There's something special about watching the steam rise from a hot bowl of soup after you've been working in the garden all morning; you just know it's going to fill you up. My smoked bacon and kale soup came about simply to use up some ingredients in the kitchen. I cooked up enough for six portions so there's plenty in the freezer for a wet and windy day. We have rather busy weekends and when lunchtime comes it's nice to stop, take some time Smoked Bacon and Kale Soup
There's something special about watching the steam rise from a hot bowl of soup after you've been working in the garden all morning; you just know it's going to fill you up. My smoked bacon and kale soup came about simply to use up some ingredients in the kitchen. I cooked up enough for six portions so there's plenty in the freezer for a wet and windy day. We have rather busy weekends and when lunchtime comes it's nice to stop, take some time 
There's a very good reason why this is an easy vegetable lasagne: there's no béchamel! One of the things I love most about lasagne is how comforting it is, all those layers of pasta and sauce, so I didn't want to miss any of that by cutting out a few steps. It's still creamy and cheesy but only uses one sauce. This is such an easy recipe and you can use whatever vegetables you have to hand.
ingredients
You will need (for four portions):
1 
I had such a craving for some proper oat and raisin cookies. Ones which are crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle and about the same size as my face. I've tried several recipes in the past and they've tended to be not quite what I'm after in my perfect cookie. Until now. If you're after a healthy cookie I wouldn't read on any further.
ingredients
You will need (for 10 cookies):
225g unsalted butter, softened200g light brown sugar50g 
I often find that I buy nuts or seeds to make something particular and I get left with a few grams of them here and there. That's where my store cupboard shortbread comes in. This year I am attempting to use up ingredients in my cupboards and I thought I would start by using the last few dregs of cocoa powder and some leftover hazelnuts; I am so glad I did.
Ingredients
Makes 12 pieces of shortbread:
175g plain flour1 tbsp cocoa powder50g 
You know those small pasta shapes you can buy which are ideal for minestrone? Well, it turns out they make a really good pasta bake. I found this out by accident when making my creamy lentil pasta bake and looked in the cupboard to find only teeny tiny bows to hand. This is a seriously tasty and very filling vegetarian pasta bake which is crammed full of veg with a little added double cream for a touch of weeknight luxury.
Ingredients
You 
In my perfect world, a mince pie would be 70% pastry, 30% mincemeat. It's not that I don't like mincemeat I just don't like too much of it. That's where my mince pie crumble bars come in. A thick layer of buttery shortbread, a spiced mincemeat middle and further crumbly shortbread on the top. Let's be honest, it's mostly biscuit with a hint of Christmas. Perfect.
Ingredients
You will need (for 12 mince pie crumble bars):
300g softened 
I often get left with carrots at the bottom of the fridge. They play an overlooked, but important, base in so many meals: part of a mirepoix, in casseroles and in pies to name a few. Rarely, in my kitchen anyway, do the carrots get to be the star of the dish. So when some beautiful rainbow carrots arrived in the veg box it would have been rude to simply chuck them into various dinners. This time, I wanted to celebrate this lovely root in a rainbow 
Most people would take one look at our barbecue and wonder what on Earth we were thinking when we bought it. As non-seasoned barbecuers we didn't want to splash the cash and bought pretty much the cheapest barbecue we could find. It's cast iron, uses coal or wood and has just enough space for food for two or three people and it's brilliant. Of course, the first ever barbecue was too hot, the second was too cold but we are pros now and not even a 
It is important to note that this recipe is not shy on calories. There's cheese, double cream, lashings of olive oil, layers of pasta and plenty of veg. My green summer vegetable lasagne is quicker to make than a traditional lasagne (there's no baking) and you can use the sauce with any pasta if you so choose. I like to think that all that green veg negates the calories and I happily ploughed through a whole plate of this. Bear in mind, I am very 
You know when you see a recipe and you can't get it out of your head? It all started when I saw a recipe for buffalo cauliflower, it sounded so good. Then I saw an idea for some seriously loaded nachos. The combination of the two sounded like a dream. These pulled buffalo chicken nachos are everything I wanted them to be: spicy, slightly sweet, covered with cheese and full of texture. Perfect for sharing on the sofa.
Ingredients
You will 
