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School Dinners

Have school dinners improved?

Tomorrow, we have been invited to lunch at my son’s school for his first visit.

I must admit, I am quite looking forward to it. It’s nice to be able to see the environment he will be eating in, but also to taste the food. I have high hopes!

After Jamie’s revolution of the school dinner, surely we must be in for a treat? Will it be like dining at Fifteen?!!

Possibly not. I doubt that they will serve the stunning shiraz I enjoyed when I ate at Fifteen many years ago. And perhaps beef carpaccio followed by goat’s cheese and pumpkin ravioli may be a little exotic for the palate of a four year-old!

In all seriousness though, after the many campaigns it does seem that food in schools has come a very long way since my day when the “salads were reserved for the teachers” and the chicken supreme looked like cat sick.

I was partial to the chocolate pudding
and lurid mint custard though!

In my son’s school the pupils help to devise the menu, which is healthy but realistic. It’s all well and good producing fabulous food, but it has to appeal to children too. Nowhere on the menu have I seen the infamous turkey twizzler, but instead there are nutritious dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs and lamb & vegetable kebabs with rice.

Some local councils still have some way to go with their ethics on school meals.
In the case of Martha Payne, her local council tried to ban her blog on school dinners, as they claimed it could lead to some catering staff losing their jobs. Martha built up an audience of more than six million people after she started posting pictures and marking her school meals out of 10. After the support of many children, parents and celebrities the council did a U-turn on their original decision and the blog has raised nearly £100,000 for the charity Mary’s Meals, which sets up school feeding projects in some of the world’s poorest communities.

 

Cherry Cupcakes recipeThis weekend heralded the school summer
fair and my offering comprised these lovely
Cherry Cupcakes for the cake table.

I think they were quite a hit (but not as
popular as the prize-every-time brantub!)

 

 

 

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Wrong Trousers Day

Wrong Trousers DayHave you heard of Wrong Trousers Day? You can probably guess that it’s a Wallace and Gromit inspired day for silliness!

An opportunity to have a bit of fun wearing the wackiest pair of trews you can get your hands on, whilst raising money for a worthwhile cause.

This year’s Wrong Trousers Day takes place this Friday 26 June and Wallace & Gromit are urging the nation to join in the Olympic fun and support their favourite team by donning their weirdest legwear in their national colours and donate £1 for the right to look wrong.

I did see a very interesting pair
of ‘three lions’ leggings the other
day, which I MAY be brave
enough to don for the occasion.

Apologies to anyone who may see me!

Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation is a children’s health charity raising funds to improve the quality of life for sick kids in children’s hospitals and hospices throughout the UK. Since its beginnings in 2003 it has helped 77 children’s hospitals and hospices and given out grants totaling over £1.52 million!

And why not celebrate Wallis’s love of cheese by baking a cheesecake and selling it to friends or work colleagues for £1 a slice. Easy money for a fantastic charity!

Baked Cream Cheesecake recipeBaked Cream Cheesecake
Recipe taken from
The Dairy Book of Home Cookery

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containing 10 essential oils and
two carrier oils.
And share it with your friends.

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National Picnic Week

Picnic recipes from Dairy Diary

What better excuse do you need to eat al fresco than National Picnic Week?

It’s a pastime that I think is vastly underrated and we don’t do enough.

I know I know, the British weather is challenging and unpredictable, but be inventive!

Shelter from the rain under the boot of your car clutching a steaming cup of tea, enjoy a scone in a gale on the top of a crag, nibble a sausage roll huddled around a campfire on the beach. The possibilities are endless.

Some of my fondest childhood memories
involve picnicking, in particular snuggled
in a towel on a Gower beach or on a
snowy Peak District hillside with a mug
of cold soup and a primus stove that
would not ignite!

Picnics are not only fun, but can be inexpensive too – of course, you can go to town and make the whole works; complete with hamper, posh rug and champagne – but generally you don’t need to spend much.

Dining out, especially with a family, can be very costly and a picnic is a fun, low cost alternative. With a little planning and preparation a great day out can be had by all and store up those precious memories for children in the future.

Why not challenge yourself to undertake a picnic in the strangest place you can think of? With fantastic homemade food, of course!

Start with this fabulous Picnic Ciabatta and finish off with these delicious Apricot Cookies.

Elderflowers – free food from the hedgerows

AND don’t forget the drink too. Elderflowers are in bloom, so get picking quick!

I can still remember the taste of my Grandad’s homemade elderflower ‘champagne’, 30 years later.

Of course, it wasn’t really champagne, but a fizzy elderflower pop that was just divine! As an avid cyclist and walker he would discover an abundance of elderflowers on his travels, which we would collect for his wonderful home brewed concoction. As a wartime cook – he even once cooked for the king! – my grandad was a master at frugal cooking, and what better, than foraging for free food then creating something delicious!

Try our fabulous Spiced Elderflower Cordial.

A collection of Dairy Diary recipes:
Picnic Ciabatta
Apricot Cookies
Spiced Elderflower Cordial

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Diamond Jubilee Recipes

Afresco dining in the peak district

Having just enjoying a bite to eat in the sunshine, I am getting all fired-up about alfresco dining.

To be honest, if you are sat in dappled sunshine, overlooking a beautiful view, with the birds twittering (in the old fashioned sense of the word!) above, you can eat almost anything and it tastes delicious.

Enid Blyton was right – food
really does taste better outdoors!

We have lots of opportunities to eat outdoors during the next fortnight. Let’s just hope the infamous British weather is kind to us.

I don’t think anyone can possibly have failed to notice the impending diamond jubilee.
In fact, you would need to have lived in a rabbit warren with your ears full of cheese for the last six months to have missed it! Though much hyped, whether you are royalist or not, I think it is a great opportunity to get together with friends and acquaintances and – for once – just relax and enjoy a good chat, whilst dining alfresco.

We are lucky enough to have been invited to our friends’ jubilee party (so we don’t have to do the clearing up afterwards!) and I am already picturing what I am going to cook.

I will definitely be making white chocolate cake pops dipped in blue and red sprinkles for the children. I can’t go wrong with a sponge cake (I might do coffee) topped with buttercream, strawberries and blueberries to reflect the Union Flag.

I’m also thinking about some potato skins with a trio of dips – a soured cream (white) and a salsa (red). I am just stuck for inspirations for the blue. I might have to cheat and opt for blue cheese, even if it wouldn’t look very blue!

Win Baked & Delicious baking books with silicone bakeware.
PLEASE do let me know what you are planning for your jubilee celebrations. Post your pictures on our Facebook page. We have a set of our new baking books (with silicone bakeware) for those who post the best pics.

It’s also National Barbeque Week this week
This gives us another excuse to get out in the garden. Or you can do what we did last weekend and escape out to the beach or countryside with a portable barbie.

We sat supping a glass of red, roasting sausages overlooking the stunning Peak District, it was idyllic. Just make sure you find a big stone on which to balance your barbeque so that you don’t scorch the grass!

Have a wonderful extended weekend, whatever you may do!

Here are some gorgeous jubilee recipes for you to try. For the traditional red, white AND blue, add a few blueberries too.

Summer desserts recipes

Strawberry Pavlova

Honey Blancmange

Summer Pudding

Berry Tart

All these – plus many more – traditional British recipes can be found in the new edition Dairy Book of Home Cookery available NOW!

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Behind the scenes of the Dairy Diary – meet the Managing Editor

Once a month, I will give you a behind the scenes look at the Dairy Diary and meet the team. We are a small group but each one of us very different…..this week me, Emily.

Emily Davenport, Dairy Diary Managing EditorEmily Davenport
I am Managing Editor of the Dairy Diary and Dairy Cookbooks. I am also Media Manager for Eaglemoss Consumer Publications.I have worked with Dairy Diary since 1999 and it was my first ‘proper’ job since leaving uni. Here are a few facts about me:

What is your role within Dairy Diary?
As Managing Editor, my main role is to come up with new book ideas, plan each book, put a team together to work on it and ensure it’s produced to quality, time and budget. I also manage the social media, public relations and assist with marketing and production issues too. Oh and I make the coffee!

What’s the best thing about working on Dairy Diary?
The variety – every day is different. Because we are such a small team, I get involved in every aspect of each project.

What’s the worst thing about working on Dairy Diary?
Working with food all the time – it makes me want to eat constantly!

Emily Davenport, LinoprinterTell us something we don’t know about you
I am really good at reverse parking but really bad at making lasagne!

In my spare time I am a linoprinter; at the moment I am producing small single-colour animal prints.

What are your favourite things in life?
My children – Isaac, Jasmine and Maisy; my fiancé Rich; laughing; good food, good wine, countryside walks and lino printing.

What is your favourite Dairy Diary or Dairy Cookbook recipe?
Very difficult to choose just one! Probably lamb shanks following by tiramisu. I made both of these on my first date with my fiancé!

 

Lamb Shanks recipeLamb Shanks
a favourite dish from
The Dairy Book of Home Cookery.

 

Tirimusu recipeTiramisu
This tiramisu recipe is taken from Just One Pot Dairy Cookbook, and is available to buy online for just £7.00. Using only one ‘pot’ per recipe it is full of easy meals – and very little washing up!
If you would like one, hurry! Stocks are running low.

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100 Things to do with Children (even when it’s raining!)

Try a night at the museum

Didn’t everything seem magical as a child? Days were longer and sunnier, grass was greener, and in my day meadows still existed!

Despite the nation’s obsession with reality TV, computer games and the internet…

I am determined to ensure
my children’s childhoods
are just as magical,
carefree and fun.

This weekend is Museums at Night Weekend

This sounds really exciting (though potentially spooky at somewhere like the Natural History Museum!) with different events all over the country. Including: Dust off your art books and exchange them for fresh ones at The Crescent in Scarborough, join other sketchers for a live drawing session at The Liver, or heat things up with a spot of raku firing at The Biscuit Factory.

Though I really fancy the art book swap, it’s a bit far for us to trek, so we will opt for Bizarre Bazaar and Return of the Leeches at our local museum, The Brampton – sounds intriguing!

The National Trust have also launched a venture to encourage children to play, with their 50 Things To Do Before You’re 11¾ list.

This includes: run around in the rain; eat an apple picked straight from the tree; feed a bird from your hand; visit an island and find some frogspawn. I’m afraid there are a couple of there that I am too late to achieve: find a geocache (never existed before I was 11¾) and bring up a butterfly.

Luckily I can tick all the others off my list (25 years late!) The most memorable for me must be go on a nature walk at night. With my parents and cousin, we walked along a Canadian highway lit by the light of a full moon with the local forest ranger. He called to some local wolves, who all howled back (including their pups). It was breathtaking!

So what of the 50 things will you do with your children or grandchildren this weekend?
Or will you opt for a drier option indoors at the museum? I’d love to know!

Pigs in blankets recipe.Don’t forget to take your picnic:
try this popular Pigs in Blanket
recipe – made with bread blankets
it makes for great finger food.

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