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I recently read an article titled 10 habits of the happily married (Fairlady February 2015) where couples were advised what it takes to make a marriage work and were given daily challenges. Some of these included speaking up; laughing together; being attentive; being kind; and appreciating. The daily challenge for the last one was to make … Continue reading Pistachio Paste
I love blogging and the opportunities that have come my way. But in the same breath I find some of the offers I receive to be totally ridiculous. It seems that PR Agencies do not take into account that there are costs involved with writing and maintaining this blog. I do my best to only … Continue reading Sweet Chilli Roasted Cashews
Praline is a great addition to chocolates when making truffles. With just two ingredients needed, you should be able to whip this up easily. When I was 7 I knew that I could play at my friend Angie's house if her mother was in a good mood. I knew that if I hurt myself I … Continue reading Praline
They say that change is as good as a holiday, and so after more than 20 years of making the same granola recipe I decided to change things, but only slightly. This Toasted Muesli is the result! Dave and I are really creatures of habit when it comes to breakfast. Every morning when we arrive at … Continue reading Toasted Muesli
When we were younger, my sister and I lived next door to 2 boys who were the same age as we were. We would climb the wall between our houses to play and sometimes we would even play ball games over the wall. I remember spending a lot of time with them having fun. We … Continue reading Chocolate Candies
Blog-checking lines: The November Daring Bakers' challenge took us for a ride! Luisa from Rise of the Sourdough Preacher challenged us to make Paris-Brest, a beautiful pastry celebrating the famous bicycle race. In 2008 Dave and I visited Brittany and it was this trip that got me started on watching the annual Tour de France … Continue reading Paris-Brest
To me, making kale pesto is one of the best ways to use this vegetable. If I could have any undercover job in the world I would choose to be a traffic officer. I don't want the tedious chores like directing traffic, manning roadblocks or speed traps and checking drivers' licenses. I want to be … Continue reading Kale Pesto
Bakewell tart gets it sweetness from the jam and the crunch from the almonds on top. Skip ahead to the recipe for Bakewell Tart This year marked an extremely special occasion in my life. I went to spend time with my aunt and cousin whom I have not seen since Christmas 1988. My mom's sister … Continue reading Bakewell Tart
The September Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Lucie from ChezLucie. She challenged us to make a true Czech treat –Kolaches! This translates to Sweet Moravian Buns. Skip ahead to the recipe for Sweet Moravian Buns I sometimes fail to understand the mindset of a company or organization. After more than 20 years … Continue reading Sweet Moravian Buns | Kolaches
One of the most beautiful cities we have visited is Siena when we were in Italy in 2010. Dave and I left Assisi and took a drive to Firenze (Florence). When we were on honeymoon, we missed out on two things in Florence and had driven back to walk around the Duomo and visit the Uffizzi Gallery. … Continue reading Panforte
These dried plum and almond rusks are a great tea time snack. I made my own dried plums, but you can use commercially available ones. Or substitute them for another dried stone fruit of your choice. Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Dried Plum And Almond Rusks ♥ This tea time treat is … Continue reading Dried Plum And Almond Rusks
Trying to create sucrose free candy / sweets is not an easy feat as fructose works in a completely different way to sucrose. Fructose is a monosaccharide which means it is made up of a single unit. Sucrose is a disaccharide made up of glucose and fructose. I first attempted to make nougat by using … Continue reading Sugar Free Nougat
This simple recipe for trail mix uses pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and mixed nuts. Spiced with ground cinnamon it ticks all the boxes for when you need an easy snack. You are probably wondering why on earth I am listing a recipe for something that does not really need a recipe? I usually … Continue reading Trail Mix
In the last of the cover recipes before I review Jackie Cameron's Cook At Home I made the Barbecue Grilled Camembert. The recipe for Oozing Camembert is actually the one that features on the cover, but I chose to make the other recipe as it was sugar free. I was really disappointed in this recipe. It … Continue reading Barbecue Grilled Camembert
I am not good at breakfast! I tend to eat fruit to stave off the hunger until I really feel like eating a bowl of granola or making myself two soft boiled eggs with my egg boiler. Then the other day I took rusks to work and I decided that it was a great snack to have … Continue reading Coconut And Cranberry Rusks
The next recipe book I will be reviewing is Jackie Cameron Cooks At Home. Now that I have a plan of action on how to tackle my reviews by making the cover recipe, I feel a lot less daunted by the huge pile of amazing books I have on my bedside table. Jackie has three photographs … Continue reading Raisin Filled Rusks
I wanted to call this naked nougat but can you imagine how the search engines would rank that? My experiment with sugar free honey nougat did not start off very well. I thought it would be easy to find rice paper, but I was wrong. I went to 3 different shops and could not find any. Had … Continue reading Honey Nougat
It has been a very long time since Dave raced competitively. When he was racing we would leave for the race track in the dark and take breakfast and lunch with us. We would also take a flask with boiling water and coffee as I am not very good without coffee in the morning. Since … Continue reading Chocolate Pin Wheels
This recipe for rustic basil pesto pasta was inspired by a reader event hosted by Fair Lady Magazine. I do most of my magazine reading at gym while I am on the treadmill. We do not have fancy televisions where I train and so to break the tedium I read. However, I am very far … Continue reading Rustic Basil Pesto Pasta
These Mussamam Curry Pork Chops were made for the What's In The Box challenge. One of my favourite TV shows has to be Chopped. Here, contestants are given a mystery box of ingredients in 3 rounds and they have to come up with a starter, main course and dessert. Four contestants start the first round and … Continue reading Mussamam Curry Pork Chops