Smoked Haddock with Creme Fraiche Butter Sauce and Ozeri Electric Grinder Review

Another fish recipe from me now... I was going through the freezer seeing what needed using up and found some smoked haddock I'd bought to make a fish pie. I've gone off home-made fish pie a bit though -for some reason when I make it, it's always more bland than the shop-bought versions. I think I need to play around with the recipe a bit! I had a look online to find something else I could do with the smoked haddock and found a recipe from...

Read More

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 44

...

Read More

Lime and Coconut Halloween Slime Ghost Cake

Halloween baking is such fun - you can really push the boundaries of how you would normally decorate a cake, and make it as over the top as you like! Obviously subtle black and purple looks very stylish and striking but this Halloween I decided to go for..... green slime! The theme for Food 'n' Flix this month is Ghostbusters - the 2016 remake which was chosen by host Coffee and Casseroles. I did enjoy the film and didn't think there was anything...

Read More

Restaurant reviews: Gozo, Malta

...

Read More

Meal Planning Monday 2017 Week 43

Monday smoked haddock with crème fraiche from this recipe for me, chicken chargrills for him Tuesday macaroni cheese with bacon and sausage Wednesday- chicken pie and mashed potato Thursday something from the freezer with chips Friday probably at yoga though haven't booked it yet Saturday Lunch bacon sandwich for him, sardines on toast for me Dinner chicken schnitzel in katsu spices from Waitrose Sunday Lunch fresh filled pasta Dinner pan-fried hake in lemon butter sauce Join in the blog hop! An InLinkz Link-up...

Read More

Mini Trick or Treat No Bake Lemon Cheesecakes for Halloween Party

...

Read More

Banoffee Tool Box Birthday Cake

We had a family barbecue for my father-in-law’s birthday in August and I wanted to make a cake that would stand out. I tried to think of things I associated with him – my father-in-law is really handy, at everything from fixing fences to building a child’s ride on car from scratch so I had the idea of a tool box cake.   Looking at Google Images I realised there were some incredibly detailed, realistic tool box cakes and figured I wouldn’t...

Read More

Restaurant review: Rocksby's, Portsmouth

My sister and I wanted to take her baby daughter to the Portsmouth Aquarium a few months ago. I’ve realised it’s difficult to make an early start when you have a baby to get ready – by the time we arrived in Portsmouth it was already late morning, and we had decided on a quick trip to the Pyramids Centre soft play centre first.     My niece seemed to have a great time with the foam shapes and ball pond, but was most interested in some noughts...

Read More

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 42

Posting this a day late because I forgot on Monday night! Monday pork chop with sweet potato for me, peppered beef steak with mashed potato for him Tuesday - working from home - have invited my mother in law around for dinner. Fish in lemon cream sauce from this recipe, with hasselback potatoes Wednesday something easy from the freezer as we have a heating engineer coming this evening Thursday My husband is out at a work event so I'll have spaghetti Bolognese with Quorn mince Friday Out with a friend Saturday lunch TBA maybe cheese toasties dinner...

Read More

Curly Whirly Cream Cheese Brownies and my new Ozeri kitchen scales

One day at work I spotted a sign advertising a Macmillan charity bake sale. The thing was, the bake sale was in two days time, meaning I didn't have very much time to shop for ingredients and bake something, as I'd already decided I needed to bake my dad's birthday cake at the same time so it was ready for the weekend! I didn't want to miss the Macmillan bake sale since a recipe I devised appeared in the Macmillan Little Book of Treats, which...

Read More

Restaurant Review: Crate Brewery, Hackney Wick

The Olympic Park in Stratford, London, is home to the London Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, the Lee Valley VeloPark and other venues that were used for events at the London 2012 Olympics. I’d never been there before – I did manage to get tickets to one Olympic event, but it was elsewhere – the beach volleyball on Horseguards’ Parade near Westminster.   I was at a work event nearby recently and my colleague had booked a pub restaurant for us to...

Read More

BlogCampOnBoard the MSC Preziosa - My First Impressions of Cruising

Cruising is just for old people, right? I've never been on a cruise ship before and imagined them as floating palaces full of old-age pensioners, playing bingo and dressing for dinner at the captain's table in their faded finery as they cruise around colonial-era Caribbean islands. I had the opportunity to test and maybe challenge my assumption last week after being invited to spend the day on the MSC Preziosa, while it was in port in Southampton....

Read More

Meal Planning Monday 2017- Week 41

Another busy weekend of sorting out the house before the baby comes (yes, we still have several months - but I want to get it done now!) meant I didn't do any meal planning, and I'm in the middle of cooking dinner - the result of a random rummage in the freezer - before I have even planned this week's meals! Monday Breakfast yogurt with fruit Lunch ham sandwich Dinner Quorn spaghetti Bolognese                                                                          Tuesday...

Read More

Grilled Cod with Jerk Spice

I love to eat fish but usually buy salmon, tuna or even something like mackerel – I get very bored with white fish as it can taste very plain. I found this recipe on Cooking Channel TV for grilled mahi mahi (a fish also known as dorado, which I’ve only ever had on holiday before) with jerk spice that I thought would work well with cod.   I thought I'd share what I made following this recipe with you - it may not photograph particularly...

Read More

Chicken Shawarma with Garlic Sauce

  You may not have heard of shawarma before but you’ve probably eaten something very similar in the past – it’s a lovely (and easy) dish to make yourself at home. A shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish that can use various meats or poultry – usually lamb, chicken, beef or veal – cooked on a spit and shaved, rather like a kebab. It’s then served in a wrap or in a roll and is sometimes topped with houmous.   It's also nice served on, rather...

Read More