F1 Foods: Monaco round-up and Canadian challenge

Last weekend's Grand Prix in Monaco inspired me to make a dish called chicken Monte Carlo, even though I didn't have all the ingredients I needed - it still tasted really nice! There were a couple of other entries for my Formula 1 Foods challenge; Suelle at Mainly Baking made this aniseed and orange frangipane jalousie. She's been a great contributor to this challenge and did a lot of research into potential bakes, and came across something...

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Eggs in Bacon Cups for a quirky cooked breakfast

If you're bored of having your eggs the same way at breakfast why not try these cute eggs in bacon cups? They are pretty quick to make and are a bit different!   Preheat the oven to 180C. You need one rasher of bacon per egg. Spray a muffin pan with Fry Light and place a strip of bacon around the inside of each muffin hole. Snip off a little piece of bacon and put on the bottom.   Crack an egg into each muffin hole Bake in the oven...

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Red Pepper Houmous

Red pepper houmous is really easy to make and a nice change from the plain variety. Making your own houmous also means it can be low in fat and salt and generally quite healthy. It's really good to take to a barbecue or if you are having lunch al fresco at home. You need: 410g tin of chickpeas 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 roasted red peppers from a jar - in brine is healthier than in oil squeeze of lemon juice 2 tbsp. olive oil Put the chickpeas...

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Restaurant Review - Van of Death, Cambridge

Life, or Death? No, not a threat, or a philosophical conundrum - but a late night kebab choice for the students of Cambridge. When I went back for a college reunion recently, we had a lavish dinner but I couldn't not go to the Van of Death - and I couldn't miss telling you about it. Like many things in Cambridge, the Van of Death - or VoD as it is affectionately known - officially has another name: Uncle Frank's. But this is common...

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Birdcage Birthday Cake

Birdcages are a common theme at weddings and recently they have become popular as birthday cakes as well. I went to a wedding a few years ago of a couple whose surname is Bird, and they had a birdcage on each table – which I actually sourced for them – filled with flowers and decorated with little birds. I was given one of them to keep afterwards and replaced the flowers with dried ones, and I have it on display in my bedroom.   I’ve noticed...

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Italian Stuffed Peppers

  We had my boyfriend's family over for his birthday in April and he wanted a buffet meal that people could help themselves to and eat while standing up. His mum does great buffets on Boxing Day with the same dishes every year - quiche, cocktail sausages, pate etc - and so I wanted to do something a bit different. I had the idea of an Italian themed buffet which worked really well, as I could buy a lot of things ready made and could prepare...

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Meal Planning Monday 2015 - Week 22

  Monday – bank holiday Lunch: bacon sandwich Dinner: roast chicken breasts with poutine   Tuesday Lunch: bulgar wheat, apricot and chickpea salad Dinner: fish and vegetables for me, gammon steak for him   Wednesday Lunch: salad Dinner: I want to try out my new spiralizer and am going to make this sweet potato pasta, and my boyfriend can have normal spaghetti and meatballs.   Thursday Lunch: out with a colleague Dinner: honey...

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Deliciously Ella: Fennel, quinoa and broad bean summer salad

It's been a lovely bank holiday weekend and we've been to a barbecue today for my boyfriend's mum's 60th. It was hosted by her other son so I wasn't needed to provide the food (and didn't get to make the cake unfortunately!) but I did want to help out if I could. I was asked to make some sort of cous cous salad - since the other bases were already covered - and immediately thought of Deliciously Ella. Have you come across Ella Woodward yet?...

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Chicken Monte Carlo

     This weekend is the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo and so I've made a recipe called Chicken Monte Carlo. I found it online but couldn't find any explanation of why the dish has that name so I don't know if it has anything to do with Monte Carlo itself but the name alone means it fits with my Formula 1 Foods challenge!   I found several recipes for Chicken Monte Carlo online which were all slightly different and as I wasn't...

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