Over the years Helen T has made hundreds of these iconic origami cranes. Did you know that Japanese folklore says that a person who makes 1000 cranes may have a wish granted by the gods! Better get cracking then…
These are a firm favourite in our house, and there is always a plate at a family buffet or picnic. Making devilled eggs is also a fantastic way to use up your pace eggs!
Ingredients:
6 Hard boiled eggs
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp curry powder OR 1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
To garnish:
Pinch of sweet paprika
Method:
Make your hard boiled eggs. To do this put the eggs on to boil and when they start boiling set a timer for 7 minutes.
Put immediately into cold water to cool.
Peel your eggs and cut them in half.
Remove the yolks and place in a mixing bowl with all of your other ingredients except your garnish.
Mix together well until smooth.
Spoon or pipe your mixture back into the half eggs.
Cheese twist or straws are a simple and delightful snack and really easy to make! You can adapt this recipe in many ways… add finely chopped sundried tomatoes, chilli flakes, herbs or even some mustard.
Ingredients:
Plain flour to dust your surface
Premade puff pastry
2tbsp Marmite softened for spreading
75-100gGruyere or Cheddar cheese
1 egg beaten for glazing
Method:
Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment and preheat your oven to 180°C.
Soften your marmite on a gentle heat on the stove or in short bursts in the microwave.
Dust your surface with flour and unroll pastry if pre-rolled or roll out a 30-40cm square.
Paint your pastry with the marmite about halfway up and sprinkle with about 3/4’s of your cheese.
Fold over the bare pastry and pat down.
Reroll to a little less than half a centimeter.
Egg wash and sprinkle over remaining cheese.
Cut into strips 1.5-2cm wide.
Gently twist your strips, place on baking sheets and chill for 10 minutes.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until nice and golden brown and cool.
Beetroot is one of my favourite vegetables. Raw on salad, pickled, roasted or made into soup, it’s always delicious. Did you know beetroot is good source of vitamin C? which it great for boosting your immune system!
Pickled in this way, you can store beetroot for up to 18 months.
Ingredients:
Beetroots
White vinegar
Water
A few Bay leaves
½ – 1tsp Yellow Mustard seeds
1tbsp peppercorns
1tsp salt
Method:
Clean and trim your beetroots.
Boil for around 45minutes until tender.
Peel the beetroots once they have cooled a little, slice and add to sterilised jars.
To make your brining solution, use 2 parts vinegar and 1 part water. Make enough to cover the beetroots you have prepared. Add your herbs and spices and bring to a boil.
Pour the solution over the beetroot in the jars and seal.
Breakfast or brown sauce is a delicious accompaniment to a full English breakfast or a simple sausage sarnie, and while there are a couple of unusual ingredients, it’s really easy to make!
This recipe requires a food processor, smoothie maker or stick blender.
Ingredients:
1tbsp oil
200g chopped onion
200g dates or prunes halved
600g cooking apples, cored and chopped, there’s no need to peel them!
500ml balsamic vinegar
200g muscovado or dark soft brown sugar
3tbsp tamarind paste
40g root ginger peel and chopped
4 cloves
1tsp grated nutmeg
2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Add a couple of chillies or a good dash of tabasco to add a kick to your sauce.
Method:
Heat the oil and gently cook the onions with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes.
Add all the other ingredients, mix well and simmer for 30 minutes.
Blend together. Be careful transferring the mixture, it will be very hot!
Put into sterilised jars and leave for a week or two to mature. This can be stored for up to 6 months.
This is a fantastic and easy lunch time snack! Quesadillas are a mexican street food and you can adapt them to your own taste. You could make them spicy, serve with salsa, guacamole or sour cream, or just enjoy them as they are. Substitute cheese for lactose free and these snack can be vegan as well!
Ingredients:
This is to make 1 quesadilla. x2 Soft tortilla wraps 50g grated cheddar cheese – about a handful 1 spring onion chopped 2-3 cherry tomatoes quartered 1 baby corn sliced 1-2 mushrooms sliced 1⁄4 pepper sliced You can add any veg you like really. If you’d like to make it spicy, add chilli or chipotle paste, you could switch the cheese for feta, add some cooked sweet potato, chorizo, chicken or even left over chilli con . These are a great versatile snack to use what’s in your fridge!
Method:
Using a heavy bottomed frying pan on a medium heat, add one of your wraps. You don’t need oil!
Add half of your cheese.
Add your fillings.
Add the rest of your cheese on top.
Add the second wrap and gently press down.
Allow the tortilla to toast to a deep golden brown then flip and allow the other side to toast as well.
On Monday the 25th January this year [2021] it will be Burns night here in the UK. But what is Burns night?
The first Burns Night was celebrated over 200 years ago, but its popularity has only grown over the years, with traditions passed down from generation to generation. Burns Night is considered to be Scotland’s “other national day”, alongside St Andrew’s Day in November. Celebrated on the same date each year, the night gives a nod to the life and work of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.
Traditional festivities generally include a Burns Supper, which features readings of his poetry throughout the meal.
To celebrate we thought we would share how to make a tradition Burn’s night supper – haggis, neeps and tatties, that’s haggis, swede and potatoes!
Ingredients:
x1 shop bought haggis 3 large potatoes 1 swede Butter Milk Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Cook your haggis according to the packets instructions.
Peel and chop your swede into rough cm cubes and boil for 40-45 minutes. Mash with butter, salt and pepper.
Peel and roughly chop your potatoes. Mash with a big splash of milk, butter, salt and pepper.
Now it’s well known that we love a sausage roll at Heathlands. So we thought we’d put a festive spin on them and make Christmas sausage rolls! How you might ask? Well with stuffing of course and chestnuts. Yum.
Ingredients:
1 pack of premade puff pastry
500g pack of sausage meat
1 pack of your favourite stuffing
½ a pack of precooked chestnuts – these are optional
1 egg
Flour for dusting
Method:
Preheat your oven to 190°C.
Remember; you should ALWAYS wash your hands before and after cooking. This is very important as you are handling raw meat.
Make your stuffing to the packets instructions, remembering to half the water as we are only making half the packet. Allow this to cool.
Roughly chop your chestnuts if you are using them.
Combine your sausage meat, stuffing and chestnuts.
Roll out your pastry sheet onto a dusted surface to stop it sticking. Add your sausage meat in a line, leaving enough space to fold over the pastry and egg wash next to it.
“Crimp” the edges of the pastry with a fork and cut to desired length. Slit the tops, egg wash and decorate with seeds if you want to.
Place on a non-stick baking sheet or line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Bake at 190°C for 20 minutes, allow to cool a little and enjoy!
This easy recipe is for a delicious Christmas cake and is based on a Borrowdale tea bread! Make it a couple of weeks in advance and it will mature beautifully. If you would like your cake to be gluten free, simply swap the flour for plain gluten free flour!
Ingredients:
450g mixed fruit – we used raisins, sultanas, currents, glace cherries and mixed peel
100ml strong tea
100ml rum – you can leave this out and double your tea
250g plain flour
175g dark brown sugar
25g melted butter
1 egg whisked
Zest of a large orange
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp mixed spice
1tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
*** Optional – nuts and glace cherries to decorate
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
Weigh out all the ingredients.
Put fruit and tea mixture into a bowl and allow to soak for at least 3 hours, overnight is better.
Quickly melt your butter in the microwave. 30-40 seconds should be enough.
Stir sugar into the fruit mixture.
Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt into the mixture and combine.
Stir in beaten egg and melted butter.
Put into an 8inch round cake tin, decorate if wanted and bake for between 1hour & 15minutes and 1 hour & 30minutes. Check the cake with a temperature probe or a skewer. Skewer should come out clean, temp should be 92 degrees C.
Hummus is a delicious dip from the Middle East, traditionally it is eaten as part of a “meze” or selection of dishes to make a whole meal. You could eat this with carrot sticks as a great snack, with bread sticks or even in a wrap with olives, tomatoes and rocket.
This recipe is also vegan, gluten and lactose free!
We’ve also included some idea’s for how you can flavour your hummus.
*** You will need a food processor, smoothie maker [nutribullet] or stick blender with tub and blade attachment to make this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas
4tbsp tahini OR 3tbsp smooth peanut butter
Juice 1 lemon
1 large glove of garlic
2tbsp olive oil
1/tsp salt
65ml lukewarm water
Method:
Juice your lemon and peal the garlic.
Add of of your ingredient into the machine you are using.
Blend together until smooth. If your hummus is a little think, add 1tbsp of water and a time.
Enjoy!
You add lots of lovely flavours to hummus. We tried dill with extra lemon, sweet chilli sauce and olives.
We thought as Diwali is approaching it would be fun to share this family recipe for you from Helen T. Diwali differs from other Indian festivals as it includes feasting and the giving of sweets in stead of fasting. You can read more about Diwali in our Origami Diwali Boat post here.
You can use any veg you like in this vegan & lactose free recipe. We used: sweet potato, carrots, baby peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, baby corn, tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach. We added a chilli for spice also.
Ingredients:
1 onion roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 inch of root ginger minced
A mixture of veg you like roughly chopped
2 tbsp of curry powder OR the mixture of spices below
1 can chopped tomatoes
500ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
1tbsp plain flour
Spice mixture:
Toast 1tsp caraway seeds, 1tsp fenugreek seed and 3 cardamom pods, grind the caraway and fenugreek together in a pestle and mortar and use 1tsp in the spice mix.
¼ tsp salt
4 or 5 grinds of black pepper
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp asafoetida / hing
Finished Curry
Served with Greek yoghurt, fresh coriander, flaked almonds and a garlic naan
Method:
Add onion, garlic and ginger to a 3 litre microwave casserole dish with 1tbsp oil. Cover and cook for 3 minutes on high.
Add all your spices and the flour, stir well and cook for a further 2 minutes on high.
Add your hardest vegetables, ie potatoes and carrots and cook for 10 minutes on high.
Next add all your other vegetables except the softest [ie mushrooms, tomatoes, courgette and spinach], add your stock, chopped tomatoes and a squeeze of tomato puree. Stir well and cook for 10 minutes on medium.
Add your soft vegetables and cook on medium for a further 10 minutes.
Check your veg with a knife to see if they are cooked. Every microwave is different, so add time if you need to.
This warming soup is spooktacular for hallowe’en night. It’s also lactose and gluten free! If you can’t get a pumpkin, you can substitute with butternut squash.
Ingredients:
1 medium or large pumpkin depending on how many you are cooking for
1 white onion
2 carrots
1tsp salt
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon
Vegetable stock cube
1 tbsp olive oil
200ml coconut milk / lactose free cream
Method:
Finely dice the onion and start to gently fry with your olive oil in a large soup pan.
Prepare your pumpkin by removing seeds, ect and skin, dice and add to the pan.
Peel and dice the carrots and add to the pan. Keep stirring as you fry and add your spice, cook for around 5 minutes.
Boil a kettle and add water to the pan, so that the vegetables are covered by 1-2 inches of water. Simmer for 1/2 an hour.
Blend your soup using a food processor or stick blender.
You can add coconut milk or cream for a little luxury and if you’re feeling fancy, why not try a spiders web like in the picture!
This is a very nostalgic recipe for me. I remember my Grandad pickling the cucumbers that he grew in his greenhouse and now I do the same. It’s a taste from my childhood like no other.
Ingredients:
15 – 20 baby cucumbers or gherkins
Fresh dill
White vinegar / pickling vinegar
Salt
Sugar
Brine solution:
2 parts vinegar
1 part water
2 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of sugar
You may need to adjust the salt and sugar if your batch is large
Method:
Sterilise 4 to 5 medium sized jars. You can do this by boiling them in a large saucepan for 15 minutes. Allow them to cool or remove with tongs VERY carefully.
Make your brining solution in a saucepan and put on a high heat.
Trim the ends off the cucumbers and slice as desired. We did both discs and spears.
Add to your sterilised jars with 5-6 sprigs of fresh dill.
Once your brining solution has come to the boil, transfer to a jug and cover the cucumbers. Seal straight away.
Pickles will be ready in around a week but will store for up to a year!
As I am starting to get windfalls from my pear tree I decided to try and use them in a soup for a change. Windfall apples will work just as well! This is such a delicious warming recipe.
Ingredients:
Salt (half teaspoon or to taste) Black pepper (half teaspoon or to taste) Finely chopped garlic (heaped teaspoon or to taste) Vegetable stock cube Ground cumin (half teaspoon or to taste), dried sage or basil can be used if preferred. 1 onion chopped 1 Butternut squash peeled diced 4 pears peeled and diced ( any slightly sad veg leftovers can also be added to use up, carrot, courgette, celery, radish etc.)
Method:
I don’t bother with all this sautéing in oil malarkey, as it just adds calories, but you can if you really feel the need. I prick the squash with a fork then microwave on full power for 3 minutes, watch out as it will be hot but is a lot easier to peel. Put everything in a large pan then add enough water to about 2cms (half inch) below the top of the veg, give it a stir. Bring to the boil, stir again then leave it to simmer for 20 mins or until the veg are just cooked. Blitz with a food processor, liquidizer or one of those fancy hand held puree/blender’s. It can b course and lumpy, or smooth and silky, depending on your preference.
We’ve had lovely feedback from our Easy-peasy Chocolate Cake. So we thought we’d share another great and simple cake recipe with you all. This recipe uses cups as measurements. We quite literally use a coffee mug to measure!
You will need:
Ingredients:
2 Weetabix crushed
1 cup of Self-raising Flour
1 cup of dried fruit [sulphites] you can pick, we used sultanas, glace cherries and chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup of caster sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Grease and flour a 1lb loaf tin and pour in mixture.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Allow to cool for as long as you can stand it and enjoy with a cup of tea! We like to butter it too…
This delicious classic dessert is warming and seasonal. Plums are perfect this time of year and rhubarb is still plentiful. We served with ice cream, but custard would be awesome too!
We’ve made this recipe using the cup quantity method, just like our Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake!
Ingredients for filling:
2 cups plums halved and de-stoned
2 cups rhubarb roughly chopped
⅓ cup of gluten free flour
⅓ cup of brown sugar
Ingredients for crumble topping:
⅔ cup of gluten free oats
½ cup of dark brown sugar
¼ cup of gluten free flour
3tbsp set coconut oil
1tbsp vegetable oil
1tbsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp sea salt
Flaked almonds to decorate if wanted
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees C
In a medium pyrex dish or deep oven pan, gently combine the filling ingredients.
For the crumble topping. Combine all the ingredients, rubbing together until it is crumbly!
Sprinkle it over the filling and bake until the crumble topping is deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Around 40-45 minutes.
Set aside to cool for 15 minutes before serving and enjoy!
These scones are made with coconut milk but you could also substitute with your favorite lactose free milk as well. We thought almond milk and cherry or how about oat milk and cheese? Just remember to omit the sugar in a savory scone!
Ingredients:
225g Plain flour
12g GF Baking powder
112g Vegetarian margarine / soya spread
50g Unrefined golden caster sugar
120ml Coconut milk
Desiccated coconut to decorate
Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C and line the baking tray with parchment.
Sieve flour & baking powder and then rub margarine in to get a fine crumb.
Add sugar to coconut milk and whisk.
Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix until you have a soft dough.
On a floured surface, roll the mixture out to around 1 inch thick and cut out with a scone cutter of your choice.
Wash with spare coconut milk and dust with desiccated coconut.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a rich golden colour as ovens vary.
This delicious take on a Sunday dinner classic is vegetarian and gluten free! You can garnish as you see fit, we served with croutons [not gluten free!], but you could add some chucks of cheese or even some crispy fried onions.
Ingredients:
1 medium onion finely chopped
½ cauliflower roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 gluten free stock cube
150g of mature cheddar cheese
Method:
Add a little oil to a large saucepan and gentle fry the onions for a minute.
Add the cauliflower and garlic and gently fry for 3-4 minutes.
Cover with boiling water and add the stock cube. Simmer until the cauliflower is soft.
At Heathlands we pride ourselves in seeking out and perfecting recipes for individuals with allergies. This is one of those recipes, developed by our amazing volunteer David.
*** Please note that this cake includes NUTS
This surprisingly light gluten free cake is packed full of flavour and definitely worth the extra time needed to make it.
Ingredients:
2 Oranges washed & chopped in pieces, skin & pith as well as flesh
5 Eggs separated into yolks and whites
200grs Unrefined golden caster sugar
225grs Ground almonds
Decoration Flaked almonds and icing sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 160°C and line 2-3 loaf tins with paper.
Place chopped Oranges in pan with a little water. Cover and stew gently till soft and liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool. Liquidise in processor or use a small stick blender (Whatever you have).
Whisk egg whites till stiff then gradually add half the sugar to create a meringue.
Whisk egg yolks with remaining half of caster sugar till pale and thick.
Gradually whisk in the pureed oranges to the egg yolk and sugar mixture then fold in the ground almonds.
Gradually fold in the meringue.
Now gently add the mixture to the lined loaf tins. Level the tops, sprinkle on flaked almonds and bake.
Cool on drying racks.
Remember, if necessary cover. Oven time always varies dependent on the oven but look for 40mins to 1hour.
These simple crackers are a tasty treat with all cheeses and gluten free!!!
This recipe will also work with standard plain flour.
Ingredients:
200g Gluten free plain flour 3tbsp Extra virgin olive oil 1 Handful of fresh rosemary, de-stalked & chopped 50g Sesame seeds 1tbsp Garlic power 2 Free range eggs 1tbsp Water + Good quality rock salt or sea salt to sprinkle
Method:
Preheat oven to 190° and line baking sheet with silicone paper or bakers parchment.
Whisk eggs and olive oil together in bowl.
Prepare and weigh off all dry ingredients [except salt] and combine in food processor.
Slowly add egg and oil mixture, then water until a ball of dough forms within the food processor.
Turn out dough and knead well.
Split in half and roll out dough onto a liberally flour dusted surface very thin. Perhaps 1/8inch thick if you can manage. Sprinkle on salt and lightly press it into dough.
Cut out with desired shape and place on baking tray.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes depending on oven, crackers should be bubbling and slightly coloured.
Here’s a very simple recipe for a colourful coleslaw that makes an excellent side dish or add your favourite grated cheese for a fab sandwich filling!
Ingredients:
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp apple cider or white wine vinegar
1 tsp English mustard
1/3 of a red cabbage shredded
2 carrots shredded or grated
1 small red onion finely sliced
Method:
Whisk together your wet ingredients, then add your prepared vegetables, mix together and enjoy! This will keep in the fridge in an air tight container for up to three days.
This is a super easy treat and English strawberries are in season!
Ingredients
x2 blocks of strawberry jelly
boiling and cold water
x6 strawberries
135 ml whole milk
tsp sugar
Method
Cut up half a block of jelly and place in a heatproof measuring jug. Add the sugar and top up with boiling water to 150ml. Stir until completely dissolved. Place in the fridge to cool. Put your spare jelly block in tuppaware and save for another day!
While first mixture is cooling, slice your strawberries and place in the bottom of six small glasses or ramekins.
Once the jelly mix is cool add milk 135ml of milk. This makes a total of 285ml of milk jelly.
Split the mixture between the glasses and place in the fridge to set. This takes about an hour.
Next cut up a whole block of strawberry jelly and add boiling water to 285ml line. Stir until completely dissolved. Add a further 285ml of cold water.
Add jelly mixture on top of milk jelly and place in the fridge to set. This should take around an hour to an hour and a half.
Enjoy!
Variations
Why not try making orange milk jelly with tinned peace slices? Or if your feeling adventurous, use gelatin powder and coconut milk and add mango puree to pineapple jelly for your second layer.
We love cooking seasonally here at Heathlands and using ingredients grown on our gardens. Rhubarb is a great fruit that’s easy to grow and this very simple recipe uses only 3 ingredients!
You will need
500g Rhubarb
500g 1:1 Jam Sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon
Method
Sterilise 4 jam jars.
Wash and chop your rhubarb into 1 inch chunks.
Weigh off you rhubarb and sugar.
Juice your lemon.
Put all of your ingredients into a large pan and turn on the heat. Keep stirring the mixture so it doesn’t stick.
It’s great fun bringing you all these recipes, but how do I know they work? Well because while in isolation I’m making them too! With my little helper of course.
This week I wanted to find a recipe that our daughter could do, with the very bare minimum of help from me. So; no weigh chocolate cake it is!
You will need:
Ingredients:
1 cup of Self-raising Flour
1/3 cup of Cocoa Powder
1 cup of Caster Sugar – granulated will work too
1/3 cup of Butter softened
1/2 cup Milk
2 Eggs beaten
Equipment:
Cup
Mixing Bowl
Whisk
Cake Tin
Grease Proof Paper
Method:
Gather all of your ingredients and preheat your oven to 170°C.
Melt your butter and measure out your ingredients and put them in a large bowl. There is no need for sifting or sorting.
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