May contain nuts

A little off topic but in the past couple of months, my son (aged 4) has been diagnosed with tree nut, peanut and coconut allergies, as you can see from a lot of my recipes before Christmas, Asian food featuring peanuts and coconut had been a huge part of my diet.

Celeriac and bacon soup

Celeriac is something I've never tried to cook with before.  With just over half the calories of potato yet a similar texture enabling it to be mashed, roasted, fried, it also makes the most wonderfully thick soup.

I saw somewhere, no idea if it's true that blended soups are great for filling your stomach and making you feel sated.  It's like water would pass straight through a piece of cloth but thick soup wouldn't,  Well that's my theory and it sounds a bit mad written down but anyway, it does fill you up.

Ok.  It looks rubbish.  My reheated leftovers for lunch was described by my colleagues as looking "like baby..." ok, I will stop there.  But then they smelled it reheating and said "that smells really nice" and they weren't laughing any more and were starting to look a bit jealous, so give it a go.

Black Pudding Salad

It's a worrying thing having people who like your blog sometimes.  I've recently had a few vegetarian and vegan followers, then I bring out a salad featuring black pudding.  So sorry non meat eaters, this one is sadly not for you.

In my defence, I love vegan and vegetarian food but I also like meat.  I'm of the view as well that people who get squeamish about black pudding who are prepared to eat a pork chop need to get over themselves.  If you are going to eat meat, eat all of it, eat the 'nasty bits' too (you know the ones which cost very little but with careful cooking normally taste lovely) because if you are eating an animal, make the most out of it, respect it.  Don't be the person who only eats chicken breasts.

Anyway, after a 5.5 mile run, this popped into my head as a lunch idea.  It started off as black pudding with salad leaves in my mind but something more robust was called for.  Black pudding, made from pork after all should be natural partners for mustard and apple.

Salt and Pepper Squid

Salt and pepper squid, erm, with some chilli, garlic and oh a kick ass dressing?  Not quite as catchy but still lovely to eat.

Squid is not popular with everyone.  This I understand, however, the amount I have in this recipe cost me £1.20 from my local supermarket, it was a perfect amount for one and you would easily pay around £10 in a restaurant for a similar dish.  What's more, this is one of my 10 minute recipes!  Oh yes!  Depending on how quick you are at weighing and giving stuff a bit of a stir, you are 10 minutes away from this lovely, lovely dish.

Pineapple Salsa

I love a bit of pineapple and I love home made sweet and sour but sometimes it sits in the fridge waiting for me to use it.  I had heard of using it in a salsa.  Seemed a little crazy but I thought I would give it a go and, do you know what?  It was a lovely, lovely thing.  I took leftovers into work for lunch.  Fantastic and a great source of vitamin C which is what you need in this cold grim winter drizzle.

Chicken Stew

Sunday lunches.  Used to be Mum would be in the kitchen getting ready for lunch, Dad would be in the pub, having a few pre lunch pints.  Or perhaps that was just my household!  Saturday and Sunday lunches aren't really the mainstay they once were but that doesn't mean with our busy lives we shouldn't sit down, eat something hearty and appreciate each others company once a week.  Even if you live on your own or there's just two of you, it's still worth cooking a Sunday Lunch.

What's great about doing something in a slow cooker though is you can still get on with your busy life (whether that means taking a child to swimming lessons, football, rugby or just that you get to go down the pub!)  In the meantime, the slow cooker is happily bubbling away with no need for input from you and what's even better, a slow cooker uses much lower electricity than an oven.

Grape and Berry Smoothie

Smoothies are rocking my world right now.  I know I'm only like 20 years late to the party but here I am and I'm making these from fruit and juice, no bananas, no dairy, just masses of fruit.

I took this with me on my drive to work the other day and it was like a zingy fruit bomb in my drinks holder as I was negotiating through the snow.  It just made me feel so darn healthy!

Three portions of fruit in one breakfast.  Awesome.  And it filled me up till lunch.

Tomato and Basil soup

I used to make tomato soup with pesto.  Unfortunately my son has recently been diagnosed with nut, peanut and coconut allergies so I'm trying to not have any in my house. Most commercial pestos contain cashew nuts (or may contain) rather than traditional pine nuts.  So this is the new version which is also now vegetarian and vegan.

The great thing about using passata and chopped tomatoes is you get the mixture of textures which really adds interest.  It's also pretty good as a store cupboard staple.

Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry pancakes are made from a blue batter!  There isn't enough crazy coloured food!  Anyway, these mad looking blue pancakes are pretty darn tasty.  Imagine the best blueberry muffin with butter and syrup on top.  Oh yes, now you're feeling it!  The great thing about using frozen berries is they're still full of nutrition but at a fraction of the price of fresh (especially at this time of year).

Melon and Pineapple Smoothie

I've really got into smoothies recently.  I heard a doctor talking on the radio recently on how smoothies aren't healthy because they are full of sugar.  Her claim was because the sugars are released from the fruits really easily, this would lead to a sugar spike in your bloodstream and it's much better to eat the fruit.  Yes, she's probably right but the thing that I find with home made smoothies is they're not so much a drink as a meal.  Just like blended vegetables in a soup seem to fill you up, I find the same with smoothies and if you steer clear of adding bananas or high fat yogurt, they're not full of calories either.

The BEST ribs you've EVER tasted!

Ribs in the slow cooker is not something I'd done before.  Previously I'd always slow roasted them but I had a busy day, important things to do, ok, it was shopping.

The idea behind this recipe is to slow cook the ribs, a really cheap cut of meat, to melting tenderness and then add the sticky glaze and finish in the oven.  Using a slow cooker when cooking for one may seem like a waste of energy but this is the great thing; most slow cooker meals are great frozen and reheated, by freezing after the slow cooker stage but before the oven, it makes it possible to have these delicious ribs ready in 20 minutes after a day at work.  How good is that?  What's more, slow cooking in an oven uses loads of energy but a slow cooker is much more efficient.  Now I've tried these, I don't think I'm going to make ribs any other way.

Mexican Sausage Sandwich with Chunky Guacamole

Avocados are one of those things I never buy in a supermarket unless they're in the reduced for quick sale section, otherwise they're rock hard.  However, as luck would have it, this week, two avocados, reduced to 30p.

I also had some cooking chorizo sausages left from my spicy sausage bake and so an idea was born.

I loved my guacamole and will make more just to have with some tortilla chips another time.

Spicy Sausage Bake

I bought some chorizo style cooking sausages the other day which I'm fond of baking with chickpeas in the oven but, while doing an exercise video I thought I'd prep them with some vegetables for a great one pan dish when I'd finished.

The results were tasty and I thought looked quite lovely.  So this impromptu dish of using up vegetables from my fridge and making them sing with some gently spiced sausages went on my blog.  This is ultra simple food to cook and it makes one big (post work out) portion but would be equally good reheated for lunch; just slice up any leftover sausages and reheat in a microwave.

Carrot, apple and ginger smoothie

Carrot, apple and ginger smoothie is a great way to get your fruit and vegetable intake up.

This is my morning pre run food.  Despite not having done a long run for weeks, my run today (over six miles) was awesome and I kept going with this little beauty powering me along!

Sausage and kale pan fry

Sausage?  Have I gone all manly?  Kale?  Have I succumbed to a food trend?  Neither, well maybe the first, nothing wrong with manly food but I've been eating kale since I was a child.  This is kale how it's traditionally eaten, not juiced, not in a cake, not in pill form, as a vegetable.

It's an odd thing how kale has become trendy.  Basically kale is a more primitive and flavourful form of cabbage.  Like any cabbage, in my opinion, you shouldn't boil it but it's much better partially steamed like in this dish.  Why it got this reputation as the best thing since sliced, erm, vegetables, I have no idea.  Maybe there is a Kale growing association with a strong lobbying / PR wing?

The result of my seasonal supermarket pickings was a delicious and fantastically quick one pan meal.  The kind of meal you probably wouldn't share with 'company' but delicious (and ok, pretty healthy.)