It is day five of my month of 5 fruit and veg a day and I’m finally starting to get my head around how I am going to do this challenge. I have even started to experiment – check out my cheesy courgette dish and yummy cherry dessert!

Another day of paddle around the pier (you can see today’s photos on my new Facebook page) so it has been all about working around not being able to eat at the event. As it is a weekend and BF is home, it was time to experiment with new food and recipes.

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First of was Cheesy Courgettes for lunch. It was actually really easy and quick to make. It is a case of preheating an oven, slicing courgettes thinly and then brush them with oil and put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes. During that time you chop up a tomato and rip apart a ball of mozzarella. It is then simply topping the courgette with the cheese and then tomato with a sprinkle of herbs and then back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

Now while I like this dish – it was cheesy and crunchy, BF really didn’t. There aren’t many veggy dishes that he doesn’t like but he really was not able to eat any other the first bite. For him it had no flavour – he compared it to semi soggy yet crunchy cardboard. I liked it – it wasn’t overwhelming unlike most veggie dishes. For kids this might be a great way to get them to eat a veg and fruit in one dish but you might want to add a more flavoursome cheese, pepper, salt and BF even suggested curry powder.

For me I’m definitely going to try this one again but next time I’ll make sure to make BF’s serving contain some nice strong flavours.

cherry and strawberry meringueAfter an afternoon of photos around Hove Lawns, it was back home to make a yummy afternoon dessert. It was a perfect time to experiment with the meringue nests from Waitrose, cherries and left over strawberries hiding in my fridge. Following on from yesterday’s strawberry pancakes, I decided that making a cherry and strawberry sauce would be a good idea. After chopping the strawberry and throwing cherries into the mixer it was at this point I realised that cherries has something quite solid inside. I have never had cherries raw – they normally would come in my graze box or just in a bakewell tart. Before adding the sugar I had to scoop out all of the seeds until I was left with just a liquid mix of berry goodness. Back over the heat again, I stirred the sauce while trying to decide what I was going to do with the double creme.

I am sorry to say that I tried and whip double creme and failed… after giving up and a yummy sauce I just piled it up on a nest. It looked amazing! I managed to wait long enough to grab a quick picture but the mix of creme, fruit and meringue was perfect! Sweet, creamy and fruity all in one dessert yet not overwhelming. It seems that fruit desserts aren’t off the menu for me – it is more about finding a way to make them work for me.

This evening is my mum’s famous lemon chicken. It is such a simple recipe but works every time. There are many ways to do it – either soak chicken in lemons for a few hours before putting in the oven or wrapping up chicken in lemon juice and husks in tin foil and putting it in the oven for an 45 minutes. I prefer the second method as it is a lot quicker and not as rich. I would highly recommend trying this recipe out!

Now it is the end of the weekend and it is back to a world of freelancing and this challenge. I’m looking forward though to cherry porridge tomorrow morning but other than that I have no idea what I’ll be eating! I a though hoping to try out one of the Riverford or blogger recipes now that I am finding my feet.

Will you try any of these dishes? Have you ever had lemon chicken before? Did you go to Paddle Around the Pier? Do you have any recipes that I should try? Tell me in the comments below!

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Annabelle

Annabelle has lived in Exeter, Bournemouth and London but now live in Brighton as a freelancer. With a love of baking, sewing and social media, she is now starting her own blog.

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