Thrown together meal

Tonight I wanted something quick, easy but yummy! So I raided my fridge and decided to make a nice quick mushroom tart :) 

There are no measurements as it really was super thrown together however the ingredients are listed below.

Ready roll puff pastry square

Asparagus

Mushrooms

Mushroom soup (canned)

Porcini mushroom paste (mine is from sainsburys)

Brie Cheese (optional)

I spread the porcini mushroom paste in the centre of the pastry leaving space round the edge for the pastry to rise. I then spooned on a little mushroom soup not to much that it soaks the pastry just enough to help give it a little sauce. I baked this in the over at roughly gas mark 6 until the edges started to rise. 

I then took it out and layered on sliced mushrooms and sliced asparagus I then layer Brie cheese on top of that.

I baked further till the cheese had melted and bingo, quick yummy dinner with a few salad leaves on the side :) yum 

The Shoebury Hotel

Last weekend me and my partner had 'date night' it doesn't happen very often but it's lovely when we do! 

We decided to go to the Shoebury hotel a. For convenience (we literally live 2 minutes away!) and b. We have eaten there before and really enjoyed it. They had a new menu and I for one was looking forward to trying it! 

When we have been before I have always found them accommodating even among me something that wasn't on the menu! 

Anyway this time I had to start, the special which was mini aubergine frittatas. I had never thought of doing this as a starter but it's a really good idea! I will say the actual frittatas were a tiny bit dry but the tomato sauce with it made up for that. Taste wise they were lovely and a nice light way to start the meal! 

For main I had goats cheese and spinach filo parcels. These were amazing! The cheese wasn't over powering and the pastry was perfect and crisp! I choose not to have any sides as I was saving room for the champagne the other half bought me ;) 

My partner had the parfait (I believe it was chicken!) which he really enjoyed and for mains the chorizo risotto. Both he really enjoyed and trust me he is a fuss pot! 

The service as always was perfect. The manager Andy is attentive and always happy to help in anyway. They have also opened a cellar bar that is open till 1am and available for private hire which is a lovely idea! We have yet to have a nose as there was a private hire in at the time.

The service is so lovely in there we are going back again for drinks and snack next week for my bday with a bunch of family and friends! Ooooo I nearly forgot they do a mean cocktail! And if Andy is in and it's not in the menu they are happy to make others as well! Lovely :) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Esplanade Southend seafront

I am sad to say that when this place closes the seafront will be loosing a good traditional pub! 

I went today for lunch with my mum and dad and little one. We have been before and ordered from the menu but this is the first time I have had their Sunday carvery and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

The food was well cooked and lots of veg to choose from which is always a must from me! Crispy potatoes and crunchy Yorkers! Yum! They even went out the back to sort out veggie gravy for me and my mum as the ones out the front were meat.

Service was great as always and the place is super family friendly. Lots of high chairs about! 

We were also lucky enough to catch a live singer! We didn't know this was on so was a really nice surprise! My little boy loved it! He does love a good boogie! 

All in all really lovely meal and great service and atmosphere will just be such a shame when it closes :( 

Let's Veg Out: Greens, pea and butterbean burgers

MSo I am once again having a cook up! I'm determined to be a bit inventive for my lb!

 

So I am cheating slightly here and here's a pic of the ingredients! 

Ok so, you need to steam the greens for a few minutes until wilted then rinse well and squeeze out all excess water.

Add together beans peas egg onion mint salt and pepper and bind together (I don't like lint so left this out and if I was making these just for me would prob add a little chilli instead) add the breadcrumbs last and mix well. This should now be left at room temp for 20mins.

I am making mine into a proper burger as there is nothing I love more! So with mine I am having a grilled garlic mushroom and hot salsa in a bun. To accompany I have made home made chips only twice cooked (I'm a busy mum I do not have time for faffing around with frying them 3 times!!! Boiled and fried job done!) and also some spicy sweet potato fries, nice as simple, salt pepper and cayenne with a sprinkling of flour to help crisp. These can be done in the oven or as I'm feeling naughty today fried ;) 

So the final result was this. 

Overall the party was a little dry but the taste was good :) a little extra salsa sorted the dryness out though :) 

 

Let's Veg Out: Breakfast Pastry

So I have finally found time to go through my new cookbooks and I am soooo excited to get cooking again! The first one I have tried is from the Lets Veg Out cookbook.

So as you can see from the above pic I chose to do the breakfast pastry but I did mine as a dinner with sauté potatoes and rocket. 

Ingredients: 

pre rolled pastry (I found pre done squares for this exact sort of thing!)

Asparagus

Eggs

Pasta sauce 

The recipe couldn't be easier! Spread some pasta sauce on the pastry sheets leaving a ridge round the edge. Bake til the sides start to rise. At the same time blanch the asparagus, drain and set aside. Once pastry ready layer in the asparagus and break an egg on top. Bake again until egg has set. Done!

Super easy although watch the pastry! As you can see from mine it's easy to over cook it! 

Overall easy to do even if your in a rush and it safe to say little ones approve! 

Away too long

I have been snowed under with uni work the last few weeks and now finally the summer is here and I can indulge my not so secret passion for food! Look out for lots of recipes tryouts and reviews :) 

Veggie Itame

I am a massive fan of Wagamamas! My only problem is that I don't have one anywhere near me :( it's probably a good job as I would be in there all the time! So as a substitute I have made my version of the Veggie Itame, noodle soup! In Wagamammas they use tofu but I decided to substitute that for a veggie money bag instead! I made the soup from scratch but will admit that the money bag is from the Chinese range at marks and Spencer's. 

My recipe is this........

For the soup base

1 can of low fat coconut milk

A litre of veggie stock

3 teaspoons red curry paste (make sure no fish elements) 

Noodles (I used flat rice noodles) 

And veg you fancy (I used mushrooms, been shoots, water chestnuts and spring onions)

Literally all I do is fry off the paste in some oil for a few seconds then in with the milk and stock. At the same time cook some noodles as instructed on the packet and leave to one side. 

I then bring the soup to the boil and and the veg (leaving out the spring onions) I don't cook the veg for very long as I like a good crunch. Add the noodles to your serving bowl and add the soup and veggies then finish by topping off with the spring onion and if you like a good kick some fresh sliced chilli as well :) also if you have it some coriander add that as well :) 

That's literally it super simple and easy and bags of flavour! It's my favourite comfort food and a fabulous substitute for the restaurant! Yum yum 

Brewers Fayre Southend Seafront

Last week was my little boys 1st Birthday. We had an amazing day at the Zoo and decided to meet Nanny for an early dinner on the way back. We decided to try the new Brewers Fayre which has just been built on the old gas works site along the seafront. Now i am not going to lie I was not expecting much at all.

However I have to say I was extremely surprised! The first thing I have to comment on is the staff that were in that day. Our server was amazing! The sort of customer service I haven't seen in a very long time! Not only did she look after us well but she made a lot of fuss of my little boy and it was genuine.

Aside from this the food was actually really good. The only downside is there is no vegan options so mum didn't really have any choice!

We ordered 2 starters to share, the potato skins and garlic mushrooms. Both were cooked really well and very tasty. The potato skins were more like chips really but I actually preferred it! For mains I had the Mac and Cheese which I found really tasty and not to over poweringly cheesy which I really hate! My partner had lamb which he raved about and mu opted for sausage egg and chips and gave the sausage to my Lo.
We then had deserts, I had the Oreo chocolate cake which was to die for! Jason had the hot chocolate brownie and my mum had the lemon meringue pie!

Now not only was the food really good. Tasty and well cooked but the price was also amazing! For all of our food plus a beer and a single serve Preseco it all came to £50!

I can honestly not fault this place so far and we will absolutely be returning!

The Shorehouse Harvester, Southend

Well all I can say is times been a long time since I went to the Shorehouse Harvester and it's very safe to say we will not be returning. We decided to try this place for an early dinner as it is ver close to where I live. It was just me my partner and my little boy.

Firstly the sign says 'wait to be seated' so we waited bags and wriggling one year old an all, after being ignored by passing staff (we should have taken this as a sign!) we seated ourselves.

We found a high hair which was a bit silly really, it had straps that go over the shoulders and round the middle, sounds fine except nothing between his legs so he kept wriggling himself down through the gap and practically dangling by the upper body strap!

It took a good 10 minutes for someone to ask if we wanted a drink which wasn't to bad and gave me time to get organised. I asked for a diet coke and was told there was only the Pepsi 'refills' which as my only option I said was fine yet when I read the menu they do give the option for normal diet coke (I am super fussy Pepsi is not coke!!!!)

The menu had 4 veggie options which lets be honest is pretty good! A stuffed pepper with cheese, a goats cheese and broccoli pasta another option which I can't for the life of me remember! And an option for veggie sausage and mash, the sausages however were quorn which as the only non cheese option isn't great as I find quite a lot of vegans don't actually eat soya meat!

It then took at least 15mins before the server even looked in our direction! They had pointedly ignoring people down to a T!

When we finally gave our order, I opted for the pasta. It came out and looked fine however when I tucked in all I can say is it was over powering! There were 8 large pasta shells arranged in a bowel filled with a watery mix of goats cheese and broccoli, although you could barely taste the cheese! It was then smothered in tomato sauce. As you can imagine it was far far to much liquid with not a lot of flavour either! I didn't eat a lot if I'm honest!

To be fair the price was cheap £21 for 2 mains and a side however in this case you get what you pay for! (My partners food came out in a tiny portion!)

I am all for cheap and cheerful but this was far from cheerful! safe to say I can't see us returning any time soon.

La Piazza London

This is one of the best Italians I have tried so far (and there have been a few!) 

Situated at 29 Villiers Street London (the road running up to the Strand from Embankment Station) is a cosy Italian. You could easily walk past it and there are so many restaurants to choose from but thankfully one day God knows how many years ago we ventured in (I can't for the life of me remember who I went with first but I think it was my nan!) and since then almost every time we are in London and fancy Italian this is where we go! 

After we have been to the Eat Well show we needed some serious carbs and as its on the way home we knew where to go and as usual they didn't disappoint! 

The waitress we had this time was lovely and very attentive. I opted for the special Lunette Al Tartufo which was amazing filled pasta with ricotta cheese and black truffle with a butter sauce as you can see from the pic I couldn't stop myself from tucking in so had to take a pic at the end!

They have lots of veggie options from basic pastas and pizzas but the one thing amazing about this place is they will cook your food to order! My fussy mum had a special tomato and cream sauce with veggies and spaghetti (nothing like it on the menu! Another dish I can personally race about is their pesto spaghetti! Oh my goodness it is amazing absolutely perfect with a sprinkle of Parmesan it's the one thing I almost always order and never disappoints.

I highly reccomend this restaurant and happily give it 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

The BBC Eat Well Show

As a Christmas pressie from my little boy to his Nanny and Grams,we all had tickets to go to the new BBC Eat Well show. This is a new extension to the BBC Good Food shows and is a nod to all things healthy and good for you! We are a frequent at food shows but this healthy eating one was a first. 

If I'm honest I wasn't overly impressed overall, we had been round all the stalls within an hour and a lot were selling the same things in different packaging! I'm hoping that as its the first one, in time, there will be more variety there or they encorporate it within the normal Good Food show. 

There was lots of protein based things to buy from bars to powders and also lots of superfood powders too. We didn't buy much if I'm honest (I bought a jam and chocolate spread that were practically no sugar for my Lo) and there wasn't a lot of tasters like most of these shows, also no bar! Now I know it was about healthy eating but it was my baby free day and I would at least have liked a glass of wine! 

Overall not bad for the money, £16 each. But I wouldn't return next year. 

Japanese dumplings in broth with pickles and herbs

Lorraine Pascale cooking Brownies

Results of a spiraliser! 

Hi :)

I have decided to start this blog because I have realised I 'eat out' rather a lot! My main problem is that I am vegetarian and a lot of places have very limited choice on what I can order. Also a lot of the time it's very samey. To add to the things I will review, my mum is also veggie but a real pain as she doesn't eat any cheese! She is not a Vegan, she just doesn't like it (strange woman!) and I also have a 1 year old son. So as you can imagine eating out can actually be a bit of a pain. I am based in Southend on Sea in Essex but frequently go to London and other areas.

I will review chain restaurants as well as any hidden gems I find. Sometimes all that's available and close it a Toby Carfery or Harvester!

I also love cooking so will be hopefully reviewing some cookbooks and will let you all in on my foodie adventures :)