans. Some people, especially in Lebanon, use butter beans.

It may make you use a few more pans than you would like to but, the end result is just divine.

Like my mother, I try to bring different foods, tastes and styles into my home, to feed my husband and friends. And even if they are not used to eating it, or have never tried it, they simply love the flavours.

This dish is made up of Tomatoes, lamb neck, or lamb fillet if you cant find neck, string beans, garlic and onions. Rice is usually what accompanies it with some green chilli and green pepper.

Recipe:

500g lamb neck or lamb fillet, cubed.

500g fine string beans

2 onions, diced

1 onion quartered

1 whole head of garlic crushed

8 tomaotes

2T tomato puree

Basmati rice

Green chilli

Green bell pepper

Method:

• Fill a pan with boiling water and add the quartered onion and the cubed meat. Let it boil and remove the scum that comes from the top. Keep doing this till there is no more scum coming to the top. Let it simmer.

• Get another pan, adding your chopped oinons and garlic, and you want to gently sautee this. You do not want to brown it.

• Add the Srting beans when this is ready, and again turn the heat down and let them gently cook.

• Reove the meat fromt he pan, approximately 40 minutes later, and KEEP THE LIQUID. This will make the sauce full of flavour.

• Get your chopped tomatoes, and place them in the sauce pan with a little salt and add the cooking liquor and boil. Add the tomaot paste.

• Place this tomato liquid into a blender to make it sooth, and then pour it over the beans, onions, garlic and add the meat.

• Check for flavour and add a little salt if needed as the tomato puree is a little sour.

• Keep this on a medium heat and begin to cook your rice.

• When the rice is ready, you can serve.

Place a good amount of rice in a bowl, and ladel over this terracota coloured lava on top. Let it cool slightly.

Cut up some green pepper and chilli and eat to your hearts content.

Some fmailiy traditions should never be lost and this one, i hope will be one of those dishes that is made and remembered for its simplicity of ingrediants, but its greatness in flavour.

My mother is the best cook and through her i have managed to be able to express myself so well through food. Every dish has a meaning to me and i cook it to go with that feeling, and this dish is one that i make when i miss her....

Granola .....Mood = Good for you

Granola is easy, healthy and very filling. I like to use greek yoghurt as it is thick and creamy and manuka honey +10. Yes it is expensive but it is so good for you. Seriously.

Manuka honey has been used by the ancient Egyptians for thousands of years, but can now only be found in New Zealand. It is a medical discovery that this honey can help with many many illnesses listed below....

Athlete's Foot

Arthritis

Sore Throat

Acne

Cold Sores

Ring Worm

Wrinkles

Burns

Ulcers

Infections

Insect Bites

Acid Reflux

IBS

Nail Fungus

MRSA

Cold & Flu Symptom

Eczema & Dermatitis

Wounds & Abrasions

Aches & Pains

Staph Infections

So with that in mind, it seems worth it to pay £10 a bottle.

Oats also have cholesterol lowering qualities which are good for you and also fill you up so you dont have to eat junk during the day. And the berries are super foods, known to be high in antioxidants. So this meal is one not to miss. It takes about 2 minutes to make this one up.

I layer my Granola.

Wild berries, Oats, yoghurt, Manuka honey, Berries, Oats, Yoghurt, manuka honey, Oats...

Simple easy and delicious. And good for you.

Try it Honey.

Home made sushi.... Mood = Fresh

When i think about fish, i remember all those lovely dinners my father used to take us to when we were younger. I can remember that it was about 20 years ago when he took us to eat sushi and we all loved it so much. So it became a weekly ritual. I dont remember any other children in the restaurants, and though it was a little strange but now i guess it was purely because it was relatively new in london and most people were scared of food poisoning.

Well things have changed a lot since then and sushi has become alomst like a McDonalds, on every high street, but you still have to be careful and eat at the right place to make sure you get the right quality.

Sushi has been around for centuries, but the method is very different today than when it began. It used to be vinegered and fermented to preserve the fish and Sushi, literally means "its sour". Nowadays sushi has evolved to a point where people are eating sushi that is not even Japanese, such as the california roll and spider roll. But nevertheless it is delicious.

My favourite used to be eating Chirashi-Zushi, which is a bowl filled with sushi rice and layered with different kinds of sushi so every mouth full you take is a different bite. Amazing.


These rolls i made were so easy and relatively quick to make. I found that i am seriously craving anything with soya sauce, and cant stop eating this and everything else.... So take your time, buy SUSHI GRADE fish from your fishmonger and have everything prepared in advance.

Items you need to start:


Sushi rolling mat

Nori paper

Wasabi

Fish (salmon, crab, prawn, seabass, tuna)

Vegetables (asparagus, red pepper, cucumber, avaocado)

Soya sauce

Sushi rice

Method:


* Boil the sushi rice as you would any normal rice.

* While that is cooking, begin to cut your vegetables, and cook off your asparagus if you are using. At the same time peel, devein your prawns and cook them.

* Get your fish and cut in to long strips and place back in to the fridge until ready to use.

* When your rice is ready place in a tray to let it cool.

* When it has cooled mix a dash of rice vinegar with a teaspoon of suagr and salt and drizzle over the rice. You dont have to do that if you dont want to. On many occassions i dont.

* Mix your wasabi powder with a tiny amount of water to create a paste.

* Get your nori sheet and lay it on your rolling mat.

* Wet your fingers and get some rice and massage it in to the nori to cover 95% of it. Leaving the top free.

* Add a tiny amount of wasabi on to your rice and place your chosen fish and vegetables and begin to roll.

* When you are rolling as soon as you get over the fish, press down slightly to secure it and then continue to roll till you reach the end.

* Add some water to the last strip of the nori before you seal it. This will act like a glue to hold it together.

* Set aside and repeat with the others.

* To cut, i cut them in half and then in 3's. So you get six from each roll.

* Add some wasabi to your platter and some ginger. It helps cleanse the palette. And kills any bacteria floating around.


The sushi i made were rolls and some sashimi.


Salmon Rolls

Crab and coriander rolls

Prawn tempura rolls with asparagus

Salmon sashimi


Its time to take over your kitchen and be more confident. Show yourself what you can do. And impress yourself and your friends. Its the perfect party food to make.


Be fresh, be daring.

Ps. Fish in this state has a lot of Omega 3 and essential fatty acids which are great for brain food, and keeping seratonin levels up. It was my cure for the blues.....

Red velvet Baby shower..... Mood = Baby Boom

It was my friends baby shower the other day and everyone had to either bring or make something..... So i made something. Actually 2 things. I made the brownies, that i posted up earlier and this lovely little cake for her soon to be Jnr.

I just rolled out fondant icing and cut them in to little feet and a bib and placed them on the icing. The cake was a real hit as red velvet is her favourite, and mine. So that was a good call. I also added some hundreds and thousands to add a little colour to the blue and white. I think it was a perfect cake for the perfect meeting. You can try this at home, following the recipe and adding your own design....

Lets see what you can come up with....

Siu Mai.....Mood = Perfect parcels

Sui Mai are an all time favourite. I love oriental/ Asian food. The flavours, the saltiness and the texture just make it so different from everything else. I made this as a run off to my Gyoza, and absolutely loved them. Although i have to say i am not an expert in making them, they turned out quite well. I also made my own wonton wrappers, and that was the only thing that was a little tricky. In the sense that i wanted them to be paper thin, and they werent. I guess i have to check my rolling techniques. But even though they were a little thick, they were delicious. It is made in a similar way to the gyoza but in the mix for the dough, i added one egg. This changed the texture and the colour.

Fort he filling i just used veal mince and similar ingridiants. But it is all in the shape of the dumpling. You have to make little parcels and squeeze at the neck to make them this way.

You can follow the recipe for Gyoza, and for the pastry just add one egg as an addition.

On top you can add cod roe or peas like i did.

Simply delicious and gone too fast. I know i seem to say that alot, but i guess that is what happens over here. Im hoping it is for the taste as opposed to starvation...

Brownie heaven... Mood = Ooooey- Gooooey

Brownies, brownies, brownies..... What more can i say. They are fudgy, moist, crunchy, chewy, and most of all they are simply the gateway to heaven for me. I dont love chocolate. I worship it. Especially, good, dark chocolate. It is smooth, decadant, and rich in flavour. These brownies are an all time favourite at my house, and i should make them more often, but i would be the size of a house if i did.

I made these for a friends baby shower, along with a lovely red velvet cake,and they went down a treat. Literally.

There is something about the smell of chocolate that make people swoon. Ohhhh and ahhhh. I dont know what it is, but if i could be anything if i was reincarnated, it would be dark cooking chocolate.

So chocolate comes from plants, and plants that are dark in colour.The benefits from dark chocolate is from FLAVONOIDS, which act as anti oxidants. Anti oxidants, help the body from ageing, which causes circulatory problems and heart disease. Dark chocolate contains nearly 8 times as many anti Oxidants as strawberries and also helps with relieving stress and blood pressure, becasue of the nitric oxide. It also helps to balance certain hormones in your body.

Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Stimulates endorphins which makes you feel better

Helps lift your mood as it contains seratonin, so acts like an anti depressant.

It contains theobromine, caffine, which are stimulants.

Studies show that a small amount of chocolate a day helps reduce high blood pressure.

It brings down LDL cholesterol by up to 10%. This is the bad cholesterol in your body.

Enough of the science part, back to the real deal.

Recipe:

400g 70% chocolate

325g unsalted butter

650g golden caster sugar

260g plain flour

6 eggs

Make 24 portions.

Method:

• Melt butter and chocolate in double boiler, or in microwave, till it has melted.

• Mix suagr and eggs till doubles in volume, and the colour has gone creamy.

• Mix the two together adding the sifted flour.

• Add Vanilla extract

• Line a baking tray

• Pour and cook for 50-60 minutes.

• Remove from the oven an dlet it cool down before you remove it from the pan.

• Cut into equal sized peices and sprinkle some icing sugar if you like.

• You can serve this on its own or with some cream and strawberries.

So who ever said dark chocolate was not good for you was probably trying to keep it all to themselves....

I have a low fat brownie recipe coming up soon. No Butter. 

Goats cheese and Spinach muffins.....

So cheese, and spinach are two of my favourite things. And together they are even better. I tried these delicious muffins and added some parmesan cheese for salt and cayenne pepper for a little kick. They were divine. You can add nutmeg if you like to change it up a little or whatever spice you like. Nothing is concrete in cooking. You just have to substitute what is in the recipe and not add too much more when baking. Otherwise you will change the texture of the dough mix.

These are a sample of what you can eat while on a diet as they have the flour for fibre, the cheese for protein and spinach for vegetables. They are tasty and easy to have on the go. I love these and ate so many. I told myself that they were healthy so it made me feel better.

Definitely try this recipe if you are always on the go, as you can make 9 or 12 and keep them on standby. You may want to double the recipe as i mentioned before, they went faster than imagined....

Recipe:

25 grams of butter
200ml of milk
150g baby leaf spinach
250g plain flour or whole wheat flour
1 T Baking powder
1 ts Bicarbonate of soda
1 t Cayenne pepper
75g parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten
225 g Goats cheese, without the rind

Method:

• Heat the milk and butter together, and put the spinach in till it has wilted.

• Heat the oven to 170 degrees

• Mix all the dry ingrediants together and sift.

• Adding a little black pepper

• Mix in the parmesan, add the agg, and the butter, milk and spinach mix. You can blitz this slightly to make the mix a little more combined, but if you dont have a blender handy, it is no problem. Just make sure you use baby leaf spinach.

• Grease 9 muffing holes and place the dough mixture in each one filling HALF way only. You can use cups if you like, but they will come out.

• Cut the goats cheese up into peices and place into the middle of each filling. Then add some more mix to cover the cheese and place in the oven.

• Cook for 20 minutes

Let them cool for 10 minutes before serving this tasty, cheesey vegetarian piece of heaven.