Weekend's Meals

Hope you've all had a good weekend! Can't believe it's the end of half term already! Well, daughter not back to school til Tuesday but Liam back to uni tomorrow.

Anyway, this weekend I have pretty much eaten 4 meals each day - breakfast, lunch, dinner and chocolate...chocolate counts as a meal category right?! I stocked up on chocolate in Waitrose yesterday, although all the bits I've eaten this weekend have actually been a bit disappointing...means the best is yet to come though! :)

First up, Saturday, breakfast. Amazing cocoa-raspberry porridge topped with fresh coconut...

Yum. I did sweeten this with a little Sweet Freedom, but there was still sharpness in the raspberries to provide contrast to the creamy cocoa porridge and fresh coconut. I love fresh coconut. I should really have it more often. A pain to open though - I got Liam to deal with it. In our old house we had a concrete step he used to smash them on, but this house only has wooden decking so first he tried a smashing with a wooden rolling pin, before eventually getting one of the holes open with a corkscrew, and then more rolling pin bashing! It was funny to watch but he wouldn't let me take photos!! The end result was good though...

So good!

After breakfast we went to Waitrose. As well as the usual grocery shopping, we hit the chocolate aisle. This was my haul...

Geo Bars 25% off, Green & Black's 2 for £3, Reese's peanut butter cups I had never tried before, and the little bars of Divine and Montezuma I thought would be good for portion control!

Lunch was simple poached eggs on seeded toast...

followed by the peanut butter cups...

I had 2 and gave my daughter the last one as they were quite sickly! (that sounds awful palming off my unwanted food to her, she was more than happy to accept though!!)

I can't decide if I like these or not. I think I like the concept, but the actual result is a bit artificial tasting... I will just have to make my own instead following Averie's recipe...looks great and a nice simple ingredient list! :)

For dinner, I decided to make bean burgers from The Vegetarian Cookbook...

a bargain I found for £3.99 in The Works in Taunton...I was even more pleased when I went into WHSmith after and found it "on offer" for £7...I do like a bargain! :)

The bean burgers were apparently meant to look like this...

but I decided to serve ours with sweet potato chips and broccoli instead of the bun. The recipe was surprisingly simple. Mashed kidney beans (don't mash so hard that you crack the bowl like Liam did!!)...

plus a mushroom/onion/spices mix...

= bean burgers! (plus a little flour to help shape them up!)

I also had sweet potato chips cooking in the oven whilst I was prepping the burgers...

all served up...

slightly burnt, but really nice! Considering I don't like kidney beans (yes, I was the awkward child who couldn't, and indeed still can't, stand baked beans, yuck!) I wasn't sure I would like this, but it was delicious.

Not surprisingly, as its main flavours are cumin and ground coriander, it tasted a lot like falafel...yummy!

On to Sunday. I started the day with a smoothie - banana, tinned peach slices, passion fruit, a date, coffee (Sunday mornings = 6.30am start = coffee needed!) and xanthan gum, topped with more passion fruit seeds and fresh coconut...

I'm loving fresh coconut at the moment! I liked the taste of this but wasn't too impressed with the passion fruit seeds - my teeth didn't like the crunch!

Mid-morning my Mum came round to look after the children while I went to the gym. It was quite busy but I still managed to do 50 minutes cardio - rowing machine, cross trainer, wave and cross-wave. I was planning to do some weights but my session was cut short by a text from my Mum saying "baby needs his Mummy!" so I quickly stretched and rushed out, texting as I left to say I was on the way, only to receive a reply saying "he's ok now" grrr! He'd just woken up a bit disorientated but was absolutely fine by the time I got home!! Oh well, I still got a good workout and the children had a great time playing with their Granny! :)

I got home from the gym about 11.30am and lunch was going to be just after 12.30 when Liam was on lunch break, so I didn't really know what to do in terms of eating. I ended up just having a Dairylea strip to tide me over...

(boring pic!) and then lunch soon after was a baked sweet potato with goat's cheese...simple but tasty...

Yum! :) Once Liam went back to work, I put the children for a nap and then munched on some chocolate!

This was nice but I was a bit disappointed - for some reason I'd expected it to have the lovely bubbly texture of Conscious raw chocolate, when in fact it was just solid dark chocolate. Good dark chocolate, but just plain solid chocolate nonetheless.

I then went for a nap myself to keep me out of the kitchen!! I slept for 1.5 hours, daughter slept for 2 hours and baby slept for 2.5 hours...a good afternoon!! :)

Dinner was another new recipe. Mama Pea's quinoa stuffed peppers. These were gorgeous...

topped with homemade guacamole. I just blitzed up an avocado, some lemon juice and some sweet chilli sauce. I normally mash this, so it was a lot smoother than usual (must've been having a blonde moment!) but still delicious...

the quinoa-tomato mix inside was so tasty too...

Both dinners this weekend have been added to the must make again list :) I'm loving trying out new recipes, and pleasantly surprised that the rest of that family are eating them too! (I did add bacon bits to the others' peppers tonight to appease Liam, but the had the bean burgers same as me)

Despite dinner being really filling, I still had a third, unsuccessful, attempt at chocolate...

nice taste of chocolate but owww the chilli burnt the back of my throat! I tried for 3 bites but couldn't even manage to finish it!! Annoying as I ended up eating half of Liam's 100g bar of Green & Black's milk chocolate, plus a Geo Bar instead...grrr, an uncontrolled end to the weekend!!

Re-vamped apricot & almond flapjacks, take 2

I started off today with a great gym workout. There were only 2 other people max in there at any time, woohoo. I did 45 minutes cardio (rowing, cross trainer, wave) and then some free weights arm exercises using 4kg weights (I usually use 2.5kg so this is good for me!) and some leg weight machines.

By the time I walked home, showered etc it was almost 11am, so I kept breakfast light. I picked up some kiwis on offer in Lidl the other day - they don't have a furry skin and they have golden flesh...

they look so vibrant! I will enjoy one whole soon, but these were chucked in the blender with half a banana and an apple...

plus a little leftover kale, some milk and a pinch of xanthan gum...

whilst this was blending, my daughter asked what colour it would be. She thought green, I thought yellow, we were both kinda wrong. This was a creamy colour with flecks, not really thick enough - very foamy!

despite the fact that the bowl was pretty full, I topped it with a packet of Bear tropical granola...

Those arms you can see in the background? That's my daughter, waiting not so patiently for me to finish. She likes me to save her the last few spoonfuls, making sure there's still some "crunchy" bits left...what can I say, the girl's got good taste! She's also never not hungry - she'd already had a me-sized bowl of banana porridge topped with almonds & golden syrup while I was at the gym, and she was already by this time asking what was for lunch & dinner. Ooops, not such a good habit of mine to pick up!

Lunch time soon came around though. I try to cook a slightly bigger lunch on Fridays as Liam has work in the afternoon/evening. Today I made a frittata using 6 eggs mixed with frozen broad beans and sweetcorn...

topped with baby spinach and goat's cheese (I'm loving this combo!)...

before grilling to finish it off...

Served with a blob of ketchup (and bread rolls for the others)...not the prettiest meal but delicious nonetheless...

I love having a warm lunch, so much more filling and interesting than a sandwich! (although some sandwiches can be delicious too of course!)

This afternoon I did some baking. First off, flapjacks. After making my Mum some healthier apricot & almond flapjacks a couple of weeks ago, she asked me to make her another batch with a few adjustments. This time I did x1.5 of the recipe to fill the pan, added some sultanas and substituted the molasses with honey, using slightly more honey and slightly less apricot fruit spread than the original version.

These turned out really good so I'll write down the recipe for me to follow again!

Apricot and Almond Flapjacks
(makes 12)

• 225g butter
• 120g apricot fruit spread
• 90g honey
• 275g porridge oats
• 100g apricots, chopped
• 30g sultanas
• 45g almonds, chopped

 Same method as before. For a more detailed step-by-step method see the original recipe post, but briefly - melt the butter, apricot spread and honey in the microwave/in a pan. Then stir in all the other ingredients, this time I had the help of a toddler to stir the mix...

this is what they looked like before going into the oven at 175C...

and 25 minutes later...

Mum let us keep one to try...

before taking the rest home with her...

Verdict: nicer than the molasses version (which had a slight tang/aftertaste) but still soft & crumbly rather than the soft & sticky I was after. Mum loved them though, she likes the subtle sweetness so I think a sticky version would probably be too sweet for her. Next time I think I'd add slightly more sultanas too.

Whilst the flapjacks were baking, I got the blender out again to whizz up some of Katie's cocoa fudge babies. I made about half the amount of her original recipe, and used cashews instead of walnuts as that's what I had in - these were not planned at all, I read a reference to them earlier which jogged my memory that I wanted to give them a try!

I'm so glad I made these!

A little sticky to roll out but absolutely delicious! The only downside is that they're too easy to eat! I've eaten 6 today already! My Mum had one (and added them to the list of things she wants me to make her!), daughter had one and I've put the remaining 4 in the freezer to hopefully keep them safe from me until tomorrow at least! So chocolatey, these reminded me almost exactly of the chewy chocolate oat cookies I've been making recently, although a lot healthier without all the added white sugar obviously!

Luckily I managed to stop myself eating any more babies before I completely ruined my appetite for dinner! Simple roast butternut squash and red pepper...

topped with a big blob of sweet potato houmous...

Yum. I love roasted butternut squash, so glad I rediscovered it! & the sweet potato houmous is still lovely, almost all gone now, time to get thinking of other variations!

Butternut Squash Risotto

Today, we had a day out planned at Crealy, great for the children, can be exhausting for the adults! I figured a good breakfast was needed first - porridge with half a banana, cinnamon and tinned peaches, topped with some almonds...

I then prepared packed lunches for our day out - the food at these places is so expensive!

So off to Crealy we went! After a couple of rides on the pirate ship, down the slides etc it was time for lunch. Sweet potato houmous with carrot and cucumber sticks and a couple of oatcakes...

the sweet potato houmous was still delicious, and the weather was so lovely that we ate on a picnic bench outside, I much prefer spring/summer to winter!

after lunch we took a walk around the lake, which sent baby to sleep in the pushchair, yey! It was so busy  (half term + good weather) but I managed to find half a table free in one of the cafes, so I enjoyed a latte whilst Liam took our daughter into the indoor play area...

I managed to resist all the yummy looking cakes though!

Dinner was something I'd been looking forward to all week! Butternut squash risotto, vaguely based on this recipe, although the main thing I used the recipe for was to roast the butternut squash, and I ended up having to cook it for longer than the recipe called for.

Butternut Squash Risotto
(serves 2-3)

• butternut squash, approx 600g
• 1 tbsp oil for butternut squash, plus 1-2tsp oil for risotto
• 1 onion, diced
• 225g risotto rice (adjust according to appetite)
• approx 850ml stock (or boiling water + stock cube)
• 180g baby spinach
• 100g goat's cheese, diced
• 1-2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• EDIT: since making this again, I've discovered a "dressing" of pesto/oil is a delicious addition - see here - feel free to experiment with toppings!

First chop up the butternut squash, mix with a little oil and roast at 200C for about 25-30 minutes...

While the butternut squash is cooking, gently fry off the diced onion in a little oil, then add the risotto rice and quickly fry in the oil. Then start adding the stock. I used about 850ml of boiling water total with 1 veg stock cube...

continue to add in the stock bit by bit and let it simmer gently. Give the butternut squash a shake half way through roasting so it doesn't burn/stick. And prepare any extras. I used about 180g baby spinach and 100g chopped goat's cheese...

Once the butternut squash is cooked, mash half of it (I just used a fork)...

and stir through the pretty much ready (almost all stock absorbed) risotto...

and then stir in the spinach and heat for a minute or two until wilted...

and serve...

Like porridge, this risotto is even better with toppings! Chopped/crumbled goat's cheese...

the remaining roasted butternut squash...

and a few pumpkin seeds...

this was amazing...

definitely one that will be made again! Even Liam, who was expecting it to be bland and unlikeable (!) thought it was great...

yum, this was truly delicious! The tang of the goat's cheese was great to cut through the creaminess of the other flavours, yum yum yum! :)