Jalapeño Poppers with a Chipotle and Lime Tortilla Coating

It's been just over 3 years since I left uni. THREE YEARS. I miss being a student, I miss staying in my pyjamas all day (who am I kidding, I still do that) and I miss my beautiful housemates. If there's any food that reminds me of uni it has to be jalapeño poppers. I used to live in a student area called the Polygon and pretty much every time we went for a night out, we walked down a road called Bedford Place, which was basically a road of takeaways, a few shops and a few bars. Every trip down this road after a night out ended with jalapeño poppers, they were the perfect antidote for the drunken munchies (I remember my house mate Annie crying once because someone stole hers). I don't think I've had them since I've been back home, because I never go out and I don't drink any more. But when the lovely people at Manomasa sent me some of their tortilla chips to try I knew exactly what to do with them! I used the Chipotle and Lime chips because they are a little bit spicy, a little bit smoky and totally delicious. They say that their chips are 'a delicious blend of Guajillo chili and sweet bell peppers, finished with rich, smoky chipotle chili and the fresh zing of lime'. Perfect for wrapping around fresh jalapeños and cream cheese. 

Ingredients:

Makes 16

100g Manomasa Chipotle and Lime tortilla chips
170g cream cheese
100g grated cheese (I used a mix of Monterey Jack, mozzarella, cheddar and edam, but any cheddary cheese is fine)
8 jalapeño peppers
150 ml milk
50g plain flour
Lots of vegetable oil for either a deep fat fryer or heavy based pan

1. Start by blitzing the tortilla chips in a food processor, until they resemble bread crumbs, then pop in to a bowl.
2. Cut the stalks off of the jalapeños, slice length ways then scrape all of the seeds out in to a bowl (be careful not to get it all over your hands/in your eyes/on your boyfriends face or wear gloves) and pop them on to a chopping board.
3. Tip the cream cheese and grated cheese in to a bowl and mix up well, then fill your jalapeño halves with the mixture.
4. Put the milk in to one bowl and flour in to another, the start dipping the jalapeños in to the milk, then the flour, one by one, making sure they are well coated, then tap off any excess flour and pop back on to the chopping board.
5. Once all of the jalapeños are coated with flour, dip them back in to the milk, covering the whole thing, then roll it in the tortilla crumbs until it is completely covered. Repeat until they are all coated.
6. Turn your deep fat fryer on to 170 degrees, or heat your oil in a heavy based pan until it reaches 170 degrees, then fry the poppers for a couple of minutes, until golden brown.
7. Carefully remove them from the hot oil and place on a plate covered with kitchen roll to drain the excess oil.
8. Once slightly cooled, enjoy! You can also reheat them in the oven.

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Edamame Gyoza with Chili and Ginger

Since living with Mr Hef, I've been finding it hard to come up with meal ideas that we will both like. I'm a proper lentil eating hippy vegetarian and he is the meat eating king of beige foods. I've been throwing in a few things that I thought he wouldn't like, such as falafel and greek salad, lentil and sweet potato shepherds pie and the occasional tofu dish and to my absolute surprise he loved it all! There are a few things we both really love though and one of those is sweet potato katsu curry. We usually have it with edamame beans on the side, but this time I thought I'd put them in little parcels of joy.

Ingredients

200g edamame beans (defrosted and shells removed)

3 spring onions trimmed and chopped

1 tsp chopped red chili 

1 tsp grated ginger

10-15 wonton wrappers

1 tbsp vegetable oil 

Soy sauce to serve

1. Stick the beans, onions, chili and ginger in a food processor and give it a good blitz, until its blended together. 

2. Lay out the won top wrappers, take a tea spoon full of the mixture and pop in in to the middle of the wrapper. 

3. Wet your index finger and run it round the outside of the wonton wrapper, then fold in half and pinch the excess pastry (is it called that?) together to seal it. 

4. Once you've made your gyoza, cook straight away by heating the vegetable oil in a frying pan, and quickly frying until brown on both sides. 

5. Pour 100ml of water over the gyoza and cover to steam until the water has evaporated. 

6. Serve nice and hot, with soy sauce for dipping. 

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Chili and Lime Black Bean Burgers

IT'S SUNNY! Well at the time of writing this post it was anyway, who knows about tomorrow. So that means one thing, it's time for a beer and a burger. My main reason for wanting to make this was that I wanted to make a burger with avocado on top. A few weeks ago I couldn't stop eating avocados and just as I thought I'd gotten over it, my manager was also recently struck with this horrible affliction (not really, avocados are great). Seeing her eating them brought back my terrible avocado cravings and I can't stop eating them again. Anyway, I decided on a black bean burger and wanted to bring out the flavours you'd get in a lovely fresh batch of guac, so added lots of lime and chili. It's really tasty, refreshing and not too heavy (I ate a HUGE one) so perfect for the hot weather AND it's vegan... hooray! 

For 2 rather large burgers or 4 smallish ones you'll need:

Olive oil 

1/2 a red onion finely chopped 

1 clove of garlic finely chopped 

1 small red chili finely chopped

1 can of black beans

1/2 a lime 

1 slice of bread 

Salt and pepper

2/4 burger buns

Fresh salsa 

1 avocado sliced 

1. Chuck your onion and garlic in to a frying pan with a little oil and soften on a low heat for around 10 minutes, add the chili and heat through for a further few minutes. 
2. While the onions are softening mush the black beans up with a fork in a large bowl until they're nice an squished. 
3. Pop the slice of bread in to a food processor and turn it in to bread crumbs then add it, along with the onions, chili and garlic to the black beans and mix well. 
4. When the mixture is combined, divide it in to 2 or 4 balls and squish in to patties on a floured surface. 
5. Heat some oil in a frying pan and pop the burgers in, cook on a medium heat until nice and browned on both sides then transfer it to the burger bun. 
6. Top it with fresh salsa and sliced avocado, serve it up with some sweet potato wedges and salad and enjoy!

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Mushroom, Stilton and Ale Pie with Thyme Pastry

This Easter I had my brothers over for a roast dinner and while I had nut roast, I cooked them and Mr Hef beef. This was hard because, I don't particularly like cooking meat and I'm also not very good at it. My older brother is a chef and has literally walked in to the kitchen when I was cooking beef before, tried a little bit, told me it was tough as old boots and left again. This time it turned out a lot better, but that was probably because my brother took over half way through! Anyway, because I really don't understand meat (it takes me about an hour and a lot of googling to decide what to buy) I managed to buy a huge piece, so there was loads left over. I really didn't want to waste it so Mr Hef is eating beef for the rest of the week. The first left over dish was beef, stilton and ale pie, so it made sense that my veggie version was a mushroom pie. Mushrooms don't feature much on here and that is quite simply because I think they're really gross. I try to make myself like them and since going to Demuths Cookery School, I've learnt how to cook them properly which helps. The flavours were so yummy that I kind of forgot I was even eating mushrooms. I made pastry from scratch for this because it's really simple and tastes so much better, but you can use ready made for a quicker recipe. The best part about making pies (apart from getting to eat them after) is that you can make little pastry decorations, mine had little mushrooms and and Mr Hefs had little willes on, because I couldn't make a cow and that seemed like the next best thing.

Serves 2 (I made 2 small pies):

For the thyme pastry

200g plain flour
100g cold butter, chopped in to chunks
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 pinch of salt
4-6 tbsp of cold water
1 egg (for egg washing if you wish)

For the filling

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
300g mushrooms of your choice, stalks removed and chopped in to large chunks
1 pinch and pepper
100ml vegetarian ale
100ml vegetable stock
100g vegetarian stilton

1. Start with the pastry. Tip the flour in to a bowl and add the chunks of butter and rub between your finger tips until you get a bread crumb texture, add the salt, thyme and water and mix in to form a ball (I usually stick my hands in at this point, it's much easier).
2. Wrap the pastry ball in cling film and pop it in to the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
3. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees and get started on the filling.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan and add the onion and garlic, cooking on a medium heat until the onions turn translucent, then add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and turn up the heat.
5. Keep cooking the mushrooms, stirring regularly, until they have sweated out all of the moisture and have started to brown, then add the ale and keep cooking on a high heat until all of the ale has been absorbed/cooked off.
6. Add the vegetable stock and cook until the stock has thickened and you have a nice thick gravy. Then switch off the heat and pop to one side.
7. Get your pastry from the fridge and chop off a third for the top of the pie, roll out the rest of the pastry and line your tin/tins.
8. Chop up the stilton and add it to the filling, then pour in to the pastry in the dish. The roll out the rest of the pastry and use it to top the pie. Cut the rough sides off and use it to make decorations if you wish.  Beat the egg and brush it over the top of the pie.
9. Pop into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, until its golden brown on the top.
10. Serve up with season veg and mash and enjoy!

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Cider and Seasonal Vegetable Stew

I have been really lucky this year. I've been on a lot of adventures and adventures are my favourite thing ever. I don't really drink, I don't go and spend a ridiculous amount of money on nights out, I save my money for as many little adventures as I can! This year I went to Dorset with mummy Hef, Cornwall with Daddy Hef, on a few adventures with Mr Hef, Gwendoline with vegan Emma and my last adventure (probably) of this year to a yurt in a cider orchard with ginger Georgie. I've definitely mentioned Georgie on my blog before, but just to remind you, she is awesome and also loves a good adventure. So on the way back from Bath, Mr Hef and I picked Georgie up from Oxford and she treated us to an Atomic Burger (seriously, awesome) and we went back to my house to begin our adventure! After packing the essentials (and by essentials I mean long johns and a couple of pairs of pants) we set off to Gloucestershire. The yurt was incredibly beautiful with a big king sized bed (perfect for our romantic weekend) and a cute little wood burner to keep us warm. It also had a kotlich in the garden, so I came prepared with root vegetables and a dumpling kit!

750 kg seasonal veg (such as potatoes, parsnip, suede)

2 medium onions

2 cloves of garlic crushed

About half a bottle of cider

1 litre of vegetable stock

1. Chuck all of the ingredients in to the kotlich and start your fire, or if you're cooking it at home pop in in to the slow cooker, or pop it in to a pan over a low heat. Cook for ages, adding water when needed. 

2. When the stew is nearly done (when you have soft vegetables), add some dumplings if you wish (I brought ready made dumpling mixture and added a bit of grated cheese) and turn the heat up/stick some more wood on the fire. 

3. Wait for around 15 minutes, until the dumplings are all fluffed up and cooked, then eat! 

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France

Did I ever write about my holiday last year? If I did, I can't find it. Well it started terribly. I moaned and moaned at Mr Hef until he finally said yes to going to France and pretty much booked a little gite to stay in at random, just because I had a good feeling about it. It was the first time Mr Hef had ever driven on the other side of the road and after about an hour, he accidently slipped on to the wrong side of the road and nearly crashed in to a car. Now that is bad enough as it is, but then the lady we nearly crashed in to proceeded to turn her car around and chase us. We were absolutely terrified and decided that the best course of action was to try and loose her by driving down tiny streets. Of course, this crazy French lady was not even a tiny bit put off by that and after about 10 minutes she overtook us, slammed on her breaks and started screaming at us. So after that little drama, we got back on the road and were nearly there, but I couldn't get through to the guy who was supposed to give us the keys. We thought we might not even have a place to stay and started to panic. After sort of finding the place, but still not getting through we went to the shops and started to think of a back up plan. Then, luckily we finally got through (we had the wrong number) and proceeded back to the gite. Only we managed to get totally lost. Luckily the man who was giving us the keys came and found us and we finally got there. And when we did, we seriously could not believe our eyes. It was absolutely beautiful, comfortable and we had a whole pool all to ourselves, the holiday was quite simply perfect. So perfect we booked to go back again this year.  This year was just as amazing as the last and with all of my adventures, it contained some lovely food as well. 

I really enjoy self catering, because I love cooking and when you're on holiday you can take as much time as possible. We ate in most days, but on the days we did go out we went all out. On the third day of our holiday we went to Aubeterre, which is dubbed the prettiest village in France. As as soon as you walk the paths there you can see why. We went to a restaurant called Creperie de la Source and had galettes, which are sort of a crepe meets a pizza. I had one filled with 4 types of cheeses and tomato, it was so delcious and the view from our table on the balcony (pictuted below) was incredible.

We also ate in a beautiful town called Brantome, it's surrounded a large river which you can canoe around (Mr Hef made me last year, we got stuck on a weir, we decided to give it a miss this year).

Once again the views from the resturant are incredible, I can't remember what it's called, but it's right on the river so you can relax and soak up the sights. Both times we've been away, Mr Hef has eaten a lot of vegetarian food (or so he thinks, he sometimes forgets that ham in sandwiches, or peperoni on pizza counts as meat) and then he seems to get an overbearing craving for steak. So he had a steak and chips and I had a warm goats cheese on toast salad.

We were both super-satisfied with our meals and went to a patisserie in the town to buy some tarts. But after a whole week of blue skies and 30 degree heat, the skies opened and I was left running to the car, protecting my box of tarts like it was my only child. Luckily they remained (mostly) intact and tasted amazing.

Since the gite has been refurbished and now has a beautiful new BBQ, we decided to take advantage and cook up a storm one night. I made some yummy garlic butter corn on the cobs, baked sweet potatoes and potato salad for mine and Mr Hef had burgers. This is what self catering is made for!

As we ate in most nights we let ourselves have one really fancy meal out at a restaurant called Le Citronnier. We ate there last year as well and even though we arrived really late, they were really accommodating and had a separate vegetarian menu. To start with I had a whole baked camembert, because when you're in France that is totally acceptable.

There was only one option for the main, which the manager apologised for profusely, but I didn't mind at all because to be honest, that's more option than in some restaurants in France! The main option was a kind of mushroom omlette made with local mushrooms that had some fancy names. If you have read this blog before you will know that I HATE mushrooms, but this was actually really nice. Beautifully presented and it wasn't really affected by my hatred of those brown slimey things.

Next there was cheese, there's not much to say about cheese, but it looked pretty so I added the picture in anyway.

Then there was pudding, delicious, decadent profiterole pudding. It was stunning. We also had some fancy local wine, I don't normally drink, so the one glass I had lead to me falling in the pool when we got home.

The holiday was incredible, I didn't want to go home and I definitely want to go back. If you fancy going you can find the gite here. 

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Vegan Tales from Gwendoline, Part 2

I've decided to split this day in to 2 posts, because I ate way too much for it to all fit in to one, but holidays are for eating yourself stupid after all. So... After a lovely long nights sleep we woke up and started a fire. On the instructions we were given for the cabin  it said that you could toast bread on the stove. 

Any excuse to start a fire and I'm there! I made some spelt bread at home using this recipe and it turned out okay, but after a few days you could have probably mistaken it for house building materials, so it was best toasted. In hindsight, I may have cut it a bit thick, but it made a good veggie bacon sandwich anyway, even if it did take me over an hour to toast it.

Then it was time to get showered. This is not so simple in the cabin, you're supposed to heat water in a giant kelly kettle, which I discovered the next day takes an actual age. So Emma and I, being the lazy people we are decided to heat a few kettles on the stove and transfer it to the shower. I say shower... it was actually a watering can hoisted in a tree. I was super excited about the shower, so I stood in the stream, Emma helped me hoist the watering can up, tipped it over my head and I had just about enough time to cover my body in shower gel when it ran out. My only option was a dip in the freezing cold stream... the best way to wake yourself up. We then decided to explore our surroundings and went for a ramble up the mountains, we ran around in fields, climbed trees, collected stick for fire and generally rambled around. Upon our return we had left over BBQ for lunch, with avocado on toast (Emma adds Tabasco, she is a genius) and come crisps and hummus. It was perfect for refuelling, and filling us up for a much needed nap.



I don't know if you get this after you nap, but I wake up either really grumpy or really hungry, or both. This day I woke up starving, luckily Emma and I stocked up on fruit from the market and I had my Abel and Cole veg box, so I had a large plate of fruit with some home-made vegan banana bread (recipe here) and was happy again.

After this it was time to prepare dinner, which, as mentioned was so epically long that it requires it's own post. 

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Vegan Tales from Gwendoline, Part 1

You may or may not remember that last year I went on a magical glamping adventure with vegan Emma to a wagon we dubbed 'The Creepy Death Cabin' if you don't remember you can read about it here, here and here. If you do, well then you'll remember that we had the best time ever and cooked loads and loads of yummy vegan food. This year we went to one we dubbed 'Gwendoline' (her actual name is Gwenol) in Wales and cooked even more yummy vegan food whilst also having another amazing adventure. This one was a bit more secluded so we had to plan our food wisely, we took an abundance of fresh fruit and veg and 16 avocados, which we got for £1 (yep really, and we ate every single one as well).

On the first night we wanted something relatively easy and saw that there was a BBQ at the cabin. I don't know if other people do this, or if Emma and I are a bit weird, but we sometimes like to pretend to be husband and wife. So I took on the role of the husband and started the fire (I really enjoy starting fires) while Emma whipped up some vegetable skewers and corn of the cob rubbed with chili and garlic.

I can't claim that I was the best at BBQing as the vegetables were still slighty (really) crunchy, but it was still a lovely meal, served up with some giant cous cous and a yummy salad.

After the BBQ it was pretty much pitch black and time to go to bed. We settled in to the most wondefully warm and cosy bed in our little cabin, blew out our tea lights and had a wonderful sleep, with only the sound of the stream in our heads.

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Smoky Butter Bean Burger with 'Pulled Pork' and Beer Braised Onions

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a BBQ last weekend and this is the beast of a burger I had. With a home made butter bean and smoked cheese burger, vegan pulled pork made from jack fruit and beer braised onions. It's not pretty, but it tasted blooming good and like they say, it's what's on the inside (of the buns) that counts. I've made vegan pulled pork before (the recipe is here) and this time I put a lot more love and a lot less ingredients in it and it was even better the second time around. If you want something that's a bit more (wo)man vs food rather than a tiny fake meat burger, this is for you. 

Makes 2 burgers

For the pulled pork:

1 can of jackfruit (I buy mine from a local asian shop)
1 bottle of vegetarian BBQ marinade
Yep that's really it

For the butter bean burgers:

1 large can of butter beans
1/2 a small white onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
25g smoked vegetarian cheddar, grated
1/2 a slice of bread turned in to breadcrumbs
A bun to serve it in

For the beer braised onions:

A large knob of butter
1 small white onion sliced
300ml vegetarian beer

1. Start by preparing your jackfruit, chop off all of the hard bits and the seedy bits and discard, then pop the stringy bits in to an ovenproof dish, coat in the BBQ sauce and pop in to fridge overnight to marinade.  
2. When you get up in the morning, pop your jackfruit either in to a slow cooker, or in to an actual cooker (covered in foil) for around 6 hours.
3. At around the 5 hour mark you can start making your burgers, basically just put all of the ingredients in to a bowl and mash with a fork until well combined. 
4. Use your hands to shape in to a burger shape, then put on to a lightly greased baking tray and pop them in to the oven for 20-30 minutes. 
5. While the burgers are cooking, make the onions by melting the butter in a frying pan, stick the onions in and fry them on a low heat until softened. 
6. Then cover the onions in beer and leave to simmer for around 20 minutes, until all of the beer has been absorbed. 
7. All of your burger components should be ready, so assemble any way you wish and enjoy! 

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Quinoa Stuffed Courgette

This recipe came about because I was feeling way too lazy to go to the shops after work, so it's pretty much made out of ingredients I happened to have in a fridge and cupboard at the time. My fridge is usually full of random odds and ends of vegetables and my cupboard is literally brimming with about 20 different types of rice, pastas and grains. So I stuck the odds and ends together, mixed them with some quinoa and stuffed it in to a courgette I had left over from my veg box, which actually made a really lovely hearty dinner. Perfect for a hot summer (lazy) day. 

Serves 2:

25g quinoa
500ml water
1/2 tsp vegetable bullion
2 medium courgettes
A glug of olive oil
1 small white onion chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 a green pepper chopped in to little bits
1/2 a tomato chopped in to little bits
25g grated vegetarian cheddar (I used smoked cheddar because I had some left over from my bean burgers)

1. Boil the water in a sauce pan and add the bullion and the quiona and boil for 20 minutes. 
2. While the quinoa is cooking, slice the courgettes in half lengthways, scoop out the soft insides and pop on to a baking tray. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt over them and pop them in to a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes. 
3. Stick the onion and garlic in to a frying pan with a little oil and cook on a low heat until softened, then add the pepper and tomato and fry for around 10 minutes. 
4. Remove the courgettes from the oven and pop to one side. 
5. Drain the quinoa and add it to the vegetables and mix up well. 
6. Spoon the mixture in to the courgettes, then top with the grated cheddar and pop in to the oven for 20 minutes. 
7. When they're lovely and golden brown and bubbling on top, remove from the oven, serve them up with some season veg on the side and enjoy! 

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BBQ

Sometimes its hard being a vegetarian at a BBQ, I always feel like a bit of a burden and am usually faced with the 'but it's okay if I put your totally meat free burger on the BBQ and cover it with meat juices isn't it?' dilemma. Well, this week I had a BBQ at my house and I (hopefully) wasn't a burden to anyone but myself. And I was only a burden to myself because I have really poor time management skills and spent too much time playing with dogs and not enough time making food. Anyway, in the time I did spend making food I made smoky butter bean burgers, with vegan pulled pork and beer braised onions, halloumi kebabs, minted, honey and mustard potato salad and a ginger and cranberry cocktail. 

The burger was immense. I've made vegan pulled pork before, but this time I put a lot more love and care in to it an it turned out great. I will post the recipe for it sometime this week (hopefully, again my time management is pretty poor).

These halloumi kebabs have been a BBQ staple made by my mum ever since I turned vegetarian, it wouldn't feel right without them! I brought some handmade halloumi which I'm pretty sure I brought from Ashridge Delicious, you literally just stick it on a skewer with some vegetables of your choice, grill and eat.

A BBQ wouldn't be a BBQ without a potato salad, so I whipped up this one with the new potatoes from my Able and Cole veg box and also used their recipe for minted honey mustard potato salad. I love it, probably because mustard is one of my favourite things ever (especially when eaten straight from the jar!)

And last but not least a cocktail. I probably drink alcohol around once a month, maybe even less, but I am a sucker for a yummy cocktail every now and again. I was sent some Kings Ginger Liqueur along with this recipe, so I had to try it out. It's super yummy, refreshing and perfect for the summer.

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Chilli and Garlic Bubble and Squeak Cakes

This week I got cabbage in my veg box, I really like cabbage, but it's not very inspiring. So I couldn't really decide what to do with it. I asked a few people at work and the results were to put it in mashed potato or stir fry it with chili and garlic. I really wanted both of these things, so I decided to combine them together and make bubble and squeak cakes with chilli and garlic. My brother was hanging around the kitchen while I was making them, telling me how disgusting they sounded, (this is the usual reaction to whatever I'm cooking) but then decided that he actually wanted some too after smelling them cooking. So we both had them on a bed of wilted spinach, topped with hollandaise sauce and a poached egg. This is my new favourite dinner. I've had it twice this week and already want to make it again!

Serves 2:

300g new potatoes
A small knob of butter
100g cabbage, shredded
1 small chili
1 small clove of garlic
A little bit of flour for dusting
Spinach, a poached egg and hollandaise to serve

1. Wash your new potatoes, them pop them in to a pan with boiling water and leave to boil for 20 minutes. 
2. Melt the butter in a separate pan, then add the cabbage, chili and garlic and stir fry on a medium heat for around 10 minutes.
3. When the potatoes are lovely and soft, drain off all of the water and mash up the potatoes, add the cooked cabbage mixture and mix up well. 
4. Leave the mixture to cool, until its cool enough to handle then mold them in to 4 burger shapes and pop on to a floured plate. 
5. You can now either pop them in to the oven on a low heat while you prepare your toppings, or stick them straight in to a frying pan with hot oil and fry until golden brown on each side. 
6. Serve with spinach, poached egg and hollandaise sauce, or whatever else you fancy.

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High Tea, The Bedruthan Steps Hotel

The worst part of a holiday is having to leave, after a week of relaxing, body boarding, cliff walking and a lot of sleeping, returning to reality seriously sucks. So to make the most of the last day of our holiday, Mr Hef and I didn't actually go home (we went to Devon to see his family instead) and went for an epic walk along the cliffs to Bedruthan Steps and then back to Mawgan Porth for a High Tea at the Bedruthan Steps Hotel.

It really was the perfect end to a perfect holiday, Bedruthan Steps is absolutely breath taking and absolutely worth nearly getting blown off the top of a cliff to see. And the high tea at the Bedruthan Steps Hotel was incredible, you get a selection of sandwiches (both Mr hef and I went for Davistowe cheddar and Red Stuff chutney) and cakes (Mr Hef had a fruit tart and I had a lemon meringue tart as well as some kind of yummy fruit and pistachio sponge) and of course a fresh warm scone with clotted cream and jam. It was just beautiful!

If you're ever in this area of Cornwall, I highly recommend checking out both of them!

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St Petroc's Bistro, Padstow

No one else in my family is vegetarian, my Mum once was, but after a few months I came home to find her eating a steak and she hasn't looked back since. So when we go out for a meal, it's usually not very vegetable centric. Despite this I will ALWAYS find something to eat, I'm not a fussy vegetarian and to be honest, if it's food and it's reasonably yummy I am happy.

We've been to Cornwall a few times with Daddy Hef and he's always mentioned going to Rick Steins restaurant and now that my older brother and I are actual grown up people with real jobs (my little brother is still a lazy bum) I thought it would be nice to finally take him there. First of all I looked at the Seafood restaurant, which does look lovely, but the vegetarian options make me a little sad and I would probably have had to sell my soul, my car and possibly my body to pay the prices in there. So after a little research I settled on St Petroc's Bistro (I only had to sell my soul for this one, I need my car for getting around and my body for filling with food). There is a few vegetarian options for the starters, I went for asparagus with hollandaise, because if you didn't already know I am obsessed with asparagus. The asparagus was cooked perfectly and as this was the first time I have eaten hollandaise that has not come from a jar, it was a proper delight for my taste buds. I could have eaten at least 4 (maybe even 5) plates of it.

So then it was on to the mains. There was only one option which was the oven dried tomato, thyme and cornish blue cheese tart. You could choose sides, but as I knew I wanted to eat a desert I just had the tart with a salad on the side. It was really beautifully cooked, with just the right amount of blue cheese. You never want too much blue cheese in a meal, you need a good mold to other ingredients ratio.

For desert I went for the lemon tart, which is one of my favourite deserts and I have to say that this is the best one I have ever tried. It had a wonderfully tart centre, which was caramelised on top (yum) and incased in a delicious crumbly pastry case. It was the perfect end to the meal. So if you're in the area definitely check it out, don't be put off by the fact that there is only one vegetarian main, because what ever it is, I'm sure it will be amazing. And if you are a meat eater, my family all seemed pretty happy with their meaty dishes.

P.s I'm sorry for the lack of proper images, they seem to get worse as the pictures go on, I think this is due to it getting darker and darker and me being too lazy to get my proper camera out of my bag.

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Jamie's Fifteen, Watergate Bay

I've done a lot of breakfast posts recently, probably because I LOVE breakfast. Well this is the mac daddy of my breakfast posts, just look at it! It was fathers day yesterday and as we're about 5 minutes away from Watergate Bay it would be silly not to go to Jamie's Fifteen. I've been with Mr Hef for lunch before and although I can't for the life of me remember what I had, I can remember that it was delicious and that the view was insane. I'm the only vegetarian in my family so the rest of them had a full English, but I opted for the eggy bread with mixed berries and mascapone. It was so good. So good and so big, which resulted in me not doing much for the rest of the day (which is what holiday is all about). There is another veggie option as well and I think Daddy Hef is keen to return (here's hoping).

And the view. Check out that view, there is nothing nicer than chilling out with a nice meal in front of you watching the waves.

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Rick Stein's Fish and Chips

A few years ago my family and I came to Cornwall and went on a search for Rick Steins fish, unfortunately we're all as useless as each other and never found it. It remained a mystery until Mr Hef and I came back to padstow a few years later and forced him to come to the Lobster Sanctuary with me, (you can imagine how happy he was) we didn't eat there that time because I'm pretty sure there's no vegetarian option. Luckily there is now and after a 6 hour journey to Mawgan Porth, a run around the beautiful house we're staying in and a little wander to the beach we were all ready for some good old fish (well not fish for me) and chips. The only vegetarian option on the menu is deep fried halloumi, with chipotle mayo in a sesame bun, which is the best option I have ever found at a fish and chip restaurant.

As you can probably tell from the picture, it was freaking delicious! The rest of the menu was all different types of fish and even Mr Hef (and avid fish avoider) tried the fish and enjoyed it! I would happily go back and eat it over and over again!

Hopefully this is just the start of lot's of lovely food adventures, I've brought some loose fitting clothes and I'm expecting to be squeezing in to them by the time I go home. This is the beautiful house I mentioned earlier... I never want to leave.

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Huevous Rancheros

Eating eggs has opened up a whole new world to me, mainly a world that starts before 11am. I've been eating poached eggs and boiled eggs, with toast, asparagus and spinach and I am loving it. So when Georgie came to stay this week I wanted to make her some eggs. I've only ever had Huevous Rancheros in Giraffe before, but it was freaking amazing and I just wanted to re-create that. Luckily the recipe has been put up on the channel 4 website so that anyone can try it! I really recommend that you do, even if you have to retreat back to bed for a couple of hours because you're so full (like we did)! The recipe is here, I left out the chorizo, of course! 

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Caramelised Leek, Asparagus and Goats Cheese Tart

If you could die from an Asparagus overdose, then last week would have been my sweet end. Not satisfied with eating a whole bundle in a day, I proceeded to buy a further 2 bundles and eat them all within 2 days. Can you blame me though? Asparagus is freaking good. What started this Asparagus epidemic you ask? Well Abel and Cole sent it to me 2 weeks in a row, and I just couldn't get enough of it. They also sent me some leeks and I promised to make Daddy Hef some dinner so I mixed them all together with some pastry and goats cheese and this is what happened. It was nice, really, really nice (maybe because I LOVE all of the components) and the next time I get leeks in my box I'm making it straight away!

For 2 tarts:

8 asparagus spears
Salt and pepper
300g leeks, washed, trimmed and sliced
20g butter
4 tbsp cream cheese with black pepper
100g puff pastry
50g goats cheese

1. Stick the asparagus on to a griddle on a medium heat with a little salt and pepper and griddle for 5 minutes, then pop to one side. 
2. Melt the butter on a low heat in to a sauce pan, then add the leeks and cook gently for around 20 minutes, until softened, then turn up the heat and give them a good old fry until the start to brown a little. 
3. Roll out the pastry in to a kind of rectangle, then score 1cm in along each side. 
4. Spread the cream cheese in to the boarder you have just cut, then top with the leeks, asparagus and goats cheese. 
5. Pop them in to a preheated oven (200 degrees) for 10-15 minutes, serve them straight from the oven with fresh salad and enjoy!

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Eggs Florentine with Asparagus

About 4 years ago a series of 'bad egg' events put me off of eating eggs, I've still been eating them in things, (mostly cake) but every time I try to eat them in pure egg form I manage to put myself off again. So last week armed with some fresh organic asparagus (I really, really love asparagus) I decided to give them another go. I used to love eggs florentine and my mum kept talking about making asparagus with boiled egg so I thought I'd combine them together for the best brunch ever! And that it was. I brought some really good eggs (which made me feel better about eating them) and as you can see I over cooked them a little bit, but I am an egg novice! So yeah, if you enjoy yummy vegetables and good eggs, I highly recommend this! 

Serves 2:

8 spears of asparagus
Salt and pepper
2 free range eggs
1 granary bap
200g spinach
2 tbsp hollandaise sauce

1. Pop a griddle pan on to a medium heat and add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and griddle for around 10 minutes. 
2. While the asparagus is cooking poach your eggs (I have an egg poacher, I have no idea how to poach them properly) to your liking. I did mine for around 5 minutes. 
3. Split your bap in half, then toast to your liking. Then put the spinach in to a sieve and pour boiling water over it. Drain the water off and top the bap with the wilted spinach. 
4. Top with the egg, then the asparagus and then cover in hollandaise sauce. 
5. Yep it really is that simple! Enjoy. 

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Sweet Potato and Aubergine Katsu Curry

Over the last 2 weeks I've been house/pug sitting for my mum's friend. It was like a dream because 1. I got to pretend to be a housewife 2. I got to look after Bentely the pug aka the cutest and most mischievous dog ever 3. She is a lovely, lovely lady who filled the fridge with vegetarian food for me! I was pretty excited about this fridge of food and what I could cook from it, but there was also something in there that I've never cooked with before, an aubergine. I know what you're thinking, Hef, you're a vegetarian, how have you never cooked an aubergine before. Well, I used to think they were a bit gross, bordering on mushroom territory (ewwww). So I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I thought about when I've eaten it in other meals and the one that stuck out was Katsu curry. I freaking love kastu curry, I could eat it all day every day and I've been wanting to make it from scratch for a while so I decided this was the perfect opportunity. I based the sauce on Gizzi Erskines recpie, but made it vegetarian and added some more veggies (why not, eh?). I tried making it twice this week, once frying the vegetables and once baking. I prefer them baked, so that's what I'm going with. Sorry for the not so great quality of the picture, Mr Hef told me to 'stop taking pictures and eat your dinner' and like a good housewife, I did (haha).

Serves 2

For the sauce

A bit of olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tbsp curry powder
300ml vegetable stock
1 tsp honey
2 tsp soy sauce
1 bay leaf
A large pinch of garam masala

For the vegetables

Olive oil spray
1 free range egg, beaten
100g seasoned plain flour
200g panko breadcrumbs (this is an estimation, I am extremely messy and get them stuck every where so you may need more or less)
1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced in to thin circly shapes
1 aubergine, chopped to the same width as the sweet potato

And some sticky white rice to serve!

1. Start by pre heating the oven to 180 degrees and setting up your egg, seasoned flour and panko breadcrumbs in separate bowls then pop to one side
2. Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan, then add the onion and garlic and sweat on a low heat for 2 minutes. 
3. Then add the carrot, pop the lid on and leave to soften, stirring occasionally. 
4. While the carrot is cooking away, prepare a large baking tray by spraying with olive oil, then take your slices of sweet potato, first coating them in the breaded flour, then dipping them in egg, then covering them in the panko bread crumbs.
5. Place each one on to the baking tray and spray well with the oil and pop in to the oven for around 30 minutes.
6. Go back to your sauce and add the flour and curry powder and mix in well. 
7. Slowly pour in the vegetable stock, bit by bit and stir well to avoid any lumps occurring. 
8. Add the soy sauce, bay leaf and honey, bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. 
9. After 20 minutes, remove the bay leaf from the sauce and add the garam masala, then pop in in to a blender and give it a good whizz so that there's no lumps left. 
10. Remove the vegetables from the oven (they should be lovely and golden brown) and pop on to your plate with some sticky white rice, cover it all with the sauce and enjoy! 

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