Tapenade and Helping Hands

I love this tapenade that we thought up to go with our halloumi and ciabattas after the tapenade we had been buying from Marks and Spencer went out of production.


It's made from:-
1 roasted red pepper - quartered, coated in oil and skins blackened under the grill. Put in airtight container for an hour and then peel away the skin.
2-3oz  sun dried tomatoes with a big splash of the oil from their jar
2-4 cloves garlic (big 'uns)
1 small red chilli (bought a plant in local shop and it is pushing out chilli after chilli, am freezing them and using them as and when)
2-3 fl oz olive oil


everything simply goes into a blender and is whizzed up to the desired consistency. When done put through a sieve and save the oil that runs out for basting your red peppers under the grill. Both keep in the fridge for days.


Jacob loves this as a dip with salads and enjoys the fiery kick from the chilli.


My helping hands, Jacob, loved doing the prep. And yes I do make him wash his hands!

Jam Making

Plums at the ready

Adding the sugar after softening the plums on a simmer

Changed to a bigger and more solid pan and got onto that rolling boil after the sugar had dissolved

Next photos will be of the jars that are now cooling in a darkened cupboard. Jacob has planned plum jam on toast for breakfast - yum, will join him!

Hello summer hols

With the onslaught of summer holidays i'm thinking of 1001 things to do with my 8yr old son.  Today it's jam making, plums again from the allotment same as last year. Shall post our efforts later.



Some roasted red pepper and chilli tapenade to have with our dinner tonight

 and tomorrow it's shortbread biscuits with  plum jam centres.

I'm going to try icecream again later in the week as I made my own some time ago using the frozen fruit from the allotment and it was delicious. My son is into rasperry ripple but i've picked some blackberries so I'll give that a go.

Jam....... lovely

I made jam for the first time. Plum jam, we had a glut of them and it is sssssssoooooooooooooooo tasty. What a mess it makes though, I see the need now in having the right equipment for the job.

Plum pie, oh my word

I made a plum pie for the first time ever and with my own plums from the allotment. It was delicious but almost didn't happen. When I was making it I put my hand through the bottom of the lose bottomed pie tin and nearly had plum pie shoes. I made a vanilla custard to go with it and I have never tasted custard as lovely as that for a long time (bit of a cheat when I do custard normally and use the tinned stuff - but never again!).

Recipe available on request for both plum pie and vanilla custard.

Le French apple cake

A day in baking and I had to use the apples from the allotment to make this cake, it's gorgeous.

It's such a moist cake it barely needs anything with it, maybe a little homemade custard tomorrow after dinner with it could be good.

A friends birthday gave me another excuse for more baking and this time it's the best type of cakes according to my son - cakes with icing sugar and decorations!

Man City blue icing sugar for my friend's beloved footy team and loads of decorations for my sons sweet tooth.

A bit of salad just in case you were feeling a bit sickly.

Recipe available for apple cake, fairy cakes are pretty straight forward.

Allotment shocker

Went to the allotment today for the first time in 3 weeks and got a very pleasant shock when I saw the amount of fruit everywhere ripe and ready for picking. I called in reinforcements as there was just so much.

These plums are luscious, ate so many whilst trying to fill my bag.

Can just imagine French Apple Cake with ice cream made with this tasty lot.

I even got a massive hug from my elderly neighbour when I gave her 4 bags of fruit and veg from the allotment that she will be sharing with her friend from across the road.

What a lovely day.

Baking and photos to follow

Withdrawal symptoms

Been on my hols to Spain but the food was not up to very much as it was quite a touristy destination purposely taken for cheapness and laziness. Lay round the pool soaking up far too much sunshine. I wish, now I'm back on my blog, that I could write about tasty tapas, fresh seafood paella or even a huevos a la flamenca but sadly the food was aimed at Brits abroad and I resorted to cooking up meals in our apartment.  Got back this afternoon and needed to throw together a quick and easy meal so here it is, not Spanish at all but Chinese.

It's so quick to make and quicker to eat. My 7 yr old son made me play 'MasterChef' when eating it and he said it was a 'simple but excellent dish with tender meat and lovely sauce on the noodles'. His version was noodles with Soy sauce over the top with all the veg fresh on the side but with the meat cooked.

Veggie version for the hubby had meat replaced with Quorn chicken style pieces (they don't yet do a beef strips style).

Quick, tasty noodles.

For 2 people - 3 minutes to cook

2 portions of dried egg fried noodles - Sharwoods
5 tablespoons light Soy Sauce and 3 tablespoons of Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce mixed together
4 Spring Onions - chopped small
1/4 Red Pepper - roughly choppped
1/4 Yellow Pepper - roughly chopped
4 or 5 Mange tout or Sugar Snaps or anything green and edible really
Carrot - as much as you fancy and sliced thin
3 Mushrooms - whatever type and size you fancy
Beef, thin sliced - stripped and as much as you think the 2 or you can eat ( I used Sirloin today and left it to soak in soy sauce for the time it took me to prepare the veg).


Really, you can just chop the veg  how you fancy but remember thickly chopped is crunchier.
If doing veggie meal simply replace the meat with the quorn.

Ingredients ready to go

3 Minutes later scrummy meal

Strip the meat and throw it into a bowl with a dash of soy sauce to soak whilst you are chopping the veg. Chop the veg to desired shapes and thickness.

Heat the water for the noodles in a pan and heat up the oil in frying pan when water starts boiling. Throw noodles into boiling water and meat into frying pan (high heat).

Simmer noodles and after a minute of frying the meat throw in all the veg and fry for a further minute then throw in sauce. 

One more minute of frying and stirring and all done. Drain noodles, throw into the frying pan for a quick toss and serve.

Prawn crackers go well on the side and a cold drink.

Enjoy