White Chocolate and Raspberry Layer

I'm desperately trying to not call this a trifle.  I hate trifle.  Now I've offended half of my readers, I need to say why.  I love cake.  I have such a problem with loving cake.  I mean I really love it, more than my waistline does.  I am a bit of a Sherry fan, I even went on holiday to Jerez last year and fell in love with Solera.  I like fruit, I eat masses of it every day.  Custard?  Hell yes!  What's not to love?  Cream?  Give me more!  I'm a dairy friendly kind of girl.

But together...?  No I don't get it.  The fruit fights with the custard.  The cake gets lost, the excessively sweet sherry (rather than the complex deliciousness possible in the best sherries) is a thump of sugar and alcohol around the face and it's just so heavy.

So this is something a bit different.  Zingy fruit, delicious cream cheese, only 4 ingredients and 10 minutes work, if you can call it work...

Yogurt and Berry Lollies

Lollies aren't just for kids!

Well it's almost summer... so I dusted off the ice lolly maker and had a go.   Frozen berries are a great and thrifty way to  make these.  The only thing is as they tend to be a little tart, they do need some sweetening.  Also you will find that when you freeze lollies the mix needs to be a bit sweeter than you would normally have it if you were eating it at room temperature so it tastes sweet when frozen.  The great thing is though that this contains loads of fruit and natural stuff.

10 Foods you've not thought about freezing

Freezing is a great way to extend the life of food, ok, this you know and it's obvious right?  Yes of course but when you're cooking for one, you quite often have part opened packets waiting to be eaten?  Of course you do.  So I thought I'd share with you 10 foods you can freeze which you might not be aware of.

Vietnamese Prawn Spring Rolls

I'm never much of a fan of a fried spring roll but these summery Vietnamese style ones include masses of fresh stuff without all the fat.  I mean, have fatty ones if you want them, I just fancied something fresh, vibrant and making me feel like spring is here.

A word of warning, the rice paper wrappers are a little tricky to master.  I think next time I'm going to try rolling them up on a clean tea towel.  The trick is though to not soak them for too long as they will continue to soften.  Just do them long enough so they won't break and only do one at a time.

I've left the quantities vague but it depends on how big your wrappers are and what proportions you'd like.  Have a play around with them.  Some people include rice noodles, but I wanted to keep these really fresh and light.

Lamb and Feta Cheese Salad

I love vegetarian food but I also love red meat.  I don't tend to eat a lot of lamb, thinking perhaps it's too much for one but a lamb steak is a great size for one.  This salad makes the most of a lamb steak too, you don't need masses to make it work.

Main course salads can be delicious things.  This was inspired by a trip into Leicester on Saturday.  They have a fantastic market with masses of ingredients from all over the world.  I picked up a pomegranate for 30p and probably more limes than I could eat in a month for £1.  There was some lamb in the freezer, some feta in the fridge and as soon as that pomegranate went in the bag, I knew exactly what I was going to make.  It might seem strange but this was my Sunday lunch.  Well why not?  Although I do sometimes cook a roast on a Sunday, it does mean you're potentially eating the leftovers for days.

Yogurt and Oat Smoothie

Yogurt and oats make a delicious and filling smoothie with over one of your five a day in your first meal of the day.

The best breakfast toast - 5 different recipes!

If you're looking for a way to increase your fruit and vegetable intake, can I suggest toast?  Not an obvious thing but toast topped with an interesting toppings not only makes your day start with a mouthful of awesomeness but also makes 5 a day (or 7 a day) more achievable.

So here are my top ideas I've tried over the past few weeks.  Chose a decent bread, mine was a slow fermented mixed wheat and rye but by preference I'd always chose something slow fermented, ideally sour dough.  If you're buying a decent loaf, make the most of it either by freezing half or even by cutting into slices and freezing the slices ready to use for these delicious topped toasts later.  You can even toast from frozen.

Raspberry, hazelnut and quark

Top the toast with low fat quark, raspberries, chopped hazelnuts and a drizzle of honey.

Prawn Tapas

A lovely little dish of prawns for an evening nibble or starter for one or a delish little amuse bouche for you and your loved one.

Sunshine Salad

I had a bit of a stodgy lunch today but amazingly I was still hungry in the evening.  I was hankering for something a bit lighter, fresher and full of fruit and vegetable flavour.

Leftover Thai Chicken and Mushroom Soup

A roast is not something I'd normally cook on a weekend but a roast chicken can do so many different meals as leftovers so it's not as daft an idea to cook for one, two or a small family as you might think.

Hazelnut Crusted Salmon

I love salmon and since nuts are back on the menu, I decided to mix up my usual, unhealthy treatment of fish with hollandaise sauce (delicious though it is) and have it with a herb and hazelnut crust.

Chorizo and Spinach Quesadillas

Quesadillas are a way of using up the bits and bobs in your fridge, in fact a bit of left over chilli would be lovely here.   Think of it as the toasted sandwich goes Mexican and you get the idea.

The temptation I always have is to over stuff my quesadillas which make them more prone to falling apart when you eat, but they do taste lovely.  If you want to have ones which hold together really well, mash the filling more and chop up the chorizo more finely and then use less filling per tortilla.

Very berry breakfast bowl

I loved my yogurt breakfast bowl so much I came back to make a different version.  I swear, despite feeling guilty about the imported strawberries right now, I'm going to be living on this all summer, possibly mix it up with some bircher muesli at some point.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables

Sweet and sour, the treat dish?  Ok, maybe, this contains A LOT of sugar.  Just go with it, enjoy the flavour and love the number of fruit and vegetables in this dish (shhh... it's vegan by the way.)

Fruit Tarts

Fruit tarts are one of those ridiculously easy things to make which look far more impressive than the amount of time taken to make them.

The best idea for these is to make them when you've already made pastry for another reason to use up the scraps.  The quantities below are if you are making these for one from scratch (ok, one greedy person but they are small).

Why I think you should take up running

I was 2 miles into my short running route when I started thinking about writing this post.  6 years ago I was overweight, bordering on obese.  I thought I was fit, I went on long walks three times a week but I was stressed, comfort eating and not really challenging my body.

Three years later, my son was 1 year old and, for some reason, I suddenly decided to take up running.  I think I'd seen posts from people doing couch to 5K on my facebook feed and felt inspired.  I'd been a cross country runner when I was 14 and after one attempt to pick it back up again and failing when I was in my 20s, I thought I would give it another try.

Lamb Pitta

Kebabs, normally the preserve of a drunken late night but why not make it lovely?  Why not make it the best lamb you've had?

A tour around "Eat Like You Love Yourself"

With it being Brilliance in Blogging nominations season, I thought I'd introduce myself to anyone who isn't aware of my blog or knows what it is about.