She Eats: Italiano

February is a very exciting month, my birthday, mine and my boyfriends anniversary (three years on Monday!) and Valentines day. So we decided to take advantage of Zizzi's offer of a free bottle of Prosecco and a free main course last night. 

I've always been a big fan of Italian food and Zizzis especially, my only complaint is how often they change their menus! I always have something absolutely amazing and then return to find that it's no longer available, sigh. Anyway we throughly enjoyed our meal and they really do well to accommodate for everyone as I'm vegetarian and Jack requires a gluten free dish we both came home with very full tummies indeed!

I started off with Arancini which is risotto balls with mozzarella and peas coated with breadcrumbs and served with a tomato pepperonata dip. A great dish to start, they were so crisp on the outside and full of flavour on the inside and the dip complimented them perfectly. We also shared a  portion of olives and both concluded that the giant nocellara olives are delicious but the purple olives taste like cheap wine. You win some, you lose some. 

For our main I went for the simple Spaghetti Pomodoro E Bufala which is simply tomato spaghetti with mozzarella, I drizzled it with some chilli oil from the table and devoured it. Sometimes the simplest of dishes are the tastiest. This did need a tiny bit of seasoning and I would have liked a little more mozzarella but it was lovely just the same. 

Across the table my man friend ordered the Risotto Di Pesce which consisted of king prawns, mussels and squid rings in a tomato, chilli and white wine risotto. From how quickly it disappeared I can only assume that it was delicious (I asked and true to form the boy simply replied 'Yeah, it was nice' he's a man of few words). 

I was pretty much bursting at the seams after my pasta but theres always room for dessert! We both went for the Chocolate Melt which is a delicious oozy chocolate (and gluten free, I've never seen the boy look so happy when he realised he could actually eat this) cake served with vanilla gelato. This was amazing, really rich and scrumptious I could have done with a tiny bit more gelato to accompany the warm chocolatey cake. Jack also decided on a Baileys coffee, I had a quick swig and it was lush. Real creamy and rich, thumbs up from us! All in all a great way to finish off the meal.

What's your favourite Italian? 

xoxo

She Eats Burgers: Carnaby Burger Co.

This Saturday was a day of firsts. My first visit to the IMAX in London (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was amazing) and it was also the first time I'd ever eaten at this lovely little burger restaurant near Carnaby Street called Carnaby Burger Co., which is what I really want to talk about. 

As a vegetarian family whenever we go out and fancy some comfort food in the shape of a burger we tend to stuck with one of two options: a sad portobello mushroom or a drier than sawdust bean burger. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see so many interesting vegetarian options on the menu. 

There was the usual vegetarian section of the menu but they also highlighted where a vegetarian substitution could be made. Even better the menu was full of gluten free options so needless to say I'll be taking the boyfriend.

Firstly I want to say how quick the service was, we'd just chowed down on our starter of nachos when our mains arrived.

I decided upon the Quorn Chicken, Mushroom and Swiss burger and fries. To quote the menu it was; a sautéed portobello mushroom, fried onions, melted Emmental cheese with peppercorn sauce (this was seriously delicious).

It goes without saying that we all left with very happy tums! All us vegetarians and meat eaters were satisfied - I distinctly remember my sisters boyfriend describing his burger as 'perfect' and my sister was ready to eat her falafel burger all over again.

The season of stuffing your face has most certainly begun! Have a great Christmas everyone!!! xoxo 

She (Occasionally!) Cooks; Veggy Chilli

I've been a vegetarian my entire life and it's never something that I've considered changing about myself. Like most vegetarians I have struggled to get a sufficient amount of protein in my diet (there's only so many nuts a girl can eat!) but then along came Quorn! I know I don't have a frame of reference but I think it tastes pretty damn good, so I thought I would share one of my favourite meals with you all; chilli. I love anything and everything Mexican and chilli makes for a really hearty winter warmer and it's great on a student budget too! 

So here's what I use for this yummy meal;

Olive Oil, Rice, Ouorn Mince, Pointed red pepper, 1/2 Tin of Mixed Bean Salad, Chopped Tomatoes, 1 green chillie, Crushed Chillies, 1/2 red onion, 1 Clove of garlic and generous handful of coriander.

I will admit that I am the worst at cooking rice. But this Asda white rice came out surprisingly good! I just took a handful (roughly enough for one person) added a tiny bit of oil and salt to the boiling water and let it gently simmer while I cooked the chilli. 

The great thing about Quorn is that you can cook it from frozen, so I threw in a dash of oil to a hot frying pan and cooked the mince on a low heat. I then added the chopped onion, green chilli and garlic (I always crush garlic to get more flavour) and let that cook through. I then chucked in about half a tin of chopped tomatoes and sliced red pepper followed by the beans. Slowly let that simmer and thicken slightly before adding salt and pepper to taste and some crushed chillies for extra heat. Keep tasting it so you don't end up blowing your heads off!

Finish off with a good amount of coriander and let all the flavours combine for about five minutes before serving with rice and lots of cheese!

Et viola! A really filling and satisfying dinner, maybe not one to have just before donning that new body con leather skirt... But hey that's what Spanx are for!

I'm back to living away from home so I'll be experimenting a lot more with food and blogging all of my successes and some of my mishaps (I'm sure they'll be a few!)

:) xoxo