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COFFEE!
2009-06-12 13:25:00
We are excited to be moving away from the blogging world and into the coffee business.....confused? Well, check out our new website:www.wellgrounded.co.ukfor our new venture. We are selling fairtrade coffee and tea, imported from all over the world, in association with Coulee Coffee in Paul's hometown.Our online shop is not yet open but there is a free gift for for everyone who joins our mailing list and you will be the first to know when our new shop is open! In the meantime, there is plenty of wordy stuff to read on the site.Bookmark Well Grounded and stay tuned for the latest!!Thanks!

St Lucia Day
2007-12-13 11:59:00
O, Saint Lucia ,O, Saint Lucia,Wearing white,Lighting up the darkestLighting up the darkestWinter night,Winter nightToday, the 13th December, marks the Feast Day of St Lucia , a European religious holiday dedicated to the Italian saint, Lucia. Lucia is the patron saint of Sicily (also known as Syracuse), who, supposedly due to nothing more than a spurned lover, suffered a martyrs death in the 400AD.Throughout Italy, Sweden and Denmark, she is marked by either the eldest daughter of the household wearing a white dress (to symbolise the sainthood and purity of Lucia) with a red band (symbolising her death ? she had miraculously survived the traditional martyrs death of burning, the flames refusing to lap near her feet, so her spurned lover stabbed her). A crown of candles completes Lucia?s image, originally enabling her to use both hands to bring ample food to the banished Christians in the dark catacombs of Sicily. These days, the symbolic eldest daughter brings Saffron Buns or Lusseka...

Tiffin and Flapjack!
2007-12-11 15:31:00
Whilst Tiffin and Flapjack sound like the latest zany duo on the Cartoon Network, a pair of coyote-foiling, acorn hurling squirrels or something, they are, of course, merely sweet treats that will satisfy a sugary craving.Both Tiffin and Flapjacks are subject to much universal confusion. In the UK, Flapjacks are an oaty/sugary/buttery concoction, beloved by schoolchildren from a certain generation everywhere (American readers may know Flapjacks, however, as a sort of pancake).They (that is, the British version) are incredibly simple to make (melt butter with some sugar and golden syrup, stir in oats, press into tin and bake) and have a slightly higher nutritional value on the sliding scale of sugary treats (which ranges from saccharin hell up to sweet, sweet heaven (this higher echelon is currently inhabited by Candied Yams). However, the Flapjacks do contain Oatmeal which, even combined liberally with butter and sugary stuff, is incredibly good for you, having cholesterol busting p...

A Sweet (and Savoury) Treat
2007-12-04 11:56:00
I have always had this thing for salty/sweet foods. As a wayward youth, I would dip McDonalds French Fries into their thick chocolate shakes. I have also been known to eat Kit Kat Chunky bars with a packet of Ready Salted Crisps. And of course, I adore anything that combines peanut butter with chocolate.However, this strange compulsion did not manage to reach the dinner table. That is, until Sunday.Cooking an ad-hoc and very late Thanksgiving Meal for Paul and a couple of friends, I was asked to prepare Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows, Green Bean Casserole and Cranberry Sauce. It was the least I could do, considering I refused to cook a large turkey (a turkey for four equates to lots of leftovers that just end up in the dogs bowl ? not that they mind) and forgot to make any stuffing for the organic chicken I prepared instead.Paul has been requesting Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows (known in the US as Candied Sweet Potatoes or Yams) every Thanksgiving that I?ve known him and for so...
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Now, A Reason to Use Up That Sherry....
2007-11-30 12:32:00
If you have ever wondered what to do with the bottle of sherry that your friend brought back from Spain, I (or rather Delia Smith) have the perfect recipe.I am not a big sherry drinker, finding it too heavy and sweet for sipping purposes. However, it is an excellent all-round alcohol for cooking with, whether you want to add a bit of depth to a stir-fry or gravy, bolster a rich, meaty ragu or to bring out the natural sweetness of berries. You might even use it in a trifle.Sherry, or particularly Marsala, is used to it's greatest success though in that most traditional of all Italian sweets, Zabaglione. A simple mousse-like dessert, comprising of egg yolks, sugar and Marsala (but other sweet wines can be used for different flavour) whisked in a double boiler, until light and fluffy. There is a charming story from 15th Century Italy that describes the initial process of how Zabaglione was discovered. A skillful and fierce Umbrian nobleman called Giovan Baglioni (known locally as Zvan...
More About: Reason

A Sweet Thanksgiving Pt.2
2007-11-27 13:07:00
The second of our Sweet Thanksgiving desserts, Banana Cream Pudding, holds a very special place in my heart for two reasons. Going way back to my childhood, a stripped down version of Banana Cream Pudding, sliced banana smothered in packet custard. A virtually instant and gratifying finish to a homely meal. I feel particularly fond of Banana Custard because it is my grandfather?s favourite pudding; in fact anything with bananas is his favourite. My grandad was the one who first showed me how to slice a banana before peeling it, and afterwards he would have to feign mock surprise as I demonstrated my new trick to him.The second reason I am so fond of Banana Cream Pudding is that the true ingredients of the dish, Vanilla Pudding and Nila Wafers remind me of my first road trip to the US with my then-to-be husband, Paul. We put on pounds travelling around US, eating Nilla Wafers from the box and scooping out various flavours of Pudding with our our already Cheetoe-orange strained finger...
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A Sweet Thanksgiving Pt.1
2007-11-25 19:21:00
Just because Paul and I ?eat sensibly? during the week doesn?t mean that we don?t treat ourselves at the weekends. And this weekend was no exception. In fact, I probably went a little OTT with the sweet treat, making not one, not two but three puds!OK, so one of them had to be made for Paul?s pumpkin Thanksgiving treat. The other two, well, I just felt like making them.Here then, is the part one of our Sweet Thanksgiving Weekend one off series: Cafe Sperl's Plum Squares.The recipe, taken from Diana Henry?s wonderful Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, has been tempting me for some time. I haven?t done a lot of baking for a while and this recipe seemed like a gently re-introduction into the fine world of blending cream, sugar and flour to produce something sublime.This recipe involves a vanilla scented shortcrust base that is easily whipped up in the food processor (although could be mixed up by hand), chilled for half an hour and then pressed into a baking sheet. It is then topped with stoned ...
More About: Hank

The Puddings Start Tomorrow!
2007-11-23 12:19:00
The joy of soup is in its relative simplicity, quickness and the instant gratification you get from the very first spoonful.But, when I tell my Mother that I?m cooking soup for tea, she?s quick to point out: ?how on earth will Paul be full on that??I have noticed that certain people from a certain generation feel that meat and two veg is the only meal you can serve your hardworking husband when he gets home from work.. After all, a strapping young man like that needs his nourishment.What most people don?t know about Paul though, is that he was a vegetarian in his youth and in college survived on a diet of boiled rice and soy sauce. For which I thank him profusely.Our conjoined lives are made that much easier by our non-committal to a raging, carnivorous desire to eat red meat garnished with the odd overcooked sprout or soggy carrot. We don?t spend our evenings gnawing on ribs and tossing the bones to our drooling, anticipatory hounds, or nibbling chicken wings clean, cartilage, tend...
More About: Start , Puddings , Tomorrow , Morrow , Tomo

Pot Stickers
2007-11-21 13:24:00
Dim Sum are not particularly popular over here in the UK yet. I mean, it took us more than 40 years to catch onto sushi and I still can?t imagine anyone over the age of 70 relishing a delicious Salmon Skin Roll. My own grandfathers? face, contorted into a mask of disgust at the thought of cold rice AND raw fish, will be forever etched into my mind when I first introduced him to the joys of supermarket sushi (and, as our dear old Coney would say, leave ?em be).Dim Sum is another matter altogether though. There is no searingly hot chilli to contend with, no raw fish to dice with and the chopsticks are entirely optional. Add all these winning factors to the irrefutable fact that they taste mighty fine and you?re onto a winner.Or so you would think.A local Dim Sum restaurant has opened up near us. Keen to visit, we checked out their website, only to be greeted with incredibly expensive delicacies that will surely mean that the death knell of this local restaurant is looming with great r...
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A Life-Altering Soup
2007-11-20 12:33:00
I know, I?m already talking about soup again. I have written more posts extolling the joys of soup than any other dish. I never tire of them: delicate Miso-style broths, bolshy spicy meals-in-a-bowl, more stew than soup, or for ladies who lunch ? purees of vegetables, extracting the sheer essence of asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, or broccoli, to be sipped daintily.Because Paul and I are on a strict (read: no chocolate, biscuits, cake, crisps or butter) but sensible diet, soups often appear on our evening dinner table (or rather, tray on lap, in front of telly): we have ?cleansed? our bodies with Miso Soup s, made more substantial with sprinklings of spring onion, glass noodles, little prawn dumplings, beansprouts, tofu and Wakami (dried seaweed, packed with nutrients). I have also added highly nontraditional green beans, chopped in bite size pieces, frozen broad beans and shredded greens and red chillis. Herbs always make an aromatic brew, and coriander and mint are particularly al...
More About: Life , Erin

We're Back!
2007-11-19 11:57:00
When we left, our anti-heroes were dangling from a financial cliff with their arteries clogged and creativity depleted.However, after all the feedback that still keeps trickling in, and people showing kind concern as to our whereabouts, we felt that now would be a good time to return. Thanksgiving is forthcoming and, let's be honest, Winter is the time for cosying up in the kitchen and working on that extra layer of fat required to see us through the interminable cold.For those of you who did show concern, mostly through your kind comments, but also through emails (Shaun, Joyce, KJ, Amanda and the girls from the Daring Bakers to name but a few), I am here to confirm that:a) Paul didn't bury me under the patiob) I didn't bury Paul under the patioc) We don't have a patioNeither have we gotten a divorce, received our settlement from the bank and retired to Hawaii. However, Paul was ill for a while, culminating in him being diagnosed with high blood pressure (an unfortunate side-eff...
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Another Daring Weekend
2007-07-30 08:40:00
This month's Daring Bakers challenge comes courtesy of baker extraordinaire, Peabody and of course, it wasn't an easy one. After last month's gentle Bagel challenge, the Strawberry Mirror Cake sounds pretty fancy, right? A swiss roll sponge adding gentle support to a Barbie pink Strawberry Bavarian Cream, topped with the mirror element: a ruby clear jelly, flavoured with strawberry juice and a liberal dash of Kirsch.I would never have dreamt of making this cake, imagining it to be horribly complex but, aside from being time-consuming and a bit fiddly, it was actually very simple. Having a fear of gelatine after several nightmarish experiences with leaf gelatine, I have since found that the powdered stuff is the way to go. It might seem a little more old-fashioned than those charming little panes of gelatine glass but trust me, the powder will set anything to the thickness of a rubber tyre if you add enough of it.This isn't a cake you would make for everyday occasions. It is quit...
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An Italian Dessert
2007-07-15 12:30:00
Tiramisu means "pick me up" in Italian and if ever a dessert comprising of booze and coffee soaked ladyfingers, layered with mascarpone cream and dusted with cocoa powder could induce a feeling of being "picked up", it would be this one.Yet another one of those once-popular restaurant dishes from the 70s and 80s, Tiramisu was relegated to "plastic pot sealed with foil lid and placed on the supermarket shelf" status, which happens to be where I first discovered this Italian delight. Although several years past its halcyon restaurant days, the Tiramisu deserves to be given another chance. It is surprisingly simple to make and never fails to please coffee or trifle lovers.Like that other Italian classic dessert, Zuppa Inglese, Tiramisu is like a hassle-free trifle with its sponge fingers and eggy custard-like sauce. Unlike trifle though, it eschews the fruit element in favour of caffeine rich ingredients. The only thing that you need to prepare in advance is some espresso, the rest of ...
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More Comfort Food for the Summer
2007-07-12 12:17:00
The calendar tells me that it?s Summer , but my goosebumps and two layers of clothes are telling me the opposite. This can only mean one thing: the unique British Summertime.The occasional sunny days, when all the barbeque's are dragged out, dusted off and set alight, meat blackening on top of these pyres, are always generously seasoned with showers, wind, overcast-ness and even hail.Try as I might to endure the constant flip-flopping of the weather, I have simply written this summer off as a bad job and am looking forward to Autumn instead, when we at least stand some chance of warm weather.This has reflected itself vividly in my cooking too. Cosy soups and comforting puds have been on the menu in the Erickson household these past few weeks.I don?t want to completely give into eating steamed puddings just yet though, or cooking full roast dinners so I am trying to find a decent balance. Chowder seems to fulfil that need for something to give me a warm, culinary hug without shoutin...
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More Simple Food
2007-07-11 12:30:00
There exists a special alchemy between Pork and Cabbage. Served apart, they are delicious, but when cooked together, the co-joining of the strong, definite flavours produces something truly sublime.Europeans have long known the brilliant simplicity of using as few ingredients as possible in their cuisine. Not only does this spring out of frugality but from the sheer knowledge of the flavours.Whilst some of us are lucky enough to be seemingly born with that knowledge of ingredients, it can also be learned through time and tasting.This gathered experience warns us that certain foods are not good together. For example, cheese is rarely served with fish, beef isn?t generally served in a white wine sauce and ketchup isn?t poured over a roast dinner. However, there are always exceptions to every rule and it is wonderful to find an obscure taste sensation in the most unlikely place, the most recent of which might be salted caramels.Even people with the most jaded taste-buds will know that ...
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A DISH BEST SERVED LUKEWARM... Much like Italian ...
2007-07-09 12:06:00
A DISH BEST SERVED LUKEWARM...Much like Italian cookery, Greek cuisine is entrenched in history. It is lovingly prepared and enjoyed with such gusto that visitors to Greece cannot help but be entranced by their simple, delicious meals.In a hot country like Greece, the climate dictates much of the food so there are cooling yogurt drinks, spiked with fresh or dried mint to sooth, fresh salads made with sun-ripened tomatoes, thirst-quenching watermelon and salty feta. Desserts come in the form of rose-water drenched cakes or multi-layered pastries like Baklava. The Greeks love sticky, sweet desserts.Possibly the most famous Greek dish is Moussaka. Once a mainstay of 1970s restaurants, the dish is rarely seen over here nowadays, except as a ready-meal in your local supermarket freezers, relegated to that regretful footnote in British cuisine known as ?out of fashion?, along with Arctic Roll, Lasagne and Melon Balls.Moussaka (from the Arabic musaqqaa meaning ?chilled?) is a many strata-e...
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Gazpacho
2007-07-04 12:55:00
?De gazpacho no hay empacho?? There is never too much Gazpacho!Is there a dish recreates summer more eloquently than Gazpacho? Probably not, for this ancient Andalusian soup is made with only the freshest, warm weather ingredients and then served cold, preferably over ice, for a truly refreshing and satisfying summer meal.Gazpacho is the only cold soup that I have made. There is something about its bold flavours that brings to mind Bloody Mary cocktails, yet, despite being alcohol free, it is far more complex than that. It is simple and quick to prepare but the chilling is essential, the flavours need time to mingle and, like a Moussaka is best at room temperature, so the Gazpacho is best served cold, cold, cold.The dish, although thought of as being Spanish, originates from the Roman days, many hundreds of years ago, a peasant dish made from just olive oil and stale bread. The word Gazpacho is a derivative of the Latin word caspa, meaning crumbs or fragments and indeed a true Gazpa...

Weekend Baking - Biscotti
2007-07-03 11:43:00
I suppose it?s fortuitous for me as a writer that food holds many happy reminiscences for me. The Banana Splits of my childhood, my husband converting me to the taste of freshly ground coffee, my Mums impecunious Spaghetti Bolognese and my Grandmother?s Coffee Cake. Since meeting Paul, I also have a whole world of foodie firsts: his Mom?s thanksgiving meals and apple cake, richly covered with Kool-Whip, thick fluffy pancakes and hash browns. This is without making note of Cheetoes, Nila Wafers and Saltines. These road trip essentials are available over here in exclusive delicatessens, along with Krispy Kreem Donuts, priced up to the point where they are no longer a cheap road snack but an unnecessary luxury instead.Of all the great culinary discoveries made by myself in the US, the Coffee Shop with its endless shiny counters stacked high with glass jars filled with cookies, plates gleaming with fruit tarts and, my most favourite coffee house treat of all, the Biscotti , was awe-inspi...
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A Taste of Childhood
2007-07-02 13:27:00
Whilst some foods are pertinent to the quirks of our own families, sometimes to the point that other people look at us as if to say ?What a bunch of weirdos! Who has mayonnaise with gravy??? other foods are so deeply ingrained within the global culinary awakening of childhood that it is almost as if a worldwide brainwashing has taken place.What child from the 80s doesn?t remember being driven to the local diner or greasy spoon and fed burgers, milkshakes and a ooey, gooey banana split or a chocolate sundae to finish?In my case, the burger and fries were just preamble, the necessary main course leading up to the dessert. Of course, I loved every greasy, calorific mouthful, the Thousand Island dressing dripping all over my hands, and the salty, vinegar laced chips, almost too hot to eat. This was all washed down with a soda stream fizzy drink, usually Coca Cola, which I wasn?t allowed at home. Even today, I drink Coke only with junk food (or scotch), the two seemed so intertwined.And ...
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A Low(ish) Fat Carrot Cake
2007-06-20 08:31:00
Once upon a time, a long while ago when it was still considered recherche to put vegetables into cakes, carrot cake was thought to be the cure-all, healthy version of cake. It has a vegetable in it, so that must cancel out all of that fat and sugar, right?As a vegetable-queasy vegetarian, my Mum thought that Carrot Cake was the answer to her prayers. It was one way that I actually enjoyed eating carrots and she thought that perhaps it might help my increasingly bad eyesight too. Suffice to say, I wasn't complaining, I even went to so far as to bake a Carrot Cake for my Home Economics class end of term exam, such was my love for this cake. I can't remember how I scored on that exam but I do know that I chose Art Design over Home Economics despite having zero artistic skill. Perhaps it had something to do with the cookery teachers, one a 4 foot tall death troll and the other a 6 foot tall Ilsa-esque, Teutonic death-bot. I might be exaggerating slightly. I think she may have been 5'...

Cold Drinks for Hot Days
2007-06-18 08:29:00
I have always been a water drinker. As a child, I was banned from drinking any carbonated drinks, notably Coca Cola, for the reason of their high sugar content and effective tooth rotting abilities. My cousins were always given little dummies filled with a drop or two of Coca Cola or an equally sugar laden cordial (orange or blackcurrant) and the fact that their baby teeth eventually turned rotten was all the vindication that my Mum needed. I was also banned from chewing gum for the same reason. It must have worked though: to this day I don't drink any carbonated drinks (except as mixers) and hate chewing gum.Of course, I'm not here to be a moral guardian with regards to your own personal intake of sugary drinks, I'm simply observing the fact that eating habits are set up in children from a young age. But, because children (and adults!) do like flavoured drinks, if you are concerned about your children having too much sugar in their diet and find the sugar-free options of carbona...
More About: Drinks , Cold , Days

Cake Down Under
2007-06-15 08:27:00
Cake. Sometimes nothing else will do. It has a child-like simplicity that never fails to win me over. Perhaps it takes me back to those childhood days when a cake was a special treat: my grandma's Victoria Sponge or Coffee Cake (note: this is a plain but tender sponge cake flavoured with coffee and filled with coffee buttercream) or perhaps the cake I insisted that my Mum made for me every single birthday: the Hansel and Gretel chocolate house. I insisted that the chimney always went to the birthday girl, a small square of sponge with about an inch of buttercream icing used to cement it to the top of a rickety cake roof. Later on, my Mum discovered the joys (and simplicity) of the Lemon Drizzle Cake, a cake with such longevity that we would be eating it two weeks after it was baked and it still tasted great.England is a country of cake eaters. We love dense fruit cake with virginal royal icing and marzipan, we enjoy the daintiness of Fairy Cakes (although these have been somewhat u...
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An Evening in France
2007-06-14 08:49:00
In a sort of tragic way, I often find that I'm gleefully hugging myself when I find a recipe to bookmark "for later on..." Mysterious as that may sound, what it really represents is the onset of whatever season we are NOT currently enjoying/tolerating/hibernating in.It's human nature of course. We always want what we can't have: curly hair, straight hair, fast cars, vintage cars, summer food, winter food. (See: The Shaggs-Philosophy of the World)It's true. After 5 months of stews and steamed puddings and roast dinners, we want salads, we want roast chicken sandwiches, we want ambrosia! In the summer we long to be able to tolerate the oven being on for longer than 15 minutes, to be able to ladle thick meat stews into deep bowls and to serve custard with dessert.It's OK though, we know all about the rapidity that time passes by with, and as you get older the seasons start to pass by in a disturbing blur before you start to question "what happened to the summer?" or "I can't beli...
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Fruits!
2007-06-13 11:41:00
Whilst I await the imminent arrival of the USB cord for the camera whereupon I can then post at least a weeks worth of photos for your perusal, I thought I would share a couple of simple recipes that are perfect for using up your summer fruits.The onset of summer always fills me with a strong desire to go fruit picking, those glossy red berries seemingly symbolising everything wonderful about the summer, and reminding us of eating raw berries with stained fingers when we were children.Unfortunately, the shelf life of soft berries is as transatory as the season itself and unless you know people who will gratefully accept jars and jars of jams, you may find yourself throwing out strawberries than have grown grey fur coats out to the birds (they're not as picky as us humans).Fortunately, it is really easy to freeze fruits, you just need to lay them out flat on a baking sheet in the freezer for a day or so, before bagging up. By freezing in this way, you're left with whole fruits that...
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Dreams of Refried Beans
2007-06-05 12:57:00
When I first read about refried beans, I think in a book by Jan Kerouac where they were referred to by their proper name, Frijoles Refritos, I thought that they sounded deeply romantic and exotic. I pictured myself walking past brightly coloured adobe houses, my long skirts brushing against the dusty red roads, then stopping at a roadside vendor and buying a Tamale. I imagined that I could smell the hot cornmeal as I unpeeled the husk, my olfactory senses tempted by the smells of roasted chilies, my other senses enlivened by Mescal.I have not yet made it to Mexico, unless Albuquerque, New Mexico counts, when Paul and I spent twenty four discombobulating hours avoiding long haired panhandlers, jumping at the sounds of gunshots at midnight and wondering why a struggling 10 year old child would be carrying a large box of drugs into an elevator. The only culinary recollection I have from those twenty four hours was the late-night Daiquiri Ice from Baskin-Robbins. I also remember leaving...
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Stuck Between Breakfast and Lunch
2007-05-28 12:10:00
Regular readers are probably aware of our ethos, but if you?re just surfing in from GOOGLE or www.bringbackdawsonscreekormywifewillbeun bearable.com, I should probably put things in context for you. For without understanding our methodology it is easy to move on down the road looking for something a bit more flashy and a bit less candid. This isn?t a criticism of those places, we certainly visit them frequently, rather, this is a companion to those sites. A stripped down sucker punch showing the readers our life in a very real way, without a façade of glamour (we wouldn?t know how to start), without theatrical staging (we don?t have the room), and without the hair and make-up (my hair is thinning rapidly and Freya has delicate skin).There have been occasions when we?ve considered censoring ourselves and not revealing so much about what makes us tick, but this just isn?t our thing. We?ve written things in our blog, which may be considered unrelated to food and the food community an...
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Daring Bakers III - The Bakers Bite Back
2007-05-26 20:14:00
After the almost crippling Martha Stewart Crepe Cake of last month, that monstrous creation that nearly brought so many of us to our knees, this month's challenge seemed to be a walk in the park.I mean, it comprised merely of homemade puff pastry, a cooked patisserie cream and choux pastry, not to mention a demonstration of our piping skills and confidence with molten sugar. This could never be as infuriating, as exasperating and as disappointing as Martha's Cake.However, this month's challenge, chosen by pastry chef extraordinaire, Helene, was always going to be something fantastical: Gateau Saint Honore.And of course, Gateau Saint Honore is a traditional French cake, made as a somewhat fitting tribute to Saint Honore himself, the Patron Saint of Pastry Baker s . And as I've already mentioned, this gateau really does pull out all the stops. As, I suppose, you would expect the Patron Saint of Pastry Bakings' very own gateau to do. Since Saint Honore was the seventh bishop of Fre...
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Is There Such a Thing as a Healthy Chocolate Cake?
2007-05-25 08:34:00
I know it seems like I've been on a non-stop baking frenzy this week and to a certain extent I have been. Work has been intolerably difficult this week and the situation with the bank starts to drag after a while.Cooking (and writing) soothes my frazzled nerves, relaxes my over-worked brain and helps me to put things into perspective. I realise that everything we are going through right now is just a bad 'spell' and that things will be OK with just a little patience and a slice of this 'healthy' choco-banana cake, inspired by Margot at Coffee and Vanilla."What's that? A healthy Chocolate Cake ?" I hear you gasp. Well, yes and no. It has no butter in it, so you're already losing the fat element. It has banana, of course, which we all know is really good for you (high in potassium which is great for regulating blood pressure and the function of the heart, not to mention they're incredibly soothing if you suffer from mouth ulcers), and it has Malt Extract. Whilst this may seem l...
More About: Healthy , Late , There

Another Way to Serve Macaroni Cheese...
2007-05-24 12:38:00
....Or this weeks Presto Pasta entry.I have yet to meet someone who dislikes Maca roni Cheese . However, it can be a little bland, a little too sloppy, a little too dry, not enough cheese etc.My husband makes a great Mac and Cheese, which I allude entirely to his secret cheese sauce recipe. I know his secret ingredient but I?m not spilling the beans....yet.When I make Macaroni Cheese, I am never quite satisfied with the results, so I am on a permanent perfect pasta quest. Luckily there is lots of inspiration available online, through other food bloggers and in cookbooks. It would appear that Mac and Cheese captures our imagination in a way that can only be rivalled by Hamburgers.My mum recalls a story about when I was very young. She would feed me macaroni cheese and I would suck all the sauce from the tubes which I would then feed to our black Labrador, Monty.This isn?t the only Macaroni Cheese (from here onwards referred to as MC) story. Another time, my cousin Stuart poured a whole...
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Sugar High Friday # 31 Welcome Back Ricotta
2007-05-23 08:37:00
Tara at Seven Spoons is hosting this month's Sugar High Frida y and her theme is inspired: Neutral Territory. We have to create a perfectly pure, muted, simple, non-gaudy, pale, never seen the sunshine sweet.In stark contrast to last month's SHF, Flower Power, where stunning bursts of colour were seen on blogs across the world, Tara wants us to share our puddings in every shade of Magnolia.As someone who has spent her life being pale and interesting, I was thrilled at this month's theme. And I knew I was going to use the pot of Ricotta in the fridge but how?There have been so many other fabulous entries so far, ranging from a virginal Millefeuille to a sublime Illes Flotante, from a daring Coconut and White Chocolate cake to a recherche Mochi. Who knew that there was so many different flavours of white?For the second month running now, I have turned to Tessa Kiro's beautiful book, Falling Cloudberries, in particular the section on Greece. Beautifully photographed, it is hard to d...
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