No Wine (Wait, What!!) Risotto

Two posts in the same week I am spoiling you lol.

Also this is a cooking post yay - give the public what they want, even if they don't know they want it :)

So back from the Yummy Scrumminess of Scotland and with having all the fun and the drinks, it's back to the diet (Boo) but I get to try out new things so (Yay).

So I decided to make Risotto, I adore Risotto and I have a lovely summer recipe (which I will do this summer as I can take shots in my new Garden whoop whoop) of a Lemon Chicken and Spring Onion Risotto that I do  make with wine.

But as it winter and not the nicest weather here in Kent I wanted to stick with a more winter theme and because I was dieting I omitted the wine. 

So I decided to make Mushroom and Leek Risotto.

Actually a really easy recipe taking about 15-20 minutes but for the whole time you need to be on it.

For the ingredients I used, Risotto Rice, Stock Cubes , Mushroom (chopped), Quark and a bag of sliced leeks (Yes I know that make me super lazy) 

So for this recipe you need a bit of stock - I used three cubes in 1/2 Litre nearly a pint of water. 

So as usual I used spray oil and emptied about 200g of Risotto Rice in to the pan gave it a bit of a stir for 1 -2 minutes. This is when I would normally add a glass of wine and cook it down - 

Instead I just added the stock, bit by bit.

When it was around half way through the stock and about 5- 6 minutes into cooking time along with the stock I added in the chopped up mushrooms - I cooked the leeks separately in another pan as I like my leeks nice an tender. 

I cooked this for about another 10 minutes before adding the leeks, really easy but you have to keep stirring which is normally fine, but as any parent out there know that getting a toddler to behave for a few minutes is an achievement but 15 straight minutes without need to help them with something is hard. So memo to me next time making this either the other half needs to be about or he's in bed as I only managed to just save it from all sticking to the bottom of the pan doh. 

After I added the leeks I stirred in a spoonful of the quark to give it a slightly creamy texture then serve. 

Quick easy and yummy. I had so much that the next day I even managed to use the left over.

I roasted some skin free chicken breast which I added some chili and roasted tomatoes along with it. So still really healthy but another added twist to it. 

On both accounts a very filling tasty meal which is great when you're dieting as there is nothing worse than being hungry after dinner as I find for me that is optimum snacking time.

Although saying that I have now become obsessed with Muller light yogurts, I never had these two flavors before but they are supper yummy.

I even mixed in Raspberry with the Vanilla Chocolate Sprinkle one for a between meal pick me up. .

And my other favorite of their's the Banana and Custard, I had with Blueberries as a quick breakfast treat at work.

A Quick Pasta Recipe

Before all the fun of the fair well The Kent County Show tomorrow.  I'm so excited!! 

Thought I'd post a quick and easy pasta recipe 

I roasted some courgettes and mushrooms 

20 minutes in a 200 degree oven. I used spray oil to keep it nice and healthy.

I think boiled some corn on the cob 

I cooked them for around 8-10 mins then used the water too cook some pasta in.

I added red onions and prawns to a pan 

Along with the roasted vegetables, I chopped of the kernels of the corn added those.

Stirred in the cooked pasta and added some Philadelphia lightest cream cheese.

All in all it took less than half an hour and it is very low in fat. If you're on Slimming World like me I used my Healthy A and it was Syn Free :) 

Which is great as I think I might be slightly naughty at the show tomorrow as there be too many good Produced in Kent suppliers I won't be able to resist. 

Whitsta-Bubbles and Seaside Dreams

Yummy Wine

 

 

This weekend I spend most of it in the lovely Kent seaside town of Whitstable.

 

I left from work Friday and me, S & J of the "Train Gang" the girls who I cause havoc with in Amsterdam (see Amok in Amsterdam posts for more details) got the train down from London Victoria. I started the sans baby evening (who was at home with his dad) with a lovely glass of wine at Victoria Station.

 

As I waited for the girls to arrive I met a lovely woman who was over from Spain meeting her son at the station. she was telling me about all her adventures and I mine. This is what we lack sometime in this country just stopping to shoot the breeze with someone while passing away the time. This is exactly how I met the people I was going away with. If I just stayed in my own little bubble I would have never met them and never had the fabulous experiences I've had or forged such good friendships.

 

So when the last of the group finally turned up we hot footed it on to the train down to Whitstable. Of course there was drink and nibbles as it was an hour and a half journey.

 

When and after going the wrong way leaving the station I blame S who also got us lost on the way to the station in Amsterdam as well. Luckily this time it was only a quick detour and we found our was to H folks house where we would be staying for the duration.

 

H was a star and already had the wine open to celebrate our arrival but as we old had 3 bottles S and I headed out to make sure we wouldn't run out. This is where I got my first look at Whitstable properly. First impression so quaint. As it was nearly 8pm all the shop were shut but we did like our amble window shopping in all the fab stores.

 

We found the local Offie (Off Licence) and picked up a few bottles of fizzy stuff and took it back to the house. When we arrived back we were greeted by a table full of yumminess. H & J had put together a buffet of meats, cheeses, breads and dips oh and a bit of chicken.

It went very well with the fizz we got and had a few toast to friendship, life and just general drinking.
Moving on to conversation of what is happening in everyone lives. With H over from Amsterdam we wanted to catch up with all her news.

 

Its great how with friends you don't have to see each other for a while but when you all get back together you just click again and have a fun time.

So much fun in fact that we got a bit silly as the evening dragged on and ended up taking a 2am walk to the beach. Apparently, according to my friend S after showing us the harbour and the ships, the big black expanse in front of us was the sea (who knew right ) lol. As it such a quaint quiet town taking a night-time stroll by the beach is nice a peaceful and thankfully free of reprobates well apart from us.

 

we head back down the high street where I got a couple of incriminating shots of us out and about. Most of us are parent and I want to point out how disgraceful this is, very, very fun and stupid but not what you would expect from such upstanding citizen lol :)

 

 

we got back to the warmth of the home just before 3 then after some wrangling of who was sleeping were we finally drifted off into a nice peaceful (crying toddler free night).

The next morning only slight fuzzy headed we all got up bright and early, well early for the rest of the girls but it was past 8am and all people with toddlers know that nearly a 2 hour lie in...

Co-ordinated us all getting ready and using the bathroom we headed out in search of breakfast.

S recommended a lovely little café/bistro establishment halfway down the high street call Samphire

Beautifully decorated inside with a nice open kitchen so you can see when your food is coming.

The menu is full of locally source produce and the staff are accommodating and very friendly. And thankfully non-judgemental as we all (well apart from J) order either buckfizz/Kir Royal for starters.

Then for breakfast S and I had Egg Royal, like eggs benedict but with salmon instead of the ham. Then J and H who had a discussion only that morning about how they're both nearly vegetarians and have nearly stopped eating meat both ordered a full English.

I think all that talk of meat pushed them over the edge.

Now we where all fuelled up we headed for the high street and its shops. The high street is full of a mix of brick a brack, art and boutique clothes shops and we had great fun popping in and out of each one.

In one of the galleries as it was the literary festival they had a poety tree where people could submit their poems. So I added one of my own, for all the world, well the world of Whitstable, to see.

On the way back up the high street we stopped off at the community centre where they were having a couple of art exhibitions an art market where H bought a sculpture and a nudes postcard exhibit where local people were asked to submit postcard size nudes. The embroidered one was my favourite.

 

H folks  submitted a picture I think it rather good and it obviously a great bit of fun.

 

 

After the girls and bought nearly their body weights in clothes, jewellery, candles and sculpture we headed back to the house to met my Husband and the little man. The rest of the girls where staying an extra night but due to family commitments I could only manager the one :(

 

But the sun was out and we could use the house's wonderful garden. Had to take a pic of the garden and house as it was amazing H dad designed the layout and H mum filled it with all the amazing furnishings. Wish I could pull rooms together like this. Although currently my main decoration of rooms in my house is toys as he seems to get them everywhere. 

We decided to have another wine before they arrived. I went to the fridge to get a bottle and to my horror we had run out. H, S and J were astonished until we though about it and yes we had gone through 6 bottles the night before. in our defence that's only 1 and a half each and it was spaced out from 8pm to 3am.

J and S popped out for more supplies, while the boys arrived. The little man had such a fun time running up and down the garden. He discovered a water feature and loved removing the black stones, much to the distress of me and the amusement of the others.

That's the downside of toddlers they sometime can be un-intentionally destructive whirlwinds which is not too bad in your own home but in someone else and especially a place that obviously had so much care and attention put into it not so much.

so after quick toast we headed out to the beach to help the little one run off some of that steam. We stopped on the way for an Oyster. Whitstable is famous for its Oysters and the one I tried didn't disappoint. They are not everyone cup of tea and I couldn't eat a whole plate but I do like the odd one especially when they are this fresh.

I took the little one to have a look at the sea, making sure I had a hold on him so he didn't decide to go head first into the drink. It was a sunny but slightly windy day so the ocean was choppy and roaring in its wake. Very spectacular but I think the little man was slight scared and windswept.

Before getting in the car and heading back home which was thankfully a lot less of a journey than the train ride we stopped at a harbour front café. Where I had some lovely Moules and my other half and the little man shared in some fish and chips.

I have to say it was one of the biggest bits of fish in a fish and chips and considering we all ate every bite it was very nice.

I really loved Whitstable and even though it was my first time there it will not be my last.

As I got home the Saturday night and with the girls still there and drinking I was involved by text into their conversation and we booked to go back in July for the Oyster Festival. This time I'm staying for the whole weekend and the husband and little one can come down and pick me up on the Sunday.

If anyone is attending I would love to say hi..

Birthday and Food Photo Winner

So it been a fun week.

I celebrated my 35 birthday (Must change my Bio) which means I'm half way to 70 and I have to fill in a new age box when taking part in questionnaires lol..

Actually I'm not that bothered by age or by birthdays, especially now as I'm a mum. So I'm half way to 70 all that means to me I get spend all that time with my beautiful family... Think of all the cool stuff I can do with them..

So my birthday was a quiet affair, as a few of my friends are going through bad patches with family illnesses and the little one was ill with a cold so we kept it very low key.

I woke up to a lovely breakfast of a bacon sandwich and bucks Fizz from my lovely hubby along with some vouchers to go towards my new computer (I'm saving up for a Surface Pro 3).

 

The from the little man I got send these lovely Flowers and Balloons (Although I have a sneaking suspicion his dad might have helped) :)

After having a lie-in, and as us parents know that is the best present ever. We went for a lovely lunch a The Hungry Guest in West Malling.

It has not long open and it is very beautiful inside a mixture of old and new as the building itself is quite old. Full of old wooden beams which look fab in contrast to the mix of modern art they hang on the walls.


I had a lovely open parma ham Sandwich with salad and as it was my birthday so I had a bit of pink fizz (Well you have to don't you) and my husband had a burger. They both were super delicious and enjoyed the quiet as the little one was at nursery.

I did also like the cutlery, although had the voice of Sheldon Cooper in my head saying a fork with 3 prongs is a trident lol..

 

The great thing about this place is it was reasonably priced, it had great food, great service and it is local. They also are welcoming of children so I know the next time we go we can bring "Captain Chaos" with us :)

 

Then in the evening I went to my parents we were supposed to go out again but as the little man was still not feeling well, we stayed in and had a take away and some wine which lead to me not feeling great the next day.

 

Then the rest of the week and because we had the bank holiday I did a lot more cooking.

 

I experimented as I'm trying to at least stay with in my Slimming World syn (Obviously Birthdays don't count).

 

So I made a Spicy Prawn dish.

 

 

 

I cooked off some prawns with a sprinkling of chilli powder on top, then added tomato Passata, bit more chili powder and some low fat Greek yogurt.

 

Then for the rice I just boiled up some plain rice but I roasted some carrot and swede chunks - 35mins at 200 degrees and mixed them in.

 

It was a great low fat dish which lasted me a couple of days. Although be careful with the carrot and swede as with the cooking it really easy to have them underdone or burnt.

 

 

 

 

I Also made a lovely low fat Bolognese with Turkey Mince and Passata but to jazz it up, I added 3 bell peppers, button mushrooms, Red Onion and baby plum tomatoes.

 

 

It was so colourful (Super tasty and Syn free) the photo won me "Dish of the Week" at my local Slimming World group which was nice.

 

I like to share recipes see other people recipes especially when dieting. As you're always looking for something different as its so easy to get stuck eating the same thing.

 

Its great that we can share ideas and then try them for myself, as I'm still trying to lose the weight. I'm hoping by the end of July I should be down to my target, but I do  have quite few parties and event to go to so I will need to stay strong...  

 

 

 

So far so good

Well my New Years resolutions got off to a flying start.

I've managed to lose 5.5lb (2kg) in my first week of dieting with Slimming World.

I'm so happy but it's not all been plain sailing, as the the below comparison picture shows.

My Husband and I, thanks to my Parents got to go for a nice meal out at a local Kent Pub - "The Farmhouse" in West Malling toddler free. which you all know meant I could eat without a screaming fit.

 I had a seafood linguine to be good. The other half had a burger followed by their sticky toffee pudding and I had nothing. He also left a bit of it, it took every inch of willpower not to finish it but I managed lol.

With trying to eat healthy I've been cooking up a storm.

This week I've made Turkey Chili.

All you need is:

Turkey Mince

1, Courgette

1, Bell Pepper

Mushrooms

Red Kidney Beans

500g chopped Ttomatoes

Chili Powder (I had hot but you can have mild)

1 vegetable Oxo Cube

Brown the mince add all the veg, kidney beans, Oxo cube and tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes.

To top it off I added home made chips (Fries) and added Salad.

I've been a busy bee in the Kitchen and with a young child it is difficult as we have a low oven so if I'm doing a lot of cooking I have to put the baby gate up so he keeps away from the hot oven. He obviously doesn't like it and stands at the gate and makes his feeling known lol.

So I spend a lot of my cooking time running over to him and giving reassuring hugs that I'm only cooking and haven't abandon him in favor of a Kitchen appliances. 

I used the basis of the Slimming World Quiche recipe and made.

Roasted Aubergine (Egg plant) & Courgette (Zucchini) Salmon Quiche

I roasted 1 bell pepper with 1 Aubergine and 1 Courgette at the same time cooked for 20 Minutes the Salmon. 

While this was cooking I took 4 eggs and 300g of fat free cottage cheese and mixed added a bit of Salt and pepper for seasoning and mixed together. 

Then when the salmon and the veg were done I lined a bottom of a dish with the roasted Aubergine poured over half the egg mixture then added the courgettes, peppers and the flaked Salmon before Pouring over the last of the mixture.

I then put this back in the over for another 20 minutes at 200 degrees.

What your left with is pastry free delicious quiche. 

To add to my busy cooking schedule last week I also had to attend a two day course to get my re-registration of my Prince2 (Project Management) Practitioner exam. The course was very intense and with the little one demanding most of my attention when I got home it was a bit tricky to do the home work. So fingers crossed I passed (I won't find out for a few weeks).

The upside is the training facility was in an Awesome location. Right next to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. As the weather was nice (Chilly but nice) I did a bit of sightseeing in my lunch.

I do love London even though I've seen these sight loads of times before I still love it when I near them.

On Sunday I was up early but due to one thing an another getting the little one up and fed. I decided I wanted something slightly more interesting for breakfast so I made Syn free Spicy Potato cakes.

All you need is a potato a grater and some Quark (a soft low fat cheese).

The process is so easy I made a little video:

So as I said a great week so far on the Diet front still need to get my other resolution off the ground but I am feeling healthy and fairly happy. Must be all the vitamins from all the fruit I've been snacking on.

So wish me luck with this weeks endeavors.

Think I'm just glad to be cooking again as it was a bit weird having a cooking blog with no cooking lol...

Christmas Decs and Do

Hello everyone hope you're all doing well.

With only 9 days left till the Jolly Fat man comes, hope festive cheer is filling your lives. 

I am starting to now feel christmassy as we've got the decorations up. Although as we have a very inquisitive (and by inquisitive, I mean want to destroy everything he sees) 14 month old darling son. We thought it best not to get a tree.

This is quite sad in a way as I've never not had a tree :( although it is far less stressful than constantly try to prevent the little man trying to pull it down on himself :). We'll get a massive one next year to make up for it. 

We also had our works Christmas do in a very nice pub called The Queen Adelaide in Shepherds Bush. I had smoked salmon to start, Duck for main and Christmas Pud for dessert. It was all super lovely unfortunately didn't take any pics as I was in charge of the event as well as our Christmas Attire competitions. I didn't win boo, I didn't even get one vote out of 35. I thought my headband and Totes Amazeballs T-shirt were very festive.

Oh well, but a fun afternoon and night was had by all. Also my folks had the little one over night so I got to have a couple of drinks. I even got the 10pm train home which sounds early but if you have a little on and the fact it started at 2 that is uber rock and roll.

Yesterday I had a lovely night out with my hubby and couple of good friends. My folks even had the baby overnight again which was great for us. (although it transpired that he wasn't well he's got an infection so wasn't a good night for them).

We went to a lovely restaurant call 28 West in Canary Wharf.

Also for once as I am now driving I didn't drink boo, but I got to drive all the way home and even got my first time on a motorway which was interesting I was a bit scared to go over 65mph but I did manage it a couple of times lol... What do they say practise makes perfect :)

We all go there hungry which was a bit of a bad idea as we all over ordered.




I got the Bones and Buns combo and changed my fries to cheesy chips.

I ordered the Chicken, brie and pesto Burger it was nice it came in a Brioche Bun, which seems to be all the rage at the moment.

My Hubby ordered a load of sides including Nachos and Onion Rings as he thought the burgers might not be enough.

We tried to eat it all but failed.

The food was nice but it was way to much I couldn't even get through my Burger and Ribs let alone the sides.

My advise is if you go there not have eyes too big for your belly. Start small then if you're still hungry order some more till your full.

To sign off this week I thought I use a quote from the 1980 film "Working Girl" as it was on at E4 at some ungodly hour this past week but with a sick baby you sometime come across these gems when dealing with soothing them in the middle of the night.

"You want to be taken seriously you've got to have serious hair"

Which is a true now as it was in the 1980 lol. 

Driving Test and Santa

Just a short post from me this week as I'm trying to pull myself together for Christmas don't know why but I can't seem to get into this year. I'm hoping after I put up a few decorations and start wrapping presents I'll feel better.

So this week was a momentous occasion in my life, I finally past my Driving test.  As I grew up and lived most of my life in London and what with the great Transport links and the fact that I always commuted and my Husband who I met in 1999 drove when we needed to get somewhere, it never really came up.

But now living in Kent and having a child I definitely needed to be on the road so after 6 month worth of lesson and one failed test I can now legally drive on our fair nations roads.

The other fun thing I did this week was take the little one to visit Santa at the local school fete. I love these things. The smell of classrooms mixed with, mulled wine and a ancient tea urn coupled with the throng of mostly parents of the children who attend the school they are quintessentially English. So we entered the grotto which was two classroom merged together with a actually quite festive array of lights and tinsel to the Beard Man sitting in his sleigh. Then in usual comic as it is with Kids he was having none of it so I now have a blurry photo of him throwing a fit lol

So hopefully we'll have better luck next year :)