Update on the no-knead bread

I tried the all-day approach to the no knead bread the other day and it worked superbly! I put it together about 8am and left it all day. Just before going to bed I knocked it back and popped it into its tin, then it sat and rose all night. In the morning, I put […]

Banana cake

A slice of this loaf cake makes a great addition to a lunch box and it really isn’t difficult.

For this recipe you will need: a 2lb loaf tin, a food processor and a large mixing bowl.

Recipe: Banana Cake Ingredients 8oz / 225g self-raising flour 4oz / 100g spread 6oz / 175g caster sugar […]

Choc-mint squares

These are so easy to make and they make a lovely after-dinner mint which is sadly lacking these days since pretty much everybody commercial has started to put milk/butterfat into plain chocolate. You do need to be lucky and have one of the few stores to have dairy-free digestive biscuits on their shelves nearby, but […]

No-Knead Bread

Yes, really! You can make delicious bread with no kneading and minimal effort. It makes fantastic bread for weekends, as you do need to be around to bake in the middle of the day if you want to eat it very fresh. If you don’t mind eating it the following morning, you can do it […]

Christmas Chutney or Why I’ve Been Quiet for So Long!

I am still here, really! It’s been a while since the last post principally because I’ve been making jam and chutney like it’s going out of fashion. I somehow ended up responsible for making for/with the kids in my children’s lower school enough jam and chutney to sink a reasonably large ship. Unsurprisingly, this has […]

Marvellous Chocolate Mousse

Very occasionally, I get the time to make something other than jam/chutney at the moment. (Watch this space for a pear chutney recipe coming soon). If you have limited time, but want something which looks and tastes good, these are perfect.They are delicious and very easy. They take about 10 – 15 minutes to throw […]

How can Strawberry Jam have Milk in it?

Sounds odd? Well, it can happen. The traditional way of preventing strawberry jam from developing a layer of scum while you’re making it, is to add a knob of butter. While I can’t believe commercial jam makers still do this, it could well still be happening in domestic jam making. This could be an issue […]

It’s Jam Time!

It’s that time of the year again! I love finding fruit in the hedgerows and turning it into jams or freezing it for fruit crumbles and tarts in the depths of winter. The last couple of weeks have been filled with picking, freezing and then jamming a huge crop of wild plums of all different […]

Balti-style Lamb

This is a great meal to make with leftovers from the weekend’s lamb joint. As it uses cooked lamb, the cooking time is fairly short, so it’s a good choice when you fancy something tasty (that isn’t just cold lamb and veg.), but you don’t have much time.

We cook Indian food in a flat-bottomed […]

Fast and Fabulous Fruit Loaf

This is a fabulously fruity and amazingly easy fruit loaf. It’s a great recipe to make with children. I made this with mine when they were not much more than 18 months old. Once they can stand on a chair, they can help to choose the proportions of the dried fruit and put handfuls onto […]