Frills 'n' Spills

There's nothing nicer than going on holiday (except of course, coming back home) and the week I spent in Cornwall with Mark and his family provided a much needed break from both work and blog deadline. I have to say, I was a bit worried before I went as all of Mark's family (luckily excluding Mark) are keen walkers and I'm...not, but despite my worries, I really enjoyed myself and even went on a few walks (shock horror). It was a completely different trip to my holiday to Italy last year (it wasn't as warm for one thing!) but I wanted to see more of the UK this year and so far I am doing quite well, any ideas for where I should visit next?

Apologies for the delay since my last post, I spent the weekend staying with two of my best friends up in Edinburgh. I haven't been to Edinburgh since I was about ten so I couldn't remember much of it but as soon as I landed, I felt like I had come home.  I will definitely be visiting again sooner rather than later. The weather was gorgeous (apart from Sunday morning) and I took so many photos that I will have to split them into two posts, you still have the National Gallery and the world's most hilarious bagpiper to come!

...but actually I couldn't get over how good the weather was, it made a beautiful city look even more gorgeous!

Have you ever visited Edinburgh? 

On Sunday, Mark and I went to the Jelly Roll Cafe which is a small independent cafe in Tewkesbury and one of the nicest places to go for tea and cake or a light lunch/brunch. (They also do a jazz evening but we haven't made it to one of those yet!) We are both massive foodie fans and this is somewhere I know that the food will always be fantastic.  For anyone interested in paying a visit, you can find them at 17 Barton Street, Tewkesbury.

There are a few things that you can expect to see on a regular basis over at Frills 'n' Spills, ridiculous poses are up there, bright colours are always popular, but food and recipes are always a given.  I got the Leon 'Family & Friends' cookbook for Christmas and this is the first recipe I have made from it and as ever, Leon have not let me down. Mark and I made these cakes last weekend and they are a lovely light treat to eat whenever you fancy something sweet. (I'm a poet and I know it...) Thanks to the courgette I think you could also count this as 1 of your 5 a day too* - bonus!

There's nothing I love more than roasted vegetables and the other night for tea, I wanted something to go with some rather tasteless half fat sausages (don't do it kids!) I used parsnips, potatoes, onions and aubergines but if you've got it, beetroot is really nice!

This dinner came about after realising that we had a load of food in the fridge that needed using up. As it turned out, this was far too much food for the two of us and we had to save it for another meal but for 4 people, this would be perfect.

When I was younger I had a real sweet tooth and liked nothing more than baking (and eating!) sweet cakes and treats although I usually prefer something more savoury these salty peanut butter cookies are the perfect mix of sweet and salty.  This recipe is a slightly adapted version of one from my beloved Cookiepedia- Americans sure know their cookies!

Recently I have been trying to be a bit more healthy and eat food that is tasty without being full of rubbish. The problem is, in the week when I am at work, I just want something quick and easy which is where the problems can creep in... I picked up these mushrooms when I went to my first car boot from a local grower and they tasted amazing. I simply blobbed a bit of basil pesto (technical term there!) onto the top of the mushrooms and sprinkled a bit of cheese on the top (hey I said I was trying!) and put them under the grill for ten minutes with some chopped up mushrooms and cherry tomatoes until the cheese started to bubble. 

Inspired by Gem's oh so delicious looking spaghetti recipe, dinner tonight consisted of rocket, watercress and spinach salad topped with home-grown French and green beans, king prawns, smoked bacon, tomato pepper and mushrooms.

Now we finally have some hotter weather again, I felt it was time to share one of my favourite summer puddings: roasted peaches. I love peaches cooked on BBQs but these are a fab alternative which you can cook in the oven, indulgent and yet vaguely healthy because it contains fruit- that's my kind of pud!

I am a big fan of the BBC Food website and when I saw this recipe featured last week, I knew what I was making this weekend! I have to say, I used shop bought pastry (boo hiss!) as I find it impossible to make [blame my warm hands!] but I bet it would taste even better if you made your own...

When Mark and I moved out, one of the things I was most excited about was having our own bread-maker. For about 7 years now my family have had homemade bread and it is always much nicer than shop bought. The problem is, when there is 2 of you, rather than 7, a loaf doesn't get eaten fast enough. Recently I have been all about tear and share bread which is SO easy to do and really makes even the most uninteresting meal seem special...