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What a completely miserable yukky day!! It's windy and rainy and not nice at all. Not fit for man nor beast as the Toddster would say . . . a bit depressing wot! Just the perfect day for a fruity pudding . . . served up all warm and stodgy from the oven. This is one I found in the Good Granny Cookbook, by Jane Fearnley Wittingstall. This is a favourite book of mine. It's chock full of traditional, family friendly and delicious recipes. Our kind of food. No pretention. Just plain and simple ingredients presented in a plain and simple way. Tried and true's of a Granny. Wholesome and delicious. Just the kind of food for a rainy day. Comforting and tasty. This pudding apparently is a Devonshire favourite! That's probably why they recommend Clotted Cream to be served with it. Mmmm . . . you can't beat a buttery pudding, filled with tart apples and sweet blackberries (my addition) topped with a healthy dollop of rich clotted cream. This was like a little ray o...

I was recently contacted by Flora Pro.activ and asked if I would like to participate in a special  Healthy Christmas recipe challenge.  It's no secret that Christmas is the time of year that we have a tendancy to over indulge . . . what with holiday celebrations and those special foods we like to treat ourselves to at this time.  Winter is a time of canoodling and wanting to stay warm indoors and wanting to indulge ourselves in comfort foods.  The challenge was to show that we can still enjoy delicious comfort foods whilst also taking pro-active steps to help lower your cholesterol and maintain a health heart, and . . .  with that view in mind, they sent me a lovely hamper filled with goodies that would help me to do just that.   It really was a  wonderful hamper containing every thing that I would need to  create the recipe included . . . a fab Jamie Oliver mortar and pestle, some delicious honey, preserved ginger, a Christmas Apron, a really ni...

  Risotto doesn't always have to be a savory dish.  It can just as easily be a sweet and delious type of  pudding.  Something like this Vanilla Risotto here today.  People can be a little put off and afraid of making risotto . . .fearing that it is a bit too complicate or time consuming, but it really isn't. It does require constant attention however, but so long as you stay with it and do what the recipe says, you will always be rewarded at the end with something quite silky and delicious, with just a tiny bit of bite. This risotto is not overly sweet . . . the only sweetening being a bit of honey . . . it's nicely flavoured with vanilla . . . and just a hint of ground cinnamon and ground cardamom.  Warm sweet spices that go so well with both vanilla and pears . . .   Oh yes . . . the pears.  Oven roasted until just tender and then peeled . . . the oven roasting bringing out their natural sweetness.   Tender and sweet, sitting in an o...

I am rather fond of cherries . . . when we lived down South in Kent, during cherry season the roads and byways were filled with local sellers plying their wares . . . fresh English cherries, served up warm in paper bags.   I could never get my fill.  Half of each bag purchased always disappeared in the car on the way home . . . as if by magic. Normally I would only eat these tasty little babies in season . . . I am a lover of seasonal eating, because usually these types of things really only taste wonderful when they are in season . . . the way they were meant to be eaten.   But when I received the latest and last installment of the  Ultimate Cookbook from the Sunday Times, I couldn't resist one final foray into cherry-indulgence for the year.   The Cherry Clafoutis recipe by Gordon Ramsay (from his book, Sunday Lunch) was screaming my name and I just had to make it. Over the past three weeks, and finishing this week, The Sunday Times has been  ...

     If any of you have been reading my blog for very long you will know by now that I am rather lazy when it comes to cooking.  Not that I am not capable of doing complicated and labor intensive recipes.  I am more than capable . . . but if I can find a quick and easy way of doing something and have it come out top delish, then I am all for it!     I was watching food tv the other day  while I was dusting, as you do (doesn't everyone??) and I just caught the end of this recipe that a guy (don't even know his hame) was making and it looked simple and easy.  I kind of caught the grasp of what he was/had done and I could remember certain elements and so I kind of threw them together and this is what I came up with.   I love brioche . . . those sweet, soft butter buns . . . so good with a nice hot drink, or warmed and spread with butter and ham . . . or nutella.   (Don't judge me!)  This recipe used those love...

I had asked Todd to pick up some croissants for me when he went into town yesterday, thinking that wasn't something he could mess up.  WRONG!  Poor Todd . . . he thought he would save some money and buy the ones that were running out of date, so they were stale and not at their best (which is how I wanted them) and after traveling home in his bag, kinda squashed.  (Why do men always squash the bread????) I just bit my tongue and didn't say anything and then changed my plans. Poor guy.   Whenever I ask him to pick me up something at the store . . .  he looks a bit like a deer caught in the headlights.  He always, always gets the wrong thing, and he knows it.  It's inevitable.   I don't complain any more.  I just sigh inside and try to smile.  I have come to the conclusion that men and woman really are from completely different planets. Whenever I see a man wandering the grocery store aisles with cell phone to the ear, I have a lit...

  The Toddster and I had a pretty in depth conversation the other night about pumpkin.  He thought pumpkin was a very bland recipe.   I had made a delicious pumpkin pie for dessert when we had the missionary elders over and we were talking about pumpkin. He hadn't realized that the pumpkins which are normally used for pumpkin pies are the smaller sugar pumpkin variety.  I know some people use the larger ones and that's ok . . . but if you want a really great pumpkin pie you want to use a sugar pumpkin.  They are lovely and sweet, and I don't think you could call them bland at all! I have always found the larger pumpkins to be lacking in flavour in comparison and their texture is not quite the same.  I do like them roasted though . . . as with any of the autumn vegetables, roasting brings out a lot of the natural sweetness.  I just roast them with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Anyhoo . . . this pie I am showing you here today went do...