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Easy Italian Baked Courgettes

If you like courgettes and Italian cooking, this is the recipe for you. Not only is it extremely easy, but tastes fresh, healthy and delicious. I like to eat these on their own, for a 'light' supper option, but they can also be accompanied with meat or fish; or as a starter for a dinner party. The great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to be exact with the ingredients...it'll taste good either way. 

Ingredients (serves 2)

- 2 courgettes, cut in half length ways

- 10 cherry or small tomatoes, cut in half

- a handful of pine nuts

- a handful of grated cheddar cheese (or any cheese)

- 6 basil leaves, chopped or torn into small pieces

- a dribble of olive oil

- salt and pepper

1. Start by turning the oven to 200°c. 

2. Once the courgettes have been cut in half, make a small triangular cut length ways down the centre to remove some of the seeds - in order to place your mixture on top. Some recipes will tell you to remove all the seeds when stuffing a courgette, or similar vegetable, however I feel this is a bit wasteful. 

3. Place the two courgette halves skin side down on a baking tray and dribble with a little sunflower or vegetable oil. Put them in the pre heated oven for 20 minutes to soften them.

4. While the courgettes are baking, you can begin to make the topping. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until combined. 

5. Once the courgettes have been in the oven for 20 minutes, remove them and pour your topping neatly over each half. Place back in the oven for a further 8 minutes and enjoy hot or cold. 

Add a few chilli flakes if you like things spicy.

Elderflower and Lemon Ice Cream

I made this ice cream (Belvoir Fruit Farms website) over the weekend and had to make it again today it was so delicious. It's very light and creamy, with a bit of zing; and tastes great with my carrot cake: http://ohuntingford.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/ive-made-this-cake-few-times-and-its.html

Ingredients (serves 6)

- 3 egg white

- 2 oz caster sugar

- 3 egg yolks

- 7 tbsp elderflower cordial

- zest or peel of one lemon

- 300ml double cream

1. Start by separating the eggs into two bowl (one with whites and one with yolks).

2. Beat the egg whites until fluffy and then gradually add the sugar.

3. Next, lightly beat the egg yolks (until they start to get thick) and then mix in the elderflower cordial and lemon peel.

4. To finish, whip up the cream and fold the egg mixtures into it. 

5. The ice cream can either be placed into a tupperware and popped in the freezer overnight, or poured into an ice cream maker until set. 

Amaretti, Almond and Chocolate Cake

This recipe is from Yummly.com and makes a great alternative birthday cake. It is absolutely delicious and slightly healthier than normal chocolate cake because it doesn't contain added flour. 

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

- 1 1/4 cup of amaretti biscuits (about 25 small ones)

- 3/4 cup almonds

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 a cup of unsalted butter, softened (about 100g)

- 1/2 cup granulated sugar

- 4 eggs

- 8 oz good quality chocolate, melted

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180°c and greasing a 9" cake tin.

2. Place the amaretti biscuits and almonds in a food processor and whizz until a fine meal forms. A bit of crunch is good! Put this mixture into a bowl, stir in the cinnamon and set aside.

3. Heat a little water in a small saucepan. Put a bowl on top of the saucepan and make sure that it doesn't touch the water. Break the chocolate into the bowl and stir until it's melted. Leave this to cool while you finish the rest of the cake.

4. Cream the butter and sugar in a food processor for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the eggs one at a time (with the motor running), and scrape down the sides with a spatular. 

5. Finally add the almond mixture and melted chocolate to the food processor, and stir in the vanilla essence. 

6. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. 

For the topping, I mixed melted chocolate with a little cream and icing sugar, but you can also dust it with coco powder. This cake is great with creme fraiche, yoghurt and fruit.

Strawberry and Mint Smoothie

Smoothies and juices are seriously easy, delicious and healthy. Any fruit and veg mixed together seems to taste amazing, so you can afford to be inventive.

Ingredients (serves 2)

- 1 banana, fresh or frozen (chopped into pieces and frozen for a few hours makes the drink nice and cold)

- 6 strawberries

- 1 orange

- 2 tbsp apple juice

- a few mint leaves

Mix everything up in a blender for a few minutes until completely combined. Add more apple juice if you want it to go further.

Homemade Rye Soda Bread with Turkish Inspired Broad Bean, Yoghurt and Dill Dip

This soda bread is super easy, and once you have all the ingredients, you'll be able to make it every week - saving yourself lots of pennies. No kneading or faff...so it takes very little time.

Ingredients for the Soda Bread (roughly 14 slices)

- 8oz rye flour or brown flour

- 4oz white flour or gluten free white flour

- 2oz oatmeal

- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp brown sugar

- half a 500ml natural yoghurt pot (250g), the rest filled with milk to the brim

- a handful of mixed seeds (like pumpkin, sunflower and linseeds - mixed inside or sprinkled on top)

- poppy seeds for sprinkling (optional)

1. Start by pre heating the oven to 205°c.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and then add the yoghurt and milk. Stir well until fully combined.

3. Pour the mixture into a large-ish greased loaf tin (I use a non-stick rubber one which doesn't need greasing), and cook at 205°c for 10 minutes.

4. After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 185°c and cook for a further 35 minutes. 

5. To check that the loaf is ready, take it out of the oven and tap it's top. If it's firm, remove it from the tin, and pat its bottom. If the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, its ready to cool down on a wire rack and serve as and when you want it. 

This dip is extremely easy, as well as being super healthy. Frozen broad beans are sold in most supermarkets and taste pretty good too. Great with toasted soda bread!

Broad Bean, Yoghurt and Dill Dip (serves 4)

- 250g thick yoghurt

- a handful of broad beans

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- a few sprigs of dill, chopped

1. Simply cook your broad beans in boiling water until soft, then cool them down with cold water.

2. Put the yoghurt into a bowl and sprinkle with the cold broad beans. Pour over the olive oil, top with chopped dill and finish off with salt and pepper. 

Broad Bean, Coriander and Chilli Houmous Dip

This morning was spent picking runner beans from my mum's vegetable garden, and I thought I ought to make something delicious for lunch. I love it when you get half way through making something, only to realise that you don't have all the ingredients you want, because it calls for a little experimentation. From this slight blip, I concocted a new, exciting, and very healthy dip recipe. This has a kick, so if you're susceptible to spice, add less chilli

 Ingredients (makes two pots)

- 400g tin soft boiled chickpeas (I use TRS Boiled Chick Peas) with 2/3 chickpea water

- 2 handfuls of cooked broad beans (with skins)

- 1/2 a large clove of garlic

- juice of half lemon

- juice of half a lime 

- 1/2 a fresh chilli

- a handful of fresh coriander (stalks included)

- a good glug of olive oil

- pepper

1. Place all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blitz for a few minutes.

2. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more olive oil or lemon juice.

3. Sprinkle with flaked almonds, linseeds or poppy seeds to make it look pretty and serve how you wish. I'd like to try this smothered on pumpernickle bread and topped with smoked salmon.

My New Granola Recipe - How to Make, Store and Use it!

It's so satisfying making your own granola, and of course, much healthier! Even brands like Dorset Cereals pack their cereal and granola with added sugar (often 15%), and they cost a fortune for what is essentially: oats, seeds, nuts and dried fruit. Once you've made your own, you won't want it any other way. If you're a foodie, you should find all the ingredients in your cupboard, and if not, try and be creative.

Ingredients (makes about 750g)

- 300g plain oats

- 50g quinoa (optional)

- 100g pumpkin seeds

- 170g mixed whole nuts

- 25g sunflower seeds

- 2 tbsp sesame seeds

- 2 tbsp linseeds

- 175g maple syrup

- 2 tbsp honey (optional)

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or 1 tsp if you love cinnamon)

1. Turn the oven to 150°c. Start by mixing all the ingredients together in a large bowl. 

2. Once everything is combined, divide the mixture in two. Place half onto a big baking tray and into the oven for 40-60 minutes.

3. With the other half of the mixture, you can be a bit inventive. I added 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/2 tsp ground ginger. Another alternative is to add vanilla extract or almond extract.

4. Pour the mixture onto another baking tray and put it in the oven. Cook both batches of granola for roughly 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and crunchy. After removing the trays from the oven, bunch the mixture together and leave them to cool thoroughly (uncovered for at least a few hours). This will help create clusters. 

This granola should keep fresh for a month or so in an air-tight container, but no doubt it'll be eaten up quickly! Add some raisins, banana chips or dried fruit to jazz it up, or layer it with desiccated coconut.

3 quick ways to use it:

     With milk or yoghurt for breakfast.

Layered up with yoghurt and fruit as breakfast or pudding.

Sprinkled on top of a delicious salad. 

Or as a light snack...