Inspiring friendly recipes and thoughts

Pan Bagnat literally means ‘wet bread’ in the Occitan Language of the area surrounding Nice.

Fritters are such a useful recipe, an easy, tasty and filling meal that can be whipped up in seconds.

Sometimes you want a crunch and sometimes you want a chew! This recipe is for those chewy days, days when you want to linger over a cookie whilst mulling over an interesting concept.

I really like spiced oatmeal and raisin cookies, but my children have an aversion to raisins.

I recently went in for a competition run by Hummingbird Bakery to win a copy of their new book and a KitchenAid (I dream of owning a KitchenAid!).

Happy 4th July! I may not be American but any chance of a celebration has to be a good thing! What could be more American than a pile of light, fluffy pancakes drenched in maple syrup and adorned w…

I’m not sure where the idea came from but I figured why not make a salad out of gnocchi.

The Great British Bake Off is back on TV – yippee! It’s such great light-hearted escapism, perfect after a long day at work.

This is such a simple, stunningly pretty tart you’ll wonder why you ever thought a tart needed anything more than fruit and pastry.

If you grow vegetables or know anyone who does, then you might well be facing a glut of certain varieties right now (well in the Northern hemisphere anyway).

3 or 4,5,6 – whatever number of bean varieties you like! In my opinion bean salads benefit from either simplicity or variety and this version wins on the variety front.

Having recently returned from a lovely holiday in the South of France, I’m brimming with summery French ideas – be prepared for a little trip to sunny Mediterranean climes in the next f…

Teriyaki – full of umami and lip smackingly good! I nearly used tofu, but aubergine won in the end, partly because the triangles on the skewers look so pretty.

What do you think of chickpeas (are they called garbanzo beans in the USA)? I’m a bit unsure – they’re great whizzed up, but so often I find them dry and pasty.

I wanted to make some cookies – you may have noticed my passion for making cookies by now – but it seemed too sunny for chocolate; and besides, we were off to the beach for the d…

Breadsticks and savoury straws – such a handy savoury snack aren’t they? Particularly for children, they provide that little something to fill rumbly tummies without an extra dose of su…

Suddenly there are blackberries aplenty in the hedgerows – but you have to be quick before they’re snaffled by eager jam makers, or sadly wither on the bramble.