No-Bake
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Leaving Cert Energy Balls
When 6th year started last September it seemed like June was a lifetime away. We’ve had many a battle of wills about the 17-year-old’s eating habits. She leaves early in the morning which means I get to see exactly what she’s taken (or not) for lunch before I head out to work. There’s been a couple quite a few early morning phone calls to make sure she has enough food to get her through the day in school. She isn’t a fan of breakfast, and truthfully would skip it only for her Dad makes sure she eats every morning before going to school. I can’t make her study, harder or…
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How To Make Pancakes – The Quick And Easy Way
My frying pan gets used at least every second day, pancakes on a Sunday are a regular treat, and I like to use it to add colour (and flavour) to meat before cooking in the oven. The beauty of this pancake recipe is that it doesn’t take long to put together, you don’t need to wait for the batter to get smooth, it contains very few ingredients, and it becomes a balanced meal once we have some fruit on the side. Mind you there’s nothing stopping you making this a savoury dish. I suppose we’ve become used to this as a sweet treat. The sweetness is all in the extras,…
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Low Sugar Jam
Jam is sweet. It’s meant to be sweet; the sugar used preserves the fruit and makes the jam last for longer. In my house that could mean up to a year; providing I use a sterilised jar, and store it in a cool, dark place. What if there was a way to make low sugar jam? You’d still have a “set” consistency, but the trade-off would be that you’d have to make smaller quantities because the jam wouldn’t last so long. I’ve tested plenty of jam recipes over the years. I’ve made jam with less sugar than recommended, replaced the refined sugar with fruit sugar (fructose), used honey, and used…
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Cherry Chocolate Cheesecake Pots
Why would you want to make this cheesecake? Well you could be on a low fat diet, trying to lose weight, or maybe you might be trying to reduce your sugar consumption. It could be all of the above, as is the case with my family members. While I won’t identify them on the blog, I can tell you that in the past 6 weeks, these 3 inspiring people have managed to lose a combined total of just under 3 stone (that’s 42lbs or 19kg). You don’t need to cook, nor do you need any fancy equipment to be able to make these cheesecake pots, just make sure you have…
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Raspberry Curd
What is curd? Sweet curd is made with 4 main ingredients. 3 of which are always butter, sugar, and eggs. The 4th ingredient is normally a tart or citrus flavour. Once made properly it sets to a dropping consistency. This is because both the butter and the egg yolks play a part in the setting process. You’ve probably heard of lemon curd. It is extremely easy to make – in fact, if you want to see me make it, plus get the recipe you can head on over to my lemon curd recipe by clicking the image below.
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Eton Mess
There are days that I love nothing more than working in the kitchen on “oven watch”. These type of days are when I’m not stuck at my computer for hours on end, and the sun isn’t splitting the stones. Lately though, with the sunny weather and my two boys being that bit older all they want to do is to play out in the front garden with the big boys. That’s all great, except we have an open garden system where we live and that means we don’t have gates that I can close to keep the boys safe and the road is very close to the house. So if…
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Lemon Curd
A couple of weeks ago I headed to Ballymaloe where I worked with the Kerrygold Ireland team on their social media coverage for Litfest. While I was there, I gave a demonstration (using butter of course) of a quick and simple recipe that I love to make at home. There was no question when they asked me what I was making as lemon curd is very simple to make and I have great memories of my Grandmother making it when I was younger. So here is the result, a beautiful video that they shot of me cooking and sharing my lemon curd with everybody in The Big Shed. Here’s the…
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Building Site Cake
Know your limits. Birthday parties can be stressful enough as it is without trying to win a medal for “mother of the year” and making the best cake in the world. So if you have a child who is obsessed by trucks or building sites this is the perfect building site cake with no baking!
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Quick Apple Crumble
While I love the scent of a traditional apple crumble filling my kitchen, I prefer this quick apple crumble for warm Autumn evenings. It also uses less energy and requires less time.
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Raspberry Cheesecake
Quick, no bake, raspberry cheesecake – cheaper than premium shop bought version and perfect for ripe raspberries.
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Affogato
Affogato. It’s not something I’ve thought about much until recently, however I was pointed in the direction of this coffee treat. I don’t even drink coffee!
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Quick Ice Cream
On such a glorious day, I always fancy something cold and sweet but with our Irish weather it’s incredibly hard to plan ahead for sunny weather. This recipe for Quick Ice Cream can be made with 10 minute’s notice providing you have the 2 ingredients in the house. Did I mention it’s also sugar-free?
