Diet, Diet, Diet

We're officially back on Weight Watchers. We tried WW a few years ago and I lost close to two stone. We tried it again several times since but have found it quite hard to stick to, especially me.
I have such a desire to cook and bake all the time and I like to cook food with proper ingredients. I'm sorry and don't want to offend anyone, but I don't find Splenda a proper ingredient. It's kind of hard to explain. I think it really boils down to the fact that I like to eat. I truly enjoy everything about food. The way it looks, smells, tastes and experiencing different textures. I am obsessed. Completely and utterly obsessed and I will never deny it. Ever.

I spent half of my childhood living with my Grandmother and she is a fantastic cook. She always made every meal from scratch. No microwave meals for her. She taught me to relish in the joy of trying new foods. Whenever we went to a seafood restaurants, Gram would never allow me to get a burger. She said that if you go to a seafood restaurant, you order seafood. If you go to a burger joint, then you order a burger. I still live by this sound advice and have tried to instill this in James. James has tried so many different foods since we've been together. I do think that living with Gram definitely forged my obsession with food.

I am not a thin person. I think the last time I was what society would call thin, would have to be when I was 18. Over 10 years ago and I have no desire to be that thin again. Today's society dictates that you have to be a size 0 or -20 to be thought of as pretty. Maybe it's just me, but when I see people toothpick thin, it just makes me want to feed them. James thinks I'm gorgeous and tells me so all the time. I really couldn't have a better husband. I've come to terms with my weight and how I look. I'm not 100% content, but who really is?

Due to the diet 'thing', I will be doing some WW and lighter recipes, but since I've joined the Daring Bakers, I will also be baking the good stuff too. (My first Daring Bakers entry will be in August and I am totally stoked!)

I've also decided this week to make posting a weekly thing (every Friday). It gives me a goal to work towards every week and lets me try all kinds of new things. Woo hoo!

See you on Friday!

A Quick Trip to London

Last week James and I needed to go down to Oxford quite last minute for a business meeting. It was the first time I had been to either Oxford or London and was quite excited to be seeing both. We drove down to Oxford on Tuesday and stayed at the Eynsham Hall in North Leigh till Thursday. Because our meeting was for lunch on Wednesday, it only left us about 3 hours to look around London including travel time (so really only 1.5 hours). We only managed to see Harrod's but it was sooooo worth it. As a total food nut, I drug James to the Food Hall section of Harrod's which is set amongst separate rooms all with their own theme (e.g. Chocolate, Sweets, Meats & Poultry, Seafood & Vegetable, etc.). Honestly, this was heaven, truly heaven and well worth going to. I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in London.

When we arrived back home, I found that we had left some strawberries in the fridge and they were starting to go smushy. So I had a quick look on the old net to see if I could get a recipe using mushy strawberries. I came across a recipe for Strawberry Lemon Bars and decided it was the one. I love lemons! The wonderfully tart taste is summer for me.



Having read through the recipe on Nook & Pantry, I decided to use my own tried and tested Lemon Bar Recipe (see below) but did add the Strawberry Puree as suggested. I personally think they came out great and really do taste like Strawberry Lemonade.

I also had some ripe bananas lying around so I quickly whipped up two of my famous Banana Bread loaves to use them up. I do love a warm piece of Banana Bread covered in butter for breakfast. Yum :)

Lemon Bars (Makes 16 Bars)

Ingredients:

Crust

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed or grated

Topping

3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (use the 2 lemon you used for the zest)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line an 8 inch square pan.

For the Crust: In a bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, a food processor or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it roughly resembles course crumbs. Press evenly into the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned around the edges. (About 12 to 15 minutes)

For the Topping: In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, lemon zest and juice until smooth. Don't overbeat. Pour over the crust.

Return to oven and bake until set, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack. Once cool, cut into bars. (Just before serving, dust lightly with icing sugar. Make sure bars are completely cool.)

Today is the day to blog

As I have been in the kitchen this week, I made Beef Goulash and Chili Beef Burritios with Mexican Rice for tea this week.

The Beef Goulash I made on Tuesday as it was quite a cold and rainy day (typical Scottish summer weather) and could do with a bit of warmth. I added some garlic powder to the recipe as I do love the smell of garlic in my kitchen.

Last night was when I made the Chili Beef Burritos with Mexican Rice. I have never tried making Mexican Rice before but am a big fan of good mexican rice. James and I love Tex-Mex and we are always trying new recipes. To be honest I don't think we could live without it.

Just thinking about Tex-Mex reminds me of my absolute favourite Tex-Mex restaurant in the world, Sam Diego's. It's located in Hyannis on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It is a definite must if you are ever kicking about the Cape.

Lack of Sleep

All this week I have been suffering from insomnia quite badly. I think it has a lot to do with the stress of everyday life and the worry of jump-starting my web design business again. I'm trying desperately not to worry myself sick about how the business will do as I am totally controlling of all situations. Blah!

Anywho...this week I have been in the kitchen a lot burning off excess tired energy. I tried Danish Braid Bread (Daring Bakers Challenge as found on Sass & Veracity) for the first time. (I have signed up to join their baking group and will be included in my first challenge next month.) Now I have never made any kind of dough using yeast by hand before. Whenever I make dough I tend to either use my breadmaker or *gasp* store bought. Because of the carpal tunnel in both of my wrists, I find it really hard to use them for very long before they start to ache and weaken, so I have always opted for the easier choices for dough. Though this time because you have to turn the dough and let it sit for 30 minutes each turn, I thought that I might be able to just get away with it. Plus I learned to use my rolling pin with my forearms to help relieve the pressure on my wrists.

The recipe was completed over 2 days and came out alright. I wouldn't rave about it, but as a first attempt, I think it wasn't too bad. The recipe made enough dough for 2 loaves to which I filled one with apples, spices and home-made pastry cream and filled the other with fresh blueberries and lemon curd. The blueberry one leaked like mad, but the apple one held its own quite well. I think I rolled the dough out too thin and because of this the braid didn't hold tight enough allowing the leakage of blueberry everywhere. The dough itself called for orange zest & juice and cardamom which I thought odd as every time that I have had danish in the past it had been plain. I personally didn't care for the taste of the dough with these added ingredients and will omit them next time I make it, but don't let it the additions put you off as it did have a nice orangey spice to it. Quite Christmasy I think.

Unfortunately, I did not photograph my attempt, but will remember to next time.