Tag: summer

Courgette Lemon Pizza

Courgette Lemon Pizza

This courgette lemon pizza on naan is an easy and light meal, with all the fresh, bright flavours of Summer! Since rediscovering the concept of the Naan Pizza this winter, I have been on a little mission to come up with new toppings for quick, 

Broccoli Stilton Quiche

Broccoli Stilton Quiche

This bold broccoli stilton quiche with a whole wheat crust makes a hearty addition to any lunch, brunch or picnic.  Blue cheese is one of those divisive foods, either you love it or hate it. I am partial to strong flavours and am definitely partial 

Red White & Blue (And Green!) Patriotic Power Salad

Red White & Blue (And Green!) Patriotic Power Salad

This red, white and blue patriotic power salad makes a healthy addition to any July 4th party!

Red. White & Blue Patriotic Power Salad- Emma's Little Kitchen

When you’re a displaced Brit residing in the USA, July 4th can be a tricky holiday to navigate. I mean, it’s not like I come across many people who have deep-seated feelings on that whole Independence “misunderstanding”, but my American friends definitely see it as an opportunity to harass me (in a VERY good natured way) all day long.

Red. White & Blue Patriotic Power Salad- Emma's Little Kitchen

Last year I spared as I was back in the UK, but this year  there is no escape- I will be spending the 4th with ALL of my husbands family at my Sister-in-laws wedding. Oh well, if you can’t beat ’em, join em eh?! I decided I would throw myself into the whole affair in the best way I know how- with food! This salad will make a cheery and colourful addition to any 4th of July party.

Red. White & Blue Patriotic Power Salad- Emma's Little Kitchen

So lets talk ingredients:

The Red- Cherries! I don’t know why it has taken me so long to create recipes with cherries, but I’m on quite the kick right now. The fresh cherries in this salad provide a tart sweetness and juicy texture.

The White- Feta! I know, I use feta often, but for good reason! The sprinkle of cheese provides a mild, salty creaminess to balance out the fruit.

The Blue- Blueberries! Another favourite ingredient. Blueberries complement the cherries in their tart sweetness, and provide a delicious pop in the mouth!

The Green- Kale! I love how kale provides a hearty base for salads. I have paired the kale with a slightly sweet lemon basil dressing in this recipe, which balances out the slightly bitter taste.

The Rest- Toasted almonds and a sprinkling of quinoa provide the essential crunch and nuttiness to complete the salad and make it really satisfying, not to mention filling!

Red. White & Blue Patriotic Power Salad- Emma's Little Kitchen

Have a very Happy 4th, if you celebrate 🙂

Red White & Blue (And Green!) Patriotic Power Salad
 
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This red, white and blue patriotic power salad makes a healthy addition to any July 4th party!
Author:
Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • Dressing:
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped basil
  • 1 tsp honey or maple syrup
  • pinch of salt
  • Salad:
  • 1 small head of kale, destemmed and cut into thin ribbons
  • ¼ cup quinoa (uncooked)
  • ⅓ cup sliced almonds
  • ½ cup cherries, pitted and halved
  • ½ cup blueberries
  • ⅓ cup crumbled feta
Method
  1. Whisk together dressing ingredients, and set aside
  2. Arrange the prepared kale in a large bowl, and put the dressing ingredients over the top. Massage the dressing into the leaves for just a minute so the kale is well coated, and just starting to wilt ever so slightly. Set the kale aside to marinate in the dressing while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Cook the quinoa according to package instructions. Once cooked, set aside in a bowl to cool.
  4. Toast the almonds for a couple of minutes in a hot dry pan until golden and fragrant. Set aside to cool.
  5. Once the quinoa and nuts have cooled, you can assemble your salad: Add quinoa, almonds, cherries and blueberries to the kale mixture and give everything a good mix. Sprinkle the feta over the top, and serve.

 

Courgette & Green Bean Salad with Tahini Mint Dressing

Courgette & Green Bean Salad with Tahini Mint Dressing

This Courgette Green Bean Salad with Tahini Mint Dressing is a satisfying combination of taste and texture, perfect for a light Summer meal. I think we are long overdue a vegan recipe, aren’t we? Sorry vegan friends, it seems I’ve been pretty into cheese lately. 

Redeeming Broccoli Chickpea Bowl

Redeeming Broccoli Chickpea Bowl

This redeeming broccoli and chickpea bowl is the epitome of simple, healthy cooking. All you need is a handful of ingredients and less than 15 minutes! Hi friends! It’s been all systems go these last couple of weeks (apologies for the patchy posting schedule!). In 

Maple Peach Dutch Baby

Maple Peach Dutch Baby

A large whole wheat “dutch baby” pancake filled with sweet maple-roasted peaches.

Whole Wheat Dutch Baby with Maple Peaches- Emma's Little Kitchen

I absolutely adore sweet juicy peaches in the Summer months, so when I saw a punnet for sale at the shop the other week, I snapped them up. I should have known then that it was too early for decent peaches, and sure enough they were still hard as fuzzy rocks five days later. Rather than let them go to waste, I decided I would try and bake them into something instead. Racking my brains, I remembered this fantastic recipe I made last autumn, and decided to give these disappointing peaches the dutch baby treatment.

Whole Wheat Dutch Baby with Maple Peaches- Emma;s Little Kitchen Whole Wheat Dutch Baby with Maple Peaches- Emma's Little Kitchen

Have you ever had a dutch baby? Otherwise known as an oven pancake, they are just a large pancake cooked in the oven. The batter gets puffy and slightly crispy, when you remove it from the oven the center sinks down, and becomes the perfect receptical for a filling of some sort. In this case, sweet sliced peaches roasted in a little maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Much as I love regular pancakes, sometimes its nice to let the oven do the work for you.

Whole Wheat Dutch Baby with Maple Peaches- Emma's Little Kitchen

This makes a perfect low key weekend breakfast, the leftovers keep well too and can be reheated in the microwave or even eaten at room temperature. If you don’t have peaches, any other fruity filling will probably be lovely, I’m excited to try this with some fresh berries! Just remember to lots of extra maple syrup for drizzling, and a pot of strong, hot coffee.

Whole Wheat Dutch Baby with Maple Peaches- Emma's Little Kitchen

Enjoy!

Maple Peach Dutch Baby
 
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A large whole wheat "dutch baby" pancake filled with sweet maple-roasted peaches.
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Serves: 30
Ingredients
  • Peach Topping:
  • 3-4 peaches, thinly sliced (I cut each of mine into about 10 slices)
  • 2 tbsp butter, cubed
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • Pancake:
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ cup milk
  • ¾ cup pastry flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp butter
Method
  1. Preheat Oven to 425F/210C
  2. Place your skillet into the cold oven to heat up
  3. Prepare the peaches: In a large bowl, toss the slice peaches with butter, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. Transfer to a lined roasting tin or baking sheet. Place in the oven to roast for 20-25 minutes until tender. Stir the peaches a couple of times during baking so they don't burn.
  4. Prepare the pancake: Place the eggs, milk, flour and salt into your blender, and blend until fully combined and slightly frothy. Set aside to thicken for a minute. Remove HOT skillet from the oven, and drop the butter into the skillet. Swirl around until the skillet is fully buttered. Add the batter to the hot, buttered pan, and place back into the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the pancake is puffed and golden in colour.
  5. Assembley: Remove peaches and pancake from the oven. Spoon the peaches into the pancake, and drizzle with extra maple syrup if desired.

Notes:

Adapted from The Muffin Myth.

Bulgar, Lentil and Cucumber Salad

Bulgar, Lentil and Cucumber Salad

This Bulgar, Lentil and Cucumber Salad is hearty and filling, with a fresh light summer flavour. I love the challenge of creating a meal from an understocked kitchen, don’t you?! This salad was the result of some cupboard staples, a handful of herbs languishing in 

Berry Baked Oatmeal

Berry Baked Oatmeal

This berry baked oatmeal is the perfect way to jazz up breakfast with its gorgeously sweet-tart combination of blueberries, raspberries, cinnamon, vanilla and walnuts. Where I come from, we don’t really have oatmeal. We have no-nonsense PORRIDGE. It’s the same, but I can’t bring myself 

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry

A nourishing lentil spinach and coconut curry that comes together quickly and is packed full of indian flavour.

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry- Emma's Little Kitchen

Hey y’all (<— texas is rubbing off on me), thanks for giving me a much needed break the last few weeks! We are still getting settled in our new home, but so far we are enjoying the South. Today I am bringing you another delicious “go-to” curry.

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry- Emma's Little Kitchen

My first version is actually the most popular recipe on Emma’s Little Kitchen to date, a fact that really surprised me! I almost didn’t post it because it felt too simple, or not “special” enough (I make it ALLLLL the time!). Turns out, thats exactly what you lot are after, so I’m following your cues!

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry- Emma's Little Kitchen

There’s a few reasons why I think my original go-to curry is so successful, and many are replicated in this recipe.

Quick– SOOOO important for our family now! Having a five month old means no more long or laborious meals. I imagine this will only become more true as James becomes older, more mobile, or we throw a sibling or too into the mix (yikes!). Even before the babe came along, I was always looking for speedy weeknight meals so I could fit my marathon training in around my 50+ hour a week desk job. This curry is perfect because its FAST and also…

Freezable– One of the easiest ways to stick to a healthy whole foods diet is to double all of your meals and freeze half, we do it all the time and it really helps us to stay on track (98.5% of the time!). This curry freezes very well, and I find it actually improves a little with age (bonus!).

Store Cupboard Ingredients– This recipe calls for many non-perishable ingredients- lentils, coconut milk, and spices. I prefer to use fresh spinach, but frozen could easily be substituted if its all you have to hand. Onions and garlic always last so long in my fridge I almost count them as non-perishable. This means you can russell up a delicious curry whenever the mood strikes or inspiration fails.

Budget Friendly– Admittedly coconut milk can be a relatively expensive item, but lentils, onions and spinach are cheap as chips! I reckon this meal would still cost a couple of pounds or dollars per serving.

Delicious– Lets face it, Indian Food is the bomb shmickety.

So there you have it, my “Go-to” Curry Part II.

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry- Emma's Little KitchenEnjoy!

Lentil Spinach Coconut Curry
 
Prep time
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A nourishing lentil spinach and coconut curry that comes together quickly and is packed full of indian flavour.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 inch piece of ginger, minced
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or more or less to taste)
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 1 tin coconut milk (14 fl oz)
  • 1 cup water or vegetable stock
  • 2 large handfuls of baby spinach
  • Juice of half a lemon (optional)
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander (optional)
  • salt to taste
Method
  1. In a large lidded pan or skillet, heat olive oil over a medium heat and add onions. Saute until softened, about 4-5 mins. Add Garlic and ginger, and cook for a minute longer
  2. Add the curry powder, cumin and cayenne pepper to the pan and give everything a good stir so the onions are coated in the spices
  3. Next, add the lentils, coconut milk, water (or stock), and cover. Gently simmer for about 20 minutes stirring frequently (I find that my lentils stick to the bottom of the pan otherwise). If the mixture looks dry at any point, stir in a few more splashes of water
  4. After 20 mins, fold in the spinach and cook for a minute or two more until the spinach wilts. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your pan
  5. Finally add lemon juice and coriander if using, and adjust the seasonings to taste
  6. Serve with rice or naan

 

 

Black Bean Charritos

Black Bean Charritos

Smoky-sweet black beans and rice stuffed into chard with feta and guacamole. The perfect light Mexican fare! You guys know I love a good portmanteau (Jarfait anyone?!), so here is another for you: The Charrito. What do you get when you replace the tortillas in a burrito