Ingredients

1 medium banana (the riper the better really)

10 strawberries

A dash of milk – I use skimmed, but any would be fine

You’ll also need a good blender

Method

1. Put the banana in the blender and whizz it up really well. (We have a turbo button on our blender so I always use that!) Then add the strawberries and whizz again.

2. Add a dash of milk and pulse the smoothie in the blender. Don’t do it too much or it could go everywhere! You can add as much or as little milk as you like here to get your preferred consistency.

3. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

You could always add a couple of spoons of Nutella instead of the strawberries…slightly less healthy but really good!

The post Strawberry and banana smoothie appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

You can roast the squash and carrots ahead of time, and then put the rest together when you need it – it would be a great recipe to try if you’ve got people coming over. As usual, we froze what was left in batches to enjoy another day!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 medium squash, peeled and cut into small cubes

8 carrots, cut into long pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

A handful of sage leaves

4 garlic cloves, peeled

A good dash of balsamic vinegar

1 onion, sliced

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp dried mixed herbs

600ml vegetable stock

A dash of red wine vinegar

Seasoning as required

Method

1. Heat the oven to around 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Place the squash and carrots in a roasting tray along with the olive oil, and then swish the tray about so that the oil coats the veg. Add the sage, garlic cloves (left whole), balsamic vinegar and season with a little salt and a lot of pepper. Roast in the oven until browned and the veg is soft.

2. Heat a little more olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion with the cumin seeds for about 5 minutes or so until the onion starts to soften.

3. Add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes more before adding the red wine vinegar. Stir well and then add the squash and carrots, along with the garlic and any oil left over from roasting, as well as the mixed herbs.

4. Pour over the stock, making sure that the veg is covered (you can add a little boiling water here if not). Leave to simmer for a while (we think it was about 15-20 minutes!). Use a hand blender to whizz it up to your preferred consistency – we did this once it had cooled a little, but you could do it when it’s hot, but take care!

5. Serve with some crusty bread or focaccia – enjoy!

The post Roast carrot and butternut squash soup appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Before I begin with this super tasty recipe, I must apologise for this terrible photo! The light in our kitchen was truly awful last night and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a decent snap. So one day I’ll make it again and get a photo in better light!

We decided to make this for a day-after-Valentine’s meal, as we were out with friends on Valentine’s night itself. It’s a super tasty and really healthy recipe, although we undid all of that by following it with Mississippi mud pie! We halved the original amounts shown below as there were only 2 of us, but it would be a great meal to cook for friends. This recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay’s ‘World Kitchen’.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 thick cod fillets, with skin (about 175g each)
3 tbsp olive oil
100g blanched almonds
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
A pinch of dried chilli flakes, to taste
6 ripe beef tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped
1 bay leaf
Sea salt and black pepper
85g good quality white bread (about 2 slices), toasted and roughly chopped
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to finish (we left this out!)
3-4 tbsp water
3 tbsp sherry vinegar

Method

1. Check the cod fillets for pin bones and pull out any that you come across. Chill until ready to cook.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the almonds and garlic and fry gently until lightly golden. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.

3. Add the onion to the pan and fry gently until lightly golden. Add the dried chilli flakes, tomatoes and bay leaf. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the tomatoes are soft.

4. Meanwhile, put the almonds and garlic, bread and parsley into a blender or food processor with 1 tbsp of water. Blend to a rough paste and then stir into the tomato mixture, along with another 2-3 tbsp of water. Add the sherry vinegar, then taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

5. Arrange the cod fillets in an ovenproof dish, pour over the romesco sauce, cover the dish loosely with foil and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it is just done. Serve straight from the dish, sprinkled with a little chopped parsley if you like.

The post Cod with romesco sauce appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Our lovely friend Sandra gave us a homegrown squash from her allotment last week (there’s nothing like homegrown veg!), and I’ve been looking for something tasty to make with it. I’ve recently discovered the recipe finder on the Waitrose website and decided to see what it suggested – this soup recipe is apparently one of the most popular recipes on the site at the moment! If you want to view the original recipe, and find more new ones, click here. This is a really fruity soup and the chilli give it a nice kick – perfect for Autumn. And you can make it on a week night, as this takes less than half an hour from preparation to table!

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1 brown onion, chopped
¼ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 butternut squash, deseeded and diced
2 Braeburn apples, cored and diced
1 litre vegetable stock

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion for 3–4 minutes. Add the chilli, cinnamon, squash and apples and cook for 1-2 minutes.

2. Add the stock, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes until tender.

3.Purée using a hand held blender and season to taste. Enjoy with some fresh crusty bread.

The post Spiced Apple and Squash Soup appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

3 tins chopped tomatoes

3 red or yellow peppers, diced

300g cup mushrooms, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp Bouillon (or 1 vegetable stock cube)

2 tbsp mixed herbs

A dash of Henderson’s relish (or Tobasco)

A big squirt of tomato puree (apologies for the not very technical measurement!)

Black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add 1 tbsp of the mixed herbs and stir well before adding all 3 tins of chopped tomatoes. Add the rest of the herbs, the Bouillon (or crumble the stock cube into the pan), Henderson’s Relish, black pepper and tomato puree. Stir well and leave for about 10 minutes to simmer, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the peppers and garlic and stir well. After another 10 minutes, add the mushrooms and stir again. Leave to simmer for another 15 minutes.

3. Test the peppers and mushrooms to see if they are soft (leave for a little longer if not). Leave to cool before blending.

4. If freezing some of the sauce, divide into boxes and ensure that the sauce is cold before freezing. I’d suggest that 2 ladles is about right for a portion of pizza topping, and maybe 3 – 4 ladles for pasta sauce. Enjoy!

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