Mmmm. Tasty: What made bacon and cupcakes hot - USATODAY.com

Mmmm. Tasty: What made bacon and cupcakes hot - USATODAY.com

Ha! Was there a plan yesterday?!

A glorious day, too sunny to make recipes inside, but glorious enough to do some daylight photography....coming soon

Bibi's Bakery

Luscious, fun and stylish boutique selling cupcakes.....fantastic flavours and combinations.

Bibi's Bakery

Supper was truely enhanced with a box of these babies...oo0er which to chose?

Chocolate orange? Cookies and Cream? White chocolate? Malt chocolate? Vanilla Fudge? Banana Peanut butter???

Taking that trend 1+2 steps further as a boutique concept, with cupcake courses, newsletter, facebook and loads more. Fabulous!

Pimp your Food - Baked Breadsticks..A revelation!

I pimped a few ready to bake baguettes...very impressive and so much more stylish than the plain "unpimped" baguette.

Simple to do....

Just take the "raw" baguette and cut lengthways 6-8 times to form individual thinner sticks...

I brushed/spread butter over the cut surfaces, then sprinkled some with chopped fresh herbs, some with just salt and pepper, some with finely grated parmesan, some just with the butter.

I suppose you could use an olive/rapeseed oil - Or nothing at all - but I didn't try this.

Place on a baking tray and cook as detailed on the pack, just reduce the time by half (however keep an eye on them in the oven).

Serve as I did in a jug for a casual dining accompaniment.

Baked Butternut Squash & Carrot Risotto

This is great for dinner parties, as you can prepare everything, and then pop in the oven just before guests are due to arrive

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into finger sized pieces

6 medium sized carrots, peeled and cut into quarters lengthways then halved

1 large onion, peeled and cut into wide slices

1-2 x15ml sp (1-2Tbsp) oil (currently I am using local cold pressed rapeseed oil Black and Gold - from Stevenson Mains Farm, East Lothian)

400g (16oz) Arborio (risotto) rice

600 ml (1 pint) hot vegetable stock (currently I am using Marigold)

25g (1oz) butter

50g (2oz) grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre heat oven to 180 C; 350 F; Gas 5. Combine the prepared squash, carrots and onion into a bowl, toss in the oil until coated. Pour into a roasting tray, and place in the centre of the pre heated oven. Allow to roast for 20-30 minutes until softened, shaking occasionally to prevent burning or sticking.

Remove tray from oven, cut down to bite sized pieces if required, stir in the rice and the butter and combine until evenly distributed. Pour in the stock. Cover the roasting tray with foil and fold over to seal. Return to the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from oven, and stir in the parmesan cheese. Serve immediately

3 cheese stuffed mushrooms

These were well received by 3 veggie friends ( Leah, Bobby & Kiki) this past weekend.

I'm sure the mixture would stretch to 4 mushrooms, I was a bit generous!

3 Large flat mushrooms, skinned or wiped

2 small leeks, washed & sliced thinly

1 x15mlsp (1 Tbsp) olive oil and 25g (1oz) butter, for frying

2 slices bread, made into breadcrumbs

50g (2oz) Halloumi cheese - grated

25g (1oz) Parmesan cheese - grated

3 x 15mlsp (3Tbsp) chopped dill (keep a few pinches to decorate)

50g (2oz) full fat soft cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Remove the mushroom stalks carefully, chop finely - combine with leeks and fry in the oil and butter to soften.

In a bowl - combine the breadcrumbs, the 2 grated cheeses and the dill. Stir in the soft cheese and the softened leeks and mushrooms and continue to stir until well combined. Season if required.

Ensure mixture is formed together, and distribute evenly into piles over the 3 mushrooms.

Place on a baking tray and place in a pre heated oven 180 C; 350 F, Gas 5. Cook for 15 minutes until topping is browned. Sprinkle with the retained dill.

Serve with roasted vegetables, and crusty bread or potato wedges

Enjoy!

IFE - the international food and drink event

I was at the International Food Event - IFE - yesterday and was amazed at the number of artisan snacking products! Is there enough room in the marketplace? Do I detect a Jamaican trend coming this way? Functional drinks abounded too.

A few products stood out for me:

Tillmans of Sweden: Organic Cordial and Preserves - Sweden has a longer sunshine enriched growing time, so the fruits are sweeter. The strawberry and the Rhubard cordials were delicious.

Spencerfield Edinburgh Gin: Wonderful rounded flavour, a hint of heather - I had a wee taster neat, which was surprisingly good (undliuted) - unrasping and very full in flavour of juniper, which blended so well with coriander and citrus....I will be buying a bottle to have with tonic, for sure.

The Ice co: Crushed ice for Mojitos - what a fantastic idea, I almost broke a liquidiser trying to crush ice for a party last year.. wish I'd known!

Alara Muesli: Amazingly, from the middle of London, very chewy - probably needs to be soaked - but favoursome and chunky with brazil nus and pineapple chunks...I'm going to also try the sample pack in a cookies recipes.... I'm very fond of cookies!

halloumi

The most salty squeeky deliciousness.....add browned slices to the top of basic tomato sauce and pasta; or plain risotto; or dressed leaves; or tomato slices to lift from ordinariness to a wonderful flavoursome meal.