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Actifry Garlic Butter Parmentier Potatoes

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Yes..another Actifry recipe for you. Aren’t you lucky? I remember when I first had my Actifry that I thought you just used it to cook healthier versions of your favourite fast foods such as chips but I have since realised you can cook pretty much anything in it. I’ve used it to cook sausages , garlic dough balls, veggies and last week my crispy chicken thighs. My latest creation are these flavourful Actifry Garlic Butter Parmentier Potatoes.

Parmentier is a fancy word for cubed potatoes typically cooked in butter and/or herbs. I like fancy words when it comes to food!

You could use a little oil instead of butter if you prefer and there is no reason why you can’t switch out the butter for a dairy free/vegan alternative. Don’t scrimp on the garlic though! Feel free to play about with adding additional herbs and spices. Paprika works especially well.

garlic actifry potatoes

Garlic Butter Parmentier Potatoes

You will need:

3 large/baking potatoes

2 tbsp salted butter

1 tbsp garlic puree or 3 garlic cloves finely minced

1/tsp cracked black pepper

1 pinch Organic Cayenne Pepper Powder

Cube your potatoes, you can peel them if you wish but I don’t. Melt your butter and stir in your garlic and pepper. Add your potatoes and butter mixture to the actifry and stir together so the potatoes are coated. Set the Actifry for 15 minutes. At this point check and if they are not quite crispy enough cook for another 5 minutes. It can often depend on the type of potato you use as to how quickly they will cook. Serve immediately.

Linking this up to One Potato, Two Potato hosted by Utterly Scrummy and Family-Friends-Food.

Actifry Crispy Chicken Thighs

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I’ve had my Actifry for a few years now and I go through phases of using it a lot and then forgetting about it entirely. My oven broke down a few months ago and it was such a relief to be able to pull the Actifry out and it made me realise there is so much more to it than just healthy fries or chips. My latest creation is Actifry Crispy Chicken Thighs, probably one of the simplest yet tastiest recipes I have made in quite a long time. The crispy batter was stupendous and there was a decent amount of crunchy bits to munch on that clearly belonged to the chef…

As with most of my recipes you won’t find a list of ingredients a mile long and it requires minimal prep – I am a pretty lazy chef. If you prefer you could use chicken breasts or wings ( you will need to adjust the cooking time ) thighs however, are in my opinion the tastiest part of the chicken and when cooking with the bone in you retain the moisture and juicy flavour.

Actifry Crispy Chicken Thighs

You will need:

4 skin on chicken thighs

4 tbsp flour

1 egg beaten

1 tbsp oil

Generous pinch of black pepper and sea salt

Remove the paddle/stirrer from the actifry and set aside. Mix your flour and seasoning together in a shallow bowl, put your beaten egg in another shallow bowl alongside. Dip your thighs, one by one into the egg mixture, coat on all sides before rolling in the flour and coating well. Place carefully into the actifry along with the oil and turn it on without the paddle for 10 minutes ( this is to stop all of the batter mixture being removed by the rotating motion ). After 10 minutes replace the paddle and turn it back on for a further 10 -15 minutes, I advise using a temperature probe to check your thighs are fully cooked ( they take longer than breasts ) before removing and eating, depending on the size they may need an extra 5 minutes. You should have delightfully crispy chicken with an abundance of crunchy, battery bits. Particularly  good served with a garlic, chilli or lemon mayo.

actifry crispy chicken

Find more Actifry recipes here.

 

10 Simple Soup Recipes

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I’ll be honest and tell you I don’t make soup much and I don’t often choose it when I go out for dinner but every now again I get in the mood for it. Because it’s easy and warming and you can eat it with big hunks of freshly baked and buttered bread. I recently had a delicious Jerusalem Artichoke soup on a trip and it definitely reignited my love for silky smooth soups packed with flavour.

I’ve rounded up some simple soup recipes from my fellow food bloggers to share with you:

Curried Butternut Squash Soup from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary:

Fridge Lentil Soup from Tinned Tomatoes:

Spicy Carrot Soup from Simply Food:

Quick & Easy Peanut Soup from Supper In The Suburbs:


Courgette & Potato Soup from Family Friends Food:

Spiced Parsnip & Spinach Soup from Tin & Thyme:

Butternut Squash & Celeriac Soup from Lovely Appetite:

Broccoli & Stilton Soup from Greedy Gourmet:

Forgotten Veg Soup from Jo’s Kitchen:

;

Finally my Simple Mushroom Soup:

simple soup

 

The Instagram & Instagrammers I love – January 2017

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Can you believe it has been three weeks since my last Instagrammers post?  January is zooming along fairly quickly or so it seems, I’m pretty glad about that. January is a bit of a doom and gloom month isn’t?  But not on Instagram..never doom and gloom on Instagram.

It was quite a big month for me on IG – I now have over 4000 followers, a target I have been aiming for, for a little while. At the time of writing 4107 to be precise. Still fairly small fry in comparison to other food bloggers but I am proud of it all the same. That is more than double what I had this time last year, I have had friends ask me how I have managed to grow my channel. All I can say is if IG is something you really want to focus on then you must put in the time. Engagement is key, why do you expect people to come and like your content if you do not spend time doing the same? Try to use organic methods of growing your following if possible,methods such as following to unfollow may see big gains initially but it probably won’t last. Post content that is relevant to your followers and try to post regularly if you can. My images aren’t always professionally taken and edited to the hilt, some are shots that I have played with and prepared ready for blog posts while others are just instant phone shots, which is what Instagram was really about to start with. I think my followers like that mix. I post 75% food content but you do see more travel pics slipping in these days as well as lifestyle shots such as photos of books I’m reading and a selfie or two.

My two most popular posts on my channel last month were quick phone snaps, the first one was this shot of a meal I enjoyed at Five Guys:

And the second was this monochrome selfie, taken after I completed a yoga session at home. I was quite frankly astonished when so many people liked and commented on it:

As promised I am going to share some more of my favourite Instagrammers with you, these are accounts that I always enjoy popping up in my feed. They either make me hungry, jealous of their style or have extremely itchy feet.

First up is Helen from Fuss Free Flavours, a good friend as well as fellow blogger and a bit of a mentor to me also! Helen posts a mixture of food and travel images on her account and she is currently in Tahiti on a press trip so I am a little green with envy right now. I love this healthy freakshake she created:

One for the weekend? This indulgent freakshake actually contains 2 portions of fruit and veg as well as oatmeal from @mornflake #oatober #ad

A photo posted by Food Blogger 🍴Helen Best-Shaw (@fussfreeflavours) on

Next is Ceri aka @hula_photo, a super talented photographer and real life friend of mine. Ceri posts mostly travel and lifestyle images and has such a knack for capturing people, he has taken some incredible photos of the girls. This is one of my favourites from his feed, I am not sure why as there are so many other images on his instagram that are more vibrant and detailed but something about this shot always draws me in:

Chai stall, Jodhpur. #india #india_gram #jodhpur #chai #streetphotography #local #rajasthan #asia

A photo posted by Ceri Davies (@hula_photo) on

Vibeke from The Viking Abroad is someone I have only been following for a fairly short period of time but you know when you decide to follow someone and then spend some time slowly going through their feed and enjoying their images ..ok that makes me sound very weird but you know you do it too. Well I did that with this account and ahh I was filled with wanderlust. I love that word – wanderlust – which for me just conjures up images of me sat on a beach with a stack of plane tickets in my bag while I plan adventures. Anyway back to Vibeke, she has some fantastic photos from her travels which make you feel like a part of her travels.

Not everything on Instagram is about photographs, Topher Kearby is a best selling writer and I regularly fall in love with his words. I have one of his books and I just love how he writes. I am a sucker for a quote and for poetry, he is also a great artist and lots of his work is accompanied by his artwork. Go follow, read, feel.

A photo posted by Topher Kearby (@topherkearby) on

Catherine Frawley is a food, travel and lifestyle writer and her feed is just beautiful. Her food shots make you want to go grab a spoon and dive in, whilst her lifestyle shots are just so perfectly styled and captured. Go check her out:

Lucy Parissi of @supergolden88 is a food stylist, photographer and blogger friend of mine and her feed is indulgent and drool inducing. Full of food that looks utterly perfect yet begs to be eaten. It took me so long to try and pick a photo to share with you and in the end it was just too difficult to get a favourite but this is a recent image of a cake that made me crave chocolate all day long after I saw it.

I hope you are enjoying my Instagram series, I’ll be back next month with more recommendations for you. Don’t forget you can find me on Instagram here.

Pantry Essentials

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I am far from organised. I really try to be but it is not something which comes naturally to me which means I have to work at it. For a while I went through a stage of meal planning, mainly for time saving but also in a bid to save on the cost of my food shops. I figured out quite quickly that meal planning is not something which works for me. I am fairly spontaneous when it comes to food, I am always creating and devising new dishes and I quite like not knowing what I’ll be eating from one day to the next. That being said, dependent on the season I tend to rotate the same family style dishes quite regularly. The girls love roast chicken dinners and spaghetti bolognese so they are on the menu each week but the rest of the time is what I feel like eating or what produce or meat looks good when I shop.

One way in which I am organised is my pantry. I have a well stocked pantry/store cupboard. If you do this, then you will always have the basis of a tasty meal EVEN when you have forgotten to buy fresh goods. I am sharing with you below my top 10 pantry essentials that I am never without and I have also asked a selecction of the UK’s top food bloggers to share their top 5 tips too, you probably won’t find it surprising that we have a lot of common products!

My Pantry Essentials:

Dried Pasta: having a selection of pasta is always a good idea, I have a variety including spaghetti, tagliatelle and pasta shells.

Chopped Tomatoes: I always have either cartons or tins of chopped tomatoes. They are perfect for creating a basic pasta sauce or serving with some eggs for a lazy breakfast.

Sriracha sauce: sriracha can liven up the most boring of meals so it really is an ideal condiment to have at home, it is great on salads and on top of eggs and in all kinds of sandwiches.

Dried chilli flakes: I have a jar of dried chilli flakes on the go at all times, I do like to use fresh chillies also but these are so handy and just a tiny pinch makes a big difference to a dish.

Tuna: when you forget to buy fresh meat, tinned tuna is a great handy product to have. Great for topping jacket potatoes or adding to sandwiches or salads. I like it mixed through pasta with some good oil.

Flour: If you have plain flour at home you can use it to thicken sauces, make pancakes with just the addition of eggs and milk or make flatbreads just by adding warm water and olive oil.

Brown Sugar: I use brown sugar for all sorts of things but mostly I love it for meat dishes to create a sticky glaze or sauce, it’s also good in coffee, sprinkled over porridge or to top desserts.

Sea Salt: I have various flavoured sea salts in my pantry, from Wild Garlic to chilli and my current favourite is smoked!

Oils: I have quite the variety of olive and rapeseed oils as well as coconut oil in store at all times, I use the coconut oil to make biscuits for Chloe and the other oils for cooking or dressing. I also love good bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar – bliss.

Beans: from baked beans as a quick lunch for the girls or chickpeas or butterbeans to bulk up casseroles, they are so handy to have on your shelves.

The pantry below belongs to Food Blogger Ren Behan..mine is nowhere near as neat! I spot quite a few of my favourite brands in there.

pantry essentials

What do the other bloggers think?

Andrea from The Petite Cook:

Wholemeal flour, extra virgin olive oil, good-quality spaghetti, canned plum tomatoes, dark chocolate (because you always need chocolate!)

Jemma from Celery & Cupcakes:

Tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, quinoa, dark chocolate, tuna.

Lucy from BakingQueen4:

Tinned plum tomatoes, tomato purée, rice, pesto sauce and cannelloni beans.

Ceri from Natural Kitchen Adventures:

Olive oil, lemons, salt, eggs (if they count), tinned sardines, tinned chickpeas.

Roz from The Foodie Couple Blog:

Passata, hendersons relish ( like Worcestershire sauce) butter beans , sweet chilli sauce, balsamic vinegar

Jo from Jo’s Kitchen:

Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomato passata, sweet chilli sauce and caramelised onion chutney.

Helen from Family Friends Food:

Olive oil, pasta, vegetable stock powder, tinned tomatoes, pesto.

Choclette from Tin & Thyme:

Only 5? Eek! lentils, brown basmati rice, oats, tamari, tinned tomatoes.

Angela from Patisserie Makes Perfect:

Butter, good quality chocolate, eggs, flour, sugar.

Helen from Casa Costello:

Caster Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Self Raising Flour, Tuna & Pasta – Obviously not all used at the same time!

Tracy from It’s Not Easy Being Greedy:

Butter, eggs, pasta, tinned tomatoes, flour.

Heidi from Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk:

Tinned tomatoes, olive oil, basmati rice, peanut butter, chilli flakes.

Laura from How To Cook Good Food:

Maldon salt, Olive oil, Garlic, Dried chilli flakes & lemons.

Michelle from Utterly Scrummy:

Tinned tomatoes, pasta, rice, chickpeas, garlic, lemons.

Sylvia from Happiness Is Homemade:

Tinned tomatoes, rice, butter, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, onions (a lot of onions!)

Lisa from Lovely Appetite:

Tinned tomatoes, rice, boullion, garlic, good quality salt.

Camilla from Fab Food 4 All:

Tomato puree (oops, forgot to buy some today), tinned tomatoes, garlic, onions,pasta.

Elizabeth from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary:

Olive oil, garlic, passata, essential cuisine stock powder and ready to eat sachets of puy lentils.

Katherine Hackworthy from Veggie Desserts:

Tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, bouillon, chickpeas, olive oil.

Chris from Thinly Spread:

Pasta, tinned tomatoes, black pepper, lentils, tamari sauce

Margot from Coffee & Vanilla:

Pasta (any shape), tomato puree, olive oil, vegetable stock cubes, dried mixed herbs.

Michelle from Greedy Gourmet:

Garlic, lemons, Cajun spice, almond milk, eggs.

Helen from Fuss Free Flavours:

Quality pasta, olive oil, canned tomatoes, onions, lentils.

Madeleine from From The Healthy Heart:

Olive oil, canned tomatoes, smoked paprika, za’atar, balsamic vinegar.

Danni from Hungry Healthy Happy:

Tinned tomatoes, sardines, dried beans, quinoa and pasta.

Nayna from Simply Sensational Food:

Spice tin,tinned tomatoes, rice and lentils, chapatti flour.

Penelope from Penelope’s Pantry:

Tinned tomatoes, tinned chickpeas, red lentils, wholewheat pasta, tinned cannellini beans

So there we have it a really comprehensive list of store cupboard ingredients you NEED in your life. Get writing your shopping list. Remember the best thing about most of these products is the long shelf life.

It’s Only Blue If You Allow It To Be – 11 Ways To Avoid Blue Monday

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Next Monday January 16th is Blue Monday. The most depressing day of the year or so we are told.

Most of us probably feel fine right now. Yet Monday morning, on a quite possibly grey, cold day we will be told by all of the national newspapers and websites that we are depressed, that we overspent and overindulged in December and now we are miserable and blue.

Depression is not a word to be tossed around lightly.

Perhaps you did overspend in December? But you probably did that to give your family and friends a gift or on a meal or drinks which you enjoyed with them. Do you do it every month? No. Christmas is once a year ( thankfully ).

You probably overindulged too and maybe you gained a few lbs. BIG DEAL.

You may feel miserable, but for the majority of people reading this you aren’t depressed. Be thankful for that, there are course people who do suffer with depression, it is an illness which picks victims at random. But the media keep telling us that we as a nation are depressed and there are more people than ever before on anti depressants. You hear something enough and people start to believe it.

I have read a few articles ( linked below ) over the last few days about ways to inject happiness into your days and thought I would share a list of things that I have been doing to improve upon mine. Try them, after all,  in the words of Dr Pepper..what’s the worst that could happen?

Upgrade your underwear drawer so every item is worth wearing on a ‘special occasion’. Then every day will start off feeling like one – I did this with glee I must admit. I like good undies so telling myself I was clearing out any substandard pieces and reinvesting all for my own benefit felt pretty good. And it really does make you feel great..such a simple thing to change. Don’t feel like you have to go crazy at Agent Provocateur either as most of the high street stores have pretty sets these days.

Change your aim – I find I focus on the end game too much, I want to hit a target and so I berate myself until I do or I am so much looking forward to the next time I get to visit a certain place or take a trip that I am missing what is in between. I am making my aims more achievable so I am feeling less of a constant disappointment to myself. Maybe I can’t get 100,000 readers a day by the end of the year but I can focus on making the posts I do write better for the readers that I do have. I won’t get to visit all the places I want to but my blog certainly helps me to see more of the world and for that I am grateful.

Make playlists. This is just something I do. Never underestimate the power of music. I have so many playlists for when I am cooking or writing or working out. I have music on most of the time although I also really appreciate silence ( possibly because I rarely get that as a mother of two small ones ).

Get outside. If you can manage to get outside for a little bit of the day try to do that..every day. You may think that a 10 minute stroll to the shop to get that pint of milk is making little difference but I assure you it is. If you can get out while the sun is shining even better as you soak up much needed Vitamin D.

Do one thing. I have such a long to do list at all times but the sense of achievement I can feel at crossing something off is immense. Yes, I have an actual pen and paper to do list, old school I guess but it just feels more real when it’s in ink. You won’t convince me to use an app for this I’m afraid. Put small tasks on your to do list as well as the complicated, difficult ones as it’s really important to be able to cross something off.

Do something for someone. Do this every day. It doesn’t have to be anything big and it doesn’t have to cost you anything. You can make someones day by reaching out to them, call a friend for a few minutes just to say hi, send an email or a text. Send a friend a gift for no reason, it doesn’t have to be expensive, maybe you spot their favourite chocolate in the shop and think how nice it would be for them to open that gift up from you. The pleasure is in the giving or just knowing you improved someones day. If you like to bake or cook then perhaps you could make a little extra next time you are in the kitchen and drop it in to a family member who may be in need of support. I promise you will feel good afterwards. Make sure you are giving without the expectation of receiving.

Find time to relax. If you are having a chaotic day with what seems like an insurmountable amount of work to do then it may seem like taking 15 minutes to read a magazine or an hour to watch an episode of your favourite show is a silly thing to do. Really it could be the most sensible decision you make. If you take time to indulge in a simple pleasure – for me it’s normally a bath or a book then afterwards you tend to feel rejuvenated and ready to crack on with your tasks.

Work out. This doesn’t mean spending hours at the gym, unless you want to. I tend to follow a youtube video or a basic squats/sit up routine and for the last 3 weeks I have made sure to fit it in every single day. I always feel better afterwards even if I didn’t feel like it before. Don’t overdo it at first as you will soon stop if you feel overly sore each morning but build up to it and always warm up.

Appreciate.  How often are we told this? Appreciate what you have. But really..appreciate it. Have a good relationship with your siblings? Be grateful, they are your first friends after all. I couldn’t imagine being without mine. Healthy? Be thankful, so many aren’t. Have a job? A roof over your head? Enough money to just pop to the shop and not have to worry about whether you can feed your family for that week? For all of this I am grateful. The more you think on what you have to appreciate, the happier you will feel. If you can add in good friends, a job you can just about bear that pays the bills and people you love and who love you in return then you are wealthy in all sorts of ways.

Delete/Unfollow people who annoy or upset you on social media. Block if you must. How many times do you scroll along and see something in your newsfeed that really irritates you? Why let that continue to get you down? If you feel that it is too awkward to unfriend or unfollow then most of the social media channels have mute options so you can avoid the tension or negativity without offending anyone.

Declutter and donate. Ah the joy of removing bagfuls of things you no longer need or fit into from your life. I actually even enjoyed the decluttering..yes I am a little weird like that. Even better you can then donate it to charity so you are also helping others and you can definitely feel good about that!

So when Monday arrives and you are told it is blue.. be blue if you must but remember that blue is the colour of the summer sky and the most beautiful lagoons and oceans. Force yourself happy. You really are the only person who has control over your happiness. Do you have any ideas about how to inject happy into your life? I would love to hear them.

blue monday

 

 

 

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15 Brunch Recipes To Beat The January Blues

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I have said before how much I love the concept of brunch. It is the whole idea of a lazy morning stretched out and filled with food which is typically indulgent. If I am on holiday or visiting friends I will always prefer the idea of brunch to breakfast.  I love to cook brunch at home at around 11am, french toast or pancakes..or just good old bacon and eggs but maybe with a little avocado or super sweet grilled tomatoes. I have rounded up a selection of some of my favourite bloggers brunch ideas and recipes below. Start planning your brunches to make January a little less gloomy!

Enjoy.

Creamy Tarragon Mushrooms On Potato Rostis from Emily’s Recipes & Reviews

Huevos Rancheros with Avocado Rocket Toast from VeggieLad:

Apple, Cinnamon & Maple Syrup Waffles from Foodie Quine:

Drop Scones from Coriander Queen:

Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Glaze from Kerry Cooks:

Nutella French Toast Roll Ups from me:

Chestnut Chia Chocolate Pancakes from Tin & Thyme:

Parmesan Waffle, Ham, Cheese and Egg Sandwich from Supergolden Bakes:

Oaty Cinnamon & Raisin Muffins from Lovely Appetite:

Sweet Potato Pancakes from me:

 

Double Chocolate Brownie Waffles from Kavey Eats:

Blueberry Cinnamon Ricotta waffles from Celery & Cupcakes:

Buttermilk Pancakes from The Petite Cook:

Baked Chocolate Orange & Coconut Doughnuts from Supper In The Suburbs:

And to finish ..Candied Bacon With Nutella Dipping Sauce from me:

brunch recipes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nutella French Toast Roll Ups

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Sometime last year I saw a video online of somebody making french toast roll ups.. filled with Nutella! Oh it looked incredible and I decided I would make them, mentally added it to the list of 1000 plus dishes I already had stored on my to make list and forgot all about it.

Then a few days ago I was feeling like I needed a decent brunch, we all know brunch is better than breakfast. I spotted a jar of Nutella just calling my name and I had some white bread that needed to be used up, the video I watched didn’t give quantities or exact instructions but it seemed simple enough.

Wow. Wow is all I can say, such a simple idea but oh it is ridiculously tasty. My friend Ceri managed to turn up for a coffee just as I was finished making the first batch so I even had an official tester and it would be fair to say he approved.

Nutella French Toast Roll Ups

2 slices of bread, crusts removed ( I find slightly stale white bread works best for French Toast but use whatever bread you prefer )

2 tbsp Nutella

1 free range egg

40ml full fat milk

3 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp butter

Beat your egg and milk together in a shallow bowl. Mix your sugar and cinnamon together and dust across a plate. Use a rolling pin to flatten your bread slightly and spread Nutella on one side of your bread, roll up tightly like a swiss roll. Melt your butter in a large frying pan over a medium – high heat.  Dunk your roll ups in the egg/milk mixture and pop straight into the pan ( watch your fingers ). Cook on all sides until golden brown then remove from pan and roll in the cinnamon sugar. Serve whilst hot, perhaps with a side of crispy bacon!

nutella french toast

Joining in with Weekend Brunch Club:

11 Things To Watch If All You Think About Is Food

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I do think about other things. Sometimes..well occasionally. I have actually started watching Mad Men which is pretty addictive and that has no relation to food at all. BUT I love watching shows about food, films about food, documentaries …you get the picture. I thought I would put together a list for those of you who are as food obsessed as I am with suggestions from myself and some of my fellow food bloggers. Some of these are available on Netflix, some are fairly old movies which you may already have seen but if not they are definitely worth a watch.

One thing to remember, before you even think of hitting the play button – get ALL of the snacks. These films will make you hungry and make you want to cook, in fact if the day after you watch some of these you aren’t inspired to hit the kitchen and get cooking I will be surprised.

1. Starting off with my favourite of all of the food movies. Julie & Julia. This film is the story of a government worker who gets bored of her office job and decides to blog her way through a mammoth cookery book written by Julia Child ( played by Meryl Streep ). Ahem… there may be some similarities between myself and Julie ( played by Amy Adams ), perhaps that is why I love it so. I adore Julia Child as well and have cooked many of her recipes with great success. Bon Appetit.

Snack recommendation: cheese, crackers and wine.

2. Chef – this film starring Jon Favreau is about a chef who receives a slating from a food critic and decides to start up a street food van selling Cubanos ( which are amazing meat and cheese filled sandwiches ) the whole film had me drooling and it was just an easy, fun watch.

Snack recommendation: A really good sandwich, with gherkins, meats and cheeses.

*photo credit – Eating Collective from www.unsplash.com

3. Ratatouille is the next foodie film, recommended by Claire from Foodie Quine – it is the animated Disney Pixar story of a rat who lives in Paris and dreams of being a chef. It is a really fun film to watch for all generations. I love films set in Paris whether real or animated. J’adore cuisine Française.
Snack recommendation: I say go all out here… go for a big bowl of pasta or some similar steaming bowl of food.

*photo credit – Carissa Gan www.unsplash.com

4. The Hundred Food Journey has been recommended by several bloggers including Choclette from Tin & Thyme, I haven’t seen it myself but I just checked out a trailer and it seems just perfect for me so tonight I am thinking of making myself some really good food, getting a good glass of wine and enjoying it for myself. One quote I picked up from the trailer said Food is memories.. so true.

5. Moving onto a TV show now, this is a series you will find on Netflix and it’s called Chef’s Table. Each episode focuses in on a world renowned chef. My very favourite episode is the one which features Francis Mallman – if you watch it, skip to this one first! It was my first introduction to this chef who loves to cook with fire, I am fascinated by him.

Snack recommendation: something smoked or BBQ themed for the Francis Mallman episode.

*photo credit: Jessie Beck www.unsplash.com

6. Cooked – this is another Netflix documentary series which takes a look at the evolution of food and the history of food preparation, it’s really interesting whether you are someone who loves to cook or just someone who likes to observe. Recommended by myself and also Mary Garcia of Goodie Godmother.

7. Spirited Away is a Studio Ghibli film which although it is not actually about food has numerous food references and food related scenes which will be appealing to all foodie fans. In fact most of the Studio Ghibli films are worth a watch, they are a bit different to typical films and always in such beautiful, intricate detail.  As recommend by Kavita from Kavey Eats.

Snack recommendation: LOTS. Food is plentiful in this film, have lots of bowls of different food offerings.

8. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations – this is an American food and travel show which follows Anthony Bourdain around the world. It is the ultimate food and travel fix. As recommended by Andrea Sorandis of The Petite Cook.

9. Burnt – this is a reasonably new film starring Bradley Cooper, is that reason enough to watch it? I think so. But seriously, I haven’t watched it yet but after Roz from The Foodie Couple Blog recommended it I am desperate to watch it. It follows the story of a top chef in Paris who has a drug and alcohol related meltdown and his second chance to make his mark in the food world.

Snack recommendations: Popcorn! 

  • photo credit – Alex Munsell www.unsplash.com

10. Love’s Kitchen is another film I am yet to see but is now on my list after recommendation from Jacqui of Tinned Tomatoes. Starring Claire Forlani and Dougray Scott it follows the romance between a restaurant owner and food critic. I love a good romance.

Snack recommendation: chocolate cake

11. And finally Chocolat is a film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp about a woman who opens a chocolaterie in a small French village and how her chocolate begins to change the lives of the villagers.

Snack recommendation: CHOCOLATE. A varied selection is best..possibly Hotel Chocolat for good quality and authentic options.

And some last minute additions:

Two Greedy Italians – recommended by Lisa from Lovely Appetite

Rick Stein’s Long Weekends

Haute Cuisine

Water For Chocolate

Do you have anything to add to the list???

Munchies & Munchkins Top Ten Recipes Of 2016

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Well 2016 is over. I know a lot of people are pretty thrilled about that! It was a year of big changes for the world. One thing which never changes is that people love food and cooking. People are looking online for recipe inspiration more and more which is great news for bloggers such as myself. I always find it interesting to see what my readers search for and which recipes continue to be popular every month. Quite often it isn’t what I expect. These are the top ten recipes overall from 2016 on my blog, they aren’t necessarily recipes created last year but the overriding popular posts from when I first began up until now.

1. Jamie Oliver Lasagne from The Ministry Of Food – this recipe which I can’t even claim as my own is always the most popular one on the blog and there is a good reason for that – it makes THE most incredible lasagne. The recipe is taken from the book Ministry Of Food which is one of his earlier books and encourages readers to create the recipes then pass them on or teach them to a friend or family member. I have made this lasagne so many times over the years for family and friends and everyone loves it. Give it a go.

2. Slow Cooker Hot Cross Bun & Butter Pudding – I have noticed a real increase in people visiting my slow cooker recipes this year and this one was easily my most popular. It can be made using leftover fruit loaf, pannetone or hot cross buns.

3. Jamie Oliver Epic Hot Chocolate – oh look who it is again, this hot chocolate mix makes the best hot chocolate you will ever taste… I promise you.

4. Slow Cooker Rosemary, Garlic, Lemon and Honey Chicken – another slow cooker recipe. This time a really simple and flavourful chicken dish using some of my very favourite ingredients.

5. Slow Cooker Golden Syrup Suet Pudding – this recipe really takes me back to my childhood. Its popularity on the blog skyrockets through the winter when it seems we are all on the hunt for comforting dishes.

 

6. Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Thighs – and the slow cooker love continues with this delicious chicken thigh recipe. It is really easy yet packed full of flavour.

7. 5 Ways With Leftover Bolognese Sauce – well this reassures me that I am not the only person who makes way too much bolognese sauce. You all loved this post I wrote telling you what you can do with your leftover sauce. The nachos will always be my favourite.

8. Beef Cobbler With Rosemary and Cheese Scones – this was my favourite meal growing up, always trying to get the extra scones from on top!

9. Indulgent Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake – I guessed this would feature in the top 10 as it was hugely popular again last year. It is proper heavy indulgence with the luxurious ganache and salted caramel sauce.

10. The Ultimate Nutella Hot Chocolate Hack – and finally..Nutella had to feature somewhere didn’t it? This hot chocolate hack seems to have caught the eye of a lot of you. I make it every time I get close to the end of a jar..which is probably far too often!

Thanks for reading and supporting the blog once again and making it possible for me to have some extraordinary opportunities over the past 12 months.

Happy New Year x