Watermelon and Feta Salad

Watermelon salad might sound like an odd concept but remember tomatoes strictly speaking are a fruit.  The sweetness of the watermelon with the saltiness of the feta and peppery leaves is a bit of a joy.  Give it a go.

Quick Meatballs

Meatballs used to be a labour of love for me.  When I was cooking for a larger household, I would start cooking them on a Saturday in the morning and they'd be done at about the right time for our evening meal.  It was crazy but it was something I did with love.  It was a way of saying "I love you, I'm prepared to work for hours to make you this meal."

But cooking for yourself?  Even I find that hard to motivate so I've stripped back my original recipe from the combined beef and pork and the slow cooked sauce made with tomatoes, pepper, onions, etc, etc.  This is simplified but still delicious.  I would go so far as to say I barely notice the difference which then makes me wonder how I get those hours of life back...

With meatballs, I'm greedy.  I love the meatballs and sauce on their own.  When you look at the ingredients, it's not that unhealthy but tastes like you're having a much bigger portion than you actually are because it's only 2 sausages but you could make this go further by serving with pasta, then it would be a very thrifty meal.

Chickpea and Chorizo Salad

A delicious and quick salad of warm chorizo and chickpeas with rocket and tomato.  This was after a long day at work and very quick to make.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is something I've played around with recipe wise for a few years, trying to get the best combination.  This is the best version I've done so far.  It's the first time I've included bread and now I'm never going to exclude it again.  The combination of fresh tomatoes and the (slightly cheating) passata helps the colour and flavour with the early season tomatoes but do buy a decent variety for the fresh or it will be lacking the vibrance and depth of flavour.

Fruit Salad with Lime and Ginger Dressing

Occasionally I want something really full of fruit for breakfast but this would be equally good as a dessert.  Zingy, fresh and full of great stuff.

Pan con Tomate

I love pan con tomate (or pa amb tomaquet) when I'm on holiday.  It elevates the most humble sandwich or toast to something so much more.

Quark Pancakes

After making my white chocolate and raspberry layer a few days back, I had some quark left in the fridge.  In a moment of inspiration while running, at 6:30am (madness), I realised that quark could be a great ingredient for a sneaky protein rich breakfast as it's over 10% protein by weight.  It's the Tuesday after a long weekend, I needed something to lift my spirits so the quark pancake was born.

Whole Prawns with Garlic and Chilli

I am a sucker for a reduced section and in my local shop they have a decent fish counter, the majority of which gets packed up for the reduced section for bargain hunters like me.  I am not normally a fan of reduced fish but these prawns looked great, firm, bright eyed so I snapped them up.

Ordinarily I would have got out the barbecue and making this on the barbecue would be lovely but it seemed like too much faff.  So a quick treatment in the pan was in order.

Prawn Cocktail

Oh so retro.  To be followed by a steak and a black forest gateau... possibly!  Well the 70s are back if fashion magazines are to be believed, so why not?

White Chocolate and Raspberry Layer

I'm desperately trying to not call this a trifle.  I hate trifle.  Now I've offended half of my readers, I need to say why.  I love cake.  I have such a problem with loving cake.  I mean I really love it, more than my waistline does.  I am a bit of a Sherry fan, I even went on holiday to Jerez last year and fell in love with Solera.  I like fruit, I eat masses of it every day.  Custard?  Hell yes!  What's not to love?  Cream?  Give me more!  I'm a dairy friendly kind of girl.

But together...?  No I don't get it.  The fruit fights with the custard.  The cake gets lost, the excessively sweet sherry (rather than the complex deliciousness possible in the best sherries) is a thump of sugar and alcohol around the face and it's just so heavy.

So this is something a bit different.  Zingy fruit, delicious cream cheese, only 4 ingredients and 10 minutes work, if you can call it work...

Yogurt and Berry Lollies

Lollies aren't just for kids!

Well it's almost summer... so I dusted off the ice lolly maker and had a go.   Frozen berries are a great and thrifty way to  make these.  The only thing is as they tend to be a little tart, they do need some sweetening.  Also you will find that when you freeze lollies the mix needs to be a bit sweeter than you would normally have it if you were eating it at room temperature so it tastes sweet when frozen.  The great thing is though that this contains loads of fruit and natural stuff.

10 Foods you've not thought about freezing

Freezing is a great way to extend the life of food, ok, this you know and it's obvious right?  Yes of course but when you're cooking for one, you quite often have part opened packets waiting to be eaten?  Of course you do.  So I thought I'd share with you 10 foods you can freeze which you might not be aware of.

Vietnamese Prawn Spring Rolls

I'm never much of a fan of a fried spring roll but these summery Vietnamese style ones include masses of fresh stuff without all the fat.  I mean, have fatty ones if you want them, I just fancied something fresh, vibrant and making me feel like spring is here.

A word of warning, the rice paper wrappers are a little tricky to master.  I think next time I'm going to try rolling them up on a clean tea towel.  The trick is though to not soak them for too long as they will continue to soften.  Just do them long enough so they won't break and only do one at a time.

I've left the quantities vague but it depends on how big your wrappers are and what proportions you'd like.  Have a play around with them.  Some people include rice noodles, but I wanted to keep these really fresh and light.

Lamb and Feta Cheese Salad

I love vegetarian food but I also love red meat.  I don't tend to eat a lot of lamb, thinking perhaps it's too much for one but a lamb steak is a great size for one.  This salad makes the most of a lamb steak too, you don't need masses to make it work.

Main course salads can be delicious things.  This was inspired by a trip into Leicester on Saturday.  They have a fantastic market with masses of ingredients from all over the world.  I picked up a pomegranate for 30p and probably more limes than I could eat in a month for £1.  There was some lamb in the freezer, some feta in the fridge and as soon as that pomegranate went in the bag, I knew exactly what I was going to make.  It might seem strange but this was my Sunday lunch.  Well why not?  Although I do sometimes cook a roast on a Sunday, it does mean you're potentially eating the leftovers for days.

Yogurt and Oat Smoothie

Yogurt and oats make a delicious and filling smoothie with over one of your five a day in your first meal of the day.