I made this smoothie a couple of weeks ago when the sun was shining non stop here in the West Midlands, unfortunately this last week it’s been rain, sunshine, rain, sunshine. Redcurrants from my garden, a mixture of cherries and blueberries from the freezer and the last orange from the fruit bowl all make a…
This easy to make blackberry buttermilk sponge has a lovely tender crumb and if you can get hedgerow blackberries the cake will taste even better. My blackberries came from the supermarket, they were absolutely fine (but make sure they aren’t dessert blackberries) or raspberries would be good to use too. The sponge is best served…
I bought a punnet of plums from Aldi, these were an impulse purchase based on price and the fact that the plums looked so pretty! There were only 5 plums and I decided that cutting them up into slices was the way to go. The buttery pastry base is easy to make and likewise with…
It’s Real Bread Week – there is nothing more satisfying than making your own bread, I’m not an expert bread maker but make my own week after week. This recipe is full of flavour using sesame seed oil, and honey as a sweetener. A mixture of white and wholemeal strong flour ensures the bread isn’t…
I didn’t make Christmas pudding last year and thought for a change I’d take the easy route and buy one, that didn’t go too well because we didn’t like it. I wasn’t sure I wanted the usual traditional pudding and these are light and full of Christmas flavours. They don’t need maturing and freeze well…
As we know, baking doesn’t always deliver what we expect and these cakes were made from a chocolate cake which didn’t quite go to plan. The cocoa powder didn’t mix into the raw cake batter, my cake was a little heavy but rather than throw the chocolate sponge away I cut out tiny rounds and…
After all the eating over Christmas a bowl of freshly made soup is perfect. Lets be honest some gadgets we purchase aren’t going to get used as much as we would like but hubby and I love this soup maker. From thinking about making soup to serving up takes all of 30 minutes and my…
We never bought stollen when I was a child, growing up or when I was a young adult. I’m not sure I even knew what it was, maybe it was something only posh people were aware of and ate at Christmas time. I lived in a small market town and maybe it had yet to…
These cupcakes are a lighter alternative to the usual scones, possibly not lighter in calories though I’m afraid, but at least there is an element of portion control! It’s very rare that I buy clotted cream but I made an exception for these cupcakes and I’m really pleased that I did. The cupcakes are really…
There’s nothing more satisfying than making a batch of bread rolls and pulling them apart to reveal their light fluffy interior. I cut these in half, spread mayonnaise over and filled mine with lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, home made beef burger, and melted some cheese over the burger. Yum. These are perfect rolls for beef burgers…
