Category: Store Cupboard Ingredients

  • 10-Minute Peanut Noodles

    10-Minute Peanut Noodles

    France may be one of the world’s capitals of cuisine, but not a lot of French food gets churned out of my kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, there are the dauphinois when the weather is colder, then clafoutis – both cherry and peach – when it eventually gets warmer again. Toulouse is famous for its…

  • Pancake Day: French Crepes and Caramel Beurre Salé

    Pancake Day: French Crepes and Caramel Beurre Salé

    It’s funny isn’t it, how one of the best British traditions is actually French? Maybe only the Brits and the French will see the irony of this because, well, we hate each other. In a brotherly-sisterly kind of way. We often get offended by the other’s behaviour and stop talking to them for a while.…

  • The 4 Best Healthy Breakfast Smoothies

    The 4 Best Healthy Breakfast Smoothies

    Desperation drove me into a health food shop the other day. It was an unusual day regardless of the health shop. It was a day dressed up to look like #newyearnewme, the only thing missing was a towel slung around my shoulders and a bottle of green juice or one of my newly acquired healthy…

  • Comforting Miso Chicken Soup

    Comforting Miso Chicken Soup

    If self-care had a physical form, it would be in the shape of chicken soup. You might be thinking that you self-cared yourself enough this Christmas – eating all that cheese would be anyone’s ideal form of self-care (besides anyone with lactose intolerance that is), all smug and warm like dipping into a bath of…

  • Easy Stovetop Maple Pecan Granola

    Easy Stovetop Maple Pecan Granola

    It’s often at this time of day – around 4pm – that my stomach alarm clock tinkles gently. It’s not the alarming buzz of the one which always inconveniently rings whenever there’s a moment of silence whilst in company; my physio is very polite and hasn’t mentioned it yet. But at 4pm I am alerted…

  • How to Make Easy Crumpets

    How to Make Easy Crumpets

    I haven’t inherited much in terms of features from my dad, but using all the kitchen equipment for one meal seems to be genetic trait. Gaylord will be the first to tell you that I am a messy cook. According to him, when he’s faced with the washing up which I always insist ‘really isn’t…

  • Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Caramel and Chocolate

    Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Caramel and Chocolate

    Finally, finally, after five years of writing this old blog, I bring you peanut butter banana bread. The fact that this is my first recipe for banana bread is honestly shocking. Considering that for years I have kept a stash of bananas in my freezer for the entire purpose of a regular supply of banana…

  • Moist Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

    Moist Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

    Unlike many bakers, I didn’t grow up baking at my grandmother’s knee. In fact, my most regular activity in my granny’s kitchen was drying the dishes (can you even qualify that as a skill? – ‘oh her baking is delicious’ ‘you haven’t seen anything, just watch her dry up’). My granny was of the generation…

  • The Best BLT

    The Best BLT

    There’s been a change of plan. The essential guide to making your own French charcuterie board – taking us all one step closer to living with joie de vivre no matter where we are in the world – never got off the ground. Instead of cheese and cured meats, there came a vicious cold and…

  • How to Make Fluffy Focaccia (and survive a heat wave)

    How to Make Fluffy Focaccia (and survive a heat wave)

    The heat wave came without warning. Although I can’t say the same for the focaccia. That came from an all-consuming craving for salt-crusted cushion-soft bread, and no matter how many heat waves we suffer, there will always be a focaccia in this house. I have not experienced many heat waves in my life. This is…