IT’S NOT EVERY weekend that I haul myself out of bed before 9am to go running in the cold, but that’s how this morning started which means at this stage I’m raring to go in the kitchen. I’m thinking some kind of piri-piri chicken dish myself but if you’re stuck for ideas on what to cook in the kitchen this weekend, here’s ten recipes garnered from food bloggers and papers this past week including some easy mains, sides and desserts.
Friend and often collaborator, Richie Cody has decided to turn vegetarian for 2013, largely driven by a bet from his siblings that he couldn’t last it as a vegetarian for a year. Not one to usually blog about food, I’ve asked Richie to share his thoughts via Any Given Food month to month as he makes the transition to eating vegetarian for 12 months. Here’s the first installment…
So. It’s come to this. I am now a vegetarian. It happened on new years eve, my sisters, long given up chocolate, sugar, spice and all things nice, were looking for something else to give up for the health of it. So meat got the chop. Vegetarian for at least a year they said, and then they bet me that I couldn’t do it! I’m not one to resist a challenge, and well, that was that.
I’ve held off telling people about it, because, quite frankly, I didn’t know if I’d be able last this long. I do love my meat. Burgers after a night out, the occasional beef, or pork curry from a Chinese, pepperoni pizzas, all gone now. Service stations have become subtle traps, with the hot food counter sitting unobtrusively in the corner. I very nearly walked out of one today the proud owner of a full tank of petrol and a chicken fillet roll.
I needn’t have been so worried, I’ve stayed the course. Apart from the occasional temptation (I’m looking at you, Topaz on the Waterford Road) the last few weeks have been a delicious breeze. What I really didn’t expect, is how much I have been eating. I’m constantly hungry. Portion sizes have grown. I’m constantly snacking on the good stuff, apples and the like. Hummus goes with everything. Cheese sandwiches are so much more interesting now, and the long neglected spice shelf in the cupboard is finally being explored, the dust and free floating spice cleared off the jars and the desiccated flavours examined and mixed with all kinds of mad stuff. Oh, so that’s what an eggplant looks like!
Thus far, meals are still mostly simple fare, with stir fries, vegetable curries, rice and vegi-pizzas keeping me alive. Todays lasagne was the best I’ve ever had. Now that the ball is rolling, I’ve been looking up recipes, trying new things, and I have to say, nut roasts look tasty. Wish me luck!
If you want to know what Richie gets up to in real life, take a look at his latest short titled All Made Up, released in December 2012.
LIE IN achieved, dogs walked and Radiohead filling the sounds of the kitchen on a frosty Sunday morning in Kilkenny, here’s ten articles plucked from the world of food news from home and overseas this past week. Wherever you are, I hope your feet are somewhat warmer than mine are at the moment. Anyone got any nice foodie plans for their Sunday?
On the day of the first All Ireland senior hurling final replay since 1959, which also featured Kilkenny, here’s ten food articles plucked from the world of food news that you may have missed this past week in the fourth of a series I’m fondly calling ‘Sunday Brunch’. The dogs have been walked and fed, the breakfast had and there’s a relative clear run of the day before the throw in at 3:30pm when everyone in Kilkenny and Galway downs tools until after 5pm. If you’re in either county, you best get to reading before then!
Food Bytes #1: 10 tasty blog posts from international food bloggers from February 26 to March 2 2012.
For some time now I’ve been looking at adding to the Foodie Roundup series of posts that go out on a Sunday, spotlighting ten blog posts from Irish food bloggers (or food bloggers based in Ireland). So today, I’m kicking off Blog Bytes, which is similar in style, only it looks at food blogs outside of Ireland for recipes, opinion pieces and the other tasty treats that you would find in the usual Foodie Roundup.
So, for Saturday 3rd March and the first of the Food Bytes reading digest, here’s ten posts from food bloggers outside of Ireland from Saturday 25th February to Friday 2nd March.
That’s it for the first installment of Food Bytes. This blog post series will continue each Saturday through to the end of the year and we’ll see how it goes. I reckon that gives me about 400+ blog posts to shine more of a light on as well. Don’t forget that Foodie Roundup #40, the roundup of Irish food blogs goes out tomorrow morning for your Sunday read. With a Saturday and Sunday digest each week, I think that will be enough for now, don’t you?
Warm Chick Pea & Bok Choy Fresh Herb Salad @ Cafe Sol (Photo by Ken McGuire on Foodspotting.com)
THIS SUNDAY night sees Cafe Sol in Kilkenny run a vegetarian tasting menu which could be an indicator to greater changes on their main menu and greater vegetarian options on a whole. On a night out there in January of this year I had been advised that changes were coming that could put as many as six vegetarian main courses on the menu, which would be a great help when dining out on home soil (considering Herself is vegetarian, amongst other things).
So, the restaurant have announced a tasting menu for their new vegetarian options, in association with Vegetarian Kilkenny, a local group who meet on the first Sunday of every month to catch up and share their own vegetarian dishes and delights. The tasting menu this Sunday September 25th at 7pm and will cost €30 per person.
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Ken McGuire
I'm usually so careful too, but as James sugg
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