Winter Warmer: Mushroom & Brown Ale Soup

Mushroom Brown Ale Soup

It’s cold outside now. The temperature has moved on from autumn and over to a blustery winter, today at least. It’s time to get yourself indoors, batten down the hatches and make a big batch of something warm. Maybe a squash soup, a hearty meat stew or something a little different but equally as tasty, like this brown ale, mushroom & lentil soup. It’ll sort out your lunches for a few days or feed a family for a dark wintery evening. So wrap yourself up warm and get a large pot onto the stove for this one.

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“Christmas” Pancakes: Matcha Pancakes w/ Maple, Cinnamon Cranberries

Matcha PancakesIt’s December 1st, and we all know what that means, right? It’s CHRISTMAS. You’ll get wall to wall festive recipes from now on, with added Reuben: Now I’ve got that out of my system it’s time to talk about more serious matters, like breakfast food. Or in this case, pancakes. In fact, wait a minute, how about CHRISTMAS PANCAKES? It’s like two of the best things in life put together. Breakfast food and Christmas. What isn’t to like? I mean, matcha isn’t very Christmassy, but any excuse to crack out the green stuff (you saw my Halloween cookies, right?) and what isn’t festive about the combo of green and red? Read more

Pumpkin Jam & Slow Cooker Giveaway

Pumpkin Jam

Oh man, it’s been a stressful week. I had a wonderful weekend away in Wales (The Wye Valley, more on that to come) and was feeling oh so relaxed, then I came back to an insanely busy and stressful few days both in and out of the office. Just before I went away however, I was approached by Domu, who asked me to create a slow cooker recipe for their new Slow Cooker Recipe Hub. This prompted me to take my slow cooker with me to Wales and I made a couple of different things, a more standard 3 bean chilli and then the recipe I opted to share with them, Pumpkin Jam. Yeah, OK, I’ve probably overdone it on the pumpkin this year (the pancakes aren’t even up yet…).
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Sweet Potato, Coconut & Chilli Soup

Sweet Potato, Coconut & Chilli Soup

I’ve started on the autumn food. I’ve jumped in head first and I’m as good as swimming in the piles of coloured leaves after a few of the things I’ve made this week (more of those to come soon). I’ve also gone veggie for the month of October (partly in solidarity to a couple of workmates giving up smoking for Stoptober and partly because of wanting to see whether I could). The main issue is lunch options. Most shops have them, but due to my (completely rational) hatred of cucumber and not being keen on cold egg, it’s better to make my own. I’m good with this anyway as I try to make my lunches each week as it is. This is one I’ve made countless times, and when I got to the shop to find they’d not got any butternut squash, it was my go to fall back option. Sweet potato, coconut & chilli soup is warming, creamy and has a nice little kick.
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