It's wild garlic season!! Wild garlic is a leafy plant with white flowers that appears in woodland in early spring. Just like bulb garlic it's got loads of health benefits, most importantly its antibacterial powers that help treat colds and coughs and strengthen the immune system. The plants grow in shady and damp conditions so if you wanna go forage for some, make sure you head to the right places. You definitely can't miss or mistake it as it's got a very strong garlicky scent.

There's so many things you can do with wild garlic but I love a good pesto and want to share my favourite recipe with you today. It's super easy and quick to make and your house will smell amaaaazing after :)

You'll need:

Lightly toast the nuts in a frying pan without oil.

Wash your wild garlic leaves thoroughly and pat them dry with a paper towel, then cut it into smaller pieces before adding it into your blender with all the other ingredients. 

Blitz until you've got a creamy texture. You can add more olive oil if the pesto is too thick in consistency. That's it! That's all there is to do! Pour the mixture into a jar to keep in the fridge and use within two weeks of making it.

This tastes amazing on bread or as a dip for veggies, bread sticks, crisps etc. It's also a super quick pasta "sauce" for that midweek dinner when you really can't be bothered to cook after work :) Try it with baked potatoes also! Heavenly! :) You see, it's really versatile and absolutely worth your time making it! 

Have you tried wild garlic before? What are your favourite ways of preserving it? Leave me a comment to let me know.

Who knew it was so easy to satisfy that sushi craving at home? This poke bowl is completely hassle free, no rolling perfect sushi pieces and super adaptable to whatever vegetables you're into. It's also easily veganised if you follow a plant based diet. So here's how I made this.

For two bowls you'll need:

For the beets:

For the bowl:

For the sauce:

First, chop two beets into small strips and place them in a bowl to marinade. If you can make this a day in advance it's gonna be even better, but definitely give it an hour to absorb the marinade. Add all the other ingredients for the beets into your bowl, mix well and set aside to do its thing.

Cook your rice in about 200ml salted water. It will have absorbed all the water by the time it's done. It takes about 15 minutes. Leave that to cool down a little, we want the rice in our bowl to be luke warm for serving.

In the meantime, chop up your veggies. I cut the cucumber in pretty thin slices, julienned the carrot using a peeler and used frozen edamame which I left to thaw earlier that day. Chop up you spring onion too and finely slice the avocado (I had my bowl without avocado as I really wasn't feeling it).

Now be creative in arranging your rice, veggies and pickled beets in a bowl, drizzle over the sriracha mayo and add another sprinkling of sesame seeds. If you like it even more spicy, feel free to add some thinly sliced jalapenos on top or even more of the dried chili flakes!

There you go! That's your poke bowl sorted :)

Have you ever tried making sushi or sushi bowls at home? What's your verdict? Leave me a comment if you decide to give this a try and let me know how you got on :)

With the Easter weekend fast approaching, I have another recipe for you today, that's perfect for that Easter brunch with the family (or whatever lockdown rules state for the weekend where you are). It's easy to make, ready in no time and doesn't make a mess of your kitchen like regular pancakes tend to do. Read on to find out how to make these. This recipe makes about 15 pancakes.

Ingredients:

Preheat your oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with greeseproof paper.

Sieve the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate into a bowl and mix together well.

In a big mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and the butter until creamy. Now add in the vanilla paste and the egg and whisk for another minute of so until evenly combined and you've got a light creamy texture.

Now add a bit of the flour mixture into the big mixing bowl, followed by a bit of the milk. Combine and repeat until everything's coming together in a dark, chocolatey batter.

Using a tablespoon, put the mixture on the lined baking tray. One spoonful makes one pancake. Make sure you leave sufficent room between the pancakes as they will expand quite a bit.

Bake in the oven at 200°C for about 8 - 10 minutes and serve with fruit, maple syrup or jam. Basically any of the good stuff!

I told you it was quick and easy :) Will you be trying these this weekend? Let me know in the comments below! Have a lovely, long, relaxed weekend guys!

I've been back at the bread making last week and just had to share these breadsticks with you as they are sooo scrumptious! They turned out super fluffy and soft and the garlic "glaze" is to die for! They are the prefect side for soups (which I'm still craving in this rainy, stormy weather we've been having) or for a quick lunch break sandwich. They take some time to make as we're using fresh yeast for the dough but the recipe is easy, vegan and definitely worth your time.

Here's what you'll need:

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add 650ml warm (not hot) water, add 80ml of the olive oil and salt and stir until the yeast has desolved completely.

In a big bowl mix both flours together, then create a little hollow in the middle. Pour your yeast mixture in there and knead working outwards until you've got all the flour and liquid combined to a ball of dough.

Cover your bowl and leave to rise for about 45 minutes in a warm place.

Meanwhile finely chop your garlic and rosemary (especially if you're using fresh rosemary) and combine with about 5 - 6 tbsp of olive oil. Put aside.

Once your dough has risen considerably, knead it once more on a floured surface and divide into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a breadstick shape, put it on a lined baking tray and then flaten the top with your hands. Brush on some of the garlic oil you made, then twist your breadsticks starting in the middle. Brush the surface with more of the oil before putting it in a preheated oven at 225°C. Bake for about 20 minutes or until they turn a nice golden colour.

What do you think? Will you try these? I'm definitely gonna be back making more next weekend. Not only do they taste great but they also made my whole house smell heavenly - definitely a bonus!

Leave me a comment and let me know how you get on with the recipe if you do decide to try it :)

So it's February and we're hopefully one step closer to the end of this lockdown! The days are really starting to get noticeably lighter and longer and really, I'm just ready for spring now. How are you holding up where you are? For this week's lockdown bake I decided to make donuts - also perfect if you wanna get some American style snacks ready in time for the Super Bowl. So here's how to make them.

You'll need:

Some extra sugar and cinnamon for the topping

Preheat your oven to 225°C.

Generously grease your donut tray to make removing them after baking that bit easier.

In a large bowl mix together you flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. Set aside.

Wash and grate your apples than squeeze out as much of the juice as you can. Makes a nice glass of freshly squeezed apple juice to enjoy while your donuts are baking in the oven :)

Then, in another bowl whisk together the milk, eggs, butter and grated apples.

After that, gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Make sure you carefully fold them in and not to overmix as that might make your donuts less fluffy!

With a spoon, add the (slightly runny) dough into the baking tray, then bake in the oven for about 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly golden.

Leave them to cool for a little bit before removing them from the tray to avoid the risk of burning your fingers (I know what I'm talking about here..)

Put the still warm donuts on a wire rack and sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar on top! If you fancy proper icing, go for it, be creative :)

That's literally all there is to do! Easy and sooooo good!

Are you gonna give these a go? What's your favourite donut place? Leave me a comment and let me know. Happy baking! :)

So this week, I finally got around to making some honey cakes! I love this recipe because it's super quick and easy to make, always works out and satisfies that craving for cake without being too sweet (yes even though there's honey in them!)

If you fancy making them, get you muffin tray ready and grab these ingredients:

Before you start, make sure you thoroughly grease your muffin tray because you won't be using paper liners for your cakes.

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, salt and lemon zest.

Add the room temperature butter to the dry ingredients and mix together using your hands or a fork. Mix until everything's combined but don't overdo it, you don't want a smooth dough it can look a bit "sandy" still.

In a different bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.

Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients and combine using your fork again. Again make sure, that everything is combined well but don't worry about making it too smooth.

Now you can add the batter to your muffin tray and bake at 200°C for 15 minutes.

Take your cakes out of the oven and drizzle some honey over the still warm cakes. It works best if you microwave the honey for about 10 seconds as that makes it really runny. You can also brush the honey onto the cakes. Plop them back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until they're golden brown on the outside.

Let the cakes cool in the baking tray completely before removing. They will be crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside.

There you go - easy :)

These will keep for about a week, if you can stay away from them for that long that is! :) So they're the perfect weekend baking project to get some homemade sweetness ready for the week ahead.

Let me know if you make these! What are your favourite weekend bakes for someone with a sweet tooth?