Baker & Foodie Content Creator
My name is Lee, welcome to my pages. I hope we can have fun together?
When I’m not developing recipes for others, writing guest blogs, writing my own blog, or even trying to learn how to paint, I’m usually spending time with the amazing Mr G (my husband) or with my lovely daughter or my lovely son (very proud mum).
What is this all about? Great question. This site is about real cooking and baking, real recipes and real mistakes.
No filters here, (although i’d love to find a filter that can take ten years worth of laugh lines away. Just me, whats happening, and whatever cameras or phone i have to hand .
There are many things that get under my bonnet and wiggle around, one of those is food waste. If i buy ingredients specifically for a recipe, and i only need a small amount of the ingredients, i want to be able to use the rest up and not have to throw them away. My mum used to say , “Waste not Want not” is that still a saying ?
For me, waste is not just about using up all the ingredients. What about leftover food? If i’m able , i hope to give ideas as to how to use up any leftovers too.
Be Brave
Cooking isn’t hard , neither is baking, its all about being brave and being ok with making mistakes
Chocolate & Salted Caramel Self Saucing Pudding recipe . A warm dessert of chocolate with a decadent sauce of salted caramel and chocolate, and with no more effort than it takes to boil a kettle.
With the use of St Helens Farm butter and milk to add extra indulgence to this pudding, it’s easy to see why this is a favourite!
Lamb is such a great meat, but I do find some of the more popular cuts are expensive.
Rolled lamb breast is overlooked a lot by lamb lovers, and I think I have a reason for this.
Well, let’s be honest about it, it’s not he most photogenic of meats when cooked, but if you’ve not sank your teeth into this, it’s well worth switching the oven on.
Chicken, Leek & Yellow Pepper Tart, a recipe I make for a light lunch, when friends come over for an afternoon of chats or as part of an afternoon alone when I just want to get my book out and munch on something comfortable and full of flavour.
You know I love chicken, so more often than not there’ll be some part of a chicken in my fridge, and this is another way I get to use every bit of the leftovers.
Tahini buttercream is an amazing alternative to peanut butter buttercream, and as much as I love a bit of peanut butter, the taste of tahini buttercream brings bakes up to another level of deliciousness.
The subtle taste of sesame seeds is amazing sandwiched in between chocolate biscuits and helps to bring out the richness of the biscuits.
Chocolate Dipped Green Tea Biscuits
Tea isn’t just for drinking, its great as an infusion and used in cooking too!
My favourite tea is green tea, and my everyday preference for a hot tipple, is Clipper Organic Green Tea, loving the subtle flavour – not too strong for an everyday tipple, so because I like the flavour to be a little restrained in these biscuits, this is what I normally use in the batter.
Sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day to spend hours making and decorating a cake, but even when the days a rush, there’s always time to make this Pink Prosecco & Pistachio Loaf Cake with Pink Prosecco Icing. This recipe is easy to bake, moist to eat and satisfying enough to make everyone happy. Perfect for any celebration, mothers day or birthday and easy enough for even the children to get involved.
Pistachio & Lemon Financiers
I’ve made my little financier cakes using pistachios ground up to a nut flour and love the flavour and texture they give.
There’s something about the pale green colour of pistachios that makes me smile. Using them in cakes and as a substitute for other nuts when cooking adds something quite special.
Avocado & Fresh Tomato Salsa Recipe.
Fresh salsa is a joy to eat and so easy to put together that it seems silly to buy it if I’ve the ingredients to hand, and the ingredients are so easy to get hold of, so why not?!
The addition of the avocado in this salsa gives it a creamy edge, the freshness is brought by the fresh lime juice and zest, and of the tomatoes, of course add body and make the salsa have a juicy and thirst-quenching mouth feel.
Tinned Mince, Potato & Carrot Pasty recipe . Economical, budget cooking.
Making these with tinned mince and vegetables means most of the work is already done, leaving just the pastry and assembly, perfect for making ahead and freezing.
A recipe for Lime Melting Moments with Fresh Lime ButtercreamFinding a biscuit recipe that’s both creamy and firm is a dream and that’s what the custard powder in the recipe does, while keeping the biscuits crumbly enough to melt in my mouth. Hence the name, melting moments!
Lime is a particular flavour favourite of mine, a change up from lemon and a little fresher and zinger rather than zesty flavour.
This recipe for Pink Grapefruit and Whisky Caramel Tart is the perfect combination of creamy custard, tart sweet pink grapefruit wrapped in all butter pastry.
There’s something about pink grapefruit that is so pretty, it has such an appealing hue that even if not a fan, its somehow difficult to ignore.
Salted Caramel Shortbread Squares with Chocolate Drizzle recipe. Adding a layer of slightly salted caramel in the centre of the shortbread is a real treat to eat and incredibly easy to make.
For the salted caramel, I just add a good pinch of sea salt flakes to the caramel while it’s still very hot and runny, but as always in my recipes, how much of a salt kick is up to you.
Miso Chocolate Tart with Sesame Chocolate Biscuit Base, fashionable flavours for 2024. The addition of the of miso paste and sesame seeds turns this chocolate tart into something decadent and moreish. Easy to bake and put together just, which just adds to the pleasure of this tart.
Orange, Lemon Basil Shortbread Biscuits with Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Jam Filling. It’s always nice to have a few biscuit recipes that can be pulled out to impress when guests arrive, and if those recipes have ingredients that ‘shouldn’t’ go together, but taste amazing, even better.
This is one of those recipes!
Mixing citrus zests and fresh basil may sound a little unusual, but when baked in a not too sweet short bread, the flavours become one delicious and very moreish biscuit.
Once you realise how simple these blackberry meringues with chantilly cream are to make, you’ll be able change up the flavours, add nuts if you want or have them plain with a drop or two of food colouring to match your party theme.
Sugar Cookies with Pistachios
One cookie recipe, more flavours than you can shake a stick at and Christmas gifts for friends and family too. Win, win and win!
Home-made gifts are very on trend right now, with budgets being tight and food prices heading up rather than down, giving edible gifts is the thing to be doing this Christmas
Easy Peasy, Dreamy Creamy Chocolate Rice Pudding recipe for Karbon Homes. A rich and tasty recipe for the whole family to enjoy. It’s easy, it’s yummy and you’ll be adding it to your home recipe book. Not just for Sunday, this chocolate rice pudding is perfect for a mid week treat.
Sausage, Spinach & Green Bean Shakshuka recipe for Karbon Homes. This is a dish that is so easy to make and so tasty it will soon be one of your family favourites. Packed full of spicy sausage with added spinach and of course a tin of green beans, makes it economical to make too.
Gift - Cookies in a Jar recipe. Making these gift jars for family and friends for Christmas , birthday or for any celebration . Choose a flavour that you love and substitute this for the sprinkles in this recipe. Sprinkle sugar cookies are a great present , adding all the ingredients in the jar, writing out the method on a pretty card is bound to make someone smile.
