Dangerously Easy Brownies

I'm calling this recipe "dangerously easy" because it's the perfect treat to make with items you probably already have on hand... which means that after a bad day or when you're craving something chocolatey, you can have these ready in less than 45 minutes. Easy and delicious... but if you're anything like me, having sweets like this so easily on hand might be a bit dangerous! Anyway, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and have made it a staple since it's so uncomplicated. You don't even need to use an electric mixer - a simple whisk will work fine. Also, I didn't have enough sugar the second time I made these and found that a mix of sugar, brown sugar and stevia was equally tasty so feel free to mix and match with whatever you have in the cupboard. Finally, this recipe fits an 8 x 8 square pan.

Ingredients

Batter

Finished product

Recipe via www.allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 25-30 min

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300F/175C.

Whisk the melted butter together with the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until well incorporated. Next, add the cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder. Give everything a good mix and then butter and flour your dish before pouring in the brownie batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Reading Half Marathon

If any of you lovely readers have been wondering why I've been neglecting this blog lately, well the answer is simple: I was training/planning for and freaking out about the Reading Half Marathon. I signed up for it in November when it was still sufficiently far away to seem like a good idea. However, the day finally came and I was feeling unprepared despite my training and generally extremely nervous since I've never run any kind of race before. I was also running on my own, which made me extra nervous when I saw how many groups there were who would be on hand to offer support to each other. However, I actually found that I liked running alone since I could take water breaks when I wanted to and just generally run my own race.

Caitie after the race

I'm very pleased to report that I not only finished but actually managed a quicker time than I had anticipated. Going in, I thought I would be lucky to finish close to three hours but actually thought I might go over that. Instead, I managed to stick to my goal mile time of 12 minutes per mile up until the 11th when I switched to 15 minutes per mile. I almost made it expect that the final mile includes a poorly placed uphill climb that I really struggled with since my legs weren't speaking to me by that point. I'm still not sure if they'll ever forgive me although they are getting their revenge currently as I'm too sore to move!

Final time! (Although my chip registered 2:48:10)

While this is primarily a food blog, I have been toying with the idea of including new and noteworthy happenings from time to time... as a different sort of "caper" if you like. I think this counts! And, not to disappoint, I also have a mini food post to include. Although I don't have any pictures of the food options, I thought it might be useful for other runners to hear what I had pre- and post-race in case they were curious (I know I was!). I doubt it was particularly wise or ascribed to any of the available advice out there but it worked for me since I had lots of energy, didn't cramp up and was generally pleased with my day.

Thursday: 

Thursday night I started thinking about trying to "carbo-load" for the race. I didn't really want to go about making spaghetti or something at all complicated. Plus, I wanted to try and use up as many of my groceries as possible since we were going out of town for the race. Therefore, I made a quick macaroni and cheese with some bacon lardons and green onions. (Recipe coming soon!)

Friday:

I had a meeting on campus which lasted a few hours so I had to sort of make things up on the fly. For breakfast, I had coffee. This is pretty normal in my life since I'm ALWAYS running late. So by early afternoon, I was starving. I popped into Sainsburys on my way home and grabbed some bagels, mini packets of cream cheese, bananas, and salami. The salami was for my lunch (bagel with salami, cheese and dijon mustard) while the remaining bagels and the bananas were for the trip to Reading. Since we were staying in a hotel, I didn't want to have to rely on restaurant fare in case it made me feel a bit ill so I decided to take along some carb friendly options. For dinner on Friday, I was a bit naughty and had a curry since Sam was keen to have one. I regret nothing! It was delicious (chicken tikka masala, muttar paneer, and peshwari naan) and helped to take my mind off the impending race.

Saturday:

On Saturday, I was a naughty runner again by skipping both breakfast and lunch (unintentionally!) and then having a late afternoon snack of party treats (including cheeses, crackers, veggie and duck spring rolls, and other tasty treats) at our friends Katie and Dave's housewarming. While this was not a brilliant day-before-race meal choice, the party helped to keep my anxiety in check by distracting me so I think it was a good decision overall. After the party, Sam and I headed down to Reading and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Hilton and would definitely recommend it for anyone running this race next year since it's a five minute walk to both the start and finish lines. If you're visiting Reading for any other reason, it might be a bit far from the city center though. Anyway, for dinner I had half a bagel and half a cheeseburger (again, naughty but it was they only thing on their menu that I felt like having). I also had lots and lots of water both with dinner and throughout the evening to try and hydrate for the race.

Sunday: 

Finally, race day dawned and I was up bright and early to get ready. I usually don't eat breakfast so eating at 7:45 was a major struggle. I managed to have half a plain bagel (I was so nervous the cream cheese was making me feel ill) and a banana. I also had a cup of coffee and two glasses of water. We left for the race about 25 minutes ahead of the start time and of course, that's when the heavens opened up and we got our first drenching of the day (it would continue to rain for the duration of the race). While running, I grabbed water at every stand since it was part of my race plan to break the race into four 3 mile races and to use the water stands (located at every 3 miles or so) as my break points so that I wasn't spilling it everywhere. This worked out really well and I'll definitely do this in the future!

Post-race, I had a lucozade that some nice military men where handing out at the finish, a bag of chips and a mars bar from my goody bag. Since we were one the train home, it was a little limited in terms of food choices but these were exactly what I needed: sugar to perk me up and salt to help after exercising. Upon getting back to my flat, I made probably the biggest mistake in my food choices in that I had another bagel with salami and cheese for dinner and called it a day. Upon reflection, I should have had something higher in protein to help my muscles repair themselves. Oh well, live and learn! (And be very sore...)

I hope this will be interesting or helpful to anyone reading this! I had a great time and am already thinking about signing up for another race... although that might require some serious negotiation with some very angry muscles... 

Couscous Vegetarian "Bibimbap"

Ok, first things first, this is not bibimbap. It is "bibimbap". The difference being that this is in absolutely no way authentic Korean cuisine. In real bibimbap, the starch is rice and there are several distinct toppings, which are kept separate until the diner mixes them all together. These often include: beef, cucumber, carrot, and other vegetables. My version is probably unidentifiable to Korean cooking fans but it was still delicious and allowed me to use up all my leftovers without getting hopelessly bored of them. I had couscous on hand so I went ahead and used that. And actually, I think I might prefer it to the rice since it left me feeling less stodgy and made the dish so much lighter. The real key to this dish is the Korean chili paste. I've raved about it before but it really changes this dish and makes it distinct from a stir-fry or just couscous and vegetables (both of which are tasty dishes in their own right!). It adds a little heat and totally changes the flavor of the dish. Be careful though: a little goes a long way! Also, I bought it a few months ago and it's still going strong in the fridge so the investment (it's cheap but might be a bit of a pain to find) is definitely worth it.

Leftover veggies getting a Korean style makeover

Frying my egg

Couscous ready for toppings

Veggie layer goes on

Next: Fried egg and chopped raw bell pepper

Finally a fairly unattractive blob of sauce

Prep Time: 3 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of cooked couscous
1/2 - 1 cup of leftover grilled/roasted veggies
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp oil or butter
1 egg
1 tbsp red bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp Korean chili paste
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp vinegar

Method:

Measure the couscous into a bowl. Boil water in a kettle or on the stove and pour over the couscous until the water level is about a centimeter above the grains. Cover the bowl with a plate and allow to steam for fifteen minutes until all the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, over medium heat, add the leftover vegetables to a pan and allow to reheat. Add the sesame seeds and sesame oil after a few minutes and toss to coat. Allow to saute a further few minutes until hot. In another pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add the egg. Fry until it reaches your preferred consistency. Add the vegetables to the couscous and top with the fried egg and the bell pepper pieces. Finally, mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl and add to the couscous mix. With a spoon, mix the ingredients in your bowl to evenly distribute the egg and the chili sauce mix. Enjoy!

French Onion Soup

Continuing the French theme from my last post, I decided to share my favorite recipe for French Onion soup. I'm not entirely sure how authentic this is but it seems pretty close to what I had in Paris and it's the recipe my Mom makes... therefore, it's authentic to me! I think this might have originally come from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that every mother (in America at least) seems to own - we even have the edition my grandma Dorothy Guido used. It also happens to be the cookbook I'm currently coveting so if it goes missing from my Mom's kitchen, she'll probably know who did it... 

Ingredients

Onions ready for slicing

Anyway, one of my favorite things about this soup is how quickly it comes together. This is followed at a close second by the fact that it's surprisingly cheap as well. Wine can be expensive but since I don't drink red wine, I just get the little sample size bottles since that seems to be the perfect amount for this recipe and that way I don't have any leftover. Also, at less than 2 pounds each, they don't break the budget either. As far as the beef bouillon goes, use whatever you feel comfortable with since I know different brands have different sodium levels and that can really impact the final dish.  

Pre-melting of the cheese

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup butter
3 large onions
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 sample size bottle of red wine (or 1 cup)
1L water
2-3 beef bouillon cubes
1 baguette 
1 package of swiss cheese

Method: 

Over medium heat, melt the butter and add the sliced onions. Let them saute for a few minutes and then add the sugar and cook for about five minutes further. Once the onions are nicely softened, add the flour and mix well to incorporate with the onions and pan juices. Cook for two minutes and then add the water, wine and beef bouillon cubes. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. When the soup is boiling, reduce the heat and let simmer for about ten minutes covered. When ready to serve, slice the baguette into rounds (approximately an inch in width). Place on top of the soup in each bowl and add slices of the cheese. Either pop under the broiler or in the microwave until melted. Enjoy! 

Bon Appetit: Paris

After a pretty crazy week, I finally had time to sit down and get this post organized. It's by no means meant to be an all encompassing guide to food in Paris - it's just what we enjoyed while we were there. We spent four days wandering around the city and had a really lovely time. Since we had both been there before, there wasn't any pressure to do the super touristy stuff so it ended up being just a relaxing city break which was exactly what I needed. Of course, that said, there was still tasty food to be had!

Caitie at the Louvre

Rue de Commerce

Thanks to my lovely flatmate here in London, Laure, we were able to stay at her adorable studio flat just off of rue de Commerce. This area is quietly perfect with lovely shops and restaurants and only a short walk away from the Eiffel Tour. And yet, it never felt touristy at all. Everyone you see in the shops or on the streets actually live there and are just going about their day to day activities. It was perfect and we really can't thank her enough! With the cold weather and the lovely bakeries, cheese shops and other tasty treats available, we decided to eat in most nights and the result was delicious! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get photos of many of the shops because they weren't open on our last day. A particular favorite was Eric Kayser, an artisan bakery, which has the most amazing walnut bread. I wish we had one in my neighborhood in London! Although, that said, I would probably get very, very fat. Sigh.

Tasty artisan bakery

Dinner most nights

Day One: Latin Quarter and St. Germain

These are the fifth and sixth districts or neighborhoods in Paris and are very close to Notre Dame. If you take the metro, you'll probably end up walking through these areas in order to get to the cathedral. On display was a lot of different types of seafood, including mussels, lobster and oysters.

Street corner seafood

Oysters on parade

After a wander around Notre Dame and checking out the Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop, we decided to stop for lunch in a restaurant on rue de la Huchette. I was craving cheese fondue because I had tasty memories of it from a trip to Paris during high school. And yes, I know it isn't really a French dish, but it's still delicious. I remembered that this area was where i had enjoyed it previously so we set about finding a restaurant that served fondue. This street had lots of fondue on offer so we popped into one of the many cafes. 

Rue de la Huchette

Pizza

Surprisingly watery fondue

Fondue accompaniments 

Potatoes for fondue

While it wasn't the best fondue I've ever had, it was still a great lunch. Sam really enjoyed his pizza and I found that all the accompaniments that came with my fondue were more than enough for me. This street also had a few Greek cafes and other lunch options. I know it might seem touristy because it's so close to Notre Dame but the prices were actually decent.

Day Two: Louvre, Palais Royale, and Champs-Elysees.

Neighborhoods one and eight on the map, these are arguably the most popular areas with tourists since they include not only the world famous museum but also one of the most famous shopping streets in the world. The cafes and brasseries in this area can be a bit obscenely priced so we really took our time to check out a few options before heading into Cafe Palais Royal. With the freezing temperatures, we were both looking for something warm and this restaurant had omlettes, pastas and of course French Onion soup so we left very happy. Laure also recommended Cafe Le Nemours nearby for lovely sandwiches and other lunchtime treats.

Omlette

French Onion soup

Day Three: Marais

Our third day in Paris happened to fall on a Sunday, so, acting on a recommendation from Laure, we headed over to the Marais neighborhood since it's shops and restaurants were open (unlike a lot of other areas in Paris). I can't stress how adorable this neighborhood is - it doesn't actually feel like it's part of a big city. Lots of lovely bakeries and cafes, plus some great shopping options. The museum of European photography is also located here and I was disappointed to find the line was just too long for us to visit (maybe I should actually say the weather was too cold for us to wait in a massive line!). This neighborhood also has a high concentration of Jewish delis and restaurants and we were lucky enough to wander into the Purim celebrations. These included music and dancing in the streets and general good cheer. Also on offer in this neighborhood is Victor Hugo's home and the place where the Bastille stood (now a roundabout...).

Want all the cakes!

Amazing challah breads just waiting to be eaten.

Macaron tower

Chez Marianne

For lunch, we had hoped to check out Chez Marianne, a Jewish deli/restaurant that had been highly recommended by both Laure and our guidebook but unfortunately they were pretty swamped. So, we wandered along rue de Rosiers until we found a sit down place that looked tasty. On offer along this street are copious amounts of falafel but most of the cafes are take away shops which would have been nice in the summer. We popped into Mi-Va-Mi, the "authentique falafel" and "best of the street" because it had indoor seating. Despite our less than gourmet reasons for selecting it, Mi-Va-Mi didn't let us down with fantastic falafel and shwarma. I really don't think you could go wrong with any of the falafel options on this street though, given the long lines at every window.

Mi-Va-Mi

My falafel platter

Shwarma pitta

Purim party

As a treat, we decided to pop into an artisan eclair and truffle shop on our way back to the metro. L'eclair de Genie had more options to choose from than I had ever seen before. I went for strawberry while Sam made the (slightly) better choice with his lemon meringue version. I highly recommend a stop in if you're wandering around this neighborhood and looking for a treat!

Eclairs 

More eclairs!

Day Four: Montmartre

Our final day was spent in Montmartre, home of the Sacred Heart Basilica and far, far too many stairs. After hopping off the metro at Abbesses, we found we were a little peckish and so popped into Le Saint Jean, which was close to the tube. Although I was worried since it had a bit of a chain restaurant/pub feel, we were definitely not disappointed. Sam even declared his "toast burger" as the best he'd ever had while my steak was perfectly cooked and served with a delicious blue cheese sauce. There are also loads of restaurants up near the church so if you're not hungry right away they might be a better option.

Le Saint Jean

Tasty steak and frites

Perfection

"Toast Burger"

Final Food Thoughts: 

There was one element of our food experience in Paris that really stuck with me because I found it so surprising: the wealth of foreign foods on offer. I know, this is probably not a shocking thought when we live in a world that is so globally connected that Goldfish crackers were on sale in Chennai, India. However, when I visit Rome to see my parents, I'm always amused at how little outside influence can be seen in the restaurants or grocery stores. For example, our local shop has ONLY Italian foods on offer despite being a reasonably sized place. The restaurants in our neighborhood follow a similar trend: the vast majority serve only Italian dishes. We do have one sad little Chinese restaurant but it's pretty terrible. In Paris, it was the complete opposite. Supermarket shelves had a ton of Italian items (and my precious Goldfish of course!) and the restaurants in Laure's neighborhood ranged from French brasseries to Chinese, Japanese and even Korean.

Leek, Mushroom and Cheddar Quiche

In an attempt to get recipes on here before the holiday that they might be appropriate for passes, I decided to give this Easter-y quiche a try for a girls' night in recently. My lovely friend Anna was back from Washington D.C. for a quick visit so Laure and I wanted to have her over for some tasty food and chatting. This quiche was perfect because it wasn't too heavy and went nicely with a leafy salad on the side.

Pastry ready for it's first spin in the oven

Foil protection ready for baking beans

Leeks and mushrooms

Cheese, glorious cheese!

Obviously there are lots of quiche recipes out there and they range from super complicated to super easy. This one is definitely in the latter category, especially if you use store bought pastry. Yes, I know, "real" cooks make their own pastry but frankly I don't have the time usually and store bought varieties are excellent. So, no homemade pastry for me! I will definitely try making some at a later date but things are just too chaotic right now to bother. Anyway, a lot of recipes call for double cream so if you feel more comfortable using that, go for it! I wanted to try and cut a few calories where I could so single cream worked out fine. Also, feel free to use whatever cheese you have on hand. Gruyere, swiss or even blue cheese would all be tasty. Finally, if you don't have baking beans, don't worry! I didn't either so I just bought some dried red kidney beans and popped those in instead.

Finished! With a slightly burnt crust... oops.

Girls' night in!

Tasty food, terrible picture... 

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

1 package of ready made shortcrust pastry
1-2 tbsp butter
4 leeks, white parts sliced
1 package of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 large eggs
300ml single cream
Salt
Pepper
200g mature cheddar, grated

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C / 392 F.

Roll out the pastry and place in your baking dish, removing the extras from around the sides. Press the pastry lightly into the nooks of the dish and then place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. While the pastry chills, melt the butter in a large saucepan and sautee the leeks until the start to soften, about five minutes over medium-low heat. Add the mushroom slices and continue to cook until they have also softened and the liquid in the pan has mostly evaporated. Once the leeks and mushrooms are ready, take off the heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

At this point, remove the pastry from the fridge and prick with a fork all over the base. Line with foil and add baking beans. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. To prepare the rest of the filling, slowly whisk the two eggs into the cream and add in most of the cheese. Next, slowly add the cooled leeks and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Pour into the pre-baked pastry and top with the remaining grated cheese. Return the baking dish to the oven for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is no longer liquid. Enjoy!

Overnight Oats: Chocolate Raspberry

This dish is literally a revelation. I'm not known as much of a breakfast person and therefore, as you may have noticed, the majority of the recipes on this blog fall into the lunch or dinner categories. I'm just not very hungry first thing in the morning so the thought of putting in the effort to make something just isn't very appealing. However, there are some days when external forces conspire to create a busy day where there just isn't time for a snack until well into the afternoon and therefore a good breakfast is essential. Enter overnight oats. The combinations for this dish are endless and I'll definitely be posting more options as I go along. It takes about five minutes to mix the ingredients together and pop them in the container the night before and then when you wake up... they're ready! While this is a chilled breakfast and therefore ideal for summer, I thought they were equally good now when the weather is freezing since they're nice and filling. Served along side a cup of coffee or tea, you really don't even notice that it's a chilled dish.

Ingredients

Raspberry puree 

I first tried this recipe with just yogurt since I didn't have any almond milk on hand. You can of course substitute regular milk or soy milk if you prefer but I didn't have any of those on hand either. The result was a little too stodgy for my liking so I definitely recommend using both milk and yogurt. Also, I pureed the frozen raspberries but you could also toss them in whole if you wanted (probably best to defrost them first thought). I went ahead and pureed the whole package (350g) because I didn't want to have to do it every day for each serving. I just popped it in a spare jar and then left it in the fridge. I didn't bother sieving the seeds out but if you think they will annoy you then definitely go for it since they are noticeable in the final dish. FInally, I served this in a glass mason jar because I found that it was the most reliable when it came to avoiding leakage when I throw it in my bag for breakfast on the go but I'm sure a small tupperware would be fine as well.

Finished product

Cook Time: N/A
Prep Time: 5 min
Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of rolled oats or porridge oats
1/3 cup almond milk (sweetened or unsweetened)
1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
1 tbsp raspberry puree
1 tbsp honey
Handful fresh raspberries
4 squares dark chocolate, chopped

Mix the oats, almond milk and yogurt in a small bowl until completely combined. Next stir in the raspberry puree, honey and the dark chocolate. Carefully spoon mixture in the serving jar or tupperware and top with fresh raspberries. Place in the fridge for a minimum of three hours or overnight. Enjoy!