Easy food and drinks to make for long summer days.
Marshmallow Snowballs
A cool, chewy treat for a hot summer’s day. Children can make these themselves, so long as they’re careful with the skewers.
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Love Heart Biscuits
These funky biscuits are very easy to make, so everyone in the family can join in mixing,
rolling and wielding the cookie cutters.
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Blackberry and Apple Slices
This is delicious hot, but even better cold a day or two later.
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Gooseberry Fool
A scrumptious, frothy summer pud that is very simple to make but needs a good whack of sugar to make it tasty for the younger members of the family.
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Cherry Picking
Every hour counts and I am on constant watch. Why this level of alert? All so that I can get to my cherries before the birds do. If the weather is sunny the situation can change rapidly – one day a tree full of green fruit, the next a tree full of cherries and the next a tree stripped of anything red. For many years I've not been successful with this vigil, but this year I was determined to succeed.
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Frozen Bananas
Tamsin: For me to say these are delicious means little since my usual diet contains one if not two bananas a day. But when my son Joe said they were fantastic it really gave them the seal of approval because he hates bananas. I've never understood why. He is not a fussy eater, but ever since he was old enough to have a choice in the matter he's avoided bananas. Maybe he had banana overload in the womb. Perhaps that's why when he was born (which was not quite the straightforward birth I'd hoped for), the midwife couldn’t believe how unstressed he was. It was thanks to the potassium, high quantities of which are found in bananas, which is good for stress, heart and blood pressure.
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Lemon Drizzle Cake
Drizzled with a zesty lemon sauce, this makes a great cake for afternoon tea. Make it in round or heart-shaped tin, decorate around the base with fresh flowers and it will look as good as it tastes.
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Raspberry & Apple Palmiers
These are stunners – a mouthful of heavenly puff pastry with yummy confectioner's custard. Just dreamy!
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Making a Giant Teacake
Tamsin: I like a challenge and Nicky has just given me an extra-large one (see her comment on October 26th blog) – could I make a giant teacake? The kids thought this was a great idea since the basic ingredients are marshmallow, biscuit and chocolate. This was a challenge the whole family would enjoy – or at least the results.
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Plum Squares
This is such a simple dish – shortbread dough pastry with plums arranged on top – but the cooking brings out the flavour of the plums and makes for an extra tasty afternoon tea.
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Bottled Fruit
An easy way to bring the jewelled glow and taste of summer fruit to your table in the dark months of winter. I always eat bottled raspberries at Christmas dinner instead of pud. Just strain some of the liquid off on Christmas morning and add sugar to taste. Then place the raspberries in a bowl and pour the sweetened juice over.
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Blackberry Polenta Cake
My sister was recently very disparaging about polenta, saying it was one of those pointless and trendy ingredients that everyone suddenly goes mad about. But I love cakes with a bit of polenta to add bite and texture. And this one is a stunner.
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Trifle in a 'Trifle'
Tamsin: Trifle. I never thought it aptly named as it’s certainly not a trifle to make - at least until I discovered Alpro soya custard. Now I always keep a packet of this delicious stuff in my larder so I can whip up a wickedly pleasurable dessert for guests in two seconds flat. This trifle has that wow factor yet takes a few minutes to assemble. I always use a home-made sponge prepared in advance but a bought one will do just as well.
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Pears in Lemon Juice
Last week I sat down to lunch and the sight of a big bowl of sliced pears greeted me. Hungrily I took one and was amazed to find this was not just any old pear – it had been covered in lemon juice, an idea that was completely new to me. Upon discovering this brilliant taste sensation I (along with the help of everyone else) quickly wolfed down the rest of the pears, then hurried to make more – until all the pears in the cupboard had gone. After this we made sure that we had an ample supply of pears and the dish appeared at almost every meal.
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Anna-Louise's Redcurrant Tart
This is summer's finest tart! Every year Anna-Louise makes one and everyone we know tries to wangle an invitation to her house to taste a slice. It's originally a Roux brother's recipe and takes a while as the pastry needs some serious chilling. But it's absolutely worth the wait.
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Baby BBQ
A miniature treat for evenings when the stars are twinkling and the moon is out.
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Zinging Home-Made Lemonade
The most refreshing thing on a hot summer's day, with a sharp, zesty taste. And it's surprisingly easy to make. If the children don't like fizz, use still water instead.
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Mini-Cooked Breakfast
Kids of all ages find miniature things entrancing - especially miniature food. For maximum impact, serve on the biggest plates you have.
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Butterfly Fruit
I had another family coming for supper and very little time, as usual, to make something. I’ve been trying to empty my freezer, as I am very good at putting things in but not so good at taking them out again, so I delved in and pulled out a packet of puffed pastry. Of course I had to leave it to defrost, so in the end we all made the butterflies together. Quick and beautiful. We ate outside so they were our first summer butterflies in the garden this year.
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Blackcurrant Coulis
This is the most versatile summer pud accompaniment. It’s delicious just drizzled over ice-cream.
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Lemon Ricotta with Summer Fruits and Blackcurrant Coulis
This is a quick and light summer pudding – you can drum it up in ten minutes. The tang of the lemons works beautifully with the quirky flavour of the ricotta, and you can make it as sweet (or not) as your children like.
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Dough Balls
The kids wolf plates of these down whenever we go out for a pizza, so we thought we’d try making them at home. Cooked over a bonfire and dipped in hot garlic butter, they are something special.
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Kids' Summer Cup
A fresh and zingy summer slinger that’s great for picnics and outdoor tea.
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Primrose Salad
This is a basic Salad Niçoise decorated with bright primrose flowerheads to announce the arrival of summer. Gorgeous, filling and wholesome
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Food by Firelight
The simplest foods are best on a bonfire. First ask everyone to whittle themselves a toasting fork: each find a long stick, and whittle it down to one sharp end with a penknife. (When whittling, always teach kids to cut safely away from themselves, and to hold the stick to one side rather than between their legs.)
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Easy Cheese Soufflé
This is a foolproof but good-looking soufflé that makes a great Saturday lunch for the family. Delcious served with new potatoes and peas.
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Elderflower Fizz
Elderflowers are everywhere in early June, and it's fun going on elderflower walks, picking the biggest and best from along the verges and river sides (take wellies or paddle). A walking stick is handy to pull down the high branches, but watch out for nettles below. This makes a fizzy elderflower champage.
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Zany Pavlova
There is no nicer bubbly dessert than crunchy, air-filled pockets of meringue, and this colourful version always brings a 'wow' factor to the table.
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Herb Pikelets and Orange Caviar
The aim of this starter is to make every mouthful explode on the tongue. If the children don't like the taste or texture of caviar, top their pikelets with hummus and red pesto instead.
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Buttermilk Cake
Use bought or home-produced buttermilk in this deliciously moist no-frills mix – a big hit with children who like slabs of plain cake for tea.
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Maypole Cake
This is a basic Victoria sponge decorated with flowers and ribbons to celebrate the arrival of summer.
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Flowers to Eat
You can eat the petals of all of these flowers, but first make sure that they’re pesticide-free. Don't pick from roadside verges where they're likely to have picked up exhaust fumes.
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Elderflower Cordial
This is the fresh and fruity taste of early summer! Pick elderflowers in quiet spots away from roadsides where the bushes may be polluted, and avoid flowerheads that are browning at the edges – they can make the cordial taste of cat's pee.
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Popcorn
Simple to make and you don't need a popcorn maker, just a big pan.
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Junket
We're on a mission to bring back junket, a gentle milky pudding that was traditionally eaten on May Day. In Penzance, young people used to leave the inns on May Eve at midnight and tour local farmhouses to 'partake of junket, made of raw milk and rennet, sweetened with sugar, and a little cream added, followed by heavy cake and rum and milk.' It's a good, healthy, everyday family pud.
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Vanilla Ice-Cream with Orange Toffee and Cowslips
The first ice-cream of the year? No, well, at least it's the first topped with home-made toffee and edible flowers from the garden.
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