Author Archives for Emily Davenport, Head of Dairy Diary

About Emily Davenport, Head of Dairy Diary

Head of Dairy Diary; I'm passionate about producing high quality products that our customers will cherish. I'm also a mum of three and I enjoy cooking, walking, gardening and painting with my family, as well as printmaking (when I find the time!)

Choose your favourite Dairy Diary 2016 cover

 

http://tiny.cc/qofjhx

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Choose your favourite cover and you could win a Dairy Diary 2015

Please help!

My task for this week is to choose a front cover for the Dairy Diary 2016. I would love your help. The more the merrier!

The survey has just three questions and will only take one minute or less to complete.

Click here to start the survey

 


 

Dairy Diary 2015

Win a Dairy Diary 2015

One lucky respondent will receive a
Dairy Diary 2015 –  hot off the press
and waiting for a new home!

What are you waiting for?

Click here to start the survey

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Fabulous Father’s Day Menu

Fantastic Father's Day Menu

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Fabulous Father’s Day Menu

Like many mums and daughters across the land, I am planning to cook something special on Sunday.

I am sure we will be enticed out on some ‘geeky’ trip to see a motorbike event or something space or fossil-related but we will come home to feast on these treats.

 

CHORIZO AND KALE SOUP

 

Chorizo & Kale Soup

Serves 3
Time 40 mins.
Per portion: 202 Kcal, 14g fat (6.9g saturated)

Butter 25g (1oz)
Onion 1, peeled and chopped
Chorizo sausage 75g (3oz), sliced
Potato 1 large, peeled and cubed
Garlic 1clove, peeled and crushed
Ham or vegetable stock 600ml (1 pint)
Kale 50g (2oz), finely shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 4 minutes until softened. Then add the chorizo, potato and garlic and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.

2 Pour the stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the potato is tender. Use a potato masher to mash some of the potato and thicken the soup.

3 Add the kale and then simmer, uncovered for 2-3 minutes, until the kale has wilted and is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

 

Roast Belly of Pork

 

Roast Belly of Pork

Time required 2 hrs.
Per portion: 531 Kcal, 30g fat (10.7g saturated)
Serves 4

Boneless pork belly joint about 680g (1½lb), skin left on and scored
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Five spice stir-fry paste 1 tsp
Hoisin sauce 2 tbsp
Baps or tortillas 4
Spring onions 4–6, trimmed and finely sliced
Cucumber ½, finely shredded

1 Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas 8. Check the weight of the pork and calculate the cooking time: allow 45 minutes per 500g (1lb 2oz), plus 40 minutes. Lay the pork in a roasting tin, skin-side up. Mix together the oil and five spice stir-fry paste and smear on both sides of the meat. Turn it back so the joint is skin side-up and roast for 10 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 and roast for half of the remaining cooking time.

2 Remove the pork from the oven and spread the hoisin sauce on both sides of the meat. Baste with the cooking juices and return to the oven for the remainder of the cooking time, basting with the sauce every 20 minutes.

3 Remove from the oven and leave to rest on a board for 10 minutes. Then remove the fat from the pork, slice the meat thinly and use it to fill baps or warmed tortillas. Top with the spring onions and cucumber.

 

Lemon Tart

Lemon Tart

Serves 8
Time required 1½ hrs.
Per portion: 473 Kcal, 29g fat (11.7g saturated)
Suitable for vegetarians

Ready-made sweet dessert pastry 375g packet
Eggs 5 large
Caster sugar 200g (7oz)
Lemons 3, grated rind only
Fresh lemon juice 150ml (¼ pint)
Double cream 150ml (¼ pint)
Icing sugar for dusting, optional
Raspberries to decorate, optional

1 Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 and pop a baking sheet in the oven to heat up.

2 Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a few centimetres larger than the base and sides of a 23cm (9in) diameter fluted loose-bottomed flan tin. Line the tin with the pastry, pressing it into the corners of the flutes. Don’t trim the rim of the pastry. Prick the base and chill for 10 minutes.

3 Line the pastry case with foil or baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Then put the flan tin on the hot baking sheet and bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the flan from the oven, take out the beans and paper and, using a rolling pin or sharp knife, roll over the top of the tin to remove any extra pastry. Bake for a further 10 minutes or until the pastry is crisp. Remove from the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C/275°F/Gas 1.

4 To make the filling, whisk the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest in a large jug. Whisk in the lemon juice followed by the cream.

5 Pop the cooked pastry case back on the baking sheet and pour the filling into the case. Bake for 30–40 minutes until the mixture is just set. There should still be a slight wobble in the centre. Remove the tart from the oven and leave it to cool, then remove from the tin and set on a plate. Serve cold dusted with icing sugar and a few raspberries for decoration, if using.

 

Clever One Pot cookbook

All recipes are from the fantastic
Clever One Pot cookbook,
which is still available
to buy for just £7.99.

Buy Clever One Pot

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Competition | Win a Cath Kidston Bramley Sprig Box Bag

Win a Cath Kidston Bramley Sprig Box Bag

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Competition 

Win a Cath Kidston Bramley Sprig Box Bag

Get ready for the next Dairy Diary with this gorgeous Cath Kidston Bramley Sprig Box Bag.

It perfectly complements the beautiful new cover and is roomy enough to carry the diary and all your other bits and bobs.

Enter to win a Cath Kidston bag

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dairy Diary 2015 coverHere’s a sneak preview of the 2015 Dairy Diary cover.

We hope you love it as much as we do.

Handy boredom buster for your little ones plus a family-friendly cookie recipe.

I am bored jar

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Handy boredom buster for your little ones plus a family-friendly cookie recipe.

Thankfully my children are not yet at the stage where I have to endure ‘Mum, I’m bored’.

However, we do sometimes seems to get stuck in a cycle of jigsaws, train track building, colouring and outdoor play (weather permitting).

I stumbled across this idea
on Facebook and I love it!

It doesn’t involve too much preparation – just half an hour – and can provide some new and exciting ideas for the children to enjoy.

We will definitely rename it ‘Mum/Dad what can we do?’ as dad does more of the childcare in our house than I do (these poor stay-at-home dads often get forgotten!)

Stephanie, its creator, has even given a downloadable list of ideas to put in the jar. They are great! Though I think I may miss ‘clean 1 toilet’ for my three year-olds!

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/the-mom-im-bored-jar/

 

One of the suggested activities is to bake cookies.

Here’s a family-friendly cookie recipe that you’ll love.

Honey-Flapjack-Cookies

 

Honey Flapjack Cookies 

Time 25 minutes plus cooling
Calories per cookie 72 Kcal
Fat per cookie 4g of which saturated 0.5g
Makes 30 cookies
Suitable for vegetarians

Porridge oats 125g (4½oz)
Medium oatmeal 50g (2oz)
Light soft brown sugar 110g (4oz)
Heather honey 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract a few drops
Vegetable oil 110ml (3½fl oz)
Egg 1, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4 and line two large baking trays with baking parchment.

]Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Then put heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture, well spaced apart, on the baking sheets and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon – you should be able to make 30 cookies.

Bake for 12–15 minutes until they are a rich golden brown. Leave them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking trays before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

 

Good Food, Fast Dairy CookbookThis recipe is taken from Good Food, Fast, which is available to buy for just £7.00

Buy Good Food, Fast £7

 

 

 

Win a copy of Good Food, Fast

We also have a copy of Good Food, Fast to give-away to one lucky winner.

http://eepurl.com/V1hrH

Win Good Food, Fast

 

 

 

 

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Discover incredible award-winning wines in English Wine Week

 

English Wine Week

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Discover incredible award-winning wines in English Wine Week

I’m quite a fan of those jolly autobiographical books about people who venture to France to run vineyards with all the humorous pitfalls and quirky characters they meet.

However, apart from a fleeting glance at one of those mind-zappingly slow pace county programs, I have never really considered English wine. I shamefully head for the new world section of my online shopping basket for my favourite quaff. Perhaps it’s time to a re-think.

It is widely believed that the Romans
first introduced the vine to England
and wine-drinking became
commonplace in British society.

1066 marked the start of an era of viticultural activity with William the Conqueror came French Abbots and their monks who were experienced in winegrowing, along with soldiers and courtiers for whom wine was a daily requirement. From the Middle Ages however, viticulture began to wane and it wasn’t until 900 years later, in the 1950s that there was a commercial revival in wine production.

English Wine WeekNowadays there are 432 vineyards in the UK, producing a staggering 2.58 million bottles of wine! 60 per cent of the wines produced are sparkling and in the last 15 years English sparkling wines have won 8 trophies for Best International Sparkling Wine and 4 Trophies for Best Sparkling Rose in Global Competitions – no other country has achieved this!

With those accolades, they must be well worth a try.

This week is English Wine Week, which plays host to a raft of events to celebrate English wine. Visit http://www.englishwineproducers.co.uk/news/events/ for a list of events, including vineyard tours and wine tasting.

Easy homegrown tomatoes for British Tomato Week – no greenhouse required!

Seasonal Garden Ideas

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Easy homegrown tomatoes for British Tomato Week – no greenhouse required!

I can still conjure up the sweetly acidic fragrance of ripening tomatoes in my Grandad’s rickety old greenhouse.

They were the sweetest most delicious tomatoes on the planet, though everything my Grandad grew or cooked tasted wonderful to me as an adoring granddaughter!

As this week heralds British Tomato Week, I thought I would attempt to grow my own. As I don’t own a greenhouse, this project from our book, Seasonal Garden Ideas, is perfect.

Fingers crossed, I can grow those sweet little morsels that Grandad excelled at.

 

Seasonal Garden Ideas.

Tiny Tomatoes in Terracotta

The taste of a sun-warmed tomato picked straight from the bush is leagues removed from anything you can buy in a shop.

Container-growing is easy and you are rewarded with a succession of tasty toms beyond compare.

  • Pot up young tomato plants in late spring or early summer when all danger from frost is past for cropping throughout the summer.
  • Plant in full sun.
  • Planting four to six pots shouldn’t take more than an hour.

 

What you need

Plants

  • Four to six (or more) young bush tomato plants – a wide range of different varieties is available from garden centres – including red, yellow and even purple ones. ‘Red Alert’, ‘Pixie’ and ‘Tiny Tim’ are all good small-fruited varieties with excellent flavour. ‘Roma’ is a plum-shaped variety.

Equipment

  • Terracotta, plastic or ceramic pots with drainage holes in the bottom.
  • Soil-based potting compost.
  • Broken crocks for drainage.
  • Trowel.
  • Liquid tomato fertiliser.

 

Instructions

1 Line the containers with broken crocks for drainage. Three-quarters fill with potting compost.

2 Plant the tomatoes, one to a pot, firming them in well and topping up with more compost.

3 Place the pots in a sunny, sheltered site – water well.

4 The tomato compost needs to be kept just moist at all times. Try to water regularly, little and often – an irregular regime could cause the tomatoes to split. Feed regularly with a liquid tomato fertiliser to ensure consistent development of the fruits.

 

Tips

As an alternative to pots, try raising tomatoes in growbags – the advantage here is that the bags come complete with just the right soil conditions. You can grow bush or cordon varieties in growbags. Cordons needing staking and you have to pinch out side shoots to restrict the plant to one main central stem.

 

Notes

For successful tomato growing in containers, make sure you buy an appropriate variety. Check that it is a bush variety AND check that it is suitable for outdoor cultivation – many are bred for growing in greenhouses and won’t thrive outside. Take care, too, to choose as sunny and warm a site as possible.

 

Aftercare

Bush tomato varieties don’t need any pinching out of side shoots. Pick the tomatoes as they ripen. If there are still some green tomatoes on the plants when frost seems likely, pick them all and bring them indoors to ripen.

 

Project taken from Seasonal Garden Ideas.

 

Seasonal Gardens Ideas

Seasonal Garden Ideas £3.99Seasonal Garden Ideas

A beautiful book packed full of easy little projects like this and is available for just £3.99 (plus P&P).

Seasonal Garden Ideas £3.99

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