Muv made this and it was so good I had to try it. I quite like adding a little chocolate in but there is no obligation to do so.

Made this little pud the other night. It's fast and pretty good as a cheesecake. Give it a shot. 

Muv and I made a green smoothie. It wasn't horrible. It was green. It was healthy. If you've got any other ideas, get in touch. The jar came from Elena and is pretty funky I think.  We got talking to John last night and he explained he was super keen on all these healthy smoothies as he's got a NutriBullet; I don't have one so we just used a blender. Seemed to do the trick. 

The use of Lotus Biscoff biscuits was Venus' idea in Durham and it's absolutely brilliant. I made 7 little ramekins of these because I don't want to accidentally eat an entire cheesecake on my own. 

So I bought some Pimms because Kit suggested a Pimms Cheesecake - I'm working on a recipe for that as the first one I did wasn't quite right. I also made this - it's quite refreshing. You might want to add sugar to it. 

Huge shoutout to Amelia for coming over the other day and showing me how to make one of her salads. They're delish and we had a good chat and put the world to rights. She has a really lovely instagram page so go follow/like/share etc. 

I had a go today with Elena and Rob and it was good fun. These salads are pretty big so arguably enough to share if you fancy it, or if you're hungry they'll do you fine. And because everything comes in multi-packs from supermarkets, it's not too expensive to do. 

Ingredients

• Gem lettuce
• Handful spinach, watercress and rocket (comes in a bag)
• A small hunk of red pepper (or other colour)
• 1 stick celery, chopped
• 1 smallish carrot, cubed
• 1 big tomato, cut into eighths 
• A hunk of round goats' cheese (got it from little sainsbury's in Durham)
• Half an avocado

Bonus stuff:

• Beetroot
• Nuts, Amelia mentioned sunflower seeds
• Balsamic/olive oil as a simple dressing

Method

Get the oven at 180. Grab your goats' cheese. Amelia said to put a small cross in the centre with a knife as apparently this stops it melting everywhere in the oven. We are not sure why this works but it does. So do it. Pop on baking dish in oven for 20 mins or so (until it's a beautiful golden brown).

Wash the lettuce and chop it into strips. Bung in bowl. Add in the spinach, watercress and rocket. Arrange semi-artistically.  

Chop up the red pepper and carrot. Bung in. Chop up the celery. Bung in. Chop up the avocado. Bung in. Chop up the tomato, arrange around the side. Just because it looks cool. (See Amelia's Instagram and follow her for very funky looking salads).

By this time, the cheese should be nearly done. Take out and carefully spatular on to the salad. 

Season with pepper and maybe add a dash of balsamic/olive oil if you want. When Amelia came over we also put chopped beetroot in but sadly I forgot today. 

So big shout out to Sophie for sending this in. Went down really well in the house and tasted fabulous. You should try it. 

This is quite light and went down well. Loadddds of tins in this one so it's really easy and pretty cheap. Enjoy. This is pretty similar to the No Cook Lemon Cheesecake, so if you're into lemons, try that.

Ingredients

• 200g crushed rich tea biscuits
• 100g butter
• 300ml cream
• 397g condensed milk
• 1 tin of cherries, remember to stone them

Method

Melt the butter over a low heat. Crush the biscuits. Add the biscuits to the butter. Stir about to coat. Bung in a baking tin with removable base (my tin is 7 inches). Press down with back of spoon. NOTE: I've started using rich tea biscuits because they're a bit lighter than digestives but as a result there is less fat in them and so the base is a bit more crumbly. If you prefer a solid based, add more butter - reckon 150g would do it.

Whisk the cream until it starts to thicken - you should be able to see creases in the cream.

Add in the condensed milk and beat for a good 5 mins. It should start to thicken. It won't go mega thick but it should get to a stage where it holds its shape. 

Pop a sieve over a bowl and pour the cherry tin out. The juice will go through and the cherries will be caught. The cherries will have stones in them so take them out - either cut open with a knife or I found you could just squeeze in your hands and it would come out. 

Pop two pudding spoons of the juice in the cream and blitz again. When thickened, pop the cherries in and stir with a spoon. Pop in the baking tin on top of the base. Clingfilm and fridge for at least 4 hours. Overnight is best.

Enjoy!

"You shouldn't be scared of what you don't understand" - Ravi, on quinoa, 2016. 

So if you are even half interested in food, or you eat, then you'll probably have heard of 'quinoa'. The general vibe we get is that it can do no wrong. Apparently it's a superfood. Whatever that means. So when I saw it on sale I thought I'd bite the bullet and buy some. 

I returned to the house, proudly bearing this seed-come-grain which no one knows how to pronounce and set about making my lunch. My first shock was that you actually have to cook this thing. I don't know why but I kind of assumed it was one of those things that was edible straight away. No. You have to cook it for 10 mins. And then once it's done it looks like little pieces of frog-spawn with tails #technicalterm. 

Anyhow, my verdict is basically that I think it needs something a tad sweet to go in it (the raisins in this recipe worked fab, as did the feta). So in general it's good. I had mine at 1pm and, writing this at 5:30, I am still fairly full so it's worth a shot, even just for the novelty factor. 

If anyone knows any OMG YOU MUST TRY THIS recipes with quinoa (or anything else), please get in touch - you can message the facebook page here. Or email in "BarkingBaking(at)gmail.com".  Such fun.

This was supposed to be a green smoothie. It's got spinach and everything in it. Edgy. But sadly the berries overcame the greenness of the spinach and it's kind of mauve instead. Anyhow, it's healthy, tastes great and making it takes just long enough to be classed as procrastination. 

S/o to Elle for technique tips.

This is really good! I used rich tea biscuits for the base as I thought they'd be a bit lighter than digestive biscuits. Still tastes great! I put mint on because I was trying to be edgy. It really doesn't matter if you don't have any. But it's nice if you do. 

This is nice and refreshing. I put a little bit of honey in it to just make it a little less tart. Give it a go! 

I've seen a lot of these going around so thought it was high time I try it. Can report it was great. You can add sugar or honey if you want but I didn't because I'm trying to be good. Putting the strawberries in overnight helps with sweetness I think.

It's basically edgy porridge. Give it a shot. 

This is seriously tasty, looks amazing and is actually very easy to do. Got the recipe off BBC Good Food - it's a Gordon Ramsay one. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

I got chatting to some chaps last year who do something amazing with bananas apparently; sadly I never got to try any of their stuff so this is a barking baking take on the idea of using up an old banana. It's really good. Try it.

It's hot then it's cold. It's glorious and gold. #RudeBanana.

I'm suddenly becoming aware of just how much sugar there is added to all the ordinary stuff we eat. I'm a big believer in having a balanced diet, so that does mean you can enjoy a nice pud every now and again. But things like smoothies and milkshakes are notoriously bad at all this kind of thing. So here is a nice little milkshake that tastes and does good for you. No added sugar.  It's bananas, milk and oats. You don't need honey or sugar or syrup. It's great as is. Do it.

OMG. This is amazing. It'll rock your world. It's obviously not as healthy as a fruit-only ice cream but by changing the base to banana you're making it much better. And it tastes FAB. So easy that you have no excuse not to do it. 

Let's face it: smoothies are not as great as we think they are. Sure, they taste good but really the reason why we love them so much is because they're full of sugar. So this is a 'reduced' sugar recipe; obviously it's not as sweet but it does still get lots of fruit in you without the sugar. Give it a go. Watch the video.

Super easy and super healthy. This is a great snack and a fabulous way to get some fruit in you!

If you are tired of reading, working or just plain sitting, why not take a break and make this truly epic cake in a cup. It's fab. Make sure you use a large cup (sports direct mugs are perfect).

How gorgeous does this look!? Not going to lie it's more banana than blueberry. Very good. Do it.

So Federer and Djokovic are battling it out as we speak! Looks like it's going to be a great game! It's bound to go on for a while so why not make yourself a lovely little snack pot?!

It's summer, and the living is easy. Just an assembly one here. Enjoy.

Ingredients and Method

• A load of strawberries
  
• A load of raspberries
  
• Thick cream
  
• Meringue "nests" (buy them)
  

Grab a nest, pop some cream in the middle then pile on the fruit. Done.

Now summer has arrived I find I still get hungry but I am not that keen on eating a load of cake. Sooo why not head down to the grocer and grab some strawberries? Wash them under cold water, cut the green bit off with a knife and then half them and chuck them in a bowl.

Something to nibble on all afternoon!

Made some lemon cupcakes the other day. Problem was they take time. This really doesn't! Hungry? Do it!