Leek & Feta Fritatta

Leek and feta frittata on Monday with the veggies that were left in the fridge, so broccoli and corn on the cob. 

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. 

Leek and Feta Frittata

Once again I find myself nearly a week behind on the old blog! So, going back to last Tuesday I made an old favourite that I haven't made for a while. Leek and feta frittata with lots of lovely salad, including some leaves from our own garden.

I made it with five rather than four eggs this time as Mr VST was hungry!

It was a lovely healthy meal. The broccoli is there because I had to use it up, strange addition I know!

Leek and Feta Frittata

Back to an old favourite on Wednesday evening, the King of Frittatas! It was lovely. 

Leek and Feta Frittata with Salad

Lovely leek and feta frittata on Thursday evening accompanied by some salad and grated beetroot. 

Leek and Feta Quiche

I hadn't made a quiche in a very long time and so decided to make one yesterday evening. The pastry making went well...

...but I had the oven a little too hot and overcooked it all slightly.

It was still tasty though the filling wasn't as creamy as usual.

Leek and Feta Frittata with Salad

Quick and tasty leek and feta frittata tonight. 

Leek and Feta Frittata

I made a quick leek and feta frittata last Thursday, ate it so quickly that I burnt my mouth, nearly ran to the hairdressers, was at least five minutes late and then...sat and waited! Oh well. It was lovely for lunch the next day too.

Leek and Feta Frittata

An easy mid-week favourite tonight. The recipe is here, it's a lovely, easy vegetarian supper.

I Heart Leeks!

Served with salad leaves from the garden

Leek, Chestnut Mushroom and Feta Filo Parcels

Friday night supper consisted of a slightly adapted version of these 'strudels' made with feta. I served them with a mountain of broccoli and roasted, salted, new potatoes. The parcels were good and the roasties were awesome.

Yummy filling, still need to work on my folding technique though.

Broccoli and roasty mountain!

Leek and Feta Frittata

Went for this easy, tasty classic tonight with a cracking spinach, cucumber and grated carrot salad on the side (Mr VST had tomatoes too - bluegh!)

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.

Leek and Feta Frittata

A quick and tasty favourite for dinner this evening.

The King of Frittatas

Not much in the fridge apart from a couple of potatoes and an ever-shrinking block of cheddar. I picked up some organic leeks and salad from The Real Food Store which has recently opened. They didn't have any feta so I got that from the supermarket. When I got home after my run I rustled this easy frittata up with some salad.

Leek and Mushroom Strudels with Roasted New Potatoes

My second attempt at this meal was more successful as there was no alcohol involved! The parcels are really tasty and easy to make, sorry strudels. I used the left over feta cheese from the frittata earlier in the week and I didn't have quite enough leeks but they were still really tasty.

Heart shaped roastie - awww!

The King of Frittatas

I made this not so long ago as a variation on the spring onion frittata that I was making a lot last Summer. I have to say it is a tasty improvement. 4 eggs, 2 leeks, 300g potatoes (boiled then sliced up), 90g feta cheese, 30g cheddar cheese and a generous sprinkling of black pepper on top, its a winner!

You fry off the sliced, boiled potatoes in a tablespoon of oil until they are nice and golden (about ten mins) and then add the leeks and fry them off for a few minutes.

Then beat the eggs and add them to the pan, crumble the feta over the top, grate the cheddar over the top and grind a generous helping of black pepper on top of all of it, then cook it on a medium heat for about 8 minutes before putting the whole thing under a hot grill for three minutes. 

Leek and Feta Frittata

I had some leeks left over from last week and a bit of feta cheese too as well as a bag of new potatoes that were starting to sprout. I had miscalculated on the egg front though. I only had 6 and I calculated that I would need at least four for tomorrow but I needed four for my frittata. I managed to ring Mr VST on his way home and get him to pick some up - phew!

This is a variation on the BBC Good Food Spring Onion Frittata that I now can't find on their website. It involves boiling 300g new potatoes, then slicing them up and frying them in a tablespoon of olive oil for about ten minutes.

Then I sliced up two large leeks and fried them off for a few minutes before adding four beaten eggs, 90g feta cheese, salt and pepper and then grating a little mature cheddar over the top. I cooked the whole thing on the hob for 8 mins and then popped it under the grill for three to make sure all the egg was properly cooked. 

I served it with our first proper salad of the year, a spinach, watercress and rocket bag (all that it available before Mr VST gets planting his salad troughs). The feta added some real flavour to it. 

'Twas the night before Christmas...

..and all through the house lots of creatures were stirring and having a mini Christmas!

We had a mini Christmas with my brother on Christmas Eve because he was spending Christmas day with his girlfriend and her family. Our Christmas Eve included a lovely meal, present swapping and a game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (girls vs boys, the boys won :()

The meat eaters had smoked salmon fillets and the veggies had leek, mushroom and goat's cheese strudels. This was all cooked by my wonderful mother but the recipe for the veggie strudels was from BBC Good Food and can be found here. Both options were served with roasted new potatoes and green beans.

...and for pudding a lovely trifle. It was a Delia recipe with bananas in and home made custard. 

We didn't forget Father Christmas of course and left him some Bailey's, a home made sweet and one of my cinnamon mince pies as well as a carrot for Rudolph.

Leek and potato soup

The Christmas eating has gone well so far this year. I kicked off my mince pie habit in November and haven't looked back. I have eaten an awful lot of sweet stuff the last three weeks and although I was cooking for one this evening I fancied something proper. There was one lonely leek left in the fridge and so I decided to combine it with some butter, two potatoes and some veggie stock and make myself a lovely soup. I had it with a little block of Wensleydale and cranberry cheese and some crackers and it really hit the spot. 

Leek and potato frittata with ratatouille

Tonight's meal was a variation on a summer staple for us. In the summer I made it with spring onions but today I made it with leeks instead and it was lovely. In the Summer we had it with salad but it's Winter and although salad is available in the supermarkets with no seasons and its cold outside and I don't feel like eating cold food so I thought I'd make a kind of ratatouille on the side. I fried off a small red onion, some aubergine and mushrooms and then added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and tin of chopped tomatoes and let it simmer down. The result was really yummy, I'm just not sure it went with the frittata!