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You are here: Home / Archives for weight watchers

Take Me Away – Glorious Soup Adventures

March 16, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 5 Comments

I’m back again to talk to you about the Glorious Soups we have been enjoying lately. It has been a long month of awful colds and viruses at our house. The weather was dismal and damp..it was depressing. If there had been the option to jump on a plane and be whisked away to somewhere hot and exciting I would have jumped at it..while sneezing and supping on honey and lemon of course. It has been a while since I went on a real adventure to another country, I miss it. The excitement of smelling new ingredients cooking away while sat in a restaurant or at a roadside stall waiting for a meal is one of my favourite parts of any trip.

What I love about Glorious Soups is how they are always based on traditional meals and flavour combinations from different countries around the world. Food can be wonderful in helping you to transport yourself away from your everyday life and the soups are so much more enjoyable than a soggy sandwich from the work canteen! Before I tell you about the soups I have enjoyed this month I want to share some more of my food adventures with you:

On a trip to The Gambia in 2009 we stayed within a village rather than in the tourist area.  This meant we were lucky to be able to experience many local dishes using ingredients we had never tried or just in ways we had never thought to combine them. Three food experiences from our stay have stuck with me over the years.

The first was a peanut based stew called Domodah. We were staying at a lodge owned by the charity we were working with and they employed local staff to cook for all of the volunteers. The chef who we all loved was called Ensa and his assistant was Musa, Ensa loved to cook and it really showed in the end results. They weren’t always able to get the ingredients which we would find so easily accessible here but everything we ate was a delight to the senses.

ensa wyce

Domodah is an incredible dish, typically using squash and aubergine as well as beef or chicken has a thick peanut sauce. We ate it twice on our stay and we all went back for seconds, the week after we returned home I made my own version and have since made it a few times – its delicious and always reminds me of that special adventure.

The second was a meal we shared with a group of villagers and its not so much about the food but the experience of eating it. Each day we were served three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner and there weren’t any snack options other than mangoes ( which were so juicy – it ruined shop bought ones for me ) so we always made sure we filled up at each meal as the work we did was physical and we needed the energy. After enjoying a substantial lunch we began to get ready to return to the school we were painting but as we did one of the villagers came to explain that the women of the village were making a communal meal and firstly wanted my help and secondly wanted us to share it. I had a lot of fun helping to mince fish using a really old mincer ( it was a bit of smelly job) and helping to grind spices and prepare the rice dish to accompany the fish balls. Within about 30 minutes the food was ready and we took our places on the floor in a circle around serving dishes and were encouraged to use our hands to roll the food into ( slightly messy ) balls to eat. I was so full and actually not much of a fish eater but after seeing the pride and work that had gone into the meal – around 15 of us made it – I dug in and it was an experience I won’t forget.

gambian meal on floor

Lastly one night we ventured away from the lodge and were taken to a small beach restaurant, more like a shack with open sides with the kitchen of the restaurant being quite a distance from the actual dining area . There was an unexpected nearly 2 hour wait for food – they had opened the restaurant just for us – so about halfway through our wait we went for a walk and found a dead shark on the beach! A little startling as we had been in the water earlier that day. When we got back food was ready to be served ( at that point we didn’t know what it would be – I was hoping for anything but fish ) and it was Gambian Ladyfish with a potato side and one of the vibrant salads we had become used to. Its important on holidays or even just in day to day life to just try things you wouldn’t normally. If I go to a restaurant I would never normally choose fish yet this meal was delicious, incredibly fresh and it really encouraged me to start being more adventurous with what I eat.

All this reminiscing has made me really want to book a trip! For now I am satisfying my exotic food urges by trying out new Glorious soups each month. I am still on the Skinnylicious path and loving this range of soups, whilst I yet again think the New England Butternut squash is hard to beat I am loving the Goan Tomato & Lentil –  I tend to split the pot into two and have it for two days lunch in work with some flatbreads. Its packed with flavour, really makes me feel like I have eaten a meal and keeps me going until my main meal later that day. As part of the Skinnylicious range it of course has less than 150cals per pot and this one has just 1.3% fat and is gluten free and vegetarian too.

GLORIOUS!-Goan-Tomato-and-Lentil-Soup.517a09c6752d66f22ba159e9a45466fa

At home I have LOVED the new Texas Four Bean Chilli..I serve it with a little pot of grated cheese and some pitta or other type of bread for dunking. It is so satisfying with just enough of a chilli kick and with the addition of the cheese it tastes pretty indulgent too. The four beans are haricot, red kidney, black eyed and black turtle beans with Texan spices like Ancho chilli. This is also Vegetarian, Dairy and Gluten Free.

glorious four bean chilli soup

 

Isn’t it funny how experiences from our travels can shape us? Trips such as the one above made me try new foods, to add more spice and just accept that if I didn’t enjoy it at least  I had tried. Can you believe that up until the age of 25 I didn’t like olives..or blue cheese or anything hot such as jalapeños?? Now I am liberal with the fresh chilli and pickled jalapeños , blue cheese and brie are my favourites and ahh olives… I wonder if I would have become a food blogger if I had stayed a fussy eater? I doubt it. Now I will try anything and whilst I still wouldn’t opt for sushi I have added a whole list of foods to my love list!

Check in next month to see what Glorious Soups I am recommending!

 

  • I am a blogger ambassador for Glorious and receive vouchers and am compensated for my time.

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Filed Under: Reviews · Tagged: butternut squash, calories, chilli, fat, glorious soups, weight watchers

Love Your Eggs

February 4, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 4 Comments

I didn’t used to like eggs much, I only really ever ate them in cakes and it was only when I was pregnant that I missed having them.. I know you can still eat them but having to cook them into submission didn’t really appeal.
In the last few months I have developed a real addiction to poached eggs and recently I have started trying eggs in new recipes..not just cakes!

One of my favourites is Frittata I was going to share this recipe soon as part of one of my eating on a budget blog posts but here it is sooner than planned.
The best thing about this dish is you can throw anything in, leftover boiled potatoes, peppers, meats,spinach, onions.. I could go on. Let me know if you have any special combos that you use.

This is what I used in my last frittata recipe so adapt however you like:

You will need:

1 large cazuela or pan you can use in hob or in oven
Olive oil
Chopped boiled potatoes
Chopped ham
Chopped peppers
Chopped onions
Chopped spinach
6-8 eggs beaten (dependant on size of pan)
3 or 4 tablespoons of cheese. I use pilgrims choice. Yum.

Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.
Warm a little olive oil in a pan and add all ingredients apart from the eggs and cheese, sauté for 5 minutes then add your beaten eggs and cook until the mixture has set on bottom and is starting to set on top,sprinkle with your cheese and some cracked black pepper & herbs of choice and put in oven for 10-15 minutes until completely set.

When this has cooled slightly you can cut like you would a pizza or quiche and serve with a nice big salad for a healthy, budget friendly lunch. This is also great chilled and taken on picnics.

Another eggcelent (sorry I had to put it in somewhere) recipe I have recently made is spaghetti carbonara.

You will need:

1 large saucepan and 1 frying pan or cazuela
Olive oil
250g bacon, diced or roughly chopped ( I used lardons)
300mL single cream
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese ( I have substituted other cheeses and its just as good)
3 egg yolks
Salt and pepper, to taste
350g spaghetti or tagliatelle ( I used Lidl egg spaghetti last time and it was tremendous)
Seasoning

Start to cook your pasta by the packet instructions whilst frying your bacon in a little olive oil until golden, add your cream and cheese and remove from heat to stir through. Return to heat for 2 mins before adding your egg yolks and again removing from heat to stir through.
Remove from heat, drain pasta and combine. Serve immediately with fresh grated Parmesan and black pepper.

Its so good.. This serves 2 with leftovers.

After the carbonara recipe I had 3 egg whites leftover which I didn’t want to waste so I made a quick Baileys chocolate mousse which I’d never made before but it worked really well. I adapted this from a weight watchers recipe and simple to make but very tasty.

You will need:

1 microwaveable bowl and 1 mixing bowl
Electric whisk
100g of good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
3 egg whites
2 tsp of Baileys

Break your chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave I do in 30 second bursts to make sure it doesn’t burn. Leave your chocolate to cool slightly and whisk your eggs until stiff ( the peaks should stay up when you pull the whisk out). Put a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate to loosen and mix well. Gradually mix the rest of the whites in, not too fast as you lose too much air. Once it’s all mixed in add your baileys, mix once more and spoon into 4 ramekins or glasses. Refrigerate until set, mine took an hour or so to set but I left them there until the following day.

These taste so scrumptiously naughty it’s hard to believe its a low fat recipe. One is more than enough to satisfy a sweet tooth and you don’t feel overly full afterwards.

If any of you have any more egg recipes to share please do!

This should go without saying but please only use free range 😀

20120509-110241.jpg

 

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Filed Under: Recipes · Tagged: Budget, Eggs, healthy, meal planning, recipe, weight watchers

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