The FoodCycle Breadline Challenge Day One
In this fundraising blog series, I will attempt the FoodCycle Breadline Challenge: living off less than £2.10 each day for food and drink while raising awareness of UK food poverty.
Banana Nut Protein Smoothie
A vegan post workout protein smoothie. Dear Reader, I have a confession to make. I’ve become fat. I’d always been one of those skinny people. When I left high school I weighed just over 7 stone. I was very active: swimming, cycling, skateboarding, horseback riding, climbing (and falling out of) trees in the summer, skiiing, …
Shetland Food & Cooking by Marian Armitage
Celebrating Shetland food. Cookbooks are a dime a dozen these days. As a food blogger I get sent cookbook after cookbook for review. Many get a cursory look through, a quick write up and then get banished to the bookshelf to rarely see the light of day again. Some I may make a recipe or …
Curried Neep & Carrot Soup
Remember, remember the 5th of November. I may lament about the scaled down UK Halloween and lack of trick or treaters (we only had two this year – they left with loads of sweeties) compared to my rural Canadian upbringing, but do you know what? Bonfire night totally makes up for it. I hadn’t even …
Spiced Apple Muffins
For a leisurely late morning breakfast. Nothing beats a leisurely late morning breakfast when you’ve got all the time in the world to enjoy it. Good coffee, home bakes, quality preserves and a cheeky glass of… Prosecco?! This is what my husband and I indulged in the other day.
Zombie Brain Chocolates
Eat one… if you dare! I love Halloween. I mean, I seriously love Halloween. Unfortunately, Halloween in Shetland isn’t nearly on the same scale as the Halloween of my rural Canadian childhood, where houses would be decorated up inside and out (with some teenage twerp invariably blowing up our carefully carved jack o’lanterns with fire crackers). …
Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes
Savour the unique blend of rich chocolate and earthy roasted beetroot in these indulgent cupcakes. The beetroot’s natural sweetness enhances the deep cocoa flavour and adds a moist, tender texture. Finished with a luscious frosting, each bite offers a delightful surprise, combining indulgence with a playful twist on a classic dessert. Prep Time: 20 minutes …
Shetland Beef & Valhalla Ale Slow Cooker Pie
I am a meat eater and I am not afraid to admit it. The media is filled with horror stories of animals being loaded, terrified and ill-treated, onto trucks and hurried through the abattoir process to meet targets. Animals are dying in crates before even making their destination, and lets not even begin to talk …
Chunky Guacamole
It took me a very long time to appreciate the awesomeness that is the humble avocado. I wasn’t introduced to the fruit until I was well into my twenties, I am sure, and my first response to it, served on its own, was blergh! I persevered though, and I began my love affair with the avocado …
Cheesy Mashed Tatties & Kale
Perfect with Shetland lamb chops or grilled sausages. Did you know that next week (the 6th – 12th of October) is National Potato Week in the UK? A whole week dedicated to the awesomeness of the potato! Potatoes, tatties, totties, taters, spuds… what do you call them? We are very lucky to be one of …
Blackberry & Apple Skillet Breakfast Crumble
A gluten-free Autumnal skillet breakfast crumble. I have a confession to make. I love cold fruit crumble for breakfast in the morning. When the days begin to grow colder I start craving warm puddings like saucy hot fudge pudding, sticky toffee pudding or fruit crumbles. I will often scoff any leftover fruit crumble, cold, straight …
Strawberry Vanilla Bean Coconut Ice Cream
A vegan, all natural, refined sugar free frozen dessert. My ice cream machine died last year. It was a gruesome, horrible death with a cracked bowl and bright blue coolant oozing all over the contents of my freezer. This was the second time this happened (same model) and I haven’t replaced it yet. I’ve had …
Four Cheese Chargrilled Chicken Pasta Bake
The ultimate comfort food as made by my after school chef! I do love food. I love cooking, I love shopping for food, I love preparing food. But do you know what? I also love having a day off every now and then.
Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Rolls
because even raisins love a generous nip of dark rum When I first started delving into the wonderful world of baking, around the age of 12, one of the first recipes I ever made was a basic cinnamon roll. It had a baking powder-raised scone base topped with plenty of butter, cinnamon sugar and raisins. …
Thomas Taylor Bowie & the Robert the Bruce Monument, Bannockburn
This post was updated April 25, 2018, with photographs of my great-grandfather next to the Robert the Bruce monument in progress. Photos are from hard copies owned by my grandfather, David Bowie, in Canada. Look at the detail in this sculpture, isn’t it stunning? This is the sculpture of Robert de Bruce located in Bannockburn, …
The Rise of Food Tourism
The pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences, both near and far. The term ‘culinary tourism’ was first coined by Lucy Long in 1999 and was used to describe the increasing use of food as “a subject and medium, destination and vehicle, for tourism. It is about individuals exploring foods new to them …
Courgette Spaghetti Alfredo
a quick midweek supper of spaghetti and grated courgettes in a cheesy white sauce Have you been over run with courgettes too? Three or four courgettes have been appearing in our weekly veg box for the last month or so. That’s a whole lot of courgettes to get through, especially as they aren’t something I …
Alphabet Mince & Tatties
a nostalgic take on the classic mince & tatties recipe When I was a child my mother used to serve us children mince and tatties for dinner and it was the best thing ever! The recipe included regular beef mince (or hamburger as it was called when I grew up in Canada) fried up with an …
Carrot & Cumin Soup
ideal for sipping from a tin cup on the rocky sea shore Hot soup sipped from a tin cup while sitting on the rocky shore watching the waves dance. What can be better than that? There are nine years between my eldest child and my youngest. This means it can be difficult to find something …
Review: The Optimum 9400 Blender
I am in love with this machine! It’s got curves reminiscent of a 1950’s classic car. Its deep metallic red colour is so alluring that I want to get out the wax and start buffing it while Frank Sinatra croons in the background. The knobs and switches remind me of a vintage radio, as if, …