We love a smoothie in the morning, it really helps us start the day off well. Kefir smoothies have become a favourite breakfast item in our family and there are so many delicious variations to be made. This berry smoothie is one of our favourite smoothies made with kefir. We love making kefir and there are so many health benefits. I would encourage you to do your own research on this to find out how beneficial it can be.
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Homemade Butter
There are so many options when it comes to buying butter and we really don’t have to make our own but there’s something deeply satisfying about making your own butter for your kitchen. It’s fun, super easy and you can add other ingredients to the butter to create your own flavoured butters.
All you need is a food mixer or a traditional butter churner and glass. It’s a fun activity for young kids to use the butter churner and it can be quite satisfying for them too to see the final results. They can then go on to make the butter milk pancakes or muffins recipe.
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Slow Cooked Beef and Dumplings Stew
This hearty slow cooked traditional beef stew went down a treat on a cold Sunday afternoon. Tender meaty chunks, seasonal vegetables and buttery dumplings. A delicious winter meal for the family and really easy to put together in advance in the slow cooker.
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Butternut Blue Soup
We ate this delicious butternut squash soup with some locally made blue cheese from our Scottish farmers market. It was lovely served with some of my homemade apple and cheddar cheese soda bread. What a cheesy feast!
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Scottish Venison Osso Bucco Broth
Delicious locally sourced Scottish venison from Moray, Scotland – Little Rowater Farm Shop
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Iced Ginger Sponge
Adapted from Janet Murray’s Cookbook – With a fine feeling for food, 1972
I love old cookbooks especially Scottish ones, I love to think and imagine the foods of my ancestors…how they prepared foods, what was available and what they thrived on locally. This delicious recipe is adapted from an old family Scottish Cookbook.
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Breakfast Peanut Bars
I love a nice warming family breakfast in the winter months and nothing hits the spot like a bowl of creamy porridge with a variety of toppings and a drizzle of raw honey!
Time is not always on my side in the mornings though and these breakfast bars are the perfect alternative to my fave breakfast porridge. They are not served hot but they certainly hit the spot with a little fruit and yoghurt on the side.
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Luxury Lemon & Lime Curd
Lemon curd… oh how we love your sweet taste in this household! This traditional recipe is high in butter, sugar and eggs so if your on a diet check out my egg and dairy free recipe for lemon curd here its probably a tad healthier lol!
If you want the real thing though hang around for this delicious Luxury Lemon & Lime Curd.
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The Best Crispy Duck & Seasonal Slaw
This is just the best combination for a delicious weekend lunch or as a light evening meal with a few baby potatoes. The crispy duck goes really well with my seasonal slaw of celeriac, brussel sprouts and apple
It is cooked simply in the cast iron pan in butter and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, it really doesn’t require much else to taste delicious. The skin is crisped slowly in the pan and finished off in the oven with a short period of rest afterwards before slicing.
The crunchy slaw is drizzled in a dressing made of mustard, raw honey (for that additional health boost), olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
You could add a drizzle of sauce and perhaps a red currant or other tart fruity sauce would be delicious here and it would make it slightly more photogenic also but I ask that you try the simplicity of this dish first and I’m sure you will enjoy it!
I really hope you enjoy this crispy duck recipe, it certainly is a new favourite for me!
Love
Seasonal Slaw Recipe
Celeriac (approx 200g)
Brussel sprouts (approx 200g)
Sweet Apples x 2 med
1/4 cup of olive oil
1tsp of mustard
1tsp of honey (preferably raw)
A squeeze of a fresh lemon
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp of chopped walnuts
You can add more veg and apples to increase the quantity.
Slice the celeriac up in chunky pieces, peel the first layers off the sprouts and cut the apple into chunky pieces also.
Run the celeriac, sprouts and apple through the food processor to shred.
Combine the olive oil, mustard, honey, lemon and salt and pepper in a glass and whisk to combine. Adjust the ingredients in the dressing to suit your own tastes if you prefer.
Drizzle over the slaw and mix through, add in the chopped walnuts for extra crunch.
Duck Recipe
Duck breasts with skin
25g of salted butter
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 160oc and melt the butter in the cast iron pan on a medium heat.
Season the duck breasts skin side down generously on each side and place into the heated pan, bring the heat up a little gradually and cook for a few minutes each side.
Place the breasts into an oven proof dish and cook for a further 10 mins.
Leave to rest for 5 minutes and slice and serve immediately alongside the slaw.
This dish is best eaten in the colder months and with locally grown organic ingredients if you can source them. It’s great to support smaller businesses and I would highly recommend a visit to your local farmers market or farm shop if you have one.
Sticky Toffee Apple Pudding
The New Year is here and many of us are hitting the gym and pounding the streets with new trainers and sports gear….
…meanwhile I’m in the kitchen creating delicious full fat hearty puddings for the family drizzled in toffee sauce and lashings of thick fresh cream! Oops!
I do promise some healthier winter recipes are on their way but in the meantime please enjoy a slice of this divine Sticky Toffee Apple Pudding with some thick cream.
This pudding is certainly a well deserved treat in the cold winter months. We were out in the garden planning and plotting our growing adventures for this year and it was super cold.
I left the family defrosting by the fire and rustled up a delicious lunch of pan fried duck breast with a side of seasonal slaw and for a treat we had this delicious sticky toffee apple cake drizzled in toffee sauce and cream to warm everyone up. It’s fair to say it went down well with the kids!
I have used organic ingredients in this recipe but you can use non organic if you desire. Its important to use the golden caster sugar if you can source it as I think the flavour is better for the purpose of this recipe.
Ingredients
Toffee Sauce
125g of unsalted butter
60g of golden caster sugar
60g of muscovado sugar
200ml of thick double cream
Pudding Batter
60g of unsalted butter
80g of golden caster sugar
70g of muscavado
2 medium eggs
180g of plain flour
1tsp of baking powder
1tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1tsp of cinnamon
1tsp of ground cloves
1/2tsp of salt
200g of grated apple (2 med apples)
90g of chopped walnuts
Heat the oven to 180 and butter a suitable baking dish.
Add all the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan and gently heat through until the butter has melted.
Bring to a bubbling boil and stir for around five minutes or until the sauce has thickened enough to stick to the spoon or whisk.
Pour half of the sauce into your buttered baking dish and leave to cool while you make the cake.
Beat together the butter and the sugars, then add the eggs to the mixture and continue to beat together until it is all well combined.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt into the mixture and mix again to blend together. Add in the grated apple and the chopped walnuts and mix together gently.
Spoon all of the mixture into the baking dish on top of the sauce and bake in the oven for around 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the hot cake comes out clean.
Make many holes in the top of the pudding with a fork and pour the remaining sauce over the top of the pudding. Leave to soak into the cake for a few minutes and then serve in squares with extra cream on the top.
Enjoy!
