A little bit about me…

My Story:

I’m just a man that loves to cook, I’m no chef! I have always really enjoyed cooking and started at a young age. I would enjoy watching my parents and grandparents cooking. The smells from my nan’s house were always inviting.

My father was the biggest influence on my cooking journey. He was a fantastic cook and a wonderful man too. He taught me the basics but told me it was always good to experiment with food, sometimes you can make a fantastic tasting mistake, so try doing something different. And I have, and made some strange concoctions, not all of them nice though!

My Memories:

For years, I have been cooking for myself, my family and my friends, to a point when I was asked: Why don’t you write a cookbook?. It is something I have considered doing for some time, and it is the long-term plan, but having this blog is so much more! With this, I can share with you all my favourite recipes and ideas, and get feedback and comments from you too.

Christmas is the most important time of the year for me, I LOVE IT! The Christmas music on the radio, the cheesy movies on TV, the smell of the Christmas Tree in the Living Room, but most importantly, the food!

I get asked months in advance if I’ll be making anything special for Christmas, will I be making my Sausage Rolls, Mince Pies or Chicken Liver Pate? And the answer is always YES. I make pretty much everything at Christmas time. I have a category called “Christmas” which lists all my lovingly created Christmas Recipes, which are simple to follow, look fantastic and are delicious to eat or drink (try the ‘Hot Chocolate‘, oh wow!!)

My Photographs:

The pictures that I take are of the actual food I make, as I make it. I will cook it, dress it on a plate, photograph it, then eat it! I think this brings an honesty to my cooking and to this blog. It has not taken me hours to get the right lighting, correct angle, and retouching it. I’ve just made it, photographed it using my iPhone 8 Plus, then enjoy eating it afterwards.

My Style of Cooking:

My style of food is homely. It’s the sort of thing you’ll want to come home to and eat, wholesome and full of flavour. From heartwarming winter favourites to quick and delicious summer salads, everything is easy to make with some simple store cupboard ingredients. Each recipe posted has been tried and tested by friends and family, and are easy to follow.

Why Gluten Free?:

One of my best friends found that eating certain types of food would cause him discomfort and distress. After visiting the doctors on numerous occasions he found that he had Coeliac’s, and now had no tolerance to gluten. This made a massive impact on his life both at home and when going for meals, so many places back then did not cater for different food intolerances, even coatings on food and sauces had some form of gluten in them. So whenever I would visit I would bring him a little something, normally it was my chocolate brownie as it is his favourite!

But after that it got me thinking, could I not use gluten free in everything I make? And so I set myself a challenge, to make and bake everything I could gluten free. It wasn’t easy, and after trying multiple different sorts of flours, I found the best type, and it was made by Asda! It was a blended flour and contained no gluten! And it baked so well in cakes, in fact I prefer to use it as it makes the cakes softer, lighter and stay moist longer. It even works when making Yorkshire Puddings too!

There are now a multitude of gluten free and free from products on our supermarket shelves, but unfortunately they seem to be at a premium cost too, but by using simple ingredients combined with some of these products, you can still have your cake and EAT IT!

My Family:

I know people always say that their parents are the best cooks, and I would never doubt that, but my Dad could make anything taste amazing! His gravy was out of this world, you didn’t need to have anything with it, it would have tasted great with cardboard! His gravy for Roast Beef is actually making my mouth water as I write this.

He would never have called himself a good cook, but just someone that enjoyed their food, and enjoyed making it. And that is where my passion comes from. The look on someone’s face when you share with them something that tastes fantastic. It makes you proud that you took the time and effort to create something for people to enjoy. For me, when I make something new and something that tastes good, I wish he was still here to try it with me, to give me his feedback, but most importantly to see his smile when eating it.

You’ll find everything here easy to cook, fun to make, and even better to share with those you love.

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Dedicated to you Dad, thank you for ALL the inspiration. Love you always X

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My Latest Recipes