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!)

Recipe of the Week: Asparagus Risotto

Asparagus Risotto

Asparagus Risotto

Full-flavoured, deliciously sweet and tender, British asparagus is regularly described as the ‘best in the world’.

Serves 4
Time 40 mins
Calories 518 per portion
Fat 20g of which 11.9g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians

Butter 25g (1oz)
Shallots 4, peeled and finely chopped
Garlic 1 clove, peeled and crushed
Risotto rice 300g (11oz)
White wine 150ml (¼ pint)
Hot vegetable stock 900ml (1½ pints)
Small asparagus spears 125g pack, trimmed
Frozen peas 110g (4oz)
Chopped flat-leaf parsley 2 tbsp
Stilton cheese 150g (5oz), cubed

1 Melt butter in a sauté pan and fry shallots and garlic for 3–4 minutes until softened. Stir in rice and fry for a further minute. Pour in wine and simmer to evaporate off.

2 Gradually stir in hot stock, cooking for 18–20 minutes, until rice is tender, and all stock has been absorbed.

3 About 5 minutes towards end of cooking time, add asparagus and peas.

4 Before serving, stir in parsley and half cheese, then season to taste. Spoon into bowls, scatter over remaining cheese and serve immediately.

A Dairy Diary recipe.

National Gardening Week

Succulents-shells

Year-Round Interest in 5 Simple Steps 

National Gardening WeekAs it’s National Gardening Week I thought I would do something a little different in the garden.

Instead of the usual flowering basket I’m going to tackle this easy project from our Seasonal Garden Ideas book.

It only takes a few minutes but should give interest throughout the year.

Cute!

Succulents & Seashells

Succulents are often grown as indoor house plants, but many varieties are perfectly hardy and do well outdoors – if given full sun and really sharp drainage. Striped and whorled seashells make perfect partners for these shapely rosettes.

Plant in spring. Succulents like these usually flower in June and July but their thick, fleshy leaves provide year-long interest. Creating a display like this will take one to two hours.

What you need

Plants

Selection of houseleeks (Sempervivum) and echeverias – read the plant labels carefully to check that the ones you choose are fully hardy. Sempervivum arachnoideum, S. tectorum and Echeveria elegans – and their numerous varieties and colour forms – are some to look for.

Equipment

  • Large stone terracotta or ceramic container with drainage holes at the bottom.
  • Gritty compost, such as that sold for cacti.
  • Broken crocks for drainage.
  • Selection of seashells.
  • Fine gravel or grit for a topping.
  • Trowel.

Instructions

1 Line the container with broken crocks for drainage, then fill it nearly full with gritty compost.

2 Carefully tip the rosettes out of their pots – the leaves can break off easily, so handle very gently – and plant them in the compost, leaving room for the shells.

3 Top up the compost with the fine gravel or grit – allow for at least a 2.5cm (1in) layer. Then pile up the shells around and between the succulents.

4 Water moderately, then follow the plant label instructions for subsequent watering. Position the container in full sun and bring into a sheltered area during winter.

Tips

As an alternative to seashells, try pebbles or cobbles of various shapes, sizes and colours. These plants also do really well in rockeries or on the top of drystone walls.

Notes

It can take quite some time for a houseleek or echeveria to flower – and when it does, that rosette dies, but it is quickly replaced by new ones. The leaves of some varieties change colour in summer, turning from green or silvery grey to red or bronzed.

Aftercare

Deadhead flowers as they wither (they usually appear in summer). Remove any withered or damaged leaves.

Seasonal Garden IdeasSeasonal Garden Ideas is a beautiful
book featuring simple projects, with
easy-to-follow instructions, to add
beauty to any garden.

You can order a copy for just £3.99.

Buy Seasonal Garden Ideas

#seasonalgardenideas

#nationalgardeningweek

Recipe of the Week: Cranberry & White Chocolate Cookies

Take A Box Of Eggs cookbook

Cranberry & White Chocolate Cookies

  • Servings: 20
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Calories 225 per portion
Fat 12.2g (7.3g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Butter 200g (7oz), softened
  • Soft light brown sugar 150g (5oz)
  • Eggs 2, beaten
  • Self-raising flour 300g (11oz)
  • White chocolate 200g (7oz), chopped
  • Dried cranberries 75g packet

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas 5 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Beat the butter with the sugar in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs and flour and mix well. Work the chopped chocolate and cranberries into the mixture.
  2. Drop generous dessertspoonfuls of the mix onto the prepared baking sheet and cook in batches for 10–15 minutes until the cookies are golden, but still soft. Leave to cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cook’s tip
This is one of those wonderful recipes that is great to get children interested in baking as it doesn’t involve the use of an electric mixer – just keep an eye on where the white chocolate ends up!

Take a Box of EggsTake A Box Of Eggs

Discover the delight of cooking with eggs; nature’s own convenience food. This recipe is taken from Take a Box of Eggs, which features 100 easy, irresistible recipes in an attractive yet straightforward style.

Buy now for just £7.49.

#childrensbookday

#cookingwithkids

#toptenchildrensbooks

Win a Vonshef Waffle Maker

Win a Vonshef Waffle Maker

Do you like waffles? Brownies? Doughnuts?

Of course you do – so you need to enter now!

Dairy Diary is giving you the chance to win a VonShef 3 in 1 Waffle, Brownie & Mini Doughnut Snack Maker.

It makes 7 delicious mini doughnuts, 4 scrumptious brownies or 4 fluffy waffles in as little as 5 minutes!

Share and enter now!

ENTER

 

http://www.dairydiary.co.uk/competitions/win-waffle-maker.html

Top Ten Children’s Books Plus a Fab Recipe Perfect for Making with Little Ones

Top Ten Children’s Books

Top Ten Children’s Books

It was Children’s Book Day on Saturday so we took some time out from rushing around to sit on the carpet and talk about stories. I asked my three children – whose ages range from 5 to 8 – to choose their favourites. Here’s the Davenport Top Ten:

The Blue Balloon Mick Inkpen
It’s a silly and simple story – like many of Mick Inkpen’s books – but it resonated with each of our children when they were little. They love the fold out pages and the sense of fun that the author so cleverly creates.

Cockatoos Quentin Blake
Ever since I was a small child engrossed in Roald Dahl books I have loved Quentin Blake. Author and Illustrator of this book, he has filled it with his cheeky wit. And it’s great for putting on an absurd posh voice!

Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton
As I read my original 1970s copy to my children I have to change a few words here and there – PC it isn’t (e.g. the girls always have to help in the kitchen but the boys don’t). But the magic in this book is unrivalled in anything else I have come across for young children and all my children love it as much as I did.

The BFG Roald Dahl
Both Sophie and the Big Friendly Giant are such wonderful characters you can’t help but love this book. Roald Dahl was a genius of storytelling and I think this one is his best. Though apparently the Queen has the same voice as a witch from another story (sorry about that!)

Mr Stink David Walliams
David Walliams has a fantastic ability to write modern day stories with old fashioned fun and adventure. In each of his books the morals are always spot on and his characters are hilarious. My son and I love Raj who appears in every book he writes.

Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian
Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this was my favourite book when I was young. It’s a moving and compelling tale, which reveals the complexities and terrible consequences of war through a child’s eyes.

The Harry Potter series J. K. Rowling
Ok, I have to confess that this one is my choice. My children are just too wussy to read Harry Potter yet as they get scared after about page 3. J. K. Rowling’s series of epic adventures are just unquestionably brilliant. I’m going to get the audio books for the car and hope that Stephen Fry’s dulcet tones will persuade my children to listen.

Mog and the V.E.T Judith Kerr
Having owned a very grumpy cat (who once ended up on the vet’s head!) this story particularly resonates with us. Mog’s escapades always make us all giggle.

Why the Whales Came Michael Morpurgo
Erie and disquieting, this multifaceted tale of two children who befriend a loner on their island is a real page turner. It was our first Michael Morpurgo book and we loved it.

The Smartest Giant in Town Julie Donaldson
There’s something about the rhythm of rhyme that intrigues children. Even when my little ones are distracted Julia Donaldson’s soothing stories encourage them to listen. In this book, there are so many funny characters it gives us parents a great opportunity for a cavalcade of silly voices!

And after all that reading,
surely it’s time for a treat?  
These cookies are easy and
fun to make with your little
(or not so little) ones.

Take A Box Of Eggs cookbook

Cranberry & White Chocolate Cookies

  • Servings: 20
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Calories 225 per portion
Fat 12.2g (7.3g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Butter 200g (7oz), softened
  • Soft light brown sugar 150g (5oz)
  • Eggs 2, beaten
  • Self-raising flour 300g (11oz)
  • White chocolate 200g (7oz), chopped
  • Dried cranberries 75g packet

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas 5 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Beat the butter with the sugar in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs and flour and mix well. Work the chopped chocolate and cranberries into the mixture.
  2. Drop generous dessertspoonfuls of the mix onto the prepared baking sheet and cook in batches for 10–15 minutes until the cookies are golden, but still soft. Leave to cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cook’s tip
This is one of those wonderful recipes that is great to get children interested in baking as it doesn’t involve the use of an electric mixer – just keep an eye on where the white chocolate ends up!

 

Take a Box of EggsTake A Box Of Eggs

Discover the delight of cooking with eggs; nature’s own convenience food. This recipe is taken from Take a Box of Eggs, which features 100 easy, irresistible recipes in an attractive yet straightforward style.

Buy now for just £7.49.

 

#childrensbookday

#cookingwithkids

#toptenchildrensbooks

 

 

 

Jar of Fun

50 easy ideas to banish boredom during the school holidays

50 easy ideas to banish boredom during the school holidays

 

The school holidays are in full swing and the battle to prise my son away from his tablet has commenced.

I do believe that in 2016 technology has its place – it’s important for children to learn how to use it as it’s so integral to work and life. However, it does need to be limited!

After an hour on his tablet my son’s imagination
seems to evaporate and the inevitable ‘I don’t
know what to do’ will follow.

This is where the Jar of Fun comes into play.

The idea of the Jar of Fun is not to limit their imagination – if they’re happily ensconced in a game that’s great. It’s for those moments when they’re ‘bored’ or ‘don’t know what to do’. Let one child choose a paper from the jar and then encourage the whole family to join in.

 

To Prepare

One evening, sit in front of the television (don’t watch Brian Cox while doing this activity, it needs something that requires little concentration!) with a jar, some paper, scissors and a pen (or laptop and printer).

Snip the paper into 50 pieces and on each of them write an activity (or you can copy and print this list if you like). Note: you DO need to be prepared to actually do these if they’re picked from the jar, so don’t write anything too ambitious. Fold the paper and place in the jar.

 

Here’s my list – obviously you can tweak these to suit your family/lifestyle.

  • Act out your favourite story
  • Bake biscuits/cakes
  • Blow bubbles
  • Build a Lego town
  • Build/draw a train track
  • Build our house out of recycled objects
  • Chalk a beautiful mural on the driveway
  • Choose a new book from the library
  • Collect nature materials and make a collage
  • Construct an obstacle course
  • Copy a famous painting
  • Count pocket money and take a trip to a charity or sweet shop
  • Create a cafe at home with table settings and make lunch
  • Create a toy car race track
  • Do a jigsaw puzzle
  • Draw/paint a self-portrait and create a family collage
  • Dress up in funny outfits and take photos
  • Explore Google Earth
  • Face paints
  • Fill in an activity/sticker book
  • Find a game and teach someone else how to play
  • Go for a wildlife spotting walk
  • Go geocaching
  • Go on a bike ride
  • Have a disco
  • Hold a teddy bear’s picnic
  • Learn a magic trick
  • Look through family photographs
  • Make a book using your own photos/drawings
  • Make a den
  • Make a film
  • Make animals from Playdough
  • Make bead bracelets
  • Make paper aeroplanes
  • Make sock puppets
  • Paint animals/patterns on stones
  • Plan a treasure hunt
  • Plant bulbs/seeds
  • Play ball
  • Play dominoes
  • Read a book and then create a collage or model of your favourite part
  • Sort through the toy baskets and take a trip to the charity shop
  • Take your dolls/teddies out for a walk
  • Visit a friend
  • Visit a museum
  • Walk to the park
  • Wash the car
  • Watch a film
  • Write a letter to a friend
  • Write a recipe (then make it)

Have fun everyone!

 

AND as a special Easter treat we have a very lovely competition for you.

Win a Crock-Pot

Here’s your chance to win a fantastic Crock-Pot Thyme Slow Cooker as used (and loved) by our very own managing editor.

ENTER

#win

#competition

#tripletested

#easterrecipe

#delicious

 

#jaroffun

#schoolholidays

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