Football, Family & Flapjacks

We've just had a great weekend with lots of family time accompanied by great weather, which always helps.

We started on Saturday morning with both boys going to football whilst I prepared a picnic and made some flapjacks. We were then off down the M6 to meet up with my cousin for a picnic and a game of football in the park before going to a birthday party and then onto my parents house for a glass or two of wine whilst the kids again played football in the park with Pop Pop and his brother. It was then back home, up the M6, to watch Britain's Got Talent and bed.

Sunday morning was spent enjoying the sunshine in the garden before Hanna went to the school Duck Race with friends and we headed to Lichfield for a nail-biting football match.

It was then back to the local to meet up with Hanna, count a few ducks (of the plastic variety), quick pint and then home, and a chance to sit in the garden whilst the sun was still shining. Oh and did I mention that we also managed a trip to the pet shop to buy a new hamster!

An early lunch was called for on Sunday so I decided it would be a nice easy one, courtesy of Princes who sent us some of their Jumbo Hotdogs. To celebrate the upcoming World Cup in Brazil Princes also included a recipe for Hot Dog with Chilli Bean Salsa, inspired by the Brazilian version of the hot dog - 'Cachorro Quente'. The kids don't like food too spicy so I made a simple tomato salsa instead, minus the chilli and added a slice of cheese! If you're feeling braver than my kids the recipe is below - load up those hot dogs with toppings - the more the better!

I managed to make two batches of flapjacks over the weekend, with a layer of home-made rhubarb jam in the middle (made using my first crop of home grown rhubarb!). If you don't have any rhubarb jam, any jam will do.

Rhubarb Flapjacks

200g Butter or margarine

200g caster sugar

200g Golden syrup

400g Oats

150g Rhubarb jam

• Add the butter, sugar and syrup to a pan
• Heat gently until everything has melted and the mixture starts to come to the boil around the edges
• Remove from the heat and stir in the oats
• Add half of the mixture to a lined and greased 13"x9" pan & press down
• Spread the jam evenly over
• Add the remaining oat mixture over the jam & smooth over
• Bake in a preheated 170C oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown
• Allow to cool fully in the tin before slicing into squares

Chilli Bean Salsa

125g drained & rinsed cannellini beans

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 small green chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

4 cherry plum tomatoes, diced

optional toppings

potato sticks

2-3 jalapeno sliced peppers

mashed potato with wholegrain mustard

• Roughly mash the beans with a fork
• Stir in the olive oil, lemon juice, chilli and garlic until combined
• Stir in the coriander, spring onions & tomatoes

To serve - place a hot dog in a roll & top with fried onions & peppers & generously spoon on the chilli bean salsa

Cauliflower Rice with Chicken, Bacon & Roasted Vegetables

I've recently rediscovered cauliflower 'rice'. If you haven't heard of it before it's basically just cauliflower made to resemble rice with the use of a food processor. The first time I tried it was when I was doing the 5:2 as it was a low calorie substitute for rice. I can't say that I particularly enjoyed it at the time but when I heard lots of talk about it again from people following the Paleo diet I thought I should give it another shot.

This time I have added it to stir fries and salads where there are lots of other flavours going on and I must say that so far I love it!

This dish is so tasty and can be eaten warm or assembled with cold vegetables, 'rice' and chicken that have been cooked previously (a bit like a cous cous salad).

Cauliflower Rice with Chicken, Bacon & Roasted Vegetables - serves 1

chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

2 rashers of bacon

1 portion prepared cauliflower rice

roasted vegetables - peppers, courgette, aubergine
dressing made with 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil & 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• Fry the chicken and bacon in a non stick pan until browned
• Mix the cooked chicken, bacon, rice and roasted vegetables together & drizzle with the dressing