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. 

Healthy delicious snack. Fish is meant to be good brain food. I need all the help I can get. Realise this might not feel like proper student food but if you fancy treating yourself then this is a good bet.

Also check out Nina Simone in the video. 

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.

Thought this would be a cool idea. Turned out really nicely. Think the house and Elena, Kathy, Ellie and Venus enjoyed. Might be a funky little pud if you were doing a dinner party. 

I put ice cream in them but could do fruit or something if you're that way inclined. 

Enjoy! Do like and share the video/page on Facebook. 

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! 

This was seriously good and really very filling. Feta is great, as is plenty of the dressing. Top stuff. Recipe based on one from BBC Good Food but not in such huge quantities - this does one meal.

OK so the pure lemonade fans out there will tell you that this is not lemonade because it's not fizzy. I apologise for this. However, this is a lovely refreshing drink to make. So you should do it. It's healthy and it will rehydrate you over the exam slog.

Inspired by Beyonce.

So a while ago Elena made a carrot cake. It was really good (except for some dodgy icing...) and so we thought we'd make it again. The icing is no longer dodge. Also big shout out to Alexandra B for cooking some awesome carrot cake at the end of last term for mentor hour; it had dates and everything in it. This has walnuts, which are pretty close...ish. Will work up to dates!

Hope we're all doing well. 

So I have been sent some Linda McCartney vouchers. I was supposed to be testing out the paella but unfortunately they don't stock it in Durham. So I consulted with a friend, James, and he said that I HAD to try the sausages. So that's what I've done.

Must admit I was slightly nervous of vegetarian sausages, having been brought up on the meat version. However, I can report that they taste great. Sure, they don't taste like pork but, as Rav (one of my veggie housemates) said, it doesn't actually matter. As long as they taste good, then that's fine. And they do. They taste great.

This recipe is super easy and takes about 20 mins overall. It's healthy and tasty. Try it. 

Also, I am giving away some Linda McCartney vouchers so you can buy some yourself - all you need to do is like the post and the Facebook page and I'll choose a winner. Will be chosen on Wednesday (whilst you're at it, you could add 'barkingbaking' on snapchat, but that's only if you want to!). Facebook page here.

Easy and delish. Do it. Don't have to add baileys but everything is better with baileys. 

For when you really just want food but can't be bothered. 

OK so if you can find almond extract/essence BUY IT. I cannot get it for love nor money and it makes the whole thing much more almondy and more traditionally Bakewell. As these stand (ie. without the essence) they taste good and subtly almondy but to really nail it you need the essence. But, as I say, no one in durham seems to sell it.

​I like them in bar format because you can give them away and so you don't end up binging on junk. Balance is the name of the game chaps. 

Enjoy.  Allergic to nuts? Try this recipe (without almonds, could add essence if you have it/it's ok): Cheat Bakewell.

These were seriously chocolatey and, by extension, seriously good! Really quick and easy to make. Go like the facebook page if you haven't already and subscribe to us on YouTube if you're that way inclined. 

So I was home alone earlier this week. Elena was in South Africa (she's a geographer and they get to go on amazing trips; as a lawyer I get to go to the library and that's it) and the rest of my house were not back. I wanted something sweet but I did not want to binge eat a load of junk. This is a bit of a happy medium. 

Give it a shot. 

Cannot convey how good this was. And it's healthy. Do it. Found this recipe on BBC GoodFood; they use small tomatoes, I used big ones because that's what I had. 

I had two halves for supper but it  could be a great starter too. Also, had this for lunch and if you heat the peppers up in the microwave and bung them on some toast then that's pretty good.

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 a recipe from BBC GoodFood and I tried it because I am trying to eat more vegetables and the other day I bought a courgette (not really thinking about what to do with it). Enjoyed this. I bought a 400g pack of tagliatelle and cooked the whole thing. It's doing me three meals. Just divide into portions, cover and fridge them. 

Elena showed me this recipe. It was really good! The red thai curry paste makes it slightly spicy but the lemon kind of makes it citrus-y I think... basically it tastes good and is pretty healthy. We had it with spinach and that was nice. Give it a shot.

Also sorry to Venus. We stole your onion. A replacement will be bought. 

Elena and I made this together. Awwwwww. It's seriously good. There's just a subtle hint of baileys and then pockets of chocolate. Niiicee. Give it a go. 

Let's talk flapjack. It comes in all different shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's thick, sometimes it's thin. I like it kind of in the middle. Too thick and it just tastes like sweet wet cardboard (sorry) and too thin and you've got yourself a crisp (probably) burnt collection of oats and sugar. These are chewy in the centre but still have a tad bit of crisp in there (you can hear yourself eating them). That's good I think. 

Anyway, they're easy so give them a go. If you just fancy ordinary easy flapjack then don't add the chocolate. Could add raisins.

This recipe is identical to this one. And you can also use it to make a cookie cup. BUT TODAY it's an amazing cookie ice cream sandwich thing. And that means it's a good day. 

A tip. Make sure the ice cream is super cold and then cut it into pieces and make a layer of 'sandwich centre' and gently squish. If you just use a ball of ice cream it a) looks a bit odd and b) means you can't press it together without damaging the structural integrity of the cookie. And I'm not about to ruin a good cookie. 

This recipe made 4 sandwiches for me. Enjoy.