Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

I hadn't really appreciated how easy it was to make soup until yesterday! I was with my beautiful friend Rosie and she suggested that we made soup for lunch as she had lots of ripe Tomatoes and Peppers to use up.

I didn't realise how simple it was to do - just roast a load of vegetables (any selection would taste delicious I'm sure) with some garlic and spices, add some stock and then blend in a food processor and re-heat before serving with some fresh crusty bread!

So all credit goes to Rosie for this wonderful recipe! 

Recipe: (serves 2, but can be easily doubled or tripled)

- 8 medium vine Tomatoes

- 2 large red Peppers

- 1 red onion or 2 shallots

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 1 fresh Chili or a sprinkle of Chili Flakes

- Few sprigs of fresh Thyme

- Splash of Olive oil

- Salt and pepper for seasoning

- 1 Stock cube (Vegetable or Chicken)

- 200ml of boiling water

How to make:

- Chop all your veggies up in to large chunks, pop in to a large baking tray and scatter the garlic cloves, olive oil, spices and seasoning over the vegetables and give it a good mix.

- Roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, until all the vegetables are looking cooked and slightly charred in places (this gives it a slight smokey flavour).

- Put the roasted vegetables in to the food processor and blend until it looks like a thick and chunky tomato sauce. Make the stock and then pour in to the vegetable mixture and then whizz again until fully mixed in, but be careful not to whizz too much as you still want to have a thick texture.

- Pour the soup in to a saucepan and re-heat until steamy, then serve with some crusty bread and cheese!

- Enjoy!

The veggies ready for roasting

The roasted vegetables ready for the food processor

Before blending

Soup is ready, along with crusty fresh white bread and cheese!

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My little French BBQ and Quibelle

I am about to head off to the south of France for 3 months to learn about Wine and the French language- very exciting! So I had a little leaving BBQ at my house- French themed of course. 

Sarah, one of my most favourite people in the world was there and she is responsible for the following photos of the lunch I prepared for my lovely friends. She is also responsible for the delicious biscotti and the recipe of the peach quinoa! You can find these recipes on her fabulous blog, Quibelle: http://quibelleslk.blogspot.co.uk/ and the links to the recipes are below. I highly recommend you check out her blog, she has put together a lovely collection of fashion, food, interior design and many other things to keep you scrolling until you reach the end! 

For my French themed BBQ, I made Turkey and courgette burgers, Halloumi and Mediterranean vegetable skewers, a Peach Quinoa salad, Greek Tzatziki and a healthy Potato salad (recipe below). 

For a treat afterwards I made some chocolate and pistachio biscuits (recipe in a previous blog post of mine) and a fruit salad, and my friend Fee bought a fabulous Tarte au Citron that she had made and then the biscotti from Sarah!

Halloumi and Mediterranean Vegetable skewer Recipe:

(makes about 25 skewers)

- 2 Courgettes

- 1 Large Aubergine

- 3 Peppers, yellow or red

- 2 Red onions

- 3 very large Mushrooms

- 2 Packets of Halloumi

To make:

- Simply chop all of the ingredients in to similar sized chunks and thread on to some bamboo skewers

- Then either BBQ them or grill them for about 10/15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and the Halloumi is nice and crispy around the edges!

Peach Quinoa recipe from Quibelle:

 http://quibelleslk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/nectarine-cucumber-and-basil-quinoa.html

Biscotti recipe from Quibelle: http://quibelleslk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/cranberry-and-almond-biscotti.html

A selection of delicious treats! And a salad of strawberries, nectarines and blueberries

My French themed patio with red, white and blue bunting!

The lovely Flo and I dressed up in obligatory French stripes! 

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My Great Gatsby style birthday dinner!

 I have just celebrated my 22nd birthday, and this year I decided to have a little girly dinner party with my closest friends! I am also rather obsessed with the Great Gatsby and the 20s, after having read Scott Fitzgerald's book last summer and deciding that I was really born in the wrong decade! And with Baz Lurman's recent film- which was wonderfully arty and mesmerising. So a Great Gatsby theme it was!

I started the morning with my family and these cupcakes which I had made using a Mary Berry recipe (you can always trust her to produce the goods!). Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the process, but here is the recipe: http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/mary-berrys-lemon-cupcakes. I  made 2 flavours, Vanilla and Lemon, and I added some lemon curd/ Strawberry jam in to the middle of my cupcakes to jazz them up a little. 

Mmmmm  pretty cupcakes!

Here is my Great Gatsby style dining table, and below are my lovely guests!

Here is me in my Gatsby attire!

 I just had to share this picture of these enormous fresh pastries that I enjoyed the morning after my birthday on Fathers day! They are from a local farm shop, where you buy them frozen and then unthaw them over night in a warm place and then in the morning they are HUGE and ready to pop in the oven for 15-20mins! Yummy!

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Marshmallow Squares!

The time has come again for making some treats.. and this time it's rice krispie marshmallow squares! I am making these for a group of friends and its meant to be hot weather (believe it or not!) and I wanted to make something that wasn't chocolatey and therefore melty!

These are so easy to make and always remind me of being a child and the excitement of returning home from school to find that my Mum had made some! You can top them with any kind of decoration you like, I just went for some melted milk chocolate with a few sprinkles. They would also be delicious with some dried fruits in them, perhaps some chopped apricots and some nuts!

Recipe: (makes about 30 medium sized squares)

- 45g of Butter

- 300g Marshmallows 

- 180g Rice Krispies 

- 100g Milk chocolate (for melting on top)

- Sprinkles 

To make:

- Line a tray with buttered greaseproof paper (as the mixutre is VERY sticky!)

- Melt the butter and the marshmallows in a saucepan over a low heat, until fully melted and combined.

- Put the rice krispies are in a large bowl and then pour the hot marshmallow mixture over them and stir immediately as the mixture is super sticky and mixes best when warm.

- Pour the mixture in to the lined tray and smooth out to fill in the edges. This will be tricky, so I suggest heating a metal spatula in boiling water and using this to smooth down the mixture - I find this works best.

- Then melt the milk chocolate, either in the microwave or over boiling water and then drizzle over the marshmallow/ krispie mixture and then top with your sprinkles!

- Pop it in to the fridge for a few hours, as the longer it has in the fridge the less sticky it is.

- Take it out of the fridge and cut in to squares. I heated a big sharp knife in boiling water first, just to help with cutting it!

- Tuck in and enjoy!

Photos of how to make:

The marshmallows and butter before melting, 

and below the rice krispies

Above is the marshmallow mixture melting, 

and below is the gooey mix when ready to pour on to the krispies

Above are the krispies coated in marshmallows,

and below is the mixture pressed in to the tin

The sprinkles I used!

These are the marshmallow treats once decorated!

Enjoy!

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Valenica with my Chicas'!

I have been very lucky and have just returned from several days in Valencia with my wonderful Keebles! Laura is out in Valencia for her year abroad and Sarah has gone out to stay with her for a while! So I jumped on the plane with them and went to see what spanish life out there is like! 

Whilst over there I had some delicious things cooked for me by Laura, also Tapas and fabulous Manchego cheese (one of my favourites!)

We visited Mercado Central, which is supposedly the biggest indoor market in Spain! This was very exciting for me.. with Iberian ham, dried fruits, Olives, Cheese and many other delights on every corner it was hard to resist!

Here you can see the market in all its glory!

Below, this man sold me some lovely dried figs.

Below are the beautiful Laura and Sarah, looking lovely in the sun!

Above is me on Laura's favourite bridge, which was very old and Romanesque!

Sarah and I managed to make it to the top of the Cathedral tower, after a very winding and claustrophobic climb!

Below, I am having a well deserved breather at the top!

The Keebs and I went out for Tapas in a lovely spanish restaurant  and had some celebratory Spanish red wine, along with an autumnal salad, anchovies on little toastadas, Goats cheese samosas and Beef Carpaccio! It was delicious and so cheap! (If only London had places like that!)

Cheers to Valencia!

And below is our Autumnal artichoke salad, I didn't manage to photograph the rest as I was too hungry hehe!

Above, Sarah and I,

Below, Laura and Sarah looking lovely!

Below are Laura and I!

After our Tapas, we went to the Andalusian festival they had on in the City. It was a sea of women in traditional Flamenco dresses, Iberian Ham, Cheese and Tapas!

 Whilst Laura was at her lectures, Sarah and I did a spot of shopping along with some breaks for coffee- very important!

Above is Sarah with her Coffee, and the lovely cups it came in!

I had a wonderful time in Valencia, it is a lovely Spanish city with some scrumptious delights!

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