This week at home the weather has been sooo hot!  I shouldn’t complain, I’m not complaining, I am a little bit...

The week started in the City of London.  Hello Gherkin.

From London to Somerset in one easy car ride.  These sheep were our neighbours.  I discovered that sheep sneeze at night...weird but true.

I came home with this lovely dresser which my sister and I transformed from shiny pine to beautiful vintage white.  I’m still trying to decide which plates to display.  My husband thinks I’m behaving like a granny but he secretly likes the dresser too.

I’m attempting a spot of grow your own.  Can’t wait for these beauties to ripen.

Growing some chard too.  I love how pretty it is.

I’m mad for summer fruits at the moment.  Cherries are my catnip.

Raspberries and apricots on my porridge.

Since the weather is so hot I decided it was a good time to test out making my own deodorant.  It worked out pretty well.  Better than my shop bought natural alternative.  I used this recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini  and used patchouli oil for fragrance.

Of course there have been plenty of walks in the cool of the early morning.  I love how the light falls through the trees.

The obligatory coffee shot, can’t help myself.

These are all taken with Instagram, you can follow me #separatetoasters or click on the link above.

My Week in Lunches

Whenever I have some time off work and I’m spending it at home I like to abandon my work day sandwiches and eat something a little different for lunch.  It’s an opportunity to eat a little bit healthier.  I’ll generally just create something for myself out of whatever is in the fridge and needs using.  It has to be something that comes together quickly as I am usually coming in and going out again.  This week a bag of kale was sitting patiently in my fridge so it featured pretty heavily in my lunch time munching.  The general pattern is veggies, a grain and some protein, usually an egg, cheese or toasted nuts of some description.  I might write up a couple of these as recipes in the coming weeks.  It’s back to sandwiches next week sadly.  What have you been having for lunch lately?

Sweetcorn, Rosemary and Goat Cheese Gluten Free Pizza

So my last post which seems like eons ago was some nonsense about it never being too hot to bake.  Well, I’ve changed my mind.  It is officially too hot to bake or do anything much for that matter.  I’m enjoying a much needed break from work and feeling very relieved that I’m not commuting this week in my old car which has no air conditioning.  I may as well be driving an oven in to work and slowly roasting myself at the same time. The only way to keep vaguely cool is to have the windows wound down which on the motorway is no fun at all.  Deafening traffic noise means no radio.  Commuting in hot weather has also given me a lopsided tan.  My right arm now being lovely and brown while my left has some serious catching up to do.

However I digress because we are here to talk about pizza and not my delirious heat induced ramblings.  One of my favourite things to eat in summer is corn on the cob.  I love how easily it cooks in the oven, on the grill or barbeque and with a little butter melted on top it is perfection in itself.  I decided to combine my love of sweetcorn with pizza.  Ok you may need to use the oven if you follow my method but I’m sure the grill or barbeque will make an excellent alternative for cooking the corn.  The pizzas are a grill job so all in all, not too bad.

I made the pizza bases using this gluten free flatbread recipe which makes a fantastic pizza base.  Just leave out the cumin.  I’ve blogged about it many times, here, here, here and here.  The original recipe came from BBC GoodFood.

For the sweetcorn I wrapped each cob in foil with a little butter then baked them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes on Gas Mark 7, 220°C, 425°F.  Once the corn is cool enough to handle, use a sharp knife to slice the corn kernels from the cob.

Once the flatbread is cooked, spread the corn across the flatbread then sprinkle with fresh rosemary and crumbled hard goat cheese.  My husband added ham to his which he really enjoyed.  Simply grill until the cheese has melted to your liking.  About 5 minutes.

Never Too Hot To Bake: Apricot, Almond and Buckwheat Cake

The sun is shining and my pasty white legs are out and ready.  Will this be the year I finally get a tan?  Unlikely but I remain stubbornly hopeful.  Summer has finally landed here in the UK.  Now give us a few hours and we’ll start complaining it’s too hot.  It seems wrong to put the oven on in this heat but that’s exactly what I did this afternoon.  Having scored a large haul of apricots at the market this morning I knew exactly the cake I wanted to make. 

This is the second time I have made one of Kathryn of London Bakes cakes.  They never disappoint.  The recipe can be found on the Vanilla Bean Blog, another beautiful space, where Kathryn was guest posting.  I followed the recipe exactly and thoroughly enjoyed the results.  This light summer cake allows the apricots to take centre stage.  The mix of buckwheat and almonds gives it a hearty texture.  I love it with natural yoghurt.  My apricots were quite small and not as ripe as they perhaps should have been.  Nevertheless cooked in the cake they became wonderfully soft and sweet.  The perfect summer treat and totally worth putting the oven on.

Find the recipe here.

Chicken Coconut Korma

This curry has fast become a favourite dinner in our house.  I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to really spicy curries so this korma suits me just fine.  I love the creamy coconut milk mixed with the warming ginger and mild spices of the korma curry paste.  I’ve gone down the traditional route of using chicken but because buying organic meat can be pricey I like to try and substitute plenty of vegetables for some of the meat making it an all round healthier dish.  Here I used cauliflower which blended in to the background nicely.  I also threw in some red lentils for a little extra protein and fibre.  Alternatively chickpeas are also a nice addition.  The end result is hearty meal which should keep those who like spicy food (my husband) happy but is subtle enough not to blow your head off.  If you are vegetarian of vegan then just leave out the meat and substitute with vegetables.  I add kale at the last minute as we can’t get enough of it but spinach would also work.

Recipe adapted from Jamie’s Ministry of Food by Jamie Oliver

*The original recipe uses a fresh green chilli.  I didn’t bother in my version but if you like a really hot curry then go for it.

Serves 2

1 large chicken breast chopped in to approximately 3cm pieces

1 shallot finely chopped

½ thumb sized piece of fresh root ginger finely chopped

¼ head of cauliflower cut in to chunks

Handful of red lentils

½ tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon of korma curry paste or more if you like it hotter

200ml coconut milk

Small handful of flaked almonds plus extra toasted for serving

1 heaped tablespoon of desiccated coconut

Salt and pepper to taste

Small handful of kale (optional)

Coriander leaves to serve (not pictured, I’d run out)

In a large heavy based pan sauté your chicken pieces in coconut oil until lightly brown.  Add the shallot and ginger and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes.  Add the cauliflower, korma paste, lentils, coconut milk, flaked almonds and desiccated coconut and mix everything together.  Add extra water as needed.  Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes with the lid on.  Check periodically that the curry is not drying out and add more water as necessary.  Once the chicken is cooked and the curry is ready add the kale for the last two minutes.  Season to taste and serve with rice (I used brown).  Sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and fresh coriander.

Weekending and Roasted Berries

This weekend started with 3 ½ hours in an epic traffic jam on the M25 getting home from work on Friday and it’s ending with African beef and peanut stew and Nashville (I know, feel free to judge).  In between there have been walks, shopping, cake baking, music listening and film watching.  There has also been roasted berries on porridge.  Nothing says summer like fresh berries.  Nothing says winter like a hot steaming bowl of porridge.  I thought since our UK summers feel more like winter at the moment the two would go quite nicely together.  This isn’t really about porridge however.  Porridge is merely my chosen vehicle for these luscious summer berries.  They would be perfect on yoghurt, ice cream, pancakes.  The list goes on.

Last summer I roasted strawberries using Heidi Swanson’s recipe from her book Super Natural Everyday.  Inspired by this post on Naturally Ella I decided to try using different berries.  I had raspberries and frozen blueberries which I defrosted prior to roasting.  This is so easy and such a delicious way to make the best of summer fruits. 

Roasted Summer Berries

225g (8oz) summer berries

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven Gas Mark 4, 180°C, 350°F

Line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper.  Place your berries in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix together the maple syrup and extra virgin olive oil.  Pour the mixture over the berries and gently combine until the berries are coated.  Spread the berries out across the baking tray and roast for 20 – 30 minutes until they have begun to caramelise and release their juices.  Remove from the oven and while still warm scrape the berries and their juices in to a small bowl and serve.  

Vanilla Almond Coconut Cookies

Yesterday I was in need of a distraction.  Yesterday my inner child (the one that wants to throw tantrums and stamp her feet for no good reason) needed to be kept in check.  Bruce Springsteen was playing Wembley Stadium and I couldn’t be there.  I felt like a small child who missed out on a friend’s birthday party.  There was a bit of sulking, it wasn’t my finest hour.  However, good things can sometimes come out of a sulk and that’s sort of how these cookies happened.  Really tenuous link I know but I felt the need to distract myself with baking and whilst idly flicking through a magazine I came across this recipe, they sounded easy and delicious and just suited my mood.

These flourless cookies are wonderfully light and full of healthy ingredients.  The coconut takes centre stage working perfectly with the more subtle vanilla and almond flavours.  The cookies are quite small so you really can’t stop at eating just one, especially if you are sulking about something.

Recipe slightly adapted from Natural Lifestyle Magazine.  Makes about 20-22 cookies.

112g ground almonds

80g unsweetened desiccated coconut

¼ tsp sea salt

80g agave syrup (I guess honey would be fine but I haven’t tried).

56g coconut oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

½ tsp almond extract

1-2 free range eggs*

*The original recipe didn’t include eggs.  I think this was a typo as the ingredients were far too dry.  I added an egg to my half batch and it worked perfectly.  I’m guessing if you are making the full batch of 22 you will need two eggs.  Start with one and see how the mixture is.  If it’s still a little dry mix in a second egg.

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3, 170°C, 325°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment.

In a bowl mix together the almond meal, desiccated coconut and salt.  In a separate bowl beat together the coconut oil, agave syrup, vanilla and almond extracts and an egg. Combine the dry and wet ingredients together.  If the mixture is still a little firm add the second egg.  Place small rounded scoops of dough on to the baking sheets.  Bake for 18-20 minutes until the cookies turn golden brown.  Remove from the oven, leave the cookies to stand on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  The cookies may be a little soft but they will firm up as they cool.

For those who understand my pain, here is a bit of raw young Bruce playing Darkness on the Edge of Town which I hear was the centre piece of his Wembley set last night and my favourite album.