New Website

Hello

I have set up a new website - https://thegoodfoodlife.co.uk if you would like to read more about my adventures and discoveries with food please check it out.

Some posts below will be transferred to the new site and new content is being uploaded regularly.

DrinkMaple

Summer, the time of sunshine unless you live in Scotland. The place where you are lucky to get two days of sun in a row. Today proves that. Yesterday and the day beore were nice. Sunny and warm. Today we are back to cloudy and rainy. I thought I'd write this post just incase we get some more sun at any point this summer.

As we may not be used to the heat when it comes around it is important to keep up with our water intake. Hydration is very important for us all especially in the hotter weather but water can get boring.

I find water especially boring when I am trapped in work on a nice day. I know I should just have another glass of water around 3pm when I'm getting those sweet cravings. I'm most likely not even hungry but frustration and bordom can win and then we're off to the vending machine.

I have now found my solution and need more of it soon. It's DrinkMaple.

DrinkMaple is maple water that has been tapped sraight from the maple tree. It tastes like water but with a touch of sweetness. It isn't overly sweet either. Think of it like you have just added a drop of maple syrup to your water and mixed it really well. That may sound weird but it tatstes great. 

I can see it being an acquired taste but I love it and think it is a great option for trying to win with water over sweets or just to try something new.

Maple water claims to have less sugar than coconut water and it also reports to have more magnesium than kale.

Maple water appears to be quiet good for you and true nothing is as good as pure water but its something different. Maybe it will give coconut water a run for it's money.

Wholefoods was where I found mine and I had chosen the smaller option of 250ml for 1.99. It may not be the cheapest but larger bottles are also available and are more cost effective. Hopefully more stores will pick it up and the price will come down a bit.

I still recommend it though and if you love it you can buy multipacks for less online.

Weekend Baking

This is not the restart I was thinking of but instead of a foodie event, I give you a brownie post.

A few weekends ago I went to a foodies event or at least tried to. After missing two trains I finally got to the location to see that it was cancelled. This put me in such a bad mood I came back to my city and treated myself to a pizza. I didn't want to think of food anymore than that.

Brownie set-up

The weekend after I was back onto food thoughts and I wanted to experiment with making brownies (and blondies).
I had found a few recipies online and in my cook books that caught my attention with differing ingredients or different techniques.
My main goal was to get a fudgy brownie. I had family coming to visit and they also wanted brownies that were between gooey and cakey. So why not fudgy?

Brownies (undercooked :( )

My first batch was started by whisking the eggs and flour together for several minutes before adding in the chocolate and rest of the ingredients.
The batch looked great when it went in the oven and appeared good after but when cutting them they were too soft and didnt look like there was enough mixture. My thinking on this is I should have cooked them longer.

Blondie Batter

The next batch was blondies, done in almost the same way as before but I added melted white chocolate and white chocolate chunks. These turned out much better but more cakey. Which I prefer for a blondie.

Blondies

Blondies

We will forget the next brownie batch as when mixing the chocolate and sugar and such the sugar just wouldn't melt and I didnt bother trying to bake them.

I finally decided to try my Leiths baking book and their brownie recipe and it worked well. Nice and fudgy.


Brownies

I'm going to look more into brownies one day and throughly study the different ways, ingredients and outcomes. How can I make my ultimate brownie? I'm not sure right now but I look forward to trying.

Starting Over

I have been thinking about this blog for a long time now. This completly abandoned blog. Thinking and then over thinking. Too Much Thinking.

I realised I was being daft. I needed to just write this for me. Who cares what I was writing about and if it was good enough. This is only the start and it will get better as time goes on, like everything that is worked on.

I was worried about what I would write about and how many times I made things but I'm just going to see how it goes.

I love food and discovering new food and cooking different things and that is all that matters.

This is just going to be my record of what I get up to and if anyone would like to read and tag along you are more than welcome here.

So let's get started.

Sweet Potato Gnocci

Fresh pasta is lovely and I have wanted to make my own for a while. When I came across a gnocci recipe in one of the recent Tesco magazines I thought that will be close enough for a first try.

It was a few nights ago that I decided to make it all and then I wasn't in the mood for it for dinner. Thankfully gnocci freezes well.
The first step was to bake the gnocci in the oven for one and a half hours over a layer of salt. The reason for the salt is to draw the moisture out of the potatoes.

It is apparently important to have dry potato to make the gnocci. All the potato needs to then be pushed through a sieve to make them nice and smooth. Add to this some flour and eggs and any seasoning you want.


Then mix it together. I found doing this by hand was easier as it eliminates the risk of over working the dough and you can feel if you need extra flour.

Once you have a ball of dough divide into four parts and then make those into sausages.


Cut into pieces and mark each piece with a fork. The fork marks will create an area that any sauce can cling to.

Tonight I decided to have some for diner and they are very easy to cook. Simply put in boiling water and when they float they are done.


My sauce was my goto quick mix with a bit extra to use up what was in the fridge. My quick sauce is just a can of tomatos simmered down with any herbs I fancy. This for me is a great base and you can add what ever you want to it.
This time around I added some pancetta and mushrooms.


When the sauce was simmered down to my desired texture I added it to my drained gnocci and served.

 

I very much enjoyed it.

Sweet Potato Gnocci

Sukrin Cake Mix

When you are trying to be healthy it can be difficult to get rid of your sweet tooth. I like many have a major sweet tooth and I don't see the weekend as the time to behave.

I did try however to behave and instead of going out to buy a sweet or an early Easter treat I made a cake.

It may have been a cake mix (which I do class as cheating) but cake mixes can be handy when in a pinch and I generally get given cake mixes so need to use them up.

I got the Sukrin Cake Mix in one of my Degusta Boxes (think monthly beauty box but with food) and it is described as a free from cake.

This mix is free from sugar, gluten, wheat and egg.

This sounds impressive and may be great for many people with food intolerances.
However when making the mix it says to add water, oil and egg so I think it is a slight misrepresentation of the product. Although you can use an egg replacement and it will be fine.

The recipe calls for three eggs but I only had two. So I decided to test the replacement ease and added in 1 tbsp of nut-butter in place of one egg.

Mix everything together and very quickly and easily you have a cake just wait 30mins for it to bake.

The texture was nice and moist yet no soggy bottom. It was a bit of a dense cake but it tasted fine. Though it was over powdered by the peanut taste from my three nut butter. The baking seemed to intensify the flavour of the nuts.

 The mix is very simple and the box recommends easy ways to add other flavours. This could be very handy when you want something sweet and just use up what is in your kitchen for that something extra.

I would buy a couple more of these to a) see what it tastes like without an ingredient change and b) to see how easy it is to flavour with other ingredients.

The healthier option is a plus if your watching your weight too but low in gluten is not something I really worry about. If you are sensitive to gluten this would be a possible option for you though I would check the box first for full ingredients just in case.

Bier Halle

If you love beer this is the place to go however for most the draw is the two for one pizzas everyday.

I went a few weekends ago with a friend as we both wanted a pizza. Pizzas were 15.45 each, so for two that isn't bad however they are not worth 15.45 each. I wonder if this is why they don't sell them individually. This must be just marketing but who cares about that. Lets talk food.

We both ordered a drink and a pizza. I went for an Spiced Apple Cider (I don't like beer) and Quattro Stagioni pizza. My friend ordered Innis and Gun and a Hawaiian.

Each pizza was good overall with a nice thin crisp base. The pizzas were a little lacking in the toppings. If the toppings were spread out more rather than bunched in a section I think it would have been better.

I chose my pizza because I couldn't decide what pizza to get so why not get one with a bit of everything. The Quattro Stagioni came with  artichokes & red peppers, chicken & wild mushrooms, chorizo & onions and rocket & parma.

I wasn't keen on the wild muchrooms but the chorizo and parma ham were winners.

I would go again for a quick drink and snack but due to there not being much choice for a non beer drinker, it won't be a frequent haunt.