Baker & Foodie Content Creator
My name is Lee, welcome to my pages. I hope we can have fun together?
When I’m not developing recipes for others, writing guest blogs, writing my own blog, or even trying to learn how to paint, I’m usually spending time with the amazing Mr G (my husband) or with my lovely daughter or my lovely son (very proud mum).
What is this all about? Great question. This site is about real cooking and baking, real recipes and real mistakes.
No filters here, (although i’d love to find a filter that can take ten years worth of laugh lines away. Just me, whats happening, and whatever cameras or phone i have to hand .
There are many things that get under my bonnet and wiggle around, one of those is food waste. If i buy ingredients specifically for a recipe, and i only need a small amount of the ingredients, i want to be able to use the rest up and not have to throw them away. My mum used to say , “Waste not Want not” is that still a saying ?
For me, waste is not just about using up all the ingredients. What about leftover food? If i’m able , i hope to give ideas as to how to use up any leftovers too.
Be Brave
Cooking isn’t hard , neither is baking, its all about being brave and being ok with making mistakes
Black Pudding & Pork Meatball Hotpot in Paprika Tomato Sauce - An amazing sauce with texture and oomph. Light moist meatballs with bite size bits of black pudding and pork, and that topping of thinly sliced potatoes that inevitably sucks up lots of flavour from the sauce. and makes it a hotpot, well to my taste buds.
Orange & Nectarine Layer Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is a lovely cake to make for mothers day and it’s so easy i wouldn’t keep it just for that day. Layers of moist orange cake held together with a white chocolate and cream cheese frosting (buttercream) with chunks of just cut nectarines. A perfect mothers day gift to say thank you.
Heavenly Potato Hash is a perfect for a mid-week meal, top it with a soft fried egg and it becomes the perfect comfort food dish. Soft potatoes with cabbage and bacon and whats left is a dish to make again and again.
Root vegetable soup with borlotti beans ticks so many boxes. Its a great way to eat the seasons and it's so full of winter vegetable goodness thats it's a sin not to eat more than one bowl. Adding borlotti beans and peas pushes this soup into a bowl of winter love.
Mini Pear and Chutney Bites, canapes using only three ingredients that are quick to put together when people pop around. Use any spiced and fruity chutney you have, and get a great flavour thats easy to do
Savoury Mince with Cheese & Parsley Scones or savoury cobbler, whatever its called , its a perfect comfort food and cooked in one pot, its a great dish to make. the scones cooked straight in top are filled with herbs and cheese, and are light and fluffy. its also a perfect eat the next day dish too, so no food waste.
Pimp up Christmas with these mini Maple Syrup Sausages in Bacon, another way to make your guests think you've spent hours slaving in the kitchen, Yet they are so easy to make ,and once out of the oven, they won't last very long before they're eaten.
Christmas brownies using mincemeat - Mincemeat and chocolate may not be the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of flavour combinations, but let me assure you, even for haters of mincemeat, mixing it into this brownie, is a way of converting all you sceptics out there.
The best apple pie recipe because it has best flaky pastry and its a mound of apples in the centre which, for me, aren't over flavoured. I like to taste apples in my apple pie. its easy to make and once you've added the pastry to your family recipe book, it's one i think you'll go back to again and again.
Home Made Eclairs with Pistachio Pastry Crème & Peanut Brittle aren't as difficult to make as first thought. Just follow my step by step instructions and they will be in your plate in no time at all. Decorated with dark chocolate with a layer of chantilly cream and then shards of peanut brittle and chopped pistachios. each is filled with a smooth pistachio creme patisserie, a mouthful of heaven.
Charred Peach & Courgette Salad with Preserved Lemon Dressing is a way to bring the maximum flavour out of fresh peaches, and with preserved lemons in the dressing, the salad may look simple, but has a unique most welcome umami taste.
Blackberry panna cotta, a lovely way to use up all those blackberries that are growing everywhere right now. A really wonderful way to use up blackberries, making your own blackberry puree and putting it together with gelatine and cream. Using frozen or fresh blackberries, its up to you, they both work just as well. Find lots of tips for other ways to use up blackberries this autumn.
A filled pasta that may look challenging, but taken one step at a time, is a dish worthy of every dinner party. Egg Raviolo with Home Made Chive Ricotta & Tomato Water. The runny egg yolk nesting within a round of fresh home made chive ricotta all wrapped in fresh pasta. Once the egg yolk is broken, it mixes with the light tomato water to make a rich sauce.
If your looking for a light dish to start your dinner party, this Pea Panna Cotta is the thing to be making. Vegetarian with a the lovely flavour of peas, it's a great dish to make ahead. Beautifully smooth and full of pea flavour pea panna cotta is worth making
Whether for a vegetarian meal or as a side dish with a roast, Oven Roasted Turnip & Celeriac Wedges with Crumb & Tahini Dressing is a great way to cook root vegetables in a different way. Roasting them with spices makes then buttery and delicious.
Potato & Spicy Smoked Chorizo Stew is full of the flavours of smokey paprika, spicy chorizo all sitting in a pot of soft potatoes and that sauce ready to be soaked up by chunks of bread. Serve from the pot in the middle of the table r as a side dish in small bowls. For the family for a weekday meal or a Saturday night dinner party. A one pot dish to cook any day of the week
Pistachio Bakewell with Orange & Thyme Curd is a lovely way to get a taste pistachios, which seem to e all over the Internet right now.
A layer of home made Orange and Thyme curd sits on the bottom and then on top, a moist layer of pistachio frangipane cpmpletes this perfect part.
Orange and thyme curd is a twist on the usual curd and tastes amazing spread on a slice of toast for breakfast or, as i often do, used in my pistachio bakewell. Its smooth, buttery and important to me, really easy to make. Store the curd in a sterilised jar for up to one month.
Pepper & Paprika Chicken Thighs is a dish that is easy to cook and full of flavour. With a Croatian pantry staple, Vegeta, which adds that certain something extra, it's a weeknight dish or a Saturday night show stopper. Pair it with potatoes, rice just putout a plate of good bread to soak up all that sauce.
Celeriac Torte with Mushrooms & Pancetta - Slices of thin celeriac holds together a filling of pancetta and pine nuts. Great to eat hot or cold, cooked as one large dish to share at the table or small individual portions in these cute tiny skillets.
