Fish is The Dish sets a Challenge

Fish is the Dish has come up with a challenge for individuals as well as families. Omega3 is essential for our bodies especially for brain development. It's what helps us learn new things and remember them.

Most people don't have enough Omega3 in their diets and one of the easiest way to get more is by eating more fish.  Just two fish meals per week should give you the minimum amount of Omega3 in your system.

Fish is the Dish has sent me a consignment of fish from Delish Fish and challenged me to make two fish meals per week for six weeks and to see if Mr R and I notice any difference in our energy levels and general well being.

 

For the first of my two meals this week I made a Japanese marinated Black Cod. This is a recipe that I learned when I attended Yuki's Kitchen at the beginning of March.  I marinated the cod in a mixture of typical Jamapese ingredients including miso paste and sake.  Because Yuki has a cook book coming out in June she has asked me not to put the recipe on my blog at this point and I will respect that.

I marinated the cod in a zip lock bag for most of the day and then cooked it in the oven for about 10 minutes. It tasted exotic and full of Japanese flavours.  Mr R was impressed for sure!

 

For my second meal this week I chose Wild Hake.  I scored the filets, seasoned with a drizzle of sunflower oil, salt & pepper, and a combination of dried herbs my sister sent me from North Carolina.

I pan fried the fish in a hot griddle pan skin side down until the transluscent fish was turning opaque about half way up the fillet then I turned them over and continued to cook for 3-4 more minutes.

 

 

 

 I served the fish on a bed of puree made from a tin of chick peas, Total Greek Yogurt, garlic, lemon rind and juice, fresh corriander, salt & pepper and the spice mix from North Carolina. I mixed this all up in my Vitamix blender.

And the finished dinner got a round of applause from Mr R!

1000 Ways to Love Your Total Greek Yoghurt - Part 1

Total Greek Yoghurt has a new campaign designed to inform readers about the 1000 new recipes and ways to use and love their yoghurt.  Based on this campaign they invited a group of food bloggers up to London for a day cooking recipes using Total Greek Yoghurt under the guidance of Chef Paul Merrett. We arrived at La Cucina Caldesi off Marlebone Lane,

When I arrived Paul Merrett came over and said hello right away (unlike some celeb chefs who pretty much keep to themselves!) and he was very warm and welcoming and gave us a quick run down of the session and off we wsent to settle in at out workstation.

Chef Paul Merrett gave us a quick idea of the agenda for the session

Finishing touches on the panna cotta

As soon as we arrived we were given a quick snack of Panna Cotta made with Total Greek Yoghurt (TGY) which was absolutely devine.  I am not a breakfast eater as a general rule so this was a very welcome offering mid-morning.

Greek Yoghurt and Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberries

We were split into groups and told that we would be cooking the lunch of three courses.  First of all we prepared and made the Semolina Sponge Cake with Almonds, Hazelnuts, Greek Yoghurt and Honey. We prepared the cake first because it would take about 1 hour to bake and we could get on with other preparations in the meantime.

Ready to go in the oven

All four groups baked their cakes together

A few minutes to cool then pour over the syrup

Ready to serve

Just checking the middle is cooked

Served with a drizzle of honey and a dollop of yoghurt

Midnight Snack

Time for a midnight snack. I know it's going to be a Total Greek Yoghurt duo pot but which flavour to pick? 

I think it really has to be the greek honey! 

Yummm yummm that hit the spot.

Think I will go to bed now, night night!

Yeo Valley Visit - Blogger Day

I was recently lucky enough to be invited by Yeo Valley Yoghurt to visit their gardens and farm in Somerset for the day.  That's a long way to go for a day so I thought I could take the train.  To get the train and be in Somerset for 10:00 am I would have to leave St Albans station about 06:30 am and change up to three times in London.  Liking my sleep as I do that plan didn't exactly appeal (up at 06:00 for Barbados but for yoghurt - perhaps not).  Mr R has a cousin who lives in Somerset and as it turns out only about 20 minutes from the Yeo Valley farm which presented an ideal opportunity to drive down the night before, stay over and have a good visit with family.

Boy do you get a lot of more house in Somerset than you do in St Albans!

Mr R's cousin in her beautiful kitchen

I left the house about 09:20 and a quick trip straight up Cheddar Gorge (!!) I arrived at Yeo Valley Farm and was greeted warmly with coffee and handmade cookies.

Gilded garden knomes make a unique frame!

As soon as everyone had arrived we got a quick talk about Yeo Valley and an outline of the day before we went off with the head gardener for an extensive tour of the gardens and grounds.  The scenery was majestic with lovely verdant green fields everywhere we looked. 

The view from the visitor refreshment centre

We even met 'the girls' who make the lovely milk that is made into the lush yogurts and rice puddings and all their other creamy products.

When we got back from the grounds tour there was a yoghurt tasting session by Ben (in charge of marketing and more - as this is a small family business everyone does their job and whatever else needs to be done!) giving us the chance to sample all the flavours of yoghurt including Raspberry and Passion Fruit, rhubarb, Blueberry, Lemon Curd and loads more and small pots of greek yoghurt with honey and rice puddings. 

Ben showed us how to taste the yoghurt hygienically

Then we were let loose to try all the flavours and varieties

Chef Jamie showed us some great recipes featuring yogurt, cream, milk etc like a homemade ricotta cheese that is simple to make and ultra useful in tarts and more.  We watched as trout fillets were tea smoked in a homemade smoker and sourdough bread was made. 

As soon as the cookery demonstration was over we sat down to a sumptuous lunch of tomato salad, mixed greens (all from the property) tea smoked lake trout, ricotta and spinach tart, sourdough bread,

and for dessert a simple yoghurt based cheesecake - absolutely yummm.

Easy cheesecakes in jars perfect for a pic-nic

A further talk about the kitchen garden,

including the perfect compost

followed by a cup of tea and then it was time to wend our way home.  I would have liked to spend a couple more days there but instead started the long 3 hour drive home.  The plus point being the very generous goodie bag we were given filled with all flavours of yoghurts.

A sample of the yoghurt we were given to take home

I look forward to visiting Yeo Valley Yoghurts again soon!

Total Greek Yoghurt

I was luck enough to be invited to a Total Greek Yoghurt ‘I Love My Lunchbox’ event recently and got some generous samples to take home and try.  Following on from that event Total Greek Yoghurt sent me a selection of their duo pots (plain yoghurt in the main part and a fruit compote or honey in the small attached part of the pot) to review.

Years ago I thought plain yoghurt was just for eating if you were on a weight loss diet and was about as exciting!  More recently I discovered Greek style yoghurt (I have not been to Greece yet but hope to one day) and the taste and creaminess was nothing like the yoghurt of my youth.

These days it is unusual for me not to have Greek style yoghurt in the fridge and it seems appropriate that a good tablespoon or two gets into a large proportion of the food I prepare.

When the samples arrived from Total Greek Yoghurt (TGY) the first thing I did was try each flavour.  They sent me Honey, Blueberry, Strawberry and Tropical Fruits.  My favourite is definitely the plain yoghurt with honey.  The quality of the honey is extremely good and mixes with the plain yoghurt to produce a creamy, rich, luscious dessert. 

Recently when I made a cake with this flavour it brought to mind middle eastern images so I added pistachio nuts and chopped dates.  The recipe for this cake is:

Ingredients:

100g Self Raising flour

100g Castor sugar

100g Unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 pot TGY Greek yogurt with honey duo pot

100g chopped dates

50g chopped pistachio nuts

3 Tbsp Demerara sugar for topping

Method:

• Grease and line a 20cm square baking pan.
• Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy (I used the new Russell Hobs hand mixer that I received to review – this will be a further post to watch out for)
• Add the eggs and a little bit of the flour to stop the eggs curdling.
• Add the contents of the duo pot of yoghurt, the chopped nuts and the chopped dates (it is a good trick to coat the dates in a little of the flour to stop them sticking together and to stop them falling to the bottom of the cake)
• Mix well together and pour into prepared baking pan.
• Sprinkle a little golden Demerara sugar over the top of the cake which will add a crunch to the finished cake.
• Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes till the top is golden brown and a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.
• Cool completely, cut into squares and serve sprinkled with icing sugar on top and a little frozen Total Greek Yogurt on the side.

This cake did not last long in our house!

The next TGY duo pot I tried was the Blueberry.  I was visiting my daughter and decided to bake blueberry muffins with my two year old grandson Logan helping me!  I weighed out the ingredients but let Logan put them into the bowl and help with the mixing.  I did however have to explain that we do not put the whole egg, shell and all into the mix, and that we need to open the egg first!  He got that OK and cracked the second egg on the counter top!

We followed the recipe I got from the ‘I Love My Lunchbox’ event which was demonstrated by Nick Coffer aka ‘My Daddy Cooks’.  This is a simple recipe and a very good one to make with the children or grandchildren as the exact quantities are not so important.  The Greek yoghurt gives the muffins a light effect and you can add fresh or frozen blueberries if you like as well.

Whilst I liked the Strawberry flavour duo pot my least favourite was the Tropical Fruits.  I could not really identify which fruits were used when I tasted it but perhaps it would come into its own if you were to bake with it and add some tropical extras to the mix.

There are so many ways you can use Greek style yoghurt and here are just a couple of my favourites:-

• mix in the fruit/honey pot, stir then pour over breakfast cereal or fresh fruit.  The strawberry duo pot is excellent poured over fresh, sliced strawberries and raspberries.  The tropical fruit or honey duo pots work well mixed together and poured over kiwi fruit and passion fruit mixed or sliced bananas.
• I made potato salad and for the dressing to pour over the cold potatoes I mixed 3 Tbsp mayonnaise, 3 Tbsp plain Total Greek Yoghurt, My Secret Kitchen (Heidi’s Secret Kitchen Facebook page or www.mysecretkitchen.co.uk ) Lemon Chipolte Sea Salt, 2 garlic cloves crushed (www.pamperedchef.biz/partieswithHeidi), 2 tsp creamed horseradish or wasabe and 2-3 Tbsp My Secret Kitchen Thai Dressing with Kaffir Limes.  I mixed this through the potatoes and added chopped chives.  Lovely!

Keep checking back to this blog to see what I do with the plain yoghurt from Total Greek Yoghurt.

If you like reading my blogs please follow me and tell your friends to have a look too.  Look out for my competition coming soon!!

I Love My Lunchbox –Total Greek Yogurt Event

Sunday 28^th of August (Bank Holiday Weekend) my friend Mandy and I caught a train from home to London Bridge and following a leasurely stroll down Tooley Street we arrived at Potter’s Fields a lovely park within sight of Tower Bridge to attend the Total Greek Yogurt ‘I love my Lunchbox’ event hosted by Nick Coffers accompanied by his young son Archie  (www.mydaddycooks.com ) and Total Greek Yogurt (www.totallygreekyogury.com )

I had won tickets to this event and wasn’t exactly sure what to expect . When we got to Potter’s Fields we saw a large white marquee and milling about inside a gated area was a very tall Zebra and Cow.  They were greeting everyone as they came in and dancing with the children and hugging the parents.  A very warm welcome indeed.

I introduced myself to Nick Coffer who was presenting the event and demonstrating recipes using the Total Greek Yogurt to make lunchboxes more healthy in the run up to ‘Back to School’ this week. Nick put everyone at ease as we waited for the demos to start.

To get us into the festive mood we were entertained by ‘The Yummettes’, three lovely young ladies who treated us to some well known post war hits.  They were true professionals even when the children took to the stage and wanted to help them perform.  They welcomed them all to their performance.

Nick and his young son Archie demonstrated how to make yummy blueberry muffins, savoury spinach-feta-bacon muffins, savoury filo pastry triangles and several more recipes using the yogurt as a main and important ingredient.  The yogurt helps to keep the recipes lighter and healthier and cuts down on the need to add sugar.  Archie kept the audience amused with his own take on grating cheese and adding ingredients into his dad’s recipes.  Nick stayed calm and pointed out these recipes were quick and easy and not amount critical so if a bit got spilled or missed the bowl it didn’t matter.

After Nick was finished the behind the scenes team brought out lots of food for us to try that Nick had quickly demonstrated.  There were also six work stations set up, each with everything you needed to make a different one of the recipes so guests could try them out themselves and see how easy they were – encouraging everyone to plan to make them at home for the family.

When we were ready to leave we were given a ‘goodie bag’ – a Total Greek Yogurt branded cool bag with samples of the plain, 0.2%, plain with honey and plain with blueberry compote yogurts that had featured during the event, a gel pack to freeze to keep your lunch cool and all the recipes from the event.

It was a lovely day with views of the Thames, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, HMS Belfast and loads more London landmarks and as I travelled home on public transport I was glad I had entered the competition and won the tickets.

Some Lunch Box Tips from Totally Greek Yogurt:-

1.       Include starchy food for energy & concentration – keep it varied by trying sandwiches, wraps, pasta, bagels etc.

2.       Add protein to help keeps kids fuller for longer – try egg, cheese, tuna, ham and beans

3.       Finger food is always good so slice up raw veggies and pack a portion of dip – try yogurt dip or hummus.

4.       Do small varieties for small hands like mini muffins.

5.       Don’t forget a sheet of kitchen roll for messy fingers.

6.       To keep food cool, freeze the drinks bottle or carton which will act as an ice block throughout the morning.

7.       Pack a note for your child or partner to read.  It could contain a picture like a smiley face or simply write ‘I love you’.

Here is one of the recipes Nick Coffer made with the help of his son Archie, at the event,

Blueberry muffins:-

If you have a few fresh blueberries to hand, feel free to throw them into the mix as well.

Prep time:- 5-10 mins

Coking time:- 25-30 mins

You will need:

2 pots TOTAL 0% Greek Yogurt with Blueberry

250g self-raising flour

120g caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 large eggs

3 Tbsp mild

6 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Mix together the dry ingredients – the flour, sugar and baking powder

In a separate bowl mix the egg, Greek yogurt, the blueberry ‘compote’ from the pots of yogurt, the milk and vegetable oil.

Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  You don’t want to over mix or your muffins may be a bit heavy.

Grease your muffin tins and fill each mould to just below the top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the muffins have risen and are golden.  Leave to cool a little before removing from the tins.  They should keep for 2 days in an airtight container.

Makes 10-12 muffins depending on the size of your muffin tin or approximately 24 mini muffins.

Peanut Butter & Yogurt Dip

This dip takes no time to prepare and you could use crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth for a different texture.

Prep time – 5 mins

You will need:-

3 Tbsp TOTAL Greek Yogurt

2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter

A sprinkle of ground cinnamon

A drizzle of honey

Slices of fresh fruit to serve

Method:-

Mix the yogurt, peanut butter and honey together in a bowl.

Top with ground cinnamon and serve it with the fruit slices to dip.

Other recipes were Chocolate Mousse, Spinach and Cheddar Muffins, Feta, Bacon & Greek yogurt Filo Triangles, Lamb Gyro with Tzatziki, Red Berry Smoothie, Roasted Vegetables, Bacon and Pasta Salad and Marinated Chicken Wings.  If you would like to try any of these let me know and I will include them in another post.