Some thoughts, some noodles

Recipe of the week...
... Silky cashew nut noodles

Ingredients: 80g chestnut mushrooms, 10g coriander, 1 red onion, 1 garlic clove, a large glug of soy sauce, 2 wholewheat noodle nests, 60g cashew nuts, 1 courgette, 1 carrot, 1 tablespoon honey, ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes, vegetable oil, olive oil, salt and pepper

Serves: 2 proper platefuls… and a packed lunch for someone to take to work!

Time taken: 45 mins max

Hi readers,

How are you all today? You doing good?

As I write, it’s a Tuesday evening in February. The sun’s been out for most of the day, and I’ve had a good one at work – I got to do some writing today! I survived a laptop drop this morning (as did my laptop) and the resulting soup explosion, too. Although it looks as though I’ll be finding dried soup on the contents of my workbag for quite a while…

But things are good with me. How are things with you lately, readers? How’s Feb shaping up for you?

In truth, things are very good with me right now. In the spirit of writing what you feel… things are sparkly and exciting, readers. Yes – I’m mooning over a boy. It’s been a long time! But here I am, starry eyed. I like a boy and a boy might like me.

Here’s some food for thought, readers. Is happiness your friend?

I’ve been considering this a lot the last few days. Because – and bear with me here – I’m wonderfully happy at the moment! Don’t hate me. It feels like I’ve been given a special jewel, readers, and it’s so hard not to wave this gem around and shout about it from the roof tops and mould myself around the jewel, ready to treasure it forever…

BUT. It’s also like I’ve been given a special jewel that I know will likely be taken away again one day. And I can see friends of mine who’ve just had jewels taken away from them, and they’re really down about that. So, it’s scary to hold it. And scary to feel so up up up… when experience tells me that, one day, I’ll be back down again. As happiness is fleeting.

I know that my friends – however up or down they may be – will always will be there for me and will likely far outlast the happiness. And that it’s terrifically unfair for me to have been given a jewel now when friends have had theirs taken away. And that I should defo keep my jewel on the down low, so it doesn’t hurt any of my friends’ feelings.

BUT. Even if happiness isn’t here to stay. Even if it might be snatched away or could fade at any moment – leaving me empty handed and hunched over, and embarrassed for having worn my jewel on my sleeve for anyone to see – is that any reason to turn away from it? Is there anything I can do, right now, other than feel sparkly and excited, and scared shitless at the same time?

I think that, perhaps, happiness isn’t my friend in the long run. Although, some friendships last the length of a job or a summer or a lottery win – and they’re spectacular! You wouldn’t trade your true friends for them, but you wouldn’t want to be without them either.

So, I think that happiness is a fickle friend. But if you know that, readers. If you keep your real friends in your heart, and make room for your jewel without poking your friends in the process, then hopefully you’ll never be down down down. Because your friends are there for you.

What do you think?

Along with that food for thought… I have a recipe for real food for you, readers! Yay! This recipe is VEGAN, as the boy I’m mooning over is vegan, and I cooked us this meal for dinner recently in a Date Night bid to impress. The recipe is a Gousto one, for silky cashew nut noodles, and you can throw these noodle together in just ten simple steps…

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Recipe: Silky cashew nut noodles

Ingredients: 80g chestnut mushrooms, 10g coriander, 1 red onion, 1 garlic clove, a large glug of soy sauce, 2 wholewheat noodle nests, 60g cashew nuts, 1 courgette, 1 carrot, 1 tablespoon honey, ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes, vegetable oil, olive oil, salt and pepper

1.     Do what you need to do to enjoy your time in the kitchen – pour a drink, open a window, wipe the surfaces, set some music playing in the background…

2.     Heat a large, dry, frying pan or wok over a low heat. Add your cashew nuts and cook for a few minutes until they begin to colour. Then set aside to cool – keep your pan ready for later.

3.     Fill a kettle and set it boiling. While the kettle boils you can begin with veg prep. Top, tail and finely dice the carrot and courgette, then slice your chestnut mushrooms. Peel and finely slice the red onion, and peel and finely chop the clove of garlic.

4.     Once the kettle’s boiled, add the wholewheat noodles to a saucepan along with a pinch of salt, and fill with water. Leave to boil for ten minutes until tender.

5.     While your noodles cook, return the wok to a medium heat with a splash of vegetable oil. Once hot, add the carrot, courgette, onion and mushroom to the pan, along with half of the chopped garlic and half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Not a fan of food that has you fanning your mouth?? Ease off the chili flakes, compadre!

6.     Season the contents of your wok with a pinch of salt and pepper, and keep stirring your veg about the pan every now and then. Cook for 10-15 mins, or until the veg start to caramelise.

7.     While your veg and noodles are cooking, grind ¾ of your cooled cashew nuts using a pestle and mortar. Add your remaining chopped garlic, a tablespoon of honey, 3 tablespoons olive oil, and a large pinch of salt. Then add 3 tablespoons water from your noodle pan and grind this all up into a creamy nut butter.

8.     Once cooked, drain the noodles and rinse briefly under a cold tap. Finely chop a handful of coriander and coarsely chop the remaining cashew nuts.

9.     Once the vegetables seem caramelised (use your best judgement here), then tip the cooked noodles into the wok, along with the cashew nut butter. Add your chopped coriander and a rather large glug of soy sauce, then season generously with salt and pepper. Give everything a good mix together to combine.

10.  Plate up your noodles and garnish with the remaining cashew nuts – then tuck in! Any leftover noodles you can Tupperware for lunch tomorrow.

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What do you think, readers?? Would you give this noodle recipe a try? Does it look like your kind of food? Would you have guessed – looking at the pic – that this meal was a vegan one? Or does it just look like a tasty plateful of food??

In the words of Gousto…

“This is a dairy-free, wholesome vegetable noodle dish where you create your own very ‘on trend’ cashew nut butter. Brimming with vegetables – it feels comforting yet sinless!”

… and I highly recommend! These noodles went well in the kitchen, readers, I had no trouble with the recipe and I’d say they turned out well, tasting great. I wasn’t left craving fish or dairy, I was full, and I enjoyed the food. My date was complimentary of the cooking (I think sincerely!) and he cleared his plate.

So – a success in the kitchen! If you’re looking for a healthy, great tasting tea to try, and if you’re open minded to trying vegan food, and if you’re a fan of a noodle dish – then I recommend. Please let me know, readers, if you give this recipe a go how you get along in the kitchen. And do you like the noodles?? Feedback, please!

And have a fabulous rest of your week everyone. Take care, feel sparkly, embrace happiness…

Grind safely,

Hayley

Autumn Series - Post #8 - Curry recipe and concluding the series

Recipe of the week...
... Tangy tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry
@chefbehere

Ingredients: 1 brown onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon curry powder, 80g baby leaf spinach, 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes, 10g fresh coriander, 4 free-range eggs, 3 tomatoes, 1 vegetable stock cube, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses, 2 mini coriander naans, 100g basmati rice, olive oil, salt and pepper

Time taken: About half an hour

Serves: 2 super filing, super healthy, super tasty portions

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Hi readers,

Are you hanging in there?? It’s Fri-YAY! Well done for making it to the end of the week – high five! Especially if your week has been anything like mine… looooong and tiring. At the end of such a busy week at work it’s lovely to look ahead to the weekend and a glass of wine, seeing friends and family, and sending NO EMAILS whatsoever.

The weekend is an email-free zone
@hayleygeography

How are you doing, readers? Has it been a busy week? What are you looking forward to this weekend? I hope you have lots of funs plans lined up, and potentially some rainy day activities! Don’t let a gloomy weather forecast get you down when there are so many lovely shops and cafes and bars and restaurants to visit, and a wealth of fun films out at the cinemas to go see.

And if you want… as it is the weekend… you could just stay in bed! You heard it here first. Why not, readers? If you feel like getting stuck into a new book, or doing some baking or crafting maybe, or watching a TV series from start to finish, or moving all the furniture around for nooo reason. Then, I say do it. 

Seize the day
@whatsahyphen

 As is customary, let’s talk a little on the topic of food, readers. Following on from my last blog post, in which I tackled the second of three ways we can overcome an emotional eating habit loop, as suggested by Rachel at re:wellbeing…

1.     Address the cues

2.     Increase wellbeing

3.     Change the behaviour

… this past week, I’ve been thinking through Rachel’s ideas on ways we can change the behaviour. So, what do I mean by this? Well – say you’re having a bad time with life today and it’s happening, you feel yourself suddenly compelled to open the food cupboards and rifle through – it’s important to try and recognise as early as possible that these food cravings you’re feeling link with your emotions.

If you can, try and identify how you feel different leading up to an episode of emotional eating, versus a normal meal, and be on alert for these signs. So, say you’ve got this down to a tee, your spidey sense are tingling and you realise what’s about to happen… then what do you do?

What to do
@besser_nord_als_nie

What should you do to stop it? What do you do instead of eating? Sadly – according to Rachel and I think I agree – there’s no simple answer. It’s something you have to figure out for yourself. Which I know sounds RUBBISH. But, as Rachel points out, things are generally more effective when they come from you. If someone tells you what to do, you might go along with it, but if the feeling comes from your gut then you’re more likely to follow through.

Think of possible behaviours to replace eating. To be effective, replacement behaviours have to meet your needs, or solve an issue that’s causing you to feel emotional and want to eat. And different replacement behaviours might be more or less effective in different situations, depending on how well they meet your needs. Once you recognise the signs of an emotional eating episode coming on, then it’s up to you to decide which alternative action you should take instead of eating.

There's always another option
@johnvellema

What do you think, readers? Perhaps, have a go at making a plan. Get specific about each need you think you’re sometimes trying to fulfil by eating. Do you want comforting? Are you trying to release frustration? Do you wish you had company? Are you feeling down and in need of cheering up?

When making a plan to change your behaviour, it's important to link the new behaviour to the emotional need that you are trying to satisfy and/or the situation you might be in when you perform the behaviour. Perhaps use the following formats:

- IF I FEEL (emotion) THEN I WILL (new behaviour)

- or IF I ENCOUNTER (trigger) THEN I WILL (new behaviour)

Then, readers, act on your new plans. Remember to act with the intention that the behaviour will fulfil your needs – you have to believe in it, just going through the motions isn’t likely to be effective. Then, maybe evaluate your progress after a couple of weeks of trying the new behaviours. How’s it gone? What’s gone well so far? Try to recall some little (or big) victories and give yourself a pat for achieving these. If your plans worked then your challenge is to repeat them for another week. 

You can do it!
@j.oleskow

Remember, readers, don't be hard on yourself if you did end up eating. Maybe you’ve identified some plans that didn't work? Or were there any plans you didn’t stick to? If not, why not? If it came down to remembering your plans in time – how can you make sure that you don't forget to follow the plan? Or maybe you’ve identified a new cue that you weren't aware of before, but you see now it’s keeping you stuck in the emotional eating habit loop?

However you get along, readers, hopefully all this has been good food for thought for you. I hope you’ve been interested to read this series of blog posts on the emotional eating habit loop. I certainly have found it really interesting to think through and to write these posts! I feel like the program with Rachel at re:wellbeing has given me some fresh understanding of myself, my thought processes relating to food, and the factors influencing my eating behaviour during emotional times. I’m grateful to have given this a go and intend keep it up.

Always grateful
@wild_and_wandering_

I’ll come back to Rachel’s ideas, and a short bed time yoga practice encouraged as part of the re:wellbeing program, if ever I catch myself walking down a bad path with food. I’ve taken away from this experience a lot of insight into how an emotional eating habit loop can work and how it can be prevented. Also, the importance of looking after your own wellbeing. If ever I feel myself reaching for food to deal my emotions, I’ll hopefully remember that this too can be overcome.

And NOW I have our recipe of the week for you, readers. Here’s a cracking Gousto recipe, for a Tangy Tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry that you might enjoy over the weekend. Give it a go! Here’s the recipe, in just 10 simple steps…

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Recipe: Tangy Tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry

1.     Clear your mind and look forwards to the evening ahead – let’s make it a good one. Set some calming music playing quietly in the background, stretch your arms out – as high and as wide as they’ll possibly go! And further! – then gather your ingredients together on the kitchen counter.

2.     Set the kettle boiling and gently rest your eggs in a small saucepan along with a pinch of salt. Add your basmati rice to a second saucepan – make sure this one has a lid.

3.     Add 250ml cold water to this saucepan, put on the lid and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover the eggs in the first pan with boiled water and boil over a high heat. Once your rice pan is boiling, reduce the heat to very low and then leave both pans to cook for the next ten minutes.

4.     Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the brown onion. Heat a large non-stick frying pan or wok over a medium heat with a drizzle of cooking oil. Once hot, add the sliced onion with a pinch of salt and cook for ten minutes or until softened.

5.     While your onion sizzles, there’s time to get a little prep done. Set the kettle boiling again and chop the tomatoes roughly. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Add the vegetable stock cube, tomato paste, pomegranate molasses and 1 teaspoon sugar to a measuring jug. Dissolve in 250ml boiled water – this is your pomegranate stock.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Keep an eye on the contents of your two saucepans. Once ten minutes is up, drain the hot water from the egg pan and refill with cold tap water. Set aside to cool. In the second pan, once all the water has absorbed and the rice is cooked, remove from the heat and keep covered with the lid on the pan until serving. Turn both hobs off.

6.     Once the onion has softened in your frying pan, add the cumin seeds, curry powder, chilli flakes, and chopped garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Pop two dinner plates in the oven and heat the oven to 200C.

7.     Add the chopped tomatoes, pomegranate stock, and spinach to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 or so minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened to a curry-like consistency.

8.     Meanwhile, peel the cooled eggs and cut them in half. Chop the coriander finely including the stalks. Remove the lid from your rice pan and use a fork to fluff the rice and stir through the chopped coriander.

9.     Pop your mini coriander naans on a baking tray. Using oven gloves to protect your hands, carefully remove the two dinner plates from the oven and pop your naans in to warm for a few minutes.

10.  Serve the coriander rice between two dinner plates. Spoon your tomato and pomegranate curry out onto the plates and top each plateful of curry with some boiled egg. Serve with a mini coriander naan on the side – and tuck in to a fiery tea!

What a wonderful bowlful of grub 😀
@chefbehere

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In the words of Gousto…

“This curry combines boiled eggs with a sweet and sour sauce made with fresh tomatoes, baby leaf spinach and pomegranate molasses. Cumin seeds and curry powder bring an earthiness to the sauce, whilst chilli flakes add a subtle kick. Served with coriander rice and a mini naan to dip into the sauce!”

What do you think, readers? Are you open minded enough to give an egg curry a go? Does this look like the kind of food that just might rock your world?? Let me know what you think! There’s just one fiddly ingredient in this recipe – I’m looking at you… pomegranate molasses – and you only need spend half an hour of your evening in the kitchen.

Spend the rest having fun!
@mette_mie_

And, in my eyes, this is a pretty healthy curry. You have egg, you have spinach, you have rice… lots of healthy, energy-packed ingredients! Shout out, readers, what are you thinking? Would you take this recipe on? And – if you do give it a go – please let me know how you get on in the kitchen! Was the recipe straightforward to follow? Did you like the food?

Whether or not there’s a Tangy Tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry on the horizon… here’s wishing you all a wonderful weekend, readers. Have a cracking couple of days!

Fluff safely,

Hayley

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An informative footer

I’d like to note, the above is part of a series of posts that I’m currently having fun writing, while undertaking a fresh start with food. Food bloggers can’t admit they got bored with food, you say? Well, I beg to differ! In August 2017, I made two wonderful decisions; I signed up for Gousto – a food delivery company who send recipes and ingredients in the post – and I began a health & wellness program to transform my food habits, with Rachel of re:Wellbeing. In this blog post, and others like it, I share one of the wonderful recipe that I’m taking on, and an idea that I’m exploring as part of this fresh start.

If you would like to find out more about Gousto, please visit https://www.gousto.co.uk/

(I have a sneaky discount code! If you’re new to Gousto, then click HERE for 50% off your first 2 boxes and I’ll get a discount too for referring you… so errrrybody wins)

And, if you would like to learn more about re:Wellbeing, then visit https://www.rewellbeing.com/