Recipe Box: Tomato and Basil Gnocchi

 Mmmm... Gnocci. One of my favourites! But what to have with it? Well, here's a simple suggestion. It should be enough for around four servings.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil.
• 1 onion, chopped.
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped.
• 30g fresh basil.
• 800g chopped tomatoes.
• 1 tsp brown sugar. 
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce. 
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs. 
• 1000g gnocchi.
• 25g pine nuts. 
• 2 tbsp cheese, grated.

To the kitchen! 

• Preheat the oven to 200oC.
• Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion until softened for around 5 to 10 minutes. 
• Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. 
• Stir in half of the basil, the chopped tomatoes, the sugar, the Worcestershire sauce and the mixed herbs. 
• Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. 
• Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi by boiling it in another pan for a few minutes until the gnocchi rises to the surface of the water. 
• Lightly toast the pine nuts in a small frying pan. 
• Stir the gnocchi through the sauce.
• Serve up into four bowls and top with the pine nuts, cheese and the remaining basil.
• Enjoy!

Hannah xo

London Diversion: Holland Park

Embarrassingly, I have lived in London for five years and had never been to Holland Park. I had heard that it is beautiful so I made the trip on a beautiful sunny day, rare in London.

         And it did not disappoint. Wow.

My favourite part of Holland Park is the incredible Kyoto Garden, shown in the photos below. 

Lord Holland - the statue.

If you ever get the chance, please do visit for a picnic! 

Hannah xo

Geeky Gamer: Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden

Hello again!

I recently became hooked on an adventure point and click game which has become an increasingly rare occurrence as I get older, wiser and let's face it, less able to spend hours playing games! Growing up is overrated ;) I found myself with a bit of spare downtime after a run of night shifts and treated myself to a trial download of a game. I loved it so much that I had to go and buy the full version!

I tend to love the adventures which bring the scare factor. I love playing games with the lights on low and the music turned up high which inevitably makes me jump far too often but I love it! This particular  story starts when your husband-to-be goes missing while on a solo diving expedition (who does that??) so we go off in search of our one true love and find some rather disturbing creature-types underwater who appear to have kidnapped our beau. Your mission is to free him and escape with your lives but of course, as with all great adventure games, this is not a straight-forward task...

Source

This game made me jump out of my chair several times, so much so, that I was always on edge every time I moved my character through into another area... So much fun!! And the puzzles are great, not with terribly obscure solutions as I have found in the past but real brain-teasers which are so satisfying to complete. Great story, fantastic effects and atmosphere and the backgrounds and videos are rather beautiful. My only gripe is that is wasn't long enough but then again the best games never are!

Have you played any fun games lately?

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Vegetarian Tortilla Lasagne!

I adore Mexican food and I could eat lasagne forever so why not combine the two? Sound crazy? It's not as insane as it sounds, I promise! It's actually super tasty :)

Introducing the Tortilla Lasagne...

Want to make this beast? Just follow the instructions below :) It serves between two and four depending on just how hungry you are!

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil.
• 1 onion, finely chopped.
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped.
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
• 1 tsp ground cumin.
• 1 tbsp dried coriander. 
• 780g pinto beans, drained.
• 400g chopped tomatoes.
• 250ml vegetable stock. 
• 1 bunch spring onions, sliced.
• 325g tin of sweetcorn, drained.
• 4 flour tortilla wraps. 
• 100g cheese.

To the kitchen!

• Preheat the oven to 200oC.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion until soft for about 5 minutes.
• Mix in three-quarters of the chilli as well as the garlic, cumin and coriander and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the drained pinto beans, the chopped tomatoes and the vegetable stock.
• Simmer for ten minutes until the majority of the stock has evaporated.
• Add in three-quarters of both the sweetcorn and the spring onions. 
• Place a tortilla wrap in the base of a round cake tin.
• Spoon in a quarter of the bean mixture, sprinkle over a quarter of the cheese and place another wrap on top of this.
• Again, spoon another quarter of the bean mixture and cheese and place another tortilla wrap on top. Repeat twice so you end up with the last of the beans and cheese on top of the fourth tortilla. 
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• Once out of the oven, sprinkle the remaining chilli, sweetcorn and spring onions over the top and voila, you're ready to go!

Enjoy :) 

Hannah xo