Guest Blog from Heidi at My Secret Kitchen

Hi my name is Heidi Roberts and I blog over at Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk .  

I was asked to guest blog for The Vegetarian Exerience and I thought you might like an introduction to My Secret Kitchen  and a couple of its best selling products. All of the My Secret Kitchen products are vegetarian 

My Secret Kitchen (MSK) is the UK’s only home food tasting company and Consultants like myself bring everything you need to have a successful tasting event to your house.  All you do is get your foodie friends to your house and give them a drink, and I do all the rest.

On a typical evening I would put a selection of the products out with appropriate crackers, carrots, wafers or whatever helps taste the items. We would go through the ingredients and the recipes that you can create from each product as it is being passed around the group. The idea is to inform everyone in a calm and collected way but let me tell you it soon gets chaotic and everyone talks at once and some people get very opinionated. Food will do that to a group of people!!

I always let guest know how they can host a food tasting in their own homes and also inform everyone about the opportunity of doing what I do and becoming a My Secret Kitchen consultant. Everyone is given to opportunity to order their selection of products which are delivered to the Host in approximately a week.

Well, that’s the snapshot of a tasting – now for something about a few of my favourite products and the new ones coming 1st September.

One of our most popular is the Jumping Jack Chilli Jam – a sweet-n-savoury onion chutney spiked with red chillies and Kentucky bourbon.  It is great with cheese and biscuits but makes a great addition to onion gravy, stocks and stews. It is not too hot but has a nice after warmth.

Balsamic Reduction is another favourite, a reduction of balsamic vinegar from Modena and pomegranate molasses without colourings or caramel flavourings as found on many supermarket shelves. A drizzle of this on grilled halloumi cheese,  blue cheese, salads or pizza brings them to life. And don’t forget to try it with fresh strawberries!!

For those with a sweet tooth we have Maple Caramel Sauce. This is the best sauce ever and goes on ice cream, rice pudding, any pudding or best yet right off the spoon!! Warm it up and add to custard for a great topping for bananas or mix with slightly whipped double cream and freeze and experience the ultimate ice cream. this product for yourself.

Our tasting events are the perfect way to sample our products – and are a great excuse to get all your friends together for a good time at home.

Those are a couple of our older, favourite products but as of 1st September we will have a couple of new additions to the MENU magazine such as White Wine & Porcini Mushroom Finishing Sauce and our new Chocolate Peppermint Sauce which is perfect for Christmas!

If you want to try these or any of our other products book a tasting at your home with your friends, family and neighbours.  Contact me on Twitter @walpolegirl or @HeidiMSKstalban or Facebook Heidi’s Secret Kitchen.  I look forward to introducing you to My Secret Kitchen.

Vintage Inns Vegetarian Choice Review -

Staying in a hotel tonight with very sporadic internet access, so here is a very brief round up of my visit to a Vintage Inn chain pub in Preston tonight.

Vegetarian main course choice on the main menu: One. Rissotto - yuck yuck yuck, pet hate, yuck, and a special of Red Pepper and Mushroom pie.

Starters:

1. Minestrone Soup - told it was vegetarian and it wasn't. 
2. Crispy Mushrooms - served with lettuce so wet that it made the mushrooms soggy and garlic sauce which actually tasted more like grainy mustard.

Waitresses - so not on the ball.  One couldn't get our drink order right and served us dinner without cutlery, the other missed my husband out on sauces and dessert - so he took umbridge and went without, causing a bad mood.

Red Pepper and Mushroom pie was ok but nothing to write home about and not worth the price tag. Can't believe that yet again there is only one vegetarian dish on the main menu.

Looks like Vintage Inns are another place not good for vegetarians. 

L'Italiana St Albans - Restaurant Review

I recently visited L'italiana restaurant in St Albans. Voted restaurant of the year in 2009 and 2010, this cosy restaurant is tucked away in French Row in St Albans. My kids visit here with the parents in law quite often and I have visited this restaurant before also. Being an Italian restaurant, there is a wide range of vegetarian dishes to choose from and so you are guaranteed to be able to find something to eat here. I ordered the Tagliatelle Boscaiola: Courgettes, Mushrooms, Aubergines and mixed Peppers served in a napoli sauce for main course and a tomato pizza bread.

When it arrived, I actually thought that the portion size was a little on the small size for the £8.95 they were charging for it. Although well presented, I was also a little disappointed at the taste. It tasted very bland and the sauce needed a bit of a kick to give it some flavour. For Dessert I ordered coconut and toffee ice cream and again was a little dismayed at the £4.45 price tag for the ice cream as we got the ends of the tub and the ice cream tasted very bitter and unpleasant.

Everyone who had a meat course said that their food was delicious, so maybe they just need to give a little more attention to the dishes without meat in them. I am actually a little dismayed to have to give the vegetarian food a bad review at L'Italiana as I love everything else about this restaurant. The ambiance is lovely, the decor is inviting and modern and the service is impeccable. They are so attentive, especially to the children. Their week day offer of pizza or pasta for £5.95 is great value for money but I just think that their main course and dessert dishes are a little overpriced for what you get. There are other Italian restaurants around offering better Italian food, although as I said, the service and ambiance of L'Italiana cannot be beaten.

Guest post: Salad With Cilantro Lime Dressing, Brown Rice Couscous, and Roasted Curry Chickpeas Recipe

Hi my name is Homa. I'm a lawyer turned stay at home Mom and I blog over at Oh my Deehness. We were vegetarians (my husband and I) and were raising our children the same but ended up going vegan when my daughter's egg and milk allergies became apparent. She is also allergic to soy, wheat, corn, oats, grapes, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, and a few other foods. My son seems to have a few allergies of his own as well. They are 1 (my son) and almost 3 (my daughter). We live in Las Vegas and I blog about "safe" recipes and some of our adventures. My blog name comes from the way my daughter would say "Oh My Goodness" - it was just too cute not to make sure I wrote it down somewhere.

The recipe I am guest posting is Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing, Brown Rice Couscous, and Roasted Curry Chickpeas.  The cilantro lime dressing recipe, and the roasted curry chickpeas recipe can be found via the links. My husband expertly chopped the mushrooms as above. I still have a lot to learn about using a knife properly but mushrooms taste better when he chops them so thinly. Here’s where it all comes together! Maybe it is silly to have a recipe for a salad as I suppose this is more like a “meal idea” but at any rate, here goes nothing. . .

Supplies
2 quart saucepan
Knife, Peeler, Cutting Board

Ingredients

Green Leaf Lettuce
Mushrooms
Onions
Red Peppers
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
(Any other veggies you like, we’ve used Jicama even)

1 cup brown rice couscous cooked to package directions or quinoa and water or veggie broth

Directions

To make the quinoa, you just need to use 2 cups of liquid to every 1 cup of quinoa. Rinse the quinoa, add it to the liquid in the pot and heat until boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and set your timer for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork before serving. We usually eat this salad with quinoa but for the pictures we used brown rice couscous by Lundberg because we’d had quinoa tabbouleh the day before. My husband likes this with red quinoa over the regular sort and I do enjoy it that way but most people say there’s not a difference between regular and red quinoa.

Make a base of lettuce, add your grain of choice, top with veggies, then salt to taste, add roasted chickpeas, and finally drizzle with dressing.

Hope you like my recipe. Come and visit me over at Oh my Deehness for more veggie meal ideas. 

Restaurant Review - Browston Hall, Norfolk The Swan Inn Barnby, Suffolk

Last week I went away for a few days with the family to the Lowestoft Air Show.

Hubby's parents are from Lowestoft in Suffolk, and so we go quite often and stay at the family holiday home. Whenever we go, we tend to eat out at least a couple of times during our stay. I have yet to find a place with great veggie food in Suffolk (if anyone knows of a place please let me know!) So as I am eating with the family, the consideration is often not so much what vegetarian food they serve, but whether they serve what the majority of the group will eat and whether we can get in early to feed the kids. This time we visited Browston Hall, Browston, Norfolk and The Swan Inn at Barnby, Suffolk. So how do both restaurants fare for vegetarian food?

Browston Hall, Browston, Norfolk

Browston Hall is a 17th Century former family home. Facilities include a Golfing range, Indoor Bowls, Holiday Lets and a Carvery restaurant. We had been here before and eldest remembered that you can choose your own sweets to go with ice cream for dessert, so this is why she wanted to go here.

We booked in advance and were able to get a table. Once we arrived and were seated, it took a while for the waitress to come, but she eventually took drinks orders and invited us to go up to the carvery. The vegetarian option was Leek, Broccoli and Cheese pie. They also do other vegetarian options such as vegetarian lasagne, Leek, Brie and Mushroom wrap and Stilton and Vegetable Crumble on the a la carte menu.  As we were eating on a carvery promotion, I stuck to the Leek, Broccoli and Cheese pie and then could help myself to the potatoes and vegetables on the carvery which I did. The range of vegetables included carrots, cabbage, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, new and roast potatoes.

The waitress bought me vegetarian gravy also which I was quite impressed with. When the pie arrived, I discovered that the cheese was processed melted cheese on the top. As detailed in my vegetarian pet hates post, serving cheese with gravy is one of my big No No's, and so this is a shame as it completely ruins the whole meal.  

I used to work for a well known carvery chain - ironic as I am a vegetarian, so I have had lots of experience in carvery restaurants. The carvery at Browston Hall was ok. It was only £5 with the offer, so you get what you pay for and that good value for money for a carvery. We did have to wait a while for the plates to be cleared, and the vegetarian gravy was not cleared from the table at all during our visit. 

Unfortunately, dessert also let us down a bit. The ice cream machine had broken and the staff were all struggling to fix it. Once they did, they only served children's portions, so we were served small portions but charged adult prices which were taken off the bill when we mentioned it.  

This restaurant is good value for money if you go in the week. The vegetarian carvery is not great, but its good for a family meal and to get the kids fed easily at a reasonable price. 

The Swan Inn, Barnby, Suffolk

The Swan Inn is an award winning seafood pub and is well known for being one of the best restaurant in the area. So why would a vegetarian go to a fish restaurant?.  Again, for a family visit with parents in law and a local relative. The family enjoy eating here for the fresh fish which you don't get at home. When we arrived the vegetarian options really didn't appeal to me. Mushroom Stroganoff  - yuk!, and a cannellini bean dish - again not my cup of tea. They do however to an amazing Egg Mayonnaise starter which resembles my recent Egg Salad creation, and so I requested this as a main course portion. My Egg Mayonnaise was served with chips and I also requested some bread to go with it.   

  

I really enjoyed the Egg Mayonnaise although I couldn't finish it. 4 whole eggs is a lot to eat!.  It tasted really fresh and light and I also liked the presentation on the plate. This restaurant is a nice little restaurant, tucked away in the midst of the suffolk country side. There are cats roaming around which my daughters loved, although they didn't seem to be massively friendly and ran away frequently. My meal was very reasonably priced, but we declined dessert at £6.00, opting instead for ice cream later on the sea front. The service was satisfactory, and they also have some nice gifts in the form of chocolate and china. A nice place for a family evening out but obviously not a specific place I would choose to visit as a vegetarian.

Gut Week 22nd - 28th August 2011. Sweet Potato, Spinach and Sweet Peppers Stew

Today marks the start of Gut week which runs from the 22nd to the 28th August.

Gut week aims to celebrate good gut and digestive health. A recent "Love your Gut" survey showed that  81% of the nation do not know about the health signs their gut is giving them. Almost three quarters (74%) even admit they rarely get concerned about the health of their digestive system. 

So What does the Gut do?

Understanding how the gut works can help us keep things running more smoothly.

1) The mouth – breaks food down into manageable pieces and starts the digestive process

2) The oesophagus – here, powerful, rhythmic muscular contractions push food down to the stomach

3) The stomach – the food mixes with gastric juices for a few hours. Enzymes break down most of the proteins and acid kills off the majority of bacteria. The resulting thick liquid passes slowly into the small intestine.

4) The small intestine –, food particles move along this intricate tubing (about 6 metres long) and are broken down into simpler molecules, of carbohydrate, protein and fat. These are then absorbed into the blood stream.

5) The large intestine – the remaining food particles spend 12-48 hours here. Here, water and minerals are absorbed while bacteria break down undigested food stuffs.

6) The pancreas – not strictly part of the digestive system but this secretes an alkaline juice which neutralizes stomach acid, and enzymes that break down protein, fat and carbohydrates.

7) The liver – the chemical factory and warehouse of the body. Receives nutrients from the gut via the blood.

8) The gall bladder – concentrates bile and squeezes it into the small intestine, where it helps to digest fat.

The majority of the body's immune system is based in the gut, so looking after the gut can help look after your whole body,

There are lots of things that you can do to get and keep your gut healthy, including recipe, exercise and lifestyle choices. For more information, please click here

The website: http://www.loveyourgut.com/ is packed full of advice and information for people who want to know more.

To raise awarenes of Gut week, I am showcasing a recipe produced by Anthony Worrall Thompson for a Sweet Potato, Spinach and Sweet Peppers Stew. This is a lovely vegetarian stew with a few superfoods enhanced by great depth of flavour. I love the sweet potatoes, but obviously you can add whatever vegetables you like, as long as you start with the suggested onion and spice base

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 teaspoons Rapeseed Oil
1 red Onion, cut into 8 wedges
3 Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped
2 long red Chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
1 teaspoon sweet Paprika
½ teaspoon ground Cumin
½ teaspoon ground Fennel
2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into
8 wedges each
8 Pepperdew Peppers, drained and halved
1 x 400g tin chopped Tomatoes
1 x 400g tin Cannellini Beans
2 tablespoons chopped Parsley
2 handfuls baby leaf Spinach, washed
2 tablespoons 0% fat Greek Yoghurt

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion, garlic and chilli and cook over a medium heat for 8–10 minutes to soften but not colour the onions.
2. Stir in the spices, then add the sweet potato, peppers and tinned tomatoes. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time. Season.
3. Fold in the cannellini beans, parsley and spinach and cook for about 5 minutes until the beans are hot and the spinach has wilted. (You will have to be careful when adding the spinach as it can easily end up over your cooker…fold it in carefully!).
4. Serve in four warm bowls and top with a little yoghurt.

Taken from The Essential Low Fat Cookbook by Antony Worrall Thompson (Kyle Books, £20). (Permission granted to reproduce the recipe)

Mixed Pepper Flan

Home made Flan or Quiche is one of my favourite things to eat. I love sending time cooking quiche and in my opinion, shop bought versions just do not live up to the taste of home made. Unfortunately, my family don't appear to feel the same way. Hubby is not a fan and neither are the kids.  I do cook a quiche and freeze it sometimes, but it is just not the same as eating when it's freshly cooked. So whenever I am asked by friends to bring something for a shared lunch, I jump at the chance to make a flan and actually have it eaten. We had our summer meet up for our tutor group yesterday and I made this flan to bring along. 75% of it got eaten, so I am guessing that people enjoyed it!

The recipe is from the Dairy book of Home Cookery, I added some cheese to the original recipe to give it a bit more flavour. Mixed pepper flan is a great summer dish and tastes so delicious. Using red, green and yellow peppers creates a colourful appearance which is very appealing. The flan is ideal as a meal served with salad and new potatoes or warm or cold as part of a buffet or shared lunch.

Flan or Quiche seems to be one of those dishes that really divides people, I would guess because of its texture and consistency. So are you a Quiche lover or loather?

For the pastry:
Ingredients
225g plain Flour
14 tsp Salt
100g Butter
5 or 6 Tbsp cold Water

Method

1. Sift the Flour and Salt into a bowl.
2. Add the butter and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the water a tbsp at a time and mix to a a dough with a round edged knife. Add more water or flour as required to achieve a smooth consistency.

For the Flan:

Ingredients

25g Butter

1 Onion, sliced

3 Peppers assorted colours, seeded and sliced

1 Garlic clove, crushed

2 Eggs

150ml single Cream
100g Cheddar Cheese

75ml Milk

freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to the desired size and shape of the dish being used and line the dish with pastry.
2. Bake blind at 200 degrees, gas mark 6 for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter into a pan and fry the onion, peppers and garlic until soft but not brown.
4. Beat together the eggs, cream and milk in a separate bowl.  Add the cheese, stir and season to taste.
5. Once the pastry has cooked for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and spoon the cooked vegetables into the dish, covering evenly.
6. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables.
7. Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees, gas mark 4 and cook for 30 minutes, or until set. 

 

 

Yoghurt Muffins

This is the last of my Total Greek Yoghurt Review Posts.

I made these Yoghurt Muffins with the kids last week using Total Greek Yoghurt. I was a bit sceptical about using yoghurt to make muffins as I wasn't sure about the texture and consistency of the mixture, but they turned out so light and fluffy. 

Yoghurt Muffins are also super easy to make since you basically use the carton to measure out the other ingredients, so there is only one pot and a bowl involved - which saves on the washing up too. These would be a great thing to make on a rainy day when you need something to occupy the kids. 

Our Yoghurt Muffins tasted absolutely amazing. Needless to say, they disappeared within a few days because we couldn't stop devouring them!  Time to make another batch I think!

Ingredients
170g (1 carton) Total Greek Natural Yoghurt
1 Carton of Vegetable Oil
3 Cartons of Self-Raising Flour
1 Carton Caster Sugar
200g Milk Chocolate Chips
3 Eggs

Method

1. Empty the yoghurt into a bowl
2. Then use the same yoghurt pot to measure and add the vegetable oil, self raising flour and caster sugar 
3. Add the chocolate chips and stir
4. Add the beaten eggs and combine the mixture well together
5. Mix well and pour into muffiun cases
6. Bake at 140 degrees celsius for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown
7. Allow to cool and serve or store in an airtight container

      


    

Summer Pudding

Today's offering from The Vegetarian Experience is a delightful Summer Pudding. This is a really healthy cold pudding and is very high in vitamin C, fibre and plant chemicals. Puddings made with bread are also lower in fat than pastry. This Summer Pudding tastes great served with Total Greek Yoghurt. The yoghurt complements the summer fruits and bread perfectly! This is another NetMums recipe, which can be found in the Feeding Kids Recipe book. Beware, you have to chill the Summer Pudding for 12 hours before serving!!

Ingredients
8 slices white Bread
100g caster Sugar
5 tbsp Water
750g mixed summer fruit (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants)
Total Greek Natural Yoghurt to accompany

Method

1. Cut the crusts off the bread and discard.  Reserve half of the slices and use the remaining slices to line a medium pudding basin
2. Put the sugar and water into a large pan and heat gently, stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the fruit and simmer for 10 minutes
3. Add half of the hot fruit mixture to the bread-lined bowl, then cover with a layer of bread. Add the remaining fruit and cover with the remaining bread
4. Cover the basin with a saucer which sits on the bread and add a food tin to act as a weight.  Chill for 12 hours.
5. To serve, remove the tin and the saucer. Place a serving dish over the top of the basin and invert, shaking gently so the pudding comes out.

  

Disclaimer: Total Greek Yoghurt offered in consideration for review

Vegetarian Chilli Bean Moussaka

Another post for you today, made using Total Greek Natural Yoghurt. which was sent to me for review. What better dish to use Greek Yoghurt in than a Greek Moussaka? Obviously, a traditional Greek moussaka would contain meat, but this delicious vegetarian version is made using aubergines and kidney beans in chilli sauce and is just as filling.

This recipe is taken from the 1992 version of The Dairy book of Home Cookery - a fab recipe book with a whole host of different foods featured. My Mum got the original 1978 version from the milkman and this was her main cookery book throughout my childhood.

Chilli Bean Moussaka is a real easy veggie dish to whip up for tea and is great served with salad and bread. The aubergines and chilli beans which form the basis of the moussaka, combined really well with the cheese and yoghurt to make a tasty meal.


Ingredients
2 medium Aubergines, sliced and salted
1 medium Onion, sliced
1 Garlic Clove, crushed
1 tbsp Oil
1 x 400g Can of Tinned Tomatoes
1tsp Dried Thyme
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 x 400g Can of Kidney Beans in Chilli sauce
1tsp Cornflour
150g Total Greek Natural Yoghurt
150ml Fresh Milk
1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg
Salt & Pepper
50g Red Leicester Cheese, grated

Method

1. Sprinkle aubergines with salt and leave to drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain well
2. Fry onion and garlic in oil for 5 minutes
3. Add tomatoes, thyme, cinnamon, beans and aubergines
4. Simmer for fifteen minutes, or until aubergines are soft
5. Blend cornflour with a little yoghurt, then mix with remaining yoghurt, milk, nutmeg and pepper
6. Transfer aubergine mixture into a flameproof dish.
7. Spoon yoghurt mixture over and top with cheese
8. Grill until the cheese has melted and yoghurt mixture is hot

Disclaimer: Total Greek Yoghurt offered free in consideration for review

Potato Salad

Another quick, easy recipe for you today and a perfect way to serve potatoes in the hot weather. This potato salad has been made using Total Greek Yoghurt and so like with the dressing for egg salad  featured previously, the yoghurt gives a lighter dressing and reduces the total saturated fat content. I also made this potato salad using National Trust Potatoes which I found for just 87p for 1kg at Asda this week.

                           

National Trust Potatoes are grown on 420 acres of National Trust coastland at Trehill Farm, Pembrokeshire, which is managed for the Trust by tenant farmers Peter and Gina Smithies. Trehill has won numerous awards for high standards of environmental stewardship as well as the superior quality and taste of its potatoes and works to ensure responsible farming

I really like the idea of knowing where your food is coming from and seeing who has spent time and energy cultivating the food being put on our tables. It's great to be able to plot the journey from field to plate.

Ingredients

500g New Potatoes

4tbsp Mayonnaise

3tbsp Total Greek Natural Yoghurt

a squeeze of Lemon Juice

Salt & Pepper

100g tin of Sweetcorn

Method

1. Boil the potatoes until cooked but not too soft.
2. Drain the potatoes and allow to cool.
3. Cook the sweetcorn for 3-4 minutes according to the tin instructions, drain and allow to cool.
4. Mix together the mayo, yoghurt, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and some black pepper.
5. Combine with the potato and sweetcorn and chill before serving.

Disclaimer: Total Greek Yoghurt offered in consideration for review

Total Greek Yoghurt: Yoghurt with Plum, Banana and Honey

I was recently sent a whole host of different types of Yoghurt to sample from those nice people at Total Greek Yoghurt. When the yoghurt arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see such a wide variety of products and I busily set to work researching recipes that I could cook or prepare.

Total Greek Yoghurt is produced from lots of cows milk and live yoghurt cultures. It's rich, mild, creamy taste rivals no other and it also contains no added sugars or sweeteners so it is very suitable for babies and young children. It takes four litres of soft pasteurised milk to make one litre of total yoghurt as all of the watery-whey is removed to leave a rich, creamy, thick yoghurt which doesn't have anything else added to it.






There are four main types of yoghurt available:

1. Full-Fat Natural Total Greek Yoghurt
2. 2%  Low in Fat Natural Total Greek Yoghurt
3. 0% Fat-Free Natural Total Greek Yoghurt
4. Total Greek Yoghurt Split Pots in a variety of flavours

Total Split Pots contain copious amounts of various fruits or honey. With flavours like strawberry, blueberry, honey, and tropical fruits, and available in 0% or 2% fat, these are delicious, filling snack for any time of the day or night.

Hubby certainly seemed to think so:
"Having sampled greek yoghurt in Greece, I thought that Total Greek Yoghurt was creamy, rich, and tasty. I felt that the amount of yoghurt in the pots was substantial and the side pots were plentifully filled - you really got a good amount of fruit or honey. The combination of the flavours was excellent - better than being mullered and I can't wait to eat some more".

Even better from a vegetarian point of view, is the fact that Total Greek Yoghurt is very high in protein which means that it should fill us up for longer and help provide a more balanced, nutritious meal.

Total Greek Yoghurt is available in various sized pots from 170g up to 1kg and can be found at all of the major supermarkets as well as some local grocery retailers. It is also very versatile. You could mix it with mayo to make a lighter salad dressing, mix with cream cheese to make a cream cheese dip, mix with milk and banana to make a delicious smoothie, use it to cool down a curry, or even as a cooling treatment for a sting or bite - as I found out this week. 

This is the first in a series of posts documenting recipes I have cooked or prepared using Total Greek Yoghurt. This simple dish can be made in a matter of minutes. It makes a delicious pudding, ideal breakfast bowl, or snack for any time of the day.

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Yoghurt with Plum, Banana and Honey

For this dish, I used a split pot of Total 0% with Honey Yoghurt

Ingredients
One split pot of Total 0% with honey yoghurt (120g yogurt, 30g honey)
3 Plums, Halved and stone omitted
1 Banana, sliced

1. Spoon the yoghurt into a bowl
2. Place the plums into the bowl next to the yoghurt
3. Layer the banana pieces between the plums
4. Drizzle with honey and serve immediately

Look out for more of my Total Greek Yoghurt recipes over the coming weeks

  

Disclaimer - Products offered in consideration for review

Summer Bites: Egg Salad

Today I made a delightfully quick and easy Egg Salad, perfect for a summers day. Having written my meal plan a couple of weeks ago, I didn't factor in this glorious weather and I don't know about you, but I can't face eating lots of stodgy food in the summer, so I turned to one of my favourite salads for lunch.

 

This recipe has been adapted from the NetMums Feeding Kids recipe book. I omitted the bacon to make it vegetarian and also left out the mushrooms too because they just don't float my boat eaten cold. I added some cucumber to the mix to add a crunchier texture to the salad.

This salad is absolutely delicious and very filing. I have been very aware lately that I am eating bread every lunch time and so this makes a welcome change. Mixing yoghurt with the mayonnaise made a really tasty dressing. The dressing was much lighter in texture and calories than if I had used purely mayonnaise. This made the taste a lot more pleasant as it was light and fragrant rather than really heavy.

Ingredients
3 medium free-range Eggs
150g New Potatoes - cooked
1 little Gem Lettuce
8 Cherry Tomatoes
1/4 of a whole Cucumber, sliced and halved
2 tbsp light Mayonnaise
3 tbsp 2% Natural Total Greek Yoghurt
a squeeze of Lemon Juice
freshly ground black Pepper

Method

1. Boil the eggs until hard - about 8 minutes.
2. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
3. Wash and split the lettuce into small wedges.
4. Halve the tomatoes and slice and halve the cucumber.
5. Beat together the mayo, yoghurt, lemon juice and black pepper.
6. Cool the eggs under cold running water and peel. 
7. Arrange the salad and potatoes on the plate.  
8. Cut each egg into four and add to the top.
9. Pour over the dressing and serve.

I used Total Greek Yoghurt for the dressing to this recipe. I am going to be featuring some more recipes containing Total Greek Yoghurt in the coming weeks as part of a product review.

Marks & Spencers launch new Vegetarian Percy Pigs

Great news! - Marks and Spencer have launched a new vegetarian version of their popular Percy Pig sweets.

As a vegetarian, this is music to my ears.  I often visit petrol stations with an M &S and am badgered by the kids for Percy Pigs but don't tend to buy them for them as they are not vegetarian.

It's brilliant to hear that retailers are finally listening to a whole generation of vegetarians who love sweets but would not eat sweets containing gelatine or animal products.  I can now add Percy Pigs to my Veggie sweet buying list!

The news on Twitter has gone down a storm with lots of people already hailing the sweets a success.  Maybe the food industry is finally starting to take note that not every food  product needs to contain meat or meat products!

(This news came via @shellyvella on twitter)

Joe Delucci's Gelato Review

This week, we popped along to The Mall in Luton to do some shopping and also with the intention of sampling some Joe Delucci's Gelato, which I was offered the opportunity to review via Fuel my blog. Both of my girls were excited about the prospect of actively being encouraged to sample ice cream for once rather than having to badger me for it!

It was a warm, sunny day, which meant perfect Gelato eating weather. As a family, we often cruise with an Italian cruise line and have always enjoyed the huge variety of flavours of gelato/ice cream offered on board rather than the more traditional vanilla/strawberry/chocolate you tend to get offered in this country. So we were very excited to see what Joe Delucci's had on offer. 

The lady serving on the stand was very amenable and gave us the opportunity to sample some flavours before deciding on what we would buy. The display looked delicious - so many colours and flavours to choose from!

 

Over 31 flavours to choose from in fact according to the Joe Delucci's website. I sampled a few flavours including pineapple - which contained real pineapple bits, madagascan vanilla which was lovely, banana which was smooth and creamy and the flavour of the day - cherries and cream - divine!. I also tried the chocolate flavour - rich, velvety and bursting with chocolate.

We chose two double scoop cups - Strawberry and Raspberry 

and Coconut and Caramel.

The Strawberry and Raspberry were part of the Sorbet range which are Dairy, Fat and Gluten free.  

The Sorbet flavours tasted tangy and fruity. The sorbets were packed with fruit and melted in the mouth. Personally, they were a little too sweet for me, although my daughters really enjoyed eating them.  

The Coconut and Caramel flavours are part of the Gelato range

The coconut ice cream was pure white and contained real coconut pieces. It tasted absolutely delicious - almost like drinking pure coconut milk. I really love coconut ice cream and this was much nicer compared to other brands that I have tasted. The caramel ice cream was golden also tasted very creamy and luxurious. It was the right amount of caramel flavour, without being too sweet and sickly.

Joe Delucci's gelato is made using fresh fruit and natural ingredients blended with Piemonte milk (or sometimes even water) as opposed to the heavy cream used in traditional British ice creams. This makes for a far more intense flavour experience.

Typically, ice cream contains between 16-30% fat. Joe Delucci's Gelato contains only 0-12%, so it is a lot healthier and better for you than other ice creams, without compromising on the taste. As Joe Delucci's gelato is low in fat and contains lots of fruit, I would be more likely to buy this for my kids than other ice cream if the choice were offered. 

I would definitely recommend sampling some Joe Delucci's gelato if you have an outlet near you. The ice cream is really delicious and the flavours really get the tastebuds going.

A double scoop of Joe Delucci's gelato costs around £3. There are also Milkshakes and Soft drinks available for purchase.

Joe Delucci's have stores situated throughout Britain, with more opening all the time.

*Disclaimer: Product offered for review consideration via Fuel my Blog