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I really love homemade Lamb Curry. Here is a quick recipe that I sometimes use:

Lamb Curry
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 spring onions finely chopped
• 1 glove garlic
• 2 tsp curry powder (or make own mix of 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tumeric, 1/4 ginger powder, 1/4 dried chilli flakes)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 4 lamb chops
• 2 tbsp dried red lentils

Method:

1. Fry onion, garlic and curry powder in frying pan on medium heat, add lamb chops and sear on both sides.
2. Pour tinned tomatoes and lentils into pan, allow to bubble and then turn down to a low heat and place on a lid*.
3. Allow to cook on a very low heat for 20 mins.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with a tasty rice:

1. Heat a potion of mixed vegetables in the microwave, stir veg into a packet of cooked microwave rice.
2. Add sultanas and chopped fresh coriander to the rice.

*Use a large heatproof plate if you do not have a lid with your frying pan.

Sometime ago I wrote about a fantastic offer Waitrose do at their fish counter. They call it Garnish & Go and you can read that blog post here. However, you don’t have to go to Waitrose to buy your fish. For years now, inspired by Jamie Oliver, I have baked fish in a tin foil parcel. Here are three recipes using this idea:

Lemon Salmon

It’s my 30th birthday this week and so I thought a list of my 30 favourite foods would be an interesting exercise. Here are a random list of 30 foods I really love:

1. Chocolate eclairs with patisserie cream (proper French eclairs)
2. Scallops
3. Baked figs
4. Carrot cake
5. Steak au Poivre
6. Potato Dauphinoise
7. Samphire pork pies
8. Parma ham
9. Watercress
10. Parmesan cheese
11. Violet & Rose handmade chocolates
12. Asparagus
13. My Grandpa’s (he’s nearly 90 by the way) braised steak casserole
14. My Mum’s tomato pasta
15. My Mother-in-law’s fish pie
16. St Helen’s Goat’s cream
17. Fruit crumble & custard
18. Roast parsnips
19. Gravlax
20. Boursin cheese
21. Pasta cooked with peas, wine & garlic
22. Nigella Lawson’s Moroccan lamb curry
23. Soft chocolate chip American style cookies
24. Olives
25. Greengages
26. Papaya
27. Halloumi cheese
28. Roquefort
29. Tiffin
30. Chipolatas

After my first baby baking experience my Mum decided to make biscuits with Baby G. It was good fun, and messy, but we were surprised by how much he loved the biscuits. For days after all the biscuits were eaten he kept asking for them.

Nanny had bought lots of biscuit cutters and Baby G chose a train, a car and a butterfly cutter to use. Forever after he kept asking “Where a train biscuit?” “Where a car biscuit gone?”

We used a basic recipe which you can add flavour to such as mixed spice, giner or vanilla. Here is the recipe which we took from a kids cookbook I used to use when I was little!

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 125g butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tsp mixed spice

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190°c.
2. Beat butter and sugar together, slowly add the egg and mix.
3. Sift in the flour and spice into the bowl and mix everything together to make a firm ball of dough.
4. Sprink some flour on a rolling pin and onto surface, then roll out dough.
5. Cut the dough into shapes and place on a baking tray in the oven for 10 mins.

Here are 5 steps to create your own meal plan:

1. Find out the weekly schedule for everybody in your family; see who will be eating at home on what days; see which days are busy and plan an easy meal to prepare.
2. Look through the fridge/cupboards and see what there is to use, this will prevent duplicates being bought and keeps costs down.
3. Write a list of 7 meals and, if lunch planning too, write a list of 7 lunch meals (or use an ilovemealplans.com meal plan from the meal plan page).
4. Write a shopping list including all the things you need for your 7 meals plus extras such as cleaning products.
5. Do one big shopping trip* and get everything you need, or make an online grocery order and have it delivered to your door.

*As a stay at home Mum I do one big weekly shop but leave some fresh items, such as salad, to bought throughout the week. Then later in the week I plan into my routine a trip to a local shop when it is convienent to buy a few fresh ingredients. If you plan ahead this can fit into an routine such as a trip to a shop on the way home from work, rather than arriving home and realising it is necessary to go out again to the shops.

If you use my 5 steps to meal planning you may find it helpful to use a meal plan chart and place it somewhere that everyone can see it. I have found an attractive free meal plan at this website: OlliBird.com