Hangover breakfast

I'm never up for cooking on a hangover, but this is so easy and makes me feel so good that It's worth getting out of bed for. It's perfect because it's made of the kind of stuff you should have hanging around on a Sunday morning.

You will need a tin of tomatoes, a pepper, a chili pepper, a clove of garlic, a vegetable stock cube, an egg and a part baked roll (fresh bread makes it super special, I keep a bag in the freezer).

You fry the onions, garlic, pepper and  chili together until they are soft, then add the tin of tomatoes and the stock cube. Let it reduce a bit before breaking an egg in to the middle. Add salt and pepper then put the lid on the pan. Put the bread in the oven. Cook the egg until it has just set. Serve out of the frying pan.

Yum yum the chili and egg will kick you right out of that hangover!
 

Best Veggie gravy

I love Sunday Roast, and everyone loves gravy. I learned this recipe from my dad but have tweaked it over the years.

I cut a red onion so that the rings are whole but thin. Then fry the onions in some butter and olive oil. When they are soft, add some flour and mix in to a paste. Gradually add vegetable stock until you are happy with the consistency. I like mine quite thin. Add a bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary and a teaspoon full of marmite. Taste it and add more marmite if you like. Then add some pepper and serve either straight away or leave to boil. It's easy because you can do it at any stage of cooking, so no stress.

Enjoy

Roast pepper and tomato soup

I've seen  similar recipes to this one, but I've added pepper to my version.

 It's so easy!

Put five tomatoes, and one pepper in a roasting tray with olive oil and two cloves of garlic (no need to chop). Roast the tomato and peppers until the skin falls off easily and they are tender. After you've taken them out of the oven, leave to cool, but use the olive oil you roasted them in to fry some onions and fresh chili in a saucepan. Once these are soft, add a tin of tomatoes, a veggie stock cube and some water. Peel the pepper and tomatoes, chop roughly and add along with the garlic to the pan. Let it boil until the consistency is thick,  then blitz to a smooth soup. I got my hand blender for £4 from Argos, and it makes a big difference to soup (Before this I'd mash the soup with a potato masher..) 

Serve the soup with a cheese sandwich, or a cibatta roll with feta and sweet chili sauce.

Perfect with a cup of tea in winter.

My essentials for the kitchen

There are some items that you need in your house all the time! They make a meal. Obviously you need pasta, rice, potatoes etc but these are items that I think make food extra tasty.

Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (the normal stuff has anchovies) - Fab on cheese on toast, veggie bolognese.. It gives the every day food you make a deeper flavour.

Fresh Chilli's - I've always used dried chilli's, which are great for stews etc, but the fresh stuff really can't be beaten. I think it has a more rounded flavour, and it's less harsh. They can be really cheap to buy too.

Capers - I once read that these are the vegetarian alternative for anchovies. I love them in tomato sauces and on pizzas. If you're not keen, you could add them to good olive oil to make a caper infused oil, less bitter.

Olive oil - Posh stuff for salads, cheap stuff for actual cooking. I've heard the flavour goes during cooking so there's no point paying loads. My favourite thing to have with posh olive oil is a tomato and basil salad. It's so simple but really lovely.

Tinned plum tomatoes -  These are probably my most essential item. They are amazing just with a poached egg on toast, but they are also the base to hundreds of recipes. I love them more than the chopped version because I like the texture, and I think they're more versatile.

Onions - Base of nearly every meal.

I also always have lemon juice, curry paste, olives, fresh tomatoes, pizza base, and half baked bread in the freezer.

My favourite thing to do on a weekend...

I got the above items from the Car boot sale in Bangor for 30 p each! I’ve almost completely stopped shopping for clothes on the high street these days, I buy iron Fist shoes but they are veggie friendly. Charity shops and car boots are so fantastic, I know it takes a lot of energy to go through everything, but these shoes and glasses just jumped out! Accessory fate <3

Go rummage :)

Quick, easy, posh.

I love Sunday roast, and I am determined to have a veggie alternative which looks and tastes more sexy than the meat. I know it’s not the best picture, but don’t let that put  you off my caramelised onion and goats cheese tarts,  perfect for Sunday Roast, it’s quick, easy, and super tasty.

You will need : Ready made puff pastry (why bother make your own?!), red onions, brown sugar, butter, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Apparently to get good caramelised onions you need to fry them for ages, but I find half a hour is enough time for this recipe! All you need to do is soften the onions in the butter and olive oil, add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and let it boil down to a thick consistency. I hate measuring, so I do this to taste. Add a little bit of balsamic and sugar at a time and taste to make sure the balance is right. Around three onions need one cup of balsamic, and one cup of brown sugar. Pile the caramelised onion on to the puff pastry, and cover in goats cheese. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, but you’ll know when they’re ready.

I’ve tried this recipe with brie, cheddar and feta, be creative. These would make a great starter, just served with some salad and balsamic cream. Yum!

Perfect, easy, and better that quorn!

Easy Christmas - Mulled wine soap!

This year I decided I wanted to have a really ethical Christmas (AKA I'm too skint to buy ANYTHING). I've always fancied making soap, but because I hate measuring things I was scared to make the proper stuff. This soap was the easiest thing in the world to make, all you need is clear glycerine soap, a saucepan, silicone mould (pound land), a plastic jug or bowl, soap colorant and any soap smell! I got all of these things off e-bay really cheap. All I did was cut the glycerine in to chunks, and melt it on a very low heat in a plastic jug in a saucepan with boiling water. When the glycerine is all liquid (It takes around half a hour), add the colour and smell, then pour it in to the mould. It doesn't take long to set.
When making this 'mulled wine' one, I used orange and cinnamon smell, and added cloves. I got the cloves out with a sieve because I didn't want any big lumps, the little black specks you see in the soap are little bits of clove. I think it looks really cool. I used cranberry red colour.
This is my second attempt at the soap, I wasn't happy with the colour of the first one, so I just chopped it up and melted it down again.
You really can't go wrong!
I may try to make my own real soap at some point, but this is so easy and a lovely little Christmas present.

Hello!

I've decided to keep a blog because I've been making a lot of stuff recently and thought it would be cool to have them up here. So food, Christmas presents etc..

Hope you enjoy!