...Need I say more?!
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Recipe: Courgette & Yellow Pepper Soup
Courgette and Yellow Pepper Soup
I found this recipe in a book I borrowed from my local library – I photocopied quite a lot of recipes from it, but this is the one that I make again and again and again (at least once a fortnight!) It’s such a simple recipe, and the resulting soup is delish.
I’ve included photos in this blog – I’ve also pretty much quadrupled the recipe as my local shop had reduced peppers, so I bought them all, and now have to use them. Some of this soup I’ll keep, the rest I’ll give away to my friends & family.
Also, I’ve used green courgettes – the original recipe calls for yellow courgettes, and they give such a rich yellow colour to the soup, but they can be hard to find. The only yellow courgettes I’ve ever seen are those I grow on my allotment. Green courgettes are fine for this recipe.
A bit of ‘health’ background information now..
Yellow peppers are good sources of potassium, betacarotene, folic acid and vitamin C. They can help to regulate blood pressure and are good for circulation. And they look bright and cheery!
Courgettes, especially those grown on your own plot with no pesticides, offer the above, but may also help fight/prevent cancer, and are good for lowering cholesterol. Which is probably why I like this soup so much!
The garlic you will add provides calcium, potassium & vitamin C, and is antibacterial, antiviral, antiseptic and also good for lowering cholesterol.
So, onto the recipe!
Ingredients (for a 4 person serving)
1 yellow pepper
1 large yellow/green courgette (or 2 smaller ones)
2 garlic cloves
Thyme leaves ( I use mixed dried herbs)
Chicken stock (I use veg oxo or knorr jelly things)
4 tablespoons low fat cream cheese
Salt & pepper
Recipe
Core, de-seed and chop the yellow pepper, add to pan
Top & tail courgettes, slice, add to pan
Add herbs (I never measure this, I just shake the packet..)
Add stock cubes/knorr jelly/chicken stock (not shown)
Simmer for 10 mins on medium heat
Blend soup in food processor – I’ve got a funky hand held thing that I put in the pan and whizz. BE CAREFUL. If the liquid is boiling, it’s got more chance of splattering you and hurting when it does!
Add the cream cheese, and blend again – note the colour change! Oooohh
Season with salt & pepper
Return to heat
Serve soup in warm bowls, with thyme to garnish, and lovelylovely homemade bread!
Voila!
Further info from my recipe says thus:
108 kcals
8g carbs
7.5g fat
2.7g protein
65mg vit C
480mcg carotene
Instead of using cream cheese, you can use ground arrowroot mixed in a small amount of water to create a jelly.
For a 4 person soup, I use 2 oxo cubes or 1 knorr jelly thing.
When you add water to the pan (if using oxo/knorr), use enough water to just cover the veg & put a lid on the pan while it simmers!
If you have little people, or fussy eaters, in your family, this could be the perfect way to get them to eat peppers! I personally hate peppers, and can only eat small amounts of yellow pepper in one go – since I’ve been making this soup, I loooooovvveee them! Same story with courgettes – I’d never eaten one in my life until I made this soup!
Enjoy!
L x
Today I went to the shop..
...and I bought.. lots!
bananas, grapes, cauliflower, brocolli, clemantines, green beans, baby corn, a potato, a bag of 6 yellow peppers and 4 courgettes! and then some pineapple juice, orange juice and a tropical mixed juice.. ooooh. healthy laura is go!
i've just made a supersized batch of courgette & pepper soup (recipe to follow!) and tonight i'll make some pasta sauce. tomorrow i'm making beef burgers. the day after will be chicken & veg day..
bananas, grapes, cauliflower, brocolli, clemantines, green beans, baby corn, a potato, a bag of 6 yellow peppers and 4 courgettes! and then some pineapple juice, orange juice and a tropical mixed juice.. ooooh. healthy laura is go!
i've just made a supersized batch of courgette & pepper soup (recipe to follow!) and tonight i'll make some pasta sauce. tomorrow i'm making beef burgers. the day after will be chicken & veg day..
Monday, 24 October 2011
Monday, 3 October 2011
Mushroom ID Help!
Any ideas what 'shroom this is? It's in my back garden, there's only one, it's about 4 inches across and quite close to the ground (maybe 2 inches total height). Quite flat & smooth on the top.
The soil/dirt has flowers in it but it's not in a shady or damp patch.
Any clue?
L x
Monday, 12 September 2011
Photos of Places I Like
Sometimes, I can be a tourist in my own City. There are some amazing buildings in the City Centre, the Law Courts are a good example, and I like to take photos. This blog has some pictures from places I've been recently, but I really need to go on a mini photo-adventure around town, and soon.
The Selly Oak New Road, with canal aqueduct & railway viaduct in the background. Taken after a torrential downpour. This photo is now my phones wallpaper :-)
Access to Main Campus from South Campus, at the University of Birmingham. These steps are new - only finished the other week - and have greatly improved the access and appeal of this part of campus. Love the brickwork too :-) The clocktower is Old Joe.
Bournbrook, in flood, after the torrential rain. Bournbrook flows just off campus, between South Campus & the Selly Oak New Road. I think it leads to the River Rea? I quite often see ducks and herons down here.
:-)
The Selly Oak New Road, with canal aqueduct & railway viaduct in the background. Taken after a torrential downpour. This photo is now my phones wallpaper :-)
Access to Main Campus from South Campus, at the University of Birmingham. These steps are new - only finished the other week - and have greatly improved the access and appeal of this part of campus. Love the brickwork too :-) The clocktower is Old Joe.
Bournbrook, in flood, after the torrential rain. Bournbrook flows just off campus, between South Campus & the Selly Oak New Road. I think it leads to the River Rea? I quite often see ducks and herons down here.
:-)
Saturday, 10 September 2011
University Results
As you may or may not know, I have recently finished my first year of University! I am studying Geology, and start my second year in about 3 weeks (which is quite scary!)
As part of my course, I take modules in different areas. For my first year I covered quite a broad spectrum of areas, and in the Summer, I had exams =| I'm not normally one to fret about exams, they normally just pass me by, but after the year I've had, and being so close to quitting University at Christmas, combined with my anxiety & stress related depressive disorder getting more and more intense... I wasn't looking forward to these exams, at all.
Anyhoo, I sat most of them, I had to sit in a separate room under medical supervision (in case I had a panic attack or a freak out and tried to kill myself..) and I got my results of these exams in August. One of my exams, I missed, as I did have a panic attack, and ended up on double dose medication & anti-anxiety tablets.
This exam was for my most favourite, and best, module - Introduction to Palaeontology. I LOVE Palaeo, it's the area I want to work in when I graduate in a few years. I missed the exam, and it was rescheduled for late August. So, I prepared and prepared and revised and cried and revised some more and panicked and chilled out and generally read my books A LOT. I also kept my old A-Level notes, so I used all of them too! Had 2 days off work - 1 to chill before my exam, and 1 for the actual exam - did it, my brain was well & truly frazzled by the end and my arm/hand were cramping and all I wanted was ice cold water.. but I did it. I just had that feeling that I'd conquered it, and all would be fine.
So yesterday I had an email, saying the results were online!! Not having a computer at home, I had to call my sister and she looked on her laptop for me - oh my god!! I got 68% on Palaeo! I only needed about 50% to make it worthwhile, so to get a very high 2.1 for that module is just amazing =D I'm well pleased with myself, really chuffed. All the cramming and crying and revision paid off, and all I need to find out now is how it's affected my overall mark for my first year. I was sitting on a Third, but now that I have this result, I'm probably up to a 2.1! =D
It reminds me of a song title, unfortunately by Fall Out Boy, and it's called 'Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year'. I most definitely think I've done the latter.
I'm so happy! I was nearly crying down the phone to my sister.. I thought she'd said 58! And then I phoned my mom at work.. again, nearly crying. Called dad.. the same. And then I called my Tutor, the lovely lovely superstar that is Dr Jason Hilton, the man who managed to talk some sense into me and make me realise that I want this degree, the man who sat with me while I cried my eyes out in Wales (several times..), the man who trusts me with his most prized fossils and a pneumatic pen.. I'm so grateful to him for just believing that I could do it, and for lending me the Levellers CD's...
So these are my first year results:
- Palaeo ... 68
- Structural ... 62 (which is still a shock!)
- Field Skills ... 44 (which isn't surprising..)
- Mapwork ... 43
- Earth Systems ... 53
- Topics (Report Writing) ... 48
- Strat ... 54
- Earth Materials ... 40 (which is surprising, I thought I'd done really well in that exam!)
- Chemistry ... 57
The pass mark for a module is 40, so I only just passed Earth Materials, but in hindsight I didn't make great notes for it, didn't really understand it, didn't really revise for it, and generally didn't try. But, I have got my 120 credits, so I can pass Go, and I can get onto Second Year! (no £200, but I do get loan, grant & bursary..)
I got 4 Thirds, 3 2.2's and 2 2.1's! Which isn't bad for a first year, when all you need is 40% and 120 credits...
And I also did an evening course in Level 1 Arabic, basic communication skills, and I got 69 in that! Which is 1% off a First! =D
Next Saturday, I'm off on my first field trip of Second Year - we're going to Scotland! The 'real' Scotland, the rugged hills and no civilisation and Northern Lights and rain, sleet, snow & then sun! And midges. OH! And ticks. Can't wait. Bring it on! We're based just outside Ullapool, at a place called Ardmair Point. It looks absolutely stunning! This is it - http://ardmair.com/ - I hope you're all jealous ;)
Love x
As part of my course, I take modules in different areas. For my first year I covered quite a broad spectrum of areas, and in the Summer, I had exams =| I'm not normally one to fret about exams, they normally just pass me by, but after the year I've had, and being so close to quitting University at Christmas, combined with my anxiety & stress related depressive disorder getting more and more intense... I wasn't looking forward to these exams, at all.
Anyhoo, I sat most of them, I had to sit in a separate room under medical supervision (in case I had a panic attack or a freak out and tried to kill myself..) and I got my results of these exams in August. One of my exams, I missed, as I did have a panic attack, and ended up on double dose medication & anti-anxiety tablets.
This exam was for my most favourite, and best, module - Introduction to Palaeontology. I LOVE Palaeo, it's the area I want to work in when I graduate in a few years. I missed the exam, and it was rescheduled for late August. So, I prepared and prepared and revised and cried and revised some more and panicked and chilled out and generally read my books A LOT. I also kept my old A-Level notes, so I used all of them too! Had 2 days off work - 1 to chill before my exam, and 1 for the actual exam - did it, my brain was well & truly frazzled by the end and my arm/hand were cramping and all I wanted was ice cold water.. but I did it. I just had that feeling that I'd conquered it, and all would be fine.
So yesterday I had an email, saying the results were online!! Not having a computer at home, I had to call my sister and she looked on her laptop for me - oh my god!! I got 68% on Palaeo! I only needed about 50% to make it worthwhile, so to get a very high 2.1 for that module is just amazing =D I'm well pleased with myself, really chuffed. All the cramming and crying and revision paid off, and all I need to find out now is how it's affected my overall mark for my first year. I was sitting on a Third, but now that I have this result, I'm probably up to a 2.1! =D
It reminds me of a song title, unfortunately by Fall Out Boy, and it's called 'Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year'. I most definitely think I've done the latter.
I'm so happy! I was nearly crying down the phone to my sister.. I thought she'd said 58! And then I phoned my mom at work.. again, nearly crying. Called dad.. the same. And then I called my Tutor, the lovely lovely superstar that is Dr Jason Hilton, the man who managed to talk some sense into me and make me realise that I want this degree, the man who sat with me while I cried my eyes out in Wales (several times..), the man who trusts me with his most prized fossils and a pneumatic pen.. I'm so grateful to him for just believing that I could do it, and for lending me the Levellers CD's...
So these are my first year results:
- Palaeo ... 68
- Structural ... 62 (which is still a shock!)
- Field Skills ... 44 (which isn't surprising..)
- Mapwork ... 43
- Earth Systems ... 53
- Topics (Report Writing) ... 48
- Strat ... 54
- Earth Materials ... 40 (which is surprising, I thought I'd done really well in that exam!)
- Chemistry ... 57
The pass mark for a module is 40, so I only just passed Earth Materials, but in hindsight I didn't make great notes for it, didn't really understand it, didn't really revise for it, and generally didn't try. But, I have got my 120 credits, so I can pass Go, and I can get onto Second Year! (no £200, but I do get loan, grant & bursary..)
I got 4 Thirds, 3 2.2's and 2 2.1's! Which isn't bad for a first year, when all you need is 40% and 120 credits...
And I also did an evening course in Level 1 Arabic, basic communication skills, and I got 69 in that! Which is 1% off a First! =D
Next Saturday, I'm off on my first field trip of Second Year - we're going to Scotland! The 'real' Scotland, the rugged hills and no civilisation and Northern Lights and rain, sleet, snow & then sun! And midges. OH! And ticks. Can't wait. Bring it on! We're based just outside Ullapool, at a place called Ardmair Point. It looks absolutely stunning! This is it - http://ardmair.com/ - I hope you're all jealous ;)
Love x
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