All That I'm Eating

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

The UK Blog Awards and Three Very Different Places to Eat in London

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UK Blog Awards 2014 All That I'm Eating
I am very pleased to say that I got highly commended in the UKBA14 for individual food and drink blog! The evening was good fun and I met some lovely fellow bloggers; it was also a great excuse to spend some time in London and see friends I haven’t seen for a while. I know there are plenty of blogs about London restaurants and places to go but below are the places I ventured to (one Michelin restaurant, one breakfast club and one traditional pub) and can say are well worth a visit.

Kitchen W8 was recommended to me by Fiona who writes the fab blog London Unattached. Whenever there’s a cooking show or a chef on TV I always wish I could remember where they were so I could go. I envisage a clean cut restaurant, great service and fantastic food on a not too expensive set menu. This is exactly what Kitchen W8 does. Known for being the most reasonably priced Michelin star restaurant in London they offer three courses for £23.
Due to tube problems we arrived very late for our table but the staff were very kind and seated us; I’m so pleased they did. 
We started with heritage tomato salad with sweet and sour peppers. The tomatoes were the perfect ripeness, temperature and texture, the peppers were punchy and the Kalamata olives added a lovely saltiness. I am a sucker for tomato anything and this was beautiful.
Main was breast and shoulder of lamb with heritage carrots and new season peas. It tasted as good as it looked (below). Sweet carrots and peas, the lamb was meltingly soft and there was a sort of pulled lamb crispy coated treat on the side of the plate which I could have eaten forever. We had a lovely carafe of Cabernet Sauvignon with this too.
Dessert was vanilla parfait with mango, passion fruit and lime which was just the right amount of sweetness and sharpness to finish the meal.
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Review: Rachel’s Organic Lemon Yoghurt

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Lemon Yoghurt with quick granola
I find breakfast is sometimes a bit of an inspirational dead end. I might want toast but then if I’m having a sandwich for lunch I think it’s too much bread, I like cereal but I begrudge paying the price for a box that lasts less than two weeks, fruit doesn’t fill me up enough and I don’t have enough time to do anything more involved. I could get up earlier and make something but I’ll be honest; I stay asleep until the last possible moment. I always make sure to have breakfast though. I need something quick, simple, filling and tasty; cereal bars, muesli or granola with yoghurt keeps me full and it’s great to put together when still half asleep in the morning.

Rachel’s Organic sent me some of their new Greek style lemon yoghurt which I have been enjoying for breakfast. I wasn’t sure how sharp lemon would work with tangy yoghurt but it was very nice and zesty, the yoghurt was lovely and creamy too. My last blog post was for some delicious blueberry, almond and poppy seed cereal bars and they worked a treat with the lemon yoghurt; I think the lemon and blueberries worked particularly well together. I don’t tend to be fully functioning until about half an hour after I wake up so anything that tastes nice that doesn’t involve too much effort on my part is good for me!
Thank you to Rachel’s Organic for the yoghurt. All opinions and words expressed are my own.  read more

Dried Blueberry and Almond Cereal Bars

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Dried Blueberry and Almond Cereal Bars
You know when you buy an ingredient to make something and the remainder of it sits in the cupboard waiting to be used? I had a bit of this going on with oats, flaked almonds, seeds, maple syrup and dried blueberries. To use them (or as many of them as I could) up I made some lovely crumbly cereal bars. I wanted to keep the butter to a minimum to try and keep them a little on the healthy side.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 cereal bars):

  • 225g oats
  • 100ml maple syrup
  • 150g butter
  • 75g dried blueberries
  • 50g flaked almonds
  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds

Method

Preheat an oven to 180C and lightly grease a baking tray. The one I used was about 20cm x 20cm.

Melt the maple syrup and butter together in a saucepan on a low heat until melted and well combined.

Mix the oats, dried blueberries, almonds and poppy seeds together then pour in the syrup and butter and stir together until well mixed.

Press the mixture into the prepared baking tray and then place into the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Mark into pieces while still hot then remove from the tray when cooled. read more

Review: Make your own Easter Egg

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Make your own chocolate Easter Egg
I’ve always fancied having a go at making an Easter egg but have never got round to it. When the guys from Stay in Devon asked if I would like to try one of theirs it seemed like the perfect chance to attempt it. The kit consisted of: chocolate drops from Choconchoc, sweets, mould, chef’s hat and instructions. You can see the kit (I unfortunately ate it before I took a photo!) on their website. I have to admit that it took me a few weeks to get up the courage to make the eggs, hence why the post is so close to Easter!

I was surprised how easy it was, I didn’t get chocolate everywhere and layering up the chocolate was quite enjoyable. The instructions said to use a microwave to melt the chocolate, and I don’t have a microwave, so I was picturing having to reheat the bowl of chocolate on the hob all the time but the chocolate stayed liquid long enough to do three coats no problem. The chocolate itself was really nice; I’m not one for eating a whole chocolate egg in one go but this one I did! If you’re looking for Easter weekend ideas, rainy day inspiration or want to know what exactly goes into your Easter egg then I can thoroughly recommend making your own.
Thank you to Stay in Devon for the Easter egg kit. All opinions and words expressed are my own. read more

The Good Life Farm Shop, Me vs. Quiche

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Salmon and Courgette Quiche from The Goodlife Farm Shop
This was a gifted meal. I love a good nose round a deli or farm shop. Despite supermarkets always launching new products I think they are behind the independents for the new, interesting and exciting brands and flavours. Chocolate, popcorn, rubs, gin, mixers I always find much more tempting and varied brands in a farm shop or deli. On a recent trip to The Good Life Farm Shop near Winchester I was treated to a bit of lunch and I thought this was the ideal time to find out if I don’t like quiche as much as I think I don’t.

I tried the quiche of the day which was salmon and courgette and as it turns out, I quite like quiche. A lifetime of avoiding any quiche apart from my Granny’s was over. The pastry was crisp and crumbly, the filling soft but not mushy or overly eggy, well seasoned and a generous amount of salmon. I’m a quiche convert. 

The salted caramel cake that followed was sublime; made by a lady called Mama Brown. The wedge I had was huge (as all sweet things should be!) and the caramel on top of the cake and in between the layers tasted great; without that strange caramel flavour you can sometimes get. Being well satisfied just gave me another excuse to peruse the shop; I saw it as ‘walking it off’!
Thank you to The Good Life for my lunch. All opinions and words expressed are my own. read more

Ultimate Cheese on Toast with Lea & Perrins

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Cheese on toast with caramelised onions

I can’t have cheese on toast without a dribble of Worcestershire Sauce. I’ve added it to countless different meals; cottage pie, risotto and spaghetti bolognese to name a few. Lea and Perrins are working with the guys from Sorted to show different dishes you can add your Worcestershire Sauce to and I was asked to see what I could come up with.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • 3-4 medium onions, finely sliced
  • 3 tbsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
  • Salt and pepper
  • Oil for cooking
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 150g strong Cheddar cheese
  • 2 thick slices bread

Method

Make the caramelised onions by getting a heavy based frying pan on a low heat and adding a drizzle of oil. 

Tip in the onions, Worcestershire Sauce, a little salt and plenty of black pepper. Leave to soften for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until sticky. read more

Beef Braised in Beer with Onions and Carrots

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As I rent a house I am in the unfortunate position of being lumbered with the oven and hob that I’m given. Don’t get me wrong; having a hob and an oven is certainly one up from having no heating implements at all but they definitely leave a lot to be desired.  read more

Creamy Pea and Bacon Pasta

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After my last £6 supper on BBC Radio Berkshire, Paul Ross was quite disappointed that the recipe included no frozen peas. It got me thinking that actually there’s plenty to celebrate in the humble frozen pea. They’re cheap, you can always keep some in the freezer and they are a welcome shot of greenness and sweetness at this time of year. This quick, easy and cheap meal is a little mid-week fanfare of the frozen pea. read more

Review: Higher Living Tea

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Higher Living Ginger and Chai Tea
As an avid tea drinker I like to think I’ve drunk my way through a wide range of teas on offer. One thing that is new to me are the teas which are in fact not tea at all. Called tea, I assume, because they come in a bag and you use hot water to extract the flavour. Higher Living sent me two of their herbal teas to try: Sweet Chai and Ginger Kick.

I liked the look of the tea bags; I’m a sucker for teabags with the dangly things and you could smell both of them just when you opened the box. The Sweet Chai was an interesting mix of spices; predominantly aniseed flavour. I reckon this would perk you up if you had a cold. The Ginger Kick made a surprisingly dark cup of tea considering the colour of the contents in the bag. The ginger one wasn’t for me so much as I’m not a fan of ginger but it actually wasn’t too harshly gingery.
I like that they are organic and I am enjoying taking them to work (sharing the ginger one around!) as it’s nice to drink something a bit different.
Thank you to Higher Living for the samples. All opinions and words expressed are my own. read more

Review: Maple Pecan Cupcake Recipe from Baking Mad

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Goose Egg
I learnt something about myself the other day: I am not a domestic goddess. Let me explain. I was sent some baking goodies from Baking Mad and I had chosen to attempt their recipe for Maple Pecan cupcakes. I planned to give them to my Mum for an early Mother’s Day treat. I went for a walk to the pub last week and was offered a goose egg to take home; excellent for my cupcakes. All was going well and I was ready for baking. In my head I’m swishing around the kitchen; mixing a bit there, sprinkling a bit here, birds are singing and the radio is playing non-stop jolly tunes. This is not quite how it happened.

Ingredients

You will need (original recipe here, mine is slightly different):

  • 2 eggs (I used half a goose egg)
  • 125g butter
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup

    For the icing:
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 65g butter
  • 125g icing sugar (I used the Silver Spoon Chocolate icing sugar I was sent)
  • Chocolate chips to decorate (I used the Silver Spoon ones I was sent)

Method

Preheat an oven to 180C and line a cupcake tin with 12 cases. I don’t have a cupcake tin so I use silicone cupcake cases.

Place the eggs, butter, sugar, flour, vanilla and maple syrup in a bowl and mix together until smooth. I used an electric hand whisk for this.

Divide the batter between the cases then place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until baked.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and leave to cool.

Make the icing by beating together the butter and icing sugar then add the maple syrup and beat until light and fluffy. read more

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