Author: Maggie

Smyles’ 5 Ingredient Tomato Soup

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“I’m the first to admit I’m not much of a cook. But since soup mainly involves tossing everything in a pot and waiting, it’s one of my better dishes.” ~ Suzanne Collins ~ There is something about cold, wintery, blustery days that just calls for soup. We have had plenty of them in the last few weeks and soup is indeed my comfort food of choice at the moment. This soup is one of my sister’s. I don’t really deviate in any way from her recipe, until it comes to the toppings. When I did my vegan month, back in November, she suggested this as something that could work quite well during it. And, boy, was she right! In fact, I’d get up early once a week, and make the soup (minus the blending) before I went on my morning walk. At that time, like now, we were in the middle of a national lockdown (and just in case you are reading this in 100 years, it was Covid-19 times!), and I was working from …

New Year’s Eve Sausage Rolls

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“I do adore food. If I have any vice it’s eating. If I was told I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I could put up with sausage and mash forever.“ ~ Colin Baker, The 6th Doctor New Year’s Eve. Either you love it or you hate it. I think I fall into the camp of “hate it”. I’m not sure why but I don’t particularly like it and I’ve never really gotten the whole “party” atmosphere of the holiday. That being said, I do have some treasured memories related to the holiday as a child – going outside with the neighbours and banging pots and pans, hearing the fog horns, being beeped by all the taxis and the excitement of movie nights and that illicit feeling you have as a child staying up way past your bedtime and eating lots of fun food. In my family, we have some weird traditions. One is having an egg flip – my dad would line up the glasses with whisked egg and …

Fiesta Friday #169 Leftover Aubergine Rarebit Wrap

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“How can people say they don’t eat eggplant when God loves the colour and the French love the name? I don’t understand.” ~ Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet Recently, I shared my Aubergine Rarebit recipe, and now I’m sharing a leftover idea. I’ve used this for lunch (and breakfast) quite a bit recently and it’s really tasty. It’s also easy and while it does pack a punch calorie wise (especially on this Blood Sugar Diet), it’s really filling and overall pretty healthy. I really like Tesco’s Caramelised Onion Hummus but you can use whichever one you prefer or leave it out. I’ve used BF’s gluten free wraps as well as their Quinoa and Chia Seed Wrap. The gluten free wrap is 99 calories but the quinoa one is around 110, so if you are calorie counting, it’s something of which you should be aware. Overall, I prefer the Quinoa one – I find the texture of the gluten free one strange. As you all know, avocado is one of my favourite foods and it’s not a stranger to …

In My Kitchen – April 2017

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Well, I didn’t quite make last month but I am excited to share my kitchen with you this month, although it isn’t hugely exciting. Can you believe Easter is only a week away? How did that happen? This time, I know the answer – I’ve had solid work since the end of January. Which is great! Even better, I’ve been cooking and experimenting a little more, thanks to doing Michael Moseley’s 8 week Blood Sugar Diet. Admittedly, not everything is Instagram worthy, nevermind actually sharing the recipe! Anyhoo on to what’s in my kitchen: In my kitchen is this Microplane Spiral Cutter. My sister has a Microplane grater which I love to use at her house so this really caught my eye. I’ve experimented a little but haven’t made anything at all interesting so far. I just love making spirals. I got a gift voucher at Christmas for one of the big departments stores in Dublin and so far this is what I’ve both. I’ve a bit left on the voucher and I hope to …