Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary
cooking up a storm at the edge of the world
102 healthy recipes to energise your life! I have some exciting news! I’m no stranger to magazine work, having written for several local Shetland publications over the last fifteen years. However, I am absolutely delighted to tell you all that I was commissioned to contribute four healthy sweet potato recipes to the fantastic new Superfood …
Affordable quality precision. I am delighted to introduce to you the latest key to inspired cooking: the Edge of Belgravia Black Diamond Knife Block and Precision Knife Set. Edge of Belgravia was established in London in 2010 and launched their first products onto the UK market in 2012. They quickly became leaders in the field, …
In collaboration with Flora. Carrot cake is one of those ultimate comfort food cakes. It’s incredibly tasty, moist, delicious, and with plenty of grated carrots it surely contributes to your five a day, no? It’s loaded with vegetables, surely it has to be good for you! In this recipe I’ve teamed up with Flora to …
The August 2015 #NoWasteFoodChallenge Round Up! Did you know that more than 15 million tonnes of food is wasted in UK homes every year, most of which is still perfectly edible? In the No Waste Food Challenge food bloggers from around the world are asked to share their recipes where they help prevent food waste, …
A Redmond Multicooker Recipe. I’m a deep dish apple crumble kind of gal. I like a nice thick layer of fresh fruit, scented with cinnamon and nutmeg, piled high with an oaty, nutty crumble topping. I also like a little bit of bite and texture in my fruit – no mushy tinned apple pie filling …
I devoured this book in nearly one sitting. I have to confess, this type of book isn’t what I normally reach for when I’m looking for something to read, but it’s not every day a fellow Canadian contacts you to review her book, a fellow Canadian who has written a story which includes a scene …
Hams of Muckle Roe: old Norse for havens (or harbours) of the big red island. I lost the entire month of July to working full time and then August seems to have flown by. The winter weather is going to be starting up again soon, confining us indoors again. This last week has given us …
The Iron Age in Europe occurred between 1200 BCE – 1 BCE. I’ve rekindled my geocaching bug – well, my friend Julia’s rekindled my geocaching bug. In 2010 a crafty friend of mine (Julia – who blogs over at Jaydee’s Ramblings) introduced me to the wonderful world of geocaching. For those of you who don’t …
Breathing new life into an old set of stairs in collaboration with Wayfair. This Spring I had the pleasure of traveling the length of breadth of my Shetland Islands home for a magazine feature I was researching for 60 North, a quarterly magazine celebrating all that is Shetland. I was on the Shetland Craft Trail, …
This cannellini bean stew is a flavoursome and complete meal: cannellini beans, grains, greens and vegetables. It’s the type of hearty, creamy, bean-based dish I crave once autumn sets in. Reproduced, with permission, from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen (2015) by Amy Chaplin. Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 2.5 hours Difficulty: Moderate …
Sun, sea, sand and a summer fruits loaded picnic cake! It’s really not been much of a summer to speak of, here in Shetland. Saying that, I don’t think the UK mainland has been particularly blessed with an abundance of rays this season either. We’ve had a couple of good weekends – see our camping …
Survey and Excavation of Coastal Archaeology in Shetland 1995-2008 If you were to judge this book by its cover and title you might think it is the latest work of popular fiction; an adventure story set in a wild, rugged and remote island archipelago, a battle between the effects of the passage of time and …
Les enfants cuisinent à la Française. I have recently become obsessed with all things French. #2 on my 40 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 is to drink coffee in Paris. Why? Why not? I’ve never been. I had to learn Acadian French in my Canadian school and Paris has always held …
Think bakewell tart, but better. Rainy days mean baking days, no? Our car has been sitting in the car park at our local garage waiting to be looked at for over a week now – the little circle on the dashboard with the exclamation point is staying illuminated while driving and the last time I …
A delicious creamy green soup showcasing the humble broad bean! The first time I’d ever tried broad beans was in a Moroccan inspired chicken tagine recipe some years ago. The only broad beans I could find at the time were frozen ones – and they were awful; tough, rubbery, inedible. These supermarket brand frozen broad …
A refreshing blend of kohlrabi, cucumber, celery and apple. Ah, the humble kohlrabi – the sputnik of the vegetable world – what do we do with you? I have to confess that when this bizarre vegetable first made an appearance in my vegetable box I had to take to Twitter to identify it. I had …
aka Cocoa Zucchini Bread depending on what side of the pond you’re on! It’s veg box season! Each week we get a gorgeous surprise selection of whatever happens to be ready to pick. I’m not fussy with what I get; I’ll work with whatever is in season, but I have to confess that courgettes are …
No electricity, no wifi – 48 wonderful disconnected hours. After our unfortunate attempt at camping on the top of Rona’s Hill, Shetland’s highest hill, for the Simmer Dim (summer solstice), my family (ie: my husband!) inwardly groaned when I suggested we go camping again, this time for the whole weekend. I didn’t bother checking the …
Perfect for those hot summer mornings! These popsicles came about by accident, really. Not being one to refuse a reduced price bargain I found myself with a few punnets of blackberries in my shopping basket – best before that date. They were needing used up. I sat there eating my lunch pondering what I could …
In collaboration with Rennies. The summer growing season is officially in full swing! Poor weather for the first half of this year has meant that many gardens in Shetland have been suffering. Things haven’t been growing as well as they could be and so we’ve only started receiving weekly (instead of fortnightly) vegetable box deliveries. …
