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
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.
Everyone loves a one pot dish, time and flavours merge to make something special. Fish is getting more expensive, so when it's out there at a good price, grab it and make it into this One Pan Roast Salmon & King Prawns with New Potatoes, Peas & Mint. Its fresh and a meal in itself, no need to make anything else. For a Saturday night treat or a week day meal, its perfect for both.
Brown Butter, Whisky, Walnut Tart. This tart is rich with the brown nutty butter, sweet form the mix of brown sugars and has a kick from the whisky. The pastry is delicate and perfectly caramelised to hold that amazing filling. Family style or just for you, its worth making.
Chicken, Leek and Bacon Pie with Quick Vodka Flaky Pastry is the perfect pie to make for a family get together. Made with quick vodka flaky pastry is full of flavour with a flaky golden lid. And yes, it does have a layer pf pastry underneath, other wise it's just a stew with a lid.
This posh cheese on toast is soft, fluffy and slightly tangy. Great to double or treble the ingredients when a group of people turn up. Use the hard cheese of your choice and theres no better thing for a quick meal. Speed doesn't mean that taste is compromised, its luxurious.
This is my recipe for meatballs after revisiting Ikea, buying my usual large portion of their meatballs and realising they were now rubbish. With the addition of my oven dried tomatoes, which give even more flavour, they are so easy to make. The cream sauce is rich and very very moreish. Great for a family meal to serve with mash potato or chips.
Asian Mushrooms are amazing even when not eating a asian meal. The flavour holds up against, well, basically anything you want to eat. As a vegan or vegetarian recipe it's one to add to your cook book.
Baby Cucumber Salad, with Elderflower Vinaigrette, Toasted Pecans & Crumbled Feta is a light salad an amazing counterbalance with an oily fish such as BBQ mackerel. Layer everything up and it not only looks amazing but tastes great too. An easy salad to make vegan or veggie, just keep the feta in the fridge.
There are so many flavours to make butter and so many ways to use them. Marmite butter, chicken skin butter, garlic and spring onion butter and horseradish and chive. This recipe is so easy to make and once made can be frozen or refrigerated. Use these flavoured butters in cooking or as stand alone on some lovely bread.
Cauliflower & Pork Stroganoff recipe, or make it without meat. A great dish to make it into a vegetarian stroganoff, but if you make this dish it'ill soon be on your meal rota. Tons of paprika and cream make this a perfect stroganoff and its a make a head dish or even for freezing too.
