River Cottage Veg Everyday: Twice Baked Potatoes

I was home alone on Thursday evening as Mr VST was out bowling drinking with work colleagues. 

 I don't usually bother to make anything special when I'm on my own but this recipe was really just fancy jacket potatoes.

You bake potatoes and then scoop out the middle and mash it up with butter, spring onions and cheese which the 'skins are back in the oven for ten minutes. 

 Then you put the mashed mixture back into the shells and pop them back into the oven.

These were great, really tasty and worth the extra bit of effort compared to just topping jackets with cheese and beans. 

Jacket Potatoes

To quote Mr VST sometimes there's nothing better than a jacket potato. These beauties were baked in the oven only as nature intended and tasted great with cheese and home made houmous. 

Macaroni Cheese

Friday night Mr VST offered to take us out for dinner but I just didn't fancy it. I had planned to make beetroot risotto but he couldn't face any more beetroot so after a bit of mooching about trying to come up with ideas we both agreed on a macaroni cheese. 

You can't really go wrong with macaroni cheese. I cooked 200g macaroni (should probably have cooked more as it was swimming in sauce), a batch of cheese sauce made with goat's milk and cow's cheddar and then chopped up a leek and mixed them all together before popping it into the oven with a bit of grated cheese on top. Lovely, Friday night comfort food was just what we both needed. 

The Hungry Fox, Broadclyst Station

Mr VST and I cycled out to Broadclyst in search of a possible new home this evening. It was a good cycle, about 35 minutes to get there, a bit of pottering around and then we stopped at The Hungry Fox in Broadclyst Station for some supper. The reviews online weren't all that great but it appears that a new chef took over towards the end of last year and promised great things. Sadly not so for vegetarians. Not even the option of the ubiquitous goat's cheese and caramelised red onion tart. There was the choice of 'light bites' of leek and potato soup or mixed bean salad and then a selection of baguettes or sandwiches or jacket potatoes. We went for a jacket each with cheese and beans, it also came with a salad. It was nice as far as jacket potatoes go. To be honest I enjoyed my cycle ride more than I enjoyed the meal. Oh well.

Cheese, Crackers and Pickled things

The bread that I was baking yesterday was supposed to form part of our supper but it took longer than expected so we had a cheese, crackers and stuff from the fridge supper instead, followed by a bread dessert. Mr VST has a thing about pickled vegetables as you can see!

Vine Ripened Tomato Soup with Puy Lentils

On Saturday I was still feeling full from the lovely meal at Spinacio's the night before but was also very excited to finally be meeting a new addition to our friend group who was born on 7th June. We took some lunch round to his parents and ate with them some soups (not home made I'm afraid), bread, cheese and crackers. I ate mine while cuddling the tiny new addition in one arm - a lovely way to eat a meal (although I am sure the novelty wears off for parents!). It was a special day. Mr VST and I weren't very hungry that evening when we got back. He had some veggie burgers and I had a couple of slices of soda bread toast.

Carbo-loading with Pizza and Macaroni Cheese (with Leeks)

I've been reading over the race instructions for the Great West Run tomorrow and just realised that I should have been carbo loading for the last three days. Tonight's meal was planned, macaroni cheese with leeks but last night's pizza and garlic bread fest was a mistaken carbo load.

Mr VST had laser eye surgery yesterday and we were staying with friends nearby so that he could go back for his check up today. We had originally planned to have an Indian take away but we soon realised that, unless I was to spoon feed him, Mr VST probably wouldn't manage to eat curry, well at least not without making a mess and I'm pretty sure he didn't take a spare change of clothes!

I decided to go out for some frozen pizzas for dinner as these would be much easier, and less messy, for Mr VST to eat. Our lovely, patient, caring hosts already had some garlic bread in the freezer so my carbo loading started in earnest.

Moving onto this evening the macaroni cheese served the dual purpose of being very comforting following the surprising disturbance of being nurse/patient and also providing me with the carbs necessary for the run tomorrow.

When I was growing up my step-dad taught me how to make a very simple, and tasty version of macaroni cheese. It was one of the first meals I learnt how to cook. I was taught to cook a load of macaroni and then drain it and grate in a ton of cheddar, stir until the cheese melts, add ketchup and eat.

This evening I went for the more traditional version which involves the same cooking of macaroni but then adds the making of cheese sauce, adding a sliced leek to the sauce, mixing it all together, putting it into a dish and then grating a bit more cheese over the top before putting it in the oven.

It was inspired by this recipe from the BBC but I decided not to do all the faffing about with the infusing of milk etc and it was still pretty good. I have made it before but it's dangerously more-ish and loaded with calories so it is a rare treat.

So tomorrow I am due to run 13.1 miles eek! It is co-incidentally International Barefoot Running Day and although I won't be running completely barefoot I'll be running in my Vibram Five Finger Bikilas which is nearly as good. I'll let you know how it goes.

Easter Treats

On Good Friday we started the day with a toasted home made hot cross bun each with butter and honey and some toasted brioche that my Mum had made too. We then decided to exchange Easter gifts as we were going away for the weekend and with hot weather forecast I didn't think it was a good idea to take chocolate in a hot car. 

I bought Mr VST some of his favourite Lindt Lindor eggs, a minimally packaged Cadbury's egg with two solid eggs inside and finally, and my favourite, chocolate egg and soldiers from Hotel Chocolat. 

I am known to graze on my chocolate, nibbling on it over time. I was given a bag of mini eggs, a bag of smartie eggs, a delicious lindor egg and a chocolate egg sandwich from Hotel Chocolate - chocolate heaven!

We also had a box of chocolate half eggs filled with different flavours from my Mum as well as a large dark chocolate egg and some delicious little praline and orange filled mini eggs too. 

I had read Felicity Cloake's perfect hot cross buns article which of course came too late for my bun making (and I'm pretty sure I won't be faffing around with milk and bruising cardamom). I noticed that quite a few of the people commenting recommended eating hot cross buns with cheese so I thought I'd try it and it was awesome!

 

Spanish Omlette (and the rest of our picnic)

How did it get to Wednesday already? Not that I'm complaining, especially when it's a four day week. On Sunday Mr VST and I went to meet my family who were staying in a cottage about half an hour away. We had agreed to bring goodies for a picnic and it turned into a bit of a bake off!

When we were in London a few weeks ago one of the guys had a great big wedge of Spanish omelette aka tortilla. I decided to make one for our picnic and went for a Delia recipe. Everyone says that you can't go wrong with a Delia. I find that the recipes test my patience. I didn't use a potato peeler to slice the potatoes, I just sliced them thinly. Having regularly made my frittata without very much oil I was surprised at how much this recipe used. I don't think a whole tablespoon was necessary when you put the egg, potato and onion mix back in the pan.

The tortilla itself was really tasty, simple and quite sweet tasting. It was a good addition to the picnic.

There was really far too much food for just the five of us! Olives, cheese, crackers, potato salad, crisps, date and banana cookies, tea bread (which was delicious btw), home made brioche and wholemeal bread (Mum has a new bread maker!)

My Mum also brought one of her Mother's Day presents too, a juicer, and Mr VST tucked in with the juicing oranges. It was a great gadget and got loads of lovely juice out of the oranges. 

Healthy Tomato and Macaroni Cheese with Salad

I re-discovered this recipe last week. It is so easy to make, just perfect for a very tired Monday.

Creamy Cheese and Tomato Macaroni

I haven't made this for ages. It's a really quick and easy store cupboard recipe. I made it with light cream cheese instead of crème fraiche today because I don't usually have anything else to do with the crème fraiche and it goes to waste. It's quite flavoursome and filling, especially served with salad.

Cheese and Onion Quorn Burgers

The sun shone at the weekend and it made Mr VST crave a barbecue or at least burgers. I was reading The Quorn Supremacy and came across the recipe for home made quorn burgers and they had a pretty good review.  I followed the recipe and the helpful tip from Ali about making the patties in a cutter so that they keep their shape. 

 

Sometimes only the best processed accompaniments will do so I served these in big white oven bottom muffins with 'plastic cheese', you know the pre-sliced stuff and ketchup of course. I did put some salad on the side to boost the nutrition levels. The burgers themselves were delicious. Really flavoursome.

Dahl with cheese and crackers

Did I mention before that I cycle to work? Well I do. It's less than a ten minute ride but cycling is quicker than walking and I enjoy it. I carry a back pack so that I can transport the necessary items to and from work and carry home any shopping I do during the day. As I have taken to buying all our fruit and veg from the local market stall this means that I quite often have a heavy rucksack full of veg to carry home or handlebars with plastic bags of veg balanced on them. The other week I had a meeting across town and carried the rather substantial files with me on my bike in a bag for life on the handlebars. The journey was so wobbly that I decided to buy myself a pannier rack. Luckily Mr VST had a spare pannier bag that I could use. As we have been away he has only this evening managed to find the time to fit it to my bike for me and I have been avoiding stocking up on heavy items until it had been fitted. The only meal I could think of that required the minimum of veg was dahl so that's what I made. Carrying home the onion that I needed for the recipe made no difference to the wobbliness of my journey!

Parsnip and Carrot Soup with Cheese and Crackers

A lovely smooth creamy soup with crackers and cheese for dinner this evening. The recipe is here.

Weekend Posts - Friday, Saturday, Sunday

This vegetarian ate a lot over the weekend! There was a big family gathering in Wales to celebrate a big birthday for my Mum as well as three other December birthdays and my Uncle coming over from New Zealand with his wife. Lots of celebrating and eating was done.

So Friday night we ate at The Angel in Llandeilo. Mr VST and I shared some delicious nachos with salsa and cheese and then I had a spicy mushroom and bean tagine (with chips) and Mr VST had some stuffed mushrooms both of which were delicious and for pudding we shared an a chocolate fudge cake with ice cream. There was such a lovely warm, friendly, Christmassy atmosphere in there, it was a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday all the family and a few friends came over to the cottage we were staying in. Everyone brought some food with them and WOW! Although there were 26 of us altogether there was still too much food! We baked some potatoes and I made a vegetable chilli but there was also meaty chilli, cheese and biscuits, chocolate muffins, birthday cake, cherry lattice, apple crumble pie. This meal was then repeated for lunch on Sunday!


Nothing better than lots of good food and good company. A lovely time was had by all.

Cheese on toast

One post for two 'dinners' today. Yesterday I was on a train from 5.23 to 8.42pm a.k.a. dinner time. I knew that if I could hold out there would be stew and dumplings for me at the other end but I got hungry and ate the very average Ginsters cheese sandwich and McCoys salt and vinegar crisps.

Tonight I repeated the journey in the other direction getting home for 6.30pm. Having had a massive jacket potato with cheese and beans for lunch I wasn't really hungry. It was definitely a day for comfort food. A true November day full of fog and drizzle. Mr VST and I were going to go out for dinner but neither of us was hungry. We decided to go for a walk in the rain and discuss possible food options. We discussed various eateries, some we had vouchers for, good old British chips...this went on for some time.

We agreed to pop into the supermarket and see what took our fancy. There are always certain comfort foods I fall back on and so I went for cheese on toast. Mr VST decided to go for some spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato and marscapone sauce and I picked up some bread for my cheese on toast. Sticking with the comfort theme we also got a tin of custard and some mince pies for pudding.

I like my cheese on toast pretty plain. Just good brown (or white) sliced bread, mature cheddar cheese and ketchup. Mr VST is partial so a sprinkling of herbs on his, or using the ketchup as a tomato base under the cheese. How do you like yours?



This is not a picture of my cheese on toast but this is how I like it!

Creamy cheese and tomato macaroni

This was not my plan for tonight's meal but as I didn't have time to buy any onions today it was my only onion-less option other than heading for the freezer again.

It's another BBC Good Food recipe which can be found here. It's a healthy version of macaroni cheese. Found it while on a health drive earlier this year. It's very quick and easy to make.