Spiralling out of control

So I got to enjoy some UK sunshine 

And discovered a yummy Captain Morgan's White Rum Mojito in a can, very nice and so handy for the summer months.

Even got to enjoy a delicious chicken salad, just bought a store garden salad bowl, threw in some avocado and grilled some chicken and added some Caesar Salad dressing. 

Also as I put it all in the bowl there was a lot less washing up to do.

I decided I wanted some Aubergine (egg plant) now if you regualarly read my blog you know I have a love hate relationship with this veg. I love it, but I always suck when I cook it. But if I'm nothing but persistant so I decided to try again.

So I sliced it put it into a colander and covered it in salt (no very health for the heart) and left it there for about 15-20 minutes.

I then put it on a baking tray and added a pinch more salt and cooked for about 25 minutes.

While that was cooking I wanted to use my new Spiral Slicer - as it seem like such a good idea when I bought it to make vegetable noodles and to say hey world look how healthy I can be.

I got some carrots and some courgette (Zucchini) to make into wonderful spirals.

What a complete disaster and such a waste of time, now to be fair to the Spiral Slicer I have Dyspraxia so using something that requires the machine to turn one way, while I turn the veg the other, actually can be very difficult so not sure if it was a bad machine or just a bad me.

So we end up with just this

From all this 

So I think I will from now on buy it pre-spiraled or find an electronic one.

The good new however is the Aubergine turned out great so at least I achieve something and the dinner wasn't a total disaster.

So to cheer myself up the next day I went to LEON and got my self a perfectly Spiraled Courgetti & Kale Salad which was fresh, taste and super nom.

Is it ever too late for Kebabs?

Hello and welcome.

Well true to my word I've been cooking up a storm in my house trying to stay healthy and happy and hopefully loose all that weight I put on during the baptism. Although must of that was medicinal, stress eating, it was either start shouting or cram my cake-hole with cake lol.

I started off by just doing a simple salmon, literally buying Salmon from the supermarket and cooking it in the oven. I just added a little flair by cooking a whole red chili on the top. Made it nice and spice but added hardly anything to the calorie count.

My other health discovery of the week, I made butternut squash, Sweet potato and chili soup - so all those ingredients chopped cooked in Stock then blended. Really for soup the weights and measure come down to how thick or thin you want it and how much you want. I'm sure other cooks wouldn't be pleased but I approach soup with throw it all in and hope for the best method. I find simmering for 20 minutes always make the veg tender and as you've cooked in stock it straight to the blender.


But any who, instead of having a slice of lovely hot, buttered crusty bread to dip into it (sorry excuse me when I wipe up my drool as I love bread) I used raw carrot Batons.

"Raw Carrot batons?" I hear you cry in slight dismay but honestly it works. You get a lovely crunch from the carrot and the hot and the cold really add a little something.


Look if I wasn't being healthy it would be bready bread goodness. But if you want a healthy alternative to loose a few extra pounds I would highly recommend it.

Okay time to come clean I have tried this week and have been really good. I'll come on to my fab Kebab recipe later. I must admit I had a tiny slip up but honestly it was all for a good cause. On Friday it was the Macmillan Coffee Morning. Macmillan are a great organisation that offer help and support for people and their families dealing with cancer. My cousin had a Macmillan nurse when she was battling (and unfortunately lost) with Cancer. That was back in the early 2000 they were great then and they still do great work now.

So once a year they get people to have coffee mornings, like a big bake sale with lots of people doing it up and down the country. So I gave in as some guy at work put on a fab spread.

I only had one bit of cake but bought two (gave the second bit away) and I took part in the raffle so did a small little bit to help. But small little bits add up and they raised nearly £800 which is about $1000. So all the people at work little bits added up to that and our total will add up to much more with everyone else.  Meaning they can carry on doing such great work and helping a lot of people.

Also technically charity cake doesn't have any calories. As I'm sure the universe sort it self out, as you're doing something good it won't punish you by adding that cake to your hips.

So after that mini treat I was back on it.

Over the weekend I made some lummy yummy kebabs. I know the summer is over and we have hurtled straight into Autumn and on the downward track to winter's cold embrace.

But hey I'm dyslexic and we have a problem with being organised and getting things done in the right order so your getting summer dishes in the Autumn and I might do a spring salad in the winter lol.

So I made Spicy Lemon Lamb Kebabs.

Really easy to make even though they take a bit of Prep.

So you take the Lamb, Lemon (I prefer fresh but I'm sure juice would work as well) and some chili powder.

Place the lamb into the bowl

Squeeze over the lemon. I do this through my hand to I don't have to pick out the pips :)

Then add as much or a little chili powder as you want.

And stir in. Then you need to let it marinate preferable overnight (at least 8 hours) as you want the flavor to take.

This recipe unlike the normal lamb with mint kebabs, which I find can sometimes be an overpowering taste this is more sublet. Sort of adding more of a zing that an fanfare.

So after the meat is prepared all you need then is some lovely veg - what ever you like. I went simple with Tomatoes, Mushroom and peppers. But you can have courgette (Zucchini) Red Onion to name a few, really what ever takes your fancy.

then all you need to do is alternate between meat and the veg to get the perfect balance of tastiness.

Now you can either cook these under the grill or on a Bar-Be-Que. Although as I said earlier I've sort of missed the BBQ boat. So I put them into the oven for 20 min at 180 degrees turning them half way through.

Also if you have any veg left over you can always throw that in too cook too.

Then serve how ever you want on there own, with rice, put them in a pitta bread..........

So hopefully all my goodness will pay off and a can loose a few pounds before I head off to Scotland for a few days in the middle of October for the little ones 2nd Birthday.

And be thing for my second Amsterdam trip in November.  Definitely will need to loose weight before then as I will be putting on a few pound over the two day period as everything is all so nice to eat and there will be a few drinkies.

That hopefully will slake my Wanderlust for a while. As I went part the airport the other day and saw this.

So made me really, really, really, really (I could go on) want to go away.

I do know this is a very first world problem with all the places and stuff I've done this year I know I am very lucky compared to most. Just need to turn on the news to see that.

But that still doesn't stop me wanted more fun and adventure. I think as long as when I am whining about my next trip to WDW or somewhere exotic I remember how lucky and privileged I am to be able to do that. It won't be that bad. I would say I should give up the whining but think that is asking the impossible, just ask my other half lol (I'm not that bad really).

Oh and my Disney holiday fund is now up to a whooping 2.5% only 97.5% to go lol

Faux Fun

So I had big plans for cooking and was going to teach the hubby how to make Bread and we were going to paint the front of the house be busy productive members of society...

The little man had other plans. He was a bit ill and when I say a bit ill if you've ever seen the "Exocist" you'll know what I mean.

Wasn't so bad when we were at home lots of cleaning up lots of hugs as you always worry so much when they are not well,. but his temperature was fine so obviously something just upset his stomach.

Or major error came when we thought he was doing better and took him out to the local hardware store "B&Q" to look at getting supplies for the house painting, and was subsequently very ill down one of the isles and all over his dad. To be fair the staff were wonderful and really helpful and didn't get upset even when I showed them the mess.

Just think that great for a store as there are times when you are a bit mortified but they handled it like it wasn't any trouble at all and I did even offer to do the mopping myself but they said to take care of the little one and they would take care of it.

So as for cooking, this week to make thing easier I stuck with quick simple dishes in between handing out a shed load of TLC.

I made a Faux Carbonara .

cooked up some leeks and Mangetout while frying some bacon..

After the leeks and Mangetout were cooked I thew them into the frying pan too for a couple of minutes.

Before mixing them all with some pasta and low fat fromage frais for very quick very easy and if you've cut the fat of the bacon low in fat healthy scrummy meal.

I even made another Lasange (See previous week's post for recipe) but instead of pasta sheets on top I used potatoes which gave it an added kick.

Don't worry the little one did get better and even managed to have some fun on the swings.

I am  a big kid at heart and the swing are one of my absolute favorite things to do and I am  so glad my son is like me and loves them.  I know when he upgrades to the big kid swings we'll be on them together from morning to night  :) 

As he was doing so well went out for a lovely brunch  at The Fancy Goat. I had a Bucks Fizz (mimosa) to celebrate his recovery

And enjoyed a wonderful Tortilla De Patatas.

Oh and when the waitress said the pan was hot I should have paid more attention as I burnt a finger on it ouchie, ouch.. Although being so yummy made up for the pain.

The little one got some tasty scramble egg very rich and creamy.

Another highlight of the week was another trip to Thomas Cookie Co to get some more of there fab cookies can see them become a staple in my life (but shh don't tell the diet)...

Right this weekend I am having no excuse (well a sick infant isn't really an excuse it a all encompassing situation) I will be making bread and will post it up step by step...

And as it's a Bank Holiday over here I've also got a few other interesting things planned so will be a far more exciting post, well they can't all be mad weekend in Amsterdam (even though I wish they were lol) :)

Lasagne, Lasagna "I've Heard it both ways"

Sorry about the title but I do love "Psych" the TV Show.

So cooking again yay, well my blog is call dyslexic cooking so after a few weeks of doing none, well apart from the bog standard family meal that rule my life. But hey I do work full time have a toddler and a husband and trying to have a life so whipping up culinary masterpiece everyday is not feasible, when I win the lottery and have my dream kitchen I promise to cook every day lol.

This week I have been busy I cooked up another Prawn Pasta (see the 9th June blog for full recipe details)

Love this dish as it quick and easy and you can make loads so it last a few night.

Much the same with my next recipe as you know I'm trying, and not very successfully I might add (see the buns and the bacon sarnies post for proof) to do Slimming World. I have lost 10lb which I suppose is better than putting it on,  but considering I being doing since January not great. Although one of my New Year resolution was to loose weight (Luckily I didn't put how much) so if I can just not put it all back on by Dec 31st for the first times I would have achieved a resolution lol.

Any who I made a Slimming World Lasagne as we say here in the UK.

Ingredients for this:

500g of 5% fat lean mince
1 chopped onion (I was lasy and bought pre-chopped)
500g of veg for roasting (this can be anything you fancy I like bell peppers and courgettes/Zucchini)
100g of Mushrooms
Carton of Passata
Can or Carton of chopped tomatos
300g of Fat free Greek Yogurt (For the white Sauce)
Lasagne Sheets (Dried)
and not featured in the pic but any herbs and spices you might want to add.

Firstly I put on the oven and cooked the roasted vegetable, I used 1% spray oil to keep it nice and healthy.

they go on at 200c oven for 25 minutes.

Then when they were firmly underway cooking, I started to brown the meat and the onions.

I then added in the mushrooms

cooked them off for a minute or two before adding the Passata and the chopped tomatoes.

Then once the vegetables were nice and roasted I added them too.

Which made a lovely pasta bolognese sauce, but we are making Lasagne so on-wards.

After grabbing a deep dish

I added a layer of the meat to the bottom.

Then layered on some pasta sheets.

Then covered the sheet in a layer of the Greek yogurt.

I then repeated this process and just for me (if you don't want the calories and what it to be syn free don't add it) a bit of low fat mature cheddar on top (40g)

baking in a 200+ degree oven for 35 minutes

You then end up with was a delicious, filling, tasty and very very low in fat dinner for two nights.

Add it with a bit of salad and you got a meal that will leave you full but without the guilt.

So I hope you give it a go :)


My one last thing before signing off this week is how exciting was the news about the Disney World expansion at Disney Hollywood Studios?? if you haven't heard about it, what have you been living in a little box? you can read about it here

As you know I am a huge Disney fan and a bit of a Star Wars geek so to be able to geek out with the Star Wars in the same place I can geek out with the mouse I think I'm going to have some sort of fit lol.

Although am a bit bummed that they are not starting work till 2017 and with how long it took them to do the Fantasy Land expansion I can see it being another 3 years on top. The only thing that is a plus side is my little one will be around 8/9 when it is completed so I would say Optimum age for Star War Madness yay.

So with Disney being so prevalent in the news I have decided to start a holiday fun to fund a trip for me and the family (think I mention that I wanted to start one a while back,but hey I'm dyslexic so we have idea and then another one takes over that why if it not on my to do list is ain't happening lol) but this time I have started it.

I have costed up a total for my trip and it's not going to be cheap and currently as it stands the fund is just getting to about the 1% mark of the total amount. So a long way to go (Think Star Wars land will be open before I hit the total lol)

I have decided I will achieve the total by getting some stuff that has been sitting around on ebay, cutting back on excessive spending, more batch cooking and going to use the train problems I have to my advantage and every time I get a delay repay compensation I will stick it in the fun so come on delays and cancellation lol

My Disney Dream is currently 99% away from target, but hey at least it's not a 100%