All posts filed under: Latest posts

Rocket and Basil Humous

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I find blogging in the winter time a little tricky. Mostly because we eat a lot of comfort food, vegetable curries, noodle soups, roast chicken with baked sweet potatoes. None of this looks great in a photograph and especially if we are having it as our dinner when it is cold and wet outside we are half way through before I remember I meant to take a photograph. So with lovely long sunny days I feel a little more inspired to blog again. This one has already been announced as our new favourite and I can imagine we will be sick of it when it gets produced at every summer BBQ. I find at this time of year I want to eat big salads with a few little additions such as humous.  Also I always make too much so there are left overs to put into a tupperware and take to work the next day. I am definitely a creature of habit and could probably eat the same salad for 6 meals in a row.  To mix …

Caramel Pecan slice

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It has been a while since I have written. Life took a turn into chaos as we got a new puppy and I suddenly became incredibly busy at work so had very little time to cook anything new or exciting. We lived off soup and oatcakes for a few weeks, which I must admit was good for the waistline but rubbish for my sweet tooth! So to combat both issues I have created something sticky, gooey and crunchy that really hits the sweet tooth spot! I needed to be inspired a little too as it is easy to get out of the way of cooking sometimes. So, when a friend last week asked me what my ‘go to cupboard essentials’ were, it got me thinking again. I realise that there are a few items I always try to keep in stock and that is a selection of nuts, dates, nut butters and eggs. It is pretty amazing what you can make out of these simple ingredients and to just have a handful of nuts with a …

Christmas crumble apple flapjack

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  Well winter has definitely arrived and the Christmas adverts are on our tv so I can’t help myself but think of winter spices and delicious treats. Something has to get me through the next few months when it gets dark by 4pm and all I want to do it put on my pyjamas and hibernate. When I think of Christmas I automatically think of cinnamon, oranges, ginger and dried fruits. So as well as making these flapjacks I am going to bake some apples. These will be stuffed with sultanas, dates, honey and cinnamon and placed in the oven for an hour. To serve I will crumble these flapjacks on top with a large dollop of ice cream. Ingredients: 60 g coconut oil 50 g honey 1 orange 1 apple grated 1 tsp cinnamon 150 g oats half inch grated fresh ginger Glaze: 20g coconut oil half of the orange juice 1 tbsp honey Add the coconut oil, honey, half the juice of the orange, zest and ginger and heat in a pan till …

Indian spiced cauliflower soup

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It’s October, and I really hoped it might still feel like summer but with this ever changing weather (mostly rain) I realised it is back to cosy comfort food. With half a cauliflower in my fridge and not much else I was going to have to get inventive. So what can I do with a cauliflower that isn’t steaming it and covering it in white sauce and cheese? (This was my obvious choice!) I stared at the fridge for rather a long time and then realised that I also have a cupboard full of spices and tins like coconut milk so let’s have fun and throw a few items together in the hope it turns out to be a delicious lunch. If it fails, then scrambled eggs on toast it will be! So here we go… the ingredients: (This will do you for 2 lunches) Half a cauliflower 1 lrg garlic clove 1 red onion 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp turmeric 1 tbsp curry powder half tsp chilli flakes 2 tbsp olive oil lrg pinch of …

Apple & Date Crumble

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WHOOPEE it’s the time of year when I get to drink copious amounts of red wine and do nothing all Sunday evening because it’s dark by the time lunch has finished! Yes, that’s right, it is proper cosy Sunday lunch season when one can have friends round in the afternoon and sit for hours over a two or three course lunch and have nowhere to rush off to afterwards. This time of year, we generally end up having a lazy start to the day, do a bit of lunch prep in PJs, try to get a walk or bike ride in, shower and be laying the table as our guests arrive pretending there wasn’t a last minute rush around tidying the house. Why do we all insist on cleaning and hiding any  visible items on a table or shelf into a drawer to then spend the next few weeks wondering where we put things when our friends come round? It is the strangest illusion we all insist on giving – clean house living. Enough of that, now to …

Millionaire’s Shortbread

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  It has been a while since I posted a blog, I have actually been travelling for the last month seeing friends and family across Asia, and the UK. It has been a great experience and so wonderful to eat so many different foods and learn about new flavour combinations. I have to admit that all the eating out has made me desperate to get back into my kitchen and cook food from scratch again. With Autumn in full swing, if you are anything like me, you will be rather enjoying the fact that winter jumpers are back covering up those ever increasing muffin tops. It’s my winter layer and I can’t help myself as the leaves turn orange, my belt loosens by a notch. However, this winter I am going to try and stick with my refined sugar free diet and will be trying to make a few favourites along the way. Here is my ‘millionaire’s shortbread’ which is a crumbly shortbread base, covered with sticky caramel then topped with chocolate . You can make this dairy …

Coconut and pineapple cake

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I’m supposed to be on a bikini diet, but so far I have baked 3 sweet things in the last 24 hours. I should ban myself from baking rather than saying I’m on a diet. To be honest though, a diet for me is more about eating loads of veg and protein and just not covering it in too many sauces or sloshing gallons of wine down my throat with it. (Easier said than done when the sun is shining and the vino is cold in the fridge!) The worst part about trying to get bikini ready is the starvation part, I just don’t function well on little food so I make sure there are carrot sticks and energy bites ready to munch on in the fridge. I will always have a lunch packed full of proteins like boiled eggs, chickpeas, chicken as it helps me get through the afternoon without hitting 3pm and wanting to eat my fingers as they suddenly look more like sausages I want to put on a BBQ. Also, why is it that …

Sticky BBQ Ribs and Apple Slaw

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  My husband is a big fan of American BBQ food, and to be honest so am I, but try to avoid it due to the fact its normally packed full of sugar and takes such a long time to make. This is because the slow cooking method is by far the best and most satisfying. It was a Sunday, and we had planned this was going to be our ‘Sunday roast’ with the hopes of some left overs (obviously none happened in the end). So the day started with my husband pulling out the pork ribs that he had already covered in a dry rub the night before. (Please note all ingredients below). He placed the ribs into a large high sided roasting dish and poured in the apple juice and water to the base of the dish. Then he  covered the dish in tin foil, wrapping it tightly around the edges of the dish. The ribs go into the oven at 150 degrees for 2 to 2.5 hours with a basting after 90 …

Greek Yoghurt, Vanilla & Honey Ice Cream

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I have always wanted an ice cream maker, ice cream is one of my favourite summer treats. Many a summer has gone by where I have attempted to make ice cream and always forgotten to mix it every few hours in the freezer so I end up tackling a solid lump. So this year I treated myself to a machine that can make me creamy home made ice cream and I have been having rather a lot of fun trying new combinations of flavours.  This one is a mixture of a basic vanilla ice cream that I have zinged with some greek yogurt to add some tartness and added chopped up peaches for extra sweetness.   Ingredients: 2 large egg yolks 1/3 cup runny honey 1 cup full fat milk 150g pot full fat Greek yoghurt 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste 1 large ripe peach chopped up First things first, make sure you have put your ice cream bowl from your ice cream mixer in the freezer for at least 8 hours. If you have forgotten, you can make …