A Creative Spirit
I love discovering new recipes and more often than not adding a twist or two of my own. Thistles and Kiwis recently shared a recipe: salsiccia con patate e pomodori al forno, or sausages baked in the oven with potatoes and capsicum, which tagged my taste buds radar. I had some sausages in the freezer,... Continue Reading →
For this week's Food on Friday topic, I want to experiment using alternatives to refined sugar so I can bake diabetic friendly cakes and cookies. I have a vague idea in theory, but am clueless in practice. I needed to find a sugar replacement. In one cookbook of diabetic recipes, Agave syrup was recommended, but... Continue Reading →
Let's talk about food! Today's post is inspired by a visit to The Trout Inn, a traditional old English pub located on the bank of the River Thames in Lechlade. It is the perfect location to enjoy a traditional English 'Ploughman's' lunch. As I was basking in the sunshine, enjoying lunch, I pondered on the... Continue Reading →
Every year, we Brits celebrate Shrove Tuesday with pancakes. We call it 'Pancake Day'. This brilliant YouTube video explains why. https://youtu.be/pw6oRE7NKVM?si=_wpNybpoK8A9NFCO This traditional batter recipe dates back to 1439, as per Historic UK Quote: "The ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolise four points of significance at this time of year: Eggs ~ CreationFlour... Continue Reading →
Let's talk about food. I love that oats are so versatile and offer an enjoyable substitute for flour. The more I trawl the internet for healthy recipes, the more I enjoy experimenting and researching new ideas to avoid ultra-processed foods. However, whilst researching, I have discovered there is a lot of conflicting advice. Who do... Continue Reading →
Let's talk about food! I've been busy baking. This oat bread recipe came courtesy of a friend of a friend who is not only gluten intolerant but also likes to avoid UPF (Ultra Processed Foods). Anyway, I gave the recipe a whirl, and I wasn't disappointed . The bread tasted delicious, especially when served with... Continue Reading →
Let's talk about food. This week, I focus on oranges. Mr Piglet picked a bowl and a shopping bag full of oranges from our tree—about 12kg. Unfortunately, they are waaaay too sour this year to juice, so I decided to get creative and make ... Iced Oranges I've made them before, and they were seriously... Continue Reading →
With a name like Piglet, you've probably gathered I love food, whether it's growing, cooking, or eating out. More recently, as part of my drive to get fit, I have been researching the health benefits of different ingredients, experimenting with new recipes, and logging some of my successes and disasters on Foodie Friday. ARE HARD-COPY... Continue Reading →
As part of my drive to step outside my foodie comfort zone, I searched Pinterest for some Christmassy 'aperitivo' ideas and found this Christmas Tree cheese and spinach breadsticks. Great. I had fresh spinach in the garden, begging to be eaten before the slugs and snails ate it all. I adapted the original recipe to... Continue Reading →
Yes, you read the title correctly! The cake sounds weird, but I was assured it tastes delicious—a shame I'm on a diet and it's loaded with sugar. I am no stranger to carrot or apple cake, so I wonder if I could jazz up the beetroot cake by using oats instead of flour, finding a... Continue Reading →
Another Wild Wednesday. This week, I feature wild fennel, Foeniculum vulgare. Everywhere I look, I see wild fennel. Apparently, you can use it for cooking, but although there is an abundance growing on the land near our property, so far, I've not been tempted. * * https://www.letseatweeds.com/look-alikes/fennel-look-alikes/ The Let's Eat Weeds website offers interesting references... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee this weekend, I'd have to decline cake and cookies and watch while you enjoyed one of these delicious offerings. Tempting desserts at Sugar and Salt, Portimao. It's been a hectic week—a very hectic week socialising or, as my American friend calls it - 'gladding'. I've been gladding when I should... Continue Reading →
On my last visit to France I discovered an unusual way to serve my favourite dips hummus, Tzatziki and guacamole. The idea was SO simple yet effective I'm surprised I did not think of it myself! As you can see from the photographs the peppers form the train carriages which hold the vegetable sticks, and... Continue Reading →
The following recipe and photograph are courtesy of Colin, one of my blog followers. When he first suggested the recipe I thought using beetroot AND chocolate in a cake sounded rather bizarre. But then I thought, why not, so this weekend I'm going to give it a try. Anyone else game? If you cook the... Continue Reading →
During one of our visits to France I discovered an addictive sweet biscuit called nougatine. It's a wafer thin almond concoction eaten with coffee/tea or used as a decorative wafer when serving ice cream. Or if you are like me, and a real pig, you could munch your way through this addictive creation in one... Continue Reading →
I discovered this one-pot recipe when we went to a friend's house for dinner one evening. I loved it - not only is it delicious, but also simple to prepare and cook. Over time I discovered other favorites and it slipped from the weekly menu plan. However, a couple of week's ago reading "Out with... Continue Reading →
This traditional Easter recipe is courtesy of a friend in Northern Portugal. Tarte de Páscoa (Easter Tart) Ingredients Filo pastry (18 circles). I used 2 x 230g packets of *PÂte Feuilletée which I think is ready-made filo pastry. 1 medium onion (finely chopped) 500gr Spinach 4 Hardboiled Eggs 2 Uncooked eggs 70gr Parmesan Cheese 30gr... Continue Reading →
Or perhaps better known as Chocolate Salami! Chocolate Salami is very popular in the Algarve and is a great biscuity-cake to serve with tea or coffee. It's extremely rich so it's wise to cut the slices as thin as possible. I can only assume the name comes from its chouriço sausage-like appearance. So after my... Continue Reading →
From plot to plate - I grew the red cabbage used in this recipe in my vegetable plot! Ingredients Small Red Cabbage (sliced finely) 1 Onion (chopped) 1 Packet of smoked lardons (bacon pieces) Knob of lard or splash of olive oil 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds or cumin powder 1 bay leaf Salt to... Continue Reading →
OK, OK so I win no prizes for my food photography! I promise it tastes far better than it looks in this picture so any food photography tips gratefully received! One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to research and cook one new recipe each week. This weeks recipe "Savoury Pear Delight" was kindly supplied... Continue Reading →
Piglet in Portugal 