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. 

Spelty Trout & Courgette Ribbon Salad

Yoo hoo! I'm experimenting this week with new grains. I'm trying out spelt tonight. Pearled Spelt - which has the rough outer jacket bashed off and makes it quicker to cook.

My good friend Aisha introduced me to this lovely nutty grain recently when she blew me away with a spelt, walnut and butternut squash recipe. It was just heavenly with some shaved mature, hard goats cheese. Oh lordy I'm hooked.

So tonight I'm having a go and in true cheffy style I'm using what I've got in my fridge.

Armed with some trout fillets & a couple of courgettes we're off!

Apols re: lack of pics - I'm having problems uploading... bear with... x

Marty's Smarty Joint Juice

Marty's off again on another juicy adventure - this time he's so close to goal he can taste it. Now one of the reasons our Mart is so hell bent on getting the weight off is to be slim enough to have his hip replacement ops.

He suffers with his joints and as he's off on another longish Juice Feast in a few days. I thought I'd come up with a juice that will help his old joints - while he's focusing on losing a few more pounds.

This juice uses fruit and veg rich in antioxidents and copper and has a little belt of omega 3 rich linseed oil.

Now most of the studies of arthritis and oil are done with fish oils - but I'm thinking fish oil would just taste nasty in a juice. So I've gone for Linseed.

If you are keen on getting more omegas into your diet - then using veggie oils is a really good way - but remember, heating them destroys much of their potency - and left out on the side, they can go rancid too.

So do your oils a favour and keep them in the fridgey box.

The cart is nothing to do with the juice - but it is orange and I like the idea of mart taking his juicer on the road in a beautiful gypsy wagon...

To the recipe!

Outrageous Smoothie!

I needed something quick for lunch this afternoon. Running late for a hospital appointment & needing sustenance that wouldn't sit heavy in my belly, I flung together a smoothie & it tasted so good I came back for seconds mid afternoon! Norty... I was too busy to take a pic, but the first one was a delicate pale pistachio colour, so elegant. In the 80's it would have been called  eau de nil. I had a pair of shoes from Hobbs the exact colour.

God I loved those shoes. I wore them through to the soles of my feet with the perfect dress from French Connection.

Sweet Potato & New Potatoes with Fancy Tomato Dressing

Hello!

Enjoying Summer? I am! I made griddled chicken last night and along with steamed broccoli florets & julienned red pepper I made a lovely potato dish with a spikey dressing that started off with an Italian vibe and then wandered off.

If you've got a blender, or a good handheld stick - you can make this quickly - and it will transform spuds and butternut squash - I think it would work as a salad dressing and even a pasta sauce with some shaved parmesan, whole olives & extra fresh ripped basil!

To the recipe and don't spare the horses madam!

Happy Glow Juice

My very expensive, and jolly fancy juicer has been packed off to the supplier after the second one in 3 months failed. Which leaves me with my old faithful Kenwood - 20 years old and still managing to make great juice. It isn't as efficient, struggling along with a 250w motor as it is - but it has a new blade and if you don't mind the froth - job's a good 'un.

I made a great juice this afternoon - thought I'd share it. It's one of those - lob in what you've got in the fridgey cupboard and trust to the Juicy Gods that it will be drinkable.

Turns out - I'm good at this mixology game!