Flossie

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - Back From Transylvania, Straight Into Soup Season I got back on Thursday from a short break in Transylvania with my friend, where I suffered a mild case of "show and tell" with some lovely traditional dishes. We found a little local tavern called "Roata" (The Wheel) that served the most generous portions, so we sampled a chicken & noodle soup, a chunky soup with tender beef and vegetables, and cabbage rolls. Traditional dishes in...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - This Soup Turns Two Today My Corn Chowder turns two years old today, funnily enough, and it feels like exactly the right week to bring it back. No flour, no butter, no heavy cream, just fresh corn, buttery potatoes, and flaky trout or hot smoked salmon (the smokiness makes a real difference if you can get it), finished with dill and a squeeze of lemon. It is hearty without being heavy. Corn & Trout Chowder Fresh Corn Chowder (happens to...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - Worth Every Hour I only had four small slices left in the freezer, tucked away in a wax bag, when our son turned up unexpectedly for a brief visit. He inhaled all four before I could barely offer him a plate. It feels lucky, having something that takes most of a day to make and is still worth sharing with the people you love the moment they walk through the door. That's why bread will always be the one thing that excites me most in the...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - What to cook now September always feels like a bit of a handover month. Tomatoes are still hanging on, apples are boasting their best colors, and cauliflower's coming into its own. I'm always looking to get more plant variety onto the table too, I know it sounds virtuous, but it's because the more different plants your gut bugs get to eat, the happier and more diverse they are. And none of it needs to be exotic. Beans, cauliflower,...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - Last of the Plums Victoria plums are still around for a little while longer, and this is one of my favorite ways to use them before the season's over. Sticky, caramelized, a bit messy, and worth every napkin. I'm always looking to layer in more veg, more fibre, more color where I can, and this one leans on the plums themselves, high in polyphenols, plus ginger, garlic, shallots, and tenderstem broccoli counting towards that 30 plants a...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - Back to Real Life We got back from Portugal and thanks to a very delayed flight, I had plenty of time to notice there wasn't a vegetable in sight anywhere in the terminal. Unless you count the wilted lettuce leaves in the unending rows of dry overpriced sandwiches. Now we're home, and summer's clearly winding down whether I'm ready or not. Highlights of our holiday in Portugal And I'm looking to layer in more veg, more fibre, more color,...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - Fed the whole crowd, sat down for once We had family and friends over for a BBQ this weekend, and most of my week wasn't spent cooking anything new. It was spent making things ahead so I could actually sit down at my own party. Ok, minimal hovering by the grill still happened. Herbs, spices, and a generous hand with the olive oil turned it into more than just safe crowd food. That's my butter bean hummus in the photo. I sautéed the garlic...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - I have tomato envy We're two weeks out from a trip to Portugal, and I will not stop thinking about it. Grilled peri peri, proper olive oil, and tomatoes that taste like they mean it. Portugal takes its tomatoes seriously, and so do my parents. They're growing around 400 tomato plants on the farm this year. Look at the size of these beefy ones, skins nearly splitting, packed full of sunshine and ready to burst. I'm growing six plants in my...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - Pineapple takeover If you know me, the grill is more of a habit than ambition. On a Wednesday, there are courgettes and pepper planks, pineapple spears, whatever's in the fridge that'll take some char. But I'm properly gearing up for it now: we're hosting a family and friends BBQ soon, and I keep coming back to this Al Pastor slow cooker recipe as the answer to the bit I always dread, standing over the grill while everyone else is on...

Candyflosslife - Down to Earth Food for Flexitarians - New recipe to try I've been leaning on barley a lot lately, mostly because I got bored of defaulting to pasta and rice every single week. I cook a big batch at the weekend, then turn it into things like this: barley stuffed peppers, packed with mushrooms, chickpeas, and feta, baked with more cheese that goes golden on top. I've made it a few times now, and Dave and Iggi both clear their plates happily, which is its own kind of endorsement...