We do a lot of stalls and stands at different fairs and markets to sell our online store. But sometimes it’s really lovely to go along as a customer. And there is no better event to attend as a customer than Eat Cambridge. It’s like a social trip to catch up with old friends, meet like minded people and eat some amazing food along the way! And yes, we swore we were “just popping in” but of course, we came home with arm fulls!

What struck me this year was how many of these amazing local business’ that we stock in the shop, that we connect with on social media, that we eat and sell the produce of, that we email and call…that I had never had the chance to actually meet in person!

So here’s the highlights of the lovely stalls we saw, firstly the ones that we already had connections with!

– Sugar Smart

Lovely to be presented with Sugar Smart as we walked in. We love what these guys are doing and they had a great game where you could match up how much sugar was in different products, and see that amount of sugar weighed up in a bag! Very eye opening, even to someone who thinks they are clued up about food like me! It reminds me that a treat is a treat! Even better they had a competition whete giving away a “just add recipe” box from none other than Radmore Farm Shop!

-BeeBee Wraps

This is a product we started selling in the shop earlier this year and it’s been a great addition to our “eco-corner”; the reusable bees wax wrap. It was great to see all the different patterns and designs laid out on their stall, they are so beautiful.

– Cambridge Sustainable Food

A cause very close to our hearts and lovely to see them represented at Eat Cambridge.

-Que Rico Tapas

We have known Estefania for ages, and she often uses meat from Radmore in her dishes. She’s a born chef and it was lovely to see what tapas she had on offer at Eat Cambridge.

– The Gourmet Brownie company

We started selling these in the shop only about a month ago. They make us pre-packed signature brownies and flapjacks. But the best thing about seeing them at an event, the layered brownies! These are seriously Chunky and a serious treat!

– Allotment

We get Katie’s beautiful bread in the shop every Saturday, and it was the first time I was lucky enough to meet her! She really does know her stuff.

– Olive Olive

We love the Olive oil that these guys sell, and not to mention their halloumi. They have been firm favourites in the shop for a long time now.

– Asado Sauces

Another new one to is in the shop but one we are really excited about. Wonderfully flavoured South American sauces that are made from all natural ingredients in Cambridge. They were tasting a new sauce at the show, which was Korean inspired and very tasty indeed!

-Hot Numbers Coffee

We sell the hot numbers coffee beans in pre packs. What more can I say apart from Ben couldn’t survive without it?!

 

And now for the things we loved tasting!

* Ali’s Baltic Bakes*

I have to question if the event really happened if I didn’t go home with a box of Piragi! These little Baltic dough pies are a real treat. Ali makes them with both sweet and savoury fillings, and the sweet filling in particular change with the seasons. They are a real delight!

*Culinaris*

We love this shop on Mill Road. It stocks a lovely range of quality produce, as well as deli options. We bought some tasty tahini chocolate from then at Eat Cambridge! Really different and not over-sweet.

*White Cottage Bakery*

It’s the first time I’d seen white cottage bakery, and we bought 2 different loaves, both were delicious, very nicely flavoured! I’ll see if I can hint to Ben to buy me a bread making course with them for my birthday!

*Hum Closen*

Cheese mania! What a fantastic selection. I had to contain myself, and managed to only leave with some Brie and some welsh hard cheese. It was hard to to leave with some of everything!

*Ely Fudge Company*

We got the children (ahem, I didn’t eat any I promise) some fudge. It was delicious, very high quality and creamy. Not that I’d know on account of not eating any, of course!

*Cambridge Wine School*

Great to see Matt and Cambridge Wine School there!

 

It was a lovely event, sorry I couldn’t name everyone! Now you see why it took us so long to get around all the stalls! Well done to Heidi White for organising it all; it shows us just how happening the Cambridge food scene is, and I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must be to pull together an event of this scale! Well done!

When you think about the “must have” ingredients in your kitchen, you maybe think of onions, or chillis or rice. Maybe it’s garlic, or stock, or spices. But there has become one ingredient above all others, that our lives would feel desolate and empty without. What is this wonder ingredient? Meridian crunchy peanut butter!

There is always a 1kg tub open on our counter top, and when it’s gets to half way down we promptly order the next one (luckily we have an awesome farm shop that delivers to our door, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it, Radmore Farm Shop)😉

Our whole family love it, and it’s rare to have something that pleases everyone. So we have the standard peanut butter toast and sandwiches, but it’s sooo much more than that. We have it in our overnight oats, we add a little to porridge, we use it for sauces, we bake with it, we top pancakes with it. It’s a little indulgence that gets you through the day when you need a quick snack, and it’s a great ingredient in no sugar/low sugar bakery. We particularly love to use it in banana & oat cookies and in Quinoa bars. We have made some cracking peanut butter muffins too. It’s the wonder food in our house. What’s the wonder food in your house? Do you love peanut butter too?

Buy it here!

Anyone that reads the blog may have heard me mention that I’ve lost a life changing amount of weight in the past 12 months, almost 4.5 stone. This has involved getting fit, being more active, and balancing the amount of food that goes in according to the amount of energy I burn. This sounds blatantly obvious, but it’s hard to put into practice isn’t it?!

The getting fit and more active has been, I won’t say the “easy” part, but the easiest to alter my mind to. It’s proactive, I’ve very quickly felt results that have spurred me on throughout the year and reinforced why I should do it, and it’s nestled itself into my daily routine.

But the food? Can I live restricting myself? I run a food business, I live to eat! Will I be miserable? Will it affect my work? Will it affect my happiness? This was quite a cause of anxiety when making this life change. I decided I couldn’t live being miserable and feeling deprived, it just wouldn’t work. So I had to change my tack, make my relationship with food healthy and positive and throw myself into cooking new and exciting foods.

So here are the rules I have set myself to change my relationship with food, not feel like I’m watching the clock until the next meal, and keep food exciting.

1. Cook it yourself.

This is really the cornerstone of eating balanced, healthily and in a way that’s tailored to your specific tastes. You can control everything about your meal if you’ve made it at home; how much salt is in it, how spicy it is, how big the portion of veg is, how much protein is in it, how much oil is in it, how much it costs, and how much you value what you feed your body! Not to mention pride in your work! Cooking, for me, is the holy grail of well being. The downside…washing up. BUT think of those calories it burns.

2. Make it colourful. Especially Green.

Colour is so important to make a meal exciting, and healthy. Pile as many different types of veg as you can into a meal, especially the greenery! It will fill you up, has loads of fibre and will make you feel satisfied.

 

3. Variety is the spice of life.

I love having something different all the time, I don’t like to feel stuck in a rut or bored with what I’m eating. So I try to create new things all the time. And if I had chicken a few days ago, and I’m having chicken again today, try a different cut of chicken, try it cooked differently, try it with different accompaniments. There’s loads of ways the same ingredients can be arranged different to make a new completely new meal! Get creative.

4. Try new things.

I try to buy one new ingredient that I’ve never used before every week, and then challenge myself to see what I can make with it. It sounds a hard task but once you think about it, it’s not. So it could be a different type of veg, the other week I make a curry with okra, which I’d never used before. Or it could be a new herb, maybe a different sauce, or a different type of fish, or cut of meat. It could be a different type of bean, or pasta, or variety of potato. It doesn’t need to be a huge change, just little new things to keep in interesting.

5. Follow healthy food sites on your social media.

I follow healthy food sites on Facebook, I also have a lot of friends and a good supportive group around me that share recipes and tips and inspiration. Our Radmore farm shop Facebook recipe exchange group is really good too. I think it’s really helpful to have positive images of healthy, and home cooked food popping up to keep your creative juices flowing.

6. Watch the “hiddens”.

Cooking a lot more at home has really opened my eyes to portion control with the high calorie hiddens, like oil and cheese. Don’t get me wrong, I love these things, but I like to be aware that I’m having them so I can appreciate them! When they are hidden in a sauce or dressing, they add loads of calories and I don’t even get the benefit of knowing I’m having them!

7. Prepare yourself.

Be prepared to eat healthily. This doesn’t necessarily mean prepare every meal. Apart from my overnight oats for breakfast which I have prepared in advance, I don’t prepare much ahead of time, but I’m lucky enough to be at home to cook a lot. So if you can prepare your meals, especially for taking with you when you’re out of the house, that’s great. But more importantly than than, prepare YOURSELF. Do this by always making sure you have the tools you need. Vegetables in the house, lean protein, a good non stick pan, recipes you can go to (especially quick ones). I ALWAYS have loads of veg in the house, and I ALWAYS have eggs (obviously) and I ALWAYS have beans. Then if I’ve short on time and don’t have a meal planned- veggie bean omelette! You need to be prepared with these quick “go to” options to avoid the takeaway or the packed of biscuits being “gone to”!

8. Don’t think about “what can I eat?”, think about “what did I eat?”

This is a great tip I have picked up from a weekend away that I went on with the company that I work out with (Team Body Project). Alex, the lady that owns the business, was talking about food and saying that if you feel hungry, think back to the meal you had and think what it might have been missing that’s left a hole. It might have been too low in protein, it might have needed more carbs. Then next time you have this meal you can rectify it. This was a massive eureka moment. Because my whole life when I’ve felt hungry, I have considered what I could eat to solve the hunger. And that solves a short term problem. Thinking about making the meal more satisfying in future solves the long term problem!

9. Eat things you enjoy!

Just that. Don’t eat kale because it’s healthy if you hate it! That’s making food miserable again. Eat what you enjoy! Chose the veg you like! It doesn’t matter if you never eat kale again! Don’t force yourself to like things, appreciate the things you do like!

10. Make sure you eat those treats and enjoy them!

This is key! Factor in small and regular treats. Learn the self control to have a little of something you love, enjoy it to the max, and then put it away! I know, seemed impossible to me too…but this discipline has been the key to my personal success, both to help me feel mentally strong and in control and so I didn’t feel deprived, because I still have my treats! Also make sure you enjoy special occasions without guilt, these events will not ruin your long term plan at all!

And most importantly, share you recipes with others to help inspire them!

 

 

This is probably our favourite way to eat beef. We love how tender and flavoursome it is, how easy it is to prepare, and how budget friendly it is.

Top blade is one of those “butchers secrets  cuts”. When Ben was learning butchery from a retired master butcher, and great friend, Brian, who is sadly no longer with us, he learnt all about the true “best bits”. This was priceless information! Brian would tell him, with a twinkle in his eye “we used to keep this bit for ourselves”! So that speaks volumes!

Top blade is from the shoulder blade, and being one of the “cheaper cuts”, you would typically pot roast or slow cook it like you would a brisket, but because it’s from the shoulder it’s leaner, yet definitely not lacking in flavour and juiciness. Because it’s very rich, I don’t think it needs a heavy accompaniment like potatoes. We prefer to serve it with a selection of roasted root veg and boiled or steamed greens, making it a big plate full of healthy and hearty deliciousness, but one that doesn’t need to be confined to winter. This recipe is incredibly simple, and really lets the flavour of the beef shine through.

Ingredients:

1 kg Top Blade of Beef  (serves 4)

Rapeseed oil (1tbsp)

3 cloves garlic

sea salt & pepper

water

A deep oven or casserole dish & a large frying pan

 

How to make it delicious:

1. Pre heat the oven to 140oc

2.  Sear the beef. Heat the rapeseed oil in the frying pan over a high heat. Rub a little sea salt and pepper into the beef. Squash the garlic cloves and put in the pan. Add the beef to the pan, fat side down and sizzle and keep turning in the pan, with the garlic, until it’s browned all over.

3. Transfer the the beef and garlic to the oven dish. Pour in cold water until the water level is about a third of the way up the side of the beef. Cover with foil or a lid. Put in the over for 5 hours. Check from time to time that the water hasn’t evaporated, top up with a little more of so.

4. For the final 20 minutes, remove the foil/lid and turn the heat in the oven up to 190oc.

5. Revove carefully from the oven dish, it might be so tender it falls apart a little. I served this with roasted butternut and carrots and boiled broccoli and spring greens, and of course gravy. Any leftover meat can be used for multiple things; to add to sandwiches or salads, to make a Chilli, to add to vegetable rice, put in fajitas, the list is endless.

This recipe might sound simple. That’s because it is. It’s all about letting the quality of the beef come through and not get crowded out. Good ingredients don’t need a lot of dressing up!

Buy blade of beef from Radmore here

I ran a little poll yesterday about the types of meals people were interested in seeing recipes of. The 3 categories with the most interest were; healthy and balanced meals, followed by meat and fish based recipes and meals on a budget.

So today’s recipe ticks all the boxes, with the added bonus that it’s quick to make and uses one pan. You do need a good quality non stick pan though, or you might end up with an eggy mess!

We are often at home at lunchtime, so omelette is always in our lunch meal rotation (let’s face it, we are never short of eggs), but the great thing with omelettes is they work equally as well for breakfast or dinner. We love them because they are a good source of protein, you can load them up with loads of veg and they fill you up!

Ingredients (per person):

Good non stick pan

Drizzle rapeseed oil (or spray oil for lower fat)

150-200g chicken breast (you can replace this with left over roast chicken to be extra budget friendly)

Half a large red pepper

2 loaded handfuls spinach

2 free range eggs

50ml milk

Sea salt and pepper

How to make it tasty:

1. Heat the pan with the oil over a high heat, cut the chicken into thin strips and season and add to the hot pan, stir fry until browned all over (if using left over roast chicken, add with the peppers).

2. Add the pepper, cut into thin strips, and continue to stir until softened and the chicken is cooked through (or thoroughly reheated if using roast chicken).

3. Add the spinach (washed) and turn through the mixture until just starting to wilt. Empty all of the mixture out of the pan into a separate bowl and put to one side. Put the pan back on the heat, and add a drop more oil if needed.

4. Reduce the heat to medium, and whisk the egg and milk together with a good pinch of sea salt and pepper. Tip into the bottom of the pan  and shake gently to level. When the mixture looks like it’s starting to set at the edges, run a fish slice around to lift it slightly. When it’s starting to look like it’s setting all over, with just a slight ‘wobble’, scatter over the cooked chicken, pepper and spinach mix. Leave for a few seconds until the egg is cooked and the chicken mixture has warmed with the egg.

5. Serve immediately. We love it with a leafy side salad and a dollop of smoked hummus!