Thai Chicken Curry with Cauliflower Rice with TOTAL Greek Yoghurt

I heard on the radio the other day that it is estimated that most people have 8 recipes that they use to get them through the week.  I often feel so tired of the usual suspects, working out what to pair with potato, pasta or rice.  So it's nice to do something a bit different, and add something delicious to the usual repertoire.

A few weeks ago I spotted a lovely Thai Red Curry recipe on the TOTAL Greek Yogurt website and asked if I showcase it here.  I was sent the ingredients on Friday and couldn't wait to make it for you all.  This is just one of a thousand new recipes and usage suggestions.  You can find out more their website

Ingredients:

• 100g TOTAL Greek Yoghurt 
• 30g creamed coconut
• 100ml boiling water
• 1tbsp coconut oil
• 150g thinly sliced chicken (aprox 2 chicken breasts) (or tofu)
• Thai curry paste, to taste (I used 2 tbsp for baby 3 for us)
• 2-3 peppers, chopped in to strips
• 2 x handfulls mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup of green beans
• 1/2 cup of mangetout
• 50g cauliflower, grated

Directions:

1. Boil 100ml of water in a smal saucepan and add the creamed coconut until it had softened.
2. In a frying pan or wok, heat the coconut oil and add the chicken. Lightly fry until cooked through.
3. Add the creamed coconut and water mixture to the chicken,  then add the yoghurt, Thai paste, mixed peppers, mushrooms, mangetout  & green beans.
4. Simmer on a medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring every so often. Add more water if you prefer a runnier curry.  I added a bit more yoghurt to make it nice and creamy with a thicker sauce.
5. Grate the cauliflower using a cheese grater, knife or food processor, until it resembles rice.
6. Place the cauliflower in a microwavable bowl and cover with cling film. Poke holes in the cling film. It is important to NOT add water. Microwave on full blast for 4 - 5minutes until soft.
7. Serve the cauliflower with the curry and tuck in!

I have to say this dish was really delicious and Nye really liked it too.  He had a good suck on the peppers and managed to get through several pieces of chicken.  I didnt add any seasoning but it was really full of flavour.  The thing that really surprised me was the cauliflower 'rice'. It was so quick and easy  but I worried the strong flavour and smell of cauliflower would overpower everything else.  In the end it added a lovely sweetness to the spicy curry.  I can't help but marvel at what an amazing alternative to rice it is.

I would usually have made this kind of recipe with coconut milk which I don't often have in the fridge so it is fantastic to realise that I can make this with yogurt  and use the coconut oil to give it that nutty taste.

Many thanks to Total Greek Yoghurt for letting me share this recipe and for providing me with all the ingredients to do so.  We've been at a wedding all weekend and I couldn't wait to get home and finish off the leftovers!

This recipe is one of many others being profiled on blogs across the interweb, see if you can find them all and you can win a fantastic prize.  Find all 30 recipes posted across the blogospher and you can win Paul Merrett's list of essential kitchen equipment. The lucky winner will get this amazing wish list including the very best cookware worth more than £800.  For more information you can visit their website or their brand new Facebook app, so you don’t even have to leave Facebook to get inspiration for dinner ‐

Stylish Sunday

I'm probably exaggerating but it getting COLD out there.  Indian summer I think not, it may be sunny but it is bitterly cold in the shade.  Or at least the winds are here in Norfolk at the moment, as I blog from my mums computer, ready for my dearest friend Abi's wedding tomorrow *EEEEK, EXCITING*

This weather has me dreaming of cosy coats. So here we have something that will never suit me or my purse strings but it is rather gorgeous!

Quilted Trench Coat - £119 @ Zara

Learning to Crochet - Beginners Guide Digest

I recently learnt to crochet thanks to the goodness of youtube / pinterest and a wonderful friend called Jess.  It was something that took time, patience and persistence.  It probably sounds silly, but I was so proud of myself once I finally cracked it.

I'm still a serious novice, I can only do a few stitches but the ones I can do I can do relatively well.  The first thing I made and finished was a little blanket for Nye and I'm now making another slightly bigger one.   There are so many how to videos and tutorials online but I thought I would post up which ones I personally found helpful.

So, the first thing I did was buy some wool and then some crochet hooks.  I got the wool from Hobbycraft and the crochet hooks on ebay.  I had no idea about the different sizes and managed to buy an entire set for about £3.00 just by searching 'Crochet Hook.'  Now I find I tend to use the 4.00 4.5 and 5.00 (they are marked on the side of the hooks)

Since my initial wool buying I have purchased all my wool off ebay.  As a beginner my friend told me that the wool that multicoloured is good because it means you don't have to change between wool's to get a good pattern.  This was a great tip!  Wool brands also do special baby wool which is really soft, so that's another thing to take into consideration as well as thinking about whether the wool is easy to wash (definitely a necessity for a baby blanket!)

So, to begin with I had to learn to do a slip knot which attaches the wool to the hook.  I'm going to be honest with you, it took me several attempts over multiple days to even learn to do this!  But, once I had tried over and over again I did get the hang of it and it is easy (once you know how!)  It took me some time to work out how to even hold the hook but to be honest, finding something comfortable comes with time.

Here are some picture guides on how to gold the wool and the crochet hook 

This is the first video I used to help me.

Now, I like you may be, was very eager to get going but the best thing I learnt from my friend Jess was to practice doing a single chain stitch over and over and over again. I did this for days.  I felt like a petulant child wanting to move on but it was wroth while because it got my hands used to the movement of doing loop after loop. So, persist until you feel like you could do it with your eyes shut!

At this point it is probably useful to know that some US & UK crochet terminology is different.  So if and when you want to make something and they start talking about double crochet (dc) for example, this could mean two different things!

Here is a chart for future reference but you probably won't need this yet.

Taken from  http://musingsofacraftymind.blogspot.com.au/

So, now you can do the slip knot and the chains, I used this follow on video to start making my first ever blanket.

At this point, I still didn't really understand the terminology and had to stop and rewind the video about 15 times to catch on as she did each new stitch.  But once you start, you gradually learn what she's on about.  And once you know how to do a square, you're off.  Normally granny squares are sewn together to make a blanket but, as a beginner, I decided to just keep making the square bigger and bigger until it was the size of a blanket!

Then came the difficult bit, learning how to finish the blanket off with a new stitch *scary* But the instructions on Attic24 are amazing.  Here's the tutorial for doing the edging.

Attic24 Granny Blanket Edging

Here is a picture of the first blanket I made which Nye now goes to bed with every night.

So, I'm now on my second blanket, here's it's progress so far.

I plan to do a few more rows around the edge and then I will finish the edging using the tutorial above.  I've set myself Friday as my deadline as I'd like it done before we head off to Norfolk for my friends wedding. 

Stylish Sunday

I am busy sulking over here as I was outbid at the last moment on what I believed would be the answer to all my sewing cupboard problems. *sigh* Damn you, whoever outbid me at the last 2seconds. Booooo

This is SO me right now!

Anyway, this week, let's have something a bit different.  A bit of style for any baby girls in your life! And there are even directions on how to make here.

I am so in love with that turban and the crossover at the back = AMAZING!

And for us ladies...  Let's be honest I do not have £160 odd to spend on a bolero but if I did this looks SO cosy.  Maybe it would be great for a winter wedding.

Summer Splashing

Neil is back at school but we're reunited for the weekend! Here's what we've been up to!

It seems to be the simple things that Nye loves the most.  Splashing in water, banging on empty containers and screwing up paper into balls.  He's also a big fan of strawberry's and when I saw these mini ones a the market today I thought they were perfect size for him to gobble down.

That said, he has been a little terror recently. I am hoping it is a growth spurt/stage/teething.  Last night he was up all night on and off, worse than I can remember it ever being.  But that was just one bad night in a long list of others.  He hasn't slept through for weeks after he was doing so amazingly.  We think he has a bit of a cold and perhaps a soar throat which explains last nights antics.  He's had more milk than usual today so that might support that theory and we've given him some ibuprofen to help with his teeth.  So far so good this evening, he's been down since 6.30, fed and went straight down in his cot without a grumble bless him.  Fingers crossed Nye, for your sake and ours.

Blackberry and Chocolate Cupcakes

I had a cake craving and there was not much in the house apart from a few pilfered blackberry's from a bush in the park and a tub of coco powder.  They collided and a match made in heaven was born!

I can't actually believe how good these taste, especially since I just threw them together so they were in the oven by the time we sat down to eat dinner.  As they were quite literally thrown together, these are the weights, I think I put together as I didn't use any scales or measurements.

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 150g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 150g sugar
• 150g margarine (I used olive oil spread)
• 2 eggs
• 2 hand fulls of blackberry's

I first sieved all the dry ingredients together then I added the margarine and eggs and stirred until incorporated.    Once the mixture came together, I put 1 tbsp of mixture into a cupcake case and then pushed in 2-3 blackberry's into each case.

These took about 15minutes to cook at 180 degrees C and the mixture made about 18 small cupcakes.

I then iced them using a simple butter icing which I coloured with lavender food colouring.  To finish them off I swirled in some Cadburys chocolate Philidelphia spread and added some chocolate stars I had lying around.  Even neil, who is a new convert to any kind of fruit, loved these.  They kind of taste like chocolate goodness with little bits of fruity jam bursting in your mouth.

Stylish Sunday

A cute summery dress for a bargain price. It makes me thinks of picnics in the park with a nice shawl to wrap around in case it gets chilly. Lovely.

Floral Stripe Dress @ ASOS