Thank goodness for Jonathan, otherwise I’d probably spend way too much all of my time indoors working on my various projects. When I’m not at work, these past few months I’ve either been in the kitchen cooking up new recipes or researching/working on a new DIY idea that I’ve been dreaming of all week, but didn’t have time for. Basically, I’ve been a homebody since we moved to London. In Paris, we had our little hangouts or neighborhoods that we’d go to for drinks, we had football games to go to, friends to meet-up with. Everything is new to us, here, though, so we are still working out our new hangouts and favorite ‘hoods.
Besides, we have been living in London for the past few months, but haven’t really been taking advantage of our new city because A) we’ve been busy moving and B) the weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating (read: it has been downright cold almost every day since we’ve moved…!).
This weekend, though, there was no excuse because I didn’t have any projects planned and the weather was awesome! I was in a bit of a funk and kind of just hanging out in PJ’s with no energy or motivation to do much, when J pulled out our London guide book and said “we are getting out of the house!”
And he was so right to insist because we had a very London Saturday afternoon: strolling around Brick lane, stopping into a cute little chocolate shop, then having drinks before watching the Champion’s League game. I was so inspired by all of the vibrant sights and smells, that as soon as I got home I went back into Kitchen Experiment mode and cooked up a fabulous no bake, no yeast skillet pizza (which I’ll be posting soon)! Sometimes, getting out and doing something different or even so simple as just walking around a new neighborhood can lead to so much inspiration!
So, in honor of Jonathan’s love of chocolate (seriously, that man loves his chocolate) today’s photos are from our stop into the Dark Sugars chocolate shop (address below). Bonus: they have lots of vegan options!
It’s been a long week and if you’re like us, then you’re probably looking forward to finally relaxing, and not to making a big elaborate meal. Unless big elaborate meals every day of the week are your thing, in which case, more power to you. That’s not me, though, and by the time Friday rolls around, I’m usually trying to think of which leftovers to reheat…!
When I don’t want to go the leftover route, though, this is one of my go-to Friday night recipes. This dish is great if you’re in a hurry to get dinner on the table: it requires very little prep and comes together in about 30 minutes using simple ingredients. So you can feel like you’ve got it all together and handle Friday night dinner like a boss 🙂
I should preface this recipe by confessing that I’m not realllly a big fan of cream-based sauces like alfredo or four-cheese anything — but I have come to terms with the fact that I can’t serve tomato-based sauces alllll the time. Someone once told me a story about a husband leaving his wife because she served him spaghetti bolognaise every night for dinner…
In hindsight, I wonder if they just made that story up because I served them spaghetti bolognese every time they came over for dinner, and they were trying to send me a message…? Anyway, the point is that whether you love creamy sauces, or if you’re like me and they’re not your favorite, you’ll probably still love this recipe. The creamy-ness isn’t overpowering, with just the right amount of cream and the right amount of tang.
Ingredients:
250 grams of rotini
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove of garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup greek yogurt*
½ cup heavy cream*
1 medium-sized chicken breast (cooked and cut into 2-inch cubes)
1 ½ cups of chicken stock
2 cups broccoli (cooked)**
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions:
In a non-stick saucepan big enough to hold all of the ingredients, melt down the butter, then add in the minced garlic, salt & pepper, and flour whisking until smooth.
Cook the flour & butter mixture for around 5 minutes, just to get rid of that raw flour taste, then slowly whisk in the chicken stock.
Meanwhile, cook your pasta for 2 minutes less than the time indicated on the package (unless you like it softer than al dente, in which case cook per your pasta’s instructions).
Whisk in the greek yogurt and heavy cream, and continue to cook until it has reduced to a smooth uniform mixture.
Next, mix in the cooked & drained pasta, and the chicken and broccoli, stirring until evenly combined.
If the sauce is too thick, then just add in a bit of water to thin it up a bit.
Season with a sprinkle of salt & some fresh ground black pepper
Serve hot with some crumbles of parmesan cheese on top!
Servings: 2 if served as a main dish, 4 if served as a side dish.
*If you want to make this recipe lighter, then you can use 1 cup of greek yogurt instead of the greek yogurt/heavy cream combination in the recipe. I prefer with cream though, because too much yogurt overpowers the dish a bit it and it comes out a bit too tangy for me. Though if you’re all about tangy chicken pasta, then go for it!
**I roasted my broccoli in the oven for about 10 minutes. Though sometimes I blanch it for this recipe: boiled for 30 seconds, then drained.
***This dish can be vegetarian-friendly by swapping out the chicken stock for veggie stock, and simply not adding the chicken.
In my quest to eat bigger breakfasts that are not pasta, I’ve stumbled upon the best thing ever: avocado for breakfast. Even after ten years of living in Paris, I never really got into the whole croissant with jam or pain au chocolat in the morning. Sweets just aren’t my thing — ever, really, but especially not in the morning. I’ve been surviving on big bowls of pasta to get me through the morning until lunch time, sometimes followed by…more pasta in the afternoon…then sometimes more pasta for dinner. I think you get the point: I eat way too much pasta!
I don’t usually have time for much in the mornings, and have been desperately trying to find a few morning recipes that work for me: easy, fast, and filling.
So I’m alllll about avocado toasts these days, because the combinations are endless, they still feel like breakfast and come together in under ten minutes. Here’s the latest addition to my avocado toast arsenal – enjoy 🙂
Ingredients:
½ of an avocado
1 tablespoon of heavy cream (or greek yogurt to cut out a few calories)
1 soft-boiled egg*
1 big slice of bread, toasted**
Salt & pepper to taste
Chives (optional)
Servings: this makes breakfast for 1, but can easily be doubled/tripled for more 🙂
Instructions:
Combine the avocado and cream in a small bowl until smooth (or keep it chunky – that’s good too!)
Spread your avocado and cream mixture evenly on the toast – don’t forget to go all the way to the edge.
Place your soft-boiled egg on top, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a few cherry tomatoes and top with some chives.
*You guys, this Cook’s Illustrated-inspired technique for perfect soft-boiled eggs is the bomb. Really. If you love soft-boiled eggs, but don’t love struggling to get them perfectly cooked with a beautiful golden runny yolk, then look no further: http://www.macheesmo.com/soft-boiled-eggs-a-giveaway/
What a weird couple of weeks I’ve been having: first my motorbike was stolen (twice…), then I cut my finger pretty badly (on my new food processor, literally after about 2 minutes of taking it out of the box), and now our oven exploded last night.That’s right – the glass door totally exploded and shot glass all over the place! I heard the loudest noise ever coming from the kitchen, so I raced out there only to find that the oven I had been preheating to make our Sunday roast chicken looked like a scene from an action movie. Jonathan wasn’t hurt thankfully, but it was pretty scary. We’ve been having some pretty questionable luck lately, so maybe now’s a good time to play the lottery, just in case my luck turns…!
So until the flat management company sorts us out with a new oven, my recipes will be 100% stovetop (or crockpot). However, I was lucky enough to have finished this lovely snack-food recipe earlier in the day (ie, prior to my kitchen turning into the set from Die Hard with a Vengeance). As I do sometimes on Sunday afternoons, I got a little over-zealous in my potato peeling for our mashed potatoes that I was prepping for dinner, and had a few extras than I needed for the mash.
Then the light bulb went off: I’ve been meaning to work on a few healthy snack recipes that are not sweet for me and J, and I’ve had this baked chip idea in the back of my mind for weeks. Now, I’ve tried baked potato chips before and they’ve all been gross (sorry, but it’s true!). For some reason, though, I got it in my head that I could do better than those cardboard pieces of I-don’t-even-know-what I was paying a fortune for (why do healthy snacks always cost so much more, and taste so much worse…?).
So out came my handy mandoline (these things are seriously amazing!) and I sliced up a potato in about 20 seconds and popped the slices in the oven – ready in about 5 minutes! These are surprisingly easy and taste likebetter than their fatty pre-bagged cousins that you find in your grocery store’s snack aisle.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 potato
1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to around 400 °F / 200 °C
While your oven is pre-heating, wash and thinly slice (and peel if you prefer) a medium-sized potato, then rinse the slices under cold water in a colander until the water runs clear to get rid of that starchy residue.
Coat a large baking sheet with olive oil (or non-stick cooking spray), then evenly spread out your potato slices. I have a tiny baking sheet, so I do mine in batches.
Cook for around 5 minutes or until golden brown. Don’t walk away from the kitchen while making these because they go from whoa-totally-amazing to horribly-nasty-scorched in the blink of an eye. I should take my own advice, though, because I always burn the first batch…
Sprinkle them with the sea salt, throw them in a bowl and enjoy!
Servings: It’s roughly one potato per person, so adapt as you see fit!
I know, I know…it’s May and I’m writing about making hearty, spicy chilli! With 50 degree weather these past few days, though, I’ve been struggling with salads and other typically-Springy dishes. Now, I’m in full-blown Autumn mode and have been craving thick and filling soups and stews. A good compromise considering it is May, is Chilli! It’s really a year-round dish, and can easily be freshened up with a big dollop of sour cream, some fresh cilantro, served atop a big bowl of rice. Or if you are always cold like me, then you can just have a big steaming bowl of the stuff on the couch enjoying a marathon of Netflix with your hubby. Or you can eat spoonfulls of it directly out of the pot and hope said hubby doesn’t catch you… up to you 😉
Adding this recipe to the blog was a no-brainer because I’ve been making it for years, and everyone needs at least one good go-to chilli recipe. This is mine because it uses mainly pantry items, so can almost always be thrown together if you’re in a pinch trying to find out what to make for dinner. This is essentially a perfect weeknight dinner because it packs a lot of flavour with only a few ingredients. It’s also great because it allows you to be flexible with the time you put dinner on the table, because it can be ready in 30 minutes, but can simmer for an extra hour if needed! Anyway, this is one of those recipes that I’ve made at least a hundred times (like my marinara sauce) and I love it just as much each time. It’s also one of those recipes that is extremely forgiving… you barely even need to measure things out too well.
Ingredients:
Spices
1 tablespoon of powdered garlic
1 tablespoon of oregano
2 tablespoons of cumin
Smoked paprika (or chili powder)
Salt & Pepper to taste
200 grams of ground beef*
1 large white onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large can of whole tomatoes, passed through the mixer until smooth (unless you want chunks of tomatoes, which I love but Hubby doesn’t)
1 16oz big can of red kidney beans
1 tablespoon of butter
A few spoonfuls of Olive Oil
Garnish: fresh chopped cilantro, sour cream, chives, chopped onion… and whatever else you like!
Instructions:
Add a spoonful of olive oil, all of the spices, and ground beef to a large saucepan or non-stick pot, then brown the ground beef on medium heat (about 5-10 minutes).
Add in your chopped onion, and cook for about 5 minutes more.
Turn up the heat for about a minute (take care not to burn the onions, though!) then add in the tomato purée. The tomatoes should de-glaze the pan, so once that happens, turn the heat back down to medium.
Finally, add in the beans and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes. If you have a bit of time, don’t hesitate to let this simmer for an hour or so; it only gets better with time!
Top with freshly chopped cilantro, a dollop of sour cream, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Notes: I use a very small amount of ground beef in my chilli because I really feel that the beans and tomatoes are the stars of this dish, but feel free to beef this up a bit more (ha ha see what I did there? Okay nerd moment out of my system). Seriously though, sometimes I add less sometimes more. Play around with it until you get a beef-to-bean ratio that best suits your taste buds!
In my quest to get the Mister to eat more veggies, I may have stumbled upon the most unlikely of dishes for Meatless Monday* that he will actually eat! So, some of my favorite things to cook with are mushrooms, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese…Italiany-type ingredients, basically. I would swap out mushrooms for meat any day, but Jonathan… not so much. In fact, there are only a few things he doesn’t eat, but they just so happen to be… mushrooms and tomatoes.
As you know, we’ve recently moved to London and one of the best parts, you might be wondering? Grocery shopping. Sure… London has all sorts of amazing tourism, incredible museums, a Royal Family… but I’m all about the grocery stores! That’s not to say that Paris doesn’t have amazingly fresh produce and all sorts of fancy ingredients, but some things are just impossible to find. Like portobello mushrooms. These things are amazing: baked, sautéed, grilled… absolute perfection. So the other day I ordered a few with my weekly shop because they sell them here (hallelujah!), thinking I’d have them all to myself (cue evil laugh).
So I made our regular dinner, but made a starter for myself of these bad boys. Stuffed with Italian chicken sausage and cherry tomatoes, topped with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil. In the oven for 15 minutes they went, and the cheesy and bubbly masterpiece that came out…well, there are no words. As I began to dig in to my mushroomy feast, I looked up to see Jonathan curiously eyeing the plate.
Of course I jumped at the occasion and cut him off a little piece, perfectly balanced with a little bit of tomato juice, gooey and crispy mozzarella, and a few little crumbles of the sausage. As he tasted it, then tasted some more… I couldn’t contain myself when he gave his head-nod of approval!
Long story short, these are amazing and if my tomato-hating mushroom-disliking husband approves, then just imagine how good they must be 😉
Ingredients:
4 portobello mushrooms
Italian sausage (I used chicken sausage), cooked and crumbled
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh basil
Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Instructions:
Wash your mushrooms to make sure you get any dirt off, then pat them dry.
Arrange them in a baking dish, then remove the stems (I just throw the stems into the dish, so they’ll bake too)
Layer in the toppings: crumbled sausage, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese
Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top, then bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven.
*These would be perfect to add to your Meatless Monday rotation – just take out the sausage!
I like to think of myself as an organized, structured and generally speaking a planner. Of course, the downside to that is that I also tend to take on way too much and then stress myself out about actually being able to finish everything on time. So I’ve had to come up with a few shortcuts to maximize my time and one tiny change has made a big difference in my daily routine: make-ahead breakfasts.
I always tell myself that I’m going to get up extra-early to make myself a big, healthy (and filling) breakfast that’ll get me through the morning, but that happens once a week (okay…once a month?) I’m not really a light breakfast kinda girl, so I definitely need something substantial first thing in the morning to get me going. These are perfect because I can make a bunch of them over the weekend, then have a healthy and filling breakfast ready to go every morning in under ten minutes.
Ingredients:
English muffins, not toasted*
Eggs, cooked**
Cheddar cheese
Turkey bacon
Mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup, combined
Instructions:
Place your toasted muffins face-up, then slather on the mustard-mayo-ketchup mixture.
Next, add the egg and bacon and finish with the cheese.
Wrap in aluminium foil until served
To reheat: warm oven to around 200degrees, then reheat for around 10 minutes or until warm.
*In my original recipe, I recommended toasting the English muffins, but this came out a bit too hard/rubbery a few times since, so I’ve been using un-toasted muffins and the result is much better and these taste a lot like real McMuffins!
**Eggs: In order to get perfectly round eggs, I bake mine for about 10 minutes at 200degrees in a muffin tin. Just spray a bit of cooking oil in them to make sure they don’t stick, and they’ll slide right out and be perfectly cooked every time.
Notes: I make these McMuffin copycat breakfast sandwiches for a Monday-Friday work week, so five at a time. If you want to make more, I would store them in the freezer if you need to keep them longer than 4-5 days!
Okay, so I should start this post out with a disclaimer stating that I was planning to write about a light and healthy summer version of my 30-minute black bean soup. As I was getting ready for work I was going over the recipe in my head, making sure I had all of the ingredients, and above all, thinking about the spoonfuls of crème fraiche that I was going to be dumping on top of a nice warm bowl of black bean soup after work. Alas, that recipe will have to wait because I’m yet again in need of some good ole comfort food
That’s right… my motorbike was stolen…AGAIN! The first time was annoying but I got her back more or less unharmed, but this time was definitely a down-right pain in the butt. The seat was broken, along with the rear-view mirrors and the gas tank cover…. and not surprisingly, she doesn’t start. So, Jonathan is tasked with sorting that out while I sort out Round 2 of comfort foods. For this edition, we are taking off the healthy-eating hat and putting on the “I need pizza rolls, asap!!” hat. Yet another one of my childhood favorites, I could eat these little preservative-filled artificial cheese-oozing mini-taste-nothing-like-pizza rolls every day. But I don’t, because I’m a reasonable adult (read: only because they don’t sell them in Europe).
From one pizza roll lover to another, trust me: this recipe is the real deal! No need to make your own pizza dough (though you could), and no need to cut calories by baking instead of frying (though you can!) – just good old fashioned snack food to help you get through a bad day, or to make a good day even better 😉
Since we’ve moved to London, our weekends have been a flurry of shopping excursions (hello, Ikea) and decorating and more shopping and well… not much else. So when I woke up this past Sunday knowing that my day would be full of more of the same, I knew I’d better have a good breakfast to get me through it all! As I was making this, I was half awake (because I hadn’t yet had my spinach apple smoothie) and was kind of just faffing around the kitchen trying to think of something quick but filling to have for breakfast.
It was the end of the week, so the fridge was pretty..well..empty. We try to stick to once-a-week shopping, living on leftover ingredients until the next shop – it’s a self-imposed rule that I’ve implemented because I’ve been known to shop 4-5x per week, picking up all sorts of ingredients for whatever Pinterest has inspired me to make that day for dinner, only to have the leftover ingredients go to waste. It’s only been a few weeks, but so far so good! There have been a few moments of “there’s nothing to eat…” but all in all, I’d say we’ve been pretty creative (like this weekend’s Greek pasta) and have been wasting significantly less food. Anyway, I digress.
As it tends to go on weekends, I woke up early (around 7am) and found my way to the kitchen. I’m always (always) hungry, so I try to start the day off with a big meal. This is usually some sort of pasta (if I don’t want to pass out by 10:30am), but I’ve been trying to find more “traditional” breakfast fare that is filling enough, savory, and easy to make.
I had a bunch of English muffins that were on their last leg, a few avocados that were finally ripe enough to eat, and some eggs that had to get eaten. Avocado toast is this big thing nowadays, but I really needed something super filling… more than just some toast with avocados on them. Then I was momentarily transported back to this past February on our Honeymoon in San Francisco where we had the most devine of brunches: it was avocado toast meets huevos rancheros, and it was exactly what I needed. This weekend’s California-inspired breakfast stopped me right in my tracks once I took my first bite: it was just that good! I usually surf the internet catching up on Facebook and the News while I have my brekkie, but this delight kept my attention for the whole 30 seconds while I wolfed it down. If you’re like me and need something light, yet filling, savory but not too intense, in the morning, then this recipe might just be for you. Bon appétit !
What are some of your favorite morning foods? I’d love to hear about them (and see recipes/links) in the comments! Let me know if this transports you to California, like it did for me 🙂 – bon appétit !
Avocado & poached egg toasts
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Author: Veronica | seefoodplay.com
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 serving
Need a savory and filling breakfast or snack in a hurry? Then check out this avocado & poached egg English muffin recipe! | seefoodplay.com
Ingredients
1 egg
1 English muffin (cut in half)
1 avocado
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Salt
Pepper
Instructions
In a medium saucepan or pot, bring about 2 inches of water to a boil.
In a separate pan (or microwave), cook your bacon.
Crack your egg into a small bowl, and make sure no shells snuck in there!
Once the water is boiling, turn the heat to the lowest setting and slowlypour your egg into the water. The bowl should be touching the water, but not submerged! Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid for around 3 minutes, or until all of the egg whites are cooked through.
While your egg is poaching, toast your English muffin until nice and crisp (I toast mine in the oven, because I’m old-school like that. And by that, I mean I’m not willing to sacrifice my precious counter space for a toaster).
Next, scoop out the avocadointo a bowl and mix in the heavy cream and salt & pepper. Mix with a fork until it’s as smooth or as chunky as desired.
Once everything is ready, spread your avocado & cream mixture evenly onto your toasted muffins, then layer on a strip of bacon on each side, followed by your poached egg. Add a few spoonful’s of salsa and enjoy.
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Notes: There are lots of tips out there on how to poach eggs, but I have to admit they never really worked for me. Some suggest using vinegar, others say you should constantly swirl the pot… the best way that I’ve actually been able to master is by pouring the egg into the water then turning down the heat and covering with a lid. It guarantees a non-broken egg yolk, and you still get the runny yellow bits without having to fry your egg in butter or olive oil. Once you get the hang of it, you can keep the temperature high and the water boiling – this makes a prettier egg, but is also easier to break! If you have another preferred poaching method, then by all means… go for! Then send me a link to instructions on how you did it 😉
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m definitely in cold-weather mode with my recipes lately because it’s been so darn chilly these past few weeks! Instead of craving summer salads and grilled food, I’m craving hearty stick-to-your ribs recipes that will warm me up. I’ve also been really busy at my day job, trying to settle into our new life in London, and feeling a little homesick for my life back in Paris. A nice helping of comfort food is our self-prescribed recipe to cope with all of these changes, and we’ve been cooking up a bunch of ours recently.
Everyone has their own take on what represents comfort food for them, but for me, one of my classic favorites would definitely be mashed potatoes. They remind me of Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) and they’re easy enough to make for a mid-week dinner, so you can enjoy them all year round. I’ve tried several different recipes, from garlicky mash, to red skin potato mash, skin on vs peeled, and lots of other variations.
For some reason, my favorite mashed potatoes used to be the ones that came in the Swanson TV dinners. Yes, really. I couldn’t wait to gobble them up, and one of my faves was the fried chicken w/mashed potatoes and corn. I think even now I’d probably still love them! Let’s not think about how many preservatives and other awful things must be in those things, though…
Over the years, I’ve come to have a new favorite: simple, creamy mashed potatoes. No fancy ingredients, no garlic, no bacon, no cheese… just potatoes, salt, pepper and a bit of dairy with a dash of olive oil. This would be the perfect side to go with the perfect restaurant-style steak!
Ingredients:
5 large potatoes, peeled & quartered
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of salt
¼ cup of heavy cream
Salt and pepper, to taste (optional)
Instructions:
Place the salt and potatoes in a large pot, and fill with water until the potatoes are covered.
Boil the potatoes for about 25 minutes, or until completely tender.
While the potatoes are boiling, heat the heavy cream and butter on a low heat until butter is melted. Set aside.
Once cooked, drain the potatoes and return to the pot. Add in the cream and butter mixture.
Using a hand mixer, whip the potatoes for about 30 seconds, until smooth. Then, add in the olive oil and whip for another 30 seconds.
Season with salt & pepper as needed, and serve hot!
Thank goodness for Jonathan, otherwise I’d probably spend way too much all of my time indoors working on my various projects. When I’m not at work, these past few months I’ve either been in the kitchen cooking up new recipes or researching/working on a new DIY idea that I’ve been dreaming of all week, but didn’t have time for. Basically, I’ve been a homebody since we moved to London. In Paris, we had our little hangouts or neighborhoods that we’d go to for drinks, we had football games to go to, friends to meet-up with. Everything is new to us, here, though, so we are still working out our new hangouts and favorite ‘hoods.
