Category: Competitions and challenges

In the mix: bloggers’ favourite spice mix recipes

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While I love experimenting with different spices, I must admit to resorting to a handful of tried-and-tested spice mixes for many of our meals: garam masala for instance for curries, or ras-el-hanout for meat rubs. So you’ll see there was a fair bit of self-interest when I set Spice Mixes as the theme for the last Spice Trail challenge; I was after a little spicy inspiration for new meals to try out with different spice mixes I’ve never played with before. And as ever my fellow food bloggers didn’t disappoint. Here follows a sensational selection of spicy dishes that are guaranteed to get your own culinary creative juices flowing or, at the very least, your mouth watering…

1. Vegetarian Japanese Curry
2. Stuffed Eggplant
3. Southwestern Avocado Scramble Salad
4. Slow Cooked Lamb Ras-el-Hanout
5. Middle Eastern Spiced Campfire Chickpeas

Continue reading “In the mix: bloggers’ favourite spice mix recipes” →

Calling all bakers: tell your best children’s stories in cake!

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Official C&B Show logo

With four shows in four new venues, the Cake & Bake Show is bigger than ever this year, and includes a BAKING COMPETITION on the theme of ‘Children’s Stories’ taking place at each of the venues: Harrogate, London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

The Cake & Bake Show is calling on all cake makers to create a fabulous cake that is an interpretation of a children’s story. Each cake creation can be inspired from any children’s story or film, (there’s lots of inspiration in the cinemas this summer with new releases Minion, Peter Pan and Jurassic Park); or it can be a combination of your favourite characters or stories from over the years! Continue reading “Calling all bakers: tell your best children’s stories in cake!” →

Ciao bambino! The Family Foodies Italian challenge

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ciao bambino

In my eyes, Italian food has to be one of the most child-friendly cuisines in the world, in the same way Italian restaurants are very often the most child-friendly places to eat with little ones in tow.

Italian dishes feature frequently in my family meal plans. There’s the now staple penne with pesto or a simple tomato sauce, spaghetti with meatballs, crowd-pleasing macaroni cheese and homely lasagne. There’s pizza and calzone – both the homemade and from-the-freezer varieties. There’s gnocchi and minestrone soup and risotto. And then there’s the puddings – the ice creams and semi-freddo, the tirimisu and panna cotta.

So for our latest Family Foodies challenge, we’re inviting food bloggers to share their favourite family-friendly, Italian-inspired dishes. From the traditional and authentic to your own unique twists on Italian classics, all are welcome at our Italian-themed feast.

What will you bring to the party?  Continue reading “Ciao bambino! The Family Foodies Italian challenge” →

What’s your favourite spice mix? Share yours in The Spice Trail

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spice trail badge long

For April and May’s Spice Trail challenge, I’ve decided to celebrate the spice mix in all its many and various guises.

Every country, continent and cuisine around the world has its own spice mixes and blends. From North African dukkah and ras el hanout to French quatre epices and Jamaican jerk seasoning. The Middle East has given us baharat and za’atar, while from Asia we have garam masala and panch phoron. Continue reading “What’s your favourite spice mix? Share yours in The Spice Trail” →

16 sensational sweet and savoury pancake ideas

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Pancake Collage

Pancake Day might well be a distant memory now, especially since we’re practically into Easter, but, as I’ve said before, pancakes are just too delicious to only eat one day a year. Sweet and savoury, healthy and indulgent… this round-up of perfect pancake recipes from the last Family Foodies challenge is sure to get you reaching for your frying pan. Ready? Steady? Toss! Continue reading “16 sensational sweet and savoury pancake ideas” →

Healthy and delicious temple food

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Temple Food Collage

Temple food
Definition: food that does you good from the inside out;
restorative, refreshing, reassuring and revitalising;
virtuous and delicious;
as in ‘my body is a temple’

As you know, I’m on a mission to eat more healthily; not just by embarking on a silly fad diet, but by introducing better, more balanced food choices as part of my everyday lifestyle. And I am feeling so much better for it.

Thanks to my fellow bloggers who took part in the latest Spice Trail challenge, I now have an incredible menu of vibrantly virtuous (and of course beautifully spiced) dishes to test out in the weeks and months ahead. Take a look at the entries below – eating well never looked so tempting! Continue reading “Healthy and delicious temple food” →

Family Foodies: make every day Pancake Day

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pancake text
We adore pancakes in our house and eat them all year round – no waiting for Shrove Tuesday to come around here!

But since it is that time of year with Pancake Day coming up on Tuesday 17 February, it seemed like a jolly good excuse to have all things pancakey as our theme for the Family Foodies challenge.

So, how do you eat yours? Sweet or savoury? Healthy or naughty? Thin crepes with lemon and sugar? Fat, fluffy American pancakes with bacon, smothered in syrup? Asian-style banana pancakes as devoured by backpackers? Chinese pancakes filled with lotus paste? Indian dosa stuffed with spicy lentils, pickles and chutneys? Or maybe Russian blini with smoked salmon or even caviar is more your thing?

However you do pancakes in your house, we want you to share your recipes in this month’s Family Foodies. And, as ever, the more family-friendly they are the better. Link up your entries by Saturday 28 February 2015. I’m preparing to salivate!

Family Foodies entry guidelines

  • You may submit any recipe on your blog that fits this month’s theme, new or from the archive, although there is a limit of three entries per blogger. You’re also welcome to submit the post to other challenges too. If the recipe is not your own, please give the appropriate credit.
  • Send your recipe URL to me at bangermashchat-at-gmail-dot-com, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Saturday 28 February 2015.
  • Display the Family Foodies badge (below) on your recipe post, with a link back to both Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash, as well as details of this month’s challenge.
  • If you’re on Twitter, then please tweet your post to myself @BangerMashChat and Lou @Eat_Your_Veg and include the hashtag #FamilyFoodies. We’ll retweet all that we see.
  • You may enter from anywhere in the blogosphere, but prizes can only be posted to UK addresses.
  • At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe. The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries. Winners will get to display a Family Foodie Winner annotated badge on their blog if they wish and their recipe will go through to the Family Foodies Hall of Fame on each of our sites.
  • All entries will be added to the Family Foodies Pinterest Group Board.

family-foodies

 

February’s entries

  1. Crepe Cake from Caroline Makes
  2. ‘Findus’ Style Ham & Cheese Crispy Pancakes from Caroline Makes
  3. Vanilla Buttermilk Pancakes with Berries & Freshly Made Chocolate Sauce from the Gluten Free Alchemist
  4. Chocolate Pancakes with Berries & Rose-scented Yoghurt from Bangers & Mash
  5. Savoury Kale & Mushroom Pancakes from Eat Your Veg
  6. Spiced Kefir Pancakes with Manuka Honey and Crème Fraîche Chocolate Sauce from Chocolate Log Blog
  7. Little Green Kale Fritters from Allotment 2 Kitchen
  8. Banana Oat Pancakes from Green Gourmet Giraffe
  9. Chocolate Pancakes with Berries and Chocolate Sauce from Green Gourmet Giraffe
  10. Almond-Spelt Pancakes from The Lass in the Apron
  11. Orange Pancakes with Turmeric from Spicy, Quirky and Serendipitous
  12. Crepes with Ham, Baked Leeks and Tallegio from Foodie Quine
  13. Grandma Monearn’s Pancakes from Foodie Quine
  14. Grain-free Almond Pancakes from Elizabeth’s Kitchen

The Spice Trail challenge: temple food

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Temple Food

I’m on a bit of health kick these days. I assure you though, it’s not just another faddy new year’s resolution in reaction to an over-indulgence at Christmas. Since last autumn, I’ve been really trying to take a more healthy and positive approach to what I eat and how I exercise. Rather than counting the calories in absolutely everything I consume and sticking to a ridiculously restrictive diet, I’m focused on making better choices as part of my overall lifestyle and day-to-day routine, which I hope will be easier to keep up in the long run.

Being healthy shouldn’t be a chore or all about self-sacrifice and self-flagellation. I want to enjoy eating and enjoy exercise in the knowledge that I’m doing my body (and mind) some good.

So the theme for this latest Spice Trail challenge is Temple Food… as in my body is a temple.  I’m looking to the food blogging community to help inspire me with their healthy, feel good recipes. Virtuous and delicious, that’s the order of the day. And, of course, nice and spicy too. So it’s not all about diet ‘rabbit food’. I’m simply after your dishes that do you good from the inside out: restorative, refreshing, reassuring and revitalising. Continue reading “The Spice Trail challenge: temple food” →

The Spice Trail round-up: peppercorns and allspice

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spice trail badge long

I’m playing catch up with The Spice Trail this month and bringing you two months’ worth of recipe round-ups in one go. November saw us celebrating the humble peppercorn as a star ingredient in its own right, while in December we showcased recipes using the gorgeous and very versatile allspice berry. Continue reading “The Spice Trail round-up: peppercorns and allspice” →

The festive Family Foodies round-up

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It might seem strange bringing you a round-up of festive foods at this time of year, but it just wouldn’t be right to wait until next December. So you’ll simply need to bookmark this post for when you start planning your party foods for the next festive season. Although saying that, I think you’ll find there are plenty of tempting treats in this Family Foodies round-up you’ll be keen to try out whatever the time of year. Continue reading “The festive Family Foodies round-up” →