Creamy Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup with Red Thai Spices

'Red Curry' is a Thai dish that usually consists of spices (red curry) cooked in coconut milk with the

addition of meat, fish or tofu and occasionally vegetables like squash.

Red curry paste is made by crushing a long list of spices and herbs (get the list here!) using a pestle and mortar. 

Because the list of ingredients is so extensive, there is little to be gained by going through the whole expense and effort of making it fresh at home, especially when there are so many excellent branded products on the market! 

You can buy tins or jars of paste if you use it regularly but for occasional use you can buy sachets or teeny tubs for 1 or 2 uses.

Thai red spices lend themselves to more than just the likes of a chicken or vegetable curry, and I have experimented and discovered new and very tasty uses!

A thing of beauty is......a home made pizza!

I love a good pizza, but it is one of those extremely addictive foods that should be eaten in extreme moderation! especially when store or restaurant bought, because honestly, you really have no idea what went into it! From processed plastic cheese toppings to doughy bases made with flour so refined there's little nutrition remaining, to sauces and meats that are loaded with salts sugars, additives and chemical coloring's.

So how do we make our beloved pizza more 'body' friendly so we can enjoy it more often.....the answer is to make your own, and making a home made pizza is as easy as pie......pizza pie!

Using a home made dough base topped with a tomato sauce of your own making, lots fresh vegetables and good quality cheese in sensible amounts of course, a pizza can be a complete and very nutritious meal!

The Rewards of Buying Local......A Delicious Lunch for Two!

 It is especially important at this time of year when the post Christmas slump is upon us that we make it our business to get out and support our artisan producers at the local farmers market. You will be surprised at the range of local produce that is available even in the depths of winter! when you may think that little is growing, and we should by rights encourage and support these people and commend them for the hours they put in standing about in the cold plying their lovingly handmade wares!

I have the convenience of having two artisan markets nearby, one is literally only a ten minute walk from my home at Harry's Restaurant in Bridgend county Donegal, the other is a short drive away, Letterkenny Artisan Market in Letterkenny also in county Donegal, both are held weekly on a Saturday......get their early!

(There is also the Walled City Market in Derry on the Guildhall square held on the first Saturday of every month beginning on the first Saturday in February)

My market trip was a bit later this morning as I had to work, so it was almost one by the time I got to Harry's. Their fishmonger in residence with the latest fresh catch from Greencastle, had only a few items left.......some delicious mussels, monk-fish, a little squid and some haddock and cod.....I opted for some naturally smoked cod which will find it's way onto our dinner plates tonight!
see recipe HERE!

Positively Porridge

When I think about porridge, three things come to mind........that hilarious comedy set in a prison with the fabulous Ronnie Barker and the wonderful, taken too soon from this world, Richard Beckinsale.......the second is 'Oliver Twist'....that poor downtrodden child suffering under enforced enslavement in a work house and fed on nothing but gruel......I'm not really sure what gruel is but it looked just like porridge made with dirty water to me....all grey and lumpy and definitely not appetizing, you would wonder how anyone survived at all!...and the third would be...BREAKFAST!

I was never really a fan of porridge, and when I talk about porridge I mean porridge made from oatmeal, but as I have matured in years my tastes have matured and now it is one of my favourite breakfasts!

Apart from being delicious, when made correctly, eating porridge is one of the healthiest and most nutritious ways to begin your day. It is full of fibre and complex carbohydrates that absorb slowly during digestion keeping you fuller for longer and preventing an attack of the mid-morning munchies!

Many view porridge as a very difficult thing to cook when in actual fact it is one of the simplest! 

When it comes to cooking porridge my mantra is......'LOW & SLOW'..... people seem to want to boil it to death and if you're making it with milk you risk burnt porridge, and believe me there is nothing worse in the world or more disgusting in flavour than burnt porridge!

A Cheesy New Year Achievment

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a cheese fanatic. I could never have too much of the stuff and would quite happily eat it at every meal, if not every day, which I nearly do!
I enjoy my cheese any way, from hard mature, to smelly blue, to camembert soft, to smoked or aged, from creamy to cottage, or ricotta to mascarpone, I love it in all it's forms, that is except for the hideous mass produced 'plastic fantastic' that is foisted on an uneducated consumer and dares to call itself 'cheese'! and anyone who has ever tasted a true cheese made with love and care in the artisan fashion could not possibly tolerate such travesties!

I have always toyed with the idea of making my own cheese at home. Sadly in the past, time never gave me the opportunity, but for this new year I decided that it was something I should make a serious attempt to achieve!

After doing much research online, reading various articles and excerpts from my myriad of cheese books, and watching YouTube videos, there is a great one here.... click here for Alison Brien's fun and informative cheesy channel!
I came to my first cheese making attempt via a recipe from....would you believe it.....a Hare Krishna cookery book! Yes, it's true, no word of a lie!
It never ceases to amaze me where the inspiration for my next recipe can come from, but there you go, the Hare Krishna's have got it going on when it comes to making a quick soft cheese at home!

'Creole Style' Crab, Prawn & Avocado Bake

Avocado and shellfish are one of those matches made in heaven, and no matter how 1970's you think the combination of these two is, the plain fact of the matter is, they are delicious when eaten together especially with a good dollop of marie-rose sauce on top!

In staying with my Spice themed month, Creole cooking is all about the heat of spice.
This style of cooking originated in the southern American state of Louisiana and is influenced by the cultures of Spain and France. Louisiana is one of the states that encircle the Gulf of Mexico whose warm waters supply an abundance of seafood.

Spelt-acular Sexy Pancakes!

Spelt is one of the new super-foods when in reality it's as old as Methuselah! It is one of the oldest cultivated grains tracing is roots back more than 6,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia.
Spelt has many nutritional and digestive properties which if you're really interested in you can research HERE!  But for now I'll just tell you that it is one of the most easily digested grains....spelt and our human systems were MFEO! made for each other!

The grain is easily digested, more so than our everyday wheat flours, has anti-inflammatory qualities and tastes simply delicious with its sweet nutty flavour.

As we are a household of pancake lovers I am always on the look out for new and healthier ways to indulge our passion, and ways that are not syrup or sugar laden. Having tried spelt as a bread I decided to give it a go as pancakes with delicious results! These pancakes are light and wholesome with a range of healthy ingredients so feel free to spoil yourself......just add fruit!

Speltacular! Breakfast Pancakes

you will need: to make 8-12 pancakes depending on how big you like them!

200 g organic spelt wholemeal flour

pinch salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 medium eggs

125 g natural yogurt

3 tablespoons honey

100 mls soy or almond or coconut milk

1 tablespoon olive oil...not extra virgin!

how to:

• in a large bowl beat the eggs well then whisk in the yogurt and honey
• add the baking powder and salt to the spelt flour and mix well
• slowly add the spelt to the egg mixture stirring gently until all the flour is incorporated
• add the olive oil
• add the milk....add more if you want a thinner crepe-like pancake, add less if you want a thick pancake
• cook your pancakes on a non stick griddle

You can serve these straight away but they also keep really well if you want to make a big batch to enjoy as a snack or for another breakfast.

Like any other pancake these spelt pancakes can be enjoyed with that old faithful, maple syrup and are deliciously decadent with that well known chocolate hazelnut spread! but we try to be 'good' and eat them with some fresh fruit to start the day off correctly....enjoy with some sliced banana, a compote of red fruits and a dollop of yogurt, or just on their own with a cup of green tea.

You can always add some fruit to the uncooked pancake mix, try adding some fresh blueberries...about 150g...or some dried cranberries, sultanas, raisins or prunes...about 100g..., either way make sure you enjoy them, breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all!

Treacly Chocolate Muffins

Following on from my previous post, I am still in 'recycle' mode and furiously using up the bits and pieces left from christmas and whatever happens to be lying around in the larder. Spring cleaning has come a tad early!

A fellow chef once said to me that I was the only person he had ever known that could make something out of nothing......he was too kind! but what he meant really was, he needed 4 desserts, 5 starters and vegetables for that nights menu, then he would point me in the direction of the storeroom and cold-room and tell me to just use whatever there was on hand and then I was to tell the other chefs what to do!

Sometimes the task would seem impossible especially near the end of the month when dry stock was running low, and I would be in a complete panic, but by conscientiously reading practically every new cook book that came on the market, and back in the late eighties and early nineties there weren't that many! and scouring the women's magazines in waiting rooms and food magazines while standing in the actual newsagents, I built up a store of ideas that could be dragged out and adapted when needed.
This same method applies to my cooking today, the knowledge is stored in my head or ideas are scribbled down and I have note books filled with lists, ideas for this and that, and recipes that have actually come to fruition. After many years in the kitchen you do get a sense of what flavours work well together and which ones simply just won't, not in a million years!

This next recipe came about while cleaning out my 'baking' cupboard. There were the makings of chocolate muffins but not enough sugar for the full recipe. Then I came across a tin of treacle kindly donated by my mother, and I began to think of sticky treacly chocolate gooeyness... hash-tag YUM!

Sugar and Spice.....makes all things nice! - fruity spice cupcakes

I have designated January as 'spice month', just for myself you understand, I don't know if anyone else will jump on my spice wagon!

Spices are wonderful and I am continually discovering the world of spices as more and more exotic varieties hit our market shelves and I bravely venture to adapt their use to my repertoire of dishes and even invent some new ones!

As Christmas is almost a distant memory I am slowly using up any bit and pieces that have lain undisturbed in the darkest recesses of my refrigerator, like the last remaining jar of spiced cranberry compote (see recipe HERE) and some ginger preserve.  I also discovered a couple of bananas in the fruit bowl that are practically beyond ripeness! My kids do love their fruit but seem to go through 'fruit fads' eating nothing but bananas or apples then looking for melon and melon and maybe even more melon while the bananas turn to mush.

Sometimes when you experiment with leftover bits and bobs it can be a disaster but then there are the times when you come up with something that is delish! and these spicy and fruity cupcakes are one of those times.
As these cupcakes are to be used in the kids lunch-boxes this coming week I have left them in the nude, frosting is just not practical when flung around in a tupperware box!

The Life-giving Variety of Spice

There is an old nursery rhyme....rub a dub dub, three men in a tub.....my version is rub a dub dub, six spices in the tub!

Spices do not necessarily mean palate destroying heat! spices can be about imparting new flavours in a mild or fierce-some way, whichever is your pleasure, but most of all they are about adding new and exciting flavour dimensions to otherwise simple and dare I say it 'bland' foods.


If you like many others at this time of year, are making strides towards changing your style of eating to a much healthier one, spices can be a life saver.

We know how healthful and nutritious a plain steamed piece of fish or chicken is for us, but after a while it will get boring and there's nothing like boredom to make your revert to old habits! Having a blend of spices mixed and on hand ready to go can jazz up many a piece of otherwise boring meat and this 6 spice blend can be used as a marinade, a rub or as a dusting to any meat or fish you have a mind to use it on!

Blend 1.....for a smoky, almost bar-be-que type flavour....good with pork, beef, lamb, fresh tuna, salmon or other oily fish

1 tablespoon garlic granules
2 tablespoons onion granules
1 level teaspoon sea salt
2 level teaspoons ground black pepper
3 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons chinese 5 spice


Blend 2......for a mild Asian flavour....good with chicken, veal, pork, white fish

1 tablespoon garlic granules
1 level teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon asafoetida powder
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne

you can add 1 teaspoon of chilli powder to either of these blends if you want heat!

Mix the spices together in a bowl then store in a jar with a screw top lid, it's a good idea to label and date your spice blends for future reference!
You can rub the spices all over a piece of meat and let it marinade overnight or in the freezer, you can dust a piece of chicken or fish just before grilling or baking in the oven, or you can even add the spices to some olive or peanut oil with additional herbs and then add meat or chicken pieces for a stir fry.

As my American roots veer more towards the northern states you are more likely to find 'Yankee Pot Roast' on the menu when it comes to 'down home cookin'  but click HERE! for my take on a deep south staple using spice blends......pulled pork!

A Weighty Issue

'Diets' are boring! Even the word 'diet' itself is surrounded by negativity and we humans seem to be psychologically geared to have a negative reaction any time the word is uttered!

We perceive a period of 'dieting' as a time of misery and self denial which for the majority will result in nothing but failure and a return to former habits....... a vicious circle of self loathing and yo-yoing ensues and we end up putting those excess pounds back on and then some!

Every 'new year' we are bombarded with ads for this slimming club, that new weight management programme, gym memberships discounts here and 'boot camps' there, and of course the television is riddled with plenty of 'famous' people who can tell us where it all went wrong....but don't ask them about the liposuction, the tummy tuck or butt lift they had, or the personal chef, trainer and nutritionist who makes sure they never even have to think about their next meal never mind shop for it or cook it!......and don't forget to buy the book or the workout dvd....of course!.....but never mind, by the time Easter and the annual festival of chocolate worship comes around all will be forgotten, but according to media sources, by the 17th of January most people will have lost the will to continue anyway as normal life takes over once more and we revert to 'business as usual'.

Happy New Year!

I am on the road to recovery after a prolonged and extremely annoying chest infection that sapped me of all energy and occasionally the will to live!
Last evening was the first time since christmas eve that I could truly motivate myself to cooking, so that gives you some idea of how sick I have been!

For my return to the kitchen I rustled up that much love family favourite and mainstay, vegetable soup. After the carcass from the christmas day turkey had been denuded by the family vultures, I sent it to sleep in the freezer until needed. Having always on hand a variety of vegetables and pulses required for making different soups, I was able to rustle up said vegetable soup with minimal effort and maximum flavour!

Storing carcasses from roasted fowl joints in the freezer is a great idea, you may not always have the time to make and freeze a stock the day you roast your bird but it's so easy to just make a soup base using a carcass straight from the freezer......just add the frozen bones and vegetables to the pot, add cold water and bring to the boil then leave the stock to simmer in the usual way....easy peasy!

click HERE! for the full vegetable soup recipe and making the stock

I am so looking forward to getting back into the cooking swing of things as I got a new camera for christmas and can't wait to play about with some seductive food photography, until then you can follow me on twitter, facebook and I'm now on pinterest too!