Date and Coconut Bread

'Bread with bits' was the challenge from Jen at Jen's Food and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families for the May Bready Steady Go!  The Bread with Bits challenge is hosted at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families

Now you might not think this bread I made had many bits in it, they are certainly not obvious but you can certainly taste them because this is Date and Coconut Bread.  I seemed to have a surfeit of dates in my cupboard and some dessicated coconut I'd bought for another recipe, it seems like a good combination to go with and I was right.  The bread is slightly sweet but not overpoweringly so.  It is fabulous just with butter or as toast with marmalade, but would also work with cheese or with a soup like butternut squash or parsnip where there is already some sweetness.

Date and Coconut Bread 
makes a 450g (1 lb) loaf

130g strong white flour
130g wholemeal flour
1 1/2 tsp fast action yeast
4 tbsp chopped dates
4 tbsp dessicated coconut
1 egg
3 tbsp water
65ml milk
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp salt.

I made my loaf in the bread maker using the programme for fruit bread.  This meant simply adding all the ingredients except the dates and coconut and using the fruit and nut dispenser to automatically add them in later.

If you are making your bread without a bread machine, then here are the instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients, apart from the dates and coconut, in a large bowl. Make sure  the yeast does not come into direct contact with the salt when you  first add them to the bowl.
2. Knead well until the dough is elastic, smooth and shiny. Cover with a piece of cling film and leave to rise for one hour.
3. Add the dates and coconut  to the dough and knead again for 5 minutes until they are mixed through the dough.
4. Either shape and place into a 450g (1 lb) tin or form into a round and place on a baking tray, leave to prove for an hour in a warm place.
5. Bake at 220C/425F/Gas 7 for 30 minutes until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Labels: allspice, Bread, bread machine, Bready Steady Go, coconut, Date, honey, yeast

posted by Janice @ 21:35 16 Comments

From Mississipi to Vietnam in the Recipe Clippings Round Up

Hooray!  Another batch of recipes, been clipped, cooked or baked, blogged and shared for Recipe Clippings. Many thanks to all who joined me for the February Challenge.


1. Rachel Cotterill - Mississippi Mud Pie 
2. Baking in Pyjamas - Jaffa Cake Tea Bread
3. Onions and Paper - Pastitsio


4. Cloud of Cookmorphosis - Bun Mam: Vietnamese Fermented Fish Vermicelli Soup
5. Lancashire Food - Almond Sponge Topped Apple Pots
6. Chocolate Log Blog - Lemon Coconut Cakes with Freekah Flour


If you would like to find out more about Recipe Clippings please visit the page and come back and join in when the March Recipe Clippings Challenge is posted.

Labels: Almond, Apple, cake, coconut, Freekah, Jaffa Cakes, lemon, Mississippi Mud Pie, Pastitsio, Recipe Clippings, Vietnamese

posted by Janice @ 19:00 1 Comments

On my June Kitchen Table: Super Speedy Eats!

A collection of the foodie products that I have been sent for review, or simply want to share with you this month. It turns they all fit into the category of quick and easy meals, enjoy!

Terra Nostra is, at first glance, a typical restaurant in the centre of St Ginesio, however they also make and sell high quality pasta and I was able try their Truffle Tagliatelle  and dried tomatoes Papparedelle.  Both were excellent quality pasta, the kind that easily retains a bit of bite and the flavourings in the pasta also adds to the dish.  Each pack also contains a sachet of flavoured oil, which has an authentic taste of the herbs or truffle oil as appropriate to the pasta type.

I made a simple seasonal dish of tomatoes slowly roasted in a pan with a little olive oil and garlic, then I added some sliced olives and at the last minute threw in some feta cheese cubes, this was mixed through the cooked Papparedelle al pomodori with the basil oil and made a really delicious and simple supper.
You can buy the Terra Nostra pasta through the e-shop  the prices are in euros and I have no information about purchasing in the UK.  8/10 

I'm not averse to a ready-meal, I always have a pizza in my freezer.  However, I'm not inclined to buy pasta dishes as ready meals as they are so easy to prepare.  I was intrigued by the blurb from Charlie Bigham's " the posh ready meal brand especially for twosomes. It's perfect for when you and your other half want to spend some quality time together, without having to sacrifice the taste!"  We don't have a Sainsbury's or Waitrose near where we live and Ocado don't deliver to our area,  but I managed to find a Sainsbury's on one of my frequent work trips. 

I was supposed to try out the new range of 'world' meals but there weren't any of those available in this store, so I took the chance to get the Moussaka and the Meatballs al Forno.  Each ready meal feeds two (although I did get the Moussaka to stretch to feed three) and costs £7.00. That's relatively expensive, but they are the best ready meals I have tasted, you could easily have thought they were homemade.  Himself was very impressed and enjoyed both dishes.

Another bonus is that the packaging is environmentally friendly using paper and wood rather than plastic, all of the packaging can be recycled.  Bighams recommend that you bake the dishes in the oven, but on one of the nights I was short of time and microwaved the dish for 6 minutes before finishing it off in the oven to crisp up the top.  9/10

Labels: #review, Charlie Bigham's, coconut, feta, fruit ices, lemon curd, Meatballs al Forno, Moussaka, olives, papparedelle, Smooze, strawberries, tagliatelle, tomatoes, yogurt

posted by Janice @ 21:08 4 Comments

White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger

White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger

In The Farm Shop Cookbook by Christine McFadden, there are a wealth of recipes celebrating the produce that is now widely available across Britain. Farm shops have become more and more popular as people choose to buy local and fresh.
In the Introduction Christine tells us of her own experience of Farm Shops and how the intention of the book is to help us to make the most out of the produce available, some very familiar, others we may not have encountered before. She goes on to talk a little about the environmental advantages of buying from farm shops before taking us into a useful section on how to use the book, including guidance on buying by season, different varieties and storing your purchases.

The Recipes: the introduction to the recipes this section gives some advice on basic ingredients, measurements and techniques. There follows an A-Z of produce with recipes, each item is given a few paragraphs of introduction with cooking ideas.

The side bar tells you when the item is available, which varieties to look for, some shopping notes, storage advice and preparation tips. For some items there are several recipes and there are excellent photographs of many of the dishes.

Here are a few examples of the produce and the recipes that accompany them:
Bacon and Gammon-The Ultimate Bacon Sandwich, Gammon Steaks with Parsley Sauce,
Cabbage-White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger, Red Slaw with Radish Sprouts, Smoked Cheese and Lemon Yogurt Dressing,
Eggs - Eggs with Fried Tomatoes, Onion and Peppers, Sweet Puffy Pancakes with Walnuts
Jerusalem Artichokes-Pan Fried Jerusalem Artichokes, Gratin of Jerusalem Artichokes with Cobnuts, Bacon and Garlic Cream
Mushrooms - Mushrooms with Pappardelle, Pine Nuts, Cream, Garlic and Parmesan.
Pears - Roasted Peppered Pear Salad with Sheep's Cheese, Honey and Walnuts
Quail - Grilled Spatchcocked Quail with Smoked Paprika, Garlic, Cayenne and Cumin
Raspberries - Raspberry Chocolate Tartlets
Shallots - Roasted Banana Shallots with Sage, Parmesan and Crisp Breadcrumbs
Turkey - Tandoori Turkey Tikka

These are just a few of the ingredients and recipes in the book, there are many more.

Who is it for?
Anyone who enjoys fresh seasonal produce, also useful for novice cooks who would like to learn more about produce and what to do with it.

Pros - the ingredients are listed in alphabetical order, so if you have carrots, you can easily find that section and the recipes. One of my favourite sections is the UK seasonal produce availability, a grid where you can check out what is available, useful to check before heading out to the farm shop.
Cons - I would have preferred more pictures

White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger

Based on a traditional recipe from Kerala in south-west India, this is a great way of livening up cabbage.

3tbsp vegetable oil
1tsp mustard seeds
15-20 curry leaves, fresh, frozen or dried
1 small onion or 2 banana shallots sliced
1/4 white cabbage, core removed, leaves shredded
200g spring greens, tough stalks removed, leaves shredded
100ml water
4tbsp coconut flakes
3 tbsp coriander leaves, sliced
Juice of 1/2 a lime

For the spice paste
50g sachet creamed coconut
1 green chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
2.5cm piece of root ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small onion or 2 banana shallots, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric

Put the spice paste ingredients in a blender or food processor.  add a splash of water to moisten, then whizz to a puree.

Heat a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil.  Fry the mustard seeds until they start to crackle, then add the curry leaves.  Sizzle for a few seconds. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion and fry until golden. Season with the crushed peppercorns, then stir in the spice paste, shredded cabbage and spring greens.  Pour in the water, stirring well so the cabbages are covered with the paste.

Cover and cook over low heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring now and again to prevent sticking. When the cabbage and spring greens are tender, add the coconut flakes, coriander ad lime juice.  Stir for a minute or two to heat through.


 Although there are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, it is really quite simple to make and transforms ordinary cabbage into an amazing and exotic feast.  I served it with pan fried sword fish and peppers. I would definitely make this recipe again.

The Farm Shop Cookbook by Christine McFadden is published by Absolute Press an Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing.  RRP £14.99

With thanks to Emma for providing me with a copy of The Farm Shop Cookbook to review, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Absolute Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, cabbage, chilli, Christine McFadden, coconut, Cook book review, Ginger, The Farm Shop Cookbook

posted by Janice @ 08:30 3 Comments

Vanilla and Coconut Cake for Tea Time Treats

It was my mother-in-law's birthday on Sunday.  I know that she loves coconut, so I made this Vanilla and Coconut Cake, a recipe by Lynn Hill,  from the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook.  I reviewed The Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook in February and didn't even mention this cake!  However, a quick search through the index for coconut and I came upon this simple but effective cake.  I can't print the recipe as it is copyright, but it's a butter sponge with added desiccated coconut and vanilla extract.  Filled with a layer of jam and vanilla buttercream, with some more buttercream on the top and finally sprinkled with toasted coconut.  It was totally delicious and went down well with the oldest: mother-in-law to youngest: our 2 year old grandson.





Over at Tea Time Treats, the blog event run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked, Kate is hosting this month and has picked 'Layer Cakes' as the theme.  I know I should probably try harder and go for multi-layers but two layers is allowed and as I am desperate to share this cake with you, this seems like the perfect opportunity!

I can thoroughly recommend The Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, it's a positive cornucopia of proper cakes.  Now it's my sister-in-law's birthday this weekend...

Labels: buttercream, cake, Clandestine Cake Club, Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, coconut, Layer Cakes, Lynn Hill, Tea Time Treats

posted by Janice @ 21:02 7 Comments

Pina Colada Cupcakes - Reviews and Challenges

I love a nice sweet pineapple, even though they are available all year round in the supermarkets, they still seem rather exotic.  I've never had any difficulty in peeling and cutting a pineapple but was  intrigued when I was sent an OXO Good Grips Pineapple Slicer to review.

I decided that the best way to show you how it works would be to make a video and post it on here.  When I uploaded it to You Tube, I came across a professional 'how to' video created by OXO Good Grips.  I've decided to post both of them, so that you can see me reading the instructions and cutting a pineapple for the first time/  This was going to have to be 'one take' because I only had one pineapple, so I was concentrating on reading the instructions and cutting the pineapple and didn't realise, until my husband started laughing, that some of it could be interpreted as a bit rude!   Anyway here is my version:


And here is how you should really cut your pineapple...


I'm hoping I will get better with practise, now that I understand how the slicer works!

 Here is the slightly mangled pineapple, oh boy was there lot of juice.

At the same time, I was asked to try this 12 cup deep Glidex Muffin Tray from Great British Bakeware by George Wilkinson The tins are ceramic reinforced and triple coated with superior non-stick, dishwasher safe and they even state that they are safe for metal tools.  I liked the weightiness of the tin and the cups are a good size and, very importantly,  they are British made, in Lancashire.

The best way to test the tin was to make some muffins or cupcakes and I thought I'd bake some cupcakes that included pineapple, so what better than a combination of pineapple, rum and coconut. The Glidex Bakeware performed extremely well, I will try it without paper cases next time, perhaps with some savoury muffins to test out the non-stick coating.

Pina Colada Cup Cakes

 175g (6oz) self-raising flour
150g (5oz) plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
125g (4 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
250g (9oz) caster sugar
2 large eggs
50ml crushed pineapple
75ml (4fl oz) Coconut yogurt (I used Rachel's)
1/2 tsp of rum or rum essence

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake cases.
2. In a bowl, combine the flours and set aside
3. In a large bowl beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar gradually, beating after each addition.
4. Add the flour in three stages, alternating with the milk and rum.  Beat until the ingredients are combined and well blended.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling about 2/3 full. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Cool in the tin for about 15 minutes. Remove from the tin to a cooling tray and cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

25g (1oz) white chocolate, broken into pieces
100g (7oz) cream cheese, softened
50g (2oz) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp rum or rum essence
250g (8oz) icing sugar (sifted)

1. Put the chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl that fits over a pan of very gently simmering water, allow to cool to room temperature.
2. Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Mix in the white chocolate and rum or rum extract.
3. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until the mixture is fluffy.
4. Spread the mixture over the cupcakes with a palette knife.

To decorate
1. Toast about 50g (2oz) of dessicated coconut in a dry pan over a medium heat, stirring frequently and watching carefully so it doesn't burn.  Leave to cool.
2. Sprinkle the coconut over the cream cheese frosting and place small wedges of pineapple on top.


At first I was a little disappointed in these cupcakes, the cake seemed a bit cloying and stuck to the roof of your mouth.  However, if you can be patient,  they keep incredibly well, in an airtight plastic box in the fridge and improved quite dramatically after a couple of days. 

We should Cocoa is 2 years old and celebrating with Cocktail inspired chocolate creations. The challenge is run by Choclette at The Chocolate Log Blog and Chele at Chocolate Teapot. I'm entering the Pina Colada Cupcakes with their little bit of white chocolate in the frosting.

The Calendar Cakes challenge from Dolly Bakes and Laura Love Cakes is  celebrating National Cupcake week and apparently  'Caketails' are the latest cupcake craze, who says I'm crazy?

And just to round things off, the letter for Alpha Bakes, hosted this month by Caroline Makes, alternately with The More Than Occasional Baker this month is 'P' which gives me a hat trick of cakey challenges.

Labels: British, coconut, cream cheese, cupcakes, Glidex Bakeware, How to video, Lancashire, Oxo Good Grips Pineapple Slicer, Pina Colada, pineapple, review, rum

posted by Janice @ 13:55 22 Comments

Watercress Open Sandwich with Coconut

As usual Saturday lunch was a a bit of a forage in the fridge.  I sliced a couple of very thin slices of sourdough bread and spread them with lighter than light Helmann's mayo, then piled up a mixture of watercress and baby salad leaves.  Some slices of red pepper and tomatoes topped it off.


No Croutons Required is hosted alternately by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen and Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes

Labels: AlphaBakes, Belleau Kitchen, coconut, Lisa's Kitchen, No Croutons Required, Tinned Tomatoes

posted by Janice @ 22:16 4 Comments