Indonesian-inspired satay vegetable stir fry 


Mr H and I are total travel junkies – before we’ve even unpacked our suitcases from our last holiday we’re already planning where to go for our next one. We love adventures; exploring new cities, immersing ourselves in different cultures, and of course sampling the local cuisine.  Continue reading

Four ingredient chocolate milk


Chocolate milk is just the ultimate indulgence isn’t it? For me, it also comes with a hint of happy nostalgia – it takes me right back to being little and finding it hilarious to blow bubbles in it with my straw. I still find it pretty funny (and I’m sure my mum would still tell me off if she caught me doing it!).

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The best choc chip peanut butter (chickpea!) cookies 


Did you ever watch Sesame Street when you were little? Well I hope so, because if you didn’t then this little blurb is going to be lost on you, so feel free to skip down to the ingredients if you like. Back to the Street – I often feel like as an adult, I morph between Sesame Street’s characters on a daily basis like nobody’s business; some days I’m a happy-go-lucky Elmo, other days (particularly at certain times of the month) I will admit to having my Oscar the Grouch moments, and then there are the times when I turn into the Cookie Monster, and there’s only one thing that will satisfy my cravings.  Continue reading

Butternut squash ‘quisotto’ 


Risotto is one of those things I’ve always liked the taste of, but I could never quite bear how it made me feel after eating it. Arborio rice (the rice that is used in a typical risotto) is particularly starchy, so can easily leave you feeling bloated and heavy after you’ve consumed a whole bowl of it in one go. Pair that with a rich, cheesy sauce as many risotto recipes do and you’ve got a combination that leaves many people feeling pretty darn rubbish. Continue reading

(Builders’ best) black bean brownies

This recipe is totally dedicated to my lovely builders – for the last couple of weeks not only have they worked construction-related miracles in the Hollingsworth household, but they have also doubled up as the most fabulous recipe testers.

In the last fortnight I’ve been working on making the perfect black bean brownie – I can’t tell you how many batches they’ve tried (and, by their own admission, enjoyed). The first time I produced a tray fresh out the oven I spoke nothing of their secret ingredient, and when I confessed (post consumption) what the brownies were made of they were most surprised! To be honest it’s for that reason that I prefer black bean brownies over sweet potato ones – you can’t really taste the beans at all and they just add to the texture and overall deliciousness. Continue reading

Ferrero Rocher (aka six ingredient chocolate hazelnut balls)

Unless you lived under a rock in the 90’s (or unless you were too young to remember or NOT EVEN BORN YET which makes me feel so old I can’t even bear thinking about it), you’ll remember that advert where the butler walks around an ambassador’s party with a pyramid of Ferrero Rocher. Brilliant marketing though this was (given that just about everyone seems to remember it) it upset me for a number of reasons; Continue reading

Gloriously good granola


 When people used to tell me they made their own granola, in my head they were instantly elevated to the dizzy heights of domestic goddess – I mean who has the time to bake their own granola, and also how the hell do you make it?
Well things sure have changed since then and I’ll tell you something – you can knock up a huge batch of granola that will last you all week in less than half an hour. And it’s really easy. And you’ll look like a regular Bree Van der Camp to all your friends and fam. Winning. Continue reading

Israeli salad


My favourite thing about visiting Israel has to be the food (unless my cousins are reading this in which case my favourite thing is seeing family, closely followed by the food). They might call it the land of milk and honey, but for me it’s the land of houmous, falafel, baba ghanoush, dates, figs, oranges – the list just goes on and on.

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Tasty tacos with all the trimmings

 

When I used to think of Mexican food (actually I suppose we should call it Tex Mex food – I’m sure any Mexican would tell us that what we think of as their cuisine is about as Mexican as French fries are French) I would envision fried tortillas, greasy cheese, stodgy meat and an abundance of salt. I used to love a burrito, but I always felt so lethargic afterwards, and I always needed to drink about a litre of water just to quench the thirst that all that salty food had induced. Continue reading

Creamy Asian slaw

 

There must be some unwritten rule somewhere giving coleslaw the right to turn up at every salad bar, crash every barbecue and sneak into every family party buffet. To us, cabbage and carrots drowned in mayonnaise shouldn’t even be classed as a salad, maybe a condiment or a side dish, but a salad!? Never.

You might have realised we aren’t the biggest fans of traditional coleslaw. For starters it’s incredibly unhealthy (we’ve seen so many people load up their plates with coleslaw under the pretence that they are ‘being good’) and to be  quite honest our taste buds are of the opinion that it’s a little bit bland. And don’t even get us started on all the nasties that lurk in shop bought versions! Continue reading