Mustard Chicken and Vegetable Pie

Mustard Chicken and Vegetable Pie

When I look around my blog I think the last word I would use to describe my food is traditional. More often than not my recipes are a twist on a classic – a traditional idea that has been warped either to be healthier, more exciting, or to simply use up the ingredients I’ve got in the cupboards.

With that in mind, this is probably the closest I will ever get to a traditional recipe.

Chicken and veg pie has been around for hundreds of years. It’s a simple idea and is such a crowd pleaser. With the addition of English mustard, this pie has a bit more kick than some, but the filo pastry keeps it crisp and light. (It also helps to keep the calories down, which is always a plus!)

Rhubarb and Ginger Pie

My Rhubarb and Ginger Pie brings together the age old combination of sweet and sour as the soft rhubarb and ginger filling is encased in a sticky syrup and sweet pastry crust. And what’s more…it’s in season!

I hadn’t really discovered rhubarb until a year or two ago. We have always grown it in our garden but it was something the parents sneakily ate when we had gone to bed. Because of this I never really had much interest in it as a fruit. The other fruit we grew like apples and gooseberries were eaten almost daily in our house during the summer months but the rhubarb was kept hidden away!

The more I got into cookery shows the more I became intrigued by this bright pink fruit! (How you get it to retain this bright colour while cooking still escapes me: answers on a postcard please.) If it was good enough for celebrity chefs it was good enough for me surely?

I really fell in love with rhubarb in a delicious rhubarb crumble. The topping had a claggy yet crunchy texture and the filling was so soft and sweet yet sharp at the same time. The combination of textures and flavours was to die for and I knew I had to try and recreate my own.

Crumbles feature a lot in my cooking. You can find an Oaty Apple Crumble and Gooseberry Crumble already on the blog, and in a week or two’s time I will be posting a Spiced Pineapple Crumble (seriously amazing, watch this space!!!) So with that in mind, plus the fear I could never recreate the amazing rhubarb crumble that made me fall in love with the fruit in the first place, I decided instead to try a pie.

[Greek Gods] Honey and Strawberry Baklava with Pistachios

Q. What happens when Greek Gods meet the Kitchen Goddess (in training!) blog?

A. A modern twist on a Greek classic with honey and strawberry yogurt, filo pastry and pistachios.

Those of you who know the Foodies100 website may well be aware of the competition currently being run by GreekGods.

The idea was to make a love-inspired dessert fit for Aphrodite using some of the company’s own Greek Style yogurt.

I chose honey and strawberry flavour (after all, what’s more romantic than a red heart shaped fruit?) and decided to update the Greek classic Baklava and bring it into the 21^st Century!

Each piece of filo pastry stacked on top of the next shows the layers of your love for the partner – each piece representing another thing you love about them. And what better way to say your love makes me “nuts” then with a good helping of pistachios!

This recipe is also super simple. It’s the perfect recipe for any Greek God (or Goddess) wanting to cook their partner a romantic dinner without spending all of their time in the kitchen. After all, the time you save on cooking, you can use for romancing.

Here’s my recipe!

Tomato, Mozzarella and Pesto Picnic Tart

I am really excited to be starting to explore real summer recipes! I’m sure you’ll agree with me that this tart would look great on a salad table at a BBQ, laid out on a picnic blanket in a field or on a beach, or just in the centre of a dinner table with a big bowl of salad and potato wedges keeping the whole family happy on a summer’s eve!

The quantities of this recipe make a tart 7.5 inches across so it really is the perfect size for sharing among other dishes, but I can guarantee whatever you serve it with, this tart will be the star!

What makes this tart so special are the four distinct layers, melt in the mouth short crust pastry, earthy pesto, creamy mozzarella and then bright and sunny tomatoes – which are now in season by the way! Woo hoo! You don’t know how excited May makes me in terms of food, as some of the best fruit and veg comes in to season, as soon as exams are over I’ll be taking over my Dad’s veg patch, he won’t know what’s hit him!

Not only is this dish in season, but it is also easy to turn into a low-er fat option! Tomatoes will give you a helping hand towards your 5 a day, low fat/low cal mozzarella and pesto are easy to find in any good supermarket. And I can confirm that the most recent time that I made my pastry, I made it with a low fat margarine substitute! (God only knows what its chemical name is...we will pretend its margarine for now...)

I guarantee that if you try this recipe it will become a staple of your summer.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had some shortcrust pastry left over from my quiche today and couldn’t decide what to do with it. I knew I wanted to do a sweet, so had to consider what I had in the house! I had chocolate, but no cream, and only two eggs left over which meant that my options were somewhat limited, but I soon settled on Lemon Meringue pie! These are extremely simple to do, the quantities can easily be adjusted depending on the number of guests to dinner, and are surprisingly cheap!

Low Fat Spinach Quiche

Summer is officially here! The temperatures are soaring, and the sun is out, not a cloud in the sky.

The summer brings with it a whole new foodie experience, from BBQ’s, al fresco dining, picnics to ice creams, and as a result it is one of my favourite times of the year!

(I'm already scouring e-bay for a vintage style picnic hamper, complete with gingham lining!!! If anyone knows of one going cheap, do let me know!

The veg patch is currently overflowing with spinach, so for dinner tonight I had to come up with a new recipe where spinach is the star, so I decided to cook a low fat spinach quiche.

Alternatives can include adding bacon which we did tonight, using the whole eggs, and adding lots of cheese!