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Conquering my fear of couch sport to watch the Paralympics coming soon?

Having 3 boys and a man in the house means that I tend to be in a place of mummydom dread, fear and anxiety when it comes to sport on the TV.

I can think of nothing closer to the ear-splitting sound of scratching fingernails down a blackboard than having to watch a dry run of sport and see the defeated faces of the losers while they watch the animated faces of the winners.

For me, the Paralympics is different to the big main event that has just finished, and it’s different to Wimbledon or the Golf Open, or actually any of the other sports that I would be obliged to sit and watch while forcing silence through my gritted teeth.  Luckily, I have some electronic gadgetry that allows me to do my own thing and avoid the jump and punch the air moments that boys love when their favourite wins.

I remember as a 15-year-old, that my 22-year-old brother and his 6″7 pal were sitting in the lounge while Celtic played an “important” match.   Yeah, yeah, I hear ya, he’s an Aberdonian supporting Celtic – there are bigger problems in life.  Anyway, Celtic were down 1 nil, then a curved ball slipped into the net to equalise at a crucial moment.  Two men the height of double-decker buses leaped off the couch, punched the air and smashed the glass light fitting to smithereens.  All over the three of us.

Just why we automatically open our mouths to inhale sharply when something goes wrong is a COMPLETELY FREAKISHLY BACKWARD step of the evolutionary ladder.

The haunting memory of glass shards embedded in my hair, with the resulting spitting blood and glass was enough to forever put me off watching any kind of couch sport where there is any remote chance whatsoever of anyone winning anything.

Swallowing my squeamishness, I intend to conquer my sofa fear to cheer on the Paralympians who will be playing and fighting hard at the September Paralympic Games.

Cheer them on, but watch you don’t smash any glass….

 

 

 

 

 

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Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe, with Tomberries

Caesar salad is a popular dish in my house.  The lovely chicken with different dressings and vegetables give it different ways to eat.  Anchovies are not popular in this house, so I never use them, and I tend to use the same sort of things to make it.  I think there are dozens of caesar salad recipes, and I am convinced they all depend on the type of caesar salad dressing recipe.

Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe, with Tomberries

Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Salad
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

Salad

  • 1 Medium Lettuce Washed.
  • 500 g Tomberries or Cherry Tomatoes Washed
  • 200 g Croutons Home Made, or Bought
  • 20 g Parmesan For shavings, or you can buy them ready to use.
  • 1 Medium Chicken. Pre- Cooked, with chicken diced.

Caesar Salad Dressing

  • 1 clove Garlic Crushed
  • 2 teaspoons Parmesan Ground or grated.
  • 4 - 5 tablespoons Mayonnaise
  • 1-2 tablespoon White wine vinegar Use if the dressing is too thick to pour.
  • 1 Medium Chive Finely chopped.
  • 1 teaspoon Peppercorn Ground, to taste.

Instructions
 

Salad

  • Wash and make a bed with the lettuce.

  • Simply sprinkle on the chicken, croutons and parmesan shavings.

Caesar Salad Dressing

  • I was lazy and used a pre-bought, but if you don’t have a dressing to hand, make one. I wish I had made mine as the bought one was too vinegary for my taste.

  • Crush a garlic clove (or use ground garlic if you don’t have any).

  • Add two teaspoons of ground parmesan or 10g grated parmesan. If you like strong cheese, you can up this to double.

  • Mix it into 4 – 5 tablespoons of mayonnaise.

  • Add the finely chopped chives.

  • Grind a teaspoon of peppercorns into the dressing.

  • Add 1 – 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar until the dressing is pourable.

  • Pour dressing over salad.

Salad

  • Add tomatoes or tomberries to the top of the salad.

Notes

Home made or bought dressing is fine.
It’s also nice with a few bits of cooked bacon added.
Tesco sell parmesan shavings in small pots which are perfect, but they do work out expensive that way I think

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Noodle Chowder Recipe for an Emergency Meal in a Bowl

You could be forgiven for thinking that the picture with frozen veg in it looked like something that should have hit the bin as soon as it emerged from the freezer.   A chowder recipe was far from my mind as I raked the freezer for instant food.

Coming home from holiday, going shopping was the last thing on my mind, but there wasn’t anything fresh in the house.  The kids had eaten at Maccy D’s and others far too often over the last fortnight and I couldn’t be bothered to drive anywhere.  I made this up on the spot, and I was surprised how popular it was, considering how unappetising it looked when it hit the pot on top of the stove.

From the depths of the big freezer in the garage, out came some frozen mixed veg, frozen leeks, frozen onions, frozen peas and frozen cauliflower.  I imagine fresh would do just as nicely, but for this recipe, it’s an emergency meal in a bowl.

The idea of chowder is really to have  just a very thick soup, so it’s both warming and filling.

My heart was in my mouth when I first served it up, but the kids came back for seconds and even thirds.  I think a version of chowder will be in the Scottish Mum house a few times a year now.

Noodle Chowder for an Emergency Meal in a Bowl

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 32 minutes
Course Soup

Ingredients
  

  • 1 bag Frozen veg Fill your pot to approximately half way. I used frozen cauliflower, leek, onions, peas and mixed veg
  • Boiled water To cover.
  • Stock Vegetable, Chicken or Beef
  • 1 l Litre long life cream Fabulous standby for cooking.
  • 250 - 500 g Vermicelli or noodles
  • pinch Salt / pepper To taste.

Instructions
 

  • Add the frozen veg to your pot in simmering stock liquid for approximately an hour. To decide how much water you need, just fill the pot up to the top of the veges, as the idea is to have a very thick soup.



  • I only had little chicken stock pots available, so 3 of those were added to boiling water to start off the chowder.

  • Once the vegetables are soft, blend the mix in the pot. I use a stick blender that just goes into the pot. Mine had an unappetising muddy green colour at this stage.

  • Add your noodles depending on how many you would prefer. I broke my vermicelli into small pieces, so that it didn’t end up being like spaghetti in a dish.

  • When the noodles are cooked, add the cream slowly, folding it into the chowder.

  • Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with warm bread.

 

 

 

 

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Slow Cooked Haggis in a Baked Potato & served with Coleslaw

We catch the wee beasties that are the haggis family, on the heathery hills in the highlands of Scotland, where we pluck them mercilessly from their lovely life of gay abandon.

Are you buying this?

Ok, haggis is a lovely, and slightly spicy delicacy that is often said to the national dish of Scotland.

I do frequently get asked the best way to cook haggis.  That could be because I often blog about food, and, being Scottish, there is probably an assumption that we all eat haggis quite often.  A bit like the rumour mill about the deep fried mars bar that only the tourists ever try.

We  normally experience haggis as part of Burns night celebrations, to celebrate the poet Rabbie Burns, so in our family it has usually been restricted to being supplied by other people.  On Burns night, people would traditionally have haggis neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes).

Macsween sent us one of their haggises to slow cook as a few of us had been talking about it on Twitter.  I did go out and buy another one to go with it, as I thought the 3/4 person haggis was a tad too small for us all as there are 6 of us.   In the end, I think one haggis for about 4 – 5 people would be perfect for us.

On to slow cooking the haggis.

I probably would try cooking it in the slow cooker, but inside some tinfoil next time, but the slow cooked way did work nicely and made the haggis not as dry as skirlie, which is my past experiences of it.  I have to admit, I do struggle with the contents, and as I don’t eat lamb, it’s not for me, but the man, 2 kids and grannie wolfed it down.

Here’s a nice slow cooker haggis recipe for using with a store-bought haggis that has already been cooked.  I’ve added the coleslaw recipe under the haggis one.

Slow Cooked Haggis with Butternut Squash and Baked Potatoes

Lesley S Smith
4 from 2 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes
Course Lunch
Servings 3 - 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Medium Macsween Haggis For 3 – 4 people
  • 1 Medium Butternut Squash or a turnip (Chopped)
  • 1 Medium Onion Finely chopped
  • 1 pint Boiled Water
  • 50 g Coleslaw To serve

Instructions
 

Haggis

  • Take off the outer skin of the haggis and the metal clip.



  • Cut the haggis into slices or chunks.



  • Put the haggis, squash, onion and water into a slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours.



Baked Potatoes

  • Put baked potatoes in tinfoil and cook in oven at 180c

Haggis

  • Serve as filling for the baked potatoes.

  • Garnish with coleslaw on the top.

Notes

Your haggis will come already cooked, so the goal is to thoroughly reheat it, while cooking the vegetables.

 

Coleslaw Salad

Lesley S Smith
Perfect as a side dish with most main meals, or to use in a salad.
4 from 2 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Side Dish
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g Carrot Grated
  • 150 g Cabbage Shredded into strips.
  • 150 g Onion Shredded into strips.
  • 2 - 3 tablespoons Mayonnaise or Thousand Island Dressing

Instructions
 

  • Simply shred the cabbage, onion and carrot.



  • Mix with mayonnaise or thousand island dressing.

  • Serve.

 

Posted on 16 Comments

School Lunches – “Healthy” versus “Unhealthy”

With grinning faces, the kids love it if there’s pizza, or burgers and chips on the school menu.  Granted, the days of lumpy custard have hopefully spent their last ever days gracing the plates of our growing future generation, but for my kids, stodge is what they want from a school dinner in Aberdeen City.

Making faces that would sour milk, they turn their noses up at school dinner fish, as I’m told it tends to be grey with “bits” on it.   Similarly the soft veg and tasteless fruit seem to be pretty low on the agenda of my hungry horaces at feeding time.

Portion sizes are teensy, and on the one day I was able to join the lunch time rabble, I was shocked how little kids were eating of their meals once they tasted them, and made faces at each other.

I really don’t see the point of meeting Governmental Nutritional Guidelines, or claiming to serve a balanced meal if the food looks and tastes like shoe leather.  And what about the 11 year olds getting the same portion sizes as the 4 year olds?  How is that going to keep them alert during afternoon classes, bellies not full enough from their £2 meal?

So, given the “reasonably low” standard of food on offer in many lunch canteens, why oh why do the schools insist on telling kids they shouldn’t be taking cans of fizzy pop, or sweeties in their lunch boxes?

I’m told by the kids that the staff take cans of pop away from children who have taken them to school.  If it happens, it’s thieving of the lowest proportions from kids, and seems to set double standards that rankle.  All it creates is the sweetie mob and the non sweetie mob hierarchy as lots of parents put sweets in lunch boxes, even when they’re asked not to.

The short story is, that as a health promoting school, we’re not supposed to give them any sweeties to school, but the tables are turned when they sanction teachers using sweets to bribe the kids into better behaviour.

Little children’s brains try to absorb the contents of the healthy living world and come home full of facts and figures on how bad some foods are, yet when the same kids go to secondary schools, (or academy, or whatever else schools at 12 + are) they are suddenly faced with canteen style food of epic fast food proportions, and expecting around £5 a day to gorge themselves on whichever food tasty of the day catches their eye.

I’ve been “reliably” informed by an excitedly animated face, that the food in secondary is as good as Pizza Hut, McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“That’s good for me mum,” came the  high pitched happy chappie who starts there next Tuesday.   “I need to put on a few pounds,” says the skinny football mad lad.

A response of “Ye’ll get a packed and like it, with a school lunch on special occasions,”  leads to folded arms and a pout worthy of One Direction.

So, after all of this, I have yet to see what the point was of making such a fuss of “healthy” versus “unhealthy” food at primary, if at secondary, they can choose to just get stuffed full of junk and want £5 a day for lunch.  Ok, so senior school moves to a cafeteria style service with healthy choices,  but with many kids, the only choice they will make is the junk, as they often have to eat the healthy stuff at home.

Aside from the fact I am not spending £15 a DAY on kids lunches when they reach secondary, am I the only one who thinks it’s a ridiculous double standard?

Posted on 4 Comments

Chicken Sauté with Leek on a Bed of Mashed Potato

There’s nothing new about sauté methods to cook our food with.  All it means is to cook on a high heat with little oil, but moving the food around so that it doesn’t burn while it cooks.  We could do it by tossing the pan or moving around the food with an implement.

Mashed potatoes are easy, and can make a lovely accompaniment to some dishes we’d usually eat with rice, cous cous or pasta.

Chicken-with-Leek-and-Mashed-Potato

Chicken Sauté with Leek on a Bed of Mashed Potato

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Dish
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 5 lb King Edward Maris Pipers or other potatoes that are suitable for mashing.
  • 3 medium slices Leeks
  • 1 Medium Onion
  • 200 g Sock or 1 stock pot.
  • 1 pinch Salt & pepper.

Instructions
 

  • Peel the potatoes and set them on to simmer with a couple of teaspoons of salt to cook with.

  • Cut the chicken breast into small strips, slice the leeks and chop the onion.

  • Use a thick bottomed saucepan or a wok, or cast iron sauté pan. Heat the pan up to very hot and use a little oil in the pan.

  • Add the chicken for the first 5 minutes and then add the onion, leek and stock, moving the food all the time. The chicken must be cooked all the way through.



  • Cooking for a further 10 minutes, ensure all the ingredients are fully cooked, add salt and pepper to taste and set aside with a lid on the pan. The heat will be retained for the few minutes it takes to prepare your potatoes.

  • When potatoes are fully cooked, drain and mash. Don’t be tempted to add butter or milk, or the potatoes will go too smooth and be the wrong consistency to make into a potato pie shape.

  • Place a patty sized heap of potatoes onto a plate and simply serve the sautéed chicken and leek on the top.

  • Decorate the sides of the mashed potatoes using a fork, and serve immediately.

 

 

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Funky Foodies August (Month 3) & WINNER for July 2012

STAR RECIPE WINNER – for August 2012 is The Vegetarian Casserole Queen, who was chosen by June Winner Mama Cook.  The recipe was for a gorgeous peach salad.

Here’s what Mama Cook had to say about the Star Recipe for July:

“Interesting ingredients for a start but the photography has been thought through.  Texture in the mat and plate, the depth of field set so the background is slightly out of focus.  Definitely a cool shot and I am intrigued to taste what peach, honey, feta and mint tastes like all together!”

THE AUGUST FUNKY FOODIE LINKY IS OPEN

  • Is a monthly linkie, which will close on the last day of the month.
  • A medal will be awarded for the Star Recipe every month, and the fabulous trophy in the blog badge will be awarded at the end of a whole year of the Funky Foodies.   If you want to find out more about it, read here.
  • All you have to do is share as many recipes from your own blog a month as you’d like.  If you struggle to add your recipe, send me your link and I’ll add it for you.
  • Try to pop around and share the comment love with other funky foodies.  We all like a little love and might come across some fabulous recipes.
If you want to host the linkie on your own blog as a blog hop, get the code here :

Simply add the link to your recipe on your own blog, and share your latest recipe with everyone taking part.  If you don’t want to miss the linkie being opened, subscribe to RSS or by email in the blog header.

The code is below if you want to add the badge to your post or your blog.  I’ll add recipes of mine to share, although I don’t count in the recipe challenge.

Funky Foodies

Feel free to copy the badge or use the html in the widget at the bottom of the page to add the small blog badge to your own blog / post.  It makes finding you easier for other funky foodies.

If you want to add the blog hop to your own website, get the InLinkz code and add the monthly code to a text widget or a post in html.


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Aberdonian Musician Gordon Duthie

I recently received a copy of the début album of Gordon Duthie, an indie folk singer in Aberdeen.    As a young man in the music scene, it looks like he will go a long way in his chosen genre.

The album boasts ten tracks which range from the mean and moody to the alternative and slightly acoustic.

With a distinctive sound that reminds me of my youth and music of old, it’s hard to say exactly what area of music that he fits into.

With Aberdeenshire as an inspiration, Gordon seems to use an array of musical instruments in his tracks.

Sadness Brings Us Together is my favourite track and I can’t help wishing there were more like this on the album as it brought a Celtic influence of the kind that I really do love.  The track has made it onto my favourite chill out play list on my iPod and I’d like to hear more from Kristen Johnson who features on the track.

This album is certainly a return to the music rather than the more modern commercialisation of musicians with fake instruments and auto tune.

If you want to support a local musician, go and listen to the samples of his music.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of Shire and City by Gordon Duthie, a musician from Aberdeen.  I have not been paid to review this album, and the opinions are my own. 

 

 

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Toucanbox – a review.

We were offered a trial of the ToucanBox.  It’s a new innovation that allows for a boxed set full of craft activities to be sent to kids.  We were sent the Safari Box, and with the kids names put on the front, the experience was directed straight at them from the beginning.

The ages are from 0 – 6 +.  Some of the activities require the help of an older child or parent, and the box does really cover a wide age group.  I mainly accepted the box for middler, as it seemed a perfect activity for an 11 year old special needs child, but to be honest, his two brothers were enthralled for hours with making the animals, colouring in and generally following the fabulous instructions that are enclosed with the materials to carry out the crafts.

You can find them on Twitter at @toucanbox.

We received the Safari Sample Box, which would retail at £19.95 as a one off, £18.95 as part of a 6 monthly subscription or £16.95 a month as part of a yearly subscription.  Adding a sibling costs an extra £9.95 a month.

The boxes can also be sent as a one off gift at £19.99.

I’ve loved having the ToucanBox, and it has kept the kids entertained for hours on end.  Personally, I suspect I’d be tempted to buy one now and again as a one off rather than a monthly thing, but if I had an endless budget, this would be on the list.

 

Disclaimer:  We were sent a ToucanBox and chose to review it.