new packaging!

ok well just new ribbon.
I bought some gorgeous buttery yellow ribbon in John Lewis recently and it just looked so perfect against my black boxes. My summer orders will be going out with cornflower blue or yellow ribbon, gorgeous!
Needless to say the John Lewis ribbon was a little over priced so I am using my usual supplier, who has a lot more colours to choose from.

I feel myself wandering towards gingham or lilac ribbon too.

You seriously can never have too much ribbon.

Same with beads. And chocolate.

Anyway, I hope you like the new look!

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easy flourless peanut butter cookies

These have to be the easiest cookies to make ever. Four ingredients, made and in and out the oven in 30 minutes, and no flour!

They are crumbly and soft and if you want to add a 5th ingredient I urge you to press in some dark chocolate chips.

Please use good quality peanut butter for these, I opted for Whole Earth organic peanut butter which has nice chunky peanut pieces in it, and a lot less oily than standard peanut butter.

Update - 14/7 - Something I forgot to say! I tried these with a mixture of honey and sugar too, 3/4 of the sugar and 1/4 of soft set honey which works just as well. I think half and half might even work too!

Makes 24 cookies
adapted from joy the baker

1 cup (200g) good quality crunchy peanut butter
1 cup (200g) of brown or caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp of baking powder

Preheat your oven to 180c / gas mark 4. Grease and line a flat baking sheet. This recipe makes two batches, if you have two trays you can cook them at once or cook in batches.

Add your peanut butter, sugar and baking powder to a mixing bowl, stir well to combine the ingredients. Add in your beaten egg and mix for a few minutes until you have a soft dough.

Form into walnut sized dough balls and add to your baking sheet, press down with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.
Leave to cool completely on the baking tray (I know, torture!) so they harden slightly - they are quite soft when they come out of the oven.

Serve with a large cup of tea, feet up and begin dunking!

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slow roasted duck legs, broccoli coleslaw and harissa cous cous

Hey look I'm blogging about savoury things - how often does this happen? Not very!

I made this lovely fresh summery meal on Sunday with some duck legs I'd stashed in the freezer, plenty of spices and this really great broccoli coleslaw.

Duck loves spices and so I coated them in a mixture of most things I had in the cupboard along with some garlic cloves, put them in the oven and let them roast slowly for a few hours. The sides come together in no time which is good in this hot weather, you don't want the oven and the cooker on at the same time!

Ingredients:
Serves 2 with leftovers for 1


For the duck:
2 duck legs
2 tsps cumin
2 tsps paprika
2 tsps ground coriander
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper
4 cloves of garlic

For the coleslaw:
1 head of fresh broccoli
2 tbsps of creme fraiche
1 tbsps of yoghurt
about 1/4 bell pepper, finely sliced
1/4 onion finely sliced
dash of hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper
juice of half lemon

For the cous cous:
Approx 250g cous cous (mine made extra for lunch the next day)
1/2 onion
1 tsp each cumin, ground coriander, chili powder
2 sundried tomatoes
olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons of harissa paste

Heat your oven up to the highest setting, sprinkle all the spices on to the duck legs and rub in so they are completely coated, concentrate on getting the spices mainly on the skin. Put in a roasting tray with the four garlic cloves (unpeeled) underneath. Roast on the highest setting for about 30minutes to crisp up the skin. Then cover with turn down to gas mark 2 and cook for about 2-3 hours. For the last 1/2 hour remove the foil.

To make your coleslaw roughly but finely chop up the broccoli, add to a bowl with the onion and the pepper. Add in the rest of your ingredients and mix well! Season extra with spices to taste.

For the cous cous, add the dry cous cous and chopped up sundried tomatoes to a bowl and pour over approx 2 times the amount of water. Cover and leave for 10-15minutes til all the water has been absorbed.
Meanwhile fry your onion, finely sliced, in a frying pan, then add in the cumin, ground coriander, chili powder to coat the onions and fry til soft. Once your cous cous is done all this to the frying pan on a very low heat. Mix to combine the onions and cous cous. Then add in your harissa and mix together again.

Serve your duck legs with the roasted garlic cloves which should be nice and sweet and soft inside. This dish is also lovely with a dollop of houmous, which we also added!

Yum!

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Friday Folksy Finds

Finds from Folksy on a Friday, yay!

Set of 4 Coasters by Leanne Wood Designs

Blue Flower Brooch by Bliss Knits

Silver Bird Necklace by Ali Bali Jewellery

Camper Van Cushion by HWR Designs

Hope you find something you love on Folksy today!

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Very summery Eton mess

I have covered this topic in a more autumnal theme already but I liked this version so much so I thought I'd share!

I made this with the berries we picked on holiday, redcurrants and strawberries along with some of our homegrown rhubarb. Then I added some creme fraiche sweetened with honey and some crushed up shop bought meringue nests.

I roasted the rhubarb in the oven with a splish of water and some ground ginger, for about 15 minutes, whilst I let the strawberries and redcurrants macerate with some sugar and balsamic vinegar.

The combinations were lovely, although I have to say maybe I picked my rhubarb at the wrong time. Being away for a week meant it hadn't been watered so it was very woody!! I think I'll give it a week or so before I pick more..

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wordless wednesday

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Back from holiday!

I have neglected the blog somewhat, I've been back from my hols for 4 days now!

We had a fantastic time in Somerset with gorgeous weather.

Lots more pictures on my Flickr account which you can find here

I'll be catching up on some blogging this week too, two new recipes and some lovely handmade finds might find their way in!

Hope you are having a lovely summer :)

xx

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