Flaxseed Crackers

With buter and thinly sliced cheddar cheese

Butter and a little ham

soft garlic cheese

My favourite!

These were very easy to make, I baked them on my medium bar pan rolling them straight into the pan with a bakers roll which I had to dip in water to stop it sticking. Score them to the size you want before putting in the oven. This makes them easier to cut later.

It was the first time making these and I was nervous of over cooking but I'm not sure that's possible as I let them cool then broke them up into the pieces I'd scored earlier and put them back on the stone and back in the oven for 10 minutes, they really are at the their best when very crispy!

The left overs went into an airtight tin but seemed a little soft the next morning so I....popped it in the toaster!!! Amazing results, hot, crisp and just waiting for me to spread butter and marmite on to them! I have been out and bought more ingredients I'm making them again for the weekend!

(Recipe can be found here)

Lunch box time again!

It's the start of the new term and its all about the lunch boxes. The kids usually take sandwiches or pasta with a piece of homemade cake and a piece of fruit [if I'm lucky] with a fromage fraise and an innocent drink. [the new blueberry being the favourite at the moment] Us grown ups like to stay clear of the bread and tend to take salads or soups. This is a spare salmon fillet that was cooked with last nights salmon and cabbage dish, cooled and stored in the fridge overnight then I topped a regular lettuce, tomato, cucumber salad with it the next morning. If you add mayo put it under the salmon that way it won't get all over your lunch box lid. If you serve it with an oily dressing, put it in a separate little pot or empty mustard pot jar and dress just before eating otherwise it will make your salad go soggy!

Bee's scotch eggs again!

Only photos of them before going into the oven....didn't last long enough to snap them afterwards!!! These are fantastic, the depend very much on the quality of your sausage meat and I had the best!!! My lovely butcher Rod let me have his pork and leek sausage meat before he put it into skins....so it was so easy to make these, no faffing about taking the sausages apart. I used large eggs because that's all I had and it took 2lb of meat to cover 7 eggs. They were massive and one was enough for breakfast.

Not the best photo in the world but...

This is Bee's chunky mushroom soup which I wizzed so it would fit in the flask. I only tasted a spoonful of it but it was very different to my mushroom and walnut soup. The tarragon gave this a very different taste, not mellow like mushroom soups, this shouted MUSHROOM SOUP from the middle of the bowl...maybe I was a little too heavy handed with the herbs but it was what Paul calls "hard core soup" Big on flavour almost overpowering but still with that eat me factor...he didn't leave a drop and said he'd knew he'd had his lunch afterwards. [I have no idea what he means by that remark, you decide!!!
Anyway, a hit, even though I may play with the quantities of the herbs next time!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Dee-lic-ous!!!

Dead simple to make, takes no time at all, great served with bacon!

Make them, you won't be disappointed!

Nuff said!!!

Courgette Bake

A little too brown on top???

This wasn't a successful as I thought it was going to be. My dish was too big, my oven too high and I baked it for too long. If there's nothing else I've learnt in cooking Bee's recipes, its that my oven is hotter than hers. I know that! You probably know that! but still I forget to adjust my cooking times!!! I have a fan oven, I should turn it down 10 degrees or reduce my cooking time by 10 minutes, that's what I usually do with other recipes, but somehow, with Bee's I always forget and end up having to adjust it the next time I make it. Oh well, it was still nice if a little lacking in depth and moisture.

Served with bacon and the re-heated fennel bake from the day before!

I served the leftovers cold in a lunch box with some coronation chicken and chopped tomatoes...it was a lot like a quiche.

Bee, true to form caters for all tastes, this was a very plain and uncomplicated dish. The last piece was served with a dollop of Bubby's salsa on top of a salad, just to give it that WOW factor!

So note to self: Next time....

• Smaller, deeper dish


• 10 degrees cooler oven or


• 10 minutes less in the oven

Remember these are just my adjustments, you and your oven may be different!

Fennel Bake...its in the book!

Sliced Fennel

Sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese

All soft and golden with a little bit of bite!

I served this as a side dish with roast chicken which was a very comforting meal....as I'd had a bit of a bug at the beginning of this week. It settled the tummy no end!

Lamb Patties

They are in the book and they are amazing! I don't like aubergines...I may have mentioned it once or twice, these have them in but you can't taste it, it makes the patties really moist and the lamb (which can dry out in meatballs) stays moist and juicy! The aubergines are microwaved for speed and the patties can be cooked quickly making it an idea supper dish too. I served mine with minty mayo as Bee suggests and if I'd have had any left (kids dug in and the plate was cleared) I would have served them with a large Greek salad for a main meal. I will be making a double batch next time and keeping quiet to the kids...that way I will get to put half in the freezer for my mate Ron....later on!

Scotch Egg with Luxurious Coleslaw

Didn't have cashew nuts so threw in some flaked almonds instead which did the trick but cashsews would have given it more cruncy. Flavours were great! This is a keeper, i'll be making this again and again and again, it was great in Paul's lunch box next day too! Served it with the cold scotch eggs....wonderful!

I can't wait for Bee's other books to be published...its not going to take me long to get through this one now!

Bee's scotch eggs.

My eggs must have been larger or my sausage meat thicker than Bee as I only managed 4 with a little sausage meat left over!

The key to these is in the sausage meat, get the best you can, it will make a huge difference!

Delicious hot, great cold, ideal for picnics or lunch on the go.

Next time I'm going to go all up market and make them using quail eggs...very po-shhh!!!

Luxurious Coleslaw

I would never have thought to put grated celeriac in a coleslaw before!

Shredded cabbage

Very crispy, great texture, subtle flavours

Great served with the pork, pesto & Gruyere rolls

I served the leftovers sprinkled with grated Irish cheddar and chopped up smoked ham for a quick lunch and it was very very scrummy. The quality of the coleslaw hadn't deteriorated either, just as crunchy, just as tasty! Will make double next time!

Pork, Pesto & Gruyere Rolls

Not sure if this is what Bee's looks like...but this is mine all ready for the oven!

Red pesto may look better but green is probably lower in carbs!

The Meat was so moist and tender!

I'm not a great lover of pork, as a roast with lots of crackling is fine but chops, steaks, loin etc are not my cup of tea, mostly because I can't cook it very well. It usually turns out dry or undercooked and tasting bloody! Urgh!!

However this was nicely cooked, great filling, simple to do and impressive enough to serve to guests. I served it with Bee's luxurious coleslaw, which is another winner!

I struggled with Bee's new book at first, not that there's anything wrong with it, its just that I don't really need lunch ideas. I work in a kitchen then go home and cook in my own kitchen. Paul needs something he can eat in a lunchbox but no cooking or nothing too smelly as he works in a big office. So if I'd have had a choice I would have plumped for the meals for one book (I'd have doubled it) or the little book of curries (we love them) and I'd love to see her do a little book of low Carb Christmas recipes...that would be fab! Anyhoo, I had to get to grips with this book....I read it and re-read it, I love the humour in it...it made me laugh out loud. I also scaled things up to turn them into main meals. I am now running with it, loving them all, every recipe I've made has turned out great, even the one that we preferred as a side dish rather than the main salad it was intended to be. Great with a steak on the side. I'm looking forward to autumn where I will pack Paul off with a flask of soup (haven't tried any of the soup recipes yet) Keep popping back as I intend to make them all.

Chicken, Lime and Coconut Custard

While preparing this dish, the the smell was wonderful, with the lime juice and coconut it was so fresh, almost Thai like.

I had the urge to throw some coriander in it but resisted. I followed Bee's recipe exactly but sprinkled the stuff over the top before serving instead! Bee says to cook it until it still wobbles...think mine was a little overcooked, it didn't wobble and was a little dry. Maybe my bain Marie was a little too deep or my oven a little hotter, next time I will reduce the hot water line and turn my oven down a tad!

Great flavours though, very different to anything I've had before, but we really enjoyed this dish and can only imagine how nice it would be if it had still wobbled...definitely a custard texture instead of the bitty texture ours had. It hasn't put us off, I'm going to do this again and master that wobble!

Mexican Chicken

Bubby's Homemade Salsa

Now I don't usually use my microwave to actually cook things in....re-heating, the odd jacket spud, that sort of thing is the norm but this quick microwave meal was delicious. Chicken, spices, homemade salsa cheese and sour cream, simple...how does she come up with them?

I've hit my target weight...but now am slipping!

I'm picking at stuff I'm not supposed to...I'm drinking beer...I'm scoffing croissants...I'm picking at work!

We have spent a few hours looking through this blog and remembering all the scrummy stuff I cooked back in January...WOW my mouth was watering. Paul has requested several of the dishes so its back to the beginning...I'm going to re do some of our favourites from the pink cookbook which will get me back into IPD mode I will then be able to concentrate on Bee's new book and pack us some scrummy lunches.

The first on my list has got to be

Spanish Chicken

Vegetable curry with cauliflower rice

Thai salmon kebabs on a bed of wilted spinach

Bee's chili with that fantastic topping! (how could I have never made that again?!)

If you are stuck for inspiration, click on the IPD link to the right of this page...there are over 100 entries of IPD food!

My favourite by far....

So simple
So quick!
The end results are amazing!

It is this dish that is preventing me trying more from the book....I have loads that I fancy, lots and lots that I have good intentions of trying....but....everytime I go to the kitchen I end up bunging this in the microwave. I swear I will not buy any salmon next week and will make something different instead. Its a bit like the salmon and broccoli bake from the first book...I obsessed on that for weeks....Paul thought he would grow gills the amount of fish he was eating.

Roasted Vegetable and Pinenut Salad

(Will take a better photo next time!)

Well this is a first...

This dish didn't go down too well at first! Paul never complains, he eats what is put in front of him and ruddy well likes it or else....but not this time! I was of the same mind.

Now don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the dish, it was hearty, filling with a great taste, the pine nuts gave a good buttery crunch and the Cajun spice was just right! But for a lunch time salad on its own, it just didn't do it for us. Paul's first comment was, where's the meat...and that's what it needed for us! We used the leftovers (I made double) as a side dish to a roast chicken and it was fab... heating it up made it a little over cooked but the flavours had all gelled and it was very very good....I will serve this again as part of a main meal and use the leftovers in the lunch box with leftover turkey sizzlers. At room temperature, its great!

Leave me a comment and tell me if you have made this dish and what you thought....

PS - I didn't use the aubergine as I don't like them

Not for the faint hearted!

That's what the book said!

Well, what a challenge...I'm up for it... so I gathered all the ingredients for the 'Corned Beef and Onion Salad" and away I went...!

Wasn't sure about that much cucumber...Paul's not a fan, but once it was mixed in you couldn't really tell how much was there, but it would have been missed if it hadn't been as it gave the whole dish a great crunch next to the the soft corned beef. Great flavours, great texture and such a bold statement....this shouted "eat me !!!" from the start, so bold it almost jumped out of the bowl!

I've never had capers at home...so this was a first for me too. Do you know that capers are the floral buds of an uncultivated thorny shrub from the Mediterranean region?

No? neither did I! You learn something new every day.

What does intrigue me is who thought to pick them and eat them in the first place? You know...who spotted this shrub with its little uncultivated buds upon it and thought..."I know, I'm going to pick these, pickle them in brine and eat them....yummo!" who ever it was, I'll pat thee on the back....nice little buds they are too!

Turkey Sizzlers

Not unlike the turkey twizzlers I serve the kids, I usually sprinkle them with oil, garlic and herbs and thread them onto skewers to make them more fun for them.

These were brilliant, the Cajun seasoning gave them a bit of a kick, I cooked them on my stoneware pan so didn't need to turn them over. I served them with a green salad and lots of mustard-y mayo...unfortunately they didn't make it to the freezer but they were so quick to cook I won't mind making them again from fresh.

Out of the 3 turkey escallops suggested in the book, I made 4 lunch time salads.