I had a craving for something a tiny bit healthy today, and not so indulgent.  It may surprise you but I don't always over indulge.  For the most part, you only get to see the most indulgent of what I cook.  I more often than not eat fairly healthy, but then again, I am not opposed to treating myself from time time.  I little bit of what you enjoy does a person the world of good.



The lighting was really, really poor today, so I apologize for the quality of these pictures. I try always to photograph in natural light. I like the way food looks in natural light. I just think it looks delicious - er. (Is that a word?? Meh . . . it is now!)



Today I had some bone in chicken thighs that I wanted to cook in the most delicious way possible without adding too much fat, calories or bad things to make them taste delectable. It's not all that hard to take the skin and fat off of chicken . . . but I do like to cook it on the bone as often as I can. The bone adds a lot of flavour to chicken and most meats.



I turned to one of my favourite books by Ellie Kreiger, The Food You Crave. A seriously good book. I find though that I have to really make some serious adaptions to some recipes because the ingredients in some of them are not readily available over here, but for the most part, I can cook most of them.



And they're good. Really good. Tasty. Delicious. Simple. Seriously simple.



And the stick man Toddster loved them too.  He doesn't even realize when he's eating healthy.  I think that's a good thing don't you?   If you can eat healthy and not know it?  No deprivation there.  It's all good.  He's just one of those really lucky people who can eat whatever he wants, fattening, indulgent, etc. . . . and it never shows. His metabolism burns it all up.

I know . . . it is really annoying to me too.



*Maple & Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs*
Serves 4Printable Recipe

Chicken thighs baked with a delicious maple mustard glaze. Wonderful flavours! Adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Kreiger.

8 bone in chicken thighs, skin and any visible fat removed
85g of grainy French mustard (1/3 cup)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced (about 1 tsp)
3/4 tsp dried marjoram
3 TBS pure Maple Syrup

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready a large baking dish.

Whisk together the mustard, garlic, marjoram and maple syrup. Spread about 1 TBS of the mixture over the top of each chicken thigh, trying to cover as much of the surface as you can. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the baking dish. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and glazed, about 45 - 50 minutes, basting it several times with the mustard mixture. The juices should run clear when the chicken is pierced in the centre. Serve hot. We had ours with a baked potato and green beans. Delicious!

Note : In the original recipe Ellie says that the mustard/maple mixture will form a crust. Mine didn't, but more like a glaze. My mixture was quite runny and so I just used it to baste the chicken as it cooked. It was utterly fabulously delicious. Todd had three 1/2 pieces!

 I had some lemons that I needed to use up today. I always buy too many. I just love the sight of a bowl of lemons on the counter top.  They  just look so cheerful to me, and homey.  A little spot of sunshine on a dark and drizzly January day . . . lemons to me are the the perfect pick me up!

 

I decided to make some of my favourite slices . . . Lemon and Jam slices.  Or Squares if you would rather call them that.  I like to call them slices . . . sounds even more delicious when you call them slices.  A rose by any other name and all that . . .



I love these slices because they encompass three of my favourite things . . . a buttery, crisp baked shortbread crust on the bottom . . . sweet strawberry preserves in the middle . . . a tangy lemoncurd like topping . . .

 

Oh my . . . but these are heavenly bliss.  I love to enjoy them in the middle of the afternoon along with a hot drink.  They're so good.  These are the type of slices that you have  a hard time walking past without picking at them . . . and I confess . . . I can never wait until they completely cool before I dig into them.



You're supposed to wait until they are completely cold to cut them . . . but they are awfully good warm . . . just sayin is all.  They bring out the glutton in me.  The tang of the lemon is soooo very good with the sweet fruitiness of the jam . . . and that buttery crust.



Of course you could use another flavour of jam if you wished.  I just particularly love them made with strawberry jam.  Cherry, raspberry or apricot are all rather good too . . . and then there is wild blueberry preserves, another favourite of mine.

 

I confess . . . I sometimes use limes and ginger jam.  Those are awfully good too, especially if you add a little bit of ground ginger to the base.  Mmmm . . . mmm . . . good.  Are you not tempted???



 *Lemon and Jam Slices*
Makes  15 squares
Printable Recipe

 A butter, almost shortbread type of base, topped with sweet strawberry jam and a tangy lemon topping baked on top.  Delicious.

For the base:
200g of plain flour (2 cups)
225g of cold unsalted butter (1 cup, or 2 sticks)
42g sifted icing sugar (1/3 cup)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt

For the jam:
6 heaped dessert spoons (about 3/4 cup)

For the Lemon topping:
281g of granulated sugar
the finely grated zest of one un-waxed lemon
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 TBS plain flour
3 large free range eggs
the juice of 2 1/2 lemons (1/3 cup)

Icing sugar to dust


Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter an 11 by 7 inch baking dish,  Dust with flour, shaking out any excess.  Set aside.  (Alternately you can line with foil and butter and dust the foil, leaving an overhang to lift the slices out when done.)

Whisk the flour, icing sugar and salt together in a large bowl.  Cut the butter into cubes and drop it in.  Rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until you have coarse crumbs.  Press this mixture into the prepared baking tin.    Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, just until it is firm.  Remove from the oven.

Whisk together the granulated sugar, lemon zest, baking powder and flour for the lemon topping.  Beat in the eggs and lemon juice until smooth.  Set aside.

Stir the jam together in a bowl with a fork to loosen it.  Spread this over the warm base.  Pour the lemon mixture over top and return the pan to the oven.  Bake for an additional  25 to 30 minutes, until it is set and lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely before removing from the pan.  Dust with icing sugar.  Cut  into squares to serve.

Every once in a while I like to revisit something scfrummy which I enjoy eating.  I don't always cook new things every day and today I felt like baking some muffins to enjoy for our breakfast.

 

I don't always feel like having cereal for breakfast and I don't always fancy having an egg instead either.  Sometimes I like to indulge myself with a delicious fresh baked muffin.

 

These ones are particular favourites of mine . . . quick and easy to make and they always turn out fabulous!!  I love them and so does everyone I have ever made them for.



They're are moist and delicious . . . stogged full of lovely bits of fudge and white chocolate chips, and in all honesty you can also add some toasted chopped nuts if you wish.  It doesn't matter what kind of fudge you use.  You can use the fudge chunks that come ready chopped in bags like chocolate chips, or you can use homemade or storebought fudge, any flavour you want, just so long as you cut it up into small bits.

 

I used brown sugar fudge, which turns almost to caramel when it is baked . . . very, definitely moreish. But you can use any kind of fudge you want to . . . chocolate, butter pecan, rum and raisin, vanilla . . . pick your own favourite kind.  Warm, cold or in between, these are winners no matter how you partake of them.

 

Perfect for the lunch box or for a quick breakfast in hand as you are running out the door, or as a January weekday indulgence when the skies are dark and grey and you want something to make your heart smile and make you feel just a little bit special. 

 

They also freeze very well.  I pack them up individually and pop them into the freezer, ready to take out whenever the whim strikes.  You can take the time to thaw them out if you wish . . . or you can pop them into the microwave frozen for 35 to 40 seconds and they will taste like you just took them out of the oven.


 
 I do hope that you try them and if you do, that  you enjoy them even half as much as we do!    These are simply quite scrumdiddlyumptiously tasty!  Perfect to cure those January/after Christmas blues!

 

*Vanilla Fudge Muffins*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

Eat while warm for moreish squidginess!  Almost dangerous!

300g of self raising flour (2 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
115g of golden caster sugar (1/2 cup)
85g of fudge chunks (1/2 cup)
85g of white chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
125ml of whole milk
100ml of half fat creme fraiche (scant 1/2 cup)
1 large free range egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g of butter, melted (1/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Butter a 12 hole muffin tin, or line with papers.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, white chocolate chips and fudge chunks together in a bowl.  Whisk the milk, creme fraiche, egg, vanilla and butter together in a beaker.  Add all at once to the dry ingredients and fold together just to combine.  Spoon big dollops into your prepared pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.  Leave to cool in the pan for several minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.  Eat warm for the best flavour.

Note:  Any leftovers can be warmed in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds.

Note - As with most things these are even tastier the day after and reheated!

As a child I used to devour Enid Blyton books.  I love the ones about the fairies and gnomes and wishing trees . . . but I especially loved the adventure books and the ones about kids in boarding schools with tuck boxes and tea time treats and picnic fare which sounded to me to be exotic.  



Sausage rolls and pork pies, cherry cakes and ginger beer.  Wobbly blanc manges.   Tinned and potted meat spread onto hugs slabs of homemade bread . . . jam sandwiches, gingernuts, fruit jellies.  Rock cakes.  It was all so deliciously tempting sounding, and I dreamt about what it might be like to gorge myself on such a wonderous feast.  Yes , , , for me it has always been a out the food.



We didn't have such things at home.  None of our meat came from tins and we were never allowed to gorge ourselves on fruit jellies and sausage rolls or wobbly blanc manges.   We were never allowed to gorge ourselves on anything.  My mother's idea of a treat was an apple.  Healthy yes . . . exotic no.



Rock Cakes.   Deliciously buttery scone like drop cakes, short and crumbly and reported to be one of Harry Potter's favourite treats.   Stogged full of candied cherries and dried currants.  I use the undyed cherries.  Not as bright, but not as bad, or at least not in my mind.



Wonderful, fresh out of the oven with a glass of cold milk.  You could split them and spread them with butter, but I like them plain.  They are a beautiful once in a bluemoon treat and whenever I bake them I think of magic wands and indulgent picnics in the woods.



A girl needs some magic  in her life don't you think?




Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder.  Drop in the butter.  Rub the butter in using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the brown sugar. Beat the egg together with the milk and add to the dry ingredients.  Stir in with a round bladed knife to form a stick dough. If the dough seems too dry, add a bit more milk. Stir in the cherries and currants.  Drop by heaped TBS onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between each for spreading.  Sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar.


Bake in the heated oven, one tray at a time, for 15 minutes, turning the trays once during baking.   These are best eaten on the day.   They freeze well however, so you can pack them into an airtight container and just take them out as you want them, reheating them gently in the microwave for about 2 minutes, or packing frozen and wrapped into the lunch bucket.  They will be thawed and perfect for eating by lunch time.

Melt the plain dark and white chocolates separately in bowls set over simmering water.   Pour the melted dark chocolate over top of the biscuit base.  Drizzle over the white chocolate.   Drag a cocktail stick through the chocolates to swirl together.  Sprinkle the crushed malteasers over top.   Return to the refrigerator and allow to chill for a further 2 hours before cutting into wedges to serve.

I do the same thing every year.  I buy in far too much veg for the holidays and then am left with a surplus which I am trying to use up at the beginning of the new year.   It's usually a whole lot, but not a whole lot of anything, if you know what I mean.



When I looked into my vegetable drawer yesterday I saw a whole lot of normal carrots, a couple of white carrots (Yes, I did say white.   Apparently that's a variety.  I got them in a veg box in December) a few purple carrots (see my last explanation) an acorn squash, a small to medium sized white turnip.a bunch of fresh thyme and a few other odds and sods . . . most not in quantities large enough to cook any one thing, with the exception of the orange carrots. 

 

 I peeled and chopped them into large pieces and added a chopped red onion and then I roasted them in a hot oven along with some garlic, a good grinding of black pepper, a few sea salt flakes, some olive oil and a few springs of that fresh thyme . . .



Then . . . I roasted them in that hot oven for about 20 minutes, stirring them now and then  . . . until they were all nice and cooked through and beginning to caramelize.  There is nothing so tasty as caramelized oven roasted root vegetables . . . and while they were making their magic, I cooked some wheatberries in some vegetable stock until tender . . .



And then . . . I tossed them all together in a bowl . . . the cooked wheatberries and the roasted vegetables and I added a deliciously tangy lemon vinaigrette . . . made with a couple of the lemons from my fruit bowl on the counter . . .



After that I added a few broken up and toasted English Walnuts . . . again leftover from our Christmas Celebrations . . . and a handful of dried cranberries, just for some chewy sweetness and texture . . . and I mixed, them all together, yes I did, and sprinkled some flat leaf parsley over top, leftover again, from Christmas . . . and then . . .  do you know what we did???



We ate it.   With large lumps of buttered crusty bread and some leftover stilton crumbled over top.   And do you know what else???

It was very, very . . . very good.




While the vegetables and wheat berries are cooking, measure the lemon juice into a large shallow salad bowl.   Toss iin the minced shallot and seasoning.   Allow to stand for about 10 minutes, then whisk in the oil. 

Once cooked, drain the wheat berries and toss them into the dressing, whisking it first.  Add the roasted root vegetables, discarding any thyme branches.  Stir in the cherries or cranberries and the nuts, if using.   Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Toss in the parsley and serve.

You may serve this warm or at room temperature.  You can make it several days in advance, in which case you should store it in the refrigerator and then bring it to room temperature prior to serving.  Do not add the nuts or parsley until just before serving.  A bit of feta, blue cheese or stilton crumbled over top makes a nice addition!