Pumpkin porridge made its debut today.  Well, made its debut this Autumn/Winter.  I added 1/2 a cup of pureed canned pumpkin to my oats, almond milk, chia seeds and pumpkin spice.  Yummy.

Yesterday I finally caught up with some of the episodes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new series, ‘Three Good Things’ and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was so inspired by nearly everything they made and couldn’t wait to try and re-create something.  For lunch I made Orange, Parsnip and Halloumi Salad which was fantastic.  I loved it and could eat this regularly.

It took about 40 minutes from beginning to look for the recipe to sitting down and eating it.  And that includes time to go and dig up the parsnip!

Orange, Parsnip and Halloumi Salad

Ingredients (serves 1 as a main)

• 2 medium sized parsnips, cut in to quarters lengthwise
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 orange
• 80 g Halloumi
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• Dried chilli flakes (optional)
• Lamb’s lettuce (or other salad leaf to serve )

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 °C
• Cut the parsnips in to lengths

• Brush the parsnips with some of the olive oil, place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes
• Grate the zest from the orange and set aside.
• Cut the peel and pith from the orange and slice in to 5 -6 slices.
• Drizzle the maple syrup over the orange to aid caramelisation.
• Cut the halloumi in to bite sized pieces.

• Heat the remaining olive oil in a ridged pan.
• Gently fry the orange pieces and halloumi so the orange caramelises slightly and the halloumi browns a little.
• While they are cooking, grind some chilli flakes on to the orange and halloumi.

Serve the warm parsnips, orange and halloumi on a bed of green leaves.

This salad was fantastic.  The salty chewy halloumi went perfectly with the sweet, soft and juicy oranges.  By cutting the parsnips lengthwise you get crispy ends and warm sweet soft ends.  The chilli and orange zest add spice and freshness.  Brilliant and inspired.  Thank you for this wonderful recipe.

Had a bit of tree drama today – one of our trees is leaning towards our neighbours shed.  Hopefully it will remain that way until one of the local lumberjacks comes and chops it down tomorrow.  The tree in the foreground should be parallel to the one in the background!

Supper was a bolognese sauce served over wholemeal fusilli.  So in general a good days eating, only spoiled by some milk chocolate which contained far more points than I expected! I was given it last week but it is all gone now so no excuses tomorrow.