Better late with a well-meaning heart than a disposable bouquet

In the spirit of the day of love hearts last week, if any of this floats your boat, dropping a ❤️ at the bottom would be much appreciated. It also means others can find these treats.

As always everything here is gluten free and designed to nourish. No nasties, real, whole ingredients aimed at keeping you well and your palate excited.

A late Happy Valentine’s to you all. I was aiming for edible rather than disposable.

I scattered some chocolate hearts on the table and sliced up the strawberries I had been sent (by Driscoll’s was so pretty and a simple idea to recreate with skewers in each hull and a few sprays of white blossom to complete.)

This slightly kitsch-but-cute Berry Bouquet was much admired. And preferable to a bunch of roses that would be in the bin in a few days - the scourge of the Red Rose I had never fully appreciated until the seasonal food kings at Natoora ran a campaign calling for “Radicchio not Roses”.

570 tonnes of roses are imported into the UK in February – grown out of their natural season and often discarded within days. Each stem requires c 10 litres of water, intensive chemical treatment and plastic wrapping with high-speed transportation, the Dutch/Kenyan roses = 30kg CO2 per dozen. Compared to a summer UK bouquet at 1.7kg

So I have put together in this post some heart-felt things you can make and enjoy all year round that beat imported roses every time.

And I compiled a list with my favourite heart things. that you can cook with, chop on and bake with forever.

Including this red Le Creuset pot that gets used every day, the mini ramekins to match and the moulds you might need, I have put them all in a list together here. With the NEOM It’s All Rosy candle that also lasts longer than an imported rose, smells better and is made with essential oils not lung impairing ingredients that most room candles use.

So this time last week, as always when that Hallmark day arrives, I veered away from the saccharine enforced love tokens. But I will forever fall for a little love in edible form, especially when they can be for any days and all days whenever you fancy showing someone.

Making the hazelnut chocolates takes no time and they are a cut above your shop bought options, the chia jam takes minutes and you can keep making all year, the Orchids need to be seen.

If you don’t fancy making or stirring the heart list might be for you, or the jam to buy.

This really is a 10 minute Jam, with no thermometer needed, or vats of bubbling sugar.

And as chia has now been highlighted so often on recent years for its fibre and omega goodness, this can be made and eaten immediately.

Commercial jams are mainly sugar - even the ‘sugar-free’ ones are full of unpronounceable and blood spiking sweeteners. This is fruit filled with added goodness from chia seeds that are little health bombs. Full of calcium, protein and iron they bind it all together and fill you up with goodness.

You can keep on repeating it as the seasons shift with all the berries that come your way.