The Man Made Food.........{Greek Style Lemon Chicken & Rice}

You know how it is, you're late leaving work, the man calls and asks what time you will be home. When you tell them that you've only just left you can hear his brain whirring as he realises that it will be a long while before dinner is made, so he actually offers to cook. To be fair to H, if I wasn't such a little chef I'm sure he would do more cooking but when I love it so much he kind of just lets me get on with it.... what can I say, he irons my creased shirts - it works for us. It was a lovely meal, all cooked in one pot (bonus) and pretty healthy as we are trying  to eat more healthily and I am trying to loose quite a bit of weight. We ate this out in the garden which was just lovely. He is lovely. How lucky I am.

 This recipe is adapted from RecipeTin Eats which is fast becoming a favourite blog of mine!

Greek Style Lemon Chicken and Rice

for the marinade:
5 - 7 chicken thighs / legs
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp dried oregano
1tsp salt

for the rice:
1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup long grain rice
500ml chicken stock
200ml water
1 tbsp. dried oregano
lemon quarters
S&P

take the chicken and marinade ingredients and combine them in a bowl. cover and refrigerate - H left it for a couple of hours but the original recipe suggests overnight. heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy based pan and place the chicken in skin down. brown both sides of the meat and then remove from pan and set aside. add a tbsp. of olive oil to the pan and cook the onions until translucent then add the garlic. after a minute add in the rice, reserved marinade from the chicken, the oregano and the stock and water. bring the pan to a simmer , season and then place the chicken on top of the rice. put lid on the pan and then cook covered for 40 minutes (180oC)  then take the lid of and cook for a further 15 minutes. serve - we served with some broccoli which was lovely.



Linking up with Honest Mum for #tastytuesdays

A healthy cake?........{Lemon & Chia Seed Cake}

My friends! Apologies for the absence, I have been sunning myself in Italy and eating lots of yummy Italian food. Seriously was the best holiday and I have the holiday blues now I am back! I promise to do a holiday recap soon but until them I have a little recipe to keep you going!

Lemons are such a summery fruit to me and I use them a lot in my cooking and especially in my baking. This cake always goes down a treat and by replacing the fat with yogurt and olive oil and the sugar with algave syrup I also like to consider it a little bit healthy?! When I make this as a pudding, I make the limoncello syrup to serve with it but you can omit this if you only want it as a teatime treat! 

Lemon & Chia Seed Cake 

(Serves 6 with plenty left over for seconds!)


4 large eggs 
175g full fat Greek yoghurt
110g plain flour
110g ground almonds 
50g Chia seeds (or you can use poppy seeds)
1 ½ TSP baking powder 
½ TSP salt
10 TBSP Algave syrup
50ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 lemon – zest of whole lemon, juice of half
1 TSP vanilla extract

5 TBSP caster sugar
Zest and Juice of ½ lemon 
50 – 75ml limoncello  

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a loaf tin with grease proof paper. Mix together the flour, almonds, chia seeds, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl pour in the syrup and add in lemon zest. In another bowl whisk together yogurt, eggs and vanilla and then add the lemon juice – keep whisking until it’s all combined. Stir in the zest and syrup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix together. Fold in the Olive oil. Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth down the top. Bake for 50mins until top is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Warm the sugar, zest and lemon juice over a low heat until syrup if formed. Remove from heat and whilst still warm stir in the limoncello. Use a skewer and make a few holes across the top of the cake and then pour over some of the syrup and reserve the rest for serving alongside the cake. It also goes well with a little glass of limoncello! 

A Simple Sweet Tooth......{cheesecake sandwiches}

When wining and dining friends pudding is always my last thought. I think about flavors and cheese and meats way before I think about what's going to finish of the food. This is probably because we are not sweet eaters in my house - I'd rather have cheese. Cheesecake is a good choice for me because it contains cheese (did i mention I love cheese?) an usually a citrus fruit. These are great, they are the easiest pudding in the world and they taste fab, your guests really won't mind that you have gone to so little trouble because the taste is there and you have more time to talk.... and that my friends is the rally reason for gathering around the table to taste and to talk

I have made these with lemons but you can just as easily substitute this for limes and call them key lime pie sandwiches. Just make sure you leave them for those 20 minutes so the biscuits soften slightly - it makes the whole affair a lot less messy!

Cheesecake sandwiches

one pack ginger nuts, or other ginger biscuit of your choice
250g full fat cream cheese
2 - 3 tbsp icing sugar
zest one lemon
juice 1/2 lemon

soften the cream cheese in a bowl, add the icing sugar zest and juice and mix, taste and add more sugar/ lemon juice if needed. if its a bit loose put in fridge to thicken for 30mins or so. take a biscuit and add a dollop of the cream cheese mixture. sandwich another biscuit on top. repeat until all biscuits are used. leave for around 20 minutes so that the biscuits soften slightly and they are easier to eat. devour them.  

A taste of Italy from Whitstable.......{Spaghetti alla Vongole}

I wax lyrical about Whitstable so much on this blog but then I love it so much. Last Saturday we wondered down to the fish market and I decided against mussels and instead opted for some fresh clams - a bit pricier but then you need less to make a rather wonderful Italian meal. This took me right back to summer holidays in Italy although it was March on the Kentish coast. I don't eat pasta very much at all these days but when I do, it has to be worth it - full of flavour and not to heavy. Don't be scared of shellfish when you are cooking clams they tell you when they are ready to eat as their shells open - makes it so simple!

Spaghetti alla Vongole

750g fresh clams (approx)

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

20g butter

olive oil

150ml white wine

zest and juice 1/2 lemon

handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped

enough spaghetti / linguine for 2 people

cook the spaghetti according to instructions, you want it slightly al-dente. warm the butter and olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and chilli. once it has softened add in the wine, when it starts to simmer, ramp up the heat, add in the clams and put the lid on the pan. shake a few times as it cooks. the clams will take around 4-5 minutes, once the shells have opened. discard all clams that haven't opened. add in the pasta, parsley, lemon juice and zest and toss them all together. season and serve. It's really that simple but tastes a million dollars!

Linking up with Vicky at Honest Mum