Cherry Bakewell Baby

On Monday I had the pleasure of meeting our first consultant in Cornwall – Lynne Ratcliffe. As we prepared for her launch tasting together, her husband Nick (also very keen to see how it all works) popped out to the local shop to get some refreshments for their tasting guests. When he returned, he was hiding a packet of cherry bakewells under his arm in a ‘I just couldn’t resist’ kind of way. We all love guilty pleasures and since some of you may be embarking on a chocolate free zone for the next 40 days, here’s something to satisfy your sweet tooth and I admit, a blatant showing off on my part – anything you can do I can do better, this one is for you Nick….

Cherry Bakewell Bread

1 My Secret Kitchen Original Beer Bread Mix

50g ground almonds

50g caster sugar

50ml veg oil

2 tsp almond essence

100ml lemonade

100g glace cherries

125g icing sugar

20ml cold water

Preheat oven 190c and line a 1lb loaf tin. Empty the bread mix into a bowl and add the ground almonds and sugar and stir together. Reserve 6 of the glace cherries and chop the rest in half and add to the dry ingredients and mix. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the vegetable oil, almond essence and lemonade. Mix thoroughly and quickly before putting in to the loaf tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Make the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the water. When the loaf is cool, top with the icing and the reserved whole cherries.

Pancakes Pronto

Its nearly Maple Caramel Sauce Day...

Fancy something a bit different this pancake day? We’ve put our creative heads together and perfected a recipe using Lemon & Bergamot Shortbread Mix to make amazing drop scones!  Light and fluffy (rather like American style or scotch pancakes) these are divine with melted butter. Or for the more adventurous, turn them into mini sweet blinis with dried cranberries and orange - just waiting for a topping of cream and warm Maple Caramel Sauce.

Did you know you can order with us online by 2pm and receive your delivery the very next day, or contact your local consultant for free delivery so there’s no excuse not to celebrate this year!

200g My Secret Kitchen Lemon & Bergamot Shortbread Mix
1 medium egg
110ml milk
Oil or butter (unsalted) for frying

Put the Lemon & Bergamot Shortbread Mix into a bowl and make a well in the centre.  Add the egg and milk into the well and whisk together thoroughly.  Leave to stand for 10 minutes and whisk again.  Heat a frying pan with a little oil (or unsalted butter) and using a dessert spoon, add spoonfuls of the batter into the hot pan.  Cook for 1 -2 minutes until the edges start to curl and bubbles appear on the surface, turn and cook on the other side until fluffy and golden brown.  Freeze any leftovers for emergency breakfast supply when you’re fed up of cereal or run out of milk!

My Foodie Valentine

Food has always been my language of love. When it comes to the people I care about, there is nothing more satisfying to me than creating and sharing a fabulous meal together. So when my husband and I created My Secret Kitchen, it was clear from the start that the foods we produced would always have at their heart, great taste, authentic flavours and versatility to enable everyone to make their meals more amazing.

That’s why on Valentine’s day more than ever we want to share some meal ideas for you to share with your loved ones too.
Our Nacho Fiesta Cheese Ball Mix and Red Pepper Cheese Ball Mix make fabulous dips with some simple crudités in front of your favourite movie – how about seeking out the first film you watched together.
For something light and fresh, Thai Dressing with Kaffir Lime makes a memorable salad with grilled haloumi and beetroot. Or for more comforting soul food, a simple sausage casserole with Jumping Jack Chilli Jam will find its way into anyone’s heart.
If you are still in the dating phase, research his / her favourite flavours – we are sure we have something on our menu to help – and consider cooking together as an alternative night-in date.
Even if you don’t have a special some-one right now, treat yourself and the other friends in your life with a cup of tea and a Mochaccino cookie or heart shaped Ultimate Chocolate Brownie dipped in molten Chocolate Peppermint Sauce.
Finally, if you’re in the mood for pulling out all the stops, try rib eye steaks and our Red Wine & Port Finishing Sauce topped with blue cheese and Wild Garlic butter or chicken with White Wine & Porcini Finishing Sauce with fresh tarragon and fettuccine.
So whatever you’re planning for your Valentine’s dinner we hope our ideas make it onto your menu, that’s amore

Thanks and an Offer!.... or two

Firstly thank to all of you for your wonderful comments about the new products. We've had a lot of messages that sound as if we've hit the spot again with the concepts, great news and now to let everyone try them through setting up all the tastings around the country.

To give you even more of a reason to try them, we’ve set up a wonderful reason for you to come along to a tasting (or host one yourself) Attend a tasting and purchase any 2 of our new products and receive a red wine & port or white wine & port finishing sauce for free. Ping us an e-mail if you’re unsure of your local consultant and we’ll help you out.

Lastly a thanks and a request. 2011 was a record year for us in so many ways. People are really waking up to understanding how My Secret Kitchen can be a great way to try new products and share recipe ideas with friends in a social environment. We would love to be in a position where we have a consultant in every town in the UK to satisfy the demands of tasting requests. We’re not there yet! In February and March it is only £49 to receive the starter kit and join us as a consultant where you’ll be able to earn extra money by showing people great products. Get in contact and see if My Secret Kitchen could fit in your life. We’d love to hear from you.