month : 06/2015 66 results

Spicy Pork Lettuce Cups

Make a batch of the spiced mince then quick snacks are seconds away, works for me! Ingredients: Lettuce leaves (iceberg works well for this) 350g minced pork Knob of grated ginger and 2 cloves of grated garlic Finely diced fresh chilli to suit your taste buds Little olive oil, splash of soy sauce, freshly ground black pepper Combine well and leave for an hour so flavours are absorbed. Heat a little oil in a large shallow frying pan, stir fry the mince until well cooked ...

Stuffed Baked Chicken Breast

Moist, tasty and looks good despite it's simplicity.  Ingredients: 2 thick chicken breast slices 4 slices of Parma ham 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 4 button mushrooms, chopped Parsley, pinch of salt, freshly ground black pepper. Preheat oven to 180 So flatten the chicken slices, lay them on top of Parma ham and put aside. Blitz the other ingredients then sauté for a few mins. Cool then add roughly 25g of cream cheese or a heaped spoon of Greek yoghurt, mix well ...

Smoke, impellers, fridge in a sulk..what next? Engine out tomorrow..

So I said the Ionian was somewhere over there? Hmm and there it will stay for a few days. Yesterday getting ready to come into Marina di Leuca I was leaping around with lines and noticed smoke (steam) coming out from the starboard exhaust. Quick run to other side and no, nothing there plus more water coming out. Alerted the Boss who has spent past couple of hours trapped in the engine. It's most likely the impeller (yes we have a spare and a spare for the spare..) but wow, whoever designs boats ...

Little Tips

If you have a cat or dog onboard, get one of these window wipers. Simply sweep across the wooden floors and all the shed hairs are in one place, easy them to vacuum or sweep into dustpan. Quick too although tommy hasn't worked out how to use it yet..    My best friends in the cleaning department undoubtedly have to be baking powder and lemon juice - just make a paste and use a warm cloth. From effortless oven cleaning to degreasing counters, scrubbing floors and decks. Slightly ...

Herby Meatballs

A very easy make ahead dish, tastes great warmed up after a long day at sea! Ingredients for the meatballs: 250g minced beef (or pork or chicken?) 1 small red onion, very finely diced 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 tsp ground cumin and ground coriander Finely chopped herbs, I used parsley, mint and dill (chop double, 1/2 is for sauce) 1 tbsp ground almonds A little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Just combine all ingredients very well, shape into balls (I made ...

Chocolate Coconut Bites

My first attempt, not very pretty but tasty? Oh yes! If I'd remembered to spread the paste on greaseproof paper they would've been far easier to remove. Ingredients: 100g coconut (desiccated or flour, I only had flour) 1 heaped soup spoon raw honey 3 heaped soup spoons coconut oil Either blitz together in a food processor or beat frantically with a wooden spoon until a smooth light paste. Spread on greaseproof to desired thickness and chill until hard (roughly 30 mins). Whilst that's ...

Easy Marinated Pork Chops

A kick of ginger, citrus and garlic. Obviously this would work brilliantly with chicken too! Ingredients: 2 Pork chops Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 small orange plus grated knob of ginger and garlic cloves to taste. Juice of the lemon, glug of olive oil, tsp honey, a dash of sea salt, freshly ground pepper Combine ingredients and leave for at least an hour, turn meat occasionally to coat well. Throw on your barbecue or in a sizzling frying pan until cooked, turn to brown ...

The Ionion is somewhere over there apparently….

Truly loved being in Roccella Marina, the free bicycle loan is genius (just leave a small contribution at the end of use for maintenance) and the cycle path is perfect all the way to the square. Poor tommy ran all the way there and back then promptly slept for the rest of the day, bless.. Excellent butcher, green grocers and other things that always make me smile :-) Pizza by the metre made the Boss smile. Trip from there to Le Castella wasn't much fun, to say the sea was confused is an ...

Not just a boat mascot

I'm sure the dog thinks that at times, definitely when meeting fellow cruisers for the first time in several years with no recognition but the others say "oh look it's tommy"!  I bet there's tons of woofs of agreement out there, we get it all the time right? :-) Ok, I'm assuming we all keep their vaccinations up to date but what research do you do to find out what additional treatment they may need to avoid creepy crawlie things and diseases in other countries? I've never found one search ...

Soufflé Egg Muffins

Easy peasy but they do sink a bit when they cool.. This made enough for 6 deep muffins. 4 eggs, separated 2 slices Parma ham 1 finely diced red onion 1 medium sized grated courgette (zucchini if that makes more sense?) 1 medium sized grated carrot Pepper and herbs (I used oregano) Set oven to 180 Whisk egg whites until stiff. Mix all other ingredients together, add a spoon of egg white to loosen the mixture and then gently fold in the egg whites. Pour into a VERY well greased muffin ...