You have just got to try these beauties, voted by my regular testers here at home as better than my Oreo Brownies which is really saying something. As sweet treats go these are well up there and well worth making because they are just so yummy. What more can I say to convince you to give these deliciously sweet, buttery, chocolatey, caramel squares a go??!! Continue reading
I am often scratching my head trying to do something different or interesting with skinless chicken breasts. During the week it is all about speed and simplicity so my ‘go to’ recipe would be my chicken breasts with honey and mustard or perhaps a stir-fry or a curry. At the weekend I try to do something a little fancier if I have the time and this stuffed chicken is one of those dishes. This would also be a great dish to do if you were having anyone for dinner as it can be prepared in advance. As well as being delicious and moist, it is also a very healthy way to cook the chicken. I have used a leek & bacon mixture in the stuffing but you could equally invent your own or use the traditional sage & onion stuffing where any leftover chicken sliced thinly and would make a pretty tasty sandwich the next day. I am all for this type of cooking where a little bit extra or leftover can sort lunches for the next day. Continue reading
Apologies to all my dear subscribers for the lack of a post last week – I was swimming in Newry in the Ulster Masters – once you are over 19 years you qualify for Masters events! Oh to be 19 again! Swimming is something I did when I was a kid, thanks to my parents but I gave it up when I was 16 (over the hill in the swimming world!). I took it up again after watching the last Olympics when I was just past my 50th birthday and having a bit of a mid-life crisis. From initially swimming 3 times a week to relieve stress and get fit, I now swim / train 5 or 6 times a week and will be swimming in the European Masters Championships in the Olympic Pool in London at the end of May. So my life is all train, eat, sleep and work at the moment so forgive me if new posts are a little erratic in the next few weeks. In my wildest dreams would I have thought I would ever be able to do this and yes I am terrified but also excited. Continue reading
One of my favourite chocolate bars when I was a kid was a Macaroon Bar – shows my age! They are still available in some retro sweet shops and I bought one recently to see if they were still as nice. I was so disappointed and couldn’t believe that I had actually liked them, it was so sickly sweet. I decided then to have a go at making my own version which was surprisingly easy and ‘finger licking good’ if I say so myself! To make them even more attractive they rock in at just 95 calories each, using natural sugars in the form of honey (or agave syrup) so they make a pretty guilt-free treat in my book! I made them using dark chocolate with 74% cocoa solids – you can use any chocolate however the amount of honey / agave syrup you need will depend on how dark(% of cocoa solids) the chocolate is. Continue reading
I think it’s fair to say that any apple dessert, cake or tart goes down well in my house and while I adore an apple tart I am pretty hopeless when it comes to making pastry so I only make them occasionally. (Promise I will share my most reliable tried and tested recipe for apple tart in a future blog post!). This Dutch Apple Cake is an absolute winner – delicious, beautifully light, moist and fluffy and can be served warm with some cream, custard or ice cream for dessert or with a cup of tea or coffee.
The recipe is from the same book as last week’s Chocolate Biscuit Cake recipe (Darina Allen’s Easy Entertaining) – gosh did I enjoy that cake last week. At the end of a busy day I would wait until I was on my own, put the kettle on, make a mug of tea, cut a very small sliver of the cake and savour every mouthful. So, so good. Continue reading
It’s Easter so it just has to be chocolate for this week’s post! This simple ‘no bake’ biscuit cake recipe is one I have adapted from a Darina Allen’s cookbook ‘Easy Entertaining’ – the cake can be made in a loaf tin or in a circular loose-bottomed cake tin like my one in the picture. The ‘cake’ is quite rich and a small slice of it is delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. I had great fun as decorating it, the only problem now is having to wait until tomorrow to eat it!
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
2 tablespoons raisins, soaked in boiling water
225g (8 ozs) dark chocolate (60/70% cocoa solids)
225g (8 ozs) butter preferably unsalted
225g (8 ozs) plain biscuits, broken into pieces
1 dessertspoon castor sugar
2 eggs, preferably free range
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Decoration
50g dark chocolate
8 inch / 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, lined with cling film
To decorate
Note: You can also make this in a loaf tin 5 x 8 inch (12.5 x 20.5cm) – top the mixture with chopped nuts before you leave it to cool.
Bacon & cabbage is one of my absolute favourite dinners, true comfort food and traditional in our house to have on St Patrick’s Day. It is also one of those dishes that I have rarely enjoyed in a restaurant – you don’t tend to see it on menus and even when you do see it, it is often disappointing as the cabbage tends to be overcooked and would put you off it for life. I cook this regularly now because this particular cut of bacon is so easily available, so cheap and the leftover cooked ham makes delicious sandwiches – so much nicer and healthier than anything you get in a packet. Continue reading
These Mason Jar* salads are a recent discovery of mine. They are genius! Since I went back working I have been buying my lunch out each day which is not something I can or want to keep doing. Apart from the expense I find I am eating stuff I wouldn’t normally choose to eat. In line with my 80/20 philosophy about food I like to eat healthily during the week so I can relax at the weekend and enjoy a few treats plus a few glasses of wine. This requires a bit of organisation and planning though during the week and these salads in a jar are a brilliant idea. I make two at a time and they fit neatly in my handbag. With these salads it is all about the order of the ingredients – salad dressing first, this is so important as it guarantees that your salad ingredients don’t get soggy. Then put in a grain or a protein or something else big and chunky (e.g. chick peas, quinoa, sweet potato, butternut squash, pasta etc) layer your ingredients according to how heavy they are, e.g towards the top add nuts, grated cheese, seeds and lastly top it with your salad leaves. When you are ready to eat it then you just turn it out into a bowl, the salad leaves will be at the bottom. Just mix it and there you go – a perfectly fresh and satisfying salad. This website which I came across will give you some great ideas to encourage you to give this a go.
*PS – I bought the jar in SuperValu for €4.50 – however any clean jar that has a suitably wide opening will do.
In the one in the photo there is the following (from the bottom up!):
I just adore this bread which is low in saturated fat and oh so simple and uncomplicated to make. Rich, dark, soft with little bits of walnut throughout to add delicious texture and taste. There is nothing nicer than a slice of this, buttered(not too much!) with a mug of tea, guaranteed to provide instant comfort and brighten up any damp, cold, dreary day. God knows we have had a lot of those recently. If I am honest it is really a cross between a bread and a cake. My daughter adores it too and every time I turn around she is scoffing a slice! An added bonus is that it is so so easy to make – mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together, combine the two and that’s it, could not be easier!
PS – It also freezes very well.
Makes 2 x 1lb loaves or 1 x 2lb loaf
Ingredients
225g / 8oz plain flour
225g / 8oz coarse wholemeal flour
50g porridge oats
1tsp salt
50 g sugar (reduce this to your taste if you wish)
3 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp bread soda
1 egg
500 ml milk
2 handfuls walnuts
100ml black treacle
My perfect Friday night feast! Feet up, glass of red, let the weekend begin! We’re talking some olives, sundried tomatoes, manchego cheese and serrano ham plus Spanish omelette. Continue reading
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