The Great British Bake off and Mary Berry’s Chocolate Cake (Fast Cakes cookbook): Friday Challenge!

I was a bit excited when the other day my friend told me The Great British bake-off was restarting on BBC. Not only does it time perfectly with my Cake Friday Challenge month but also I had already baked a Mary Berry recipe ready to be put forward as one of my efforts to learn … Continue reading →

A Classic Victoria Sponge (LEON Baking and Puddings recipe): Friday Challenge!

I had a bit of a disaster when I set my self ‘Bread’ as my friday challenge subject a few months ago. I learnt how to make a pretty decent bread roll but when it came to adding my own flavours and trying to be abit creative I came up short and realised that it … Continue reading →

Tomato Soup with Basil Gnocchi Dumplings

I’m just going to be rather stereotypical now and start this recipe off by mentioning the weather – I started thinking about this soup recipe a couple of weeks ago when I started my gnocchi challenge, back when it was still raining and cold and summer hadn’t started for us Brits yet. However when it … Continue reading →

Gnocchi Gratin (‘The Domestic Goddess Challenge’ recipe): Friday challenge

This is one of those recipes that is just a really great weekday meal, it would have been quicker if I hadn’t decided to make the gnocchi from scratch but hey practise makes perfect! I found this recipe on “The Domestic Goddess Challenge” blog so please follow the link to see the full list of … Continue reading →

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi (BBC Goodfood recipe): Friday Challenge!

So I thought I’d got my head around Gnocchi, three simple ingredients – potato, flour, egg. Then I find this recipe which is cheese, spinach, flour, egg and it’s all thrown up into the air again!Where is the potato? Apparently gnocchi can be made without potato which has opened up many doors for my own … Continue reading →

Gnocchi with Mushrooms Truffle oil and sage (Gino D’ Acampo recipe): Friday Challenge!

I think I was definitely still in holiday mode when I made this, you know when you allow yourself to drink in the afternoon and eat fried food and suddenly anything goes because your on holiday. Usually I will try and swap ingredients like butter, oil and cheese for lighter options when doing my Friday … Continue reading →

Baked Artichoke and Quinoa Salad with Watercress

I have yet to share a quinoa recipe even though I have been eating it quite alot recently. I made the transition from cous cous to quinoa when I realised how easy it is to make quinoa and it had slightly more flavour on its own than cous cous. I like adding any finely chopped … Continue reading →

Artichoke Gratin (Ottolenghi’s ‘Plenty’ recipe): Friday Challenge!

I really love Ottolenghi’s vegetarian cookbook ‘Plenty’ however there are ALOT of recipes which are very dairy heavy and although this hasn’t put me off cooking from it, it has taken some time to vary the recipe so that I can eat it. You can find the book and more of Ottolenghi’s recipes here. This … Continue reading →

Globe Artichoke and Pink Grapefruit Salad (Jamie Oliver recipe): Friday Challenge!

I’ve seen ALOT of recipes pairing artichokes with citrus fruits but I chose this one because it used grapefruit instead of lemons, which I think is really different and abit more exotic. I have never been a fan of the grapefruit it’s so sharp and tangy but I thought the artichoke and salad leaves all … Continue reading →

A Photo Guide to the Globe Artichoke: Friday Challenge

I’ve wanted to prepare a globe artichoke for so long now but whenever I read instructions I feel baffled because it refers to the heart and the choke etc and I don’t know which bits these are! I can now tell everyone else out there putting this off that it is really very easy and … Continue reading →