Pumpkin soup

It's that time of year, got two pumpkins from TESCO (£1 each), carved, fed seeds to birds and made cream of pumpkin soup. Base of leeks,garlic,celery and basil, seasoned, added two veg stock cubes, boiled, blitzed and finished with cream..... Tastes delicious!!!

Healthy breaks for kids

This leaflet produced by the Public Health Agency is the best leaflet I have seen regarding kids food ever!!!! Well done and thank you for printing in black and white what I have been advocating for ages. Please everyone take on board,although primarily aimed at pre school kids, the principles can be applied to us all!!! 

The biggest food wake up call

Dear friends

I've been blogging about healthy eating for a while. We get bombarded by contradicting stories, over hyped advertising, far too much choice and mind boggling info on packaging.

I've been saying we need more education from family, school, peers, supermarkets, manufacturers and governments. There needs to be a back to basics drive when it comes to food preparation and cooking and this starts at home. The bigger retailers have a duty of care to their customers in not selling harmful foods, marketed inappropriately. We as a society need to take more responsibility with our food and drink intake. 

Please read below:

My healthy family are eating the same as 215 Krispy Kremes every WEEK

http://dailym.ai/1Wbvuxm

via http://dailym.ai/ios

Sausages, bacon and red meat

This is worrying: Bacon, burgers and sausages are a cancer risk, say world health chiefs

https://t.co/KPh2i2GBG8

via https://t.co/tChTnAKEvB

I wanted to talk about this as first we are told red meat is bad, then good, then bad and the same for processed meat.... see where this is going!!

I feel in moderation it's ok ie once a week and not every single meal of every single day!!! 

With this in mind I decided to cook some sausages from my freezer. I defrosted them and dry fried them in a frying pan. They cooked quickly and had very little fat coming out. The Pork meat content was 80%. They tasted fantastic and I feel are a treat. Remember good quality sausages with high meat content eg 400g cost £3. 

The total amounts of fat,sugar and salt are quite interesting. Check the photos. My advice is everything in moderation!!!

Sausages, bacon and red meat

This is worrying: Bacon, burgers and sausages are a cancer risk, say world health chiefs

https://t.co/KPh2i2GBG8

via https://t.co/tChTnAKEvB

I wanted to talk about this as first we are told red meat is bad, then good, then bad and the same for processed meat.... see where this is going!!

I feel in moderation it's ok ie once a week and not every single meal of every single day!!! 

With this in mind I decided to cook some sausages from my freezer. I defrosted them and dry fried them in a frying pan. They cooked quickly and had very little fat coming out. The Pork meat content was 80%. They tasted fantastic and I feel are a treat. Remember good quality sausages with high meat content eg 400g cost £3. 

The total amounts of fat,sugar and salt are quite interesting. Check the photos. My advice is everything in moderation!!!

Acton & Sons

I attended the official opening of Acton & Sons this evening. It was a grand affair which gave me the opportunity to meet The Godfather of the restaurant industry in Belfast, Mr Tom Davis, and his family. There was entertainment, a selection of small plated snacks and drinks,more later. 

I was kindly Invited by Chris of Love PR. Acton & Sons is the new incarnation of Olios. It's an all day restaurant and bar. It's the brainchild of the team that founded Skandia, Neill's Hill and Papa Joes. Mr Davis Snr opened Skandia in 1969 and I remembered the Skandia on Howard Street from 1989 and recalled eating there. His son Johnathan runs Neill's Hill in Ballyhackamore (in 1998 was Aldens) and other son Andrew runs Papa Joes in Bangor. Both were present tonight along with Mrs Davis whom Tom met in Acton Hotel and Catering School.

The kitchen is run by Executive chef Cath Gradwell and Head chef Brian Caldwell, who launched the new menu and let us sample some of the dishes this evening.

Clockwise from the bottle was hake served with potatoes, chick peas in an Indonesian sauce, then creamy chorizo chicken topped with sweet potato strings (my favourite), then there was seared tuna and next was Cajun beef (I didn't try as I don't eat beef, but I heard it was good) lastly was battered squid topped with sweet and sour sauce.

Mr Tom Davis was such a pleasure to talk to, very learned and down to earth and has a real depth of knowledge and understanding  for the restaurant business in Belfast. His two sons are true "chips of the old block" and have a superb handle on the restaurant industry in Northern Ireland. I am truly confident that the pedigree behind Acton and Sons will propel it well. I would thoroughly recommend this as s goto destination for good quality food in impeccable surroundings served by competent and attentive staff.

Day 6 main event

I prepared the sauce earlier using olive oil to sautee a finely chopped red onion, two cloves of garlic, broccoli and carrot (all from my fridge/dry store), before adding tomato purée, a tablespoon of pesto and the remains of the Dolmio sauce. This is simmered with chopped olives and water for 20 minutes before adding soft cheese with herb and garlic. I then semi blitzed with hand blender.

The filled pasta (spinach and ricotta tortellini) I cooked in a wok in boiling water for 2 minutes before draining and adding to the heated sauce. The pitta bread I toasted in the toaster and spread fresh garlic butter before serving. The chopped/grated salad of leek,radish,carrot,celery,cheese  and cucumber was served beside the pasta.

Tasting time proved decisive as all four of our plates were scraped clean!!

This was a superb way to:

• Get kids and us to eat a wide variety of veggie food
• Reuse leftovers in lots of different ways
• Come up with different recipes and ideas
• Plan our weekly menu
• Plan our shopping
• Have fun with food!!!

Thank you for the opportunity and you can all do it. Ps from tomorrow we can eat meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Did we miss it, no, but kids did!!!

Daal Chaval

Daal Turka

Boil lentils with 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and teaspoon salt

Whilst this is boiling fry a finely diced onion in tablespoon of ghee, with 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic and 1/2 inch ginger 

Once browned add two teaspoons of Garam masala and stir till you get a thick paste

Then add this to the lentils and simmer. You can add coriander, chilly and tomatoes at this stage.

For the rice or chaval

Boil white Basmati rice or brown rice and add finely chopped veg

Serve,enjoy!!

Day 6 the finale!!

Tweeted a picture of my fridge and one of what I'm going to cook. I'm going to make filled pasta in a creamy sauce with garlic pittas. I'm using a packet of spinach and ricotta tortellini as my kids just love this. For the sauce I'm using olive oil to sautee a finely chopped red onion, two cloves of garlic, broccoli and carrot (all from my fridge/dry store), before adding tomato purée, a tablespoon of pesto and the remains of the Dolmio sauce. This is simmered with chopped olives and water for 20 minutes before adding soft cheese with herb and garlic. I then semi blitzed with hand blender. Will cook pasta and bread before serving this evening.

Pizzado press release

Hi all, I'm sharing below info regarding Pizzado. I'm looking forward to trying it.... Will you beat me to it????

"Local mum’s DIY pizza kit wins listing with Tesco Northern Ireland

 

Pizzado is set to revolutionise family meal times around the province, says product founder Karen Boyd.

 

A local mum of one has secured a listing in Northern Ireland Tesco stores for her innovative pizza product, Pizzado.

 

The do-it-yourself frozen pizza kit will now be available in 24 Tesco Northern Ireland stores in what is a £250k deal for Karen Boyd and her son Josh, who are at the helm of the enterprise.

 

The product, which retails at £5, is set to transform the dinner table for families around the province, believes Karen who has a background in the pizza takeaway sector. 

 

Speaking about the conception of Pizzado, she said: “Pizza was what I knew and like most small businesses,  Pizzado was created in 2011 around a coffee table with friends. The idea was sparked from experience; my son was always making pizzas at home with his friends. Now he’s 18, we have been able to pair up and bring this idea to fruition and to consumers through in-store sampling opportunities with Tesco before securing the deal.”

 

Pizzado consists of two dough balls big enough to make two 9” pizzas, two sachets of tomato sauce and two sachets of 100 per cent mozzarella all of which use only natural ingredients. The kit comes in mozzarella and pepperoni varieties.

The dough is frozen at an early stage to prevent yeast from forming, thus allowing families to do the rest themselves at home. To defrost, the dough can be placed in a fridge overnight after which it boasts a shelf life of three days.

 

Using local produce, the content of the kit includes Neills Flour, creamy mozzarella from a local dairy producer, all of which are brought together and packaged at a firm in Derrylin.

 

Speaking about the Tesco deal, Karen continued: “We are delighted to now stock our product in Tesco stores. From a very early stage we knew that Pizzado was going to be a popular product after carrying out taste tests. We knew from the positive feedback and high demand then that a multiple was the best retailing vehicle for us, so to have finally secured a deal with Tesco is a major accomplishment.”

 

This year has marked not one but two major coups for Karen and her son Josh’s business. Not only has Pizzado won the contract with Tesco, it also won its second Irish Quality Food and Drink Award, taking the title in the pizza category. 

 

As a result of the latter successes, Karen has invested in social media marketing and appointed a local company to take control of Pizzado’s Facebook page and Twitter accounts while she is working on new products to add to the Pizzado portfolio, including gluten-free options. 

 

Confident that her product will be a winner at the dinner table and with all generations, Karen added: “Pizza is universally loved. It is one of those meals that always goes down well and from research, we know that the elder demographic is the fastest growing end of the market in the pizza category, implying that the Pizzado product is an all-inclusive kit for everyone, from the toddlers to the grandparents. It will make dinnertime a real family affair and one that is fun and allows for creativity. It’s not just about what’s in the kit but what else you have at home to make your pizza individual.”

 

Steven Murphy, Buyer at Tesco Northern Ireland, said: “This is a fantastic example of a local artisan producer who was able to introduce their products to consumers through Tesco’s sampling option. This was specifically introduced to help those not-yet-listed small producers bring their product to market by offering them free space in-store. The fact that Karen and Josh now supply to 24 Tesco stores across Northern Ireland is testament to the success of this approach, and the quality of Pizzado. 

 

 

“Sure to be a firm favourite of families across the region, Pizzado is created for parents, by a parent who knows only too well the importance of striking the balance between making meal times fun and providing children with quality, nutritional ingredients.”

 

Welcoming the news, Invest NI’s Chief Executive, Alastair Hamilton, said: “Tesco NI's 'pop-up' sampling scheme offers a valuable test marketing opportunity for smaller food and drink producers from across Northern Ireland.  I would like to congratulate Pizzado on converting in-store sampling to a listing in 24 stores and wish Karen every success in developing her business.  Northern Ireland consumers are strong supporters of local brands. As we approach 2016 Year of Food, showcasing products like this in established retail outlets is a great way to encourage product trial and build brand awareness.”

Pizzado became a Limited Company in 2011 and is the brainchild of Karen Boyd who spent two decades working in the pizza takeaway business.

 

Karen’s 18 year old son, Josh, is also a founder in the business.

 

Pizzado is now stocked across 24 Tesco Northern Ireland stores; Bangor, Ballymoney, Carrickfergus Extra, Crumlin, Castlereagh, Banbridge Extra, Newry Extra, Enniskillen, Ballygomartin, Antrim Massereene Extra, Coleraine, Dungannon, Lisnagelvin, Springhill, Northcott Extra, Newtownabbey, Portadown, Newtownbreda Extra, Lurgan, Craigavon Extra, Knocknagonney Extra, Ballymena, Newtownards Extra and Bentrim Road. "

Ciao for now!!!

Day 5

Just sat down with a cup of tea after another fine day, the penultimate day of the challenge. The big finale is tomorrow!!

For breakfast it was apples and bananas with weetabix for the girls and fresh porridge with honey and seeds with s cuppa. My 7 year old had pancakes for lunch with cheese and tomato. We had mixed vegetable and brown rice wraps cooked in a panini press with salad. The mix veg consisted of spinach, red peppers, baby sweet corn, broccoli, onion, garlic, cheese with some left over tomato sauce. The brown rice was mixed with the veg, placed in the wraps, folded and cooked in the panini. This was served with the leftover soup. The salad was rocket lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrots and peppers.

Dinner was a light one of daal turka, brown rice with mixed veg and some tomato, cucumber and olives. Followed by a cup of tea!!

Trip down memory lane

I've been invited to the opening of Acton and Sons Thursday,so excited as I can remember the old Skandia. Below is an article from today's Belfast Telegraph:

Culinary trip down memory lane as Skandia's new eatery brings us a taste of the 70s

The old Skandia (pictured) menu will live on in the Davis family’s Acton & Sons restaurant in Belfast3

The old Skandia (pictured) menu will live on in the Davis family’s Acton & Sons restaurant in Belfast

Diners are to get a taste of the Belfast of yesteryear as the Skandia menu makes a nostalgic comeback.

Almost half a century after the first Skandia restaurant opened its doors in the city, the family that introduced Pavlova desserts to Northern Ireland are looking to the past to inspire their business future.

The Davis family have had a long and successful tenure in the food business, having set up the groundbreaking Skandia group of restaurants in 1969. 

They have now transformed their Olio Restaurant premises on Brunswick Street into a new laid back brasserie, Acton & Sons. 

The city centre restaurant has undergone an extensive £100,000 transformation, adding to the thriving hospitality area of Belfast's Linen Quarter.The 100-seat restaurant will serve throughout the day, seven days a week, to shoppers, office workers and theatre-goers, and employ 20 full and part-time staff.Now with a new dark wood interior, relaxing ambience and simple but high quality food at very reasonable prices, Acton & Sons is taking the family's philosophy to the next level - but they haven't forgotten their roots.

Tom Davis founded Skandia at the beginning of the Troubles in College Square.

His sons Jonathan and Andrew now run their own restaurant businesses - Neill's Hill and Papa Joe's respectively.

"Our family has long held a restaurant premises in this area and we're placing our family's heritage at the heart of this new venture," Jonathan said. 

"On the walls you'll find some of the original menus dating back to the late 1960s and from the kitchen you can expect firm favourites alongside fresh fish and signature dishes of roast fillet of hake, tomato, chorizo and white bean stew and Guinness and honey glazed pork fillet, champ cake, celery and apple salad.

"The name Acton & Sons derives from the Acton Hotel and Catering School in London where my father attended and subsequently met my mother and the rest, as they say, is history."

Customers can avail from the menu with dessert specialities including their famous pavlova with strawberries, white peaches and dairy cream or hot pineapple fritters with dairy cream. 

Appetisers also feature the Skandia hors d'oeuvre, frosted fruit juices and a grapefruit cocktail. 

The brothers will oversee the running of Acton & Sons alongside executive chef Cath Gradwell and head chef Brian Caldwell.

When Jonathan first opened his east Belfast restaurant, formerly Aldens, in 1998, many thought a restaurant offering such high quality food would struggle outside the city centre. 

But he proved them wrong as the critically-acclaimed restaurant and a fiercely loyal clientele helped sustain over a decade of success.

Day 4

So day 4, Monday and raring to got. For brekky we had some leftover porridge from yesterday which my wife thinned with milk and heated up. Freshly cut apply was added and both the children had this,as well as fresh apple. I had coffee and whole meal seeded toast with butter. 

For lunch we had toasted cheese sandwiches with salad from yesterday and freshly made broccoli, potato and carrot soup with ginger,garlic and cumin. There was a bit of lasagne from yesterday which was also eaten. My youngest daughter has lunch at nursery whilst the older one has packed lunch. She had cheese toastie, 5 cherry tomatoes, an orange and a rice cake. To wash it down we all drink water.

For dinner we will be having the veggie parathas from yesterday, fresh chapatis and freshly prepared daal turka accompanied by homemade pickles.

As can be seen we reuse what leftovers we have and add some freshly made food as required.

Having a well balanced diet is very important but equally important is to have plenty of water to drink, exercise, fresh air and plenty of sleep!! We would supplement our diets with multi vitamins and minerals but a word of advice,these are not substitutes for a balanced diet.

Pic of dry food store

Day 3

Today was a very full day. For brekky we had  dry roasted porridge with apple and chia,flax and Linseed as well as goji and cinnamon all simmered in milk sweetened with a little honey. The kids really loved it!!

For lunch my wife cooked mixed vegetable parathas with yoghurt and pickle. The vegetables she minced were spinach, coriander, cauliflower and spiced with Garam masala. This was mixed with chapati flour, made into a dough, before being rolled into thin,round and flat shapes,like a very thin pizza base. This was then cooked on a tava or flat iron pan for a couple of minutes on each side. This type of breakfast is a typical Sub Continental breakfast or lunch.

My spice tin.

For afternoon snacks I gave the kids cut apple, orange and banana as well as a few tortilla chips. The kids had plenty of water and milk.

Dinner was a sumptuous lasagne made from mushroom mince in a tomato sauce flavoured with fresh basil. This was mixed with onion, peppers, carrots, garlic and oregano. This was layered with TESCO lasagne sheets and topped with white lasagne sauce and strong cheddar cheese. It was served with fresh home made chips and a salad of lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber and spring onion. We had visitors over so there was plenty. This is an excellent way of using vegetables up and getting it into the kids. To wash it all down I made cucumber infused water-again a novel way to get kids to drink water.

For dessert we had apple roses with cream (made with Apple, puff pastry and honey). Had a nice cup of cafetière coffee to finish. 

This was truly a foodie day and we try and keep Sunday's for family and we love cooking all food from scratch and sitting round the dinner table!! Ps my wife was at work today so we shared the cooking and I took the kids horse riding, the park and built up their appetites!!

Giants v Devils, great food

Just had a superb dinner of Moroccan chickpea and butternut squash, roasted turned potatoes, homemade flat bread, herb infused rice, garlic loaf and it was delicious. There was beef stifado for the meat eaters and this was followed by tea/coffee chocolate & hazelnut torte and tartelette au citron.

It's first quarter break, the Giants are down 1 nil. Fantastic atmosphere and great view from the private suite- being spoilt!! Ah well back to the game, come on Giants !!

Day 2

Day 2 I've not made much as we were at my mums for lunch and are out at the ice hockey at SSE to watch the Giants (veggie food provided)!! We started the day with a fresh smoothie made with Apple, strawberries, banana and milk. The girls love this as its a great way to get fruit and milk. They do eat plenty of raw fruit and drink loads of milk, but they do enjoy the smoothies. Can substitute milk with yoghurt also. Along with the smoothie we munched on raw almonds.

For mid morning snack we had toasted pancakes with a bit of butter and I cut some cheddar cheese, baby tomatoes and cucumber-a great way to get the kids eating salad.

We popped in to see my mum and had some Turka daal (spiced lentils) and rice, again a cheap,simple and nutritious meal easy to make and very little cost.

Dropped the little one to her birthday party, took big one to the park- they will work up an appetite and granny will feed them tonight whilst we are at the ice hockey. 

My fridge today!!

Day 1 of reduce food waste

When I was invited to take part in this initiative I was thrilled!! Being a busy dad of two young daughters, a hubby and a blogger I thought this should be fun. Also being a veggie for another few days (includes no eggs) posed an extra dimension!!

Started with dinner last night of vegetable pakora, risotto, home made soup, Moroccan cous cous salad (bought from TESCO) and homemade yoghurt and mint chutney.

This looks and sounds tricky to put together but I did all of this in less than an hour!! This fed 4 of us. I had some greens and veg in my fridge which I cut and cooked then puréed. Whilst this was cooking I made risotto using arborio, mushrooms, leeks and a veggie stock cube. I had Greek yoghurt which I mixed with some mint chutney. I had made pakoras the day before so I did not cook those fresh. I used spinach, potato, onion and spices in a gram flour batter and fried in sunflower oil. Like I said I had a tub of the cous cous.

So there you have it, all the food I used was in my fridge or pantry. All easy to cook and serve up and it went down a treat!!

World Food Day

HAPPY WORLD FOOD DAY FROM THE BFM PLEASE SEE SHARED MESSAGE BELOW: TO THE LAST BITE Thanks for supporting FoodCloud and for covering us! We wanted to keep you updated on our newest venture! We want to take on food waste in the home. Every year in Ireland, 180,000 tonnes of perfectly good delicious food goes to waste from households, this enough food to feed 100,000 families for a year.   Each week, for 12 weeks, we will highlight a food that is commonly wasted. We will share weekly email updates with great recipes, blogs, photos and amazing ideas to inspire everyone to stop wasting food. We want all food lovers to join in and contribute photos, recipes, tips and blogs based on the food of the week.  We need your support to help us get the message out there and to inspire people to prevent these great foods going to waste.  Sign up at www.foodcloud.net/tothelastbite to receive an email every Monday starting on the 19th of October with the food of the week.  Post photos, recipes, tips and celebrate this food with us for the week! Follow Foodcloud on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, share posts with delicious recipes and tips and get your followers and fans involved!  Let's share some creative inspiration around food and help put an end to food waste!    Instagram: Facebook: /foodcloudireland Twitter: @foodcloudire Web: www.foodcloud.net/tothelastbite   Copyright © 2015 FoodCloud, All rights reserved.  The FoodCloud Feast  Our mailing address is:  FoodCloud Trinity Enterprise Centre Grand Canal Square Dublin 2,  Ireland Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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Food at Titanic Suite at Digital DNA

I was thrilled to be invited to Digital DNA at the Titanic Suite in Belfast yesterday.

The Titanic Belfast is an amazing space. The event was held on level 5 in the Titanic, Olympic and Britannic Suites as well as The Bridge on level 6. This was the same venue used for my sisters wedding in August-the first Big Fat Indian-Scottish-Northern Irish Wedding at this venue!!!!

The registration was open from 8am on the ground floor. We were then whisked up to level 5 for a light breakfast. We were spoilt with an array of freshly prepped pastries, tea and delightful coffee. 

Digital DNA was the brainchild of Gareth Quinn and Ryan Owens and started in 2012. It's message was simple- to help businesses grow and expand by embracing the power of digital technology.

The day was pretty packed:

 

Over 400 delegates were in for a real treat. The first thing of note was the "favour boxes" courtesy of MCS, which included sweets, a power bank and a pen:

The conference was kicked off by the Host Kate Marshall who was MC for the day. She introduced Prof Mark from Aberdeen who really livened us all up with the Boom Whackers which are rhythmic band instruments which are really hollow coloured (red,orange,green,yellow and green) tuned percussion tubes. Basically we all banged these against our hands and energised ourselves, a great ice breaker.

The first speaker was Jane White from Twitter who talked about the Power of Everyday. She told us that we unlock our phones on average 150 times a day, that we send 500 million tweets a day, our average attention span is 8 seconds and that tweets sent per month in the subjects of tech, food and fitness are 554,66 and 16 million respectively. So we can see that tweets are a signal of interest or intent.

Michael O'Hara (a QUB grad) was up next and he championed that NI should be a Mobile First Company/Society ie developer mobile tech (4g/5g) and then apps and tech for every day life. This is greatly spurred on by provision of Mobile Data Sets (New York has 1300 whilst Belfast only has 6!!). He also said that Israel with a population of 8 million has 700 new tech companies and 18 IPO,s beats NI hands down!!

Jeremiah Grossman, from White Hat Security, talked about being a paid hacker (started with Yahoo) and has an office here in Belfast-all very dependent on our superb skilled and educated workforce.

After the coffee break Gareth Quinn then introduced Liam and Sam, two 14 year olds from Dominican College, who won a competition for their business app. Their prize was a trip to Silicon Valley to visit Google,Facebook and Stanford Uni- nice prize!! 

There were then three presentations by Kevin, who launched a product to help help convert digital audiences to customers ie simple social commerce, Opal Perry from Allstate NI who explained the power of pitching (Allstate started from a pitch to a Sears executive on a train in the USA in 1931) and finally Eleanor McEvoy who is the boss at Budget Energy who really was truly inspirational- she has no degree yet is a true entrepreneur now in her third business.

I then attended a workshop named Digital Transformation for the Third Sector  before we broke for lunch.

This was steamed rice, chicken supreme, veggie penne pasta and salad, followed by delightful mini desserts.

After lunch we saw a superb video of Pat Quinn an ALS sufferer who talked about his disease and about the Ice Bucket Challenge. He highlighted the power of social media in that over millions of people engaged in this.

Which brings me onto Andrew Weld-More from Facebook who gave us a timeline of tech and how quick it's changed. For example 900 million people access Facebook on mobiles per day and that the next wave of media will be video and virtual/actual reality!!

Already we have seen the rapid March of tech in all forms of life. We must embrace it as its here to stay.