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• Cooking & Baking Foodie
• Recipe Tasting & Reviews

13/10/2026

Another lovely morning with the folks at Green Health Thames Valley... the sun even came out for us ☀️

This time we made "Green Health TV's Harvest Tagine" with couscous and baked rhubarb with an oaty topping 😋 The tagine recipe was designed to use vegetables that the people at GHTV had grown themselves 💕

There was lots of chopping, snipping and ripping! We talked about different types of Middle Eastern spice mixes and used baharat spice blend in the tagine and za'atar in the couscous. We counted over 20 'plant points' today towards our 30 plants a week 😋🌱

Guess who cut up the beetroot 😂 ➡️➡️

There was such positive feedback again including people saying they are incorporating some of the ingredients, that were new to them, at home 💕

12/10/2026

I'm actually not keen on normal sponge cake or cupckes 🤷🏻‍♀️... but give me a steamed sponge and I'll definitely put my name down for a piece! 😋😂

This recipe for a slow cooker steamed jam sponge came up on my feed by chance yesterday and it had to be done 😀 It's basically a normal sponge cake recipe but the texture is different when it's steamed... soft and chewy... yum!

The only change I made was to add some vanilla to the sponge. I made 2 x 1lb puddings 😋

Thank you to to Jenny at Apply To Face - easy comfort food recipes for a lovely simple, delicious recipe 😋 💕
https://applytofaceblog.com/slow-cooker-jam-sponge

09/10/2026

Kev and I definitely eat all the plants when I develop recipes for the ladies and gents at Green Health Thames Valley 🥔🧅🫜🧄🫘🥒🍅 😅

Next week the folks will be making a Moroccan inspired tagine with cous cous and a rhubarb oaty crisp pudding... both recipes using some of the crops they have grown in the garden over the summer 😋

In the meantime someone has to eat the test runs... nothing to see here! 😂😂

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

When I put together recipes for GHTV I have a number of things to bear in mind...

1. Is it delicious 😋
2. Does it move everyone towards eating 30 different plants a week
3. Could someone who might not be confident in the kitchen attempt to make it
4. Are the ingredients and cooking methods accessible and budget friendly
5. Is it scalable (for one person or a family)
6. Can it be adapted for different tastes

07/10/2026

We had a lovely break back in Santorini 💕 The weather was kind to us if a little windy! But... I was blown away by our visit to Akrotiri 😲

We had looked at Bronze Age cooking with the children in our workshops and talked about wooden round houses/huts... then I visited the Bronze Age settlement in Akrotiri where they had built stone houses 2 and 3 stories high, with stone steps, toilets and a waste drainage system... all engineered and built over 3 thousand years ago 😱 I'm still in awe now! 🤯

Our friends happened to be holidaying on the island at the same time too, which made the visit more special. Good food, good company and lovely coffee from our friend Nikoletta at 💕 Plus thanks to Nikos at 💕

21/09/2026

It was a vegetable filled weekend! 🥔🥕🥦🧄

We had loads more veg in the kitchen than normal so I made garlic roasted veg on Saturday and cheesy vegetable pasta bake yesterday (similar to cauliflower cheese but with all the veg and using red Leicester)... two completely different meals, using similar veg... and both delicious 😋

Kevin was given a chilli plant for his birthday and I used some in the pasta bake 🌶 ➡️ The chillies are Cheiro Roxa. Such pretty purple to peachy salmon colours... they are hot but in a nice warming way! 🥵😆

17/09/2026

A lovely morning with the folks at Green Health Thames Valley for some indoor/outdoor cooking. Everyone joined in with chopping, grating, slicing, stirring and serving 🥰.... oh and eating 😆💕

We used onions, spinach and beetroot that they had grown in the garden to make vegetable enchilada sliders and beetroot coleslaw (with sultanas and seeds).

As dessert we tried some besan laddu and soan papdi sweets (currently available in Diwali section at Sainsburys). We counted at least 20+ different plants in today's lunch, which is a great step towards eating 30 plants a week... plus lots of fibre! 🤩

It is so rewarding to see people coming together, working as a team, laughing and chatting over a shared love of good food 💕

14/09/2026

One of the great things about recipe testing is... dinner!! 😋😂

Last night's dinner was Mexican enchilada style sliders inspired by a recipe from Cooking Carnival

I changed up the veg a little, used wholemeal rolls and mozzarella instead of Mexican cheese (one person at GHTV is intolerant to chilli) plus I did the final cook in the airfryer 😋 This came in at around 10+ towards our 30 plants a week (more when served with a salad and/or coleslaw) and I can't wait for the people at GHTV to make it for themselves 😋💕

It was really good... packed with veg and definitely one to make again 😋

When I put together recipes to recommend to the folks at Green Health Thames Valley I have a number of things to bear in mind...

1. Is it delicious 😋
2. Does it move everyone towards eating 30 different plants a week
3. Could someone who might not be confident in the kitchen attempt to make it
4. Are the ingredients and cooking methods accessible and budget friendly
5. Is it scalable (for one person or a family)
6. Can it be adapted for different tastes

Original recipe here:
https://www.cookingcarnival.com/enchilada-sliders/

03/09/2026

We had a young family member as a guest chef yesterday 🥰 They are a huge fan of K-pop and all things Korean so we were all inspired to make Jajangmyeon (Blackbean Sauce Noodles) and Hobak Jeon (Korean Zucchini Fritters) for lunch... based on recipes from JinJoo 😋💕

Our first time making Korean recipes at home... we had short notice and couldn't get the exact ingredients from the Oriental Food Store but they did help us find some good alternatives 💕

We all got stuck in with the preparation and cooking... great teamwork 🤩 Everything was delicious 😋 Kevin and I are looking forward to trying more recipes now... especially the spicy ones! 🌶😆

Recipes can be found here
https://kimchimari.com/jjajang-myeon
https://kimchimari.com/pan-fried-zucchini-fritters

23/08/2026

And the chillies are back!! 🌶🌶🥳

Homemade pizza today with garlic, onion, jalapeños, bird eye chillies and pepperoni 🥵🥰

The base recipe was from the PizzaExpress book 'From Italy with Love' and the toppings were random things that we like 😂💕

Kevin s washing up duties are fully back to normal too 😂💕

20/08/2026

Kevin picked up a bug at an event last weekend so I made him eat 'bland' food for 2 days! (I'm so mean, I know 😂). Yesterday he was feeling more settled so I made a super mild potato and coconut curry 🥔🥥

I used a small onion, garlic and ginger paste, turmeric, mild curry powder and a vegetable stock cube to add flavour. Then potatoes, peas... some leftover mushrooms and broccoli all cooked in tinned coconut milk 😋 We did miss the extra chilli we would normally have but it was delicious and easy on the tummy! 🥰

Kevin is now almost back to his usual self and washing up duties will resume shortly! 😂😂💕

Inspired by a recipe from Toni | Plant-Based on a Budget which you can find here:
https://plantbasedonabudget.com/perfect-potato-and-pea-coconut-curry

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