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Roast Lamb Feast
This Easter Sunday we’ll all gather as a family; my siblings, our partners, our children, and my parents, and we’ll enjoy this classic roast lamb feast. When I say a classic roast lamb feast that’s not strictly true in the Irish sense of the term. The flavours and the food that we will eat together are a reflection of us as a family. The meal speaks to us of a time spent in the Middle East when Dad was serving with UNIFIL and the youngest of us was still in nappies. It’s a meal that we will all contribute to. I’ve already been told I’m responsible for the vegetables, which…
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Cottage Pie Leftovers Recipe
Yesterday I made a braised beef with seasonal veg dish and using the leftovers I've now made a cottage pie.
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Braised Beef With Seasonal Veg
For the first in the recipe series I’ve gone back to a family favourite. Mam used to make this braised beef dish in a heavy casserole dish with a lid. The homely flavours come thanks to the veg that all comes from a local farm. It doesn’t get more Irish than this.
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Chickpea Stew Recipe – Ad
When Knorr Ireland approached me and asked me if I’d be interested in devising a simple recipe to use their stockpots I was delighted to take on the challenge because I do use stockpots and stockcubes on a regular basis. Even though I do make my own homemade stock in the slow cooker, I don’t always have stock to hand when the freezer is full of other things. It is simply a very handy option to add flavour to a meal. Let’s talk about fibre for a minute though. I’ve become obsessed with healthy fibre in our diets. Without fibre things become a little bit backed up. One source of…
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Making A Start With SafeFood – Ad
This is difficult for me to write so I hope you will treat me gently! When SafeFood approached me to ask would I take part in their Make A Start campaign I knew it was a chance for me to change the way our eating habits had become. Like most busy parents, I struggle to get the food on the table, keep everybody happy, and make sure that everyone eats a full meal. The past couple of months have been extremely hectic. The kids went back to school and almost instantly my work hours increased. Then the issues with the tracker scandal started taking up a lot of my time,…
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Banana Pecan Cake
Once again I found myself with a surplus of rapidly blackening bananas and a need to bake. Actually that’s not quite true. I’ve gotten into the habit of peeling bananas and then popping them into a box in the freezer as soon as they are past their best. Which is working very well in terms of the ripe bananas in the kitchen. However, the box has to be managed so that it doesn’t take over the freezer. I need space for other items like berries. Gooseberries top and tail marvellously directly from the freezer so there is a wonderful bounty waiting for me to have the time on the right…
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Slow Cooker Lamb Tagine
I get asked questions quite a bit about the slow cooker so I figured I’d pop my tips/answers below, with a slow cooker lamb tagine recipe at the end. As an added bonus, this recipe actually has a video to match. If this is the kind of thing you like to see please do let me know and I’ll do my best to film some more. Maybe I should have called this post “why I flipping love my slow cooker”!
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Swift Baked Crispy Potatoes #Ad
It’s National Potato Day in Ireland today and when I was asked to develop a new recipe especially for the celebration I found it hard to say no. If you ask me, everyday is a potato day! There’s a reason why I don’t grow potatoes at the allotment. I certainly could if I wanted to, it’s just that we have so many fantastic local potato producers close to home that I prefer to support them instead. In fact, the local potato growers are so supportive of what we do at the allotments, there is a particular farmer who supplies us with potatoes for the pigs! Every couple of weeks a…
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Carrot And Courgette Pilaf
Okay, okay, it’s not a pilaf in the classic sense of the term. This rice dish isn’t baked in the oven, but it is cooked in the amount of time it takes to simmer some rice, and cook off the vegetables. The carrot and courgette pilaf is a great way to use up a glut of vegetables, then sneak them into your family’s diet with mild curry spices. Each one of the three kids would sit down to a massive comforting bowl of this pilaf with a poached egg on top. I love cooking this kind of food that’s easy on the stomach, wallet, and senses. The carrot and courgette…
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Homemade Flatbreads Recipe
During the school year I try to get the kids to have their dinner by 5.30pm at the latest. It stops too much snacking when they get home from school and it means that they get hot food on cold days (not that we’ve had many of those recently). All three of the kids have conspired against me these past few weeks and each finished at a different time. That will change very soon thank goodness! These flatbreads are the perfect meal to prepare in advance. I can mix up the dough in the morning, cover and forget about it. I can also make the filling well before I need…
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Simple Chicken Traybake
The beauty of this simple chicken traybake is that once it’s assembled you just bake it in the oven and wait while the delicious smells fill the house.
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Lamb Hot Pot
Make double quantities of this lamb hot pot meal if you can. It freezes so well and the kids love it. If you have a slow cooker then make the most of the appliance and leave it simmering away until late in the day before serving. Serve with mash, rice or pasta but best of all, stir in some couscous before serving for a 1-pot-wonder.
