Lentil & Cashew Nut Roast

Ingredients:

200g red lentils,
450ml vegetable stock,
1 bay leaf,
100g unsalted cashew nuts,
2 onions, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp lemon juice,
75g grated cheese,
100g breadcrumbs,
3 tbsps parsley,
1 egg

Method:

1. Add lentils, stock & bay leaf to a pan & bring to the boil. Cover & allow to simmer for 10-15 mins until the stock has been absorbed.
2. Toast cashew nuts in a dry frying pan for a few minutes & chop roughly.
3. Preheat oven to 190C.
4. Add some oil to frying pan & fry onions for a few minutes before adding, pepper, carrot, garlic and frying until soft.
5. Mix together in a large bowl the cooked lentils, fried vegetables & all the other ingredients.
6. Put into a greased loaf tin & cover with foil.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, remove foil & bake for a further 30 minutes.
8. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Serve with gravy, vegetables, potatoes as an alternative to meat for a Sunday roast.

Bakewell Tart

Ingredients:

250g puff pastry (shop bought or have a go at making your own HERE)

1 heaped tbsp raspberry, strawberry or cherry jam

125g butter

125g caster sugar

100g ground almonds

25g plain flour

1 egg, beaten

half a dozen glace cherries or almond slices for decorating

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Roll the pastry into a round to line your baking tin or flan dish (15-20cm in diameter is perfect). You will want to line the bottom & sides.
3. Place the pastry into the tin, pressing into & up the sides of the tin.
4. Place a piece of greaseproof paper onto the pastry & place your baking beans/weights on top (also know as baking blind).
5. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan.
7. Mix together the ground almonds, plain flour & caster sugar in a bowl. 
8. Add the butter & beaten egg & mix well.
9. Once your pastry base is removed from the oven, remove the greaseproof paper & baking beans, allow to cool for 5 minutes. 
10. Reduce the oven heat to 160C.
11. Add the filling & decorate the top with excess pastry, glace cherries & sliced almonds.
12. Bake in the oven until firm & golden brown, approx 45 minutes to an hour.

Healthy Fruity Breakfast Granola

Healthy Fruity Breakfast Granola

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

125ml maple syrup

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla essence

500g muesli base

200g seed mix (the bag I use is from Lidl & contains 55% sunflower seeds, 40% pumpkin seeds and 5% pine nuts)

100g cranberries

100g diced pineapple

100g diced papaya

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150C/Gas Mark 2.
2. Mix together in a bowl the vegetable oil, maple syrup, honey and vanilla essence.
3. Add 300g of the muesli base and the seed mix to the syrupy mix.
4. Spread over 2 baking trays and heat in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. Add the cranberries to the half baked trays of granola and mix in.
6. Heat for a further 15 minutes.
7. Allow to cool.
8. Scrap off into a large bowl and add the rest of the muesli base, papaya and pineapple.

Enjoy with cold milk on a lovely summers morning as a healthy breakfast.

Rocky Road Fudge

Condensed Milk

Ingredients:

400g dark/milk chocolate

400g can of condensed milk

30g butter

110g icing sugar

200g chopped glace cherries

150g mini marshmallows

Melt chocolate, butter and
condensed milk together in a pan

Method:

1. Break chocolate into pieces.
2. Melt chocolate, butter and condensed milk together over a low heat in a pan, stirring until smooth.
3. Add icing sugar, whilst stirring.
4. Add in the 2/3rds of the chopped cherries and mini marshmallows and mix in well.
5. Line a tin with greaseproof paper and press the mixture into it.
6. Scatter over the leftover marshmallows and cherries and press into the surface.
7. Leave in the fridge to cool and set for a few hours.
8. Slice into small pieces.

Suggestions:

Add biscuits pieces or nuts to the mix.

Place in an empty jar with a decorated label or ribbon to give to someone as a present especially at Christmas.

Milk Chocolate & Nut (Egg Yolk) Cookies

This recipe is ideal to make with those left over egg yolks when you have made meringues...

Large Cookies

Ingredients:

225g butter

400g granulated sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla essence

100g milk chocolate, broken in small pieces

50g chopped nuts

320g plain flour

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

half tsp salt

Mix the dough together

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl.
3. Beat together the 3 egg yolks and beat into the mix.
4. Mix in the vanilla essence, lemon juice, chocolate pieces and nuts.
5. Fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt to form a soft dough.
6. Take a spoonful of dough and mould into a ball in your hands.
7. Place on a greased baking tray and flatten with your fingers. Place the cookies about 3cm apart as they spread a lot in the oven.
8. Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the edges crisp.



The cookies spread on the tray

9. Leave on the tray to cool before removing to a cooling rack.

ENJOY with a good cuppa!

Place on a baking tray

GRAZE BOX

We were given a code for a FREE Graze box last week, so I had to trial it!

I love healthy snacks and trying new foods and combinations.

On Wednesday our first box arrived through the post, it was very exciting opening it to see what we had been given...

Our first GRAZE box

If you've never heard of Graze before visit their website, but as a quick summary:

• You sign up to receive a nibblebox every week or fortnight which contains 4 snack boxes
• You rank their snacks: LOVE (would like to receive regularly), LIKE (send occasionally), TRY (happy to try) and BIN (you do not wish to receive it)
• Then every week or fortnight you receive a little box through the post with 4 snack in it, which they have picked out from your selections.
• You can cancel at any time if you do not want to keep receiving the boxes.

Our selection of snacks

In our first box we have received:

1. Tutti Frutti - dried pineapple, cherry, raisins, blueberry, cranberries & raisins
2. Salsa Fresca - coriander and lime salsa with cheesy sombreros
3. Honeycomb Flapjack - flapjack with milk chocolate
4. Eton Mess - mini meringues, blackcurrants, cranberries & almond slices

I look forward to trying out our selection and will decide whether to continue receiving them or not.

It has also inspired me to have a go at putting some of my own together, so watch this space on Foody Friday!!