Our weekend off so we started Saturday with a delicious delivery from Natoora- full of delights, although over an hour late….. We were planning on going our for lunch and started to get anxious that we would be waiting in all day (ok, it was just me getting anxious, Colin knew we had plenty food arriving to keep us fed!).

Their website is particularly seductive, and I fell for some great veg which I used for Tonight’s dinner.

Beautiful globe aubergines and courgette!

I stuffed them with a spicy mixture of lamb mince, onions, the flesh of the veg and some Moroccan type spices- Colin’s favourite ras-al-hanout! Roasted in the oven for about half an hour and served with a harissa tomato sauce and salad. A great accompaniment to the Eurovision, yippee!!!

Inspired by national baking day I got up and whipped up a batch of strawberry and apple muffins.  They were easy and delicious and great for a mid morning coffee.

Here’s the recipe for 8 big boys!

Strawberry and Apple Muffins

185g wholemeal flour

65g ground almonds

130g caster sugar

3tsp baking powder

2tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch salt

3tsp vanilla extract

120g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs, beaten

1 large apple, peeled and chopped into little chunks

8 large strawberries, hulled and cut into 4

50g flaked almonds

1tbsp brown sugar

• heat the oven to 180°
• pop 8 muffin cases into a muffin tin
• mix the flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
• in a separate bowl mix the vanilla, butter, eggs and 180ml warm water.
• add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix then add in the apple pieces.
• Spoon into the cases, about 3/4 full.
• pop pieces of strawberry on the top and sprinkle over the flaked almonds and sugar.
• Bake in the oven for 30mins.
• Eat when a little warm- really lovely.

We went our for a long walk after coffee to blow the cobwebs away. The muffins fortified us for the morning nicely.

For lunch I made some mini pitta pizzas with the piccante salami from Natoora. We also had a glass of white wine from Plumpton Estate in Sussex which was lovely and light, and really cold.

We finished the weekend off with some chicken, roasties, and griddled English asparagus and radicchio. What a delicious weekend we have had, seems a shame to go back to work tomorrow!