I’ll admit that this week I was feeling a little low on styling juice. It’s been too hot to think, and there isn’t much content to be mined when you’ve just worn a swimsuit with a pair of old sports shorts all week. In a way, I feel like I’m in a wardrobe off-season. It’s cool. It happens from time to time. I think of it a bit like how I get my best ideas for work when I’m on holiday. Your brain needs the break, and when I’m ready to switch on the engine again, I’m sure my style will feel fresh and new and maybe even evolved. She says as she’s sat writing this post in pants and a holey grey jumper.
So I went back to the ol’ mantra of ‘write what you’re excited to write’, and today that’s, well, food. I’ve had this post sitting in my drafts for a few months and added to it whenever a recipe I wanted to share popped into my mind, and now there are 38 in total. Breakfast is a bit of a non-event; just some kind of smoothie during the week, and crepes or fluffy pancakes at the weekend, so here’s a mix of lunchtime ideas, my go-to recipes for dinner (and hosting!) and a very hefty section dedicated to baking and desserts because that’s my favourite.
NOTE: This post might make it seem like I cook a home-cooked dinner every single evening, but let the record show that we eat fish fingers, chips and beans more than I’d like to admit. And India Knight was right, these frozen fries are next level.
‘Things on toast’ is a classic category for me (I’m a Brit after all - beans and toast is in my BLOOD). Here are some lunchtime classics:
Peas on toast - sounds gross, but hear me out. Heat some peas, then mash them up with a fork, mix in plenty of salt, pepper and grated parmesan and dare I say, I prefer it to avocado.
Cream cheese and tomatoes - this was my pregnancy craving. Layer on a thick layer of cream cheese (get your hands on this), top with tomatoes cut in half, drizzle on olive oil and season.
Apple, cheese and mustard - another absolutely vile-sounding mix that I make a lot over winter. Pop two slices of bread under the grill, toast it on one side, then turn it over and top with a mixture of one grated apple, a handful of grated cheddar, and a spoonful of wholegrain mustard. Grill that side until it’s a little melty. Thank me later.
Ricotta, peaches and honey - My summery ‘on toast’ go-to. Smear with ricotta, then top with any kind of chopped stone fruit you have hanging around and add a little honey (got any fresh thyme? Throw it on!), done.
My go-to picnic menu:
This Jammy Pepper Pasta Salad that gets better as it sweats in the sun (really!). I ignore the ricotta salata instructions and just use feta instead.
I wouldn’t say I’m a sausage lover (watch it!), but those mini little cocktail sausages that are like 20% pork? YES PLEASE. Mix them with oodles of honey and wholegrain mustard, then cook until nicely glazed. They are always the first thing to go.
At the last picnic I went to, I made Allison Roman’s ‘Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake’, which in her book is known as ‘Doughnut Cake’, and it was heavenly. It travelled well and was so light and fluffy. I return to it every summer.
If you take on one thing from this post, make it this mango salsa recipe. It’s SO easy to make and helpful to have on hand for summer dinners. Chop up the following, mix it in a bowl, and you’re good to go:
2 mangos
½ red onion
1 red pepper
1 chilli
The juice of one lime
You could throw in coriander here, but I’m a card-carrying coriander-hater, so I omit it.
A quick interlude here on side salads, which get a bad rap because I believe in order to be tasty, they must be properly dressed. Again, this sounds like a faff, but I just put all the ingredients into a little container, shake to emulsify (FUN!), and then tip it on. All you need:
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
The juice of ½ lemon (sometimes I add more if it needs a little more acid)
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and pepper
A quick note on hosting. I love to cook! I love to have people over! But catering for other people’s tastes/little kids who have a whole host of preferences can be tricky. I find the easiest thing to do is to lay out a kind of ‘picky bits’ dinner. Tacos are great for that. I do big tortilla wraps, small corn tacos, some kind of slow-cooked meat (this one is great) or a shredded rotisserie chicken (sometimes both - options are what we’re going for here!), grated cheese, the aforementioned mango salsa, tomato salsa, guacamole, avocado chunks, sour cream, pickled red onions, rocket. Everyone can make their own and just pick out what they want. It always goes down well.
Once a year I host a Friendsgiving for my mates and spend the whole day making a feast. I can’t exactly comment on how authentic it is to the true Thanksgiving experience, but all of these recipes come highly recommended:
This is the recipe I use for the chicken and the gravy (we’re just not turkey fans!)
Dare I say that these Soft Dinner Rolls are the star of the show
I make this Pumpkin Pie (I really go hard on Allison Roman’s Thanksgiving content)
…and good grief this Ina Garten Brownie Pudding recipe is SO easy and SO good.
This post could have been just about cookies, because they are kind of my thing. This cookie recipe on my old blog has been viewed over ONE MILLION times, and it’s still the topic I get tagged in most online, even though I posted it seven years ago. I really do love cookies. I love to eat them. I love to make them. Baking cookies is my happy place.
NOTE: I have better luck with U.K cookie recipes, as our butter behaves differently from butter in the U.S, so I often find the American cookie recipes don’t translate too well. Just my two cents!
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