Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Forest Frolics.

Today has been another beautiful, breathtaking day in Sherwood Forest. The weather has been dry and crisp, whilst the forest bursts with autumnal hues. I went on a walk with my parents this morning and witnessed the mist transcending into the sky whilst hearing the leaves crackle and crunch underfoot. 



Ed and I went mountain biking this afternoon for a couple of hours. It was amazing! I must admit that when I come to a slightly scary spot I do squeal quite a lot, but I was a bit braver today than I was yesterday. It was a lot of fun and I loved seeing parts of the forest I would not have seen otherwise if I had just been on foot. The hot tub was a complete solace for my aching body when I got back to the cabin as well. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week <3
Much Love
Kirst xXx

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Holidaying with Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest.

A few months ago Ed and I went to visit a friend in Sherwood Forest in these beautiful, modernistic log cabins. I totally fell in love with this place and it was top of my list when Ed and I decided we needed to get away from the city for a few days. The first image below is the view out of our cabin's living room, I could look at this view every morning for the rest of my life and I would never get tired of it. It is so beautiful and peaceful here that it is the perfect break to recharge our batteries before the manic Christmas season kicks off.  



We rented some mountain bikes today, this is the first time I have ever been mountain biking. The first bike I was given was a unisex one, it was huge, scary and the breaks were a long way from the handle bars! This bike hated me and I hated it, so I was very pleased to swap it for a ladies mountain bike. I had such a wicked day (once I got the right sized bike) in the gorgeous, sunny, crisp, autumnal air. Now all that is left is to have dinner and lounge in the hot tub with a beer.

Hope you are having an autumnal wonderland <3
Much Love
Kirst xXx 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Food to Cuddle the Soul - Veggie Stroganoff.

This is one of my favourite evening meals to cook at the moment, it's creamy, smokey and because it is the colour of sunshine it will help you banish those winter blues. This food is also kind to your pocket as it will only set you back a healthy £1.25 a portion! Here's how you make it...




Enough for Two Portions.
250g Mushrooms                         -  79p
2 Courgettes                                 - 66.6p
2 Carrots (130g)                        - 10.8p

1 Small Onion (113g)                 - 5.5p
3 Cloves of Garlic - 7.5p

Butter (5g)                                 - 2p

1tbsp (30g) Dijon Mustard - 9.4p  
1tbsp (30g) Ketchup                  - 5.6p
3tbsp (90g) Creme Fraiche       - 33p
1tbsp Gluten Free Flour (15g)   - 2.4p
(Regular flour works also)

Stock Cube                              - 6.5p

1 tsp Smoked Paprika (2.3g) -  4p

100g Brown Rice                     - 17.8

(Prices from Asda last week) 

This Recipe takes around 30mins to cook. 

I came up with this recipe one weekday evening when we had some creme fraiche to use up. The vegetables in this stroganoff are the ones that I usually have lingering in the bottom of the fridge so it is the perfect recipe to use up veg that may have seen better days. The key to making this meal super yummy is the different textures that the vegetables provide, that is why I cut them up in different ways. 

Firstly chop the ends off your courgettes and cut the courgette in half (not lengthways)  then cut them into juliennes that are about 0.5cm thick, quarter the mushrooms and use a potato peeler to peel your carrots into thin slices. Put a pan on a high heat and add the courgettes, don't add any oil at this point, once the cougettes have a little colour on them, remove from the pan and add the mushrooms. Once these have colour remove these from the pan as well. Roughly chop an onion and 3 cloves of garlic and gently fry these in butter for about five minutes on a medium heat, until they are soft and starting to brown. It is important to use butter because it thickens the sauce, if you don't have butter you can thicken it with cornflour later. Next add a heaped tablespoon of flour and stir it around the pan so it absorbs the butter and sticks to the garlic and onions.

Pour 300ml of boiling water over a beef stock cube in a jug (if you are vegetarian you could swap this out with half a tablespoon of marmite... trust me it tastes awesome!). Pour the stock a little at a time over the floury onions over a high heat and stir. You should see the liquid start to thicken. Now add the mustard and the ketchup and stir until the sauce is smooth (this would be the point to add your cornflour if you needed to). Turn the heat to medium and add the courgettes, mushrooms and carrot slices and cook for 5 mins. Then add the creme fraiche and stir, cook this for 10-15mins until the vegetables are cooked but still have some bite. Then all there is to do is to add the smoked paprika and a pinch of salt. 

Serve up with some brown rice and chow down to restore yourself back to your usual sunny vigour.

Much Love
Kirst xXx