Breakfast Smoothie | Hello Choccy Narnia

Super quick recipe - mainly to capture the ingredients for my own rememberating. I'm juicing quite a lot at the moment. I do love it - but I do start jonesing for something indulgent and this whopper brekky smoothie hits the spot.

Our lovely Sparks arrived early to do some little niggly jobs - hello light fitting above the kitchen table - that works when you flick the switch at that end... and goodbye steamy bathroom windows - our new spanky fan will banish condensation for EVER...

We were swapping smoothie ingredients. He is pretty hardcore - fermented rice protein anyone? Blearch... right? I'm more your cacao and maple syrup kind of a gal.

Anyhoo while we were nattering - I made this:

Weightwatcher Friendly | Lively Butternut Squash Soup

Making soup has got to be the quickest way to a healthy, hearty lunch or supper. If you're a weightwatcher then you'll be after the holy grail - Zero Point Soup. For me I feel, that for the sake of a couple of points saved - you're missing out on some extra, uber delicious, flavour and nutritional wonderment.

So I unashamedly claim that this soup is WWer friendly - but it isn't zero points. To give it a fair shout-out, it isn't high in points - but it does have delicious, nutritious hemp oil in it - and if you are really going to do it justice - a gert big dollop of hummous too!

There I've laid my cards on the table. 

Successful soup is all in the base and the fixings - that said. We can get on with the recipe...

Organic Spinach, Date & Courgette Salad

Good evening. Good Evening! I'm forced to wait another 15 minutes before the HUGE sweet potatoes have baked to perfection in the oven. Lets get one thing straight from the off - we can never be together if you consider microwaving any kind of spud acceptable.

Slow baked - with butter = heavenly supper without any effort. Right there - dollop on the hummus and off you go. No need to thank me.

So in fact - I have made a great salad to go with our super delicious sweet patooties.

Here's what you need to know - below...

A proper cook makes Cottage Pie | Guest Post

 I give you The Cottage Pie Maker and The Cottage Pie Scoffer!

I was up 'That London' last week. Staying at perfect pal's little apartment at the base of the gert big spike. The view of the Shard at the end of the street on leaving her block made my heart soar to the top and fly about with the pigeons -  marvelous thing. 

So Perfect Pal has featured here before, that Pea Swoop didn't just arrive from the planet Pod you know. Well this time I was treated to the most delicious Cottage Pie - I've ever eaten. Now the caveat here is that this pie was helped along with a proper gravy - this pal is a real cook - she makes real gravy. However don't worry too much about that - we can bash out an old favorite just be following her instructions.

Be warned: Miss Kim is not given to convention. I didn't take a picture of the pie - too greedy for it! I do have a pic of me and the excellent woman in question. 

Cocoa Loco Juice

Hello! Hello! This is a drive by blogging - just before a cheeky workout with el podgero*. I have been juicing pretty much every day for at least a year now - and while I love all the combinations that veggies and fruits offer - I confess I tend to stick with some old faithfuls and I was getting a little bored.

Juicing is healthy, fun and easy but come winter it's easy to swerve the undoubted wonderment of juice and head to the sandwhich aisle. Fine - if you're all good with wheat - but the grain doesn't love me.

So here for you is an accidental discovery - made this afternoon. I just needed something naughty!
 
I give you a beet juice with choccy woccy happyness thrown in...

Chorizo & Barley Autumn Splodge

Hey! It's here... The golden tones of Autumn have crept up on my garden this year and the shift in the temperature has felt a little sudden for my liking. Still I'm dragging out my long boots, checking my cardies for holes and digging out my scarves and gloves ready for chillier mornings and leafy swish - swish walks.

To celebrate the changing of the season & the scoring of a sixer of lush chorizo inspired sausages from my local butcher I made a simple, insanely tasty one pan dish this week.

I give you Chorizo & Pearl Barley Autumn Splodge - it's a sort of thick, stick to your bones kind of a dish - so it's doesn't qualify as a stew. If you would like to experiment with other grains - this is a great way to get into pearl barley - you could also use pearled spelt too - it's a bit more pricey!

More Spelt & Fish | Salmon

My experiments with spelt continue. We're loving the nutty, chewy taste & it plays really well with nuts and beans. This is a little dish of loveliness I knocked up after scoring the most beautiful, fat, creamy avocado at the grocers. 

I think this recipe would also work with pearl barley which is a more hum drum ingredient & costs way less.