Oysters with horseradish cream, pecorino and chives (cheats mornay)

Last night I found myself home alone as Captain Vegetarian had announced that he would be ‘offsite” at a work dinner. As much as I enjoy our evening meal together occasionally it is lovely to enjoy a little me time and cook myself a nice dinner for one.

Knowing this I had spent most of the morning planning my greedy plan of attack and by lunchtime I had settled on oysters…and not just any oysters, I wanted those lovely plump pacific oysters, a whole dozen of them all to myself!

Mussels with garlic and white wine

One thing I know in life is that Captain Vegetarian will always be a vegetarian … he says that he just doesn’t like the idea of an animal having to die to end up on his plate so I think its safe to say that this isn’t a passing faze. However, he will occasionally make an exception when it comes to oysters, mussels and scallops or as I like to call them molluscs. He isn’t overly fussed on them and once referred to scallops as being minging (his words not mine) but will eat them at a pinch.

Lamb cutlets with black olive tapenade

I love little lamb cutlets, I love them so much that I could eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner… one of the great things about being married to Captain Vegetarian is that I know I never have to share my  little lamb cutlets or have to worry about them being stolen from plate !

Normally I wouldn’t bother with adding anything to my lamb apart from olive oil, salt and pepper as I don’t see the need to mess with perfection. Occasionally I will also use lemon juice, garlic and rosemary and if I am really looking for flavour punch I will break out the black olive tapenade.

Pork cevapcici

How lovely is it to go shopping and come home with a nice new cookbook? The only problem is once I have made my purchase all I can think about is rushing home making myself a nice cup of tea, curling up the lounge and reading my new book cover to cover. Half the time I forget why I have had to go shopping and end up having to go back the next day to buy the rest of my poor forgotten items…

The lasted edition to find itself as an honorary member of my cookbook library is OMG I Can Eat That by Jane Kennedy. I really enjoyed Jane’s first book Fabulous Food Minus the Boombah and couldn’t wait to read her lasted instalment.

Now I warn you, carbohydrates are not included in either book. It appears Jane simply does not eat them as they make her arse huge. If you can get passed that you will find great recipes, beautiful pictures and hilarious stories about her battle with the scales. 

Maple roasted pumpkin with toasted pine nuts

I don’t understand people who say they don’t eat vegetables. I have spent along time thinking about this and have come up with only one reason why.

They were brought up on meals served with a side of vegetables boiled within an inch of their lives and believe veggies are meant to disintegrate when picked up with a fork, and served a dreary shade of grey. I’m pleased I got that of my chest!

Pan seared pork cutlets with mustard sauce, braised red cabbage and sweet potato mash

Do you ever find yourself looking at what other people have in their supermarket trolley...? I do.

I find it interesting to see what people collect in their trolleys. Sometimes I look and think that’s a great idea, I might try that, other times I am horrified and leave that particular isle rather quickly.

Recently I had in my possession two lovely free range pork cutlets that I had just purchased from my butcher. I was a little stuck for what to serve along side them and felt a little trolley stalking was in order. Lucky for me on my first peak I spotted a lovely red cabbage.

Fettuccini pesto with spicy roast pumpkin and parmesan cheese.

Confession… I married a vegetarian.

Meal times can be interesting at ‘My Kitchen Confessions Manor’ as I am not keen on sitting down to a meal that does not contain some kind of meat or seafood. So each evening I set about preparing two meals …one for Captain Vegetarian the other for me.

My other problem is, although he flatly denies it, Captain Vegetarian is a picky eater. Unfortunately that is something I do need to take some blame in as in the first year of our marriage I was going through a bit of a tomato faze… Let’s just say I used them a lot and leave it at that.Captain vegetarian does prefer it when I avoid cooking a meal for him using any type of tomato cooked or raw; he also isn’t a fan of mushrooms (not my fault). What he does enjoy though is my fettuccini pesto with spicy roast pumpkin and parmesan cheese.

Cauliflower mash

I love my veggies, even as little girl my mum never had issues with me eating my vegetables, actually the more I think about it she never had any trouble getting me to eat anything… It would appear I was classed as greedy child, a bit of a glutton really.

On one of my recent excursions to the farmers market I came across the cauliflowers. Being a caring and nurturing person I felt I should give one of these cauliflowers a good home. That evening I only had one dish in mind… Cauliflower Mash.

Thai beef salad

Although not entirely authentic this salad came together on a day when I was making a meal for one using only ingredients I had in my kitchen or growing in the garden. I was feeling lazy and couldn’t be bothered leaving the house.  I love those days when you can just shut the world out and potter around the kitchen or garden. Had I had the inclination to venture out I probably would have added a few other ingredients like crushed peanuts, cucumber, and fresh chilli. But I was having a use what you have day was very impressed by how this turned out. I enjoyed this salad with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc the sunshine of my garden.