Erm's Photo Diary

[ILoveCake]

Ooh I dunno, I really like the spicy couscous salad, nice easy one, first time I did it with all the pomegrnate seeds & walnuts and that but after that I just did the superfree version, yum yum



The Ottolenghi za'atar squash with tahini was lush too, made that several times:

Ooh and my roast veg & pasta salad was good and really easy, that had prosciutto in but you could easily omit it, it wasn't necessary:

This is my fave soup at the mo, pumpkin with spicy croutons:

Oh and this soup was LUSH, but maybe better as a starter as its not lumpy so doesnt fill you up loads:

The Isa Chandra Rancheros were not bad for a quick and easy mid-weeker:

Stuff off the BBQ I liked that could be adjusted a bit:

Halloumi kebab:

Tofu, shallot & sweet potato kebab:

And parmesan & chilli polenta cakes:

Let me know which ones you want the recipe for if you're interested in any

Wow thankyou. Pumpkin soup is my favourite soup can make that with my eyes closed. Feels like total food porn to me love it.

I would love the roast Veg recipe please, I always seem to do what I'm used to and I'd love a change. And the large couscous recipe please.

Did you go anything fancy with the halloumi kebabs?

Isaac chandra rancheros.....I am curious what is it....I'd love to try that.

Polenta cakes I've never tried anything like these were they food heaven?

I have an important anniversary coming up, I need to up my domestic goddess status while staying on plan. Thanks for the inspiration I'd love the recipes and on Monday I'll go 'Ermintrude' shopping. :-Dxxx

 

[ermintrude]

Friday 06th July Green

Breakfast: Coffee & fruit 1 HEXA
Lunch: M&S Lentil, giant couscous & goat's cheese salad 3.5 syns
Tea: Black bean, aubergine & leek chilli with polenta gnocchi & lime sour cream <1 HEXB for Philadelphia, ???7 syns for polenta??? (<10)
Snacks: Quorn slices

 

[ermintrude]

Wow thankyou. Pumpkin soup is my favourite soup can make that with my eyes closed. Feels like total food porn to me love it.

I would love the roast Veg recipe please, I always seem to do what I'm used to and I'd love a change. And the large couscous recipe please.

Did you go anything fancy with the halloumi kebabs?

Isaac chandra rancheros.....I am curious what is it....I'd love to try that.

Polenta cakes I've never tried anything like these were they food heaven?

I have an important anniversary coming up, I need to up my domestic goddess status while staying on plan. Thanks for the inspiration I'd love the recipes and on Monday I'll go 'Ermintrude' shopping. :-Dxxx

Here we go, I dont think any of these are special/foodie heaven, they're just pretty easy and quite yumsome:


Roast summer veg pasta salad with parmesan

Serves 2 generously

Ingredients:
- 2 courgettes, halved lengthways & sliced
- 1 aubergine, halved lengthways & sliced
- 3 red onions, cut into 8 wedges each
- 30g garlic, peeled & halved
- 18g red chilli, thinly sliced
- 3 peppers, deseeded & cut into chunks
- 150g penne (dry weight)
- 1 pot basil, reserving a bit to garnish
- 50g Parmesan, grated, (1HEX each) plus 10g each to serve (2 syns each)

Method:
- Roast all veg in fry Light & seasoning, uncovered, for about 40min or until tender & browned
- Meanwhile boil the pasta until just done
- When everything's cool, mix the Parmesan in with the pasta, then gently mix with the veg
- Serve topped with a little more Parmesan, basil & black pepper

 

[ermintrude]

Giant couscous & BNS spicy salad +/- walnuts

Serves 3 as a large side

Ingredients:
- 1 squash (about 1kg), chopped into small cubes
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 150g giant cous cous
- 20g walnut pieces, roughly chopped (optional)
- Seeds & juice 1/2 a pomegranate
- juice 1/2 a lemon
- about 10 leaves mint, shredded

Method:
- Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6
- Toss chilli powder & squash in a bowl to coat then roast in Fry Light for 30-40 min until soft & crispy at the edges. Leave to cool.
- Meanwhile cook couscous for 8 min, drain & refresh under cold water. Set aside.
- Meanwhile get the seeds from the pomegranate, chop the walnuts & mint if using, juice the lemon etc
- When everything is cooked put squash & couscous in a bowl & stir once
- Add pomegranate seeds & juice (and walnuts if using) and mix gently
- Just before serving sprinkle lemon juice & mint over top

 

[ermintrude]

Isa Chandra's Butternut Rancheros

From Isa Chandra's website

This is a filling and easy midweeker IMO.

Ingredients:
- 1 BNS, about 1kg
- 125g dry black beans, soaked overnight & cooked (or use a tin)
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1*medium/large onion, diced
- 3 jalapeno peppers/chillies, deseeded & chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tin passata
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- spring onion & coriander, to serve

Method:
- Soak and cook the beans in advance if using dried
- Preheat oven to 180C
- Cut squash into 1 inch thick discs, spray with Fry Light, season well & bake for 40min-1h until crispy/blackening round the edges, turning halfway
- Toast the seeds over a medium heat until aromatic and starting to change colour
- Add Fry Light and saute onion, peppers and garlic for 5- 10 min until browning
- Add passata, salt and syrup for 5 min
- Add beans to warm though
- When BNS is done reheat the bean mix and serve in shallow bowls, topped with butternut rings and a sprinkle of spring onion and coriander

 

[ermintrude]

Parmesan & chilli polenta wedges

Makes 18 triangles - serves 2-3 as a side
Can be made the day before

Ingredients:
- 600ml veg stock
- 125g coarse ground polenta (cornmeal/maize) - dry weight
- 1tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp dried bird eye chillies, whizzed (about 2-3 dry chillies) - or just use chilli powder
- 30g Parmesan, grated
- 1tbs parsley, chopped

Method:
- Mix the dry polenta, salt & chillies in a bowl
- Bring the stock to a boil in a large heavy-based pan (preferably ceramic or non-stick so the polenta doesn't stick)
- Gradually pour in the polenta mix, whisking continuously until the stock comes back to the boil (just a few seconds)
- Turn the heat off and leave for 20min, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until grains are soft
- Stir in the Parmesan & herbs
- Spread the polenta mix out on a lined & oiled tray to desired thickness and leave for 20min or overnight (The thinner you spread it the crispier it will turn out, or you can leave it quite thick so the outside crisps up but leaves the inside the consistency of soft cheese)
- When you're ready to cook it cut it up into the desired shape eg sticks, triangles, squares or whatever, spray with fry Light and bake for 10-15min until crisping up on the outside, turning halfway. You can leave it longer or shorter, depending how crispy you like it. (You could also try cooking it on the skillet or a non-stick frying pan to just crisp the outside)

You could add whatever flavours you like to this, eg garlic & basil, sun dried tomatoes & olives, Eastern spices, whatever you fancy really, (add them at the mixing-in-the-cheese stage). I've done plain, chilli, and soft cheese so far, the chilli was by far the best and I prefer it crispier, the consistency of hash browns, but it's up to you

 

[missy1978]

Mmmm, I love butternut rancheros! There's some awesome recipes on the PPK and Isa's books are wonderful too. I've had a good nosy through some of the recipes in you diary and the lovely pictures too - thanks for sharing! x

 

[Laura94B]

I am sooo going to try making these polenta wedges! I know that they're synned now, but I think I will take it as the 'homemade crisps' thing, that as long as you're not abusing it, and just eating a wedge or two with salad etc, that it's syn free haha... They just look so yummy

 

[ermintrude]

The halloumi kebabs were marinated in chillies, garlic & olive oil overnight but personally I didn't think it was worth it, halloumi is lush on its own and theres no reason not to just sprinkle with some crushed chillies & garlic and marinade for a few hours if you like, no need for all the oil IMO:

(the bay leaves were part of the marinade and then threaded into the kebabs for show I guess, like I say I dont think they were necessary):

 

[ILoveCake]

Thanks Erm, I'm going to enjoy trying these. How do you find your losses with pasta? I'm finding I'm better on rice but I love pasta. You are doing so well, I love the variety in your diary. Thanks again off to wrote a shopping list. ;-)

 

[systema]

I was reading a thread that you had answered talking about pesto and you wrote that you could use the oil as HEX IIRC. - what is that please? Know I am going to feel daft when you tell me!!!!

 

[Applekath]

Thank you for posting the latest recipes! Will certainly be doing the bns stuff!

I've got friends round tonight and I'm tight on pennies. So doing tuna and sweet corn cakes with salsa, bns and bacon risotto with raspberry fool for pud!

 

[Keldelacoe]

Thank you for posting the latest recipes! Will certainly be doing the bns stuff!

I've got friends round tonight and I'm tight on pennies. So doing tuna and sweet corn cakes with salsa, bns and bacon risotto with raspberry fool for pud!

Sounds lovely

 

[dirtydancing]

loving the recipes as always nic.

 

[Applekath]

Sounds lovely

It was if I do say so myself ;-)

Pics are on my diary.

 

[dirtydancing]

hope your o.k missing you on here. :bighug:

 

[Keldelacoe]

It is lovely but it depends what you put in it, the one I did on Saturday was gawjus! :drool: Its basically just ground cornmeal/maize, it used to be free but from what I gather people started using it to make cakes and stuff with instead of using it for the 'proper' reason. I think it used to be free because it was a bit like having pasta (which is basically just flour). Anyway, I dont give a sod, its not like I eat it on its own with no veggies or whatever The ones I made this week have chilli and cheese and salt in them but you can put whatever you like in really, all sorts of spices woud go, or sun dried tomatoes maybe, olives?

This is the one I had Saturday:

Parmesan & chilli polenta wedges:

Ingredients:
- 600ml veg stock
- 125g coarse ground polenta (ground cornmeal/maize)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 or 3 dried bird's eye chillies, whizzed/ground (or you could just use a pinch of chilli powder)
- 30g grated Parmesan
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method:
- Mix the polenta, salt and spices in a bowl
- Bring the stock to the boil and pour the polenta in slowly, whisking continuously as you do so, keep whisking until it comes back to the boil
- Turn the heat off and leave it for 20 min, stirring occasionally
- Stir in the Parmesan & herbs and spread out on a lined tray to about 1cm thick (it probably wont need a whole tray)
- Leave to stand for at least 20 min, or overnight if you want.

Then when you want to eat it just cut it into wedges and grill/oven/dry fry on a skillet until both sides are crispy & brown. How crispy you want it is up to you, I like mine kinda hash-brown crispy Or you can just eat it as it is, like a thick porridge/spread/dip.

Last night I made them a bit thicker and they were crispy on the outside and like soft cheese on the inside

I'm going to try these tonight I think... So I take it if it's corn maize are these what Americans refer to as corn bread?

 

[JackieN]

hope you are okay Erm :hug99: :hug99: xxxxxxxx

 

[ILoveCake]

I hope you are well Erm. X

 

[Shirleen]

Hugs Ermie xxxxx