Instant strawberry ice-cream....

We love ice cream for its creamy, sweet, buttery loveliness, and this healthier, cheaper and tasty option will not disappoint. 

Simple wash, hull and halve as many strawberries as you like depending on the amount of mouths your feeding. Place on a plate and simple pop into the freezer and allow to become cold and hard.

When your ready to serve up just put the fruit into a food processor with a squeeze of honey/maple syrup/agave nectar whatever your sweetner of choice, a drop of vanilla extract and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. As you whizz pour a steady stream of buttermilk in through the feeder spout until you reach your desired consistency. Serve immediately in a bowl or cone.

I'm pretty sure you'll be pleasantly surprised with the result. 

Fuel for a cold, snowy Monday

There is of course one advantage to being woken up at 6.30am on a day off......we got to make MUFFINS!

These muffins are refined sugar and gluten free and are tasty out I can assure you. The ground almonds keep them nice and moist and the dessicated coconut gives them a bit of texture.

Unfortunately we had just used up the last of our frozen raspberries for our smoothie so a couple of blueberries took centre stage as a replacement. 

Coconut and Raspberry Muffins

200g ground almonds

80g unsweetened dessicated coconut

50g coconut palm sugar

1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder

4 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

50 ml coconut oil melted

Handful fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius. 

Line a 12 hole muffin tin.

Start by mixing together in a bowl the ground almonds, coconut, coconut sugar and baking powder. 

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla paste and slowly poor in the melted coconut oil. I find that if the eggs are straight from the fridge and cold then the oil solidifies resulting in annoying clumps. 

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and spoon into the muffin cases. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Yummy on their own hot or cold or served with a dollop of yoghurt and more fresh blueberries. 

Syrup for sore throats

I am so over snotty noses, clumps of tissues in every pocket including the washing machine unfortunately.

I am fighting off a determind sore throat with my homemade cough syrup.

Very simple, just a small jar packed full of sliced lemon and ginger (I use both fresh and crystallised) and then slowly pour honey over these till it fills in gaps and comes to the top.

Then leave in the fridge and when required poor a desired amount into a mug and mix with boiling water.

Then replenish with more honey. 

I also add a 1/4 tsp of tumeric to my mug and a pinch to Alison's, for an added immunity boost. 

Vitamin C boost

The season of constant nose wiping is once again upon us and this weekend we had a triple whammy with a rotten cough and guncky eyes thrown in for good measure. 

So armed with large bags of oranges and  grapefruits I made a cocktail of the juice of 2 oranges and 2 grapefruits, heated gently and a drop of Manuka honey syrup. I was hoping she would take the Manuka syrup on its own but alas no (and I don't blame her), but between some in her porridge and some in this juice medley I'm hoping she's benefiting. 

Garden wandering

One of my Mum's pride and joy is her vegetable garden, unfortunately i did not inherit these green fingers and although mum sends me home with pots of herbs and salad leaves i usually bring the pots and their very nearly dead components back to her for reviving a couple of weeks later.

I do love though when Alison and mum walk around the garden cracking open pea pods and devouring the peas before tossing the pods to Ozzie the dog. On a recent trip to Kildare Alison was caught in the greenhouse pinching the tomatoes. There is such a difference in taste in home grown tomatoes, they are delicious.

Roasted courgette and butternut squash with orzo risotto

I love orzo pasta for several reasons. It has a cool shape, makes for a lighter dish in comparison to the arborio rice and you can still have the slight "al-dente" bite.

Roasted courgette and butternut squash with orzo risotto
Serves 4

2 medium courgettes sliced and diced
1/2 butternut squash diced smaller than courgettes
2 tsp chopped thyme
1 onion finely diced
1 clove garlic smushed
300g orzo pasta
200ml white wine
1 litre hot vegetable stock
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 handful of chopped rainbow chard or spinach optional but nutritious and delicious
grated parmesan to serve

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Pop the courgette and butternut squash into a roasting dish, sprinkle with the thyme, pepper and a good slug of olive oil and roast until nice and soft, about 25-30 mins and tossing from time to time.

In a large saucepan gently soften the onion over a medium heat add the garlic and some fresh grated chilli if you so wish at this stage, cook out for a minute or two. Add the orzo and coat in all the sweet oily deliciousness. Add the wine, stir and cook for a further 2 minutes (this burns off the alcohol).

Gently pour a ladle full of hot stock into the pasta at a time, and stir until the stock has been absorbed before adding the next ladle. When the pasta is just slightly al-dente stir in the chives, parsley, chard/spinach and roasted veg.

Spoon onto plates, bowls, dishes smother with Parmesan and bon appetite. This is quite a quick dish to make especially if you roast the veg the evening before and just set aside in the fridge.

Banana and sultana bread

Have you ever looked at the ingredients section on some cakes and biscuits packet and not even been able to pronounce the words let alone know what they are. Let alone the fact that these products have a shelf life of six months sometimes.

With the amazing weather the fruit in our fruit bowl seems to be ripening at break neck speed and attracting little fruit flies from near and far driving me potty.
With all this in mind and a glut of over ripe bananas this cake came to fruition.

Banana and sultana cake

85g coconut palm sugar or caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
150ml sunflower oil
3-4 medium bananas mashed
250g wholemeal self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
zest of 1 orange finely grated
100g sultanas or dried apricots chopped


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celicus and line a 2lb loaf tin or 20cm springform time, you could also make individual muffins i imagine about 12 standard sizes.

Put the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk by hand or with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes or until creamy and increased in volume. Gradually pour in the oil in a steady stream and whick in the banana mush.

Sift together the cinnamon and flour and tip the bran from the flour in at the end, fold into the wet mixture with the zest and the sultanas.
Tip into your chosen tin and bake on the middle shelf for approximately 45-50 minutes. Leave in the tin when cooked for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The smell is so warming and inviting. This cake would also be lovely toasted with butter and jam or nutella.Or heated slightly and topped with plain yoghurt as a pudding.

It will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for 2-3 days or just slice and freezer in batches.