Fresh Summer Salad

It's a lovely, warm summer's day.
You're sitting outside with a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc, and for lunch...
a delicious, healthy strawberry salad.

Well - the warm summer's day is stretching the imagination a bit, but the rest I can do :-)

The original recipe is at Sweet Eve Strawberries 

To my salad, I added a little chopped chorizo (it needed using up!) and torn basil leaves instead of the mint.
I could just imagine the blank looks, on the faces of the staff at my local supermarket, asking for pomegranate molasses - so I made a balsamic dressing instead, which went beautifully with the strawberries.

Oreo Cheesecakes

Cheesecake in our house is usually the, mix it all together and put it in the fridge, kind
so, these little, baked treats were a little different for us.

They're still easy to make and taste creamy and delicious, but not too sweet.

Recipe from Philadelphia - here

Tortilla Pizza bites

It comes as no real suprise to anyone that we are out of the World Cup.
We have one last chance to claw back some dignity with this afternoon's game against Costa Rica.
Don't hold your breath though!!

We had these mini pizza bites during the last England game.
The football might have been disappointing, but these were a huge hit.

I used a scone cutter to cut circles from corn tortillas and then placed them into a muffin tin.
I fried up some chopped bacon and added sauce to it. I used my favourite puttanesca sauce,
which is richly flavoured with anchovies, olives and chilli, but any pasta sauce you have on hand will do.
Then I sprinkled each bite with grated cheese and some extra olives.
Bake at 180C for about 10 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don't burn).

We tried them (as you do) straight from the oven and they were delicious.
The rest, I put in the fridge when they were cool and just brought them out 20 mins before serving.

Half - time snack

Just in-case you missed it - the World Cup is on! 
That means dinner in front of the TV and lots of snacks.
Here's a tasty, treat that is perfect for those half-time munchies.

Savoury Cheese Whirls.

Puff pastry sheet.
Marmite
approx 125g grated cheese
1 beaten egg, to glaze

Preheat oven to 200C Fan
Unroll the pastry sheet. Use a palette knife to spread the Marmite thinly over the pastry.
As you work it, and it warms up, it will spread more easily.
I made a couple of batches of these whirls. For the first one I used about 2tsps of Marmite which gave a good, strong flavour, so use less if you want a more subtle taste.
Sprinkle over the grated cheese.
Roll the pastry up quite tightly, along the long edge.  Brush with the beaten egg.
Cut into thick slices and place on greaseproof paper, on a baking tray.
Bake for 12 - 15 mins until well risen and golden.

Meat Free Monday

I'm always trying to find new ideas for meat free dishes, so I was really pleased to come across the latest edition of Cook Vegetarian.  It came with a free, magazine style book, of 365 veggie recipes.
They look so good, I can't wait to try them out - here's my first attempt, for last night's meat-free supper.

Lentil dhal with spiced onions.

Lentil dhal can be a bit bland for some people, but with plenty of seasoning, a chopped red chilli thrown in with the lentils, and all the accompaniments here, it really worked.
The salad is a simple tomato, cucumber and coriander mix, with some extra yogurt.