Tempting Tempura

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This week's Silent Sunday features a plate of food, which was last night's tea.

I am the type of person who eats something new, likes it, sees a similar recipe and mixes them up. I'm like my mother in that respect; rubbish at following a recipe. My Christmas cakes will always have fruit in them that has been soaked in whatever alcohol that's been left in the cupboard: Malibu is quite an interesting one. I see something and adapt it without researching. Before I started writing this post, I checked Tempura Vegetables recipes and came across this one from the BBC Good Food Guide which is when I discovered that I was ignorant enough to not know that Tempura Vegetables were Japanese. I know, I felt well foolish!

It all started when I had them about two months ago at a pub. Then on Thursday, I was perusing the decadence that is Reluctant Housedad's Recipe Shed and I noticed his recipe for onion rings. Following a twitter conversation with him, we decided that I could manage without gram flour and I could use beer instead of water. See already they're not proper Tempura Vegetables. Oh, and I added paprika.

I know, shoot me now!

Anyway here, it is:

A load of chopped up vegetables. The courgettes were rubbish, I wouldn't do them again: too soft.

200 grams of flour and half a pint of Carling, darling. Plus two teaspoons of paprika.

Then dip the vegetables into flour on both sides before dunking in the thick batter and transferring to a pan of hot, hot oil.

Regardless of what Helen from The Crazy Kitchen says, the carrots were yummy.

And while the courgettes look good, they were a bit bland and 'wet'?

When all was cooked, I 'plated up' (oooh, check me out!). I used plain white crockery to show the colours off, two ramekins containing sour cream and sweet chilli dip (I bought it, don't bother asking me for the recipe, Tesco would be better informed) and we ate with our fingers!

It was scrummy!

Recipe Shed

Sizzling Sausages Struck by Lightning!

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I am discombobulated.

It has just been thundering and there have been flashes of lightning. Today's date is 25th August and we've just had a thunderstorm. I haven't had my summer yet where I have lounged on my sun-lounger with my toddler playing alongside me in the sweet smelling summer grass. I haven't got a cushion for my sun-lounger and the grass is far from sweet-smelling.

But that's not the point!

I haven't had warm, soft, balmy evenings with the jasmine and honeysuckle sweetly scenting the air, the condensation from my glass of Pimms trickling over my fingers and friends laughing while the barbecue sizzles in the background.

Even before The Boy, I don't think we had a barbecue like that. Let's face it; the barbecue always manages to smoke everyone out, Mr. TheBoyandMe is usually worried about the chicken cooking all the way through, I forget the tray of jacket potatoes in the oven (true story! The oven had been turned off post cooking, but the next day I opened it to find 25 beautifully crispy jacket potatoes on a baking tray. We had potato salad for days afterwards), we run out of lagers but have too much rum left over (why do I buy it? No-one drinks it), and half way through the evening we have to come inside because it's too cold or raining!

However, did you know that the British are spending more on summer barbecues than they do (per person) on a summer holiday? The average amount per summer season of barbecues is £724.02, with an average spend of £141.67 per barbecue! Now bearing in mind, I haven't had one this summer, that means someone has had some marvellous barbecues and not invited me!

Apparently though, it's not just the hosts who spend money; it's the guests too! Gracious guests spend over £22 on goodies to supplement the already groaning feast-laden table. When I read that factoid, I'll admit to thinking: if each guest spends £22 on goodies, all I need to do is co-ordinate what they're bringing and I needn't spend a penny!

It's the last bank holiday weekend before Christmas (!) this weekend, it should be the time to have one last almighty bash at a fabulous barbecue. I won't be able to partake as we binned the underused and rusted barbecue last year (I'm vegetarian, he's a meat-eater, it never worked out easily), but here are some top tips to help it go well:

These factoids have been taken from The Pimm’s Summer Time Report, conducted in June 2011 by One Poll, which surveyed of 3,000 UK men and women, 25-45 years old. I wasn't asked to write about it, I've not been given anything, I just wanted to moan about the weather and show off my photo of one of my favourite drinks!

Please drink responsibly.

Oreo Lick Race Challenge!

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One of the favourite snacks of children everywhere is cookies and milk. To make it even better why not vamp it up a little and use the rather scrummy Oreo cookies which taste divine with a cold glass of milk. Well the lovely folk at Oreo are encouraging you to break the rules that your mum set you, by not only licking the cookie but also dunking it in your glass of milk! It's great fun though and they sent us this fantastic kit to try it out.

The reason for this is the Double-Stuff Oreo Lick-Race competition that is running until the 31st July 2011. Simply do the following simple instructions with another member of your family, upload it to the Oreo website and you could win a fantastic VIP holiday to Florida. There are additional prizes of a Nintendo Wii to be won.

And what's even better is that for every video Lick Race video uploaded to the website, the kind folk at Oreo will donate £1 to the children’s charity KidsOut. All you need to do is upload your video attempts of a Lick Race to www.oreolickrace.co.uk.

"There are two different ways in which to enter to win Lick Race prizes – you can either ‘watch to win’ or ‘race to win’. If you choose to watch the Double Stuff Lick Race, there are opportunities to win a Nintendo Wii every day. If you choose to take part in the Lick Race, the stakes are raised and you will be in with the chance to win the grand prize of a VIP trip to Florida; there are also opportunities to win a Nintendo Wii every week of the promotional period in a weekly prize draw of all valid video entries received."

Seems easy enough to me, and therefore here is our entry (which I've speeded up in places because it took 4 minutes and 29 seconds!)


I'd like to point out that it was the 36 yr old daddy and not the 2 yr old toddler that spilt his milk everywhere! This was the first time he'd ever drunk out of an open cup and he didn't spill a single drop. Daddy on the other hand!

I was provided with this kit in order to complete and promote the Oreo Race. However, my opinions are my own, and as always, honest.

COMPETITION

If you'd like to win an Oreo Lick-Race Kit (like the one that I was sent above) in order to help you enter the race on the Oreo site, then you just need to do the following things:

I've entered to win an Oreo Race Kit with @TheBoyandMe's blog https://www.theboyandme.co.uk/?p=3977

  • Leave one comment below to tell me that you've done this!

T&C

As the closing date for the Oreo Lick-Race is 31st July 2011, this is a really short deadline competition in order to allow the winner to get their prize, film and submit their entry. Therefore the closing date is Tuesday 26th July 2011 at 1pm. One winner will be drawn at random and contacted immediately. I will need their postal address returned by 4.30pm in order to get their prize despatched as soon as possible.

Please do not enter if you can't be contacted tomorrow afternoon!

 THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

The winner is @Mcai7td3! Congratulations to all who entered.

"Who Doesn't Love Meatballs?" Review: Little Dish

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I find this age really difficult to cater for. And I mean literally, 'cater' for. When The Boy was a baby, I made my own purees. When he was over one, I still made mini versions of our food for him but in smaller portions which were batch-cooked and frozen. Up to a couple of months ago The Boy, was quite happy to eat 'family foods', maybe they were more 'dry' than he was used to, but he was fine. About a month and a half ago he seemed to regress with his food; he had bad teething pains and a really nasty cold and sore throat, so for a little time he was almost back on jars! I've found it hard over the past few months to ensure that he is eating properly, and 'enough' to help him grow.

When we were offered the opportunity to test Little Dish meals I was more than happy to shout "YES PLEASE" at the kind soul at the other end of the tweet!

Little Dish meals are perfect meals for toddlers. They are fresh and natural food, with no added sugar or salt. For me this is an excellent option; I was very careful and controlling of what went into my baby's tummy for the first year and I fail to see why I should stop now. I want him to grow up healthy and strong, with a positive attitude to food. Little Dish meals are perfect to accommodate that. Each meal contains a portion of vegetables in them too.

Since returning to work part-time, I am no longer able to cook from fresh as often as I'd like. This is another reason why Little Dish meals are perfect. They can be either cooked from frozen or from the fridge, and can also be cooked in the oven or microwave. Perfection!

The range includes Beef and Spinach Canneloni, Chicken Risotto, Salmon and Broccoli Pasta Bake, Vegetable Lasagne, Chicken and Butternut Squash Pie, and Mild Chicken Korma amongst lots of other lovely recipes.

We were sent Monty's Favourite Spaghetti and Meatballs (in a really cute little chill-bag) to taste-test. This is due to be launched on 5th July in Tesco and 20th July in Waitrose and Ocado, so we felt quite important really. The Boy absolutely adored it and completely wolfed it down! He's never actually had meatballs before so this was a new one for him, and with him not being completely keen on beef I was even more happy to see him eating them! The portion was a perfect size for him, he very almost finished it all, an older child would find it very satisfying. The sauce was possible a little bit more spicy than he is used to, but that is more my fault for not introducing him to more varied tastes and sticking to the bland. It certainly wasn't a problem, The Boy was seriously keen to "eat it all up mummy!"

We're off to do a little shopping in a minute and I am using the voucher on the inside of the packaging to help buy another one for him to pop in the fridge or freezer for use in the week. Not only has having a voucher impressed me, but I am seriously impressed that they have included a voucher for use in the Republic of Ireland! Thoughtful people at Little Dish aren't they?

You can buy Little Dish meals in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Waitrose Deliver and Ocado.com. Find out more about Little Dish on Facebook, Twitter or at www.LittleDish.co.uk. I thoroughly recommend a visit to their website, lots of fantastic information on there, there's even recipes posted each month taken from the Little Dish Favourites Cookbook.

I was sent this product for review free of charge, however my opinions are my own.