Chocolate and pear scones

I absolutely love scones. I think they are one of the most underrated baked good around, people's opinions blighted by memories of rock hard scones brought back from cookery class, or those horrible chalky crumbly things, punctuated with bright red glace cherries (not that I don't love glace cherries!). Last weekend in Greenwich, Harry and I had wonderful afternoon tea at the Fan Museum, with excellent small, warm scones. The weekend before we had an absolute behemoth of a scone from Euphorium bakery, with a inch of clotted cream slavered on top.

So gor those of you not dieting, this recipe is for you! I realise that I've only really posted low calorie recipes recently, so here is one without a calorie count, one to just enjoy.

The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, whose blog is far more eloquent and photogenic than mine. Nevertheless, I've got a couple of photos to show you and I made a few changes to the recipe. I also didn't use a dough hook to do the mixing, doing everything by hand instead, and it worked out absolutely fine.

Chocolate and pear scones

Ingredients

3 small pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks*
140g dark chocolate, cut into chunks
290g plain flour
75g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt, plus a little more for the egg wash
125g cold butter, cut into chunks
90ml double cream
2 medium eggs


*I actually only had 2 pears so I substituted a small apple instead

1. Put the pears on a baking tray lined with parchment and roast at about 180 degrees (fan) for 15 mins or so, until the pears are starting to brown.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl and give a quick mix with a spoon. Add in the butter, one egg, and cream. Mix a little with the wooden spoon. You'll find that it very quickly becomes difficult to stir the mixture. At this point, get your hands in, and start rubbing the butter into the flour, moving it around, kneading it, until it's starting to look uniform.

3. Add the pear chunks and chocolate and knead some more till you have a relatively homogeneous mixture.

4. Flour your work surface and tip the dough out. It will be a little sticky, but not inordinately so. Work the dough into a sheet about 4cm thick. You don't need to use a rolling pin, you should be able to shape it with your hands.

5. Using a cutter (or your hands), cut the scones out. I made  9, plus a small one of scraps. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment.

6. Using the other egg, add to a bowl along with 1tsp water and a pinch of salt. Whisk together with a fork until it's relatively uniform. Brush the scones (I used a pastry brush) all over the top and sides.

7. Bake in an oven at about 190 degrees (fan) for about 30 minutes. They should be golden brown.

8. Leave to cool and then eat. Or eat while still hot and the chocolate is all melty...

10 minute dinner

I got back from a weekend in Cambridge this afternoon, and having eaten lots of delicious (but unhealthy) food, I was desperate for something tasty, but quick. Usually I'm happy to spend a while preparing food, but as I'd spent the previous hour making scones - not really in keeping with being healthy! - I couldn't be bothered to slave over my dinner.

This is the concoction I came up with, something that is inspired by various recipes and ideas, but not enough to really attribute it to anyone else. It also has the benefit of being very low calorie.

Grilled field mushrooms with green crush

Ingredients
2 large flat field mushrooms
1 egg
100g frozen peas
50g frozen broad beans
small handful spinach
1 stock cube
1 tablespoon creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste

1. Turn the grill on high and put the mushrooms on a baking tray. Place under the grill for about 10 minutes.

2. Boil the kettle. Put your peas and broad beans in a pan with the stock cube and add the boiling water. Cook for a few minutes or until cooked.

3. Put the spinach in a sieve / colander and drain the peas and beans in the same colander. This way, the hot stock cooks the spinach.

4. Poach the egg as you like.

5. Add a tablespoon of creme fraiche to the pan you cooked the peas in, and add the drained vegetables. Whizz with the blender to get a green paste, as chunky as you want.

6. Place the cooked mushrooms, flat side up, on a plate. Top each with the green crush and add the poached egg. Season with salt and pepper.

I estimate the calorie count for this to be 238 calories, so ideal for a fast day for those of you on the 5:2 diet.

Mushrooms - 30 calories
Peas - 68 calories
Broad beans - 40 calories
Egg - 65 calories
Creme fraiche (half fat) - 35 calories

Money can buy happiness (probably)

This blog has been a bit food-heavy recently, reflecting my new year's resolutions to lose weight, and also spend less money! Whoever it was that said "money doesn't bring happiness" obviously wasn't into material goods anywhere near as much as me.

However, a girl can dream, and if I had to pick my top new season buys, these would be it.

Unfortunately I highly doubt any of these will be becoming mine any time soon, except maybe the blouse, but who knows, I must be due a lottery win soon...

French women don't get fat?

I think I mentioned previously that I received the "French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook" by Mireille Guiliano for Christmas. Although I'm following the 5:2 diet, I'm still trying to eat healthy on my days off - which is where this book comes in.

The premise of the book, to me, is all about portion control. Learn to control your portions, slow down your eating and enjoy your food. I also like the idea of making each mealtime an event by having three courses, even if that's simply a sliced tomato to start and an orange to finish.

I haven't followed all of the principles in the book - for example, avoiding processed foods (those Cadbury mousses are just too good!) but I have been trying the recipes and I like them very much. As well as being healthy, relatively low calorie - and can be made more low calorie with a few tweaks - they are quite unusual, such as the recipe below, which is adapted from "Curried chicken with cucumber".

Don't let the cucumber put you off. It does sound strange, warm (and curried!) cucumber, but think of how well cucumber raita goes with Indian food. It's also extremely low in calories (10 calories per 100g) and so it's good for bulking up a meal!

Ingredients (serves 1)
1 small turkey breast (about 90g)
Salt and pepper
Low fat frying spray
45g creme fraiche
150g cucumber, cut into 1cm slices
1 teaspoon curry powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
25g basmati rice
25g peas

1. Slice the turkey breast into slices vertically and season with salt and pepper. Heat up the low fat frying spray in a non stick pan (you should only need a couple of squirts), and add the turkey breast. Cook until golden.

2. Meanwhile, cook the rice as per packet instructions.

3. Place the cucumbers in a bowl and add the creme fraiche and curry powder. Mix it all together well.

4. By now the turkey should be cooked. Add the lemon juice to the pan and deglaze it. Then add the cucumber mixture and cook for a few minutes until al dente.

5. Cook the peas quickly by pouring boiling water over them and add to the drained rice. Serve alongside the turkey-cucumber curry mixture.

It only takes about 20 minutes in total and it's really delicious. I think it would be even better with a little bit of freshly sliced chilli and a sprinkling of coriander on top.

5:2 diet: Harissa chicken and courgette cous cous

Here's a quick, simple and tasty recipe suitable for those following the 5:2 (or any low calorie) diet. 
By making a few simple changes, such as using half fat creme fraiche, bulking up the cous cous with courgettes and getting flavour from herbs and spices instead of butter/oil, it's quite easy to cook healthy dinners for under 300 calories. This one comes in at around 267 calories  (see individual calories below).

Ingredients

(serves two)
1 chicken breast
1 heaped tbsp half fat creme fraiche
2 tsp harissa paste
1 courgette
75g cous cous
chicken stock (from a cube)
1 spray flora frying oil
1 lemon
20g mint chiffonade (sliced into strips)

1. Horizontally slice the chicken in half. Place between two sheets of cling film and hammer with a rolling pin, mallet (or in my case, a wine bottle!) until its nice and thin.

2. Place the creme fraiche and harrisa paste in a bowl and mix together. Add the chicken to the bowl and cover. Place in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least a few hours.

3. Grate the courgette and put aside. Make up the cous cous according to packet instructions (I use a chicken stock cube) - do NOT add any butter or oil. 

4. Put the chicken on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes, or until cooked. Meanwhile fry the courgette in the oil until starting to crisp up.

5. Add the courgette to the cous cous, along with the mint, and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

6. Serve the chicken on top of a bed of cous cous, with wedges of lemon on the side.

Recipe adapted from bbcgoodfood.com

Calorie content:

1 chicken breast (139 calories)
1 heaped tbsp half fat creme fraiche (51 calories)
2 tsp harissa paste (32 calories)
1 courgette (18 calories)
75g cous cous (275 calories)
chicken stock cube (15 calories)
1 spray flora frying oil (3 calories)
1 lemon (negligible as juice only)
10g mint chiffonade (negligible)

So, I make that a grand total of 533 calories, or about 267 calories per serving. The cous cous is the big contributor to the calorie total here, so if you are really trying to cut back, either have a smaller serving or try to skip altogether. I think here it helps fill you up, and the grated courgette makes a big difference too.

5:2 diet - A week's worth of food

I've been reading up a lot on the 5:2 diet recently, and I'm always curious to see what other people are eating, and whether they truly do 'feast' on the non-fasting days. 

To date, I've lost 2.9 kg in 2 weeks. I've still been trying to eat relatively healthily on the non-fast days, although this weekend I did blow it a bit, having a considerable amount of alcohol and a big scone! Although, to my amazement, I didn't put on any weight - not even 100g. So something must be working. 

I think that's the secret to success of this diet really, that you can still have 'naughty' days and yet it's still effective. The flexibility of choosing when to fast is great - if you're invited out to dinner you can just start it the following day. Of course, a certain degree of discipline is required, you can't continually defer your fast days!

Below is a week's worth of food for me, along with my weight, on the days I weighed myself. I  generally fast for a whole day, but I've colour coded the meals that were as part of a fast day as I have done it from 2pm to 2pm before.

Week 1: 2nd January - 8th January

Week 2: 9th January - 15th January

What do you think? I think I eat relatively healthily, although I was shocked to see how much alcohol I drank on Saturday night - probably a week's worth of units, and more calories than I care to think about! I think I probably need to think about finding a low calorie alternative to hummus too - and try to crack my habit of needed something sweet everyday.

The Wellcome Collection

Like most people, in January I'm absolutely broke. I got paid before Christmas instead of the last working day of the month, and somehow all those wages got swallowed up over the break (the venison might have had something to do with it..)

So, as well as trying to earn a bit more money (ebay is my best friend right now), I've also been looking for some free, or cheap, things to do on the weekend. In London, this inevitably means museums and galleries, which are plentiful so there should be something to suit everyone.

Today, Harry and I went to the Wellcome Collection, a museum / exhibition centre that describes itself as "A free destination for the incurably curious", which I rather like! I went specifically to see Death: a self portrait, which is about how artists commemorate the dead and death.

No photography was allowed, so I have pinched a few photos of the Wellcome Collection website.

Calavera, Mondongo Collective, Argentina

Memento Mori, unknown artist, Germany

It's definitely worth a visit and isn't at all as morbid as the name suggests! I particularly liked the Mexican skeleton portraits and dolls. In Mexico they celebrate the dead on the aptly-named "Day of the Dead" a festival in late October / November, and one I would love to experience. Families set up shrines in their homes to loved ones and lay out their favourite food and drink for when they visit!

Also worth a look at the Wellcome Collection is the Medicine Man exhibition (so you can snigger at the Japanese sex aids and other bizarre paraphernalia, and the Medicine Now exhibition, with great art installations such as these:

Giant jelly baby illustrating human cloning and how we are all the same

Rather disgusting growth / tumour to illustrate obesity

Details on the Wellcome Collection are here. I can also recommend the cafe, Peyton and Byrne - they do excellent salads!