Growing up, one of my favorite vegetables or green foods was the humble green beans. The green beans recipes that I ate as a kid were mostly in the form of a thoran (a coconut based vegetable dish in Kerala with Indian spices and flavors). The beans were sauteed in fresh curry leaves, mustard and cumin seeds along with freshly grated coconut in addition to many Indian spices and flavors. Over here in the US, I have cooked green beans differently. Firstly, always use fresh green beans/french beans. There is a world of difference in fresh and frozen. This recipe goes great with the beans alone but pair it up with some ground meat (in this case pork), it just adds that amazing extra bit of flavor and fat which elevates the dish to another level and Yes, a soft boiled egg on top never hurt anyone!

{Recipe}
Ground Pork…

Simple Sponge cake with vanilla flavour that can be served on your table anytime. It’s perfect for snack, breakfast, or tea time. Hope you like it.. 🙂

Total Time: 1 hour

Serving: 10-12 slices

INGREDIENTS

8 Egg whites

200 g Margarine,
melted

250 g Flour

200 g Sugar

¼ tsp Baking powder (or 4g)

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

DIRECTION

• Melt the margarine. You can use a pot like me, or simply put it in the microwave.

• Pre-heat oven on 160 degrees. Grease all corner baking pan 30x10x7 (if you don’t have, don’t worry, you can use any pan that have similar volume.)

• Mix white egg and sugar on high-speed for about 10 minutes until it’s foamy and the slimy white egg is gone.

• Decrease the speed to medium and little by
  little add in flour.

• Once it’s well mixed, turn off the mixer. Pour
  in the melted margarine and stir…

Sam’s friend Ben came to stay with us two weeks ago and as a thanks, he secretly rang up the butcher near our flat in Peckham and bought us some meat to cook. What a wonderful present! When he was here, he and I went for a walk and I talked to him about food shopping and the things he liked to buy at butchers and fishmongers where he lives in Edinburgh, and also, about the disappearance of fishmongers and butchers from areas of Edinburgh that are becoming rapidly developed and different. I hadn’t really thought about Ben going to the butcher or fishmonger before and it put him in a different light in my mind, hearing him talk about what he chooses and how he likes to cook. Sausages were something that Ben mentioned he always likes to buy, and actually I don’t often buy, so I thought of him when making this and…

I barely ever cook squid – I can probably count the occasions on one hand. This is not to do with preference, I always order squid if it’s on a restaurant menu. It’s mainly that squid usually requires a special trip to a fishmonger, and I am rarely near a fishmonger at the right moment. I often walk past the fish shops in Newcastle after teaching at the university, but don’t feel I can inflict a fishy parcel on a heated train carriage for 5 hours as I make my way home… and the contents would spoil, too. 

I passed by a fishmonger with a sign saying ‘FRESH SQUID’ in Frinton-on-Sea in Essex when we’d driven there for a rainy Saturday to cheer ourselves up. The man in the shop put 3 handfuls of pre-prepared squid in a bag and I had in mind to use the two bulbs of…

Even though I make many “different” meals for my family they still want “kid” food once in a while. I am not a believer in that there are kids foods and adult foods. Kids menus and foods began back in the 1920s because prior to that time most parents dined out without children. Starting in the 20s restaurants began inviting children in but letting it be known that they could not eat what there parents ate. Food was bland and considered good for children’s digestive tracts.  It wasn’t until the 1970s that the beige food children’s menu that we know today came into being.

By the age of four strong preferences have been developed in what children will eat. If they have not been exposed to bitter, stronger tastes they will take much longer to acquire these tastes. Our pediatrician had us start both children on the bitter vegetables first…

We made this dinner really quick the other night. The hardest part of the meal was mincing the garlic and chopping the onions. Other than that it came together really fast. We were out of rice noodles so I used a thin spaghetti to make it which was fine but it would have been even better with rice noodles. Remember if you don’t have an ingredient to a recipe figure out a work around! You want to have the same amount of liquid or spices but maybe you switch them out by adding a bit more of something else in place of an ingredient you don’t have or don’t like. The more you play with ingredients the more you will like making dishes with your own twists!

Verdict:

This was a hit. I was very skeptical of the dish not having tamarind paste but I really didn’t miss it. I…

Well, the Unofficial Start to summer has come and gone. That four-day weekend seemed to pass by in a flash. From now until Labor Day our little town will be bustling with tourists.  We tend to avoid the local beach and downtown area from now until after Labor Day.  They get so busy and there are few deals as most of these places make the bulk of their income in these three months. So, we will not be going out too much this summer to eat.

We love our pizza though. I am still working on my technique to make better pizza but each time I feel I am getting a bit closer to the best way to make it for us.  This is the one dish that restaurants still make better than I do! I took a piece of steak out of the freezer the other day and realized…

My children do not like mayonnaise potato salad.  Once in a while I can get them to eat a bite or two if I add lots of eggs and mustard to it.  When I saw this recipe I knew my children would like it.  There is almost no mayonnaise in it.  Plus, it had the added bonus of bacon.  To them, heck to me, bacon is its own unique food group and just makes everything better!

I wish I could get a picture of how this salad tasted.  I started with this recipe for Ranch Potato Salad from Fullcircle.com. (click for link to original recipe)

Verdict:

It was yummy!  My potato salad hating kids each ate two huge helpings of this.  It had a smoky bacon flavor with a bit of crunch from the celery and onion.  There was one serving left for the next day and that was…

Time for summer salads! I love potato salads but am always looking for new ways to make them. This potato salad is potatoes mixed with Tzatziki which is a favorite in our house. I tend to add MUCH more dill and garlic than is called for in this recipe but I went light on the seasonings for the recipe because we love it with lots of garlic and dill but when I make it for guests I tend to err on the side of caution.

Verdict:

This is one of my kids favorite potato salads. They are not big on mayonnaise based salads and this has so much flavor that they choose this salad first when picking a picnic side dish.

This goes great with all your favorite grilled meats!