Makes 6
10 minutes prep. time
10 minutes cooking time

What you need:

• 110g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
• Butter

For nice easy pancake, do the following:

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.  Make a well in the middle of the sifted flour.  Break the eggs into the well. WHISK!
Slowly add the milk and water mixture whilst WHISKing.
When all your lumps are gone, you are ready!

Put a frying pan over a low heat.  Get a knob of butter and rub over all cooking surfaces of the frying pan.
Pour 3 ladles of the pancake mixture into the frying pan and distribute.  Once cooked on one side, FLIP!
Once cooked on the other side, remove and cover in your topping (I like the classic lemon and sugar).
Roll!  Eat!

10 mins prep. time
20 mins cooking time
180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:

• 175g oats
• 75g golden syrup
• 125g soft light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• Anything else you want your flapjack to contain (nuts, fruit etc.)

Melt the butter and sugar in a saucepan on low heat.  Add the golden syrup and heat until well mixed.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the oats.  You can use plain oats or mixed oats.  I used 4 sachets (which is conveniently 175g) of microwave porridge with dried blackcurrants.  Add any other bits for taste.
Mix well and spread evenly in a deep tray.

After 20-25 minutes in the oven you are ready to eat.

Time: relatively quick in comparison to most pizza bases - 3 hours

What you need:

• 1 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  
• 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
  
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
  
• Olive oil
  

I know that meany dough recipes tell you to put the flour in the bowl, make a well and put the yeast in the well.  How many of you have done that for the yeast not to work and then you've wasted most of your ingredients.  Well, I'm going to ask you to trust me......

Sprinkle the yeast and the sugar over 1 1/4 cups of warm water.  I don't know the temperature I use....I tend to boil the kettle, make a cup of tea and use the water from the kettle.  Wait about 10 minutes.  If the yeast is now creamy in colour, tad-da it has worked.  If not then just throw away and start again.....only yeast, sugar and water wasted.

Mix together the flour and salt.  Add this to the yeast-sugar-water mixture. Use your hands to bring it into a rough ball.  Cover the bowl with a wet tea-towel for 5 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface knead your dough for about 5 minutes.  If it starts to get a bit dry and crumbly, add water a tablespoon at a time.  If it is too sticky then just sprinkle some flour on top and work into the dough.
Put a little olive oil into a bowl and distribute around the bowl.  Place your dough ball into the bowl and roll around to cover the surface with oil.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes the dough should have doubled.  If not just wait a while longer (afterall we already know that our yeast is fine).  Divide the dough into four and make into balls.  Put the dough balls on a floured surface and cover with a damp tea-towel for 2 hours, or until they have doubled in size.

You can now shape it, top it, bake it!

15 mins prep. time
25 mins cooking time
190°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 5

What you need (cake):

• 175g self raising flour
• 125g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 2 eggs

What you need (icing):

• 1 teaspoon instant coffee
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 75g butter
• 175g icing sugar

Preheat the oven and lightly oil and line the base of two cake tins (18cm) with grease-proof paper.

Beat the egg and sugar together until creamy.  Dissolve the coffee in two tablespoons of hot water and allow to cool.  Once cooled mix the coffee in with the egg and sugar.  Whilst beating the mixture slowly add in sifted flour.
Divide the mixture between the two tins and cook for 20-25 minutes.

Whilst the cake is in the oven, make your icing. 
Blend the coffee and cocoa powder with some hot water to form a stiff paste.  Beat in the butter and icing sugar.

Once the cake has come out of the oven and left for 5 minutes to cool, sandwich the two section together with some of the icing.  Spread the remaining icing on top of the cake, I also melted some chocolate and drizzled that on top.

40 mins prep. time
20 mins cooking time
200°C (400°F) / Gas Mark 6

What you need:

• 100g unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 225g plain flour
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 leek (trimmed and chopped)
• 25g unsalted butter
• 8 unsmoked streaky bacon (diced)
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 150ml double cream
• salt and pepper

You are going to need a muffin tin (7.5cm, 12 hole).  If you have a metal tin use some of the butter to lightly grease it.

Sift the flour, pinch of salt and paprika in a bowl and rub in the butter (100g) until it looks like breadcrumbs.  Add a little water until the dough starts to stick together and is knead-able.  Unfortunately this is where it can go terribly wrong.  You don't what it too gooey, but at the same time you don't want it too dry so tat you can't knead it.

Divide what you've just made, the pastry, in half and roll out 1 of the half.  Roll it out to about 0.5cm thick and using a cookie cutter (9cm) cut out 6 rounds.  Then roll out these rounds to 12cm.  Repeat this with the other half of pastry and place the 12cm rounds in the muffin tin and chill for 30 minutes.

While you're waiting preheat the oven and start to make the filling.
Melt the butter with the oil in a frying pan.  Add the leak and cook, stirring frequently.  Remove the leak and add the bacon to the frying pan and cook until crisp.  Remove from the heat.
Whisk the eggs and cream together and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in the bacon and the leeks and set aside.

Take your pastry out of the fridge and put baking paper into the pastry cups.  Put baking beans on top of the baking paper, to hold it down, if you don't have any rice works fine.  Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven after 10 minutes and carefully remove the baking paper and baking beans.  Divide the filling between the cups and bake for a further 10 minutes until the tartlets are golden.  Leave to cool and transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

20 mins prep. time
40 mins cooking time180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:

• 2 eggs
• 100g caster sygar
• 200g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (heaped)
• 2 limes (grated rind)
• pinch of salt
• 40g shelled pistachios (chopped)
• 25g hazelnuts (chopped)

Whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and frothy.  Slowly add the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon.  Add the baking powder and lime rind.  Mix well.

On a lightly floured surface knead the soft dough.  Slowly add your chopped hazelnuts and pistachios while kneading.  Shape the dough into a log and flatten slightly.

Place your log on a greased baking tray and place in the oven until golden (this takes about 40 minutes).

Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

When you would like a taste, cut into thick slices and grill until crispy.

Serves 4
10mins prep.time
5-9 hours cooking time

What you need:

• 3 tablespoon natural yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 657g steak beef (diced)

For the sauce

• 1 cucumber (peeled, deseeded and grated)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 225ml natural yoghurt
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 50g mint leaves (chopped)

To serve

• 1 tomato (cut into wedges)
• 115g lettuce (shredded)
• pitta bread or flatbread

Put the yoghurt, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper into the slow cooker and stir.  Add the beef to the mixture and turn to coat it in the mixture.  Cover and cook for 5 hours (on a low setting) or 9 hours (on a high setting), until the beef is tender.  

Shred the beef and mix it with the cooking juices.

To make the sauce, put the yoghurt, salt, lemon juice and mint in a bowl and mix well.  Place the cucumber on kitchen roll and sprinkle with some salt.  Using the kitchen roll squeeze the juice out of the cucumber and then add it to the sauce mixture.

Serve the shredded beef on a flat bread, drizzled with the sauce and topped with the lettuce and tomato wedges.

Serves 4
10 mins prep. time
45 mins cooking time180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:

• 4 chicken breasts
• cherry tomatoes (chopped)
• 1/2 red onion (diced)
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• sprinkle dry basil

Preheat the oven.

Combine all the ingredients (not the chicken) in a bowl and mix well.

Put the chicken in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.

Upon serving drizzle the bruschetta mix on top of the chicken.  I served mine with spaghetti oil and garlic....yummy!

20 mins prep. time
15 mins cooking time
180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:

• 100g butter
• 50g icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 125g self-raising flour
• 25g cornflour
• blackberries

Preheat your oven.

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until the mixture is pale and creamy.  Gradually beat in the egg yolks and vanilla essence.  Slowly beat in the self-raising flour and cornflour until the mixture is smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle.  Pipe a double thickness of circles of the mixture in cup cake cases.  In the centre place a blackberry or two.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.  Leave to cool and dust with some icing sugar.

20 mins prep. time

What you need:

• cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 garlic clove - minced
• salt and pepper to taste

This is one of the amazing things ever made!  And so easy to make too.

First things first.  Chop off the tops of the cherry tomatoes and take out the insides of the tomatoes.

To make the filling put the feta cheese, basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix together well.

Stuff the tomatoes with the filling and you have your quick scrummy snack.