Mushroom One Pot

Made a regular favourite this evening, Mushroom and Rice one-pot. Very easy and tasty. I actually followed the recipe this evening as I haven't made it in a while. I even rinsed the rice properly before I put it in the pot. This meant that the texture of the rice was completely different. I think Mr VST and I prefer our sticky rice!

Sweet Potato Mash, Veggie Sausage and Broccoli

A quick banger and mash yesterday with instant veggie gravy, not quite as good as the onion gravy but the mash was good.

Ezo Turkish Restaurant, Bristol

Look at me getting about and eating in all these cities!! Work took me to Bristol this afternoon and I was lucky enough to meet up with a couple of friends for dinner once I'd finished.

We went to a Turkish restaurant, Ezo on Gloucester Road. A lot of the food on the menu looked very familiar to me. My Nan is Greek and the hummus, haloumi and moussaka all looked the same! I'm sure my Nan would say that they they were Greek not Turkish!

Wherever they come from the food was delicious. We shared a plate of cold mezze and I had the moussaka which was really rich in flavour. Packed full of potato, aubergine and other veg in a rich tomato sauce, topped with a
béchamel sauce. It was mouth watering.



Even though we didn't need it we ordered dessert. I went for the baklava which again is Greek or Turkish depending on where you're from. It was amazing. A thick layer of nuts on filo pastry topped with more layers of filo and honey. It was so good I'm afraid I ate it all and didn't take a photo :(

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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.

Vegan Brownies or Energy Bars - You Decide!

Despite my disaster with the vegan chocolate blueberry cake the week before last when I saw this on one of my favourite food blogs I was intrigued and I had to try it. I think because I am ever hopeful that there is something remotely low in calories that could be good for me and satisfy my sweet tooth. It's a long shot I know! I bought the ingredients on Friday in my excitement and then had to wait until my return from London before I could try them out.

A large part of my job is managing expectations, sadly, in most cases, keeping them low. These were listed on the blog (well two blogs) as raw brownies. Now the recipe I use for brownies is Nigel Slater's, it is full of chocolate, eggs, sugar and butter and is absolutely mind-blowing. Finding a recipe without those ingredients that would match up was unlikely. I presented these to Mr VST, without telling him what the ingredients were, as home made energy bars. I think this was more realistic and managed his expectations. He tucked in and said that they were really tasty. I think they were OK. For some reason, and I think it was the dates, the base didn't gel together at all. When blended, the base ingredients were supposed to look like potting soil, unfortunately, mine stayed that way! I bought some dates which were fresh but not medjool, I think I will make sure I get the right ones next time. I also thought about mixing the 'icing' and base together and freezing them to see if that would work.

I bought whole walnuts and have a new appreciation for walnut shellers

Potting soil!

No that's not vegan ice cream!

Brick Lane Weekend - Part 2

We wandered around picking up our treats and ended up in the food market at Spitalfields. There were so many delicious smells. We did two laps of the food stalls before deciding what to have. Mr VST went for some noodles with tofu and vegetables. It was really tasty. I tend to avoid tofu because it seems to only taste nice once it has been deep fried! I think the tofu in this meal had been fried and it was really good.

The one at the front, left hand side

I went for a Thai pumpkin curry. It was pretty hot but really tasty. I can't get enough pumpkin, butternut squash etc. The curry also had cauliflower in it and some other veg. There were some stalls selling vegan cup cakes, waffles and crepes which I was really tempted by but I was so full up I couldn't manage anything else. After lunch we decided to head home.  

We had already picked up a spinach and feta flatbread, some olives and a slice of banana cake for a picnic on the way home. The flatbread was really tasty, like a cross between bread and a thick pancake with a slight bit of spice and packed with spinach and feta. Lovely. We also had some very moreish feta stuffed, herby olives.

Feta and Spinach Flatbread

Feta stuffed olives

We also had a thick slice of banana cake but unfortunately we ate it before I could take a photograph. It was thick and sweet and packed full of bananas. 

What a lovely way to spend the weekend.

Brick Lane Weekend

Following on from our little picnic on the way down to London the weekend was planned and revolved around FOOD - yipee!

Saturday started with toasted muffins, scrambled egg, fried mushrooms and cheese made by the friends we were staying with. We then headed onto Brick Lane which was just around the corner from where we were staying. We could smell the curry when we arrived on Friday night, it was amazing.

We strolled down Brick Lane and over to Spitalfield Market. There weren't any stalls open on Saturday but we wandered around the shops. There were some delicious smells coming from a few food stalls. We wandered into a cheese shop which was selling, amongst other cheeses, Cornish Yarg.

Lovely blue skies and
 sunshine

Walnut & Pecan Tart with Strawberry & Kiwi Tea

From there we moved on to Patisserie Valerie in Spitalfields. We had cake for lunch! Mr VST had a double chocolate slice, I had a pecan and walnut tart and our friend had a custard slice. All were delicious and very filling. I also had a flavoursome pot of strawberry and kiwi tea with mine.

Yes that is a profiterole on top!

After some more strolling around we went to a bar and started the early Summer with Pimm's.

For the evening we split into groups of girls and boys. Us girlies went to Tayyabs for curry. None of us were particularly spice fans. I went for a mixed vegetable karahi with pilau rice and a peshwari naan. The spice level was just right for me. We also had some spicy and plain poppadoms to start with spicy raita, mango chutney and a very spicy tomato sauce that only I tried. 

Moving on to Sunday, we started with some toast. No cooked breakfast as it was late. We had been up late nattering and so had all slept in. Spitalfields market was full of wonderful creative things. Lots of clothes, jewellery, pictures and art. It was lovely to just wonder around all the stalls. There were a few good food stalls in amongst this lot and we picked up a few snacks for tea.......