Tofu

 Tofu is boring. I don't want to think it's boring anymore so I have been on a mission to make tofu tasty! I love it from the Chinese, and wanted to have something similar at home, but much healthier! The texture of this was spot on, I think I will play around with different marinades though. Maybe next time I will marinade them in sweet chilli sauce or something.

I want tofu to be a big part of my diet, so I am also looking at cooking it in other ways that aren't just Asian inspired. If you hate tofu, you should try this!

First I cut my tofu block in half so there were two slices. I put some kitchen towels on a plate, placed the tofu on top, and put more kitchen towels on top.
Then I put a plate with three or four cans of food on top. This is to squeeze out all the moisture.

I left it for about four hours. You can leave it for less if you don't have time!

I then  took the kitchen towels away, and put the tofu in the freezer. When they are frozen, take them out of the freezer and repeat the first process of putting kitchen towels and weighing them down. I left this for another three hours. The texture if much firmer now. I then placed the tofu in a bowl, with one teaspoon of olive oil, some crushed pepper, smoked paprika, oregano and salt. I left this in the fridge over night.

I served it by frying them quite quickly with no oil (there was oil in the marinade, and it was a non stick pan) I served it with some fried vegetables.

I will be trying this method with other types of marinade soon. The texture was lovely. I am looking forward to having tofu in my life!

I know this is a long process, but you don't have to be in the kitchen for most of it, and it really is worth it.
The tofu was 4 points (half a pack of cauldron tofu), the marinade was one point and I served with one point of sweet chili sauce! So only six points for this beauty!
Enjoy!

Spinach and feta cannelloni

I don't like ricotta. It's bland and has a weird pukey texture. Hate to say it.. But I do. So today I have used feta instead!

Firstly make a basic tomato sauce. I put aubergine, onion, courgette and garlic in a pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, friend untill soft, added some stock and a tin of tomatoes.

Gently heat some frozen spinach (2 balls) and 50g of feta in a frying pan. Season. When it's all melted together, fill three cannelloni tubes with the filling. Put in a small oven dish. Pour over the tomato sauce, sprinkle hard cheese on top, bake for around 35 minutes.

It was 11 points for the whole thing. I hope I only eat half!
Serve with a green salad and capers.

Enjoy!

Gazpacho!

It's hot, I'm on a diet, salads get boring!



Having this just as a snack with my wine tonight.

You will need : two large, ripe tomatoes, 1/4 of a cucumber, 1/4 of a red onion, half a yellow peppers, some vegetarian worsteshire sauce, two teaspoons of vinegar, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Ice and parsley to serve.

This actually couldn't be easier. Put all of the ingredients in a jug or blender, and blitz t all together. Taste for seasoning, serve with ice.

0 points, refreshing and tasty.

Puy lentil Moussaka

I know I go on about puy lentils but they are the best thing ever!

You will need: An aubergine, 50g of puy lentils, half a courgette, onion, pepper, tinned tomatoes, stock cube, milk (1/4 of a pint) flour (table spoon) and 40g of half fat cheese.

I am on a diet again and this is only 10 points for the whole thing (massive) and 5 for half (what I will have..)

I had my puy lentils cooked because I made a salad over the weekend, just cook them according to pack instructions.

Start by frying courgette, peppers and onion together. Add some garlic if you have any. When they are soft, add a tin of tomatoes and a stock cube. When it has reduced a little bit add the puy lentils.

Cut the aubergine and layer them in the bottom of your dish, pour the tomato mixture over, then do another layer of aubergine, and another layer of the tomato mixture.

Now comes the naughty bit..

Make a basic white sauce with low fat cooking spray, skimmed milk, and a tiny bit of the cheese (around 10g). Start by cooking the flour and slowly adding the milk.

Pour this over the top of your moussaka, and finally grate the rest of the cheese over the top.

Bake in the over at around 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Bad picture but you get the idea!

I served this with some capers and a green salad. Next time I will probably put some capers in the tomato sauce. 

Filo creme fraiche tarts! Woohoo!!

I had some filo and creme fraiche spare while cooking up some delights for my niece's second birthday, and I came up with these.

I made this in a yorkshire pudding tray.

You will need: Ready made filo pasty, a tub of creme fraiche, some apricot jam, frozen summer fruits, vanilla extract/seeds, caster sugar, and lemon rind.

Firstly you need to make the filo nests. In order to do this you need to brush butter over the yorkshire pudding tray. Cut the filo in to small squares, and layer the pastry on to the mould. Every layer of pastry needs to be brushed with butter. Layer them so they evenly cover the mould. I scrunched up the over hang to create a little nest shape.

Bake these in the oven for around five minutes at 180 degrees until they are crisp and golden.

For the filling, put some apricot jam and a little bit of water in a saucepan, and warm it until it is liquid. Pour a little bit of it in to every pastry nest.

Next mix half a small tub of creme fraiche with some lemon rind, a little bit of vanilla essence, and add icing sugar to taste. I didn't make mine very sweet.

Spoon the creme fraiche mixture on to the nests, and finally decorate with frozen summer fruits, or whatever fruit you have handy really.

The magic with the frozen fruit is as they defrost they release their juices which soaks in to the creme fraiche.

They take about half an hour, they are easy, and taste amazing.

I can't bake, but I made these!

Amazing cauliflower!

The cauliflower tapas was incredible! I didn't follow the recipe, as usual but it was lovely.
I boiled the cauliflower until it was tender. Then I friend it in some Tikka curry paste (Jamie Oliver says it's fine, so it's fine!)
Then I added some of the smoked paprika and chili tomato sauce for the wedges bravas, and fried briefly.
It was delicious!

I am home in North Wales and loving it! Hope everyone is enjoying the Sun x

Leftovers?

Easter holidays, that magical time of year when you can go home and shamelessly live as if you are 17 again, mums cooking, no cleaning,  drinking every night and none of the family gatherings like at Christmas (I love them, don't get me wrong, but I just wanna chill out now!)... or is that just me?
I'm leaving my flat in Cardiff for two weeks and have loads of odds and ends in the house that need to be used.

The perfect and tasty way to use them all is tapas!

Tonight we're having

Wedges bravas http://gwenllian-glyn036.blogspot.com/2011/02/wedges-bravas.html
Potato salad
Broad bean, leek and feta salad
Roasted pepper with olives
Smoked paprika cauliflower

Loads of random stuff = my favourite way to eat.
Not tried the cauliflower yet, will blog when I have.
If you have a weird ingredient that doesn't quite fit, google a tapas recipe for it!
Easy!

Broad bean salad - Fry the leeks until soft, add the broad beans and when they are cooked sprinkle over feta, mind and olive oil, season.
Roasted pepper - Simply roast in the oven until it is black, peel the skin, chop and serve with olives and olive oil, season with pepper and sea salt.

Potato salad- the Mr's favourite. Just boil potatoes and mix with mayonnaise, mint, chives, parsley, and some wholegrain mustard, season with salt and pepper.

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter.

No foodie pictures today, here is a picture of me when I was 17! I can't wait to go home!!