Posie’s Place

I’m on the hunt for dishes which are easy to prepare, will fit in with my eating plan and will reheat in a microwave (for lunch the next day). We recently sampled some Bauern Bratwurst which we bought in Germany, they’re really good. Very meaty and with a hint of smokiness which I thought would be perfectly suited to a casserole. With that in mind my next step was to decide what would complement these sausages … what could be better or more traditional than lentils..

As usual this recipe was one of those which evolved as I went along, I was really quite delighted with the results!

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As I said in the update to my last baby post on Friday I have been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes.  Although my doctor said it’s not a severe case she said that it would be better for me to meet with a dietician to have a diet plan drawn up to keep things under control and to give me a more complete understanding of what GS meant for the rest of my pregnancy, my baby and my life after he is delivered (when hopefully my diabetes will disappear).

I’ll be happy to eat and do whatever it takes to make sure the next 14 weeks are safe for me and my baby and that he is delivered healthy.

All weekend I trawled the internet reading about diabetes and  diabetic diets.  I decided that the best thing I could do would be to keep a food diary until I saw the dietician, this would allow me to demonstrate what I eat and when I eat it.

Monday morning I got a call from the dietician and was given an appointment on Tuesday afternoon (they don’t keep you hanging around here in Switzerland).  Off I went with my little food diary thinking that I was doing pretty well and that I was quite knowledgable about diabetes.

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Today was absolutely freezing. Thankfully we didn’t have any more snow last night, I think the five or six inches which fell the day before was quite sufficient. So to chase away the cold I decided to try an Alan Coxon recipe featured the other night on Great Food Live. I’m not the greatest fan of Alan Coxon, I find watching him makes me nervous as he is so hyper on screen but I do often really like his recipes.

I liked the sound of this rich, spicy and warming stew, it seemed like my kind of no nonsense cookery.

In the original recipe Alan Coxon served the Shakshouka with a chickpea curry, fresh tomatoes, fresh mint (which I dislike) and used homemade harissa but I really wasn’t in the mood for messing around with chickpeas (besides Stewart really loathes them), I would rather used canned tomatoes when they’re not in season and I decided that store bought harissa would suffice.

So here for you folks is my take on Alan Coxon’s recipe for Shakshouka..

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Just thought I’d post a quick update on the progress of Jr.

Baby was looking good yesterday when I had my latest check up, he was busy eating his fist and then sucking on his thumb. He had a major growth spurt since my last appointment 5 weeks ago and now weighs 780g.

I failed my glucose tolerance indicator test yesterday, due to this I will be spending all of Friday morning drinking sugary drinks and having my blood tested every hour for 3 hours. Just really hoping that I haven’t developed diabetes. I have put on a lot of weight in the past 5 weeks and really need to try and monitor it carefully over the next few months. No more desserts and chocolate for me! The problem is that I’m hungry ALL THE TIME…

Been having some strange sensations in my upper right abdomen, not quite pain but more tingling. My OBGYN thinks it could be due to adhesions from my gallbladder surgery from a few years ago causing this. I was just saying to a fellow blogger the other day that I hadn’t had any problems post gallbladder..

One things about living here in Switzerland is that you don’t just chuck stuff in the bin but all paper, cardboard, batteries, metal, packing material, clothes, shoes, household electrical items, wood, organic waste, old furniture and glass (I’m sure I’ve missed things out) MUST be recycled. This isn’t such a bad thing I think you’ll agree, it’s a bit of a hassle at times but cerainly makes you aware of how much waste you generate. We have certain days each month when paper/metal etc is collected but if you miss these then you can take things to the recycle park.

All last weekend we worked in the house gutting the cellar and loft and taking car loads to the recycle park. Since our car is small and the recycle park is only open for 4 hours on a Saturday morning and closed on a Sunday this will be how we are spending our next few weekends (weather permitting! At the moment there is about 5″ of snow outside).

Monday night we drove through to Germany and with the help of Derek we picked up the nursery furniture. Stewart can’t begin building anything yet as we have a sofa bed in the room which will hopefully get picked up by BaselStadt on Friday morning. Del is being a star and coming over tomorrow night to help Stewart get the sofa downstairs (5 flights of stairs!!) since it won’t fit in the lift.

Progress is definitely being made and we can really see things taking shape. We thought we may as well use this as a perfect opportunity to do all of the jobs that we kept putting off…

The new tumble drier arrived this morning and so I have spent the evening washing all of the babys clothes, as soon as the furniture is built I’ll be able to sort everything out and get it put away. We got a package from Isobel (my mother-in-law) she knitted the baby three more cardigans. They are absolutely gorgeous!! One of them even has little cat face buttons!! Really cute!!

I’ll update things on Friday hopefully with some good news from my glucose test, fingers crossed!

Pamela

UPDATE: Well Friday is here and I have just returned from the doctors. I’ve been diagosed with gestational diabetes. Next step is to see a dietician to try and get my blood sugar under control by modifying my diet, if that is possible then I wont have any need for insulin.

Have a great weekend folks!!

Pamela

Every so often I have a real craving for steak, this weekend I decided to indulge myself.

A few years ago I came across a recipe for a creamy peppercorn sauce, from Anthony Worrall Thomson. I wrote it down and stuck it inside one of my cookbooks. This sauce is great with steak, grilled chicken or even sausages.

The recipe I have included below is based on AWT’s original but I have made a few changes.

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It’s that time again! Meeta over at What’s For Lunch Honey is hosting another round of her Monthly Mingle, with Valentine’s Day on the way the theme is - Sweet Love!

What a great chance to indulge my sweet tooth and make something very special. I don’t do much baking and so this recipe is the perfect solution for me. Apple Crumble is a classic recipe and it was one of my childhood favourites. When I was young Sunday afternoons were often spent in my grandmothers kitchen watching her and my mother making the traditional Sunday lunch and usually a dessert of some form. I really looked forward to those Sundays when it was apple or rhubarb crumble, the combination of tart fruit and the crunchy topping with a side of creamy custard was heaven!

So here is another family recipe I would like to share with you and I have submitted this to Meeta for inclusion in her Monthly Mingle #7 round-up. I really hope you like it!

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As any regular readers know I love curries, especially Thai and Indian curries. Stewart and I also love noodles and so when I found a recipe for Thai noodle curry I knew this was one which had to tested.

This recipe is a slight adaptation of one from Appon’s Thai Food. I have featured recipes from Appon’s site in the past and they’ve always been a real hit.

You’ll find Appon’s original recipe here Thai Noodle Curry (Mi Ga Ti). I didn’t stray too much from the original and I must say that the combination of sweet, sour, spicy and nutty flavours was amazing! Thanks for another hit recipe Appon!!

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This morning I was in the mood for something sweet and so I scoured through my mums old hand written recipe file and came across this great pancake recipe. It’s a real quick and simple breakfast classic.

These aren’t crepes but Scotch pancakes which are thicker and because of the baking soda puffy and airfilled.

Hope you like it!

Eat them freshly made or toasted with jam, chocolate spread or spread thickly with lemon curd (my particular favourite).

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I have a rather shameful confession..

I have been the owner of a slow cooker for more years than I care to remember. Unfortunately since we moved to Switzerland it has sat dormant, rather neglected and unloved in our loft. With the baby on the way we have been clearing out (when I say we I mean Stewart) and this led to the rediscovery of our slow cooker.

I must admit to being a complete novice at this and since I have lost the instructions I’m just planning on winging it. I mean how difficult can this be.. surely the whole idea is that you chuck everything in and allow it to cook slowly and undisturbed all day and then voila dinner is made!! Or that is what I’m hoping! Fingers crossed the reality reflects my ideal..

You all know how I love to try and create meals from leftovers and this recipe was created by doing exactly that! I looked into the fridge and grabbed a handful of veggies and some chicken which needed used and this is what happened..

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The Sisters Kelvingrove

The Sisters restaurants are two restaurants (one at Kelvingrove in the West End of Glasgow and the other at Jordanhill in Glasgow) run unsurprisingly by two sisters named Jacqueline and Pauline. The two sisters pride themselves in naming proudly all of their suppliers from Mark the fishman who lands the scallops and langoustines in Ullapool racing them to Glasgow to Angus McLeod who supplies only the best fruit and vegetables. Jacqueline and Pauline “provide a real taste of Scotland in the middle of Glasgow”.

Nat, Gareth, Stewart and I decided to book a table for the pre-theatre menu at the Kelvingrove restaurant, competitively priced at £14.95 for 2 courses or £16.95 for 3 courses. Stewart and I had eaten at this branch back in September during our last visit to Glasgow when we decided to show our friend Manfred what real Scottish food was all about and really enjoyed our meal so our hopes were high, we weren’t to be disappointed. I hope I have the menu correct as it was slightly different from that given online and I am recalling it from memory.

The Pre-Theater Menu Wednesday 27th December 2006

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Starters

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Main courses

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Desserts

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