The Snooty Fox

We've just returned from a night away in the Cotswolds to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed in the charming little market town of Tetbury, which we has driven through in the past and thought it looked a nice place to stopover, do some antique shopping and enjoy some food and drink. 

I'll soon be posting a longer review of the hotel we stayed in, but first here's a little lunch recommendation - The Snooty Fox, apparently a hangout of Prince Charles who lives nearby on the Highgrove estate. Right in the heart of the high street, this local boozer strikes the perfect balance between a traditional pub with roaring its fires and dark wood-paneled rooms, and a modern eatery, with its tempting - but not self-conscious - food menu. 

There was a very pleasing sandwich menu, all served with chips and reasonably priced at around the £7 mark, as well as hot food which included local sausages and mash, burgers (we can highly recommends the chicken and bacon burger), and beer-battered haddock and chips. The hand-pulled pork pie ploughman's would also go down a treat with a cold pint of local ale! Dinner options include 'fancier' dishes such as steak, sea bream with crushed potatoes, and duck breast in honey and orange sauce - so it would also be a lovely spot for a quiet dinner and bottle of red wine by the large fireplace.

  One added bonus was George the Great Dane who seemed to lap up the attention from visitors, and another was the wonderfully warm service we received from Paula our bartender. From letting us sample the beers to giving us a number for the best local cabbie, it's those little touches that really make you feel welcome, and reminds you what's great about traditional British pubs.

Prawn Stir Fry

Tonight's dinner was king prawns with stir fry vegetables, cooked in fresh chilli, garlic and ginger, with a little and honey and soy sauce. Served with brown rice, and eaten on the sofa with a pile of books that I have to read for uni. Reading under pressure is NOT FUN, but eating with chopsticks is.  

A Theory About Eggs

I have a theory that almost any meal can be greatly improved by sticking a poached egg on top of it. Think about it - there are fewer things in life more enjoyable than the feeling of cutting into just-firm whites, and letting the oozy yolk smother your dinner with its golden comforting warmth.

Last night I made a salad of leaves, petits pois and smoked streaky bacon lardons, dressed in lemon juice and olive oil, and topped it with a simple cod fishcake. Then I proudly placed my poached egg on top, and suddenly dinner got a lot more exciting.

What do you like having poached egg with...salads, steaks, pasta, pizza? Or are they strictly for having on toast?!

Some of the Weekend...

Some of the weekend...

We celebrated our cat Lulu's birthday by giving her a whole tin of tuna, sticking a candle in it and singing to her. She loved it, I could tell. 

We went for a sunny walk along the canal, fed some intimidating swans and got a bit muddy.

We treated ourselves to a carb-laden lunch at The Wild Cafe in Bath...and the next day a Sunday roast at The Porter (which I demolished before taking any photos!).

Hope you all had a good weekend and are ready for a productive week!

Banana, Date and Oat Smoothie

What better way to kickstart a healthy regime than with a substantial smoothie, followed by a run on a cold sunny day? It was my first in about 6 months (run that is, not smoothie) so it took some effort to drag my unwilling feet out of their slippers and into my running shoes. But I'm glad that I did it, because even though my thighs hated me the next day, I can't help but feel satisfied with the pain - and with the ridiculous hills around me in Bath, it's only going to get more gruelling!

So here's how to make a smoothie that will give you a long-lasting energy hit - whether you're going for a run, or just off to work or school for the day. It'll easily keep you going until lunchtime. 

Makes 2 smoothies

In a blender - or in a bowl, using a hand-held stick blender - whizz together 2 bananas, 2 very small handfuls of porridge oats, 4 chopped dates, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 1/2 cups of almond milk (or whichever milk you prefer - if you're watching the calories, almond is a great choice). Make sure all the dates are thoroughly blended as they can be a little tough!

Pour into glasses, adding a little more milk if the consistency is too thick.

The End of 2013

  

Well well well...it's my first blog post of 2014, and here I am still reminiscing about last year. I'm just about getting myself out of the indulgent haze of Christmas and New Year, and starting to embrace January and all it's talk of healthy eating, yadda yadda yadda. So before my blog becomes full of healthy recipes and good intentions, I thought I'd share with you some moments from our Christmas. There were mince pies; a painstakingly homemade gingerbread house that we took to Little P's school to share with his class; a starring role as Joseph at the school nativity; a wonderful Christmas at home, which I managed to host without having a meltdown, and roasted a glorious duck (and a honey and marmalade glazed ham the next day);  waaaaaaay too much cheese and red wine; almost as much Prosecco; lots of lego building and Uno playing; a night of dancing for New Year's Eve; and quality time with family and friends. To be honest, we didn't want it to end!

So it's been back to reality with a bit of a bang...I had an exam to welcome me into the year, and a huge workload that I somehow completely ignored over Christmas. And yes, I will be trying to be healthier for a little while - although I'm definitely not detoxing, I'll be upping our fruit and vegetable intake, saving treats for the weekends, and cooking meals that aren't mostly based around pasta. I've even taken up Zumba again -it's entirely necessary after all that cheese. So you can expect some leaner recipes to follow, and unfortunately, rather a lot less baking. At least for now. 

So Happy (belated) New Year, folks! Let's make it a good one! x

Pumpkin and White Chocolate Cookies

This recipe comes from my latest feature for Crumbs magazine (check it out here), but I thought I should also share it with you dear readers. Mostly because I'm feeling guilty for not blogging in a very long time. 

Now pumpkins are a pain in the ass. I know that. So in my kitchen, the only thing that will lure me into wrestling with these orange beasts is the promise of a batch of puree that will taste miles better than anything you can buy in a can, and that I can keep in the freezer to later turn into warm pumpkin and walnut bread; a batch of spiced pumpkin muffins; a classic pumpkin pie; or these soft and chewy pumpkin and white chocolate cookies. 

So, once you have done battle with your almighty vegetable – or should that be fruit, technically speaking? - place the pumpkin flesh into a large saucepan with a cup of water (use as little as possible to avoid a finished puree that is too soft). Bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer for around 20 minutes. If you only want to use your puree for sweet recipes, then I like to throw in a cinnamon stick during the process, for added flavour. It also makes your house smell wonderfully wholesome and Autumnal. 

Then whizz with a hand-held blender and separate into batches. From two medium-sized pumpkins, I’m usually able to get around 750ml of puree, which I separate into three 250ml batches – each of these being equal to one American cup sized measurement, which is rather handy seeing as many pumpkin recipes seem to be American.

Now you have your puree, here's the simple recipe for my cookies. What else will you make?

Makes 12-15 large cookies

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

100g unsalted butter, softened

150g caster sugar

50g soft brown sugar

250ml (one cup) pumpkin puree

1 whole egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150g bar of white chocolate, broken into small chunks

Preheat your oven to180°C.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla and combine thoroughly.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to this, and stir in the chocolate chunks.

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.

Cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheet.