I did not have much time but this looked impressive and healthy and delicious.

Jerusalem Artichoke, Puy Lentil, Green Leaf and Sauteed Chicken Salad.  (4)

Peel and slice the artichokes at an angle about 1/2 cm thick.  Boil until just soft about 10 minutes, (although I can’t be too exact as I went upstairs to put some ironing away!)

2 handfulls of puy lentils boiled until soft. Drain

1 packet of mixed leaf Salad leaves

2 Chicken Breasts.  Sliced them into 2 inch pieces and marinated them in:

2 TBSP olive oil, 1/2 squeezed lemon and some good shakes of Knorr seasoning, I had some parsley in the fridge and chopped that up too.(I let them marinade about 1/2 hour)  Then sauteed them in a frying pan making sure they were cooked through.

Combine the cooled artichokes, lentils and salad leaves with your favourite dressing…..

(If you need a recipe, the most simple one is 3 parts olive oil to 1 part vinegar, add salt, 1 tsp dijon mustard and 1 tsp honey and whisk.)

…..and put the chicken on top.  I am sorry there is no photo, but we ate it before I realised that I should have blogged about it!

NOTE:

• There is no reason why you should not add nuts or seeds, tomatoes or anything else you have in your fridge!
• Puy Lentils are very good for you.  Slimming, cholesterol lowering and stomach filling with a low GI.

The reason I was looking for inspiration is that I will be launching a new Kitchen Cabinet for Kids in a couple of months time and with it I will be selling a goodie bag full of all the things that children love to cook with.

If there is something that you think your children would love to have in their baking kit please let me know, your idease could end up being part of the Kids Cooking Kit.

Just ensure that you use a good fishmonger and when buying farmed salmon, which is what I purchased here,  ensure that the meat looks and smells fresh, you will notice that organic salmon is always paler in colour.

This is a really simple recipe.

Buy a fillet of  Salmon (this piece was 1.5kg for 5 of us) place it on baking paper or foil and dot it with butter, chopped parsley, salt and pepper.

Bake uncovered in the oven.  This piece took about 25 minutes (remember it will keep cooking after you remove it from the oven).

Serve with Norwegian Cucumber Salad.

This is a speciality of my Mother’s.

1 cucumber, sliced as thinly as you can, I slice it with a cheese slicer.  Put in a bowl and sprinkle with a little salt.  The juice will soon start to come out of the cucumber.

After 1/2 hour. Pour the cucumber into a collander and pour out the juice.

Mix 2 TBSP malt vinegar with 1 TBSP sugar and stir into the cucumber. (increase the amount of vinegar mixture to taste)

Serve with the fish.

My favourite was the Note book with  Yummy Mummy written on it which was perfect for my Sister and the diary and notebook for my Mother.

To my fury and distress, these were nicked before Christmas from the Boot of my husband’s car. (see the Blog 23rd December.)

I rang Vicci Butler from Organise-us last week to reorder the notebooks that had been stolen ( a little late I know!) and to my amazement she was so horrified by the story that she sent me replacements free of charge.  What an amazing lady.  She will always have my business from now on and I am telling everyone about her great products and excellent customer service.  Thank you Vicci, my Mother is thrilled!

Take the Vintage Colander Lights by re-foundobjects.com

I love reusing and recycling and it is absolutely the way forward but just a word of advice, it does not always work.  This particular idea I think looks awful.  However having looked at their website, if you are desperate to convert a kitchen item into a light, some of their Jelly Mould lampshades are more appealing.

Having just launched my new colour Charcoal for all my EKC Storage Boxes I was relived to see that the strong colours are really sort after as it introduces colour and individual style to what have recently been a fashion for stark interiors without having to spend a fortune on redecorating.

If you are looking for fun lighting that does not need shades the Danish Company NUD creates porcelain lamp holders with fabulous shaped bulbs and wonderful coloured cord.

Watch my website too, as I will be stocking Hunter Gatherer’s new range of Bowl Covers for leftovers.  A brilliant way of reducing the use of plastics.

Please let me know if you are interested in these and I will ensure you are the first to know when they arrive!

I will be writing a more indepth Blog about what to expect in 2011 so keep posted!

I love prawns, however I love the small ones bought in the North Sea are the ones I like.   I have found the large ones that have become so fashionable with chefs during the last few years rather tasteless.

I was utterly amazed and horrified to see some of the practices of the Prawn Industry in Bangladesh.  Prawns are scavengers and to see them living in conditions that had raw sewage pouring into it was disgusting.  We also saw the prawns being injected with water to increase the weight, I could not deduce whether the prawns were still alive when this was being done, but it would account for my view that the prawns are pretty tasteless.

Have a look at I Player if you did not see the programme and let me know what you think.

What we had for lunch is irrelevant, by about 4pm we look at each other and she says to me in a conspiritorial voice…. ‘Mama, don’t you think it is time for something sweet?’

I love Cake.  I have put the easiest and fool proof recipe on the Top Tips page on my website so everyone can have a bit of delicious cake when they feel that grumbling in their tummies that cries out for delicious home made cake.

Well, the point of this particular Blog is that because it is January, Ella and I are finding our clothes rather tighter than they were in December, this created a dilema.  Could we really bake and thickly ice a yummy chocolate Cake (always ready to eat within an hour as we love it warm inside) or was there a delicious but less fattening option?

I pondered the question and found the perfect solution. Banana Cake. Boring you may think.  Far from it.  It was soft and slightly heavy in the centre and had the most delicious flavour.  It filled the spot without adding another inch to our hips and here is the recipe!

• 1/2 lb butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I’ve always got some of those black ones floating around!)
• 1 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 tsp baking powder
• 2.5  Tbsp milk
• 2.5  Tbsp plain yogourt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170deg. Grease a high sided loaf tin, (or you can use 2 round tins but reduce the cooking time)

Mash the butter sugar, eggs, bananas, add the dry ingredients and the vanilla essence and liquid.  Mix it all well.

Pour into the pans and bake.

We cooked ours for 50 minutes, but just keep checking it.  It is cooked when a knife gently inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Eat warm!

My protests ignored, our eldest son was given the game by his naughty Father and I am now spending my time tracking the whereabouts of his 9 year old Brother who is determined to sneak into the room when it is being played, my hawk like eyes are not enough, I am thinking about getting a secret video camera ( I hope he reads this!)

Moody, confrontational, the other side to  Teenage girls is that they can be an utter delight.  Get them out of the house doing something they love, in our case shopping and you can have the best time ever!

I took Ella to Birmingham for the day.  It was great.  I saw the side to her that her friends see and she is fabulous, funny, quick, always happy to carry all the shopping (who could ask for more).

I almost split my sides laughing while she pulled the most ridiculous faces I have ever seen whilst we were in the Station waiting room.  Everyone is incredibly quiet and serious, not sure why, maybe they did not get what they wanted for Christmas, while Ella and I were litterally snorting with laughter…poor people they probably thought we were a little crazy.

So if the weather is getting you down and you have a daughter to share some ‘me’ time with, go for it, you will have a ball!

Visit a few more restaurants is probably the preferred one, but if you are feeling a little empty in your pockets after a lavish Christmas, and there still seem to be leftovers in the fridge, how about some easy, options for the entire family.

This is what I plan to give my family tonight.

Vegetable Lasagna.

• 1 onion and 1 clove garlic. Fried but not brown
• Chop up any vegetables that you have left over but might be looking a little manky.  Go easy on the sprouts as they are quite strong, but carrots, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, parsnip, turnip, aubergine, mushrooms.  All of these chopped up can be added. If you need weights I would say about 2lb for this recipe.
• Add 2 cans chopped tomatoes, pinch of thyme, salt and pepper and simmer until it is soft.
• Make the white sauce and create your lasagna.
• Put sheets of pasta to cover the base, then the vegetable sauce.  Add  another layer of lasagna then a second layer of sauce.  Top this with the white sauce and grated cheese.
• Note:  Some people like to put the white sauce between the layers too, but if you want to keep the calories down, just put the sauce on the top.  Also you have to make double the amount of sauce!