Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

Ozeri Curva Artisan Series Double Wall Beverage Glasses and Tumbler Review*

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Everyone in the house is getting really sick and sadly I’ve not escaped it! I’m full of cold and starting to cough somewhat too but I’d promised myself I’d get on top of a whole bunch of blog posts this week and so here I am!

Today I want to tell you about some Ozeri Artisan glasses I was kindly gifted, in order to review them! These glasses are from the same makers as my scales that I blogged about, back in September.

The glasses arrived a few weeks ago and on first impressions I was immediately sold by them. They are genuinely such beautiful and curvy glasses, that I actually just fell in love with them. The packaging they arrived in was incredibly good. Both the box inside the outer box, then the glasses inside the inner box. Nothing was damaged which was a bit of a surprise considering the way the post gets treated sometimes!

I took a whole load of pictures because I like to document these things properly. I’m actually very glad I did though as the box contains a lot of the information you need to know and also far better pictures than I could ever acquire with my iPhone camera.

Each glass is individual in style, each one a little different. However as they are all handmade, they are also unique in the sense that no two glasses will ever been 100% the same. The glasses hold 8 ounces, which is just less than a large glass of wine!

One of the many great things about these glasses is that they will hold both hot and cold liquids in them. As they have double-walls, the heat doesn’t burn your fingers and the cold doesn’t cause condensation (and in turn wet hands). They are dishwasher, microwave and freezer safe, which I think is pretty awesome! Though I haven’t tested the freezer part, they certainly work fine in the dishwasher and microwave.

Despite looking quite fragile, feeling light and delicate, the glasses are incredibly strong and hard wearing. As I said before, they were absolutely fine in the dishwasher, not even a chip.

So a few Sundays ago, we had a roast dinner, complete with very chilled wine! As you can see, no condensation and very pretty glasses ;) If I could have afford to do so, I would have bought another set, to have at our Murder Mystery the other night. However when funds are a little easier, I’m definitely going to buy some more. I think they’d be really lovely to have out at a dinner party. Don’t you?

*This product was gifted to me free of charge, though all views and opinions are my own

Baby Shower

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Haven’t updated in forever again, but that’s because as always I’m busy doing nothing! Work is going well (but admittedly a little boring), life is pretty good and once again I’m sinking my teeth into organising something.

Aside from my birthday party murder mystery (which will warrant a whole post of its own!) I’m also in the process of organising a Baby Shower for one of my best friends. Nat, someone I have been friends with for years and years, though best friends with for perhaps 2-3 years, is expecting her second baby (another boy) on June 9th. As she has asked me to be one of the godparents, I thought it was only right to organise her a baby shower! This is only the second ever baby shower I have thrown (its really not a big thing in the UK) but I’m super excited, even if I’ve only had 2 weeks to organise it in.

The baby shower will be held at my house next Sunday and quite a few of Nat’s family and friends are attending, many of which I haven’t met before or have only met briefly. I spent the whole weekend figuring out a theme, a cake and of course the baby shower games we’ll be playing. I won’t go into too much detail as my friend actually reads this blog (and has one of her own over at But a Mask) but I’ll be sure to post again afterwards with a few pictures and an update.

For now I’ll leave you with this picture:

This is just some of the things I will be using for the Baby Shower cake. Now I’m heading off to buy gifts from an online baby dress boutique and the make a start on the cake! That and bake my mum a cake for her birthday – which is tomorrow!

Liebster Award, Take Two! (or maybe three…)

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So as I mentioned the other day, I was nominated for my third Liebster Award (though I did my last two as a joint post which you can read here). Thank you to the wonderful Taby at The Closet Intellectual for my nomination, here are the answers to the questions she gave me:

1. What is your favorite sort of book to curl up to & what beverage goes with it?

The first part of this question is so much harder to answer than the second half. In all honesty I don’t find anywhere near as much time to pick up a book as I’d like to, or as I should, but when I do I like a picture of romance (chick lit for an easy read), or suspense/sci-fi for a more gripping read. Beverage of choice is tea every time. I can drink cup after cup after cup.

2. If Hollywood called and told you they were making a movie about your life, what would the name of the movie be & who would play you?

Firstly, this would never ever happen lol. There is nothing interesting about my life (as yet) that someone would want to make a movie out of it. As such I guess it would be called “Much Ado About Nothing” …oh wait, maybe that’s already copyrighted! Hehe. As for who would play me, I’d have to say J-Lo. Its a very complicated story to explain why so you’re just gonna have to take my word for it! (that and I have a big ass).

3. If you were mad at a loved one, what sort of flowers would be their ticket out of the doghouse?

If? What is this if you speak about? My loved one is always in the doghouse! j/k, he’s actually pretty good at staying on my right side. However if anyone is every buying me flowers its roses all the way. Cliché? Maybe, but they are my favourite. That said, I prefer them closed bud rather than open, any day.

4. What is your favorite piece of clothing (provide a picture of it if you can) & why do you love it so?
This is a very boring answer I’m afraid, the truth being – my jeans. I have about 5-6 pairs and I live in them constantly. Of course I have a few loved pieces of clothing too, but my jeans are definitely my favourite. After them I suppose I would have to add my collection of Tee Fury and Qwertee t-shirts. I have an addiction.

I have one draw for these t-shirts and another for plain or “not so cool” t-shirts

5. If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Wow, this is a really tricky one for me, as someone who doesn’t even really buy DVDs, owing to the fact I rarely bother to put them on – just catch things again accidentally when they’re on TV. Sadly it would probably be a Disney DVD, maybe Hercules, or a princess one of some sort.

So there you have it, my five answers, to the five questions asked by Taby!
And here are my questions to my nominees.

1. Do you have a Special Talent or Skill? If so then what is it, and if not then what one talent or skill do you wish you had and why?
2. Where is the furthest place from home that you have traveled to and why did you go there?
3. If you had to give one book recommendation to a random group of 100 people, hoping for the majority to like it, what book would you choose?
4. Have you ever wished you were named something else and if so, then what?
5. When was the last time you cried and what was it over?

Now my nominations – and according to my last time doing this Liebster Award, I believe there was a rule that said only blogs with under 200 followers!

Vintage Fee – http://vntgfee.blogspot.co.uk/
Cat’s Chronology – http://catschronology.blogspot.co.uk/
Indigo Buttons – http://indigobuttons.blogspot.co.uk/
Puddle of Grace – http://www.puddleofgrace.com/

and although I’m not nominating them for the Liebster Award (they either have lots of followers, or have recently already been nominated and have done the obligatory post) I also advise you to check out:

Cocktails in Teacups – http://www.cocktailsinteacups.com/
Just Pirouette and Carry On – http://justpirouetteandcarryon.blogspot.co.uk/
The Sparkly Panda – http://thesparklypanda.blogspot.co.uk/

Nominees, the rules are simple. Make a similar post to this, answering the five questions I gave you. Make up some of your own questions and nominate some blogs you love for others to check out. Remember to leave a comment on your nominees blogs, so they know to check out your post and pass it on!

Thanks for checking in! I’ll post again soon xx

February 14th… bleck!

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So despite having a partner on Valentine’s Day, I still can’t say its a day that I especially look forward to. For a start I always considered it to be an overly commercialised holiday anyway, and secondly it seems like a day geared for disappointment. How much do you spend on each other, what do you get, how much trouble do you go to in order to make the day special etc. etc.? This last point is highlighted for me this year in that despite not caring for the day, I’m upset my partner has to work 8am to 10pm, thus not giving us any time together! Irony much?

Anyway I’m definitely used to spending this day by myself, having been single for the last 2 of them and even before then having a husband who always had to work it (hospitality and catering is a bugger for that). Also I suppose on top of all that, doesn’t help that it is also my wedding anniversary today (with my ex of course) so its not exactly a day for celebrations and proclamations of love. You might catch yourself going “awww” at the fact my wedding day was Valentine’s Day originally, but honestly it wasn’t really that romantic. My husband (my ex) and I were just opening up a brand new restaurant, in a small town, and Feb 14th was available at the registry office. It was suggested that we could combine getting married and promoting our wedding – having the radio and newspaper there to document it. Doesn’t sound like much of a story I know, but for a little town they seemed to find it sweet that a couple opening a new restaurant were getting married in the morning and then serving 100 customers a Valentine’s meal in the evening. Anyway on a plus side I do have newspaper clippings and a radio recording of our wedding, though now we’re separated I suppose that means less.

Hmmm anyway, enough with the musings, there was a point to my post today. Oh yes! Valentine’s Day lol. Though I do think its overhyped and I do have issues with the day itself, I also think it IS a good day for telling the people around you that they’re important to you – the ones you love. For the last two years (and even before that really), the only people I’ve had around to love have been my children. They love Valentine’s Day. I think some of that is because I’ve always bought them a small gift on the day, usually some tacky cuddly toy that says “I love you” in some form or another, but also because at nursery and at school, they always seem to get them to make cards for mummy and/or daddy. I’ve always considered this to be sweet as like I said before, I consider it a day to share love with everyone, not just a partner.

Yesterday the kids had a lovely sweet idea for Valentine’s Day, for my partner. As I said, he’s working 8am till 10pm today and the kids think that’s sad for him. Having already asked the girls to be my Valentine’s dates today (we’re making heart shaped pizzas for dinner and eating by candlelight apparently) they’ve decided they want to try and make it special for my partner too. My youngest daughter Lily, decided that she is going to make him a card when she gets home from school today and my eldest daughter Megan, decided we should make him a heart shaped pizza for when he gets home tonight. It has also since been decided that we’re making him cakes and cookies – and last minute as I was driving the kids to school this morning, apparently we’re now also making decorations.

Anyway the long and short of this post is that despite the day being something it shouldn’t be – so far as bought cards, bunches of expensive roses, huge boxes of chocolates and so forth – the day does at least inspire love from all places. The fact that the day makes people WANT to do something special, is the part I agree with. Not the fact that we feel obligated to.

The only two people guaranteed to be in my heart every Valentine’s Day <3

Liebster Blog Award – No. 1 and No. 2

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In the last 24 hours, I have been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award twice! This is both amazing and awesome, as I’ve only been blogging for about a week. As there is quite a lot involved, I’m going to put both nominations in the same post, though I have two lots of 11 questions to answer. I will only be posting one lot of 9 nominations for other blogs, as I barely even follow any at this time to recommend. Scrap this, just made some recommendations, not nominations, see below.

Firstly a massive thank you to Amy over at Cocktails in Teacups, who nominated me for my first award last night. Amy is someone I technically met via the internet, approx 8 years ago, but is now one of my real life best friends. Her blog is awesome so you should check it out. Secondly thanks goes to Rhiannon over at The Sparkly Panda, who was the third person I chose to follow, after starting my blog last week!

These are the rules for the Liebster Blog Award (as per Amy and Rhiannon’s nomination post)

– List 11 random facts about yourself
– Answer the 11 questions which are given to you by your nominator
– Ask 11 new questions for all the bloggers that you nominate to with the award
– Nominate 9 bloggers with less than 200 followers to win the award
– Go to each of the blogger’s pages to let them know about their nomination

11 Random Facts
1.  I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I have one tattoo only and its of the Deathly Hallows. I ran (and still run) a Harry Potter RPG called Deckleswood for over 10 years. I prefer the books to the movies, but have all of both. I visited the Harry Potter Studios in Watford for my birthday last year, I have a ticket to Leaky Con this year, and I would love to visit Florida so I could go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

2. I am a single mum of two beautiful little girls. I have been married (and divorced/separated) twice but currently live with my boyfriend after being single for two and a half years. I genuinely didn’t expect to ever be in a relationship again after my last marriage ended.

3. I know a ridiculous amount of Chris’. My younger brother is called Chris, as is my Uncle. My ex was a Chris, my current partner is a Chris and one of my closest friends is called Chris. I even know several Christine’s which makes a few more Chris’. One of my best friends’ ex was a Chris, my eldest daughter’s best friend has a dad called Chris… and so on and so on.

4. I love, love, LOVE Disney! I have over a shelf and a half of Disney DVDs, my Chamilia bracelet is full of only Disney charms and I collect the Disney Traditions Ornaments. I think Hercules is completely underated just because it isn’t technically a Princess movie.

5. I have a huge crush on Wil Wheaton. It only began in the last year after starting to watch The Guild. After that I discovered Tabletop and since then he has become my Number One crush. During a Games Night this weekend, I insisted on taking pictures of us play, just so I can post to As Seen On Tabletop. I would absolutely love this plush.

6. I have an addiction to buying unique t-shirts, especially those found on Qwertee and Tee Fury. I have two whole drawers of t-shirts in my dresser, one of which is completely dedicated to the t-shirts I have bought from these sites. It’s full.

7. I am ashamed to admit that I love playing facebook’s Farmville 2. Though I have also played facebook games like Sims, Sim City, Chefville, Cityville and several others, Farmville 2 is the only one I’ve stuck with. I try to go on first thing in the morning, midday and again before bed. It verges on unhealthy…

8. My dad died at almost exactly the same time as I fell pregnant with my first daughter. I’m not completely sure I believe in that whole “as one dies, another is born” type of thing, but its sort of comforting to know I might have lost my dad, but I gained one of the most precious things in my life. While its been almost 9 years since my dad died, I sometimes still get a little teary when I think about him, especially connected to my two girls. I know he would have made an awesome grandad and I just wish my daughters had had the chance to see what a funny/amazing/[enter other great words here] guy he was.

9. I absolutely hate shopping, specifically clothes shopping and especially shoe shopping. I don’t really know why, though these days some of it is probably to do with my size and weight. However I’ve never especially enjoyed it, even when I was younger and thinner. I prefer to shop and browse when I don’t need anything, rather than when I have to find something inparticular.

10. I know more Moshi Monster and Moshling names, than I do countries (thats only a guesstimate but I’m pretty sure its true). My two daughters are MAD about Moshi Monsters and have been for almost a year now. We have well over 100 moshlings and god only knows how many other toys, books, magazines and so on. Sadly I can name pretty much each and every one.

11. I can only count up to 10! Haha, not really but my brain is mush, realised I’d taken 2 hours to make this post and only done up to 10 facts! I can’t possibly think of an 11th fact right now, so just go with ‘I fail at counting to 11’.

11 Questions from Amy

1. What new years resolutions did you make? (if any, if not, why?)
To lose weight. I started last year but let it slide towards Christmas. I want to get back on track. It wasn’t really a new years resolution so much as a personal goal.

2. If you won the lottery what would be the first thing you’d buy?
Because I hardly ever have a huge amount of money in my bank account, and lottery winnings take a while to come through, I guess I would buy something within my bank balance budget to begin with. I always joked that it would be the £100 gift box from Lush.

3. If someone asked for a book recommendation, what would you give them?
Hunger Games. This is by far the best read I had in 2012. That said I would also add Harry Potter to the list, all seven books. A few obscure finds would also include: Afterwards – Rosamund Lupton & Before I Go To Sleep – S. J. Watson.

4. What is the one place you really HAVE to visit before you die?
Paris. It sounds like a fairly simple want but despite planing a trip there at least 3 times, I’ve never managed an actual holiday there. I have been to Disneyland Paris (and will be going again in February) but I would love a romantic weekend away (no kids) in Paris itself.

5. If you had one piece of advice for your 16 year old self, what would it be?
Take life less seriously and enjoy it more. Things only get harder.

6. What TV show that no longer airs do you miss most?
Tru Calling. To be honest I miss pretty much every good show that got cancelled midway, but Tru Calling was so good and didn’t even make it past 3 episodes into the second series. Such a shame.

7. What one hobby do you wish you’d pursued?
Acting. I know I still could technically, but its much harder with children. I feel sure both my daughters have the ability to be amazing actresses and I’m not sure if I’d be pleased for them or incredibly jealous!

8. If you could time travel to what age, what one would you go to and why?
Something in the future I think, something unknown and not discovered yet. It would be much more exciting than traveling back I think. Failing that I’d like to find myself a Doctor Who and see it all.

9. What is the thing you most find attractive about the opposite sex? (or same, I’m pro equal rights)
Sense of humour. While looks grab your attention sometimes, its not the be all and end all. Someone who can make you laugh and genuinely happy is the biggest attraction for me.

10. Who/what is your blogger inspiration?
At the moment, me. I’m still just finding my feet and figuring out what I want to blog about. That said the blog I’ve been reading the longest is that of Amy.

11. And finally… coffee or tea?
Tea, definitely tea. In the last 3 days we’ve managed to make it through SO many teabags, and only 2 out of 4 people in this house were drinking it (the other two on coffee). Unlike some people I don’t have tea at sometimes and coffee at others, I nearly ALWAYS have tea. That said, if I go to “meet someone for coffee”, I do purchase coffee. One of my favourite things about Christmas is also when the Starbucks red cups arrive and then I can’t live without Gingerbread Latte.

11 Questions from Rhiannon

1. If you are stuck on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?
A part of me wants to say my children, but at the same time I’d hate for them to be stuck on a desert island (and I think we might possibly kill each other if we spent too much time alone, just the three of us). Therefore I’ll go with my Kindle (fully stocked with heaps to read), a nice comfy pillow and… wait for the soppy part, my partner.

2. Do you have a hidden talent?
I can open beer bottles with my teeth, if that’s a hidden talent?

3. Dress/Skirt or trousers to wear for the rest of your life?
Trousers, 100% – specifically jeans. I live day in, day out, in jeans and a t-shirt.

4. What’s your favourite flavour of cupcake?
Really boring and really simple, just something chocolate (but not white chocolate). I’m not a massive fan of cupcakes mind you.

5. What are you biggest blog inspirations?
I suppose to build up some followers who are genuinely interested in what I have to say. Right now I’m just enjoying it for my own sake and hoping that it will kick me into writing other (maybe more useful) things.

6. 10 years from now, where do you want to be?
I would love to be a famous author. Not famous for the fame exactly, just famous in the sense of known, appreciated and anticipated. I’d like to be able to write for a living.

7. What is the one food you could live on forever?
Pizza. Definitely Pizza. In fact, for two years of my life, myself, my brother and our mutual friend, pretty much did. We were broke post of the time and they both worked at Frankie and Benny’s.

8. What is your favourite day of the year?
Probably Christmas. Not for my own gifts, but for my kids. I love how excited they get, how pleased they are. I love the family feeling that Christmas Day gives, how everyone tries to get along, not argue, make the day special etc. While its expensive and a huge build up for just one day, I always think its so worth it, just for the happiness that can come from the kids.

9. Morning or night person?
Night. I’m a terrible morning person. While I can get straight up and out of bed (you get used to it with children) I’d much rather lay in bed, never get out until I wanted to. At night I always just feel like there aren’t enough hours or free time without children, before being practical and getting some sleep.

10. How do you spend your free time?
Recently my life has been going through a lot of changes, so its hard to say overall. I guess right now I spend it catching up on a bit of TV (love Sky +), playing Farmville 2 and writing my blog.

11. Why did you start blogging?
Its something I’ve tried a couple of times before but never really stuck to. I’ve always had a lot of other stuff going on that required a lot of writing and I think my creativeness got all used up. Now I’m looking for an outlet for my writing and blogging seems to be it.

My Blog Nominations

This is supposed to be a nomination of 9 people, however I only currently follow 8 blogs (I only started a week ago). Of those 8 blogs, only 4 qualify for this award (under 200 followers) and 2 of those are the people who nominated me. Of the remaining two people who qualify, one is Kate at Just Pirouette and Carry On, but she has been nominated by both the people I was and I’ve found two more than enough to handle, without giving her a third. Finally that leaves Lindsey at The Mouse Linguist – a friend I knew outside the blogging world, just uprooted her life and living in Korea. I have no idea if she’s really looking for followers or not but you should check out her blog and see what you think.

As such I’m not going to nominate anyone at this time. However having looked through both The Sparkly Panda‘s nominations and Cocktails in Teacup‘s nominations, here are a few more blogs I have added today.

What Laura Did
Indigo Buttons
Future Freaks Me
XOXO Sam
Cat’s Chronology

Recipe – Spicy Chicken Pasta

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This is my third and final recipe for today and you’ll be pleased to know I’m going out for dinner tonight, so there won’t be another for a while, lol. I cooked this one last night, again for 4 people, but since 3 of them were guys, I made plenty of pasta just to bulk it out. The last picture mind you, is of my dinner and my portion size, the guys had a bit more.

Spicy Chicken Pasta
Serves 4
Per Serving: 398 Calories, 3.3g Fat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Since I still wasn’t feeling too well yesterday, everyone offered to help cook dinner. I didn’t really need it but since I’m not a big fan of raw chicken, I did let my brother slice that up for me. Other people grabbed or passed the odd thing here or there, but for the most part I cooked this solo.

Ingredients:
225g (uncooked weight) tagliatelle
1 vegetable stock cube
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
4 x 100g skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
8-10 basil leaves, shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Begin by placing the pasta in a large saucepan, with boiling water and the vegetable stock cube. Fingers crossed it should be ready about the same time as sauce, but if you really don’t like overcooked pasta, hold off on the pasta for a while, making sure you’re well on your way with the rest first. Next get a large non-stick frying pan and dry-fry the onions for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and red pepper, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken strips and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is firm and changes colour. Turn during cooking so that the chicken strips cook on all sides. Add the tomatoes and chilli, bring to a gentle simmer.

 
Drain off the pasta and pour into a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over and sprinkle with shredded basil leaves (this I forgot, but don’t actually feel is necessary) and a little Parmesan. I personally served the pasta up into 4 bowls, then spooned out the sauce equally over the 4 portions.
I think this has probably been my least favourite out of all the dishes I’ve cooked these last three days, but as with the other ones, everyone polished them off fairly fast, as did I. Some of my issue with this is its tomato sauce base (as I’m not great with chopped tomatoes, though I like them once I’m eating them) and some of it is probably the cooked peppers (not a huge fan of those). However that said, it really did taste good and I will definitely cook it again.
Next time… Paprika Mince

Recipe – Turkey and Bacon Hotpot

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Saturday night was one of those evenings where comfort food was a must. It had been snowing, everyone in the house was under the weather, and to be honest, I didn’t even feel like cooking. But with a house full of people, including my partner, my brother, and a guest, I knew we needed something hearty to warm us up. I ended up making hotpot—just the main dish, without any salad or veggies to accompany it, as I often forget that part! As we all gathered around the table, it struck me how much easier it would be to enjoy this kind of meal if we could just go out to a franchise hot pot place. Having everything prepared and ready to enjoy would have been a real treat. But that night, our homemade hotpot did the trick, bringing warmth and comfort to an otherwise chilly evening.

Turkey and Bacon Hotpot
Serves 4
Per serving: 412 Calories, 6.4g Fat
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 red onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450g lean diced turkey
225g thick-cut lean bacon, diced
1 tbsp plain flour
450ml semi-skimmed milk
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
450g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper

When making this, I completely forgot to take pictures until the end. I’m clearly not capable of multi-tasking by cooking and photography at the same time, oops!

Begin by preheating the oven to 190 C (375 F, Gas Mark 5). Get a large non-stick frying pan, adding the onions and garlic and dry-frying till soft. Next add the turkey and bacon, continuing to cook, turning the meat to seal on all sides. Sprinkle the flour over and “cook out” for 1 minute, then gradually stir in the milk. Add the stock cube and allow to dissolve, stirring to distribute. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, to allow the sauce to thicken. Stir in the parsley (I used dried as I rarely have fresh in) and pour the mixture into an overproof dish. Top with sliced potatoes, drizzle with soy sauce and season with freshly ground black pepper. Finally bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked.

This is the only picture I remembered to take (and the kitchen lighting makes it look quite yellow, where it isn’t)! Both pictures show the portion size, this being a quarter of the full size dish. The only thing I would add to the recipe is to say that I season with salt and pepper even at frying stage, not just at the end. Also I have no idea what weight of potatoes I used, just enough to top about 2-3 layers deep. Having done more than this previously, I know the potato doesn’t always cook through well. That said, if you doing it with plenty of time to spare before dinner, you could cook at a lower heat and for longer, to ensure it was all cooked through, if you did want a deeper potato topping!

This recipe is another of my favourites, but ideally I definitely would have served it alongside some salad or vegetables.

Next time… Spicy Chicken Pasta

Recipe – Boozy Beef with Mushrooms

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As I mentioned before, I’ve just started dieting again, using the Rosemary Conley diet books I had from a few years ago. I’m not following her low GI diet exactly, doing more of a calorie counting one, but I’m cooking fresh meals every night, using her recipes.

Boozy Beef with Mushrooms
Serves 4
Per Serving: 230 Calories, 7.1g Fat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes

In my opinion, these recipes only serve 4 if all of you are on a diet. However as I’m often cooking for my partner and/or friends, I feel like they provide 1 correct size portion and then 2 good potions, or 1 good portion and 2 correct size portion (especially given that the normal non diet people are usually guys). Also my logic is – they can always have extra food after, its more important that I just don’t eat more than the correct size portion.

Ingredients:
2 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450g lean braising steak, diced
1 beef stock cube, dissolved in 300ml (1/2 pint) boiling water
1 tbsp plain flour
225g mixed mushrooms, sliced
300ml (1/2 pint) beer or cider
2 tbsp chopped fresh mixed herbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To begin with you get a large, non-stick pan, add the red onions and dry-fry until brown. You then add the garlic and beef, continuing to cook and seal the beef, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add 2 tbsp of beef stock and sprinkle the flour over.

Mix well and “cook out” for 1 minute, before gradually stirring in the remaining stock. Stir in the sliced mushrooms and the herbs. I didn’t actually have fresh herbs in, or even mixed herbs for that matter, so I just added a tsp of every herb I had in the cupboard, from parsley to thyme, from rosemary to oregano.

Finally add the beer or cider, then stir. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 35-40 minutes, until the beer is tender. It looks a lot of liquid after you’ve added everything, but trust me it simmers down to nothing. In fact it can end up too thick so be sure to keep an eye on that, possibly add a little water.

I haven’t cooked any of the Rosemary Conley recipes in about 4 years and while I remember they are tasty, I had forgotten just how good they were. At the point of typing this up I have actually cooked three of her recipes, and so far this is my favourite. I shared it between 3 in this instance, but making sure my own portion was the smaller. Of course the other thing about Rosemary Conley’s recipes is that she just provides you with the main part of the meal, but not whatever you serve it with. I chose to serve this with basmati (microwave) rice. However I only had one plain and one egg fried version, so I ended up mixing them together before serving them up.

Anyway, it was delicious and both my partner and guest agreed! Its really easy to make, low calories and not really all that expensive (my cider was 99p and my beef was marked down as reduced).

Next time… Turkey and Bacon Hotpot