Lemon Honey Popcorn

Ingredients:

Popcorn
1 tbsp olive oil
3-4 drops of Young Living Lemon essential oil (can also use lime or orange)
1 tsp runny honey

Method:

1. Heat the oil gently in the bottom of a pan (must be a pan with a lid). Once the bottom of the pan is covered with oil, put enough popcorn in to cover the bottom of the pan & place the lid on the pan.
2. Watch and wait until the corn begins popping & once it has finished turn the heat off & place in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix the oil with the honey on a teaspoon and mix through the popcorn until evenly coated.

Great to eat with a good film!

NB I use Young Living Essential Oil due to it's known high quality grade & assurance that it is 100% pure essential oil, so completely safe to ingest. Other oils may not be safe to ingest.

Mint, Pea & Halloumi Pearl Barley Stew

I love pearl barley and did you know it's just as good for you as the "superfoods" grain quinao, the difference is usually in the price! Pearl barley is really cheap to buy and is great to use in soups & stews and also as a replacement for risotto rice.

Ingredients:

2 small/medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
olive oil
2 lemons, zested & juiced
200g pearl barley, rinsed
700ml vegetable stock (made with 2 OXO cubes)
250g halloumi, sliced
small handful of fresh mint, chopped
black pepper
400g frozen peas

Method:

1. Heat a tbsp oil in a pan, fry the onions for a few minutes.
2. Add the garlic and lemon zest and fry for another minute.
3. Add the pearl barley and the stock, bringing the pan to simmer with a lid on.
4. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.
5. Whilst the pearl barley is cooking, marinade the halloumi in the lemon juice, chopped mint, black pepper and tbsp olive oil.
6. After 30 mins remove the lid of the pan and add the frozen peas and the marinade from the halloumi, allow to simmer for another 5 mins.
7. Whilst the peas are cooking, heat some oil in a frying pan and brown both sides of the sliced halloumi. 
8. Serve the pearl barley stew in a bowl with the halloumi slices on top.

DELICIOUS!

Scotch pancakes

Ingredients:

135g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp caster sugar

130ml milk

1 egg

2 tbsp olive oil

Butter for frying

Method:

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients. 
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients & whisk together until there are no lumps. 
4. Heat frying pan to medium heat & add knob of butter.
5. Place a tbsp of the mix into the pan, which will make one pancake & depending on the size of the pan you may be able to cook a few pancakes at once.
6. Once bubbles appear on the top of the pancake, flip them over & brown nicely on both sides.

Serve with lemon & sugar or maple syrup.

PACMAN Birthday!

For my husband's birthday & with very little time this year I had the challenge of making a cake with a computer game theme. My husband loves his space games especially Elite Dangerous, so an easy but retro idea came to mind....

Out Of This World @ 30

It's my husband's 30th birthday so I have been creating cake!

It's a lemon curd cake with lemon buttercream icing....scrummy.

Here's a close up of the sugar crafted rocket :)

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

The Pre-baked Lemon Meringue Pie

Base:

75g butter

175g digestive biscuits

25g Demerara sugar

Filling:

190g caster sugar

2 lemons, zest and juice

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp cornflour, dissolved in a little milk

175ml boiling water

Topping:

2 egg whites

pinch of salt

80g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150C/Gas Mark 2.
2. Crush the biscuits finely (the easiest way of doing this is putting them in a plastic bag & use a rolling pin) and mix in the sugar.
3. Melt the butter and add the biscuits.
4. Press the biscuits into the bottom and up the sides of a pie dish.
5. Place in the fridge to firm until it's required to add the filling.
6. Place the sugar, lemon zest and juice in a pan.
7. Whisk together the egg yolk and cornflour and add to the pan with the boiling water.
8. Simmer over a low heat, stirring constantly until it has thickened.
9. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
10. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, continue whisking and add the salt and caster sugar tablespoon by tablespoon.
11. Place the filling on the biscuit base, top with meringue and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the meringue is a light golden brown.

Serve with cream or ice cream either warm or cold.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Cakes:

115g butter

200g caster sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

190g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

120ml milk

zest and juice of 2 lemons

Meringue topping:

3 egg whites

2 tsp cornflour

110g caster sugar

Method:

Cupcakes ready to go in the oven

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 or 180C.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla essence until smooth.
4. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt, mix until smooth.
5. Add the milk and lemon zest and juice, mix again until smooth.
6. Fill cupcake cases with the mixture and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden.
7. Allow to cool.
8. Whisk egg whites until stiff.
9. Add half of the sugar and whisk until glossy.
10. Fold in the rest of the sugar and corn flour.
11. Dollop the meringue mix on top of the cooled cupcakes and place back in the oven at Gas Mark 1 or 100C for 30-45 minutes and the meringues are crisp and golden brown.