Who says there has to be milk in cheese?

ME!!!

So, part of my new PCOS diet is to cut out dairy. A friend of mine is also on this diet for the same reason and she told me that she has been trying veggie cheese. The next time I went grocery shopping I saw some veggie cheese slices and put them in my shopping basket.
I used them to accompany a tuna and egg sandwich.


I tried a bite of the 'cheese' (cheddar flavoured) by itself and it tasted of nothing.... until the after taste came and then I had to rinse my mouth out with water. On the actual sandwich I couldn't taste it at all and so there was really no point to adding it in the first place. I shall still try some of the grated 'cheeses' out there too, but my expectations are not great.

And here's a thing; are they really any good for you? The current trend in thought is that the less processed food the better. Grains and pulses have been processed so they don't resemble their natural form at all. This, in turn, has led to and increase in obesity and other health problems due to people eating highly processed (high salt, sugar and fat) diets. Switching to a whole food diet, the experts say, will help to maintain a healthy weight, ease digestive problems, reduce chances of cancer..... the list goes on.

So what about these 'cheese' slices? Sure they are made from vegetables (actually its soy based), but they neither look, taste or smell like any vegetable I've ever come across. And the list on the back isn't too promising either; sorbic acid, carotenal, canola oil, rice starch. Part of the problem with the modern processed diet is that it exacerbates the PCOS caused by insulin insensitivity by unloading lots of simple sugars into the body at one go. It may well be that eliminating dairy from my diet is an important aspect of managing my PCOS, but are the substitutes actually any good, or am I returning to the world of processing in a disguised form?

Todays lunch was a much better success, I made seafood Pho.


Pho cubes sent from vietnam were dissolved in hot water with ginger. I then added some bean sprouts and bamboo shoots. The seafood mix, which was cooked inside the pho water, included squid, octopus, shrimp and white fish. This soup was added to bowls that contained some ramen noodles, sliced red pepper and sliced green onions. A little bit of hot cock sauce was added at the table and then came the best part, eating it all up. A great source of protein and only a few noodles. In fact, I didn't even need to eat my noodles as I was full from the seafood and vegetables.

But you're not squash!

So I'm trying to get better at cooking for one when I'm all alone during the week. The other night I was babysitting for some friends and so I wanted to make something easy. I chose roasted butternut squash with goats cheese I was able to get all the ingredients prepared and in the oven by the time my favorite little boy Owen arrived for the evening.

The recipe was super easy, just roast the squash halfs after scoring and brushing with olive oil and some garlic and herbs. Then roast the veggies too.



As I'm currently trying to move to a PCOS diet I'm cutting down on the carbs and trying to eliminate dairy products. So I used only a smidgen of feta cheese instead of goats cheese, as I had some in the fridge.


Both Owen and enjoyed the meal. I would have taken a photo of Owen eating some, but I had to have him on my lap. He particularly liked the roasted squash.

Killed by Kedgeree

I had my mother-in-law Sheila over for dinner tonight, and she now thinks I'm trying to kill her!!!

Sheila doesn't enjoy spicy food and so when I decided that I was going to make spicy tofu kedgeree I opted to leave out the cayenne pepper and red chili pepper and instead use a non-hot pepper instead.

Or so I thought.....

Apparently I picked up 2 habanero peppers by mistake and the result was a dish so spicy that even Matt, who adores spicy food, could not eat!!!



It even gave me chemical burns!!!

I wonder if my Sheila will be 'busy' next time we invite her around for dinner?

Catch up time

Dear readers, I'm sorry it's been a while since I last wrote properly. Getting back from the UK and then being stranded in South Bend has kinda disrupted my writing :)

So this post I'm going to catch y'all up with some of the meals I have eaten recently that are definitely worth a mention.

Ellie and I went down to visit one of our cousins, Helena in Surrey. On the night we arrived she made a delicious pork and bean stew/casserole. The liquid that it was cooked in was divine and I especially loved soaking it up with some freshly baked french baguette. That was 3 weeks ago (i think) but I can still remember the distinct flavour of the sauce. The meats were soft and succulent which, considering the relatively short cooking time, was both a surprise and a relief (I'm not a fan of stews with dry meat. There's nothing more dissatisfying than taking a bite into a stew that has a yummy sauce but meat that you could sole your shoes with!) Helena's meat was so far on the other end of the spectrum it almost fell off!! It was served with a celeriac and potato gratin.



The hearty tangy first course was followed by the sweet creaminess of a home made trifle. Mmmmm blancmange!!!!! Ok, so I'm going to risk sounding really picky again, but I hate it when trifles have too much fruit cocktail and/or jelly in them. My fave parts are the roll, blancmange and cream. Too much of the other stuff just gets in the way. Helena, again, got that right balance and delivered a trifle that declared it's creaminess but allowed that punch of fruit to make it's statement. I had some the next day for lunch too.



Helena's lovely boyfriend Diarra made breakfast the next morning and it was a salted fish bake served with homemade 'bread'. yummy! I think I already wrote about this particular dish from when we were in France, but it certainly deserves some more photo time. Thank you Diarra!


Last week I had Dr. Wilson (now known as Wilson, as I am no longer a student at his school) for dinner. I was going to make
this recipe but made a few adjustments. What I ended up with was a baked curry consisting of chicken bone-in thighs, fresh tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, onion and spinach. The spinach was added for the last 5 minutes of cooking time, in order to prevent too much additional water to the curry sauce.

Here is Wilson looking really excited about trying some of the curry!

It was delicious, I have to blow my own horn. I am definitely going to make that again, especially for when having friends over. It'll be good to have thrown in the oven an hour before they arrive.

In south bend I had a horrible experience with a hookah. No, I didn't spell that incorrectly, I mean a hookah pipe. I woke up in the middle of the night, after trying the whole hookah thing, with a headache that would not quit. I have never EVER had a headache of such magnitude. I imagine it's what a migraine is like, there was no escaping it and it made me feel nauseous. Matt, the sweetheart, kept putting cold wet hand towels on my head and that helped a little.

Anyway, the next morning I really wanted some home comfort and Matt was able to deliver by taking me to the Fiddlers Hearth in South Bend Indiana. It was the most authentic Irish pub I've been to here in America. That morning I was able to order a full Irish breakfast that had BLACK AND WHITE PUDDING, PROPER RASHERS AND REAL BAKED BEANS!!!!!! Heaven!!!! And I washed it all down with a pot of Barry's tea.



So impressed was I with the place, that we returned for dinner a couple nights later where I had the Molly Malone Stew (mussels, shrimp, scallops, beef, barley, vegetables) Another winner and toasted to with some more Barry's tea.