BROCCOLI PESTO

I got up 10 minutes earlier than usual to take these photos so I could squeeze them on the blog this week; dedication or what!? I quite like the shadows cast by the early morning light, though. This meal does what it says on the tin: it's pesto, made with broccoli. It takes about 15 minutes to knock up and it's equal parts hearty and comforting, yet light. It's pretty cheap too!

Ingredients to serve 4
1 head of broccoli
3 cloves garlic (or more, if you like - I do!)
50g parmesan or gran padano cheese, grated
Handful of basil leaves
50g pine nuts, toasted
Lemon
Olive oil
Salt and peper to taste
500g shell pasta

Tear or cut the broccoli into florets and discard the thick stem. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the broccoli for about 5 minutes, until just cooked. Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and reserved the water for cooking the pasta. In a separate pan, toast the pine nuts until golden.

In a food processor, blend the garlic, pine nuts, a big handful of cheese, the juice of half a lemon and the broccoli, along with a generous glug of olive oil. Keep adding olive oil until you reach your desired consistency; if you want a looser mixture, but feel like you've already added enough olive oil, you can add a tablespoon of the cooking water from the broccoli/pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, bring the pot of water back to the boil, tip in the pasta and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until al dente. Mix everything together and serve with grated parmesan and a few torn up basil leaves.

The pasta keeps well in the fridge for a few days and is just as tasty cold as it is hot.

p.s. what do you think of these less picture-heavy posts? I actually prefer it for recipes, so there's less scrolling. Plus, it's a lot quicker too! 

101 USES FOR TINY JARS

I am a container hoarder of epic proportions. Pickle jars, tupperware, glass bottles all get recycled in this house for all manner of things. The most perfect little vessels I've found are those that belong to the Glenilen Farm yoghurts. Apart from the fact these yoghurts are a bit dreamy, they're not any more expensive than your average individual yoghurt pot and you get the little glass jars to keep. I cleared out my desk at work and found more jars than I care to explain lurking in my drawers, so here are a few recycling ideas, should you find yourself in the same predicament.

From top to bottom: Bud jars for tiny flowers, jars for salts and spices - this is my homemade furikake - transportable chia pudding pots for breakfast at work, tea light holders, make-up holders. Not quite 101 ideas, but you get the gist. Any tricks I'm missing?

COMFORT FOOD: bbq bean chilli

Sometimes you want to be warmed from the inside out and only a big ol' plate of beans will do (I can see a pattern here!). The great thing about beans is that a little goes a long way; they're cheap to make and they fill you up fast and keep you fuller for longer, and even diehard meat lovers can admit to the fact that this dish is no poorer for not having meat in it.

Makes a large pot for 2, with leftovers

Ingredients
Olive oil
2tsp smokey paprika
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp cayenne pepper
Coriander stems, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 onion, finely diced
2 peppers, sliced into strips
2 x 400g cans of beans - I used kidney and haricot beans, but any you like will do
2 large handfuls of mushrooms (don't like mushrooms? Add another can of beans)
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
Stock cube (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
2tbsp barbecue sauce - I used Jack Daniels'
Sour cream, coriander and tortilla chips to serve

Heat the oil in a large saucepan with the spices and coriander stems. Add the onions and garlic and soften for about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the peppers and mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes until just cooked. Add the beans and tomatoes, stir to combine and add the stock cube (if using), plus half a can of boiling water. Bring to the boil, add the barbecue sauce, lower the heat and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes. If it's too watery, remove the lid and simmer for a further 10 minutes until thickened.

Serve with a big dollop of sour cream, a handful of coriander and some tortilla chips - if you want to make this a little more indulgent, spread the tortilla chips on a baking tray, sprinkle with cheese and jalapeños and grill for 5 minutes for a tasty plate of nachos to share.

MOROCCAN LAMB FLATBREAD PIZZA

If someone had told me almost a year ago when we started making our own tortillas that they could be easily adapted into pizza bases, I'm sure I would be the size of a house by now! Thanks to the fact that this recipe calls for harissa paste instead of tomato sauce for a punchy Moroccan kick and the bases take mere minutes to knock up, you can have this pizza ready in about half an hour - much quicker (and healthier) than a takeaway!

Topped with sweet, crispy lamb, hot pickled peppers and melted feta, these bad boys are now firmly part of our weekly rotation.

Makes two 8-inch personal pizzas

For the flatbreads
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
150ml warm water
1 ½tbsp olive oil

For the toppings
200g Scotch lamb mince
½ green pepper, finely diced
½ small onion, finely diced
1tsp ras el hanout
1tsp cinnamon
½tsp paprika
½tsp garlic granules
1tbsp honey
1tbsp olive oil
2tbsp harissa paste
75g feta cheese
75g grated mozzarella or cheddar 
3 pickled chilli peppers
1 tomato, roughly chopped

To make the flatbreads, combine all of the ingredients together. Gently mix with a wooden spoon until it becomes a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Cut the dough in half and roll out into 8-inch rounds, about the same thickness as a pitta bread. In a hot, non-stick pan, cook on each side for a minute, or until bubbles start to appear. Set aside.


In the same pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil along with the ras el hanout, cinnamon, paprika and garlic granules. Once the spices start to release their aroma, add the onion and Scotch lamb mince to the frying pan and brown, breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon. Add the green onion and fry for a few minutes, until the lamb mince is cooked through. Carefully, using the spoon or a pan lid, drain away any oil in the pan. Return to the heat and add the honey; it should sizzle and the lamb will start to go lovely and crispy. 

Heat up the grill. Meanwhile, wipe the pan clean and place one of the flatbreads in it. Put a tablespoon of harissa paste in the centre and spread outwards using the back of the spoon until most of the base is covered. Just a thin layer will do; the paste is fairly strong and can be quite spicy! Top with half of the lamb mixture, crumbled feta, tomato, grated cheese and sliced pickled peppers. Pop under the grill for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to bubble. Repeat with the second flatbread, slice and enjoy!

IN LOVE WITH A RUG

Our home is - and most likely always will be - a bit of a work in progress. After having to get rid of our old rug (RIP Flokati), I've been deliberating about a new living room rug for only about 3 years! After noticing our carpet was starting to get a bit tired, I knew I had to hurry up and choose something. I wanted something fairly neutral, but with a bit of texture to lift the rest of our slightly flat IKEA decor, but I also didn't want to spend too much money at this point: enter French Connection Home. 

If it's possible, I think I've fallen in love with a rug. I started looking at jute rugs as they're super inexpensive and versatile. The rugs can look a bit yellow, though, so this one (in the sale!), which is woven through with beautiful strands of soft grey leather, perfectly balances the equation. I'm thinking of getting a shaggy sheepskin rug to layer over it - I was thinking grey, but then I found this one, which is the same colour as our rabbit Scampi!

Other updates in the living room include Darren's carpentry sign - I made it for his birthday last year but he kept forgetting to take it out on jobs with him, and I sort of love how it looks here now! - and a bunch of new cushions; this Habitat one is a particular favourite.

SWEET POTATO MEE GORENG

Move over courgetti! There's a new vegetable noodle in town. It turns out that my trusty little spiralizer can turn its hand to pretty much anything in the fruit and veg aisle. In this case, sweet potato takes the place of noodles to make this tasty take on mee goreng.

We had mee goreng every day for breakfast in Indonesia and I've really been craving it lately. Thanks to the sweet potato noodles - swoodles? - this makes for a light and healthy breakfast, providing you can stomach slightly sweet and spicy things for breakfast!

Last year my local Tesco introduced a large Tesco Ingredients section and I've found it invaluable; there are plenty of hard-to-find ingredients for South East Asian, Mexican, Korean meals and more and while they aren't always 100% authentic, they are really well priced and everything I've tried so far has been tasty and a real timesaver!

To make one portion
Half a sweet potato
A few tablespoons for frozen sweetcorn
1tbsp Tesco Ingredients nasi goreng paste
1tsp butter
1 free-range egg
Spring onion, coriander and sliced chilli to garnish

Heat a non-stick pan and dry fry the nasi goreng paste. Meanwhile, spiralize the sweet potato. If you don't have a spiralizer, you could make the rice version this pasted is named after - nasi goreng - by grating it instead. Stir fry the sweet potato noodles and sweetcorn in the pan, making sure everything is coated with the nasi goreng paste.

After a few minutes, push the sweet potato to the side, put the butter in the empty side of the pan and fry the egg. Add a splash of soy sauce to the top of the egg for an extra dose of salty savoury tastiness! Transfer the swoodles to a plate, top with the egg and garnish.

Cooking the sweet potato in this way makes for a fresh and crunchy texture; if you'd like the noodles to be softer, blanche in boiling water before adding to the pan.

And voila! This recipe really couldn't be simpler and is definitely going to be my go-to when I'm craving a big nest of noodles. I ended up making three recipes for the blog on the day I made this, so I have to say I'm grateful to have found another carb substitute for when I could do with cutting back.

WEDDING PLANNING ON A WHIM

I wouldn't say we planned our wedding on a whim (though it makes for a nice title), but we've had a very fuss-free approach to it all! Now the registry office and reception venue have been booked, I'm feeling quite chilled; for me, everything else is just a bonus. I've had an Ideas & Inspo Pinterest board going for a few years now. It's not a wedding board at all - though there are some snippets in there - but looking at it now I feel like I know the general direction we're going in, so I thought I'd pull some inspiration from there for the end of a rather grey and rainy week!

{all images from my Ideas & Inspo board}

I'm excited to get back in the kitchen this weekend and get some recipes ready for next week. Creativity breeds creativity; I've got a long list of recipes to try and I know once I get back into the swing of things this place is going to brighten up quite a lot!

A JANUARY UPDATE

Hello! I had a spare 10 minutes and just felt the need to blog; it's been a little while and I just wanted to drop in with a little life update.

JANUARY RESOLUTIONS // I never really have that feeling that some people get of feeling excited and productive on January 1st. In reality, I just feel sluggish after Christmas and in a weird what day even is it!? fug. Who needs the pressure of a new year's resolution when Christmas is hardly even over? Not me. I like to take care of myself and give myself a little leeway at the start of the year. That said, my two niggles for January were to stop cancelling plans at the last minute - which actually means making fewer plans so I don't exhaust myself by Wednesday night - and complain less about other people. I've found myself becoming increasingly irritated by little things that people do and that is not a nice way to be, so I roped in my work buddy to keep me in check and I think I’m on track!

WEDDING // Darren and I have always wanted a low key wedding; as long as there’s food and booze and our family and friends, nothing else really matters. We knew we wanted our reception to be in a pub, preferably in London, so we scheduled a wedding planning pub crawl last Saturday and ended up going with the first place we saw! Then we booked the local Town Hall blind and that’s that. I’m sure I’ll post things here and there over the next few months, but I have zero interest in trawling Pinterest or buying bridal magazines at the minute. It turns out that the girl who loves to plan isn’t actually too fussed! The venue is pretty enough by itself, so there’s not much to do décor wise, and they are SO flexible, we can have any food we want (Mexican/pizza/barbeque party anyone?), so there’s not really much to do at all except find the dress!

BLOG // I was expecting to spend January worrying about finding a wedding venue, but now that that’s done I have more time to spend on this little space. I’ve got a long list of posts to write when I have a spare weekend (this weekend!), but recipes have taken a back seat as we have a couple friends staying with us, so taking over the kitchen isn’t an option and their room has the best light for taking photos! I had all intentions of switching things up, a new schedule for posting and all that jazz, but I think I’m just going to keep on keepin’ on. I’m happy with what I’m doing and already had a few people reach out to me in the new year, so I feel excited for Sprunting! in 2016. I’m thinking – less worrying about getting three posts out a week and putting more effort into perfecting and promoting the content I’m really happy with, whether that’s five posts a week or one post a month!

TRAVEL // We had every intention of spending time at home this year, saving money and getting a dog! But now we’re getting married in September, we want to visit my family in Malaysia afterwards and it looks like I might be able to get a whole month off work! We’re thinking Thailand or Vietnam for a honeymoon; any thoughts? I’ve been following Ala’s amazing travelling adventures and thinking we should just stalk her route for a few weeks!

How have you started 2016? Do you have any resolutions or did you make a resolution not to make a resolution ;) I want to hear everyone’s news!