Recipes for scrumptious and reasonably healthy food

[Rare Bird]

turkey is a bloody American 'invention'!

Turkey is tripe, i detest it..Rather eat corn fed chicken anyday...Goose Rocks.

[Alex_UK]

As my wife keeps reminding me, I am now officially obese - the damage having been done since 1st Jan 2008 when I quit the ciggies - 4 stone later, I need to do something!

So, no more treats, and lots of healthy meals - Sue made a great impromptu meal last night - Sea Bass with a mature cheddar tomato, herb, garlic and caper crust (as simple as it sounds - put some chopped tinned tomatoes on the fish fillets, grate some bread on top mixed with a small amount of mature cheddar cheese and garlic, sprinkle with herbs and add some capers. Served with a vegetable medley of leaks, broccoli and carrots in the rest of the tinned tomatoes.) Lovely!

Tonight, one of the worlds quickest but scrummiest dinners - smoked haddock with poached eggs - is there anything more lovely than a soft poached egg? Yum!

[DanJennings]

As my wife keeps reminding me, I am now officially obese - the damage having been done since 1st Jan 2008 when I quit the ciggies - 4 stone later, I need to do something!

Ugh don't remind me, having a similar problem myself.... I recently got some new scales and had a shock, over 19 stone

[Alex_UK]

Well I lost 4lb in my first week, so that's a good start - going to cut down the alcohol this week, then try and get out on my bike a bit as the evenings get lighter...

[The Grand Wazoo]

Right then!
Everything about this post is wrong wrong wrong!
I'm not a big chocolate eater - despite all evidence to the contrary (not least the fact that my x-axis has been growing well out of proportion to my y-axis since I was about 17), I don't have a particularly sweet tooth.

I drink tea every now & then, but I prefer very strong black coffee. If I do drink tea, then my preference is for Assam - I don't like all that flowery flavoured nonsense.

This thread is about recipes & I haven't got a recipe for you.

However, you must try this. It's a Belgian Earl Grey flavoured chocolate and it is just fantastic.



It's a strong dark chocolate, minimum 55% cocoa content (bejeeeezus!)
The flavours go together so well & so subtly the result is just indescribable.
Seek it out
We got it in a Booth's supermarket - one of the real pleasures of living in the northwest of England is the privilage of being able to use this place to shop in!

[goraman]

I slow grilled 2 beautiful 16oz.Range fed Fillet Mingnons,steamed asperauguss, baked potato and salad then my wife says to me,(I want last nights Tandoori chicken left overs)
So I'll be a drinking a couple of Moretti's while I try to understand this.BTW lots of sour cream,butter, mushrooms and crumbly blue cheese dressing.

[Marco]

I presume that you gave her a slap and told her to eat it or wear it!!

Marco.

[Ian Walker]

I think you should change your name to BIG DINNER MAN...you could feed a family of four with that lot

[Barry]

During these balmy days, we’ve been living on salads of various types. Here is a simple recipe for a rice salad I like to make.

Ingredients

300g long grain rice
2 cupful garden peas (frozen ones are fine)
300g sweetcorn niblets
1/3 cucumber
120g Italian salami (I use 40g salami Milano, 40g salami Ungherese and 40g salami Napoli)
1 handful of pine kernels
1 handful sunflower seeds
A few capers (optional)

Step 1
Play some Mozart on your audio system and turn it up so you can hear it clearly in the kitchen.

Step 2
Thoroughly wash the rice and add it to a large pan of boiling water. Turn down the heat so the water is simmering. Cook for 15 minutes, periodically removing the starch that floats on the surface. (If you don’t do this, the rice will stick together)

Step 3
Whilst the rice is cooking, cook the peas in a steamer for a few minutes.

Step 4
Cut up the salami slices into short strips, and cut up the cucumber into small pieces.

Step 5
When the rice has cooked, empty the pan into a large sieve and wash with boiling water.

Step 6
Distribute the rice into three vegetable dishes and gently fold in the peas, sweetcorn, cucumber, salami and seeds.

I don’t add any seasoning, as there is enough salt in the salami, however some fresh black pepper may be added to taste.

Step 7
Place in a fridge to chill overnight.

Enjoy with a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc, chardonnay or pinot grigio.

[Techno Commander]

Anyone for cheesecake?


TOFFEE CARAMEL CHEESECAKE

Serves a family of 6 (or one bloke)


Crust

Basic graham cracker crust. Put 1/3 package of honey grahams, 2 oz butter and 1/3 cup of light brown sugar in a food processor and grind it up. Line the bottom of a spring-form pan (the ones with a removable base) with this and put it in the freezer.


Filling

4 packages Philadelphia Original cream cheese,
1 cup sour cream,
5 eggs,
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar,
Juice of 1/4 lemon,
1 tsp vanilla.
Mix all this up in a mixer until it is creamy and smooth. Then add two crushed up Dime bars and fold them into the filling.

Bake at 185C for an hour and 15 minutes. Then cool and refrigerate.


Topping

Make a caramel sauce by cooking a cup of sugar with 1/3 cup of water until it forms a light brown colour. Then remove from the heat and SLOWLY add a cup of heavy cream. It's hot. Don't pour cold cream into it quickly. Then a cut up 4oz butter and stir until melted. Cool.

When the caramel sauce is around 40-50 degrees pour it over the cheesecake, which should still be in the spring form pan. Shave some chocolate over the top and refrigerate the whole thing overnight before serving. It is about as good as cheese cake gets. Not only is it high in fat and cholesterol but also it is also fairly high in carbohydrates. Yummy.