Your Al Fresco Recipe Could Win A Holiday!

Enter The Al Fresco Chef of The Year Competition

My Al Fresco Holidays trip to France is getting close and we couldn't be more excited.  The prospect of a week of relaxation in a beautiful French resort on the coast will be exactly what my family needs to unwind and have some quality time together.  Add to that the programme of daytime and evening entertainment, good food, a spa, a tropical water park and local attractions and we will have a marvellous time!

 Al Fresco Holidays specialise in providing family holidays in luxury mobile homes in the best holiday parcs across Europe.  With 56 resorts to choose from you could be sunning yourself in Spain, soaking up the culture of the South of France or relaxing in the Italian Riviera!  The self-catering holiday homes allow you to be as flexible as you want.  The well equipped luxurious accommodation and the addition of a decked veranda, lend themselves perfectly to the idea of Al Fresco dining.  You could be enjoying a sumptuous meal  or a relaxing picnic with your family in the sunshine in a beautiful setting.

Al Fresco Dining

The Al Fresco Holidays Blog is running a Chef of the Year Competition looking for a recipe that would be perfect for al fresco dining this summer.  The prize is an amazing family holiday to an Al Fresco parc of your choice!

To enter simply upload your favourite recipe and an image to the Wine and Food section of the blog.  Whether you have a brilliant barbecue recipe or a perfect picnic recipe, you could become Al Fresco's Chef of the Year!  But hurry...the competition closes on May 31st 2012 at 5pm!!!  A team of Al Fresco reps will be judging their favourite.

Whether you have a drink, dessert, salad, marinade, burger or pie recipe to share, as long as you can enjoy it Al Fresco you can enter it!

I have shared my recipe for Summer Berry Gateau, a light sponge base topped with Chantilly whipped cream and juicy summer berries.  The perfect end to an al fresco meal!

It is really quick and easy to enter so pop over and add yours....you stand a great chance of bagging yourself a fantastic Al Fresco holiday in the sun!!

Cheesy Pizza Dip Recipe

I am one of the contenders in the Ryvita Blogger Challenge.  We were challenged to make a dip that would compliment their Ryvita Thins, the perfect flatbread for dipping and sharing!   And at just 37 calories each, the thins are low in calories so you can enjoy an indulgent dip without any guilt. With the weather being so chilly, I decided to go with a hot dip, oozing with bubbling cheese and herby tomato sauce.

With layers of hot bubbling cream cheese and herbs, mixed grated Mozzarella and Cheddar and herby tomato sauce, the dip delivers all the deliciousness of pizza and the fun of sharing with friends.

My recipe will be featured on Ryvita's Facebook page along with the other bloggers' dip recipes.  You can vote for your favourites and the winning recipe may feature on a TV ad!  You can vote here in a simple one click poll.  It'd be lovely to get some support!!

In case you wanted to make the Cheesy Pizza Dip for yourself, here's the recipe:

150g Cream Cheese
1 teaspn mixed herbs
2 oz Mozzarella grated
2 oz Cheddar grated
5 tblspns herby tomato sauce (make your own using: 1 crushed clove of garlic and 1 diced onion, fried until soft, add teaspn herbs and 150g of tomato passata...simmer for 15 minutes)
Chopped red pepper

Combine cream cheese and herbs, top with half the grated cheese, spread sauce on top and finish with the remaining cheese.  Decorate with chopped pepper.  Bake for 15 mins at GM 5 until bubbling and serve with the Ryvita Thins.

At my dad's birthday lunch and I used him, my mum and sister as dip guinea pigs!  Thankfully it got a big thumbs up and everyone enjoyed the taste and texture of the now tried and tested Cheesy Pizza Dip!

The Curry Recipe Kit from Wish.co.uk

This week is National Curry Week making it the perfect time to receive my first Curry Recipe Kit box from The Spicery.  I've previously reviewed Wish.co.uk...the experience and gift ideas site and activated my voucher to begin my three month subscription to the curry recipe kit from thespicery.com.

The kit arrived and contained lots of exciting plastic packs of different herbs and spices, along with a shopping list of what I'd need to make the meal.  There was also a recipe card with clear instructions for cooking the curry.

The curry meal on the menu was Tamil Black-Eyed Bean Curry with Spinach Raita, Mushroom Bhaji and Spicy Beetroot Salad.  The ingredients needed were very straightforward...all the complicated spices, seeds and herbs are provided and measured out for you to use.

The recipes were very clear and the labelled bags made it easy to prepare the dishes.  The main curry was a hearty tomato based bean curry with a savoury, herbal flavour. It contained cinnamon and ajowan in addition to the more traditional spices such as tumeric, cumin and coriander.

The Spicy Beetroot Salad was sweet with the nutty crunch of Nigella seeds and the heat of chilli flakes.  It was unusual but really surprisingly delicious.

A cooling Spinach Raita made a really nice alternative to using cucumber.

The earthy Mushroom Bhaji was cooked with a whole chilli and panch pooran.  The curry meal was served with a Mushroom Basmati  Rice.

The colourful, aromatic meal had an autumnal feel to it.  There was plenty to serve four and was truly delicious.  I loved how it was hand made from scratch using fresh ingredients but was assisted by having the pre-packaged spices.  We enjoyed cooking the curry which was ready to eat within the hour.  The flavours were really interesting, complimenting each other perfectly.  It wasn't too hot, but had distinctive spicy notes.  It was a real success!

I look forward to next month's kit.  It is a real incentive to do some real Indian cooking...definitely beats grabbing a jar of sauce when you want something special.

The spice ingredients are listed so you can re-create the ingredients if you wish.  The recipe cards are strong and wipe clean and can be secured together the make a booklet to keep them safe.

The Three Month Subscription to the Curry Recipe Kits would really be an excellent gift for anyone interested in cooking or Indian food.  You don't need much skill to prepare the meals, but the satisfaction in creating such a lovely meal yourself is great!  It is a really unique gift idea for the hard to buy for person in your life, and for just £20 it is good value.

For this and other excellent gift ideas visit wish.co.uk.

Kent's Kitchen

Kent's Kitchen is an online stockist of quality, authentic food kits for foodies who want amazing food but don't have the time to make it from scratch.  Healthy, delicious ingredients are sourced and combined to give homecooks a shortcut to create gourmet meals quickly and easily. Just add a few components and you 'll be serving up culinary creations that are sure to impress.

I was given the opportunity to try out some products from Kent's Kitchen.  They have a great range of meal kits and risotto mixes, as well as gravies, stocks, sauces,  rubs and marinades.  I picked a Korma Meal Kit and a Wild Mushroom Risotto Mix.

The Korma Meal Kit comprised of a pot of curry paste, a pot of curry spice and a pot of garlic infused oil. All you need to do is add coconut milk, vegetables and chick peas to make an authentic vegetarian curry that generously serves two. It retails at £2.50. I love the presentation of the product.

The Risotto Mix contains a blend of gourmet ingredients including Arborio rice which cooks up into a delicious, rich, flavoursome risotto.  Just add water and a knob of butter.  For an extra special meal you can add cooked mushrooms. One pack is enough for two generous starters.  It retails at £2.40.

I love the idea of being able to make gourmet quality meal without the fuss!  My foodie daughter Meg is home from university over Easter which gave me the perfect opportunity to make us a delicious risotto for lunch.  It was as simple as melting a knob of butter, coating the rice, gradually adding 600ml of warm water until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is softened.  We added cooked mushrooms before serving.

The result was a deliciously flavoured risotto with a deep mushroom flavour and a peppery kick.  Megan who  enjoys good food said it was as good as risottos she has had in restaurants.  It served us both easily with a generous portion each.  I was really impressed that we had such a tasty, hearty lunch for just £2.40!

Kent's Kitchen stocks eleven different meal kits for Thai, Indian and Chinese cuisines.  The Risotto is available in five flavours which includes the wild mushroom and a vegetable variety which are both suitable for vegetarians.

Check out the website for more information on the company and the complete range of products which are available to purchase direct.  Postage and Packing is free on orders over £20 so you can stock up on  their delicious handmade and homemade products.  Everything is made, mixed, packed and labelled by hand.  You won't find any artificial additives, preservatives, flavourings or colourings. Kent's Kitchen can change the way you cook offering shortcuts to culinary magic.

Kent's Kitchen have a Facebook page too...pop across and say hello!!

My First, My Latest and My Favourite

The lovely veggie blog We Don't Eat Anything With a Face has started a blog hop where you write a post about your first, your latest and your favourite 'something'.  You can pick whatever 'thing' you want to share...Lisa has chosen cookbooks and I was very pleased to see that she is a fan of Rose Elliot.  I love my Rose Elliot cook books.  Her no nonsense style results in excellent wholesome vegetarian meals.  All too often veggie cook books are so faffy and use ingredients that are just not found on the everyday shopping list of a busy mother on a budget.  Elliot's love of beans and pulses results in hearty fayre a long way from Alfalfa Salad and Chicory with Orange Sauce (why do people assume veggies don't want pie and chips??? It's just the meat I don't want...not the comforting, homely, substantial elements of proper grub!!)  Anyway, I digress....

Although Lisa generously opened up the theme, I'm continuing with her theme...Cookery Books!

My very first cook book that I bought myself was the Children's Party Cookbook.  I'd just had my first born and wanted inspiration for his birthday.  I still use it for the gingerbread man recipe and it's got some nice ideas for kiddies' parties in it.  I got quite good at making cakes.  Here is a pic of Joe's 2nd birthday cake...I'm still quite proud of this one!

My latest acquisition to the recipe book shelf is the Quorn Kitchen that I sent off for.  For just two Quorn labels and P&P, I received this lovely paperback book through the post.

It contains some nice simple recipes which all incorporate a Quorn product.  I was most pleased to see some proper good food like this Quorn and Leek Pie.  It's user friendly, well illustrated and a fabulous freebie.  I love Quorn products...they have made feeding my family so much easier and they are versatile, low in fat and low in calories.  

My favourite cookery book is actually the first completely vegetarian book I bought myself.  It's a big, fully illustrated book simply called Vegetarian which has over 300 recipes.  It has a reference section at the front and I remember pouring over the facts and figures to be sure I wasn't in some way going to starve my family by deciding to go completely vegetarian.  It has had such a positive influence on my vegetarianism.  It made everything look so easy and so full of flavour.  It gave me a lot of confidence at a time when being a veggie was not so mainstream.  I love books that have photos and I can sit and flick through the pages for ages just looking at the pictures of the food. (There's no calories in looking!)

My most used recipes are for the Veggie Hot Pot with Cheese Triangles (a version of which I made for Valentine's Day with heart shaped cobbler on top...yum!)...

...and the Spicy Bean and Lentil Loaf, which is fabulous and so easy my daughter has made it on her own.  It's nice to find good, simple, hearty veggie recipes, so beautifully illustrated and so easy to follow.