Sweets for my sweet (tooth) - sugar all for me.

If you had asked me a year ago what my favourite type of comfort is and was I would have most definitely said pizza followed by a homemade brownie (just out the oven) with ice cream and a green tea just to balance it out. 

However the Shaziya of 2014s version is comfort food rather different; don't get me wrong- pizza with always have a pizza (get it) my heart but I am more likely to do something like cauliflour rice risotto followed by a homemade brownie with yoghurt instead. Just because I've never really been a huge ice cream fan (yoghurts way better but more on that later as in another post) 

As you may have gathered sweet potato was in the eons of my mind for awhile before I actually tried it and when I did it was like all my summers had come at once. You see it is seen as a health food and for someone who's Irish I'm not a huge fan of potatoes (I went through a dark period of eating a lot of mash with what resembled a diabetics worst nightmare) 

In my eyes sweet potato really is the best kind of comfort food as its just so good for you and hits those sweet tooth and comfort food needs all at once making it not just a super food but a super awesome food. 

For mine I tend to melt coconut oil with a little butter and cut the sweet potato into strips or circles depending on my shape bias (on Friday it was all about circles). I then line a tray with grease proof paper and heat the oven at about 200c, dip the sweet potato into the coco/butter mixture and once placed on the tray sprinkle about a teaspoon of brown sugar, a little sea salt and a bit of black pepper (sometimes I'll add cayenne pepper) over the top. I tend to cook them until they look crispy (roughly 10-15 minutes longer depending on how thick they are). 

Once cooked eat with friends, by yourself or with that significant other (your flatmates ;o)) alongside some form of drink (for me its a nice glass of red wine, beer or green tea pending on mood). 

Happy Sunday xo 

Kale pesto- its the best...doh.

 

For me- recipes tend to linger in my mind for awhile before I try them. I'll be thinking about it in the shower or reading and then suddenly everything will fuse to the point where I'll have to don my concentrating face (where all my muscles go to my nose) and give it a go. 

Kale and I have a love /hate relationship- I went through a phase about a year ago where I used it in all my cooking and until about a month ago I had hardly used it. You see I went back to my first love- spinach. Spinach makes me think of Popeye and Popeye's awesome. 

According to the all knowing all seeing eye that is Wikipedia. Pesto originated from northern Italy and usually consists of basil, pine nuts olive oil. I generally find pesto rather rich so its not something I'd order if I was in a restaurant. 

However for this recipe I used coconut oil (the backbone of ALL my cooking), mushrooms, kale and feta cheese. I used to hate feta but since I started living with a Greek couple my senses have been awakened by its awesomeness. 

I began by stalks off the kale so I just had the leaves left (this can be time consuming if you buy a bag from a supermarket), once that had been done I chopped my onion, mushroom and revisited the kale for a fine chopping!

In the pan I melted a teaspoon of coconut oil and added the onion. Once browned I added a little water and the chopped mushroom. The kale was added soon after alongside an inch of feta crumbled into the now wilted kale mixture. I also added a pinch of cayenne chilli pepper, black pepper and a pinch of sea salt before I let it simmer and the flavours bond. After about five- eight minutes I got out my trusty blender and blended to get a vague thick soup like consistency. 

Now you may be wondering what gluttonise carb did I have it with? Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but this time I had it with courgette (zucchini) spaghetti which took all of two seconds to make (you just use a veggie peeler for tagliatelle like strings) I also added some tuna as I felt like it may not be that filling. However next time I would have it without! 

Until next time xo