Lore & Ladle

03/08/2026

I love making this refreshing and vivid sorbet in the summer. Mint and blackcurrants are a perfect pairing.

Find the recipe for "minted black currant sorbet" on hungrycravings.com. It's really simple, and I like that it captures the taste of fresh blackcurrants, without cooking them.

I reckon this would be great with some rum for a kind of frozen daiquiri too!

20/07/2026

Our gooseberry bush has been prolific this summer and my 6-year-old asked why they're called gooseberries. Cue a Google search, which uncovered this little nugget of info!

19/07/2026

Happy World Ice Cream Day 🍦

I've just made 2 batches of this over the past 3 days because it is SO delicious. (And we had a glut of strawberries in our garden).

Recipe by Felicity Cloake in The Guardian. Search for "the perfect strawberry ice cream". And it really is 🍓

11/05/2026

In-season inspiration: broad beans.

This is my favourite way to eat broad beans - a warm dip, liberally spread over focaccia 😋

Cook (boil) the beans until tender, then blitz with garlic, olive oil and salt to taste. Scatter mint leaves over the top, if you have some to hand.

09/05/2026

Going through a bit of a smoothie phase at the moment. I drink it, or make ice lollies for the kids 😋

Decided to add rhubarb from the garden today and it is YUM.

*Top tip* Use frozen berries to keep costs down, and have smoothies whenever you fancy!

Vague recipe for this rhubarb, strawberry & raspberry smoothie:

- Put 1 banana, a large handful of frozen strawberries and 4 tbsp coconut Greek yoghurt to your blender. Allow the strawberries to thaw a bit whilst you do the rest...
- Chop 2 stalks of rhubarb into small pieces. Heat in a saucepan with a bit of water and a dash of vanilla extract.
- Cook the rhubarb until it's soft and falling apart when you poke a spoon at it. Add a bit of water if the mix is getting too dry / sticking on the bottom.
- Add a large handful of frozen raspberries to the rhubarb towards the end of cooking and stir until hot. (You could also add the frozen raspberries in step 1 but it'll be grittier because of the seeds).
- Sieve the rhubarb and raspberry mix so that you capture a smooth purée in a bowl.
- Add the purée to the blender, then blitz til smooth.
- If it's too thick, add some apple juice.
- If you like it a little sweeter, add honey or maple syrup to taste.

Enjoy 🍓

06/05/2026

This year's birthday cakes for my children 🎂

They like giving me tough briefs 😅

I love the joy it brings them though 🩷

13/04/2026

🌱 Wild garlic season 🌱

There is so much wild garlic in Dingwall at the moment 🙌🏼 Remember to pick the leaves without disturbing the roots, try to avoid low lying patches where animals might have peed, and wash the leaves thoroughly when you get home!

I love making it into a pesto - just blitz with olive oil, parmesan, toasted pine nuts, a dash of lemon juice and a sprinkling of salt 😋

16/03/2026

So excited to launch an Adult Beginners' Cookery Course, starting in April. The course will run over three consecutive Tuesdays at Dingwall Community Centre. Let's get cooking! 🍳

Learn to cook with Lore & Ladle! You'll learn basic skills to help you pull together tasty, healthy, homecooked meals.

16/03/2026

⭐ Top tips for helping children to develop healthy eating habits. (Part 2) ⭐

In the last post, we explored how role modelling, choice and familiarity help children to eat healthily.

So what else works, according to research...?

⚖️ Be neutral. Labelling some foods (generally high in salt, fat or sugar) “bad” or a “treat” makes little brains crave it more, because they see it as ‘special’ or of higher status. Messages should instead be about balance.

Using food as a punishment (“if you don’t eat all your meal, you’ll get no pudding!”) or reward (“be good and you’ll get a chocolate”) makes this even worse. In extreme circumstances, the emotional guilt and/or reward become wrapped up in food choices, and can lead to disordered eating, later in life.

I don’t ban sweets and chocolate with my children because that would only make them want it more. Instead, I help them decide on a responsible amount, and I don’t let them eat sweet things after dinner because “they give you lots of energy, and it’ll soon be time to sleep”. When we go to the supermarket together, I also let them choose something both from the snack aisle and the fruit aisle, giving them equal ‘specialness’.

🎃 Make food fun. Some books say exploring food outside of mealtimes can build familiarity – e.g. potato printing, ‘guess the vegetable’, carving pumpkins. I’ve also found that little games can help at the dinner table, like “which food makes the biggest crunch”. My eldest only tried red pepper and celery because of this contest.

🍳 Cook with them. Cooking, and growing, food is magic to children. Many studies have shown that children are more likely to try food that they have grown or prepared themselves.

I can vouch for this 💯. They don’t always come back for more, but they always try something they’ve grown or made themselves. My 5-year-old's most varied meal is the homemade pizza we create together once a fortnight. Through trying tiny amounts of things, she now adds artichoke, capers, olives and even anchovies to hers! This is the same child who won't even lick a piece of broccoli...

N.B. I am not a dietitian. If you are worried about your child’s eating, talk to your GP.

11/03/2026

⭐ Top tips for helping children to develop healthy eating habits. (Part 1) ⭐

These are things that the literature says, and I’ve tested. I’ll be honest – sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I think the key is to just keep trying and hope that the hard work will pay off eventually!

Children often start out very open to different tastes, but from the toddler years, to about 6 or 7, it is very normal for them to be ‘neophobic’ (scared of new foods). This presents itself as ‘picky’ or ‘fussy’ eating. My 5-year-old is very much in this stage!

So, what can we do to set them up as best we can?

🍝 Eat together, at a table – whenever possible. Role modelling is really important. Just by enjoying varied, balanced, tasty meals yourself, you are teaching your children what a healthy relationship with food looks like.

🍱 You decide what your children eat. They decide how much. Giving children choice about what they eat (within the boundaries you set) takes the pressure off them to ‘eat everything on the plate’, and encourages them to trust their body signals about hunger and fullness. Serving food on sharing plates in the middle of the table is a good way of doing this, but isn't always practical.

🥦 Studies have shown that you may have to ‘expose’ children to a new food at least 15 times before they will dare to taste it. In my household, it’s probably more like 50 for some foods, and still counting… But a lick is a win in my book! It’s also proven that introducing a new food alongside a familiar, liked food can be helpful.

N.B. I am not a dietitian. If you are worried about your child's eating, talk to your GP)