This is the easiest green tomato chutney recipe you will find on the internet, it takes moments to prepare and makes perfect Christmas gifts filled with home-made love.  Just don't eat it all yourself!

Green Tomato Chutney Ingredients

2.2kg tomatoes, it doesn't matter how green

1 litre of malt vinegar

500g soft brown sugar

500g red onions roughly sliced

250g of Sultanas

3 tsp sea salt

3 tsp ground black pepper

Method

Pour the vinegar into a large pan and then empty in the sugar and heat until it dissolves, continue to heat until it reaches boiling.

Add the sultanas and bring back to the boil

Add everything else,

halfway through once the tomatoes start to split their skin, take a potato masher and gently mash the tomatoes, it's so much easier than chopping over 2k of small tomatoes, in essence, this is why it's the easiest green tomato chutney recipe on the internet

After around 90 mins of simmering, it will turn into gloopy thick chutney, take off the boil, wait until it cools and then decant into jars, I paid £5 for 6 380ml jars with lids at Wilko.

I got 5, 380ml jars out of this whole mix.  Label with pretty labels, not forgetting to add the date and then gift all of your friends.

You can either use the chutney straight away or you can leave to season for a few weeks, it's the perfect time of year if you wanted to store it for Christmas, I plan to open one of my jars at my yearly Christmas party and will be serving it with some of my favourite Blackstock Blue cheese.

It's quite a sweet chutney so should nicely sit amongst the Boxing Day buffet or on a cheeseboard to have with some good red wine when your friends and family come together.

I scoured the internet to find a good green tomato chutney recipe and then used this one as a base and altered it slightly for my own needs.

3 Simple salad recipes perfect for barbeque season

It's officially barbeque season and it's time to move away from the bread buns, it doesn't matter if you're doing the Keto diet, you just want to be a little healthier or maybe you just can't face another finger bun with a sausage in it, well I'm here to tell you about some super simple salad recipes which perfectly accompany the delicious cuts of meat we'll all be cooking in our Chimineas or on our BBQ's this summer.

These salads all have at the most, 4 ingredients in them, they're perfect for using up fridge supplies which means you can get healthier whilst also combating food waste.  

Cucumber and Onion salad, the perfect accompaniment for chops - 

Half a cucumber with the seeds removed, roughly chopped

One red onion, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons of Cider Vinegar 

Himalayan Pink Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Simple cherry tomato salad

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes halved

1 Tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar

Salt and Pepper to season

Simple Guacamole 

1 Avocado roughly smashed

The juice of half a lime

Salt and Pepper to season

Cucumber and Lime Salad

Half a cucumber peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped

A handful of roughly chopped coriander

Juice of half a lime

Ground Pepper to Season

A good sprinkle of Himalayan Pink Salt

All of these recipes work perfectly with pork or chicken, some of them work with steak and the cucumber and lime salad is the perfect accompaniment with white fish.

I love inventing new and interesting sides to go with the perfect barbequed meat or Halloumi and if you try any of them out I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have some other ideas.  I'm off to buy some fresh lemons to see what I can come up with next.

Air Fried Halloumi Fries Recipe

If you're anything like me you'll know just how amazing Halloumi Fries are, they may not be so healthy you can eat them every day but it's January, it's dark and we need some home comforts whilst still trying to be a little bit healthier.  This Halloumi fries recipe is different because it's all done in an air fryer, it uses 1 cal oil and it's perfect for our vegetarian friends, in fact, I can confirm it because I tested the recipe just this week on 2 ladies who aren't veggie and one who most definitely is.  These air fried Halloumi fries may just change your life and they only take 15 minutes to cook plus a couple of minutes of preparation.

What you'll need

• 2 tablespoons of the flour of your choice, I used plain flour but you could use spelt or even Polenta which would definitely give that crisp outside.
• Large Pinch of Salt
• Large Pinch of Paprika
• Large Pinch of Black Pepper
• 1 Cal cooking oil spray - (I used Frylight coconut but I use that for everything)
• 1 block of Halloumi sliced into 8 chubby finger-sized portions
• Dip of your choice to serve 

Method

• Combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper on a plate with a fork
• coat each of the Halloumi fingers in the dry mixture
• Switch your air fryer to 200c
• spray the basket with oil making sure it's coated all over so that the fries don't stick to the basket
• put the coated Halloumi fingers into the air fryer and program it for 15 minutes
• around halfway through turn the fries to make sure they're evenly browned on all sides
• After 15 minutes your Halloumi Fries will be ready but they will also be hot so plate up with tongs
• accompany with a handful of peppers, a green salad and add dips of your choice to the side, I love tomato and honey or sweet chilli

1 portion should quite easily feed 2 as a starter or 1 as a main course.

If you don't have an air fryer yet, they're so much cheaper than they used to be and they're incredibly versatile, especially if like me, you're often cooking in single portions, I've had a quick look on Amazon and this Tower air fryer is currently just over £30, it's not quite the same as mine but looks around the same size.

I've made a few different batches of these Halloumi fries and I definitely think that thicker works better than thinner when you're air frying and I also think you don't want to cram the basket too full of they're just going to stick, whatever you do though and however you cook them, I'd love to hear from them if you try the recipe.

Thaikhun Cooking School

I love cooking, it's well known that on any given Monday I'll be found in my kitchen for the afternoon cooking for all of my friends so when I was invited to the brand new Thaikhun Cooking School at Thaikhun in the Metrocentre, Gateshead I got quite excited and dragged along Harriet who I'll be honest, likes to come and eat at my house so that she doesn't have to cook herself, she's the master of a buffet though!!

When I cook I love to make the British classics, I love my slow cooker and there's no end of recipe combinations, I also love the chance to cook stir fries and anything with noodles but I'd never actually cooked Thai before so it was quite an exciting proposition.

The Thaikhun cooking school costs £50 per person and the best part is that at the end of the experience you get to eat what you've cooked, you also get a goody bag and you can take home the recipe to cook for all of your friends and family, I have mine stored for a special occasion.

We cooked Thai spring rolls followed by a Thai green curry and it was so good, the tastiest thing I've eaten in ages,  our teacher was amazing and made the whole process fun, we were also allowed to adapt the recipes so for example in my case, I'm not a huge fan of really spicy food so where some of the students put all of the chillis into their curries I stopped at just 1 chilli, I know, I'm a lightweight but I'm also a super taster.  It was the perfect recipe for me though as I adore anything which is a coconut based recipe and if I make a curry at home it's almost always got a tonne of coconut milk in it.

Harriet loved the experience of being a chef for an evening, I'm not sure if it means she's likely to be whipping us up all Thai food on a regular basis but at least it means I can rope her in to help me cook recipes, she's got far better knife skills than I have!

I think the Thaikhun cooking school is the perfect friendship date night, I mean, we laugh together, cry together, so why not cook together.  It's also the perfect date night or even something different for a birthday or hen party, I'd certainly love to do it all again with some different recipes.  At the end of the day there aren't many restaurants who help you cook the exact same recipes as they're serving to customers, to me that speaks volumes and it doesn't mean I'm any less likely to eat at Thaikhun, in fact for me, I love the fact that they shared so freely but I still love to be cooked for!

Thaikhun invited us along in exchange for a blog post and you know what, that's just fine with me, whilst I'm pretty good at blogging, they're definitely the best at Thai cooking!

Quick and Simple Caribbean Street Party BBQ Menu to Wow Your Friends

You remember Tuesday, when it was hot and sunny all over the country, we only seem to get a couple of these days of Spanish plumes and short heatwaves so what else to do but embrace them with a Caribbean street party BBQ, Grace Foods sent a hamper full of goodies to help with the recipes and challenged me to come up with a menu fit for the best street party in honour of Caribbean food week which takes place this August 22-29th.

I love cooking, I love feeding my friends and I love a good summers BBQ so I invited some friends and the challenge was on.  I had one small problem, at the moment I am working an insane amount of hours and there's not been one week where I've had more than a couple of days at home so my menu and recipes had to be quick, simple and utterly tasty!

Here's my menu - 

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas

Tropical Fruit Salad

3 simple courses fit for even Billy Ocean's Caribbean queen.

If you want to recreate my menu, you just need these 3 simple recipes.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

pour half a jar of Jamaican Jerk marinade (I used Grace Foods, Jamaican Jerk Marinade) over a pack of boneless chicken thighs and pop in the fridge for several hours, then simply BBQ until chargrilled.

Rice and Peas

300g of brown rice

can of coconut milk (I used Grace foods coconut milk from the hamper)

450ml water

can of mixed beans (I used the Grace Food tin of mixed beans from the hamper)

mix everything together and simmer until cooked then squeeze in a whole lime and a large squeeze of honey, serve the chicken with the rice and peas.  

Tropical Fruit Salad

1 Mango

1 Papaya

1 Charentais Melon

1 Pineapple

3 Passion Fruit

Serves 5 people, and very simply just chop everything and then pour over the passion fruit, this is the prettiest brightest dessert and so refreshing, not to mention healthy!

If you fancy celebrating Caribbean Food Week you can find them at 

fb.com/caribbeanfoodweek

twitter.com/caribbeanfoodweek

hashtag #CFW2016

and if you are a lucky duck and live in London there's going to be a huge celebration in Windrush Square, Brixton on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August from 11-7 with street food, live music, cooking demos and a market, yes it makes me wish I lived just a little nearer to London but if you go along I'd love to hear from you or if you fancy cooking up your own caribbean feast do let me know how you get on.

I want to thank Grace Foods for sending me a great hamper full of goodies which helped our party go with a swing! I also want to thank Looby who really got into the whole day and gave everyone Jamaican nails and she and her bff even dressed in a Caribbean party style, I love my daughter!  Oh and thanks to Abigail and my lovely friend Laura who came but only for the food, no photos of them although Harriet was just as keen as the kids for our little party popper fiesta!

A Picnic With Primula Summer Sides

The lovely people at Primula recently got in touch to see if I could use their products for something splendid, a summer picnic perhaps, well anyone who knows me will know that I'm rarely found indoors during the summer months, one of the reasons I love what I do is the ability to be able to write from anywhere and of course when I'm out working photographing kids and families it's a joy to be in our lovely parks and gardens during the sunniest months of the year.  Finally this year I've graduated from garden bench to bistro set and now I'll happily be in the garden from the first moment the sun kisses the pavement to the minute it disappears behind a rather large tree (I have a love/hate relationship with that tree).

Monday nights I have open house dinner, my daughters are usually both here and a friend or two will pop in to be fed knowing how much I love cooking for other people.

This week, it being the sunniest day of the week so far I thought I would put the Primula to good use and make something to go in a lovely summer outdoor picnic so here's my recipe to make cheesy chive baby potato skins.  Now please excuse my non exact measurements, when it comes to cooking I am a bit of this/little of that type of cook.

Cheesy Chive Baby Potato Skins

1 Tablespoon of your favourite Primula, I used Cheese and Chive

Half a small pot of sour cream

Bag of baby New Potatoes

Grated Cheese

Handful of chopped chives (mine came straight from my garden)

Bake the baby potatoes, then cool and slice in half, mix the primula with the sour cream and then spoon on, sprinkle with grated cheese and then pop in the oven at gas mark 6 until the cheese melts and bubbles.  Just before serving sprinkle the chives and then eat as fast as you can before the kids pinch it all.  

It makes a great snack or starter on it's own but we added some salad leaves and continental meats.  I also popped a little Primula on the side of my meat platter and the kids simply scooped it up and popped it on crackers, I'd hate to think just how many tubes of Primula my children have emptied over the years.

Primula have a whole host of recipes on their website so why not pick up a tube and see what you can create.

This is a collaborative post in association with Primula who supplied the cheese and challenged me to create a recipe.  All opinions, words and photos are my own, as is the dog, she's not a stunt or stand in dog, she is of course celebrity dog Holly Bobbins!

Have you got plans for pancake day?

February has hit and I've already noticed my energy levels rising again, the days are visibly longer and when my alarm goes off in the morning I don't feel quite so exhausted although I am still hitting the snooze button.  Yesterday Holly and I had a huge stomp through the countryside with my lovely friend Harriet, it was a lovely Sunday off and the sunshine certainly warmed my soul!

Today was like a breath of spring air, whilst the rest of the country was hit by storm Imogen up in the north east it's been a pretty good day, I didn't quite achieve a long walk because Mondays are mostly manic but it gives me hope that later in the week I might be able to wander in the nearby woodlands noticing winters grip being beaten by the warmth of the coming spring.  Yes I know in reality we still have a way to go yet before the bunnies emerge and the chicks start to cheep their chirpy song but I can't bear to think that it's still likely to snow sometime soon.

Single parenting, winter, self employment, they're all a bit of a bumpy road and definitely not for the faint of heart, whilst I adore my job, I do sometimes think it might be nice to get paid in regular amounts on a monthly basis, luckily I also realise that me trapped behind a desk would be a pathway to my own madness, probably quite literally if I'm honest.  

I have so many plans for this year, I have the dreaded 3rd floor I want to decorate, I want Looby to have her wild flower meadow bedroom and I want every Monday to be open house, it's sort of come to pass that people just end up at my house on a Monday night for dinner and you know what, I love it, I cook simple healthy food that tastes good but contains lots of smart carbs and no refined sugar and everyone goes home happy.  I love having a houseful, I don't even mind the washing up (though I think the time has come to put a dishwasher on the top of my want list), I don't even mind that my children never like the same food and I have to cook at least 2 different meals.  I just love having a table full of chatter and laughter, food unites, it's where friendships are built and strengthened.

Tomorrow, I'm reminded is pancake day, I have a plan for this, 1 sitting of normal fat pancakes for my children (just don't tell them I'm using wholemeal flour) and after slimming world, 1 sitting of some healthier buckwheat protein pancakes with a ricotta and cheese filling for savoury and a strawberries and cream filling for pudding (well we all need a little treat). Happy kids and happy friends I hope.

I'm very excited about this week to come, my article in Cruise International will finally be published on Friday, yes in the shops, a real hold it in your hands magazine.  I've been published before, lots of times actually, my scrapbooking design team days lead to lots of publications but this will be photography and travel writing, something I've been working so hard towards, trying not to get too over excited but to keep having the passion to put myself out there.

This month marks my 10th year of blogging, I am someone who gets excited about a lot of things but sticking with them, well that's another thing indeed so to have before me 10 years of my life, it definitely deserves to be celebrated.  I want to do something special but I'm still not sure what, my lovely friend Laura from Sharpe Recruitment suggested that I should give away afternoon tea with me and you could ask me anything, now I'm not exactly Richard Branson but I guess I've picked up a lot of valuable stuff in 10 years so maybe, just maybe it's not the worst thing you could ever win.  I'd love to know what you think?  How would you mark 10 years of blogging?

Davina's Five Weeks to Sugar Free - An Update.

So you may remember that I formally decided that I would give up all refined sugar, white flours and grains on my birthday and I did indeed start on my birthday weekend although I have to admit that my last alcoholic drink before starting was a glass of wine on the 3rd of February.

So it's been around a month and I'm entering the 5th week and what can I tell you?  Well you're probably wondering dear reader if I have found it hard and the answer would be, no, not so much, the tricky things have been eating out but I always seem to have found something I could eat and on one occasion I even had fish and chips, though I did of course take the fish out of all of the batter.

Cake avoidance has also been tricky when out with friends for coffee, especially if they're enjoying a scrumptious morsel but I've been pretty resolute and I know now that I definitely have will power and determination when I want to!

I think for me the best thing that has happened is the increase in energy, just after Christmas I bought my first Fitbit and I have gradually seen my activity rates creep up and now I am happy to report that I've never done less than 10K steps since 13th Feb and even when I have had office days and I'm working I've made up for it when I have come home, I've even done the last couple of thousand steps around my sitting room if necessary.

Last week at my official Slimming World weigh in I had lost 6lb since I started the sugar free plan but remarkably for me it's the inches which I seem to have lost, I wish I'd taken measurements.  I took a photo in the mirror when I was staying in Edinburgh earlier in the week and for the first time in ages I didn't totally hate what I saw.

I've 13lb to get to my target so still some way but I think if I can do it my leggies are going to look pretty brilliant.

I thought I would also share with you my favourite recipe I've created over the last month so here it is, I give you Chilli Con Quinoa

So first of all you have to cook the Quinoa, this is tri-coloured but I've also used the normal stuff which is fine also.

So you take your Quinoa, add double the amount of water or slightly more, give it a good salting, peppering and then add a heaped teaspoon of hot chilli power in (the one which contains paprika etc, not just chilli) and then cook until ready, Quinoa when ready goes slightly translucent but it's still got a crunch to it.

Now at this point you could eat it warm and add chicken etc but I like to let it cool down and then I pop it into a large container with chopped peppers and onion and then I keep it in the fridge and eat when required, the above photo I added beetroot and goats cheese and I can confirm that it was a super tasty salad which is syn free on Slimming World (as long as you count your goats cheese as a HEA) really filling, full of the right type of fats and totally delish!

Now I do have to admit that when I was at the bloggers event in Edinburgh on Thurs/Fri I had a tiny bit of alcohol and also some sugars but yesterday I was straight back on the sugar free wagon.  What I did find is that if you don't eat sugar and then you do it's actually quite a high for a while, peculiar how it seems to have a drug like effect, that can't be good can it?