Serves 4

There is nothing like a tasty bowl of porridge oats to warm the tummy on these cooler mornings.  I find a bowl of this keeps me going for more than half the day.  It's most comforting and quite nourishing.

1 1/2 pints of whole milk (3 1/2 cups)
225g porridge oats (2 3/4 cups)
1 TBS golden syrup
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
pinch salt
7 fluid ounces single cream
75g sultanana raisins (1/2 cup)
Brown sugar to serve and additional milk or cream
Place the milk in a large non-stick saucepan. Bring to the boil and then whisk in the oats, syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins and salt.  Reduce to a slow simmer and then cook, stirring from time to time, for 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked.  Whisk in the 7 ounces of cream and heat gently.  Spoon into warm bowls, sprinkle with brown sugar and pass the milk!

I really love carrots.  I think they are one of my favourite vegetables.  I know  . . . I say that about everything.  I guess I am just a foodie through and through. I really do like carrots however. Did you know that carrots with blunt rounded ends tend to be sweeter than pointed ones?  An old lady at a farmers market in Alliston, Ontario told me this once, many moons ago.  I don't know if it is true or not, but I've been buying blunt ended carrots ever since, and I could swear that they really are sweeter. Like as not, it has something to do with the variety of carrot more than anything else.


This recipe today is a particularly delicious way of preparing this lovely vegetable.  You do have to julienne them however, but that is really not such  difficult thing to do. To julienne carrots you cut them into 3 inch lengths, trim one side off so that the carrot lies flat, and then cut them into thin slices lengthwise. You then stack the slices and cut the slices into match sticks.


You can buy  julienner, but I find they make too thin a strips.  I prefer to do it by hand.  When I was in Culinary school I was told I had great knife skills.  I dunno about that.  I have never minded this type of thing however.  It is a type of mindless activity that has never bothered me. You could also use a mandoline cutter. The longest part of this recipe is the cutting of the carrots.   Once you have that done, the rest of it goes together rather quickly. 


The juilenned carrots are cooked first in some butter for a few minutes. You then add some chicken stock, honey and dill, cover and cook them for a few minutes longer, until they are lightly glazed and crispy tender.


Dillweed and carrots have a special affinity to one another.  They are beautiful taste partners  . . .


Its just a tiny touch of honey, but it really enhances the natural sweetness of of this beautiful vegetable.  If you are not fond of the flavour of dillweed, then you could use some freshly grated nutmeg instead.  Nutmeg also goes very well with carrots.


 Altogether, this is a simple recipe with elegant results.  I think you are going to love these.  For a special occasion, a holiday meal, or even for those occasions when you just want to serve a vegetable that is a tiny bit more than ordinary.


1/2 tsp honey


Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the carrots, stirring well to coat.  Saute, stirring often, for about 3 minutes.  Add the dill, stock and honey.  Cover and cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes until the carrots are nice and tender.  Remove with a slotted spoon and arrange in a serving dish.  Delicious!


I know Thanksgiving is coming up this next weekend in Canada.  These would make a brilliant addition to the Thanksgiving table!  Bon appetit!

One thing I really miss over here is good fresh sweet corn.  They tend to husk corn before they sell it here, and any corn afficionado knows that you just don't do that. Corn shouldn't ever be husked until just before you  cook it, and it should be cooked as soon as possible after picking.


As soon as you peel that husk back the kernels start to dry out.  Even peeling a little bit of it back will start that process.  Good corn should have tight bright green husks and a fresh looking silk that is golden in colour and not brown.   We tried growing our own corn over here one year and out of a whole packet of seeds, we got four ears . . .  not one longer than four inches.  We just don't get the warm temperatures and sunshine over here in the UK that you need to grow good corn.


The frozen corn is pretty good however, even the mini cobs you can buy, and of course there is tinned.  Available as niblets, creamed and baby corns.  I can't really complain.


This is a delicious side dish casserole that makes good use of two kinds of tinned corn.  The corn niblets and creamed corn.  Oh, I do so adore creamed corn.  I could sit and eat it just out of the can with a spoon.  It really shines in casseroles like this old fashioned corn bake. This is a real family favourite.


Two kinds of corn, cooked noodles, cheese and onion . . . some seasoning and a topping of buttered cracker crumbs. You can not get much simpler than this or tastier.  You could also turn it into a main course casserole by adding cubed ham, corned beef or sliced hotdogs.  It lends itself beautifully to all of these.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 to 50 minutes.  Let stand for about 5 minutes or so prior to serving.


This is really, really good.  Sometimes I used chopped cooked potato instead of noodles which is also very tasty!  I used Reginetti the other day, which are sort of skinny long flat noodles that almost look like ruffled lasagna noodles, except they are only about 1/2 inch wide. I simply broke them into 2 inch pieces before cooking.  I have never been able to find really good egg noodles over here.  I always just make do with what I can get and it works well.  Bon Appetit!

When we lived down in Kent we were surrounded by Orchards filled with apples and pears.  This time of year we were welcome to help ourselves to the windfalls, which I was most grateful for!  This was a cake I loved to bake with the results of our pickings.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the cake tests done and the cake is golden on top.  Let coo slightly before removing from the pan.   Serve warm, cut into wedges with some ice cream or lightly whipped cream.


I really hope that you will give this tasty cake a go.  I think that you will agree with me that this is a mighty fine cake indeed!  Bon Appetit!

I wanted to bake us a special treat today as we will be watching our church's bi-annual General Conference and I usually like to make it with a special treat.  I had seen a photo on Pinterest for some Baked Glazed Strawberry Donuts that looked absolutely Divine.

I have to say that I am a bit miffed about this huge colossal waste of time and ingredients.  I've been blogging for about 15 years and food blogging for about 10 + in one form or another.  In all that time I have endeavored to be totally honest and transparent with my readers.  What you see here is real.  I don't doctor up my photos or present anything to you that isn't 100% doable and that doesn't work. I don't show you fake stuff mascarading as something I baked myself. Its all stuff I do myself, in my own kitchen, and whilst I am willing to allow for people's inexperience in the kitchen, or differences in taste, I like to think that if you use one of my recipes you will be pleased with the results.  I guess I just hate being disappointed, cheated or lied to.  I cook lots of things that you just don't see because it  didn't work for one reason or another,  or I wasn't happy with the results.  Maybe I am wrong, but I wish that people would just be honest.  I hate going to blogs and seeing pimped out, highly coloured, artificial photos.  I can think of one in particular that does that, not naming any names, and I used to really enjoy visiting it until it became nothing more than a traveloque filled with highly edited and artificially coloured photos.

Todd picked all of our pears last weekend and I have been rushing to try to get them all used up.  I did give a bag of them away to a friend, so that was good.  We have one pear tree, a Conference Pear Tree and it always bears a lot of fruit (Its self-propagating)



Conference pears are a European variety of pear that are good for eating, but are also very good for cooking with because they hold their shape well. They are not too sweet, and can seem somewhat hard when it comes to eating them out of hand.  I don't mind that, but Todd likes his pears to be soft.


Today I used some of them to make a delicious tea bread.  Now by tea bread I don't mean a bread that is made with tea.  I mean a bread that is meant to be enjoyed with a cup of tea, or that you might see served at a "Tea."


They are served cut into thin slices and buttered or not, as you prefer.  My boss's husband down South, loved my Banana bread and often wanted it toasted and buttered for breakfast.  Simply put, tea breads make good eating no matter when and no matter how.


This one is stogged full of grated pear, which helps to keep it moist.  In fact there is no other liquid required in the recipe with the exception of some oil and some egg.


  It also uses a mix of plain and whole wheat flours.  I have also used toasted cobnuts, which is a very autumnal and historic nut here in the UK, but you can use Hazelnuts which will also work fine.


Bake for 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly touched.  Let sit in the loaf tin on a wire rack for ten minutes.  Remove from the tin and cool completely.  Store in an airtight container or tightly wrapped.


Tea breads are lovely breads, falling within the Quick Bread category, meaning there is no yeast used in their leavening.  There is no proofing or rising required prior to baking them.  They are usually very quick, easy and always delicious.  At least I think they are! 


 All about Cobnuts

Nuts are an ancient, natural and nutritious food which have been grown in Britain since time immemorial. During the Tudor period their cultivation on a properly managed basis was evident and formed the foundation upon which the Victorians planted a large number of cob nut orchards, called plats, resulting in some 7000 acres being grown by the turn of the century.

The predominant nut grown was the Kentish cobnut, a type of cultivated hazelnut, bred in 1830 by a Mr Lambert of Goudhurst in Kent. The Kentish cobnut is a larger nut than a hazelnut and has a different and distinctive flavour of its own.

 A Kentish cobnut is a type of hazelnut, just as a Bramley is a type of apple. Unlike most other nuts, cobnuts are sold fresh, not partially dried. They are usually in season from the end of August through to October, but stored nuts may be available from selected outlets through to Christmas.

In the photo above you can see a fresh cobnut on the left and a older seasoned/dried cobnut on the right. Each has a very distinct texture and flavour.  The fresh green ones are very crunchy and have an almost vegetable-like, fresh flavour, which makes them great for using in things like salads. You can also roast them.

At the beginning of the season the husks are green and the kernels particularly juicy. Nuts harvested later on are ripe, have brown shells and husks, and the full flavour has developed. If you would like to know more about them or buy some you can find out more at Potash Farm.

What I think:  They are not overly sweet, with a pudding like consistency.  Served chilled they weren't too bad.  I think children would love these and they would be great for that child you have a hard time getting out of bed on school  mornings.  They could grab one of these on their way out the door and eat them while on their way to school.   My favourite was the Apple & Cinnamon.

Although there are no added refined sugars, there is still an amber amount of other sources of sugar in these (carbs), so if you are a diabetic, you might want to proceed with caution.


Quaker Porridge to Go Squares are a delicious soft and chewy square containing the same amount of oats as a 27g sachet of Oat So Simple. Choose between Golden Syrup and Strawberry Raspberry Cranberry for a 100% wholegrain breakfast that is also a source of fibre and calcium for a mighty start to the day ahead.  Try warming them in the microwavable packaging for  10 seconds (cut open the end first) when the mornings start to get a bit colder.

What I think: I heated in the microwave for ten seconds, and I didn't find them overly soft, but they were chewy.  I thought they tasted better as you chewed them than when you first took a bite.  A great impetus to chew them longer and eat them slower, which is not an entirely bad thing.  They were quite tasty.  The Golden Syrup was good, but my favourite was the Strawberry, Raspberry and Cranberry one.

With amber ratings in fat, sugars and salt.

Quaker Oats to Go is available in retailers nationwide.
RRP Porridge to Go Duo Pack - 2 X 55g @ £1.39
RRP Porridge to Go Single pack - 1 X 55g @£0.75
RRP Fruit & Oat Squeeze 200g pouch @ £1.39

Note - I was sent these products for free, but was not required to write a positive review in return.  Any opinions are my own.