Roasted Vegetable Pasta

I decided to make my version of a recipe I saw in the healthy food guide last night and it was DELICIOUS!!! (This magazine is really awesome by the way!)

 

 

Healthy Food Guide - June Issue

You can use any vegetables you want really, the recipe in the magazine said to use sweet potatoes, asparagus and onions but I used carrots, green beans and spring onions instead.

This is how I did it!

Bunch of spring onions roughly chopped

2 carrots roughly chopped

1 pepper 

Mushrooms

5 garlic cloves

cherry tomatoes

200g of pasta (100g per person)

a bunch of green beans

juice of a lemon

parsley

olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Roughly chop the carrots and the pepper and put into a roasting tray with some olive oil and the garlic.

2. Roast for around 20 minutes until the carrots start to soften.

3. Chop up the rest of your vegetables and add to the roasting tray and cook for a further 10 minutes.

4. You can now put the pasta on, adding the green beans for the last 3 minutes of the cooking time.

5. Once everything is cooked mix it all together (I smashed up the roasted garlic at this point too) and add the lemon juice. Season with black pepper and enjoy!!

YUMMY!!!!!

 

After a lovely (and rare) sunny day at Rosemarkie beach yesterday we decided to go out for fish and chips.

Rosemarkie Beach

We went to The Auctioneers in Inverness on Church Street. I've been there quite a few times and the standard is fairly consistent.

The Auctioneers (image from www.pubsgalore.co.uk)

The haddock was delicious with a nice crispy batter and the chips were good too. It comes with peas or mushy peas, a wee pot of tartar sauce and a slice of lemon.

If I remember correctly it is £7.99 which I think is a little bit pricey although it is a very large portion. I think £5.99 would be a better price as even though the chips & peas were good they weren't spectacular!

I would definitely recommend eating here though, the staff are all friendly and service was quick too.

So it has been a while AGAIN! Oh well, I'm going to get this blog up and running now!

Recently I have been on a quest to bake a healthy treat as I love cake but I don't love my cake belly!!!

I found this fab blueberry muffin recipe http://www.itv.com/food/recipes/blueberry-muffins

Which, believe it or not, was written by Olivia Newton-John! You go girl!

The ingredients you will need are:

• Olive oil spray, for greasing
• 155 g fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen)
• 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 300 g wholemeal (whole-wheat) self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• 125 g low-fat berry yoghurt (I used raspeberry)
• 250 ml low-fat milk

Now get cooking!

1 Preheat the oven to 210oC (415oF/Gas 6–7). Lightly grease a 12-hole standard 125 ml (4 fl oz/1⁄2 cup) muffin tin with olive oil spray or line with paper cases.

2 Put the blueberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the juices just start to run and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

3 Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl.

4 In a separate bowl, combine the egg, yoghurt and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the cooled blueberry mixture until combined.

5 Spoon the mixture evenly between the muffin holes and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

This is how mine turned out

They were very tasty but a little bit bready, I think that's because of the wholewheat flour.

This recipe is definately worth a try but I think I'm going to keep searching and experimenting. I might use grated carrot next time instead of the blueberries and see how it works out!!

It's been a while!

Unfortunately myself and Florence have ignored our blog or about a year!!! Oops! But our love for food hasn't gone away that's for sure! We had a great time in Canada together, so much so Florrie is still there! I now live in the Beauly and love the highland way of life.

My favourite restaurant in Toronto was the Korean Grill House. AMAZING food and I totally new concept to me! Each table in the restaurant has a BBQ built into it, you order the meat or fish that you would like, and it comes raw so you can cook it to your liking. Cheap but delicious and great fun. I think there is a Korean BBQ in Edinburgh... I really need to investigate further!

Ode to Ketchup

When ‘ere I think I need,

A little added spice,

I take the ketchup off the shelf,

And add to beans or rice.



Ketchup’s always been there,

When I need it most.

When I have no butter for bread,

I use ketchup on my toast.



And what about those “No thank you” bites,

That everyone abhors?

Just dunk em all in ketchup,

And you can’t taste them anymore!



Or when you at the fast food place,

And you’re in the longest line,

Head over to the condiments

Ketchup’s quick and don’t cost a dime!



So next time you make a sandwich,

And the mayo stock runs dry,

Remember ketchup’s always there for you.

So why not give it a try?

Blame Canada

2 months now till we are off to the maple syrup guzzling big country. We will try and post any interesting/entertaining food related photographs and stories on here. There may even be a few pure scottish feasts on the go before hand (by 'may' I mean will be)