For a couple of years I did a nice Christmas post with a round up of recipes I published through the year. I skipped it for the last couple of years, part of me thought it looked like a cheap way to try to get views. Recently I’ve been helping with a Christmas newsletter for work and thought, that’s a nice way to remember the year. So I’ve resurrected it for 2019. I usually post it later in the month but honestly, I don’t think I’ll get another recipe up so I might as well do it now.
The year was a strange one for me. I was made redundant in December 2018 from a job that I had for 18 years. It was high time for a change! I started the year thinking how perfect to have a few months off, have time to relax, catch up with friends and go on holidays. Well, the holiday didn’t happen until much later in the year. I didn’t take to being out of work well to be honest. It was fun for a couple of weeks, I spent time with friends and family and did a few small catering jobs. After that I knew I couldn’t make a living from catering, well not yet anyway, and the longer I was out of work my confidence suffered. Thankfully I got a job in March which I am really enjoying and working with the nicest staff. It is very busy which means I’m not as inclined to spend time online at the weekend working on posts. That’s why it’s a little quieter on here.
The best thing to come out of my redundancy was that I was good to myself and treated myself to concert tickets. I went to a lot of gigs! If you follow me on instagram I’m sure I bored you silly with photos and videos. Yes, I’m that annoying person! I can’t chose a favourite gig as they were all so different, but I saw Pink, David Gray, Robyn, The Cure, Foo Fighters, Lauryn Hill and Eddie Vedder. We took trips to London and back to Lisbon again. Good times!
Now, on to the recipes. I was so shocked when I realised that I only posted one breakfast recipe this year. I’ll have to make up for it next year. However, these Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes are good enough to carry the category on their own.
It is always handy to have some recipes for light meals which you can also adapt to serve as starters.
From top left, clockwise: Roast Root Vegetable Salad with Goats’ Cheese, Spiced Sweet Potato and Apple Soup, Chicken Peach and Mozzarella Salad, Carrot Courgette and Halloumi Fritters, Cajun Chicken Salad with Chipotle Mayo, Hoisin Duck Rolls, Asparagus Cheese and Ham Tart and a personal favourite, Soy Sesame and Ginger Chicken Salad.
For more hearty meals see these Greek Style Wraps, Potato and Leek Gratin, Chorizo and Mushroom Pasta, Cottage Pie or Beef Stroganoff.
While it was not a conscious decision, I added quite a few meat free recipes to the blog this year and they have been very popular. Some are already featured above but there was also Pasta Alla Norma, Aubergine Chickpea and Tomato Curry and my Veggie Chilli.
And last, but most definitely not least, desserts and sweet treats! Again, I feel like I didn’t post enough of these this year. It always amazes me at this time of year how the dessert recipes become the most popular. If these Chocolate Brownies with Pecans, Lemon Cheesecake and Chocolate Fondants are not enough for you, you can find more recipes here. The fondants are particularly good in that you can make the batter and freeze them in their molds to pop straight into the oven to cook when needed. By the way, the first pic above is of my Chocolate Biscuit Cake, an old recipe made in a pudding bowl.
So that’s it! I don’t plan to post anymore recipes this year, even though I have so many drafted, so I like to thank you all for reading the blog and interacting. I absolutely love when people tell me they have made my recipe, and more importantly that they liked it. If there are any recipes you would like to see here let me know and I can experiment.
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas!
Donna x
