All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Baked Cauliflower Curry

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Baked Cauliflower Curry

I really like this curry sauce. A lot. I’ve been working on my baked cauliflower curry for a while now and I’m so pleased with it! Baking the cauliflower gives the curry a delicious nutty taste. The flavour and texture of the sauce when it’s blended is really similar to a sweet korma sauce, but all the sweetness here comes from vegetables. It’s a really flexible recipe too; there are some suggestions for changing it up at the end.

Ingredients

You will need (for four):

  • 1 small cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil, for cooking
  • Salt and pepper

For the curry sauce: read more

Lemon and Coconut Flapjacks

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Lemon and Coconut Flapjacks

When I cut into a lemon I can’t help but give it a good sniff. It’s the same with lime and grapefruit. There’s something about that citrus smell that I just can’t wait to inhale; especially if it’s a drizzly day. I also love tropical flavours at this time of year: coconut, passion fruit, mango, you name it! Combining a bit of citrus and a bit of tropical was the idea here so I set about baking some lemon and coconut flapjacks.

ingredients

You will need (for 12 flapjacks):

  • 125g butter
  • 125g soft brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp golden syrup
  • 225g oats
  • 25g desiccated coconut
  • Zest 1 lemon
  • Juice 1 lemon
  • 4-6 tbsp icing sugar (I used unrefined)

method

Preheat an oven to 180C and grease a baking dish well, the one I used was 20cm x 20cm.

In a small saucepan melt together the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup on a low heat. Stir often to ensure everything gets well combined.

Stir the oats, coconut and lemon zest together in a large bowl.

Once the butter, sugar and syrup have melted pour them into the oats and mix everything together well to ensure that the butter mix has coated everything.

Tip the oats into the baking dish and flatten the top with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the flapjacks from the oven and mark into portions while they are still hot. Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes before removing and leaving to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl. Sift in three tbsp icing sugar to start with and see how thick the icing gets. Keep adding more icing sugar until the icing becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Drizzle, splat or dunk the flapjacks in the icing to decorate.

Now when you come to ice the flapjacks don’t be alarmed that the icing dribbles down in between the oats. That tangy lemon hit will settle somewhere inside and be delicious when you come to eat it. By using unrefined icing sugar the icing will come out a pale brown/yellow colour but if you use refined icing sugar it will come out white. I really like using chunky whole oats for flapjacks as I think it gives a great texture and mixed with coconut the overall texture of these is slightly chewy at the edges and soft in the middle. Just how I like them.

Apricot and Coconut Granola

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apricot and coconut granola

I used to think I didn’t like dried apricots. As it turns out, I do, but only the extra squidgy unsulphured ones. When you bite into them or pull them apart it’s almost like they are full of thick honey and you can see the strands of sticky apricot trying to hold on to the other half. They are the perfect addition to some apricot and coconut granola; a burst of sunny-day flavours for breakfast is how I like to start my day.

ingredients

You will need (for a big jar of finished granola):

  • 350g oats
  • 150g mixed nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamias, walnuts or whatever you like)
  • 75g seeds (poppy, linseed, sesame or whatever you like)
  • 75g desiccated coconut
  • 125g dried apricots, chopped
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 120ml honey or maple syrup

method

In a large bowl mix together the oats, nuts, seeds and desiccated coconut.

Preheat an oven to 150C and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Add the honey (or maple syrup) and coconut oil to a small pan and heat gently until the coconut oil has melted. Stir everything together to make sure it’s well combined.

Pour the honey and coconut mixture over the granola ingredients and mix everything together really well with a large spoon.

Tip the granola onto the lined baking trays and spread the mix out over the tray so you have one even layer.

Put the trays into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until it’s smelling toasty. Remove the trays from the oven, mix everything together well and then put back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes so that everything gets evenly toasted. Be careful not to let anything catch but do leave it in long enough for everything to be a lovely golden colour.

Remove the trays from the oven and leave to cool. Add the chopped apricot to the granola mix then tip into an airtight container.

This amount of granola will last two of us at least a fortnight having a generous serving with yoghurt.

I love how dark the apricots are amongst all the other ingredients. You can of course use the orange dried apricots, or any other dried fruit that you like to make it your own. The combination of apricot and coconut together I really like and I think I’d add some coconut flakes next time for more texture. I like to serve my homemade granola over yoghurt and my OH likes to add some to other cereal and make both go a little further.

Three Ingredient Date and Coconut Bites

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Date and Coconut Bites

There are an awful lot of new ‘healthy’ or ‘superfoods’ around at the moment and they are everywhere you look. Avocados, coconut oil, seeds and berries, cacao nibs; the list goes on. Now, I’ll try anything once and I have had a flirtation with all of the aforementioned foods but what happens when the Vogue moment is over, everyone’s moved on to something new and you’re left with a cupboard of half opened ingredients. Well if you’re me and throwing it away is not an option (although the compost bin might actually be the best place for the cacao nibs) you get creative. Welcome to my Three Ingredient Date and Coconut Bites; ready in a flash, use up some ingredients and made with all the good stuff.

You will need (for 16 bites):

  • 12 medjool dates (these are the extra sticky ones)
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pit the dates if they have stones and roughly dice them up. Put them in a food processor and blend to a rough paste.

Add the coconut oil and vanilla then blend again until smooth.

Roll into balls then pop in the fridge for when you fancy one.

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that my date and coconut bites are coated in desiccated coconut. You can coat them if you like but they are fine naked too. I have tried desiccated coconut, cocoa powder and sesame seeds all with much success.

There’s not a lot to these little bites in the quantity of ingredients or difficulty in making but they certainly pack a punch when it comes to flavour. I didn’t expect these to be quite as nice as they are; a great hit of sweetness but from all natural sugar. When you’re having your afternoon coffee, pop a couple of these on the side. You can thank me later. The dates are sticky and sweet, the coconut oil improves the texture and the overall flavour is faintly vanilla with a good dose of coconut. I’m really rather pleased with these.

A little comment on ‘superfoods’ if I may. I think it’s interesting that all these new ingredients (or old in some cases, amaranth I’m looking at you) have their 15 minutes of fame but when the fad is over, we all move onto something else and it’s a never ending process. It’s great that we can all get hold of these ingredients to try for ourselves and the range of ingredients available now, even in a petrol station, is quite staggering. What I’m not so keen on is that some of these ingredients are sold as hugely superior to other foods to justify the price. There is not one food that does everything, and if there was, I certainly wouldn’t be interested in eating just one thing for the rest of my life no matter how ‘good’ it was for me. Certainly some of these ‘superfoods’ have benefits but you’re not going to get away with eating a generally bad diet just as long as you chuck a few chia seeds in on the way. It’s an old saying, but it’s the best one: everything in moderation, including moderation. Have a bit of cake, order extra cheese on your burger, try new ingredients, give salad a go. As far as I’m concerned if you’re cooking food up at home from ingredients that you like, what’s not super about that?

Coconut, Sesame and Chocolate Shortbread

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Coconut Sesame and Chocolate Shortbread - All That I'm Eating

When something just works it’s the best. It could be a combination of flavours you tried by accident or using something perfectly for a different purpose than it was designed for. I made this Coconut, Sesame and Chocolate Shortbread for both of the aforementioned reasons. Recently I was enjoying my chocolate dessert when another coconut and sesame pudding was on the table, and as I like to try everything, I took a scoop of the coconut and sesame and gobbled it down. The flavours were so good together I thought it was well worth a try recreating it at home. Also, I always make shortbread in a cake ‘tin’ rather than on a tray. I have a silicone mould for cakes which I once used for shortbread when I couldn’t find anything else and it works perfectly every time.

You will need (for 12 pieces):

  • 170g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 50g sugar
  • 150g softened butter
  • 30g desiccated coconut
  • 10g sesame seeds (I used both white and black)

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl then stir in the sugar.

Add the butter and mix it together roughly. Mix in the coconut and sesame and bring everything together to form a dough.

Lightly knead the dough. Press the dough into a greased cake tin (mine is 20cm), or place on a lined baking tray and roll out to make a 20cm round.

Prick the top all over with a fork.

Bake for 40-45 minutes then remove from the oven and mark into wedges while still warm. Wait for the shortbread to cool slightly before removing and leaving to cool completely.

These are the perfect Sunday afternoon bake. They don’t take too long to make and they are good to use up a few ingredients you probably already have as you bought them for something else and never used it all (I know that’s how I ended up with white and black sesame seeds!). The combination of coconut and sesame is so good and the house smells amazing while these bake. All rounded off with a hint of chocolate from the cocoa powder, what more could you want from a simple biscuit?

Homemade Easy Granola

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Easy Homemade Granola on tray

Why bother making your own granola? I mean, the stuff that comes in a nice box all full of stuff can’t really be that different and making your own sounds like such a hassle right? Nope. As it turns out making your own is not only ridiculously easy but it’s so much tastier than anything I’ve tried pre-bought. I find the readymade ones are far too sweet and you spend every morning searching for the elusive hazelnuts you’re pretty sure are meant to be in there. With my homemade easy granola you make up your mind and decide exactly what goes in your breakfast.

The best thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to be very exact; a few grams over or under aren’t going to make any real difference and it’s so versatile you can add whatever you want, just stick to the proportions below.

You will need (makes a big jar):

  • 350g oats
  • 200g nuts (I used pistachios, walnuts and hazelnuts)
  • 100g seeds (I used a five seed mix)
  • 50g coconut flakes or desiccated coconut
  • 100g dried fruit (I used dried cranberries)
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 120ml honey or maple syrup

Mix together the oats, nuts, seeds and coconut in a large bowl.

Melt the coconut oil and honey together in a saucepan until combined.

Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients and mix everything together with a spoon.

Preheat an oven to 150C. Line two baking trays (or one very large one) with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture onto the trays. Spread the mix out so it’s in roughly one layer then pop into the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes, take the granola out and turn the mixture over with a spoon so it gets evenly toasted. Return the tray to the oven for a further 15 minutes. You want everything to be nice and golden but not overcooked so it might need a little more or less than 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Mix the dried fruit in to the granola and store in an airtight container.

If you wanted to you could add some cinnamon to the honey mixture to give everything a lovely spiciness and if you want to leave the coconut out you can add some dark chocolate or cocoa nibs when you mix through the dried fruit. Raisins or dried blueberries are really good; as is a mix of brazil, pecan and macadamia nuts. The possibilities are literally endless.

You can also add a handful of cornflakes or rice crispies if you wanted to bulk the mix out a bit and make it go further; depends how much you like to put in your bowl and how often you want to make it!

One word of warning: once you make a step into the world of homemade granola, you’ll never go back. It’s not something I ever thought I’d get in to but here I am: a bonefide, breakfast pre-planning, granola maniac. I love that I can just pick up whatever I have in the cupboard, chuck it all together and ta-dah, breakfast for the week! It’s really good with natural yoghurt, I have also tried pouring apple juice over it rather than milk and that’s pretty fine too.

White Chocolate Easter Egg Nests

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White Chocolate Easter Nests - All That I'm Eating (1 of 3)

I don’t think a bit of accuracy does anyone any harm and I find myself slightly troubled each Easter as I see many chocolate nests filled with standard size chocolate mini eggs. Not only does it look like an ostrich has laid several eggs in a blackbird’s nest you can only fit three maximum in each nest which doesn’t feel very generous. Now I know these aren’t used for educational purposes and are purely for chocolate enjoyment but I couldn’t bring myself to make something that was so proportionally incorrect. Thank heavens, then, that I found some micro chocolate eggs.

You will need (for six nests):

  • 50g Shredded Wheat
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 150g white chocolate
  • 6 cupcake cases
  • Micro chocolate eggs to decorate

This is a very simple recipe which produces very pretty results.

Bash up the shredded wheat in a bowl and stir through the coconut. I find it easiest to do this with the end of a rolling pin.

Get a pan of water gently simmering and place a tight fitting bowl over the pan. Add the chocolate to the bowl and allow to melt fully.

Mix the chocolate into the shredded wheat then spoon into cupcake cases. Try and make a nest shape by putting slightly more mixture around the edges.

Place in the fridge to set.

When set, remove from the cases and fill with the micro eggs.

I can’t tell you the level of relaxation that washed over me when the micro eggs looked at least slightly more proportional in their little nests. The white chocolate and coconut go so well together and I think the colour is quite lovely. Topped with the micro eggs it almost seems a shame to eat them. I’m sure that the David Attenboroughs among you would suggest perhaps seven eggs is more than your normal bird would lay but ignore that in favour of chocolate egg generosity. I feel I am on a roll now with proportionally correct chocolate treats so keep your eyes peeled for the anatomically accurate human skeleton I’m planning to construct. Actually, I don’t think I have the patience for that.

Coconut and Lime Biscuits

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Coconut and Lime Biscuits - All That I'm Eating (1 of 2)

It’s February, apologies for stating the obvious. To me, February is the interim month; not as fresh as January when I’m enthusiastic about the New Year and not as good as March when you know that spring has pretty much arrived. So as far as I’m concerned February needs a bit of brightening up to get us all through the cold, grey days. That help can come in many forms; in this case coconut and lime biscuits. This particular flavour combination can transport you to a place of tropical tranquility and for a brief moment you can forget your February woes. *see below

You will need (for around 15 biscuits):

  • 150g margarine, cubed
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 150g plain flour
  • 25g desiccated coconut
  • Zest 1 lime

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl or food mixer.

Preheat an oven to 150C.

Roll the biscuits into small balls (just smaller than a golf ball) then put onto greased trays.

Press each biscuit lightly with a fork.

Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the tray and leave to cool on a cooling rack.

For a bit of baking escapism it doesn’t get much simpler than this recipe. Mix, bake, eat; all in under 30 minutes (and washing up can get done while they bake). The combination of coconut and lime is sublime; subtle but just enough to give you that little bit of sunshine. I urge you to try these and let them to take you away from the kitchen table and onto a deck chair on a white sandy beach. Mojito optional.

*February woes include:

  • Grey skies,
  • It’s always cold but it never actually snows,
  • The washing on the line is either: wet, damp or frozen,
  • Being so over wearing two of everything so as not to shiver uncontrollably for two reasons: you resemble the Michelin man and it generates more washing, adding (literally) to my previous point,
  • The evenings are meant to be getting lighter but it all just seems like a big lie,
  • Realising that any new year resolutions you had have long since been thrown out of the window,
  • And (worst of all) we’re still in the hunger gap so no matter how enthusiastic you are about Jerusalem artichokes there’s only so many one person can eat.

    • read more

    Coconut Yoghurt Panna Cotta with Passion Fruit

    By 29 Comments

    I find I get a craving for tropical flavours this time of year; pineapple, mango, dragon fruit and such but it’s a bit of a bore to just eat it raw.

    I have been enjoying a coconut yoghurt with banana for breakfast but I wanted to make something creative with it. I do like yoghurt on its own but I think it gives a great flavour to icings, ice creams and other desserts. I like the tang and interest it brings and so it was high time I got my Hawaiian shirt on to start making a delectable panna cotta. read more

    Curried Squash Soup with Toasted Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

    By 27 Comments

    Squash to me is just something orange taking up precious room in my fridge. I have no desire to hack into it, scoop out the seeds and cut up the rest to make something I wish I hadn’t bothered putting the squash in to. I don’t hate them as such; I’d just rather not have anything to do with them. A squash is plain awkward and it knows it. It’s well aware I don’t want it there and it doesn’t want to be there. I’m sure it had grand visions of being made into a wonderful pie or part of a roasted vegetable medley but now it’s stuck with me and it’s going one of two ways; in the compost or in the dog.  read more

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