12 Meals of Christmas – Day 12 – Croissant and Apple Butter Pudding

To celebrate Christmas, I’ve launched a brand new blog series covering the twelve days of Christmas with the 12 Meals of Christmas. Each day you’ll be getting an exciting christmassy recipe to help you save money and your belly for the big day.

We’ve saved the best until last. The mighty croissant and apple butter pudding.

What separates this from a normal bread and butter pudding? The buttery croissants and apple pieces create a soft, sweet texture and flavour that will have you coming back for more. Additionally, this dessert can be enjoyed for breakfast throughout this festive weekend and it doesn’t cost the earth.

Before we get down to the recipe, I want to say a huge thank you to all of you who’ve read and supported the 12 Meals of Christmas. I have some ideas in the pipeline for 2018 that I think you’ll enjoy, but for now – grab yourself some croissants and have a go at making this beautiful dessert. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

Croissant, Apple and Butter Pudding (Serves 4)

Four croissants, cut in half

75g of raisins

Two apples, peeled cored and sliced

400ml of milk

200ml of water

Three eggs

70g of caster sugar

Three heaped tablespoons of cornflour

A teaspoon of vanilla essence

A teaspoon of cinnamon

A sprinkling of caster sugar

Turn the oven to Gas Mark 5/180C. Into a saucepan on a medium heat, pour in your milk and water. Crack in your eggs, then begin to whisk the ingredients together. As you do so, drop in your vanilla essence, caster sugar and the three tablespoons of cornflour. Whilst you whisk, make sure that the ingredients aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the custard begins to thicken to a consistency similar to single cream, remove it from the heat and start work on the croissants.

Taking an ovenproof dish, arrange your croissant pieces inside. Layer over your apple pieces, cinnamon and raisins before pouring over the custard. Finish this stage by scattering over a little caster sugar before popping in the pudding for the exciting part of the recipe.

Bake the pudding for around 35 minutes, or until the top is golden and the croissants have soaked up a good deal of the custard. Serve immediately with fresh cream for a delicious treat whatever the time of day. You can also keep a supply of pudding throughout the christmas period by storing it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

That’s a wrap for the 12 Meals of Christmas! If you enjoyed this recipe, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a comment below!

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12 Meals of Christmas – Day 10 – Kale Chips and Breaded Broccoli

Kale chips are something that I’ve been working on for some time now. After seeing them on several healthy cooking sites, I decided to have a go at making them on my own. Now, after several attempts, I feel like I’ve mastered them. So it seemed only right that I should share the recipe with you as part of the 12 Meals of Christmas series. Even better, to celebrate the shortest day, here’s one of the shortest recipes I’ve ever made too!

Not only do the kale chips work perfectly in this recipe, but the breaded broccoli is just as tasty and equally as crunchy. Both of these vegetables, when baked, will take you to foodie heaven if dipped into a rich, creamy Stilton sauce – but I also enjoy them on their own with a salad.

Kale Chips and Breaded Broccoli (Serves 2)

A handful of kale

Two handfuls of broccoli florets, halved

Seasoning

A teaspoon of paprika

A lug of olive oil

One egg yolk, beaten

100g of breadcrumbs

A teaspoon of rosemary

Dairy/Vegan cheese, grated or scattered, to serve

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5/180C. Prepare your breadcrumb by combining a little seasoning, the breadcrumbs and the rosemary together in a bowl. Dip your broccoli halves into the egg yolk first and then layer them in the breadcrumb and rosemary, before resting them onto a baking tray. Repeat this for each broccoli floret until all of them are covered and ready to go into the oven.

Next, lay out your kale over the baking tray and drizzle over a little olive oil. Scatter sea salt and the paprika over the leaves before placing it all into the oven for around 10 minutes. Check regularly and only remove when the breadcrumb on the broccoli has started to crisp.

Serve this dish with a tasty salad or blue cheese sauce, which you can make by melting 25g of Stilton and popping this into a ramekin or small pot.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more from the 12 Meals of Christmas. If you enjoyed this recipe, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a comment below!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with all of the meals featured.

12 Meals of Christmas – Day 9 – Pasta with Fresh Broccoli Pesto

Broccoli is super. Packed full of nutrients, I try to feature this deliciously crunchy vegetable into my diet daily. Now, simply steaming broccoli every time I eat it can get a little bland. And this has led me to find new ways of bringing it into my diet. One such way is through grating the florets and turning them into a beautiful fresh pesto – and after refining the recipe, I figured that this healthy meal would fit perfectly into the 12 Meals of Christmas series.

So here it is. Gorgeously garlicy, with the crunch of the broccoli and the fragrance of the basil – this easy to make pesto tops a variety of pasta dishes perfectly. And in this particular pasta dish, fried courgette and red onion really help to bring out those vibrant colours.

Pasta with Fresh Broccoli Pesto (Serves 2) VG (with vegan cheese)

Two handfuls of spaghetti

One onion sliced into large chunks

One courgette, chopped into chip-sized chunks

A teaspoon of rosemary

Four florets of broccoli, grated

A handful of crushed walnuts

A pinch of sea salt

A bunch of basil leaves

A lug of olive oil

Two cloves of garlic, crushed

A handful of thinly grated cheddar or vegan parmesan

First, heat a lug of olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Now, slide in your red onion and courgette, frying until they colour up nicely. As your vegetables fry, pop in a little rosemary and then add your spaghetti into a separate pan filled with boiling water and turn the hob onto a high heat.

Once the vegetables start to brown, remove them from the heat and set to one side. Leave your pasta until it begins to soften, and as you wait for this, begin preparing your pesto.

Into a mixing bowl, add your grated broccoli. Follow this with a couple of lugs of the olive oil and the sea salt. Then, add your torn basil, the crushed walnuts, the crushed garlic and either the thinly grated cheddar or vegan parmesan to the mixing bowl and combine everything together thoroughly.

With your pesto now made, remove the pasta from the hob once soft and drain. Serve up the pasta and vegetables first, before layering up your fresh, zesty raw broccoli pesto. Sit back, relax and indulge on this healthy winter meal.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more from the 12 Meals of Christmas. If you enjoyed this recipe, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a comment below!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with all of the meals featured.

12 Meals of Christmas – Day 8 – Stuffed Peppers

In my vegetarian Christmas dinner, stuffed peppers are often the main event. For those of you who have never had them, they don’t sound all that filling – yet, after you’ve devoured one pepper, you’ll soon realise just how deceptive this dish can be. The beauty of stuffing any vegetable is that you can change your filling from day to day. It’s also really easy to do, making stuffed peppers the perfect dish for a midweek meal. Make batch of these and you can enjoy them right up until Christmas, saving yourself some money and time too.

Here, I’ve created a mix of colours to add a touch of extravagance to your winter afternoon. I’ve used vegan cheese to top these peppers, but cheddar, parmesan and Stilton will all do the trick just fine. If you are using dairy cheeses, pop the peppers back into the oven once you’ve grated the cheese on top and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the cheese is properly melted.

Stuffed Peppers (Serves 2) VG (Without dairy cheese)

Three peppers, halved and de-seeded

Half of a courgette, chopped into small chunks

One onion, diced

A clove of garlic, crushed

Three florets of broccoli

A teaspoon of rosemary

A teaspoon of paprika

A couple of handfuls of vegan parmesan
or 25g of grated cheddar/crumbled Stilton

A couple of lugs of olive oil

Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5/180C. Taking your pepper halves, arrange on a baking tray and dash over your olive oil, seasoning and a teaspoon of rosemary. Pop the peppers into the oven once it’s hot enough and then start preparing your filling.

Pop another lug of olive oil into a saucepan and turn the hob onto a medium heat. Slide in your onion first, and then a couple of minutes later slide in your courgette. Fry the vegetables until they start to turn brown before removing from the heat.

Once the peppers have been cooking in the oven for around 20 minutes, take them out and start filling them with your onion and courgette and then the crushed garlic. Slide your baking tray back into the oven for a further 10 minutes, to give the onion and courgette a good colour. If you’re adding dairy cheese, grate your Stilton, parmesan or cheddar over the tops of the peppers once the 10 minutes are up, before returning the peppers to the oven until the cheese starts to brown.

If you’re doing this the vegan way, go straight to adding the grated broccoli. You want to put the florets through the smaller holes as this will create a beautiful, slightly crunchy topping. Finally, add your vegan parmesan. This combo works fantastically with the roasted peppers and flavoursome filling.

If you’re doing it the dairy way, slide your peppers out of the oven. Pop them onto a work surface and grate the broccoli over the top as a garnish.

Serve with a simple salad and dressing for the ultimate, healthy experience. You can also add fresh herby potato wedges if you want to be naughty.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more from the 12 Meals of Christmas. If you enjoyed this recipe, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a comment below!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with all of the meals featured.

12 Meals of Christmas – Day 2 – Leek and Kale Curry

Christmas and curry: two of our greatest inventions. So, it only makes sense to combine them. In fact, curry – with it’s colour, spicy flavours, warmth and wholesome goodness – could fit into the Christmas menu very well if you can part with your turkey. This applies to those vegetarians out there who might be stuck between two big meat-eaters (I feel for you).

See the first festive recipe here.

Using two hardy wintry vegetables, kale and leeks, in this curry makes it the ideal comfort food – with the best bit being that you won’t pile on the pounds after two helpings (a very likely outcome once you get a taste of the first mouthful).

And below, you can follow my winter-warming recipe and make your very own fantastic leek and kale curry:

Leek and Kale Curry (Serves 3) Vg

One leek, chopped

Two handfuls of kale

One chilli, chopped and de-seeded

A teaspoon of cumin seeds

A teaspoon of paprika

A teaspoon of turmeric

A teaspoon of garam masala

25ml of soya or dairy yoghurt

Seasoning

You want to start by grabbing a saucepan and heating a dash of oil over a medium flame. Pop in your slices of leek and fry these for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. As the leek fries, slide in the cumin seeds, seasoning and turmeric. Follow this with a crushed clove of garlic, chopped chilli pepper, the paprika and the garam masala. Fry the dry ingredients until the leeks begin to brown, making sure that you continue to stir as you go, adding a little water as you go.

When the leeks are beginning to brown, pop in your kale leaves. Drop in a little extra water, turning the hob down to a low heat and placing a lid over the saucepan. Leave the kale for around 5 minutes to wilt.

In the meantime, set up your rice to boil. Using your hand to measure out a portion, drop into another saucepan as much rice as you might need – Pour over boiling water and turn the hob onto a high heat for around 5 minutes, or until the water is steaming. Once the water is bubbling, remove the rice from the heat and place a lid over the top, leaving the grains to soften up for around 10 minutes.

Remove the lid from your curry saucepan and taking your 25ml of yoghurt, pour this into the other ingredients. Follow this up with the additional garlic, give everything a good stir and place to one side until the rice is cooked through.

Once the rice has softened, drain and serve. Be generous with your curry as it really is something!

Stay tuned tomorrow for more from the 12 Meals of Christmas. If you enjoyed this recipe, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a comment below!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with all of the meals featured.

Goats Cheese, Butternut Squash and Leek Pasties

Whenever I head home, the sight of a takeaway is rare. And this is where my love for homemade food comes from. With my stepmum also being a vegetarian as well as an advocate for Riverford veg boxes, the food is rich with variety and flavour. On a recent visit back to my hometown, I came away with some gorgeous roasted vegetable pasties, and this is what has spurred me on to try my own.

Boy, were the results worth it!

First of all, there’s something about combining squash and goats cheese that takes you to another level of happy. But then, by putting this into wholesome shortcrust pastry along with onions and leeks makes it even better.

Perfect for having anytime of the day (yes, even breakfast if that’s how you roll), these pasties will keep in an airtight container for three days, meaning easy work lunches too.

Goats Cheese, Butternut Squash and Leek Pasties (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Half a butternut squash, de-seeded and with the outer skin removed

Readymade shortcrust pastry

An onion, diced

One small tub of goats cheese

A leek, chopped

Pinch of cumin seeds

Olive oil

Pinch of rosemary

Seasoning

An egg yolk

Set your oven to gas mark 6/200C. Lay the squash onto a baking tray and drizzle over the olive oil. Scatter your salt and pepper over the chunks and top this by adding some fragrant cumin seeds. Slide the baking tray into the oven for around 30 minutes. In this time, lay out your shortcrust pastry and, using a bowl, cut out three or four circles. Lay these onto another baking tray.

Once the squash has roasted up nicely, remove the tray from the oven and start placing your slices onto one half of each circle. Layer your diced onion and leek on top of this and finish with a hint of rosemary and a good dose of goats cheese. After the filling has been prepared, take the other side of your pastry and roll it over the filling, pressing down the close with a small roll of extra pastry.

Taking a brush, cover each pasty in a thin layer of egg yolk. When all of your pasties are covered, place the baking tray back into the oven for a further 15-20 minutes, or until the pasties are golden.

Serve these wintry delights up with a green leafy salad and some wholesome boiled baby potatoes for the full effect.

Did you enjoy this recipe? I’d love to know what you thought – hit me up in the comments below.