Easy Halloumi Cheese Pie

I've made this recipe before, but last time I made it, I altered it quite a bit and made pastry-less mini-pies! This time, I've more or less stuck to the original recipe...

Eftychia of 'Dream of Cakes' lives in Cyprus and mainly blogs dessert and cake recipes, however she also posts many other delicious Greek recipes, one of them being this amazing halloumi pie. I adapted it slightly this time (using filo rather than puff pastry and swapping the polenta for cornflour), but other than that I followed the recipe.

As you can see, it looks quite impressive when baked, but is really easy to make. It can be served hot, warm or cold and makes a great addition to a meze or a picnic. It also looks good enough to serve for a dinner party or special occasion, slices well and can even be (slightly under) baked in advance and re-heated if needed.

I'm entering this recipe to July's Bookmarked Recipes Challenge over at Tinned Tomatoes.

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Cinnamon Sugar Mini Muffin Doughnuts

When I saw Michelle from Utterly Scrummy's recipe for these delicious-looking, mini muffin-doughnuts (which are obviously not Duffins!), I just had to make them. They're really simple to make, and taste even better then they look! They have the taste and texture of those mini supermarket doughnuts.

I made a few minor changes to the recipe as follows...

• I halved the recipe (to make 24) and replaced the cinnamon in the cake mixture with vanilla extract. 
• To coat the muffins, I mixed 2 tsp of cinnamon with 6 tbsp sugar. 
• I melted around 4 tbsp butter and after dipping a couple and seeing how much butter each muffin absorbed, I decided to just dip the 'muffin tops' into the butter, but still roll the whole cakes in the cinnamon sugar.

I froze half of the batch and took a few out to defrost as and when anyone fancied one. They are best served warm and I found that a 10-15 second blast in the microwave did the job, without affecting the taste or texture.

My next challenge is to make a vegan version, so watch this space!

I'm adding this post to this month's Bookmarked Recipes over on Tinned Tomatoes.

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Triple Chocolate Vegan Cookies - Suma Blogger's Network

This is my first post for the brand new Suma Blogger’s Network, which I'm very proud to be part of.The Network is made up of a collection of vegetarian and vegan bloggers from all over the UK, who will be blogging every couple of months using ingredients from Suma Co-op (wholesale suppliers of a huge range of vegetarian and vegan foods). 

Each recipe will be featured both on the individuals' blogs and on the Suma website.

My first recipe is a slightly indulgent one, but one which will hopefully dispel the myth that vegetarians and vegans live on lentils and spinach! 

Makes 10-12 cookies

• 4oz/1400g plain flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sieved 
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• a pinch of salt
• 3oz/75g dairy-free margarine/spread
• 6oz/150g soft, brown sugar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp No-Egg (egg replacer) mixed with 1 tbsp water
• 2oz/50g white, dairy-free chocolate/chocolate chips (I used Organica vegan white chocolate from Suma)
• 2oz/50g 'milk', dairy-free chocolate/chocolate chips (I used Moo-Free from Suma)
• 2oz/50g dark, dairy-free chocolate/chocolate chips (I used Plamil chocolate chips from Suma)

Pre-heat the oven to 170C/160C Fan/325 F/Gas 3 and grease two baking sheets.

Melt the spread on a low heat and allow to cool.
Cream the spread with the syrup and sugar.
Add the remaining dry ingredients (except the chocolate), the egg-replacer and the vanilla
Mix until you have a fairly firm, smooth dough; if the dough is too crumbly, add a little water or dairy-free milk.
Add the chocolate pieces and mix again to distribute them evenly through the dough.

Take dessert-spoonfuls of the mixture and place them, spaced well apart on the baking sheets.
Do not flatten.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for around 5 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to cool.

Will keep for several days in an airtight container. Suitable for freezing. 

Alternatives: Make chocolate-orange or mint-chocolate cookies, by swapping the vanilla extract for orange or mint.

Integrity Statement
As a member of the Suma Blogger's Network, I will receive a selection of complimentary products from Suma every two months, to use in recipe development, and will blog an original recipe for the Network. 

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Greek-Style Tortilla/Taco Salad with Halloumi

After making my first ever tortilla bowls a couple of weeks ago, I decided to experiment further and tried making microwaved bowls (see tutorial below). The wraps puffed up slightly, so maybe corn tortillas are a better option, but they went nice and crispy and worked very well as an alternative to toasted pittas with this Greek-inspired salad.

You will need:

• 4 tortilla wraps, microwaved as below and allowed to cool
• 1 pack of halloumi, sliced into 8 and grilled or barbecued
• Your choice of fresh salad ingredients (I used lettuce, tomato, onion, bell pepper and cucumber)

Dressing: (mix all ingredients together)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• A little black pepper

To make the tortilla/taco bowls:
Microwave one tortilla wrap at a time for 15-30 seconds on high, to soften.
Brush or wipe one side of each wrap with a little oil.
Place oiled-side-down into a heat-proof dish, pleating the wrap gently so that it fits inside the bowl.
Remove from the bowl and dry out the wrap in a medium oven for around 5 minutes, before cooling on a wire rack. 

Fill each tortilla bowl with salad ingredients. Top with the warm halloumi and drizzle the dressing over.

Serve immediately with your favourite dips.

Vegan option: swap the halloumi for vegan falafels.

Alternatives: Vary the salad ingredients and toppings, to make Mexican or Indian-inspired salads.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's No Croutons Required Challenge, co-hosted by Jacqui at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen. 

I'm also adding it to June's Family Foodies co-hosted by Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash

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Apricot Couronne - Great British Bake Off Blog Hop

You may have noticed that I like baking bread. My trusty Morphy Richards bread maker has been going strong for many years now and although I rarely use it to actually bake bread, it's really useful for making and proving dough for pizza bases, flat-breads, sweet breads (not sweetbreads!) and even the odd loaf or two!

I really enjoyed watching last week's Great British Bake Off, as I find it amazing that someone who can produce the perfect macaron can't necessarily bake a loaf of bread!
I loved the look of the apricot couronne, and after last year's attempt at an 8 stand plaited loaf, I though the couronne was worth a try!

I more or less followed the original Paul Hollywood recipe, but decided to tweak the filling by halving the quantities of butter, sugar and flour and swapping the orange zest for lemon (I didn't have an orange!). For the topping, I omitted the apricot jam and flaked almonds (more ingredients I didn't have) and mixed the icing sugar with lemon juice instead. 

My top tip, is to cover your work surface/board with clingfilm, before dusting with flour, as it seems to help stop the dough from sticking, when rolling it out.

My electric fan oven seems to cook more quickly than it should , so I cooked the couronne for 10 minutes at 190C and then reduced the heat to 180C and cooked for a further 10 minutes.

The couronne really wasn't too tricky to make and tasted fabulous. I think Paul and Mary would have been quite impressed!

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Antipasti Pesto

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Here's my entry for this month's Pasta Please challenge. Inspired by last month's entries (in particular this one from Jen at Little Birdie) and this month's theme, I thought I'd have a go at making my own pesto; no home made pasta just yet though!

• 2oz/50g chargrilled peppers in oil, drained and roughly chopped
• 2oz/50g sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp oil from the antipasti jar, or olive oil
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 2 tbsp Parmesan-style cheese, grated (omit or substitute for vegan version)
• A handful of fresh chopped basil
• 1 tsp chopped red chilli
• 500g dried pasta

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Put the chopped peppers, tomatoes and oil in a liquidiser/blender and whizz on a low speed. Stir and blend again. 

Add the pine nuts, cheese, garlic, chilli and basil and blend again until thick and fairly smooth.

Cook the pasta as directed and drain, leaving a little of the cooking water in the pan. Return the pasta to the pan and stir in the pesto to warm through. 

Serve topped with a little more grated cheese or a sprinkle of pine nuts.


This pesto would also work well spread on a pizza base or as a bruschetta topping.

I'm linking this post into the 3rd Pasta Please challenge hosted by Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes and Jac at Tinned Tomatoes.

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Pasta Please, Peppers: The round up

Thanks to everyone who entered a recipe in this months' Pasta Please. Having never hosted a linky like this before, I was a little worried that no one would enter! I was impressed by the quality of both the recipes and the photography...I really must start staging my dishes a little more creatively!

Several entries included home made pasta. I've never attempted this before, but feel I really ought to, as I'm sure it tastes much better than shop-bought.

Anyway, here's the round up:

Elizabeth's Kitchen
Seaweed farfalle & pesto with fiery chilli halloumi

I love halloumi, and was really impressed with Elizabeth's home made pasta. She added seaweed to her pesto, which makes this dish really individual and unique. The sliced chillis make the dish look really pretty and give the dish a spicy kick!

Little Birdie

Spinach and walnut pesto pasta with roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes
Jen created another dish using pesto, but added walnuts and spinach to hers. I love the idea of this recipe and think it's one that would go down really well in my house. It would be a simple one to adapt using ready-made pesto and jarred peppers to create a really speedy but tasty dinner.

Briciole

Chestnut flour gnocchetti

I was very impressed with Simona's home made chestnut flour gnocchetti and the fact that she even posted a YouTube video to show how to make them. I also loved the sound of the roasted pepper and almond sauce which she served with the pasta.

We Don't Eat Anything With a Face

Pasta with spicy pepper, aubergine and tomato sauce

This was my entry for the challenge. I really enjoyed  thinking about how I could use as several varieties of pepper in one dish to create a tasty vegan meal. 

Leeks and Limoni

Pasta with peppers

Katharine created a simple, economical, but delicious dish from just two basic ingredients (yes, you guessed them...pasta and peppers!). By slowly cooking the peppers, they become soft and sweet which complements the pasta beautifully.

Shades of Cinnamon
Pasta with grilled peppers and chili

Ev used a variety of bell peppers plus chilli peppers to make a really colourful dish. I think this would taste just as good cold as a pasta salad as it would hot.

The Taste Space

Roasted orange veggie noodle bowl
When I think of pasta, I automatically think of Italian food. Janet thought outside the box though and came up with this Asian-inspired dish, using noodles.

Lori's Culinary Creations
Southwest pasta salad
Lori came up with a great pasta salad recipe using store cupboard ingredients (let's hope we get a summer in the UK this year, so we can enjoy some al fresco eating!). She included Bacos, which I hadn't heard of, but apparently you can buy these bacon-style bits from some UK supermarkets.

Green Gourmet Giraffe

Spinach and walnut pesto and a pasta dish

Johanna made her own spinach and walnut pesto and stirred it through her pasta. She topped this with roasted red pepper, broccolini and yogurt cheese, which sounds like an amazing flavour combination.

The Law Student's Cookbook
Spaghetti with roasted red pepper pesto
This dish also included a home made pesto to make a simple, tasty meal, perfect for hungry students!



Tinned Tomatoes
Roast Pepper & Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad with Feta

I love the sound of Jac's colourful combination of anti-pasti, feta cheese and pasta. This is another dish which would taste good hot or cold.

Amuse Your Bouche

Roasted red pepper and spinach soup with orzo

I've never thought of putting pasta in a soup before, but Becca's recipe has convinced me that I must try it soon! The addition of red peppers gives this dish a wonderfully rich colour.

I've really enjoyed hosting this round of Pasta Please, but it has opened up my eyes into how much work goes into these things! It's been great to discover new dishes, and better still, some new blogs. Thanks to everyone who entered a recipe.

Next month, the challenge with be hosted by Jen over at Blue Kitchen Bakes and the theme will be home made pesto.

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Pasta with Spicy Pepper, Aubergine and Tomato Sauce

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This is my recipe for this month's Pasta Please challenge...do link up your pasta posts before the end of the month.

The rich pasta sauce for this dish is a cross between a ratatouille and a pepperonata (does that make it peppertouille or maybe ratonata?). I've gone slightly over the top with the pepper theme and have included bell peppers, chilli pepper, paprika and black pepper in the recipe!

Serves 4.

• 3 bell peppers (pref 1 red, 1 orange/yellow,1 green), sliced
• 1 aubergine/eggplant, cut in quarters lengthwise and then sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp sugar, optional
• 1 tbsp balsamic or wine vinegar (or a glug of red wine)
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• ½ chilli, deesed and finely chopped 
• A handful of basil leaves, chopped
• Black pepper to taste
• Dried pasta of your choice

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan.
Add the aubergine and cook on a fairly high heat for about 10 minutes until soft and golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep to one side.
Heat a further 1 tbsp of olive oil in the pan. Add the peppers, onion and garlic and sauté gently for about 5 minutes. Add the aubergines back to the pan.
Add all of the remaining ingredients and stir well. 
Put a lid on the pan and allow the sauce to simmer on a low heat for about 20-30 minutes, or until the peppers are soft and you have a thick sauce.

Meanwhile boil your pasta ( I use about 250g/8oz of dried pasta to feed 4), drain and top with the sauce.

Alternative: If you're not a fan of aubergine, swap it for sliced mushrooms or a drained tin of chickpeas.
Add an additional 250ml/1 cup of passata to the sauce and use as a filling for a vegetarian lasagne.

Sauce suitable for freezing.

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Pasta Please: Peppers

I'm very excited to be hosting the 2nd round of Pasta Please as I do like food-related alliteration! This month's theme is peppers, as they're readily available all year round, fairly cheap and really brighten up a pasta dish. You can, of course, choose which type/s of pepper you want to use...that could be bell peppers, pointed peppers, a red pepper pesto or even chilli peppers. The choice is yours!

...Want to join in the challenge?

• Simply post a pasta dish on your blog by the 28th of the month and:
• Link to the current host (this page please!) and Tinned Tomatoes: e.g. I'm linking this post into the 2nd Pasta Please challenge hosted by Lisa at We Don't Eat Anything with a Face and Jac at Tinned Tomatoes.
• Use the Pasta Please image in your post.
• If you use twitter, please tweet your post to @facelessfood and @tinnedtoms with the #PastaPlease hashtag and we will re-tweet it. 
• Selected entries will be pinned to the Pasta Please Pinterest board.

Here are the rules:

• Follow the current theme (that's peppers this month!) when creating your recipe.
• All entries must be suitable for vegetarians.
• Other hosts will accept all pasta dishes, unless they specify only vegetarian/vegan etc.
• One entry per blog.
• Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.
• If you would like to host Pasta Please, email Jacqueline at tinnedtomatoes@googlemail.com

The February 2013 theme is peppers.

All dishes must be suitable for vegetarians

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Resolutions and Revelations

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Happy New Year! As usual, my first post of the new year requires a look back at my resolutions post from last year to see how well I've done. 

My main resolution last year was to do more gardening and improve on my fruit/vegetable/herb patches, so that we would have some of our own fresh produce to eat. Unfortunately, with the appalling weather we had in the UK last year, I failed miserably on this resolution! Seriously, we had enough rain to float the ark, so the only crop I managed to raise successfully was one of slugs and snails! Even my normally productive apple trees only managed to produce a handful of apples between them.

This year, I want to try again (weather permitting), so I'm hoping get outside more and make a raised bed this year, to see if that helps with drainage and disease issues. 

One other thing I want to do this year, is to reduce my reliance on plastic carrier bags. I generally carry one re-usable bag around with me in my handbag, but sometimes that just isn't enough! I reckon I need to keep a couple more in the boot of my car, so they are at hand if needed. I would love it if more shops could be pro-active on this issue too. Some stores train their staff to ask if you need a carrier bag (or even charge for them), but many assume that customers want one for even the smallest item, and some assistants almost seem offended when I turn their carrier bag down!

Blog-wise, I'm determined to focus a bit more on vegetarian and vegan news, issues and product reviews. I have been very flattered to receive so many product review requests over the past year, but this year, I will try to be a little more selective in the ones I feature (unless they involve chocolate, of course!).

Finally, I'll leave you with a little update on the charity I've been supporting over the past year. Deki provides micro-loans and training to people living in poverty (in Malawi, Togo, Ghana and Nepal), so that they can create sustainable livelihoods. So far, I have lent to 5 different people and had £47 re-paid to my account, which I have then re-invested and lent to other budding entrepreneurs. If you would like to join me in helping others this year, I'd love to to join my Bloggers United Team at Deki. You don't have to be a blogger, just someone who would like to make a difference. By making a loan on behalf of the team, you will boost the team’s loan total but repayments will be made to your personal account. Find out more about team lending here.

The minimum investment is £10 and Deki charge no interest and take no commission from loans. Deki rely solely on donations to cover running costs and enable us to continue connecting entrepreneurs and investors around the world. We use carefully-vetted field partners to pass on loans to borrowers in their local currency. Field partners pass on minimal interest rates to help cover running costs and ensure sustainability. Rates are monitored to ensure they are fair and affordable.

Thanks for reading...I'd love to hear what your resolutions and aspirations are this year, so do drop me a comment below. 

Read more blogging resolutions over at Tots100.

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Why?

Wendy from Inside the Wendy House has tagged me in this meme about the eternal question "Why?"

When my children were little and going through their inquisitive, cute toddler phase, the question "Why?" was generally met with a nice little explanation. I remember Miss Ony asking me "Why did dinosaurs become extinct?" so I explained how there were different theories, but it was probably because the climate changed in some way, maybe due to a meteorite hitting earth. 
You can see how patient I was back in those days!

Now, the question "Why?" is often met with  a terse "Because I said so!" and generally follows a question about bed time, money, clothes, tidying bedrooms, dying hair or piercing ears! 

There are many why questions I have myself though and here are just a few of them...

• Why do my kids find Disney channel repeats so entertaining?
• Why can't anyone else in my family change a toilet roll?
• Why is there so much sport on TV and why does Mr O have to watch it all?
• Why do my kids text and Facebook their friends instead of talking to them on the phone?
• Why are so many mums obsessed about the size of their ironing pile?
• Why does it rain every time we go camping?
• Why do people buy ready meals/processed foods and then complain how expensive their shopping bills are?
• Why do tall people always sit/stand directly in front of me at the cinema, gigs etc?
• Why do I talk back to the self-serve checkouts at the supermarket?
• Why do people always ask me if I eat fish after I've told them I'm vegetarian?

I could keep going for some time, but why don't you tell me your whys instead?

• What are your whys? Post as few or as many as you like.
• Link up your post to Mummy Central, and it would be great if you could leave a comment too.
• Tag 5 bloggers to keep this going.
• If you’re not a blogger, leave your whys as a comment below. I'd love to read them.
• Show your support by reading a few others and commenting on them.

I'm tagging Aly from Plus 2.4, Clare from The Vegetarian Experience, Mandy from Mummy on the Edge Mrs M from At Home with Mrs M and Mrs Average from Observations of Mrs Average...if you haven't been tagged, please feel free to join in anyway.

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A trio of salads for Britain's Got Salad

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Here's my own contribution to Britain's Got Salad...a trio of salads, which all just happen to be vegan: 

Mushroom and Coriander Salad

• 250g/10oz chestnut or mixed mushrooms, wiped and sliced
• 1 small onion, diced or sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil up in a pan and add the mushrooms and onion.
Cook until soft and then the ground coriander. Cook for a further minute, then add the garlic and balsamic vinegar.

Heat until most of the juices have evaporated and then remove from the heat. 

Finally add the fresh coriander and stir through.

Serve warm or cold.

Spicy Store-cupboard Salad

• 100g/4oz tinned sweetcorn, drained (use fresh when in season)
• 100g/4oz roasted sweet red peppers from a jar, diced (or cook your own)
• ½ red onion, diced finely
• 1-2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• Finely chopped pickled jalapeño chilli to taste (optional)
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tbsp lime juice

Mix all ingredients together and serve!

Lemony Potato and Pepper Salad

• 2 large potatoes, diced into 2-3 cm/1" chunks
• 1 large/2 small sweet potatoes, diced into 2-3 cm/1" chunks
• 2 yellow or orange bell peppers, diced into 2-3 cm/1" chunks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
• Black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a roasting dish at 200C/Fan 190C/Gas 6.

Par boil the potatoes (not the sweet potatoes) for 5 minutes. Drain.

Add both types of potato to the roasting dish and turn to coat with the oil. Roast for 20-30 minutes, until starting to brown.

Add the diced pepper, lemon zest, black pepper and rosemary to the same dish and turn the potatoes.

Bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until all of the vegetables are cooked and slightly crispy.

Remove from the oven.

Pour the lemon juice over while the dish is still warm and mix gently to coat.

Serve warm or cold.

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Britain's Got Salad!

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I came up with this idea when I was ill and in a slightly delirious state a few weeks ago. I was in lying in bed, dosed up with painkillers and decongestants, listening to the TV with my eyes closed, when a trailer came on for Britain's Got Talent. As my ears were blocked, I misheard it as Britain's Got Salad and I thought that would be a great title for a salad talent show!!

Now, one of my favourite veggie bloggers (Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes) runs a monthly soup and salad challenge, so I don't want to step on her toes. This is therefore a one off event (or maybe an annual one) to celebrate and publicise National Vegetarian Week.

Since starting my blog and reading many others, I've come to realise that there are some fantastic salad ideas about that include an amazingly wide variety ingredients, so I'd like to encourage as many people as possible to get excited about salads!

Unfortunately after ordering a salad in most British pubs and restaurants, you'll be presented with nothing more than a bowl of shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced cucumber, some bullet-hard tomatoes and maybe a few raw onion rings if you're lucky...no dressing, no herbs, no taste! Obviously we have to import many salad ingredients throughout the winter months, but we have fantastic salad ingredients coming into season right NOW.

To enter, just link up your favourite salad recipes (that includes raw and cooked salads, plus dips) or any other salad-related posts (review, news, growing tips etc.). The only proviso is that your post must be related to salad in some way, and any recipes must be vegetarian/vegan or show how they can be adapted for vegetarians. It would be great if you would add my BGS logo to your post too, but it's not compulsory. If you want to add the list of entries to your own blog post, get the InLinkz code here.  If you're not a blogger, feel free to leave your recipes and tips in a comment instead.

So here it is...ladies and gentlemen...BRITAIN'S GOT SALAD; Unfortunately Simon Cowell et al won't be judging your entries and there's no cash prize I'm afraid!

Logo made with
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Have you got time to share with Deki?

Tots 100 have recently launched Time to Share, which aims to raise awareness of smaller charities, publicise volunteering opportunities and of course raise funds, by getting bloggers involved.

I've been paired up with Deki, which is the first UK person-to-person microloans charity; Instead of giving 'aid' they give loans to people from Togo, Malawi, Ghana and Nepal so that they can set up or expand their own businesses and access training and support - this allows people to preserve their dignity, as they are not receiving a hand-out, but a fair loan that needs to be repaid.

How does it work?
Anyone can lend from as little as £10. You can even raise funds as a group (e.g. a work place or school). It's is a very engaging way of giving because you can pick the person you want to support. Also your money goes to that specific person and not to an obscure charity pot.

Before they receive a loan, each applicant goes through a process of basic training and the testing of their business idea - it's in everyone's interest that their idea is solid. All being well, you'll get the money back, when the loan is repaid (although there's no guarantee of this) and you can then reinvest the money to help someone else. 

Watch this animation to find out more:


This You Tube clip shows some of Deki's success stories.

What sort of people need a loan?
Deki's website features many people who have started their own businesses and want to expand them. These include stall holders, food vendors, dress makers and many more besides. People just like you and I, who want to be financially self-sufficient and to provide the best future they can for their families.

It's been a difficult decision to make, but I've chosen one particular person to lend to, and I'm asking you to consider lending to the same person, to try and make a difference together. I've decided to support someone who despite living in very different circumstances to me, has a lot in common with me.
Leontine lives in Lome, Togo. She's the same age as me and like me, is married with two children. She sounds like a bit of a foodie,  as she used to be a fruit retailer but now has a little stall selling rice, yams and cooked food. She's asking for a loan of £390 so that she can buy stocks of oil, beans, rice and yams to grow her business. Leontine wants to provide her children with a good education and maybe one day have her own home.

If you have the Time to Share, please join me in raising money for Leontine's loan, by sharing this post and visiting her page on Deki's website.

Thankyou.

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My kitchen disaster

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It's strange how you become attached to inanimate objects isn't it? Take my favourite Kitchen Devils knife for example...it could slice, it could chop and it could cut. Now, you may think that most sharp knives can do all three things, (surely that's what knives are designed to do?) but no! I have a selection of about ten different sharp knives...some big, some small and some medium-sized. They are all useful for different jobs, but only my favourite Kitchen Devils knife could do everything.

That was until the day I dropped my beloved knife down the back of the cooker! I'm not quite sure how it happened, but within a blink of the eye it was gone...lost forever! Unfortunately the cooker was pretty much wedged in-between my kitchen units and I couldn't manage to shift it to recover my knife.

I looked for and bought a replacement, but the latest model wasn't quite the same and seemed to slice at an angle.

Well, they say bad luck comes in threes. First my knife disappeared into the back-of-the-oven-abyss. Next my faithful food processor died, and finally my cooker gave up the ghost. The thermostat blew for the third time, and the cooker repair man advised me that it would be safer to get a new cooker than keep replacing the thermostat.

I chose my new cooker and got it delivered a couple of days later. As the cooker delivery man pulled out the old cooker and disconnected it, I noticed the glint of my knife winking at me from the kitchen floor, as if to say "Here I am, please rescue me!"

So there we are. I've been reunited with my knife, I've bought a new cooker and the world is good again...except I still haven't found a replacement food processor. 

This is my entry for the Morphy Richards/Foodies 100 Innovator competition.  Pin It

Kweggs

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Not a recipe, more of a serving suggestion, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce....the kwegg!

Miss K: Can I have a kwegg mum? 

Me: Erm, yes, what's a kwegg?

Miss K: A kiwi egg...a kiwi in an egg cup!

So there's now another new word in our household: Is it a kiwi fruit or is it an egg; No, it's a kwegg!

There you have it...a new noun, soon to be found in the Oxford English Dictionary - Kwegg:  A kiwi fruit with the top sliced off, served in an egg cup and eaten with a teaspoon.

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10 questions meme

I've been tagged by Alison from Plus 2.4, to answer 10 questions about myself.

What you have to do if you want to join in, is:

1) Answer the 10 questions below.
2) Tag someone to do the same.
3) Go and leave a comment on the original blog post over at Super Amazing Mum to say that you've joined in, to find out who else has been tagged and to compare answers!

So here goes….

1. Describe yourself in seven words
Vegetarian working mum with an untidy house.

2. What keeps you awake at night?
My husband's snoring.

3. If you could be anyone for day, who would you be and why?
Oh, that's a difficult one...there's lots of people I admire, but I'm not sure I'd like to be them, even for a day. OK, how about Gordon Ramsey? I'd be him and make him only eat, cook, serve and talk about vegetarian food for a whole day! Maybe I'd pop round to the Beckham's with the kids too!

4. What are you wearing now?
Long, grey and black Per Una skirt, a black top and black boots (just got back from work).

5. What scares you?
Spiders :-(

6. What is the best and the worst thing about blogging?
The best - having somewhere to record my thoughts and recipes, plus finding out that there are like-minded people out there in the blogosphere.
The worst - feeling that I should be trying harder to 'network', when I'm really not a networking kind of person!

7. What was the last website you looked at?
Yahoo - I just checked my emails, very boring I know.

8. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
To be tidier.

9. Slankets – Yes or no?
Nooo! What's wrong with a duvet?

10. Tell us something about the person who tagged you?
I was tagged by Alison, who's a Pagan mum of 3 kids. Like me, she loves cooking and inflicting cultural and educational days out on her children!

I'm tagging:
@mum2alesha http://www.mum2alesha.blogspot.com/
@LouiseLongworth http://www.vegetariankids.co.uk/blog
@picklesmum http://picklesmum.blogspot.com/
@jadeheathfield http://www.bunnykind.wordpress.com/
@Jojomololohttp://jojomololo.blogspot.com/ Pin It