Sunday, July 27, 2008

Summer Refreshment

'Cool Drink On a Hot Summer's Day' by garyfgarcia

Just a quick heads-up about my new favourite summer time tipple. Tropicana Spirit is nothing but sparkling mineral water and fruit juice and is absolutely delicious. My favourite variety is Lemon & Grapefruit; refreshingly tart. In fact I like it SO much I'm a Tropicana Spirit fan on Facebook. :)

Oh, and that old non-alcoholic stalwart, Appletizer, is Candida diet friendly too - woo!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Recipe: Roasted Vine Tomato and Basil Soup

It's sweltering hot here at the moment (about time too!) and I really didn't feel like cooking (or writing) this evening. I fancied something light and fresh, and came up with this recipe, which made use of the lovely tomatoes and onions I received in my weekly veg box.

Photo by Zed.Cat

Roasted Vine Tomato and Basil Soup
Serves 1

4 medium vine tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 large clove garlic
half a handful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 pint stock (yeast-free)
olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Wash and quarter the tomatoes. Place in a dish, skin side up. Peel and quarter the onion, add to dish with clove of garlic (leave whole). Drizzle over a good slug of olive oil and season with pepper. Place in the oven for around thirty minutes until the tomato skins are wrinkly. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

When cool enough to handle, slip the skins from the tomatoes. Place tomato, onion and garlic, along with the juice collected in the bottom of the dish, into a blender. Whizz the mixture with half the stock until smooth. Add the basil and whizz until chopped.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and stir in the remainder of the stock. Reheat gently over a low heat. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with sourdough toast. Very tasty. :)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Blueberry Muffins - yum!

I'm making candida diet friendly muffins for a party tomorrow. I found this great recipe for the blueberry variety on the BBC Food website. Just substitute sugar for xylitol. The muffins don't rise very high (perhaps I should have left the batter over night as the recipe recommends), but taste LUSCIOUS! And I love the way the blueberries pop as the muffins cook and leech purple juice everywhere. Not something for everyday consumption, but perfect as an occasional treat.

Oh, and I can definitely recommend the silicon muffin tray I rescued from TK Maxx on Monday.

In other news, this blog has been, and is likely to remain, fairly quiet for a bit, cos my thesis has to take top priority at the moment...

Friday, July 04, 2008

Veg box!

I've taken the plunge. After months of weighing up the pros and cons (mostly pros - smaller carbon footprint, seasonal veg, supporting local farmers), earlier this week I ordered an organic mini veg box from River Nene. And it arrived this morning...




I was so excited!! In my box this week I got new potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, onions, carrots and wet garlic, all covered with dirt and clearly fresh out of the ground - hurrah!


Eh?


Wet garlic?
What's that?
It's fresh garlic, as opposed to the dry stuff we're more used too.

I had a lovely day turning the contents of my box into delicious meals. First of all the carrots went into a yummy Carrot & Coriander Soup for lunch and, this evening, a tried out one of the recipes supplied with the box, Wet and Wild Garlic Risotto (I omitted the white wine and wild garlic, and replaced the parmesan with grated ewe's milk manchego). It was seriously garlicky, but absolutely delicious. The wet garlic is lighter in flavour and sweeter than dry garlic - more like a cross between a leek and spring onion. And with all that garlic and onion this recipe must be a super-Candida fighter. Woo!

Can't wait to see what I get in my box next week!