A cliche, I know, but I have resolved to eat healthier food this year. In my house, Jules does the majority of the cooking but in his own words he is a ‘recovering vegetarian’, which basically means he is making up for not eating meat for seventeen years by now eating meat with every single meal. This causes a bit of tension between us because I’m not mad about meat and in many ways I think it makes our meals higher in fat and calories (plus I worry about the environmental and ethical issues involved in eating meat). Therefore, I have decided to take a bit more control in the kitchen and do the majority of the cooking this year. I am really pleased to be getting involved in the #EatWell campaign with Robert Welch this month and taking part in their meat-free Monday challenge – a gentle push for Jules to try more meals without meat and my chance to convince him that they can be delicious as I think he has suffered really poor vegetarian food made up mainly of wishy washy tomato based sauces and pasta with pesto.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Waitrose Cookery School last month with the lovely Robert Welch team, who supply the knives, cooking utensils and cutlery at the schools, to learn a new vegetarian recipe that was delish! It was also a really fun evening and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to learn new recipes or it would be a great thing to do with a friend. You can enter to win a voucher for the cookery school here.

The chef at the school does a demonstration of the recipe and then you get to taste what they make. That evening we were making butternut squash, duxelles and goat cheese pies with a chestnut cream and seared lettuce – so yummy and I now want seared lettuce with everything!

We were then set loose in the kitchen and I partnered with lovely Holly who is running the #EatWell campaign for Robert Welch and we didn’t do a bad job.

We then sat down together and ate the dinner we had made – such a lovely evening!

It inspired me to conjure up my own meat-free recipe (that was actually inspired by a beef recipe by Nigella Lawson that I made for a dinner party before Christmas and I used the same combination of flavours for the marinade). My best friend has also decided to go vegan so I had her in mind when I tried out this recipe.

This is what I look for in a healthy week night meal:

– it has to be quick

– not too many ingredients

– easy to source ingredients

– not too high in fat or calories

– I don’t like using too many pots and pans (I hate too much cleaning up!)

My recipe for vegetarian Chinese pancakes ticks all of these boxes and and it is flipping delicious.

My Robert Welch Signature Cook’s Knife is perfect for meal prep.

Ingredients:

(to make about 8-10 pancakes)

400g mushrooms – choose any mushroom that you like but you can’t go wrong with bog standard button or chestnut

2 tbsp rice wine – you can buy this from any supermarket and it’s a great thing to have in your cupboard for other Asian inspired recipes.

5 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp five spice

1 tbsp sesame oil

To serve:

Chinese pancakes – I bought mine from Waitrose via Ocado and they only cost £1 for 10.

Lettuce – I prefer little gems or iceberg for this recipe.

Spring onions

Cucumber

Hoisin sauce – you will need about half a teaspoon per pancake.

Method:

1. Place the rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and five spice powder into a large bowl. Slice the mushrooms and add them to the marinade. Make sure they are all covered and then cook in a large frying pan on a high heat. You need to cook the mushrooms for a good ten minutes until the sauce and the liquid from the mushrooms themselves has gone and the mushrooms begin to dry out and caramelise. Take them off the heat at this point and they are ready to be served.

2. Slice the spring onions and cucumber lengthways and chop up the lettuce. Serve in individual bowls with a bowl of hoisin sauce. Heat the pancakes according to the instructions on the pack (usually just a few secs in the microwave).

3. On each pancake spread a thin layer of hoisin sauce, lay a few pieces of cucumber, onion and lettuce and then add the mushrooms. Roll it up and enjoy!

These make a great light evening meal or would be perfect for a dinner party starter. The best thing is that Jules was actually excited about trying them because they don’t look like the bowl of ‘vegetarian sludge’ he often refers to. Will you join us in trying out meat-free Mondays? Do you have any great veggie recipe ideas? If you need more inspiration check out the Robert Welch blog for upcoming recipes and search the #EatWell and #RobertWelch hashtags.

Happy weekend everyone!

Katy x

P.S. All photos taken on my iPhone – I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but cooking and photography don’t mix too well in my world 😉

What are your house resolutions this year? If you have plans to do a home office makeover, or simply want to add a few finishing touches, do pop over to Inkifi‘s blog this week as I have written my top tips. I also talk about some different ways to use printed photos in your office to make it more of a personal space, instead of just purely practical.

I love printing out my photos and Inkifi offer some brilliant different formats and they are beautiful quality. Here is a peek at some of the photographs I have had printed and what I have done with them…

In an effort to be more organised I made some Mini prints into labels to stick on to storage boxes – so handy to have the images so I know exactly what is in each box.

I had a few Postcards made up including this image that Katharine Peachey took at our Styling Spring At Mine event last year. It is so wonderful having beautiful memories in print dotted round the room.

I made up a couple of Photostrips featuring some of my best blogger pals and have attached them to my pegboard.

I couldn’t resist an Instagram framed print of Otto to make my work space more personal.

All ready for a new year with a new beautiful planner, stuffed with notes, reminders, and Square prints of happy days last year.

Do pop over to Inkifi’s blog to see and read more, especially if you want to improve your work space in 2016 – there are lots of other really beautiful posts over there so it’s well worth a visit.

Katy x

A new year, new beginnings and new house resolutions. You know, finishing off the odd jobs that have been forgotten over time, de-cluttering, moving furniture around or spending the time needed to choose new additions to your home. To help you on your way, I have teamed up with my favourite homewares store, Houseology, to giveaway £300 to spend on anything from their glamourous Eicholtz range. Found in some of the world’s finest hotels and residences, the Eichholtz collection spans all interior styles so I am sure you will find something that you love.

I have been thinking about my living room makeover a lot over the holidays and I have realised I need to add a bit of black into the mix as I find this really helps to add contrast to a white interior and it has the power to ground any colour scheme. If you are ever in the position where you feel a room in your home feels a bit wishy washy or disjointed, try adding a dose of black to help bring it all together; whether it be a cushion, rug, picture frame, mirror – anything will do, but such a simple touch has the power to lift a whole room.

So, here are some of my favourite choices from Houseology’s Eicholtz range…

Eichholtz Redcliffe Lantern / Eichholtz Mirror With Leather / Eichholtz Maritime Stripe Cushions / Eichholtz Lancaster Chair Black Linen / Eichholtz Soho Floor Lamp Brass / Eichholtz Bleeker Table Set / Eichholtz Abstract Chevron Cushions

All you have to do to enter this fab giveaway is to complete the Raffelcopter widget below and I will announce the winner back here on Tuesday 12th January.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and fingers crossed!

Katy x

T&C’s: Giveaway closes at midnight on Monday 18th January 2016; You must be a UK resident to be eligible for this competition; This voucher code is valid on items within the Eichholtz category only; Free UK delivery will apply for your purchase; Voucher code is valid for one single transaction only, even where the full available balance is not met. Any value not used within one transaction will be forfeit; This prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value; No cash alternatives to the stated prize will be offered; Valid until 31st December 2016.