Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary
cooking up a storm at the edge of the world
For when you’ve got those chocolate cravings and don’t want to break the healthy eating plan! I’m not on a diet. I don’t even like the word diet. It implies that you are denying yourself something, a restriction of enjoyment, a temporary solution to a problem. Fad diets aren’t sustainable, and they’re not a healthy …
My husband is an ectomorph, bless his 69% merino wool Smartwool socks. This means that it doesn’t matter what or how much he eats he just doesn’t put on weight. Sometimes I stare at him from the other side of the dinner table, nibbling on yet another low calorie salad, glaring at him while he, …
I’m always looking for speedy supper ideas. As much as I love spending time over the cooker, some nights I really can not be bothered. Those nights tend to be the three nights in the week I’m working in our village co-operative – my ‘getting out of the house’ job where I work a few …
An Optimum ThermoCook recipe. It’s our wedding anniversary this coming weekend. Two years ago in gale-force winds my husband and I got married. It was a small ceremony with close family and friends with an overnight stay in a hotel and a lovely meal afterwards. Nothing too extravagant. It was a steampunk wedding though. (You …
I’m not a boxed dry cereal with milk for breakfast kind of gal. I used to be. When I was a child I loved my Alphabits, Froot Loops and Cornflakes (sprinkled liberally with sugar – ah the things we did in the 80s!), but as an adult… I’m not. I’m not sure when that transition …
Happy New Year! I hope you have had a lovely festive period, and that the New Year was greeted with a bang. Have you made any resolutions? What sort of things did you get up to? Over the last few years we’ve started a new family tradition of bringing in the New Year watching the …
The idea for these raw chocolate and clementine mini cheesecakes with a chocolate hazelnut crust has been bumping around inside my head for quite some time now, ever since I tried The Rawtarian’s raw cheesecake recipe a few months ago and was really impressed with how light and creamy the cashew based filling was after blending …
Fried sage and white truffle-infused olive oil transform this soup into something really special. I’m not a big fan of dried sage. There’s something stale and unpalatable about the herb, I feel, so I tend not to cook with it. That was until fresh sage leaves began appearing in my veg box and I discovered …
aka how to salvage a failed attempt at making chocolate hazelnut spread. I like experimenting in my kitchen, I really do. Sometimes (quite a lot of the time, if I am to be honest!) it doesn’t quite go according to plan. I had a notion to make some homemade chocolate hazelnut spread recently. Ok, if …
Freshly toasted and ground cumin and a touch of cayenne give this hummus recipe a nice kick. There must be at least a hundred different ways to make hummus, and we each tend to have our favourite version. Mine includes plenty of toasted and freshly ground cumin seeds and a generous pinch of cayenne for …
A refreshing blend of kohlrabi, cucumber, celery and apple. Ah, the humble kohlrabi – the sputnik of the vegetable world – what do we do with you? I have to confess that when this bizarre vegetable first made an appearance in my vegetable box I had to take to Twitter to identify it. I had …
Perfect for those hot summer mornings! These popsicles came about by accident, really. Not being one to refuse a reduced price bargain I found myself with a few punnets of blackberries in my shopping basket – best before that date. They were needing used up. I sat there eating my lunch pondering what I could …
Summery, refreshing and slightly shilpet. My children absolutely love lemons. Serve some lemon wedges at mealtime with some salmon or with pancakes and you’ll find my younger two children sucking the juice out of the wedges with positive glee. They’ll nibble away at every bit of the fruit so that there is only a bare …
My Norwegian mother-in-law’s go-to cookie recipe! I have a confession to make. I haven’t cooked a single thing except for porridge for the kids’ breakfast for nearly three weeks! My mother-in-law had been visiting from Norway for a fortnight, and I’d taken on some extra shifts at work for holiday cover, which meant, to my …
Because sometimes you just have to. I detest food waste. I really do. Back in February this year I made my husband a batch of experimental brownies as a welcome home treat after his adventures in India. The brownies were awful – truly awful. I’d put far too much cocoa powder in it, skewing the …
In collaboration with Green Giant. Challenge #1 – Green Giant Minions Challenge The brand new Minions movie hits cinemas on June 26th and to celebrate, Green Giant is challenging bloggers to create the ultimate Minion-inspired summer snack. Green Giant Sweetcorn is a perfect ingredient for family mealtimes: kids love the delicious, naturally sweet flavour, and …
Fresh strawberries and home grown rhubarb can be very versatile! Well you’ve gone and done it. You’ve used up a glut of strawberries (known, these days, as buying a whole lot of them at the supermarket on special offer because they’re on their best before date), and you’ve ransacked the freezer for the remains of …
A grain-free pancake recipe packed with protein! We’re pancake fiends in this house. With three growing children I can stand at the cooker making a batch and they’re devoured within seconds of coming out of the pan. I can barely keep up! Regular readers will know I’m one for trying new things, so when my …
aka: what to do with all those ignored vegetables at the bottom of the fridge! Let’s talk Lego! My husband, bless his cotton socks, doesn’t do a lot of cooking. He can peer into a full refrigerator and not come up with a single idea for dinner. Shelves of vibrant vegetables get ignored in favour …
All the flavour and nearly half the calories! I love a hearty, creamy bowl of soup, me. Especially when the winds are howling outside and you want something warm and comforting. Alas, most creamy soup recipes use a ridiculous amount of double cream – something I just can’t afford to eat right now while I’m trying …
