Beetroot Blues

The Bf's parents grow everything and in huge quantities to boot.

Red and yellow and PINK

Pink for beetroot in fact.

http://www.lovebeetroot.co.uk/

This is just to say

I succeeded with day 1 of the healthy eating regime, oh and

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
William Carlos Williams

Ok, I admit to eating the plums primarily to post that poem, I could have had an apple or banana instead. Surprisingly enough, despite studying Literature for 4 years at University, thats the only Wiliam Carlos Williams poem Ive read. Luckily there are still a few plums left to eat whilst I google him.

I love the unrepentent tone of the poem, sure hes admitting to eating your breakfast and asking for forgiveness but at the same time he's painting you a picture of just what you missed, rubbing it in so to speak. "Forgive me" but this is what you missed out on, the softness, the sweetness, the deliciousness, which implies that he isnt particularly sorry in the slightest.

5 Alive

I keep reading about various campaigns to make us eat more fruit and vegetables. Its something Ive always taken for granted, after all eating healthly makes perfect sense. The other night however, I got a bit distracted and actually started thinking about how much I eat, or rather dont eat a day.

Suddenly 5 pieces a day seemed like a lot, maybe 4 and in some cases 5 pieces more than I was consuming. So obviously I need to fix this, but how...

When Im busy with work related stuff, we eat really badly. One meal a day kind of badly and fitting that much fruit and veg into one meal is pretty tricky. But then if Im being strictly honest with myself, even when Im not busy we tend to only eat one meal a day. Ive skipped breakfast ever since my secondary school days when my mother could no longer force ready brek down me in the morning. Lunch tended to be an optional extra that again usually ended up missed (so many more useful things to spend your dinner money on when you are sixteen). Then I went to University and lived on cigarettes, tomato cuppa soup and red wine for four years and by that stage my eating habits were pretty much set in stone.

So now I need to find a way to sneak those fruits and vegetables into my diet.

Marmite Monster

Im a bit of a grazer, I like to snack, small meals offering different tastes are far better than one large plate of food. This in part is why I love tapas and mezes, the whole concept appeals to my snackling side.

Which brings me to Marmite, whilst I realise its an acquired taste and you could argue its colour and texture, not to mention the smell could be classed as offputting, to me, its childhood in a jar. Even when we lived in Germany, there was always marmite in the larder. When we traveled anywhere marmite sandwichs was always on the menu, not to mention the marmite and buttered toast before we even left home.

One of my favourite comfort come snackling food is a very simple marmite on toast with a fried egg splatted on top. When you cut into the egg and the yolk spills out intermingling with the marmite and the buttered toast, Im five again and sometimes thats no bad thing.

Pesto flavoured everythings

Another of the foodstuffs I can not live without is Pesto. I like to have at least 2 different flavours in the house at all times.

• Use it instead of butter, smeared on crusty bread either as a snack on its own or to hold sandwich fillings together. It goes particularly well with salami and brie.
• A dollop of it makes a great garnish for soups
• When you feel lazy, toss some pasta in a couple of spoonfuls of pesto and grate some cheese over the top.

Which raises the question, savoury pesto and sundried tomato muffins, possibly with a touch of blue cheese? Hmmm.

Dundee Food and Flower Festival

The great thing about Food festivals is the chance to try and buy stuff from local producers. So with a lunch consisting of multiple courses, from Falafal to chocolate coated strawberries we explored and ate our way around Scotland. Eating strawberries and marshmellows off a skewer whilst thick warm melting chocolate is dripping everywhere is not a job for the fainthearted by the way, in the end to protect my cream sweater I had to abandon mine. Luckily the bf had no such issues and fell on it.

To burn off all the calories we consumed, we (the bf, his best friend and I) headed off to Dunkeld for a healthy walk in the woods.

Roasted Garlicy Tomato Soup

The starting platform for this soup is my roasted tomatos.

1 knob of butter
1 or 2 onions depending on the quantities of tomatos you used (I tend to go with 1 onion per oven proof dish of tomatos)
Roasted garlicy tomatos
Roasted garlic bulb
Crusty french loaf to serve with

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add your diced onion and cook it gently until the onion softens but isnt browned.

Take the cooled roasted tomatos, garlic and the onion and blend it. If you are making large quantities and have to blend it separately, make sure that you have tomato, garlic and onion in each mixture. Place it all in a large saucepan and heat. Serve it with crusty bread.

The lemon the tomatos were roasted with help cut through the sweetness of the tomato and the roasted garlic. The soup being mostly tomatos ends up with a rich red colour and keeps well so can be made the day before.

Roasted Garlicy Tomatos

These fill your kitchen with a lovely aromatic smell conjuring up the scent of the Mediterranean.

Tomatos (at least 6)

1 Bulb of Garlic, top and bottom cut off

1 Fresh Lemon

Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil to season.

Cut the tomatos in half and place up in an oven proof dish. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice of one half across the tomatos, add the garlic bulb to the middle and then drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper across the whole lot.

Put the dish in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes and then turn off the oven leaving the tomatos inside to cool.

I love these because they are so versatile:

• Serve them piled on bruschetta, roughly chopped with basil leaves as a snack or starter
• Add it to an antipasti platter alongside some cold meats, cheese and crusty bread
• As a base for a pasta sauce, chop or blend it and add pancetta or bacon
• As a base for tomato soup

Tomato Salad

This is simplicity itself and a taste of pure heaven as well.

Tomato Salad

• 2-3 large ripe tomatos
• 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Slice the tomatoes, sprinkle liberally with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover and leave for at least 10 minutes. I love this on its own, served with at most some crusty bread.
If you want something more substantial you can add:

• slices of mozzarella
• cubes of feta cheese
• crispy bacon bits

Or a combination there of.

I also use this as part of an antipasta plate, adding cold meats, usually salami and bresaola, a handful of olives and some crusty bread smeared with pesto or tapenade.