The weather really has been miserable this past week . . . cold, showery and windy! Mind you, we do need the rain. Our garden is simply gasping for it!



One isn't really inclined to eat warm weather food on this rainy cold days though. One wants comforting sustenance . . . rib sticking, tummy warming, soulful food.
A nice warming soup always fits the bill perfectly. Especially soups such as this tantelizingly delicious Honeyed Tomato Soup here today! It's simple, easy, quick and fantastically tasty!



Rich and herby with just a hint of sweet . . . your guests will wonder what your secret is. It tastes like it should have a bazillion calories in it, but guess what?? THERE IS HARDLY ANY FAT! It's just tomatoes, herbs, love fat milk . . . and that incredible richness comes from tinned skimmed evaporated milk.



Oh sure . . . you could use cream, but it's not really needed. You get all the deliciousness of a full cream soup, without any of the fat or calories!

I like that. Of course, one cannot say the same about the accompanying sandwich, but then . . . you can't have it all can you?



*Honeyed Tomato Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A deliciously simple tomato soup, slightly sweetened with honey. I find the honey helps the tomatoes from being too acidic. It just tastes wonderful. Who would guess that is is low in fat!

2 (390g) pouched of chopped Italian tomatoes with onions and garlic (about 4 cups)
2 ribs of celery chopped
splash of white wine
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 TBS runny honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
250ml of skimmed evaporated tinned milk (1 cup)
250ml of 2% milk (1 cup)

Place the tomatoes, celery, white wine, sage and rosemary into a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer. Stir in the honey and season to taste with some salt and black pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the celery is soft. Blitz until smooth with a stick blender if you have it, or very carefully in a regular blender. Alternately you can put it through a moulee. Return to the heat. Whisk in most of the tinned milk, reserving a bit for a garnishing. Whisk in the milk. Heat through. Ladle out into 4 heated soup bowls. Drizzle a bit of the reserved tinned milk on top and drag through it with a toothpick to make a lovely swirl.



These are quite simply one of my favourite ways to make a grilled cheese. Simple and yet filled with wonderfully rich flavours! The tanginess of the strong cheddar cheese, combined with the sweetness of red onion marmalade, tucked inside a sturdy loaf and grilled until it is scrummily oozingly delicious! If you can't find Onion Marmalade, you could use a good chutney, and then again you could make your own.



*Cheddar and Onion Marmalade Panini*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

These are soooo good!! The perfect "go with" for a cup of soup!

8 thin slices of a sturdily rustic white loaf (I used a French Boule, which
I sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices)
4 generous tablespoons of onion marmalade
8 ounces of a good strong farmhouse cheddar, sliced
softened butter for buttering

Heat your panini press. Lay out 4 slices of your bread. Spread 1 TBS of onion marmalade onto each. Top with a generous amount of cheddar, dividing it equally amongst the bread. Top with the other 4 slices. Butter each sandwich lightly on each side and place into the Panini press. Grill until the cheese is meltingly scrummy and the panini have nice grill lines. Serve immediately.

So yesterday I was invited out for a girlie day crafting with two fab friends. I was asked to bring cake for our picnic lunch, and so I was quite happy to comply!



Crafting, girlie friends, cake . . . sounds like a fabulous combination don't you think???



I wanted a portable cake though, because I knew I was going to be travelling first by train and then by car and I didn't want anything that was going to get squashed or ruined in the process, in other words . . . something that would hold up.



Loaf cakes are the perfect thing for such occasions. You can cut them into slices and then sandwich the slices together with the icing in the middle. Easy to handle, and easy to eat, with little or no mess! The perfect picnic portable!



This is one of my favourite loafs to make, next to banana or carrot . . . oh and lemon, let's not forget that. Cougettes make a lovely loaf cake, which always turns out moist and delicious.



I added cardamom and lime to this one to give it just that little bit extra zip and tang. The frosting in the middle? A delicious cream cheese, also flavoured with lime.

Altogether scrummy and the perfect treat for three crafting gals I think!

Cake sandwiches! I love them!



*Courgette, Cardamom and Lime Loaf*
Makes one 9 inch loaf, serving 8 to 10
Printable Recipe

Moist and nicely spiced. I like to sandwich slices together with cream cheese icing to wrap up and take along to picnics!

250g of grated courgettes (2 medium zucchini, grated)
100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
100g butter (scant 1/2 cup)
100g runny honey (1/3 cup)
3 large free range eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
the zest and juice of one unwaxed lime
325g of self raising flour (generous 2 1/2 cup)
75g of ground almonds (3/4 cup)
3 TBS thick Greek Yoghurt

Icing:
100g of icing sugar, sifted (generous 3/4 cup)
75g of butter, softened (1/3 cup)
75g of low fat cream cheese, softened (1/3 cup)
juice and zest of one unwaxed lime

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark4. Butter a 9 inch loaf tin and line with parchment paper. Butter the paper. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the honey and the eggs. Fold in the cardamom, lime zest and lime juice. Squeeze as much liquid as you can from the courgettes and fold them into the creamed mixture along with the flour and ground almonds. Stir in the yoghurt. Spread the batter in the prepared tin, smoothing the top off.

Bake for one hour until baked all the way through and well risen. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Place (still in the tin) on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Icing, beat all the ingredients together until smooth. Cut the cold cake into slices and sandwich them together with some of the icing to serve. Alternately you can just spread the icing on top of the loaf and cut into slices to serve.

Know what I love even more than Hot Cross Buns???? Hot Cross Bun Loaf!! Oh, I know . . . it's store bought and not homemade . . . but . . .



Just look at it close up. It's soft and spicy and absolutely bursting with currants and sultanas! I think it's just wonderful and so does Todd! Our local butcher had it on special last week at two loaves for 99pence, so what could I do, but buy two!



We've had it for breakfast, lightly toasted and spread with butter. We've had it for our evening bedtime snack, again lightly toasted and spread with butter. I've eaten it right out of the bag . . . it's so soft and yummy . . .



AND then I decided to make some scrummy French Toast with it . . . but not just any French Toast . . . a French Toast stuffed with low fat cream cheese and jam. Normally I would have used apricot jam for this . . . but alas . . . I had run out and so I used berries and cherries jam. It was really good too.



Oh my but it was some good. We actually had it for our tea the other night with some grilled sausages, but I reckon it would make a fabulous holiday breakfast for the children on Easter morning.



What do you think?? I'm thinking the kids would love it!



*Hot Cross French Toast*
Serves 4, but easily mulitplied to feed more
Printable Recipe

It just wouldn't be Easter without it!

8 sliced hot cross bun bread (can use raisin bread if you
can't get the hot cross bun bread)
4 ounces cream cheese
4 TBS of your favourite jam
3 large free range eggs
2 ounces milk (1/4 cup)
1 TBS butter
1 TBS oil
Icing sugar to dust (optional)

Lay 4 slices of the bread out. Spread these with the cream cheese, spreading it right to the edges, but having it a bit thicker in the centres. Spoon a TBS of jam in the middle of each one and spread it out a bit, but not all the way to the edge. Top with the remaining slices of bread. Press down slightly to make them stick together around the edges.

Beat the eggs and milk together until smooth.

Heat the butter and oil together over medium heat until the butter begins to foam.

Dip each cheese and jam sandwich into the beaten mixture, one at a time, allowing the egg mixture to soak in a bit on each side and on the edges. Fry them one at a time in the butter/oil mixture, browning them on each side and then placing into a warm oven while you prepare the rest.

Dust with some icing sugar if using, and serve hot with syrup and cooked sausages.



Happy Easter!

I sometimes will pick up a Rotisserie chicken at the grocery store as a real treat. They are always so tasty and moist. Usually we eat it just as it is, but sometimes I turn it into a tasty casserole or delicious salad. You can often get them marked down as well, depending on what time you get to the shops. In fact they sometimes give you a better deal if you buy two . . . so you can eat one as a roast chicken on the day, and strip the meat off the other one for use on another day.



I know, it might seem rather lazy, and it is . . . but there are days when you just have a lot on, and will be in and out . . . and there just isn't enough time to cook anything much proper . . . a rotisserie chicken beats the heck out of a burger meal or the like! Along with some veg and a packet of steamed rice, you've got a tasty nutritious meal ready in no time at all!



This is one of my favourite salads that I like to make with the meat. Not only is it very quick to make, but if you use low fat mayonnaise it is not all that bad for you at all. With the added crunch of toasted walnuts and the sweet tangy spice of some mango chutney, it is chock full of flavour, and colour! We like it at any rate!



*Chicken Salad with Chutney, Coriander and Lime*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A great lunch salad that makes good use of a rotisserie cooked chicken. If you use low fat mayonnaise it is also relatively low in fat and calories. It also makes a delicously scrummy sandwich filling!

250ml of low fat (or regular) mayonnaise (1 cup)
125ml of mango chutney (1/4 cup)
1 plain roasted chicken (approx 3 pounds)
3 1/2 ounces of chopped toasted walnuts (3/4 cup)
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and chopped
1/2 of a medium red bell pepper, trimmed, seeds discarded, and chopped
a handful of fresh coriander, chopped (cilantro)
3 limes, divided
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
a small head of Boston or garden lettuce

Place the mayonnise into a large glass bowl.Cut any large pieces of mango in the chutney into small dice, and then add the chutney to the mayonnaise, stirring well to mix.

Remove and discard the skin from the chicken. Cut the meat into 3/4 inch cubes. Stir in the walnuts, celery, red pepper and coriander, mixing all in well. Juice 2 of the limes and add 3 TBS of the juice to the chicken salad, stirring it in to mix. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. (you can make it ahead up to 4 hours at this point. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature 15 minutes before serving.)

To serve, arrange a bed of lettuce leaves on each of 4 chilled plates. Mound a portion of chicken salad on top of each. Slice the remaining lime into 1/2 inch wedges and garnish each portion with a wedge of lime.

 

A few days ago I was contacted and asked me if I would like to try out a few products. I was quite happy to oblidge.

I opted for the Giant Cupcake Pan from Eddingtons and a really cute little Retro Milk and Sugar set from Make My Day.



They arrived this morning and I could wait to get stuck in to using them. I have always wanted a cupcake cake tin and I was pretty excited about it. It came with expert instruction on how to use it and how much batter to use.



It suggested you use a 6 egg cake batter and so I decided to use Mary Berry's Victorian Sandwich Cake recipe, doubled, as it is one of our favourites. The cake tin is all in one piece, which includes the cupcake base section and the cupbake top section. One down side of this is that the bottom takes longer to bake than the top and so you have to put the tin into the oven with just the bottom filled and then take it out about halfway through the cooking time and fill the top part. Anyone who is a baker knows that messing around with taking cakes in and out of ovens during the baking process is a risky business, and prone to failure and sure nuff . . . my cake ended up sunk a bit in the middle and heavy. I would say that this is a major hiccup in anotherwise beautiful pan, and I'm not sure how to get around it.



I also decided to use all butter in the cake recipe this time, as someone had suggested in the comments section the last time I baked it that you should always use all butter in a Victorian Sponge, and I have to say we are not very happy with the texture of the cake, and have found it to be far too rich. I will definitely go back to using half butter and half marg. When Mary Berry says to use half and half, I would think she definitely knows what she is talking about. I should have listened to her. ( I would have to say that the cake is almost greasy and that is not good in my books. I like butter, but too much is too much!)



Nevertheless the cake was quite cute when completed and decorated and looked just adorable sitting on my table with that sweet little milk and sugar set. I am in love with that. It is not too big and not too small. The milk container resembles an old fashioned pint milk bottle, complete with a rubber cover to keep it fresh. I collect milk and sugar containers so this is a lovely addition to my collection.



I was able to use my Tovolo Utensils again, that they had sent me previously and I have to say that I am very impressed with the. Sturdy and brightly coloured they have become my favourite utensils. Knowing that I have something to use that is heat resistant, sturdy and that won't scrape my pans is a blessing! I am especially enamoured with the slotted mixing spoon. It has a lovely stainless steel handle and is very strong and able to handle the thickest of batters with ease. The scraper is also very good and sturdy. These are lifetime tools as I cannot see them ever breaking or melting, and after several months of constant use have remained as new looking as the day I received them. I highly recommend.



Thanks very much to Eddingtons and Tovolo, for having sent me these handy little gadgets. I will work at finding a way to make the cake tin work out a bit better. Perhaps a different recipe for the batter and if I bake the layers separately. It will take longer, as it will be like baking two cakes, but for a special occasion it would be well worth the trouble, as it is really cute!!



Nevertheless I did enjoy my little tea for one . . . a tiny sliver of cake and a delicious cup of Cranberry and Pomegranate Herbal tea . . . very refreshing. Sometimes it's nice to spoil yourself just that tiny bit.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! we'll be enjoying our boiled bacon and cabbage today, how about you?


*Traditional Victorian Sandwich Cake*
Makes one 7 inch cake
Printable Recipe

Popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking! Don't be tempted to use all butter. This is one recipe that is better for the use of a mixture of butter and margarine.

3 ounces of butter, softened (6 TBS)
3 ounces soft margarine (6 TBS)
6 ounces caster sugar (1 cup)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs, beaten
6 ounces self raising flour (a scant 1 1/2 cups)

To finish:
3 TBS raspberry jam
buttercream to fill (optional)
icing sugar or caster sugar to dust the top

Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.

Cream the butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla together until light in colour and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.

Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, leveling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the centre of each.

Bake on a centre rack of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam and buttercream (if using). Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or caster sugar and serve.

Over the past few weeks I have been watching a great cookery series on Channel 4 in the afternoons called Cookery School, a daily cookery competition which helps to transform ordinary home cooks into exraordinay home cooks! I have really been enjoying it. Each week the show follows the journies of six home cooks . . . their ups and their downs . . . their failures and their successes . . . as they compete against each other in a battle to be in the finals.

The novices have to master and cook three recipes during each show under the expert tutelage of Chef Richard Corrigan, and Chef/Presenter/Writer Gizzie Erskine, who encourage them along, and teach them skills that can easily be mastered by any home cook . . . a brilliant combination in my opinion!

As with any good cookery show, there is also a companion cookbook available to purchase, so that you can cook along at home. Whether you are a beginning cook, looking to learn some new skills . . . or a learned cook, looking to advance your skills, Cookery School can help.




Julie contacted me early in February, and asked me if I would like to receive a complimentary copy of the book to review and I jumped at the opportunity. I love to cook and eat. Passion Number one . . . I love cookbooks, Passion Number two . . . and I love learning new skills and stretching the ones I already have, Passion Number three.




I have been following along with the show, and have been really impressed with the instruction given. I was very excited when the book popped through my post box on Friday. I could hardly wait to get stuck in!

It's large book, but quite manageable, and very attractive. Containing over 100 recipes and divided into chapters covering starters, fish, meat and puddings, it's just loaded with step-by-step photographs to help to teach you all the main techniques needed to master each of the dishes.

From knife skills and chopping, to clarifying . . . filleting a fish or jointing a chicken, to mastering creme anglaise . . . there is something in here for everyone, no matter how basic or advanced your skills may be. With further notes on equipment and ingredients, and an informative glossary on cooking terms and techniques, this book has it all, and will have even the novice cook, cooking like a Michelin Star Chef at the outset. I think it's just brilliant!



I chose the Cream of Onion Soup with Cheese and Ham toasties as my first recipe to cook from the book. Listed in the chapter of starters as an intermediate dish I felt it was something I could easily cope with and also something that I thought Todd would enjoy.

There is a lovely looking picture of the dish adjacent to the recipe and skills taught in the recipe are noted in red in the upper right hand corner of the recipe page. With a delicious sounding introduction I found all the instructions to be concise and very easy to follow.



This is a dish that I would very happily make again. It wasn't too fiddly and used ingredients that I have in my kitchen most of the time, including the herbs which I keep in my garden. I did have to use dried marjoram as I didn't have that, but it didn't seem to have an adverse affect on the taste of the finished dish. The recipe didn't say whether the ham for the toasties was to be used whole or julienned. I decided that julienned ham would be a lot easier to handle, and I was right.

They were very easy to put together and toasted up perfectly following the instructions in the recipe. Crispy and buttery on the outsides without being greasy, and stogged full of lovely ham and gooey cheese on the insides. The only thing I would do different the next time, would be to add a bit of honey mustard on the inside of the bread rounds, rather than egg, but that's because I love the tasty of honey mustard with my ham and cheese! (That could be the Canuck in me, I don't know!)



The soup was wonderfully rich, and full of flavour. Simple ingredients, simple techniques . . . far out deliciousness!! Wow, it had a beautiful velvety texture with a subtle sweetness from the onions that was quite, quite ooooofully scrummy! I loved the extra texture that the thyme oil garnish gave. The thyme was slightly crisped . . . with a lovely fresh herby flavour, just perfect with the soup.

The two together were just wonderful. As we were eating it, I thought back to my days working as a Personal Chef down South in Kent . . . my boss would have loved this. I could easily see it having been served at one of the ladie's luncheons with a rocket and watercress salad on the side, and a few chive blossoms floating on top of that beautiful soup, amidst the herbed olive oil.

There are lots of beautiful recipes in the book and I can tell you, I have more than a few bookmarked to try. The Apple Tarts with Pecans and Maple immediately come to mind, as does the Pork and Fruit Wellington . . . and then there are the Griddled Leeks with a Honey and Mustard Dressing and the Rhubarb Crumble Soufflees. Oh it all sounds so delicious doesn't it???

This lovely book was released for publication on the 3rd of March (Penguin HB, £20.) . Recipes here extracted from 'Cookery School', brought to you by Channel 4 with recipes by Richard Corrigan. Do check out the program too, if you already haven't. It's set to run for 8 weeks, so early days yet and still lots to catch up on. It airs weekdays on Channel 4 at 2:05 p.m.

You know what??? I have so much confidence in this book, that I believe that even my Todd (whose idea of cooking is having a tin opener in one hand and a tin in the other) could cook something from it and that is my next challenge! Look for it on here soon!!! It should be a lot of fun!!




*Cream of Onion Soup with Ham and Cheese Toasties*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This soup is rich and slightly sweet and very delicious. The toasties, buttery and scrummy! It is important that you sweat the onions without colouring them, so that they melt down. Richard suggests that you may also use the ham and cheese toasties as a big crouton!

For the soup:
50g of unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
2 TBS olive oil
1 kg of white onions, peeled and thinly sliced (2.2 pounds)
1 TBS fresh marjoram leaves
2 TBS fresh thyme leaves
900ml of chicken stock (3 3/4 cups)
150ml of double cream (2/3 cup)
fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the cheese and ham toasties:
8 slices white bread
1 free range egg, beaten
40g of sliced honey roast ham (about 4 slices), slivered
40g of gruyere cheese, grated
40g of unsalted butter (scant 1/4 cup)
2 TBS vegetable oil

Heat a large saucepan and add the butter and half the olive oil for the soup. Tip in the onions, marjoram and 1 TBS of the thyme leaves, once the butter has melted. Soften the onions for about 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Add the chicken stock and allow to simmer, uncovered for a further 10 to 15 minutes. You don't want it to reduce.

To make the toasties, roll out the bread slices to about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3 inch rounds using a sharp cutter. Brush one side of each with some beaten egg. Put a little mound of ham and cheese on top of 4 of the slices. Top with another round of bread, egg side down. Press gently around the edges to seal. Brush the outside of each with more egg.

Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan. Once the butter starts to foam add the sandwich rounds. Fry on both sides over medium low heat until nicely browned and toasted. Keep warm in a low oven (120*C/gas 1/2).

To finish the soup, put into a blender and carefully blitz until smooth. Alternately (my favourite) blitze until smooth with a hand held stick blender. Pass through a seive into a clean pan. Whisk in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat through without boiling.

Add the remaining TBS of oil in a small saucepan. Add the remaining TBS of thyme leaves and cook for about one minute. Set aside.

To serve, divide the soup equally amongst 4 heated soup bowls. Drizzle with the warm thyme oil and serve the toasties on the side, or float one in each as a crouton.

I just love, love, LOVE the traditional recipes of the UK. All those years I spent ensconced in Enid Blyton books, drooling and dreaming over what sounded like exotic foods . . . well, those dreams and imaginations have come true for me since I arrived in the UK.



I am enjoying so much exploring the traditional, and sometimes not so traditional foods . . . and sometimes I do confess . . . I add my own twist to them, so they are somewhat traditional, but also somewhat new. I love that!



Some people might define a Gypsy Cream as a chocolate or orange version of a custard cream biscuit (cookie). Traditionally though the recipe includes neither one of those additional flavourings. Squidgy cocoa is what is called for . . . although in my house I pimp for plain coz I have a chocolate hating husband and . . . trust me . . . these biscuits are SOOO SO SO GOOD, it would be dangerous to have them in the house if only me was eating them. Oh so bad . . .



These are crisp and moreishly buttery. Oh so scrummy. Perfect with a hot cuppa of whatever your poison is . . . in my case it's Twinings' Black Currant and Mint herbal tea . . .

Oh . . . this was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I dare say Sunday will be much the same . . . ahem . . .




*Gypsy Creams*
Makes 24 double cookies
Printable Recipe

Crisp, buttery and moreishly addictive biscuits (cookies) with a yummy cream cheese filling.

For the biscuits:
6 ounces butter softened (3/4 cup)
2 ounces white shortening (1/4 cup)
6 ounces caster sugar (1 cup minus 2 TBS)
2 tsp golden syrup (In north america use dark corn syrup)
8 ounces plain whole meal flour (approximately 1 1/3 cup, you may need a bit more)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the filling:
4 ounces butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 ounces cream cheese (1/4 cup)
4 ounces icing sugar, sifted (2/3 cup)
2 ounces cocoa powder, sifted (1/3 cup)
(You can choose to use all icing sugar in which case use 6 ounces or 1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter several baking trays. Set aside.

Cream the butter, shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the golden syrup. Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Stir this into the creamed mixture, mixing together thoroughly. Roll out on a lightly floured board, with a floured rolling pin, 1/4 inch thick. Cut out with a 2 inch round cutter. Place onto the baking sheet, leaving some space in between for spreading.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until firm and golden. Let cool on the sheets for a few minutes, before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

For the filling, beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy. Use this to sandwich two biscuits together. Store in a tightly covered container.