OK I am late to this party. I have always boiled (read: mostly avoided) vegetables but something has changed and now I have to confess I am quite into them. Apparently steaming them is better for you too. Something about not boiling the nutrients out of them.

As such, have discovered a good way to steam veg with no additional washing up.

1. Boil some water (with inevitably pasta/rice in it).
2. Cover with a colander.
3. Chuck in the veg.
4. Pop a pan lid on. 
5. Wait.

That's all.

Hope we're all well.

Ok so Hamish and I made this so it hardly counts as date night but we think it could work moving forward..!

Based on a recipe on Jamie Oliver's Food Tube. Healthy and hot. 

I had curry cravings. Weird. But true. Anyway, this is what I made. It's based on a recipe from BBC Good Food and it's pretty good given how easy it is. 

Muv and I made a green smoothie. It wasn't horrible. It was green. It was healthy. If you've got any other ideas, get in touch. The jar came from Elena and is pretty funky I think.  We got talking to John last night and he explained he was super keen on all these healthy smoothies as he's got a NutriBullet; I don't have one so we just used a blender. Seemed to do the trick. 

We thought we would try the Mary Berry's one pot chicken recipe. It's actually really good. Great comfort food and actually pretty cheap to make. Give it a shot!

I was home alone and hungry. This was easy and hit the spot. Flat because you have to squish it. 

This recipe came from my Mum ("Muv") and is really good. Very simple. A purist risotto. Do it. 

So we've just been in Spain for a week. It was fab. I fell massively in love with all things tapas. One of the dishes that kept cropping up was this one. If you can get 'serrano' ham then that's the best way to go (I could only find parma ham, tragic but not disastrous!). 

I've adapted this recipe from a BBC Good Food one. Top stuff. Enjoy. Makes a good starter/nibble.

Found this recipe on BBC Good Food and wanted to see what it was like. They add thyme but didn't have any so didn't add it. Tasted great! And pretty easy to make. 

Feeling a tad gentle this morning. Wanted food that wasn't toast. This did the trick.

Ingredients

• Pasta
• Chilli Pesto
• 3 rashers bacon
• 1 tomato
• Black pepper and salt

Method

Cook the pasta in boiling water with a splash of olive oil and pinch of salt. 

Fry the bacon. Chop it up into pieces when it's cooked. Drain the pasta. Pop the bacon in with the pasta. Add two teaspoons of chilli pesto and the chopped tomato. Season. Stir and heat through. Eat.

Done.

Huge shoutout to Amelia for coming over the other day and showing me how to make one of her salads. They're delish and we had a good chat and put the world to rights. She has a really lovely instagram page so go follow/like/share etc. 

I had a go today with Elena and Rob and it was good fun. These salads are pretty big so arguably enough to share if you fancy it, or if you're hungry they'll do you fine. And because everything comes in multi-packs from supermarkets, it's not too expensive to do. 

Ingredients

• Gem lettuce
• Handful spinach, watercress and rocket (comes in a bag)
• A small hunk of red pepper (or other colour)
• 1 stick celery, chopped
• 1 smallish carrot, cubed
• 1 big tomato, cut into eighths 
• A hunk of round goats' cheese (got it from little sainsbury's in Durham)
• Half an avocado

Bonus stuff:

• Beetroot
• Nuts, Amelia mentioned sunflower seeds
• Balsamic/olive oil as a simple dressing

Method

Get the oven at 180. Grab your goats' cheese. Amelia said to put a small cross in the centre with a knife as apparently this stops it melting everywhere in the oven. We are not sure why this works but it does. So do it. Pop on baking dish in oven for 20 mins or so (until it's a beautiful golden brown).

Wash the lettuce and chop it into strips. Bung in bowl. Add in the spinach, watercress and rocket. Arrange semi-artistically.  

Chop up the red pepper and carrot. Bung in. Chop up the celery. Bung in. Chop up the avocado. Bung in. Chop up the tomato, arrange around the side. Just because it looks cool. (See Amelia's Instagram and follow her for very funky looking salads).

By this time, the cheese should be nearly done. Take out and carefully spatular on to the salad. 

Season with pepper and maybe add a dash of balsamic/olive oil if you want. When Amelia came over we also put chopped beetroot in but sadly I forgot today. 

Healthy delicious snack. Fish is meant to be good brain food. I need all the help I can get. Realise this might not feel like proper student food but if you fancy treating yourself then this is a good bet.

Also check out Nina Simone in the video. 

"You shouldn't be scared of what you don't understand" - Ravi, on quinoa, 2016. 

So if you are even half interested in food, or you eat, then you'll probably have heard of 'quinoa'. The general vibe we get is that it can do no wrong. Apparently it's a superfood. Whatever that means. So when I saw it on sale I thought I'd bite the bullet and buy some. 

I returned to the house, proudly bearing this seed-come-grain which no one knows how to pronounce and set about making my lunch. My first shock was that you actually have to cook this thing. I don't know why but I kind of assumed it was one of those things that was edible straight away. No. You have to cook it for 10 mins. And then once it's done it looks like little pieces of frog-spawn with tails #technicalterm. 

Anyhow, my verdict is basically that I think it needs something a tad sweet to go in it (the raisins in this recipe worked fab, as did the feta). So in general it's good. I had mine at 1pm and, writing this at 5:30, I am still fairly full so it's worth a shot, even just for the novelty factor. 

If anyone knows any OMG YOU MUST TRY THIS recipes with quinoa (or anything else), please get in touch - you can message the facebook page here. Or email in "BarkingBaking(at)gmail.com".  Such fun.

This was supposed to be a green smoothie. It's got spinach and everything in it. Edgy. But sadly the berries overcame the greenness of the spinach and it's kind of mauve instead. Anyhow, it's healthy, tastes great and making it takes just long enough to be classed as procrastination. 

S/o to Elle for technique tips.

This is nice and refreshing. I put a little bit of honey in it to just make it a little less tart. Give it a go! 

This was seriously good and really very filling. Feta is great, as is plenty of the dressing. Top stuff. Recipe based on one from BBC Good Food but not in such huge quantities - this does one meal.

So a while ago Elena made a carrot cake. It was really good (except for some dodgy icing...) and so we thought we'd make it again. The icing is no longer dodge. Also big shout out to Alexandra B for cooking some awesome carrot cake at the end of last term for mentor hour; it had dates and everything in it. This has walnuts, which are pretty close...ish. Will work up to dates!

Hope we're all doing well. 

So I have been sent some Linda McCartney vouchers. I was supposed to be testing out the paella but unfortunately they don't stock it in Durham. So I consulted with a friend, James, and he said that I HAD to try the sausages. So that's what I've done.

Must admit I was slightly nervous of vegetarian sausages, having been brought up on the meat version. However, I can report that they taste great. Sure, they don't taste like pork but, as Rav (one of my veggie housemates) said, it doesn't actually matter. As long as they taste good, then that's fine. And they do. They taste great.

This recipe is super easy and takes about 20 mins overall. It's healthy and tasty. Try it. 

Also, I am giving away some Linda McCartney vouchers so you can buy some yourself - all you need to do is like the post and the Facebook page and I'll choose a winner. Will be chosen on Wednesday (whilst you're at it, you could add 'barkingbaking' on snapchat, but that's only if you want to!). Facebook page here.

For when you really just want food but can't be bothered. 

Cannot convey how good this was. And it's healthy. Do it. Found this recipe on BBC GoodFood; they use small tomatoes, I used big ones because that's what I had. 

I had two halves for supper but it  could be a great starter too. Also, had this for lunch and if you heat the peppers up in the microwave and bung them on some toast then that's pretty good.

I've seen a lot of these going around so thought it was high time I try it. Can report it was great. You can add sugar or honey if you want but I didn't because I'm trying to be good. Putting the strawberries in overnight helps with sweetness I think.

It's basically edgy porridge. Give it a shot. 

This is a recipe from BBC GoodFood and I tried it because I am trying to eat more vegetables and the other day I bought a courgette (not really thinking about what to do with it). Enjoyed this. I bought a 400g pack of tagliatelle and cooked the whole thing. It's doing me three meals. Just divide into portions, cover and fridge them. 

Elena showed me this recipe. It was really good! The red thai curry paste makes it slightly spicy but the lemon kind of makes it citrus-y I think... basically it tastes good and is pretty healthy. We had it with spinach and that was nice. Give it a shot.

Also sorry to Venus. We stole your onion. A replacement will be bought.