An Easy Salmon Recipe for the Barbecue

My family love barbecues. Perhaps a little too much. I think they would have barbecues for breakfast if I let them! I don't mind them and enjoy being outdoors and the social aspect, but I find burgers and sausages get a bit samey after a while. So, when I found a half side of salmon reduced to £1.50 in the bargain bin at the supermarket yesterday, I decided that had to be the answer to my barbecue boredom. But what to do with it... Inspiration came in the form of another bargain buy, a bag of limes for 9p! Here's how to make a delicious salmon dish to add some interest to your usual barbecue meals. 

Strawberry Ice Cream Milkshake

We love strawberries and are always trying to think up new and different strawberry recipes. This super simple strawberry milkshake recipe is so easy, it's a lovely one to get children involved with. It's brilliant fun and perfect for cooling down during the summer months. The taste and texture is very reminiscent of the milkshakes you get in a certain fast food restaurant, but contains real fresh fruit, for extra health benefits. If you don't have strawberries, you could try substituting another fruit, such as raspberries or bananas. As with a lot of my recipes, the amounts aren't set in stone and can be adjusted to taste without completely ruining it. All you need is....

Emergency Biscuit Replacement Hack!

Don't you just hate it, when it gets to the point in the evening where you really don't want to go out, and you suddenly realise, you've forgotten to buy something vital. So, this evening there was mass panic when the choccy biccies ran out and we had to think fast. I had some shortcrust pastry left over from a jam tart failure (don't ask) so we threw together this epic recipe, that will replace your biscuit supply easily and without having to go out. bonus!

Nutritious, Low Cost, Three Minute Scrambled Egg!

The humble egg often gets overlooked these days as part of a healthy diet, but, in terms of nutrition versus cost, you really can't 'beat it' (ahem). Containing just 70 calories each, along with high quality protein, there are also a host of B vitamins, minerals and even trace elements of Phosphorus, all packed into its relatively tiny shell. There are lots of different ways to create a healthy lunch, with hardly any effort, using eggs and it's a great way to fill you up and prevent that pesky mid-afternoon snack craving. There is a recipe for  Lazy Eggs with Ham here, but today, I thought I would share with you a favourite of mine, which takes just three ingredients and literally two minutes to cook.

Caramelised Carrots Make Veg Fun!

This caramelised carrot recipe is very simple to make, using just a few ingredients, and is always really popular with children, due to the sweetness. Happily, it offers a good way to get vegetables into even the most reluctant vegetable consumer. However, as they do contain sugar, they are not the healthiest of vegetable options, so are probably best reserved for a delicious occasional treat. They do get children used to the texture of vegetables though, so might be one to consider if you are in possession of a really committed fussy eater.

Why Pay More for Hot Chocolate?

I recently ran out of hot chocolate and was surprised to find out just how easy it is to make a really delicious hot chocolate, using just milk, sugar and Cocoa. This particularly appealed to me, because I don't get on well with dairy and try to avoid it if I can. The shop-bought hot chocolate I was used to was one you made with water, so the milk was already added. Not only does this mean you have to suffer the dairy content, but also, like all processed foods, there are lots of other ingredients too that aren't strictly necessary. Take this example from Tesco. This is a list of ingredients for their Value hot chocolate;

Space Age Strawberries; Making Fruit Exciting for Children!

My daughter has been the big sister to a fussy eating younger brother for years and during that time she has come up with lots of fun ways to encourage him to try new foods. I don't know why she is so good at it, I think it's partly the imagination of youth and partly the fact that she is close enough in age to him to still remember what it was like to be suspicious of food! Her latest invention is a novel way to jazz up some strawberries. This simple recipe makes them more appealing to little, and bigger, picky eaters and it involves a product I am a huge fan of. It's not especially cheap, contrary to my normal food posts, but it does last a long time, as a little goes a long way. Dr Oetker Shimmer Spray is so much fun, your food will never be the same again! 

A Really Easy Toastie Twist!

Fed up with unimaginative cheese on toast? Here's a way you can jazz it up, with very little cost or effort! This lunchtime recipe is super-simple to make and can be adapted to use up all kinds of left overs you may have languishing, unloved, in your fridge. It's a straight forward twist on classic Cheese on Toast. All you need to start you off is grated cheese and tomato puree, the rest is up to you! Here is how I made mine, but you can add or remove ingredients to suit your taste and budget. You can also use french bread, or pitta bread, which makes it more like a pizza.

Bolognese Pitta Pocket!

Quick recipe for a delicious lunch! A recipe involving my favourite ingredient, leftovers!

If you enjoy a homemade Spaghetti Bolognese, you probably, like me, make far too much. I don't know what it is about anything involving mince, but I always overdo the portions. It may be because it's easy to forget how filling it is. No matter how scrumptious and lovingly created it is, you can still only cram in so much. Fear not, though, because I have a suggestion that means you can relive your favourite meal, as a delicious lunchtime treat!

Leek and Bacon Tartlets

As the summer rolls on, it can become increasingly tricky to think up new and different ideas for picnics and days out. Ideally, you want something that everyone will like, that won't take a world of time, or complicated ingredients, to make. If you fancy a change from the usual scotch eggs and sausage rolls, these little pastries are a great addition to the family picnic basket. They travel well and are surprisingly easy to make. You can also mess about with the fillings, to create vegetarian or other options, depending on what everyone likes. If you are not keen on leeks, try mushrooms instead, just peel and chop, then add instead of the leeks. You could also substitute the bacon and have leek and mushoom for vegetatarians.

Corned Beef Hash

Corned Beef Hash is one of the first recipes I ever learned to cook and is brilliant if you are lacking fresh ingredients, but craving something home cooked. This is another recipe that is fun to do with children, as there's a lot of messy mashing and mixing involved and it all helps towards encouraging children to try new things and be confident around food. It's not the cheap staple it used to be because, unfortunately, corned beef has shot up in price over the years, making this dish far less budget than it used to be, but it is very convenient as home-cooked dishes go and it does fill a useful gap in the menu if you ever get snowed in!

Lemon Cheescake and Meeting Mary Berry...

I was lucky enough to receive tickets to The Grape and Grain Festival in Bristol last weekend. It was brilliant. First, there was a champagne breakfast, attended by the lovely Mary Berry and Lucy Young. It was a really relaxed atmosphere and Mary and her little family of helpers were really friendly and made a real effort to speak to everyone at the event. Walking around all the tables and signing books. We really enjoyed the event and I even discovered something I never knew before. Cheesecake is actually really easy to make! Read on below for the recipe. 

Panakalty from Sunny Sunderland!

Since the weather is being most unruly at the moment, this guest post features a regional recipe from my lovely friend Sue. It is a traditional North-East English delicacy and not one I had heard of until this post arrived! As with all regional cuisine, I am sure there are some slight variations to this dish from person to person, but this is the version that is popular in the Sunderland area where Sue hails from and one she has been feeding her family for many years.  I haven't tried it yet, but it looks delicious. Proper warming comfort food, perfect for the cool autumn evenings. I can't wait to try it!

Easy Spelt Biscuits

This recipe uses Spelt flour, which is an ancient grain, containing a different type of gluten. Some people find spelt flour easier to digest, easing the irritation that some people suffer from eating gluten-based products. It is, however, still very much gluten for the purposes of Coeliac disease, so should be avoided by sufferers. I found these needed icing, as the flavour isn't as strong as with other flours. If you prefer, you could substitute for wholemeal. I love the rustic texture that these create, they seem to taste a bit healthier and more wholesome than white flour biscuits!

Easy Peasy Cake for Baking Emergencies!

We have all encountered a baking emergency at some stage in our lives, it's a thing. I'm not making it up! These are the kind of emergencies I mean; 'Mum, it's bake sale day at school tomorrow' 'Don't forget it's the husband's/sister's/dogs birthday on Saturday', Happy Anniversary, Darling!' That kind of emergency! Or, there's the other kind of cake-based drama, which is a more hormonal kind; BRING ME CAKE NOW!!! Either way, this cake is low on ingredients and high on efficiency, so you can have your cakey fix quicker than ever!

Lazy Eggs Brunch

My son is very interested in cooking and has been helping me in the kitchen for quite a few years now. It has always been quite important to me, however, that he learns about cooking more complex recipes and actual meals, instead of just making cakes. So when he suggested this easy ham and egg recipe, I was very keen for him to have a go. I want him to learn that cooking meals can be fun and doesn't have to be difficult, just like making cakes. The beauty of this recipe is that he can make it more or less independently. It's very cheap, with just four ingredients, so would make a perfect nutritious meal for a student who is learning to cook.

How to Make a Lego Cake

For my son's birthday, he wanted a Lego cake, because he is 8 and that is what 8 year olds like, apparently. There were definite advantages to this cake, in that it needed to be square, which took a lot of the hard work out of the design. I was also very lucky, because I managed to borrow a little brick mould for the fondant decorations, but I thought I would show you how I made the little Lego men. The cake is far from perfect, as I was struggling with my back at the time, but I imagine if you had more time, you could probably do a better job! The method for creating the figures was actually quite easy, as you will see.