Foodie Friday On A Saturday - What I Ate In December

Hi everyone and welcome to a slightly late What I Ate In December post.  I've really enjoyed writing these posts over the years but lately I think that they've become a little bit repetitive to write and I suspect to read, so for that reason this will be my last foodie review of the month post.

December is one of those months where the majority of us just eat and drink till we burst. I had the best of intentions but the minute the sweet dish appeared they went right out of the window. Unlike in previous years though I did eat a lot of proper meals instead of snacking so it wasn't all bad 

First up is a new recipe for me and something that I adapted from a recipe I saw in Tesco's free magazine. This Courgette, Basil and Ricotta Tart , was ridiculously easy to make. All you need is some puff pastry rolled into a rectangle , I used Genius Gluten Free, Then mix a pot of ricotta cheese with some grated Parmesan or the equivalent, a beaten egg, some pesto, and some torn up basil leaves. Pour it on top of the puff pastry leaving a border, then top it with sliced courgette and bake. When it's just about done sprinkle with pine nuts and a little grated Parmesan and put it back in the over for a few minutes. Garnish with basil leaves and scoff :)

Christmas to me means cheese month and whilst we still have a cheese board left, I ate a hefty amount. including the 3 varieties that went into my Triple Cheese and Onion Strata.

I also made another Pimped Up Macaroni Cheese, some Broccoli and Stilton Soup and a huge batch of my Broccoli, Stilton, and Walnut Pasta

and probably the biggest cauliflower ever, made into a comforting batch of cauliflower cheese.

Sticking with the cheese theme I also made a version of my Creamy Mushroom And Basil Pasta but with some added cherry tomatoes, red pepper, and Quorn pieces.

Cheese also plays a big part in my Christmas Eve foodie routine, as well as dips, and a cheeseboard, traditionally me and Mummy Lou always indulge in a mozzarella, pesto, basil and tomato ciabatta roll sandwich

and of course some homemade gluten free mince pies, 

and some mulled wine.

Christmas dinner is per usually ended up being the meal of the year. This year alongside my veggies, I had homemade gluten free Yorkshire pudding, veggie gravy, homemade gluten free sage and onion stuffing, Quorn Roast, and a The Real Pie Company Gluten Free Nut Roast, which was a nut roast full of cranberries, leeks, mushrooms and huge pieces of nuts all wrapped in fabulous buttery gluten free pastry.

To put it politely I was absolutely stuffed and as a family we all needed an hour or so's rest after our dinners and some pretty decent Aldi champagne before we could move on to our Christmas pudding.

This year, my gluten free pudding came from Sainsbury's and very nice it was too, rich, and dark and full of fruit. I had mine with creamy custard and just a touch of cream for good luck. Apologies for the blurry photograph, it was nothing to do with the champagne I promise ;)

As much as I love my cheese and my chutneys and pickles, for my December 2014 was all about my sweet tooth. As well as the mountain of chocolate that I got for Christmas I also  guzzled my way through most of Starbucks and Costa's festive delights. When it comes to Starbucks Red Cups, I'm usually a Toffee Nut Latte girl. Last month though I branched out and consumed several Eggnog Lattes and towards the end of the month I discovered the delights of the White Chocolate Mocha.

For most of the month I was a creature of habit in Costa and I stuck to my favourite White Hot Chocolate but I did make one deviation for one of their Sticky Toffee Lattes which was yummy. I also bought a mini pack of this years festive Monin syrups so I can make my own Brownie and Chocolate Orange hot chocolates.

Speaking of chocolate I also made up a festive batch of Nigella Lawson's Sweet And Salty Crunchy Nut Bars,

and several portions of delicious Calico Cottage Fudge including the fabulous Salted Caramel flavour.

I also made a batch of Gluten Free Gingerbread (click here to see the recipe),

some of which I used to make a No Bake Gluten Free Raspberry And White Chocolate Cheesecake.

So they were my December eats, there are so many things that I haven't shown you including a massive dish of nachos, a tray full of roasted vegetables and of course my Christmas cake but I'm sure you've seen more than enough see why I'm so terrified to step on the scales on Monday - haha.

Although this series is ending Foodie Friday will continue into 2015, I'm planning on doing more recipe posts, some product reviews, some restaurant reviews and maybe a few What I Ate Today posts, but if there is anything else you would like to see food wise on the blog then please let me know x 

Foodie Friday - What I Ate In July

July was a month where I ate what I wanted, when I wanted it. When I look back at some of the things that I ate in July it honestly doesn't look as though I ate that badly, and I genuinely don't think that I did. As I said in Monday's post I think it was more about snacking and portion control. Given the heat I also ate quite a bit of ice cream that I haven't mentioned here and I also make a crucial mistake and discovered the wonder that is Cadbury's Dairy Marvellous Creations Banana Caramel Crisp - bad move! So minus the ice cream and chocolate, here's what I ate in July.

First up savouries and something that I'm having again tomorrow, naughty nachos :) I love nachos so much I make a huge batch of homemade salsa which I pour over tortilla chips, top with grated cheese and bung in the oven for 20 minutes. Not the most healthy dish but quick and easy.

I also made be favourite Double Potato And Halloumi Bake, only using feta and mozzarella instead of the halloumi. Alas no pics because they didn't come out too well but the leftovers were mixed with a bought (sorry!) pasta sauce, and some gluten free pasta, to make a quick pasta dish.

I ate a lot of pasta in July, probably more than I have in the rest of the year put together but I've missed it. I'm a huge pasta fiend! One of my favourite pasta dishes ever is macaroni cheese. When I'm in a rush I love the Amy's Kitchen Rice Mac And Cheese, which you get from must major supermarkets. I'm not a huge lover of ready meals but I would definitely recommend the Amy's Kitchen range of vegetarian and gluten free meals for quality and taste. This time though I fancied making my own, so using Heinz Gluten Free Macaroni, I made a huge batch to see us through a few hot days.

After I posted this on instagram a few people asked for a recipe, well to be honest it's so easy that it doesn't really justify a recipe. All I did was cook the pasta, and whilst the pasta was cooking I made a basic gluten free cheese sauce (just a combination of butter, milk, gluten free flour, seasoning and grated cheddar) which I then mixed into the cooked pasta, and a packet of  Redwood Vegan Chorizio Sausage Chunks. I then poured the lot into a huge baking dish, and topped it with a homemade breadcrumb topping made from gluten free bread zapped up in the food processor and mixed with more grated cheddar, garlic granules, and chilli flakes and then baked in the oven till crispy and bubbly.

Me and Mummy Lou devoured this full baking dish full over the course of 3 days It kept really well the fridge and heated up easily in the microwave. I imagine it would also freeze really well too The only thing was the topping went a touch soggy but it still tasted great.

Something else that I made in July was wrap pizzas. I am seriously in love with the Warburtons Newburn Bakehouse Gluten Free Wraps. I particular love them stuffed with salad and hummus but on this occasion I made them into pizzas, topping them with some veg, some tomato puree, and some cheese.

Yes, it's curry loaf again :) Again I made this with pimped up golden vegetable rice, and baked beans only this time I threw a handful of sultanas into the mix for good measure. Really enjoyable as per usual :)

In July my momma had a meat craving! Bless her she's so good and eats more veggie food than meat these days but sometime she just craves burgers, so we headed to Chiquitos to take advantage of the lunch menu. I had the halloumi salad which is incredible, my love for the squeaky cheese hold no bounds! The one downer this time is that they were out of the cranberry and mint relish so I just had basic salsa, never mind it was still yummy.

Mummy Lou got her usual cheeseburger and salad but I fancied being a bit naughtier so I got a portion of sweet potato fries for us to share - so, so good and something that I will definitely order again. After all that Mummy Lou still wasn't satisfied lol, like mother like daughter I guess so we moved on to the dessert, where we both had a portion of the Golden Nugget Cheesecake (alas not pictured) but it's basically a vanilla cheese cake stuff with chocolate and plain honeycomb - being good I left the base which Mummy Lou was more than happy to eat :)

When it came to sweet things through July I tried to be good but July was the month where I discovered the amazing Gower Cottage Gluten Free Chocolate Brownies..

Mmm so good, squidgy, chocolate morsels that you can't event tell are gluten free. You can read my post on them here, and I'm sad to say that my box is now all gone :(

I was a little bit god as you can see here though and I did have mine with some fresh summer fruits. My mum paid a couple of visits to the local fruit farm and bought a mountain of freshly picked strawberries and a couple of punnets of raspberries.

I may have demolished the raspberries but the majority of the strawberries were for jam. My mum loves making jam and she made about 16 lbs of strawberry jam!!! A few jars will go to friends and relatives but otherwise we are well stocked for the winter :) So far I've had some on top of ice cream and on top of some gluten free digestives with some cream cheese to make my own mini cheesecakes, in August though I can definitely see myself making some scones to have an albeit healthy version of a cream tea.

Speaking of home baking Mummy Lou also tried a bit of an experiment and made a chocolate and vanilla marble cake stuffed full of the lightest, fluffiest, butter cream you have ever tasted! So good!

That's just about it bar a couple of Costa Raspberry And White Chocolate Creamy Coolers, and one of my newest loves the Starbucks Banana Yogurt Frappuccino

So that was my July, I really want to try a bit harder to eat more healthily in August but at the same time I also want to experiment a bit more with my cooking, I really think that mixing it up a bit will make a huge difference diet wise, so if you have any healthy, vegetarian recipes hit me up x Thanks for reading and happy eating x

Foodie Friday - What I Ate In June

Last month was the month when I started to take my weight loss seriously again. I'd had about a month off but June was the month when I tried to get back on track. I still had the odd treat - my life isn't about denial after all, but by and large I think I ate pretty healthily. Probably down to the weather my salad intake increased, my fruit consumption went up, I snacked better and I cooked a lot of the recipes, that helped me at the start of my journey.

Although I'm not doing Slimming World, I have found myself cooking a lot of recipes that feature on the plan. One recipe which I fell in love with is curry or chickpea dahl loaf. The original ingredients are curried rice, and chickpea dahl. I had neither and didn't fancy a trip to Tesco, so I made a variation. First of all I made a sort of baked bean dahl, I fried some garlic, and chopped onion in Fry Light, and then I added some jalapenos, some cumin, coriander and curry powder, and a can of baked beans. I then cooked it down till it was quite thick. I didn't have any curry rice, so instead I made do with a packed of golden vegetable rice, to which I added some more jalapenos and some curry powder. It was really nice and just as good as the original and dare I say it slightly cheaper to make.

I served it with some mixed vegetables and potato salad which I made with low fat salad cream, and I also served a portion with baked sweet potato, Slimming World type chips and homemade coleslaw. There really is nothing like homemade coleslaw, it's fresh and you know exactly whats gone in it. You really need a food processor or a slicer to make it but it's well worth it.

I also served some homemade coleslaw with some crustless cottage cheese quiche and some boiled Jersey potatoes.

My mums obsession with burgers also continued in June, so on a few occasions this month I tucked into a lovely veggie burger. This one was crammed full of salad, ketchup and low fat salad cream, with just a sneaky piece of Stilton.

For someone who never used to like blue cheese, I'm now a bit of a fan. My mum always seems to pick up a bit in the reduced section when she goes shopping and I can't resist. Like me my mum is a huge bargain hunter so she regularly scans the reduced sections in the supermarket for cut priced fresh food. As well as the Stilton so also spied a bag full of courgettes for less than 50p! I wasn't sure what to do but after having a little look at this website from one of QVC UK's food demonstrators, Home Economist, Simon Brown, I decided to try and make a courgette and Stilton soup. I just used my basic broccoli and Stilton recipe, and replaced the broccoli with courgette. It was really good, and it's made me wonder what other vegetables I can try, I'm definitely thinking kale or cauliflower but I'm not sure what else would work. If you have any suggestions please leave me a comment x 

It's always worth having a look in reduced sections in supermarkets especially when it comes to fruit and veg. June also saw us pick up a large ripe pineapple for less than £1. I love fresh pineapple but it's such a bind to peel and chop, so I cut the leaves off, and chopped it into large chunks and put it skin and all into my juicer. OMMMGG it was so good and so much nicer than any bought pineapple juice, you could really taste the freshness of the fruit.

I don't know whether it's down to the warmer weather or not but I seem to have put my juicing head back on and this month I've also made several Juicemaster Homemade Sherbet Lemonades. In case you don't remember it, it's just lemons, and green apples. It is so refreshing on the palette and it's really quite filling.

Despite the fact that weather is nice today and it has been for a few days now, for a lot of June , it was rainy, miserable and anything but summery, so I made a few meals to ahem warm the cockles of my heart so to speak, starting off with some more Slimming World inspired meals, including Diet Coke Quorn,

and Mushy Pea Quorn Curry.

I also made an old favourite, my Indonesian Rice With Tofu, which is a meal that I always find super quick, filling, and comforting in equal measure.

In order to get back on track, I've had to improve my snacking a bit. Obviously I've cut down on the picking and so on but when I have snacked I've tried to make better choices.

Fruit is the big one, I'm not the biggest fruit eater out there but juicing helps and so does the availability of good fresh produce and  British strawberries. I had some with a bit of Easi Yo Green Yogurt and some with a cheeky bit of evaporated milk but no sugar because they really were sweet enough.

Instead of reaching for chocolate bars  and the like, I've tried to go for slightly healthier options to help combat cravings and my sweet tooth. Poundland has proved invaluable and I've gotten slightly addicted to these yogurt covered fruit pieces and raisins

and these compressed real fruit sticks and mini raisin packs are great when your on the go or just need something sweet in a hurry. Obviously they still have a bit of sugar in them but it's definitely better than reaching for a bar of chocolate.

I've also been pretty obsessed with rice cakes, and these yogurt covered beauties from Aldi really are the one. For less than 100 calories each you getting something that tastes a lot naughtier. 

Something that I've also loved in June are these Udi's Toaster Pastries. 

Basically they're pop tarts but for those gluten and wheat free minions like me. They come in just the two flavours strawberry, and apple and cinnamon but they are really nice and filling, whether for breakfast or as a snack. They're normally about £3 a box but they are currently just £1 in Tesco.

Life isn't worth living if you cant treat yourself though and in June I did have the odd treat though including my Mum's Gluten Free Lemon Sponge Cake 

and some lovely gluten free flapjacks also made by Mummy Lou x 

The only other area where I've been bad is with my passion for coffee shops. As much as I love my coffees I June and so far in July I've been a bit obsessed with the cooler coffee shop options. I've had a couple of Starbucks Frappuccinos including the new Coconut Mocha which I loved despite not being the biggest fan of coconut, and I've also had a couple of Costa's Creamy Coolers.

Yes I know there are healthier Costa options but at times only the whipped cream will do. That said the Sticky Toffee one doesn't come with whipped cream but my favourite Raspberry and White Chocolate Creamy is back and it's totally divine. In fact I may have had another one today!

I do want to try the new Starbucks Yogurt Frappuccinos, and I also want to try some more of the Costa Ice drinks so I will definitely be making several more trips and earning my loyalty points before the summer is out.

I haven't had the best of healthy eating weeks this week in fact it's been lousy, partly down to something I will be showing you next Friday, but I've had my fun, and I've proved to myself that it is possible to have treats and eat well and still lose weight so who knows what I'll be showing you next month :)  Thanks for reading and happy cooking, and happy scoffing xx