Beef and Broccoli

Guess what world?! Georgie's got a new camera lens! After our last flat ruined two lenses with it's evil damp mould, I'd been sans lens and unable to use my 450D for nearly an entire year. But then this beautiful Canon 50mm came into my life and I'm once again a happy snappy bear! 

Here's my recipe for simple, quick and healthy Beef and Broccoli!

Clean Eating Beef and Broccoli

Serves One

Ingredients

1 Rump Steak (around 150g), sliced into strips

1 Brocolli head - roughly chopped into florets

1 diced Red Pepper

1/2 diced Onion

1 thinly sliced clove of Garlic

1 inch of roughly chopped Ginger

1 tsp Honey

2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tsp Coconut Oil (or olive/rapeseed oil)

Salt and Pepper to season

Method

Heat the oil in a large shallow pan.

Add the onions, broccoli and pepper, and saute until softened. 

Add the garlic and ginger, and continue to cook until golden brown.

Mix your honey and soy sauce together and add to the pan along with your beef strips.

Fry on a high heat for two minutes until the beef has browned and your soy/honey mix has coated everything. 

Add salt and pepper to taste and a sprinkle of fresh chilli if you're feeling adventurous (just don't touch your boyfriends face afterwards - oops).

Red Thai Coconut Curry

Looking for a quick, healthy and protein packed meal for one? Look no further than my Red Thai Coconut Curry - super quick, easy and delicious!

You will need: 
- Chunks of Chicken (as many as you fancy eating but I recommend 200g)
- Red Thai Curry Paste
- 1/2 tbsp Coconut Oil or alternative cooking oil
- 1/2 tin Coconut Milk
- Vegetables of your choice

Get your super awesome coconut oil (if you haven't heard about how brilliant it is - check out Lauren Conrad's roundup here), put half a tablespoon in a pan and heat until melted.

Add your chicken chunks and fry until lightly brown.

Take your Thai Red Curry Paste - I used one that was brought back for me from Thailand by my Aunt. But any supermarket red curry paste will do - you can even swap it for green curry paste! 

Add your curry paste and a splash of water to help break the paste down. Fry for a couple of minutes to release the flavours.

Add half a can of coconut milk (don't forget to shake the can first) and your chosen vegetables - I used green beans and tenderstem brocolli to add crunch. Let it simmer until you have a rich and thick sauce (around 15 minutes).

Serve and enjoy!

Easy Weeknight Puttanesca

Is anyone else still feeling a little bit lazy post Christmas and wishing they'd done a little more lying around and a little less doing "stuff"? The return to work has definitely been a shock to the system for me and I'm lacking any kind of energy in the evening to cook. 

The temptation to order pizza is growing greater but with this date night standard pasta recipe, you'll be glad that you got.off the sofa. Plus you won't have those greasy cardboard boxes to deal with.

Fresh Pasta with Puttanesca Sauce

This recipe is sans olives. I would recommend including a handful of chopped black olives at the end.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
Fresh Pasta (type and amount is to your discretion)
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
5 fresh Plum Tomatoes, chopped into chunks
1 tin of Plum Tomatoes
100ml Red Wine (I recommend a Sangiovese)
5 tinned Anchovies, finely chopped
1tbsp Capers, finely chopped
1 Shallot, finely chopped
A Hunk of Butter
1tsp Dried Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Heat a saucepan, add your hunk of butter, crushed garlic, anchovies, capers and oregano. Stir for a few minutes until the mixture gains colour.

Add your shallots and fresh tomato and turn down the heat. You want to sweat these until soft in the already fragrant mixture.

When the shallots and tomatoes have softened, add the red wine and increase the heat. You want to boil off the alcohol content aggressively for a minute or so.

Now add your tin of Plum tomatoes and simmer for ten minutes until you've got a luscious, thick ragu-like sauce. Add any salt and pepper at the end of the cooking process.

I served mine with a fresh garden salad (dressed with olive oil), garlic ciabatta.... and the rest of that Sangiovese!

A Winter Salad

Let's face it, we've all over indulged during the Christmas period. The warm fuzzy feeling has worn off and we're all left feeling a little regretful and wobbly. Or is it just me? But winter doesn't have to mean stews and roast dinners, there are some beautiful vegetables in season and it's time we remembered them.

Winter Beetroot Salad with a Wholegrain Mustard Dressing and Fresh Spinach

Serves 2

3 Different Beetroot varieties (try to get hold of a Golden Beetroot for its delicate sweetness)

1 Small Packet of Fresh Baby Spinach

1 Small Red Onion

1 tbsp Whole Grain Mustard

1 Garlic Clove, thinly sliced

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp Cider Vinegar

Method

Roast your beetroots and red onion in the oven for 1 hour at 160C.

Let them cool slightly before thinly slicing your beetroots and red onion. 

Mix together in a bowl with the baby spinach.

In a jug or small container, mix your mustard, garlic, cider vinegar. 

Slowly add the olive oil, whilst whisking the mixture.

Pour over your salad and use tongs (or your well washed hands!) to ensure the dressing covers every little leaf.

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans with Colcannon

For a few months now, we've been getting a weekly mini veg box from Riverford Farm. It's something we've always considered, but they managed to get Rob to sign up on a door to door visit and it's completely changed the way we're eating. Each box delivery is an exciting event as I never know what's coming (although I could look online but that would be cheating). They also gave us a fantastically thick Riverford cookbook for all our vegetable using needs. We've had to be a lot more creative in our food and generally only need to buy some meat if necessary for our dish. So here is a recipe for a veggie filled delight, plus a naughty bit of bacon.

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans with Colcannon

Serves One

Ingredients

Fresh Green Beans

4 Rashers of Bacon/Pancetta (preferably streaky smoked bacon)

Two Medium Potatoes

A Handful of Cabbage/Kale or another Leafy Green

Butter for Mashing

Salt and Pepper

Gravy to Serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Prepare your green beans by washing, trimming the tops and bottoms and then separate into two piles.

Wrap each pile with two rashers of bacon and season with salt and pepper.

Place into a small baking dish with a drizzle of olive oil and place into the oven for 25 minutes (or until the bacon is as crispy as you prefer)

Boil your potatoes until soft. I like to keep the skins on for extra nutrients but you can peel them before boiling if you prefer. 

Wash and slice your cabbage or other leafy green into strips.

Once your potatoes are soft, drain them and mash with a knob of butter. You can also add a bit of cream here if you'd like for an extra touch of luxury.

Add your greens to the mash and stir through. 

Transfer your mash/greens mixture to a hot, well oiled or buttered frying pan and saute for 2 minutes to ensure you've got a few extra crispy bits.

Serve your parcels with the mash and a nice helping of gravy.

Lancashire Hot Pot

The lack of warm weather (is it June already?), is really starting to get to me. When the sun does come out, it's generally accompanied by a bitter wind and my summer clothes are still safely packed up in the top of my wardrobe. Although Lancashire Hot Pot is the perfect meal for cold, winter nights, I think this year's "summer" allows us to extend the cosy menu for a little bit longer.

Lancashire Hot Pot is both one of mine and Rob's favourite dishes. It is the easiest dinner to cook and tastes fantastic. We've both explored different recipes for this classic and between us have come up with our ideal version. With about 10 minutes of prep, plus an hour and a half in the oven. You can put your feet up and turn the TV on whilst you wait for the oven to work its magic.

Lancashire Hot Pot

Serves 2

Ingredients

400g Lamb Neck Fillet

1 Large White Onion

2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme

1 Large Baking Potato

250ml Lamb Stock (preferably homemade)

Salt and Pepper

20g Butter

Method

Preheat your oven (non fan) to 180C.

Chop your lamb neck into generous chunks and season with salt and pepper. 

Finely slice your white onion.

Mix the lamb and the onion together and put into a deep casserole dish.

Place your fresh thyme on the top of the mixture.

Using a mandoline (or your awesome knife skills), slice your potato width ways as thinly as possible.

Make up your stock and pour over the filling until it just reaches the top of the lamb. It's best to err on the side of caution with the stock as you don't want your pot to be too watery. Don't worry if you have some left over. We used a homemade lamb stock (made up from lamb carcass, carrots, onions, butter and herbs), but a stock cube or stock pot would also be fine.

Lay your potatoes on the top. Slightly overlap them so you're covering the entire dish.

Sprinkle some black pepper over the top and dot bits of butter onto the potatoes.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. If the top is becoming too crispy, cover it with a lid or tin foil.

Wilcox Wedding Cakes

On a side note: Puddings and Pies is now on Facebook! Please take a moment to like this page here.

Last month I undertook my first ever wedding order. 60 cupcakes, half of which were to be vegan, alongside appropriate decoration and cake toppers.

We opted for Stem Ginger cakes with Lemon and Honey Buttercream and Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream and a Fresh Raspberry Center.

I will be posting the recipes for these later on, but for now let me just leave you with some pictures of the display.

I'm available for any function or party, just send me an email at georgie.wishart@gmail.com

Chilli Chicken Ramen

Every once in a while I get a massive craving for Wagamamas. There's something about their chilli beef ramen that I go mad for. But the prices are something I'm not so keen on. I'd been feeling a little run down, so I decided that a home version of Wagamama's Chilli Chicken Ramen was the answer. I loved it so much that I ate it for three meals in a row. This is a really quick and easy version to do at home but probably not the most authentic.

Chilli Chicken Ramen

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Chicken Thighs

Chicken Marinade: 2 tbsp Five Spice, 2 tbsp soy sauce and a pinch of salt

Ramen Noodles (or Soba if you want a healthy alternative)

1 packet of mixed vegetable stirfry (must include beansprouts!)

Broth: 1 tsp Five Spice, 1 tsp Oregano, 1 tsp crushed black peppercorns, 2tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 2 fresh red chillis that have been ground into a paste, chicken stock, 500ml water.

Garnishes: Fresh coriander, 4 fresh red chillis, 4 spring onions, 1 red onion, half a fresh lime.

Method

Mix together your marinade ingredients and smother over the chicken thighs. Cover and leave in the fridge for a minimum of one hour.

Chop your fresh garnishes so that they are ready for distribution!

In a small ramekin, mix the dry ingredients for the broth.

Put the chicken thighs in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove the bones and place them in a large pot.

Add the dry ingredients of the broth to the pot, along with the stock and the water. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Slice the chicken into pieces, removing any skin that remains. 

Remove the chicken bones from the broth and discard.

Add the noodles, the stir fry veggies and the chicken to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Dish up into big bowls and garnish with coriander, fresh chili, spring onion, red onion and a squeeze of lime juice.

Rioja Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Chorizo

There's nothing like rich and indulgent comfort food in the winter. Especially when it involves very minimal effort. It may also surprise you to discover that I've never had a lamb shank! I originally though that they were excruciatingly expensive, but these shoulder shanks were very affordable and were bought from the Waitrose meat counter. A perfect treat for a weekend dinner. This recipes comes from Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy. 

Rioja Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Chorizo

Serves 2

   Ingredients

• 2 lamb shanks
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• oil, for frying
• 350ml/12fl oz Rioja or 350ml/12fl oz good-quality beef stock
• 100ml/9fl oz balsamic vingear
• 1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
• 2 bay leaves
• 1–2 tsp paprika
• handful black peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 300ml/10fl oz beef stock
• 125g/4oz chorizo
• 1 large red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped

    

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 3

Season the lamb well with salt and pepper. Drizzle oil into a heavy-based pan set on a high heat.

Brown the lamb shanks all over and remove from the pan.

Add the wine and balsamic to the pan and boil for five minutes. Put the lamb shanks back into the pan along with the garlic, bay leaves, paprika, peppercorns, half the rosemary and the stock.

Once boiling, place the dish into the oven and cook for two hours. This can be elongated by turning the heat down if that's more convenient for your schedule.

Remove the dish from the oven and add the chorizo, onion, carrot and remaining rosemary, then return to the oven and cook for another hour. You want to make sure that the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

Remove the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Place the pot onto a high heat and boil for 8-10 minutes, or until thickened slightly.

Serve the meat and vegetables with lashings of sauce and a side dish. I chose to do mashed carrot and swede, but you could use spring greens or creamy mashed potato.

Dorset Apple Cake with a Plum Jam Glaze

I found out at an early age that my name, Georgina, means 'girl of the farm'. I also come from Dorset. This means that I occasionally get teased about my southern, farmer nature. When I find my farmer-esque accent slipping in to my daily speech, I panic and run and hide from my heritage. But today I'm celebrating Dorset! It's a beautiful county with so many things going for it. One of which is the Dorset Apple Cake. 

My dad and his girlfriend have an apple tree in their garden and recently gave me a large bag of apples to use up. What better way then to stick them all in a cake? Then eat the cake. The glaze is another creation of leftovers, as I had some leftover cider from my cassoulet and half a jar of plum jam looking a bit lonely in the fridge.

Dorset Apple Cake with a Plum Jam Glaze

Recipe adapted from Delicious Magazine 

This is a great cake to be eaten while it's still warm, so don't wait to tuck in!

Ingredients

For the cake:

225g butter, softened

450g apples

1 lemon - zest and juice

225g caster sugar

3 large eggs

225g self-raising flour

2tsp baking powder

25g ground almonds

Demerara sugar for topping

For the Glaze

3 tbsp Plum Jam

50ml Dry Cider (Optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Grease a springform cake tin and line with baking paper.

Peel, core and cut the apples into small pieces and toss with the lemon juice.

Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a bowl until fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, adding a little flour with each addition to keep the mixture smooth.

Sift the remaining flour and the baking powder into the bowl and fold in with the ground almonds.

Drain the apple pieces well and then stir into the mixture.

Pour into the cake tin and level the mixture.

Cover the top with demerara sugar.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until well-risen and brown. To test, poke a skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean then it's ready! If the cake is browning too much, make it a hat out of baking paper to protect the top.

Whilst the cake is cooking, melt the jam and cider together in a small saucepan. Leave this to cool and  set.
Once the cake is out, leave it to cool in the tin for ten minutes.

Remove the cake from it's tin and pop onto a plate. Use a pasty brush to cover in the jam glaze.

French Classics: Cassoulet

I am very sorry France. I'm sorry because I'm going to attempt to cook a classic in my own style - Cassoulet. Everyone knows you don't mess with the original. Well that's boring. I want to do this Georgie-style. For anyone who doesn't know, a cassoulet is a dish mainly comprising of beans, toulouse sausage and duck. It originated in the south of France and is a slow cooked dish. In order to create my own (slightly budget) version, I researched a large variety of different cassoulet recipes and they all have their own method and use different ingredients. 

Georgie Porgie's Cassoulet

To Serve 2

Ingredients

6 Toulouse sausages (or sausages that include herbs, wine and garlic)

1 can Cannellini Beans

Fresh Parsley

1 White Onion, diced

1 Large Tomato, diced

1 500ml bottle of Dry Cider

1 handful of Bacon Lardons or Pancetta

1 tbsp Duck Fat

1 clove garlic

1 sprig of fresh Thyme

Method

Heat the duck fat in a large, heavy bottomed pan (a large Le Creuset style casserole dish would be ideal).

Add the sausages and bacon and cook until browned. Remove from the pan.

Add the onions and cook gently in the duck/sausage/bacon fat until lightly browned.

Add half of the cider and scrape any tasty residue off the bottom of the pan.

Add the beans, garlic, thyme and tomato and cook gently for ten minutes. 

Cut the sausages into bite size pieces and then add back to the pan with the bacon.

Chop a small amount of parsley and add this to the pan also. Season to taste.

Top up with cider until it just covers the ingredients. 

Place a lid on the dish and cook for half an hour.

Remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes, letting the liquid reduce until you have a nice thick sauce. 

Chop some fresh parsley for garnish, spoon the cassoulet into a bowl and serve.

Venison with Fondant Potatoes, Chard and a Red Wine and Blackberry Jus.

This is a great, easy weekend dinner. Venison is a pricey meat but it's worth it for a once in a while treat. Perfect with a tangy, berry sauce, some fresh spring greens and potatoes. This sauce was created using freshly foraged blackberries from Richmond Park.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 Venison steaks
• 2 Large Desiree or King Edward Potatoes
• 250g Butter
• 1 Fresh Sprig of Thyme 
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Shallot
• 400ml beef stock
• 200ml red wine
• 1 tsp redcurrant jelly 
• 50g blackberries
• 4 Stalks of Chard

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Add the red wine, half the beef stock, shallot, redcurrant jelly and blackberries into a pan. Reduce slowly until it's a luscious, thick sauce. Put to one side.

Peel your potatoes and cut the ends off. Cut in half width ways so they are flat ended tubes. 

Melt 150g butter with a splash of oil in a pan. When the pan is very hot, add your potatoes and brown the ends. This should take about 5-6 minutes. Add the thyme, garlic and the other half of the beef stock. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Melt the rest of the butter into a new pan. Make sure it's not too hot. Add your venison steaks and sear on either side. Cook the steaks on a low-medium heat for 12 minutes to achieve an medium/rare consistency. Keep coating the steaks in the melted butter to keep them moist. 

About 2 minutes before your steaks are cooked, cook your chard in boiling water for a few minutes. 

Plate the greens and potatoes, add the steak on top of your greens. Pour over your jus and enjoy.

August Foodie Pen Pals

I know, I know... It's September now isn't it? Autumn is looming eerily upon us, although it feels like we're still waiting for summer. But this post is better late than never! This month I received a parcel from Carl Legge of http://www.carllegge.com/ fame. He is a permaculturalist living on a peninsula in Northern Wales, so we are quite far removed from each other, but looking at his blog I was very excited to see what would arrive this month. I would thoroughly recommend his blog for reading! Unfortunately, we had some trouble with a certain courier (who I'm sure will never be trusted again!) who managed to damage the box and it ended up leaking. Part of me is still suspicious that "damaged" meant the delivery driver eating it's contents but we will never know.

Today my box arrived and a small crowd gathered at work to watch me open it. It was very clearly very well protected this time, as I pulled back the multiple layers of bubble wrap, feeling like a kid at Christmas. Carl's box was lovingly put together with a comprehensive letter of explanation, two recipes and everything labelled gorgeously. 

Drum roll please for the contents of my box...

First up we have fresh herbs from his garden! As lovely as our flat is, I do miss having a garden now and Carl has told me that an indoor herb garden may be possible - good news! So these were very well received. There's Chives, Flat leaf parsley, Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Rosemary, Prostrate Rosemary, Bay leaves and Oregano. I'm especially intrigued by the oregano, as I've never cooked with the fresh version before!

Three different types of garlic... Three. I nearly had an aneurysm. These are all homegrown by Carl. There's Early Purple Wight, Garlic Music and Chesnoil White. I am in garlic heaven. I've made three different garlic butters for Rob and myself to do a tasting with. We both favoured the Early Purple White variety as it seemed to have a more pungent flavour than the others. Vampires beware!

A bottle of homemade chilli oil. Everyone who had eaten my food knows that I get a bit enthusiastic with the chilli. I even put fresh chillis on my salads at lunch. Carl warned that this may be a little bit hot but I tried some straight away and it has a lovely kick to it! Not too hot for this daredevil however... He also included the recipe for this, so I will be making my own supply shortly.

Then came the Billy Bars... I will share with you what Carl had told me about their name as it's a great story... 

"The name of these spiced muesli bars is an old one with a family history.I wanted healthy but tasty bars for my young son which didn’t have the processed sugars and fats in of most commercial ones. So I invented my own. Now when my son was little (and even now) if he asked what something was called I would answer  William” as a joke. So when I was looking for a name for these bars, I chose the alliterative ‘Billy Bars’."

You can find the recipe for Billy Bars here: Billy Bar Recipe

I tucked into one of these immediately and shared it with a few colleagues. It was very well received! Tasty but without the guilt of having a donut or some other artery clogging treat.

Finally was a Soda Bread Mix. My experiments in baking bread have been less than successful in the past. Paul Hollywood I am not. But Carl assures me that I'll be fine with this one! It's a mix of wholemeal spelt flour and white tybalt flour from his favourite Welsh Water Mill, Felin Ganol, in Ceredigion. He has included a great recipe from Dan Lepard’s book Short & Sweet, which I will hopefully be trying this weekend! Please cross everything you can for me. 

Carl also included a beautiful egg candle made by Deb, which I have added to my already worryingly big collection of candles.

I've been very lucky to have such great foodie pen pals so far, and am already planning for the next swap. If you love food, this is a great project to get involved in and you don't need to have a blog to be a pen pal! The Europe branch is up to 200 members and growing, so I implore you to "get involved". Think of all the tasty food you could be receiving every month!

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers... the kind of thing your vegetarian hippy mum used to try and force you to eat. They'd be full of things like brown, overcooked rice and lentils and barley and children's fingernails and death.

NO LONGER. I make a half arsed effort to be healthy and eat nutritious meals, but sometimes the urge for meat and cheese becomes so overwhelming that I walk into Waitrose and inhale everything with a saturated fat rating of 10g or over. This recipe is a relationship. It is built on compromise and trust. Healthy enough for you to feel smug but also enough tasty components to comfort any cravings for fatty food that you may have.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

To Serve Two

• 2 large peppers
• 1 can of refried beans
• Half a mug of uncooked rice (I used a mixture of Long Grain and Wild Rice)
• 2 large tomatoes
• A Handful of fresh chillis 
• 1 onion
• Tomato Puree
• White Wine Vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic
• Fresh lime for squeezing
• Cumin Seeds
• Ground Coriander
• Fresh Thyme
• Paprika
• A cheese of your choice (I used Halloumi)

Directions

First of all, preheat your oven to around 200C. 

Cook your rice and put to one side.

Chop your tomatoes and chillis into sizeable chunks and place on a baking tray. 

Take your cloves of garlic and crush them with the flat of your knife so that they split open - no need to peel them! Add these to the baking tray.

Roast these in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, or until they start to blacken. Don't turn the oven off once they're done.

When done, take these out and whizz in a food processor until they form a 'salsaeque' consistency. Put to one side.

Chop your onion finely and sautee in a lightly oiled frying pan at a medium heat. 

Once the onion is soft and translucent, add all of your spices plus some salt and pepper for extra seasoning. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add your 'salsa', along with 1tbsp of tomato puree, a squeeze of lime juice and a splash of white wine vinegar.

Ensure the ingredients are fully combined and cook for a couple of minutes. Take off the heat.

Get a large bowl and empty your refried beans into it. Add your rice and the salsa. Stir well until all the ingredients are well mixed.

Slice the top from your pepper and scrape out any remaining seeds. 

The easiest way for these to cook is to place them upright in a muffin tin. If not, you might want to cut your peppers in half so that you can lay them down on a baking tray. 

Fill your peppers with the mixture and top with your choice of cheese. 

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

Foodie Pen Pals: July Edition

"What's a foodie pen pal?" I hear you ask. It's a straightforward concept really. Every month you are assigned a foodie that you must send a package of tasty and delicious morsels to. This foodie could have their own food blog, or they might just enjoy reading other people's blogs whilst enjoying food themselves. On the 5th of the month you are sent a database containing all of the foodie penpal matches for that month. You are told the name of your recipient, their email and links to their blog and/or twitter account. Seeing the entire database, you can also look into who will be sending you a box this month. Once you've sent off the box you've painstakingly created, you can sit back and wait for your own to arrive. The idea is then to blog about your experience and the box that you received.

I was more than excited to discover this venture and within half an hour of uncovering the idea, I had joined and was anxiously awaiting my first match. My box this month is from Paula who writes All About the Bake (definitely check out her blog for some incredibly tasty looking treats and recipes!). We had a really lovely chat prior to the box creation and I discovered she used to live in my neighborhood back in the day. I love the family feel to her blog, as if I needed anything else to make me broody... But the pictures of her kids baking and enjoying life are no less than adorable. Her blog being entirely bake based meant that I was apprehensive to see whether Paula would share one of her creations with me.

I walked into the office, rather wearily, on Monday morning to discover an exciting parcel on my desk. I have to say that Paula's handwriting is absolutely gorgeous! It was the perfect Monday morning antidote and I was bouncing around with excitement for a good while. Here is my box for July:

Paula included a beautiful hand written letter explaining what she had included and why. Everything felt really personal, which I loved because it's always interesting and exciting to share your passions with others. 

The first thing I noticed was these bad boys. I am a huge Reece's Cups fan, although I don't like peanut butter without chocolate to accompany it. I'd seen Reese's Pieces before but had never tried them (I was always too distracted by the cups). Even though it was 9.10am, I am ashamed to say that I ripped these straight open and devoured each and every last one. They are like M&Ms but filled with peanut butter. I am in love. I am now inspired to make chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes and cover them with Reese's Pieces! It was a good start.

The next thing that I indulged in was a cup of Charbew Strawberry and Cream tea. I am a big herbal tea fan and who doesn't love strawberries and cream?! These smelt incredible and I even reused my first teabag twice because I didn't want to waste a single drop of it's delicate flavour. They even donate 25p to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, a cause which is close to my own heart. 

This little jar intrigued me. I was lucky that Paula had taken time to explain what it was because otherwise I would have been completely stumped. Soffritto paste is used as base for sauce, soups and stews and is a broken down mixture of carrots, onions and celery. It originated from Tuscany, Italy. It is not to be confused with the spanish 'Sofrito', a paste made from garlic, onion and tomatoes. Paula told me that she uses Soffritto as a base for risotto. Risotto is something I have yet to conquer, but last night I did and I will post the recipe in due course!

These little bastards (please excuse my French), have been distracting me from work all week. They are extremely moreish and addictive. Yesterday I went home with a dress covered in salt and nut residue. Generally I'm not a huge nut fan, but these are a revelation. I cannot stop eating them. They are comparable to popcorn kernels with a roasted, salty flavouring. The office has smelt of popcorn since Monday because of my new addiction. Mpphsff nurff srfffrrm (sorry, can't speak, eating more corn nuts).

Another item in my box was a Schwartz Grill Mates Mojito Lime Marinade mix. I, like any other modern girly girl, love my cocktails. Mojitos being one of the most summery, and summer is something we have definitely been lacking as of late. Unsure what use to put this to, I think I will wait until the next barbecue we have and create some chunky chicken kebabs with peppers and onions, maybe with a touch of fresh lime and chilli for a kick. 

Ah, the pièce de résistance of my box. The homemade Rosemary Loaf Cake. I am a big fan of fresh herbs and love our herb garden at home, as does Paula - well, not our herb garden... that would be a bit strange, I mean her own of course. With this cake, I was the most popular person in the office. I shared it with anyone I could think of, to spread the joy and tastyness throughout Barnes! It was incredibly light and floral for a loaf  cake, which meant I could eat lots of it without feeling too guilty for piling in the stodge. The sugar covered crust was so pleasurable to eat, that I pinched many of the crunchy parts before anyone could get a slice. I felt honoured that she had gone to so much effort - to make me a whole cake! If anything, you could really see the passion and love that had gone into it.

Finally, another personal touch from Paula, was the huge broad beans from her garden in Lancashire. My dream is to have a little cottage in the country (à la River Cottage) with a huge vegetable patch and orchards... and horses... and baby lambs... and lots of homemade pies. We used to grow runner beans when I was much younger, and so these really transported me back to happy childhood summers of picking them straight from the plant and crunching. That lunch, I used them to make myself a delicious lunch. So I shall leave you with a recipe:

Broad Bean, Beetroot, Pea and Ricotta Ciabatta

This was such a quick, simple and flavousome lunch and was a great way to feel indulgent whilst eating fresh veg at the same time.

Ingredients:

 -2 Slices of Ciabatta (toasted ideally)

- 1 Cooked Beetroot, diced

- A Handful of Broad Beans

- 2 Tbsp Fresh or Tinned Peas

- 1 Tbsp Ricotta

- 1 Clove of Garlic, finely chopped or crushed

- 1 Tsp Oregano

- A Squeeze of Lemon Juice

- Drizzle of Olive Oil

Directions:

• Toast your ciabatta if you can as it will help support the topping. I couldn't when making mine but it was still lovely to eat. Make sure it is cooled before moving on.
• In a small bowl, mix the ricotta with the oregano, lemon juice, garlic and seasoning.
• Spread the mixture evenly across your ciabatta.
• Sprinkle your broad beans, peas and beetroot across your slices.
• Season with some black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
• Enjoy!