Book Review: stewed! nourish your soul

Some of you may already be more than familiar with the stewed! brand. You may have even grabbed yourself one of their stewed! pots from the supermarket when you were in need of a quick, convenient, delicious lunch or dinner. But did you know they now have a recipe book out?

Now I must admit that I have never tried the stewed! pots personally as I am one of those annoying people who steers clear of the ready made meal aisle. However, I was delighted to receive a copy of their new cookbook stewed! nourish your soul for several reasons. Firstly, I would pretty much eat stew every day if I could and secondly, due to the 'bijoux' nature of my current kitchen and a husband who complains about having to wash up lots of pans, anything that can be made in just one-pot is always a winner!

The book contains recipes for a whole 80 stews and one-pot wonders, which are broken down by region. I decided I fancied something from the Americas (unsurprisingly with my americana obsession really!) and while I was highly tempted by the Boston Baked Beans and New England Clam Chowder I settled on Succotash, a variation of traditional native American dish which consists of sweetcorn, butternut squash and broad beans. The recipe was clear and easy to follow and the end results where delicious! I apologise for the lack of photo now but my brood polished it off before I even had chance to charge the camera.

I can't wait to try out pretty much every single other recipe in this book, I'm pretty certain the Beef in Ale with horseradish and stilton dumplings (in the top right corner of the picture above) will be gracing our table this weekend in particular. Seriously, even under interrogation from the Gene genie himself I couldn't pick out a single recipe I wouldn't want to try. My family's soul will definitely be feeling very nourished this winter thanks to Stewed!

Stewed! by Alan Rosenthal, published by Ebury Press retails at £14.99 but is currently available on Amazon for the bargainous price of £8.74

Shoe Porn: Office Satin Shoe Boots

I know these shoes are impractical, but as it's only cold outside, and not at all icy, I'm making the most of the time to rock some high heels. Because in three weeks, you'd end up in a heap on the floor if you tried to walk in these. And that's before you'd had any cocktails.

But they're lovely, aren't they? I really like the berry colour (red before Christmas is a bit cliche) and the satin is lovely. But it's the patent leather details that I really like. It's no secret that I have a penchant for shiny shoes, but the leather touches on these are subtle. Well, as subtle as it's possible to be whilst stomping around in a heel like that.

They're from Office and they're available in black as well. They're more expensive than Office usually are, they're £92. But they're utterly show stopping, aren't they?

Veggie Christmas: Roasted Pepper Stuffed With Egg-Fried Rice

Being a vegetarian at Christmas can be a bit grim. Seeing everyone else tuck into a lovingly prepared roast turkey while we doggedly plough through yet another tragic vegetarian alternative can be a tad miserable. I could live without ever having to wash down a bland, dry nut roast with plenty of wine again. And frankly those pallid Quorn family roasts go into the oven looking like oversized marital aids, and come out exactly the same colour as they were at the start. Unnatural. It's witchcraft, I tell you.

So I'm going to test a few alternative ideas over the next few weeks, starting with roasted pepper stuffed with egg-fried rice. You can use whatever vegetables you have handy in the stuffing, but go for as many different colours as you can to keep it looking vibrant. There was loads of the stuffing left over - enough for another half pepper - so I piled it up on the side. You could probably present it a bit more lovingly than I did. I was starving.

Recipe adapted from Paul Rankin's.

You will need:

For the roasted pepper:

• 1/2 red pepper, deseeded
• 2 tsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

For the stuffing:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 75g mushrooms, sliced
• 3 spring onions, chopped
• 60g basmati rice, cooked
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Fresh parsley, chopped

Make it!

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 6. For the roasted pepper, pop the red pepper half onto a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and seasoning, and roast for 6-8 minutes or until soft.
2. Now for the stuffing. Heat the oil over a medium-heat and fry the onion, garlic, red pepper for 3-4 minutes until softened.
3. Add the mushrooms and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the rice and fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. Make a well in the centre, add the egg and fry, stirring constantly, until cooked.
5. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and stir through. Mix in the parsley and spring onions.
6. To serve, fill the roasted pepper with the rice.

Dream Dress: Yellow Shift Dress

I'm not sure I can pick out my favourite bit of this shift dress. I might be the colour. I love the bright yellow. More things should be yellow, especially in winter. But it may also be the fact that it's long sleeved, something that's sorely lacking in most day dresses. I like that they're flouncy too. And the little rows of buttons are adorable. This is the perfect daytime dress. Just throw on some thick tights, and a contrasting handbag. It's sophisticated, it's sexy and it's got a little bit of a sexy Peter Pan vibe going on. More dresses should have that.

Only £38? Miss Selfridge are making getting dressed really really easy this winter.

You Scrubber: The Toast and Jam Bodywash Set

Make no mistake about it, Secret Santa season is fast approaching, and if your brain is already too frazzled by all the seasonal excitement to come up with anything more original than a toiletry set or some fancypants chocolate, don't despair.

This bizarre new Toast and Jam bodywash set looks like a twee pot of strawberry jam and a satisfyingly thick slab of wholemeal toast. But before you drool all over your computer and trundle to the kitchen to make the requisite accompanying pot of tea, look closer.

All is not as it appears. This breakfast of champions is actually a sponge masquerading as a slice of toast and a fruity tub of bodywash. The quirky presentation stops it from being yet another yawnsome toiletry set, but it's still a safe enough bet that you could bequeath it to someone you don't know so well without worry. And it's only £6.99, from Firebox.

Cocktail Hour: The Bloodhound

I'm not a frequent vermouth drinker, but somehow there always seems to be a half empty bottle in the house. In every house I've lived in, there's vermouth. Usually all dusty at the back of the drinks collection, but it's there. To my knowledge, no one in Sluttery HQ has ever used the bottle we've got stashed away, and no one knows where it came from either.

But that's going to change, because there's loads of tasty cocktails that can be made with it. I'm going to kick off my cocktail making with a Bloodhound. It'll use up all those strange bottles, and it's made with strawberries which are always tasty in cocktails. And gin, which is very very tasty in cocktails.

You'll need:

• 50ml gin
• 25ml sweet vermouth
• 25ml dry vermouth
• crushed strawberries

Shake it!

Shake all the alcoholic ingredients together, pour over crushed ice and add the crushed strawberries to the glass as a garnish.

Got a random bottle of booze you never use? Tell us in the comments and we'll do our best to come up with a cocktail recipe!

Flickr image from Debs (ò‿ó)♪'s photostream.

Design Porn: Light up your mood

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. You can give me all the fancy designed stuff in the world but sometimes, I just want something fun and simple. These light switch stickers are so much fun. How has no one thought of this before? Turn your light switches (boring and dull) into little people (fun and silly).

They're just £6 from YCOnline (loads of fab designed stuff over there) and you get enough for eight silly light switch faces.