Microwave Mush!

Our house is currently a building site (without a kitchen) as we're in the process of building an extension. As you've probably guessed I love my kitchen, I love my cooker, I love my food processor and I love my juicer so I've been struggling big time! I've been kitchen-less now for about three weeks and initially thought it would be a great way to get into raw food. How wrong could I have been... the house and it's contents are coated in dust, we have no space and we're living in our bedroom and washing pots in the bath! Great!

After a week of eating salads I was feeling pretty fed up so I thought I'd borrow a microwave and use this as an oppoprtunity to sample some ready-meals (all in the name of research of course). However, I gave up after four days and went back to my salads and Innocent Smoothies. So what's so bad about microwaves? Well, there's a stack of research relating them to numerous chronic conditions including cancer (just google it and prepare to be shocked!). There's also the practical consideration that microwave cooking just doesn't taste that great!

As far as I'm concerned microwave food is just salty mush; I've tried a couple of vegetarian ready-meals and was disgusted. However, I tried a Food Doctor meal (cous cous with roasted vegetables and butternut squash) and I have to say it was pretty good but don't tell anyone...

I don't think I'll be going back to microwave cooking so I'm now just counting down the days to my new kitchen...

Love Charlotte x

Foodie News

It's been a while hasn't it? After a much needed long summer holiday I'm back in business. To get things started I thought I'd share some foodie news with you.

Firstly Wagamama are offering a 'buy one get one free' on main meals until 31st August 2008. All you have to do is go to www.wagamama.com and sign up as a member and then you can download your voucher. Guess where I'm eating tonight?

Secondly a good friend of mine has given me a great birthday present. I'm not sure how best to describe so go to www.my muesli.com and see for yourself. Basically you can design your own organic muesli from 70 different ingredients. How cool is that? If you're a fan of muesli it's definitely worth a try...enjoy!


Love Charlotte x

P.S. Remember my strawberries from the previous post? Well they were delicious!

Grow your own!

The good weather we've been having lately has finally got me out into the garden. To be honest I'm not really into flowers but I reluctantly planted a couple of hanging baskets under the strict supervision of my husband! Despite my initial lack of enthusiasm and after a forced trip to the local garden centre last weekend, I was surprisingly inspired to plant some herbs and strawberries. You can see from the photo that the strawberries are coming along quite nicely. They've doubled in size since last Sunday!

We're building an extension later in the year so I can't do much in the actual garden so I'm trying to make good use of pots and containers. I've even got an old sink filled with herbs. Why don't you have a go? Herbs are so expensive in the supermarket and there's nothing nicer than picking them fresh from the garden.

My horticultural adventures are being closely monitored by my Dad who truly is a gardening genius; every time I speak to him he gives me a really useful tip. I'm currently compiling all of his 'top secret' suggestions and one day I might just share them with you.

Love Charlotte x

The Toxic Carrot

I absolutely love carrots and I'm always trying to come up with new ways to eat and drink them. I'm on a mini detox at the moment but last night I really fancied a tipple. I'm quite into into cocktails so I decided to do some experimenting. I made some fresh juice from apples, carrots and ginger, added a slice of lemon, loads of ice and a measure of vodka. Ta daaaaaa....The Toxic Carrot! Enjoy...

Love Charlotte x

Have you signed up yet?

If you're receiving this via Feedblitz please click here to see the article in full

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is probably one of my favourite TV chefs/celebrities which is pretty ironic considering he's a major meat-eater! However I have to take my hat to the man because he eats proper meat and by that I mean organically reared livestock (usually out of his back garden!). Although I'm a vegetarian I'm not against people eating meat as long as it's decent stuff! I'm sure you'll have heard all about his 'Chicken Out' campaign, well here's what he has to say...

Roast chicken is an iconic dish in British culture. It probably ranks close to the top of most people's list of favourite foods. It may be affordable for the masses, but it is also fit for a king.

But how many of you know about the life your fresh supermarket chickens lead before they reach your table? That their short, intensively farmed indoor existence is managed like a factory production line, to ensure the big retailers can sell them to you for as little as £2 a bird? Is that all the life an animal, born and raised to feed us, is worth?

For more information click on the link below and sign up to show your support!

Love Charlotte x