Showing posts from February, 2016

Sticky Marmalade Chicken

A quick and easy Sticky Marmalade Chicken recipe, great with rice and fresh steamed vegetables.


Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Soup

A warm and comforting sweet potato and red pepper soup. Perfect with some homemade bread or savoury scones. This delicious sweet potato and red pepper soup was born out of a need to use up some sorry looking vegetables in my fridge, but the end result was anything but sorry looking.


Creamy Courgette and Pancetta Pasta

This is a quick and easy pasta dish packed full of flavour. The simple sauce is made from gently frying grated courgettes and garlic before stirring through creme fraiche and grated parmesan, which makes it lovely and creamy. The courgette sauce is then combined with cooked spaghetti before serving. For a bit of extra flavour I added some grilled pancetta slices to the top of each bowl, which really enhanced the dish and gave it a nice crunch. Woodalls Charcuterie recently sent me some of their cured meats to try including the pancetta used here. The multi award winning Woodalls range currently includes 3 air dried hams, a cumberland salami (which is awesome on pizza) as well as this delicately smoked pancetta. Pork bellies are hand salted by master curer Colin Woodall and then allowed to rest for 7 days. They are then hung for a couple of days before being smoked. The product is air dried for a further 5 weeks and unlike  many pancetta's on the market can be eaten straight fr


Sweet Potato and Apple Muffins

I had a lovely new cookbook drop onto my doorstep last week. Holly Farrell, the author of Grow Your Own Cake believes your garden or allotment should be your new ingredients cupboard for baking the freshest, most delicious cakes and bakes. The book contains 50 mouth watering recipes, including classics such as carrot cake and beetroot brownies as well as more unusual recipes such as pea cheesecake and tomato cupcakes. I'll be running a giveway to win a copy of the book very soon, but before I do I want to tickle your tastebuds just a little first..... On first glance at the book the recipe that really caught my eye was an amazing sounding Rhubarb Crumble and Custard Cake. So, off I went in search of some early forced Rhubarb. Unfortunately 6 shops later and still empty handed I had to admit defeat this time. Don't worry, as soon as my Mother In Laws rhubarb is ready for harvesting  I'll be there with my knife! Instead I decided upon these gorgeously moist


Malty Mini Egg Crunch Bars

You've given up chocolate for Lent?... then this recipe probably isn't for you - it contains nearly half a kilo of the stuff! But my goodness it is SO GOOD. There's been quite a lot of Creme Egg love in the blogosphere over the last few weeks, so not wanting Mini Eggs to be forgotten completely, I thought I'd develop this yummy malty mini egg crunch bar. It's got 3 types of chocolate (dark, milk and white), Maltesers, Mini Eggs and digestive biscuits all bound together with copious amounts of butter and syrup. I don't think I need to tell you it is absolutely yum (as well as very naughty) and I'm sure would go down well at a charity bake sale or birthday party tea. The ingredients listed below make 16 squares in a 20x20cm tin but the recipe could easily be doubled if you are catering for a crowd. Once made they are best kept in the fridge until you want them and will last for up to 2 weeks in an air tight container.  It's a super easy treat


Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon

A rich and hearty slow cooker Beef Bourguignon recipe, served with creamy mashed potatoes. France has always held a soft spot in my heart. From the Pink Granite Coast around Plumanac'h where I spent many childhood holidays, to the sun, sea and cosmopolitan air of Nice, on the French Riviera, it really does offer everything you could want, especially when it comes to food and drink. This simple but tasty, slow cooker beef bourguignon, a French classic, is cooked on a low heat all day, filling the house will the most amazing rich beefy smell!


Mini Berry Cheesecake Hearts

These mini berry cheesecake hearts are the perfect dessert for Valentine's Day. Baked in a low oven they are creamy, rich and decadent - just how cheesecakes should be. Here's a cute little Valentines Day cheesecake recipe for you to try this weekend. Whilst spring cleaning my kitchen cupboards on Sunday I stumbled upon some foil heart baking cases in the cupboard that were crying out to be used in a heart shaped Valentines bake.....and who doesn't love a baked cheesecake, especially when they look so pretty? If you haven't got any heart shape cases don't panic. Muffin cases (placed in a muffin tin) work just fine too and once unpeeled leave a lovely edge to the cheesecakes. The ingredient amounts stated below make 12 of my heart shaped cheesecakes (my foil heart cases are about 6cm diameter), but if you are using the muffin cases it makes about 18. That might sound a lot but they keep in the fridge for about a week and you can also freeze them so you are never


Roast Beef with Onion Gravy and Mustard Yorkies

Did you know it's National Yorkshire Pudding Day on Sunday? No?... neither did I until a few days ago! I don't think there's anything better on a lazy Sunday afternoon than tucking into a lovely piece of Welsh Beef, yorkies and all the trimmings. I always cook double the quantity so we can have leftover roast on a Monday. The kids have swimming lessons at different times this term which means eating at different times too. I don't like it but there's no way my 10 month old and 6 year old could wait for their big sister, so it's ding cuisine all the way! This recipe notches up the flavours a bit with a lovely caramelised onion gravy for the Welsh Beef and a good dollop of wholegrain mustard in the yorkshire pudding batter. These few little tweaks make a huge difference to the end taste. I hope you'll celebrate National Yorkshire Pudding Day with me this year by making a yummy roast beef dinner. Check out this post on what to serve with roast beef for


Cheesy Mushroom Pancake Bake

With Shrove Tuesday fast approaching most of us will be rushing out to buy lovely sweet fillings for our pancakes - my favourite being the simple lemon and sugar combo, with the kids preferring golden syrup or mars bar sauce on theirs. So when  Aldi challenged me to develop a new tasty recipe for Pancake Day this year I immediately started thinking of indulgent sticky sweet sauces I could make such as salted caramel, dark chocolate and vanilla butter. But after a bit of thought, I decided I should be a little bit more daring and develop some scrummy savoury pancake recipes instead. I remembered a lovely spinach, mushroom and feta filled pancake I enjoyed at a local food festival recently, so I set about recreating something similar. In fact what happened was the creation of two yummy savoury pancake recipes, one for the adults (and any kids who like mushrooms - mine call them slugs) and a more simple one that the kids really enjoyed with ham, cheese and asparagus. The Mushroom