Smoked Fish Tagine - 101 Cook Books

One of my favourite Christmas presents had to this gorgeous, traditional tagine.

I have wanted to invest in a tagine for a while now and my lovely eldest son picked up on this and asked the hubby to buy me one for him to give to me as my Christmas present. This gift means a lot for two reasons, the first is that it is something that I have really wanted but secondly, J took the time to listen and realise this was something that I wanted and found this one for me himself. My first born is certainly growing up at a scarily rapid rate! As this is a traditional tagine a heat diffuser is needed to prevent cracking, so once I had one I could not wait to get cooking! 

You may also see in the title I have a new theme. This is the first, what I hope to become a weekly feature, 101 Cook Books posts. Like a lot of foodies I have a huge collection of cook books. I have had a count of the books that are in my kitchen, office and living room bookshelf and have actually accumulated about 101 cook books! Before I counted them I had no idea how many I had and yes, I was amazed by the number. My 101 Cook Books posts are my way of sharing the books that I love but I am also wanting the posts to encourage me to use my books more often. Each week I am going to use one of my cook books to make a meal and I am going to blog about it. My posts will feature the recipe, tell you what, if anything, I changed and tell you a little bit about the book. Over time I hope to tell you about all of my cook books and who inspires my everyday cooking.

Today's recipe is based on a deliciously slimming recipe that I found in Slimming World Free Food Feasts. Since I started to follow the Slimming World eating plan this has to be one of my favourite go to cook books. It contains 60 fantastic "free" recipes. If you do not know how Slimming World works, "free" foods are foods that can be eaten freely, no calorie counting, no weighing and no limit except from your appetite! My Smoked Fish Tagine has been based on the Slimming World Squash, Swede and Chickpea Tagine recipe. The majority of the recipe has been followed, I have not used the garlic as the recipe states as they are high in FODMAP's but have added carrots, red pepper and smoked fish.

This is what I did...

Juice Review - Parragon Love Food

I love receiving cook books to review ans this month was not exception. This month's book from Parragon was Juice.

This handy sized book contains over 100 nutritious juice and smoothie recipes. It contains 7 chapters including an introduction to juicing and smoothie making. The introduction gives you all of the hints and tips that you may need as well as advising on equipment that is needed. So if you are new to making juices and smoothies then this book is the ideal way to start!

Following the introduction the book is divided into 6 further chapters. Each chapter is full of juices that do different jobs for your body. They are:

• Energy
• Rehydrate
• Nourish
• Glow
• Soothe
• Detox

Now selecting a recipe to tell you about was the hard part. This book is full of deliciously healthy juices and smoothies. I eventually settled on a refreshing drink. Today is quite muggy so I went for a drink that will really quench my thirst.

Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea and Book Giveaway!

Like most people who love to cook, I love a good cookbook. I will admit to having quite a collection of cookbooks. So when I was asked if I would like to review a copy of Eric Lanlard's latest book, Afternoon Tea, I jumped at the chance.

Eric Lanlard is a Master Patissier and twice winner of the Continental Patissier of the Year award. Eric trained in France and worked as the head pastry chef for Albert and Michel Roux before launching his own business, Cake Boy.

Photograph taken from Afternoon Tea

His latest book, Afternoon Tea, is jam packed full of ideas and recipes to help you create the perfect afternoon tea. The book contains 9 chapters which will take you step by step through the courses and dishes that make this culinary treat.

Healthy Spring Reading List Shoppertunity

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SoFabUK #CollectiveBias

When I was challenged to write a spring time reading list I immediately knew what I would be going for. Spring time is the perfect time to kick start the healthy eating regime. I find that making new years resolutions for diets a waste of time as we are all more likely to over indulge on comfort foods during the cold and miserable winter months. Whereas once spring time arrives along with the longer days and nicer weather we are all in a better frame of mind to stick to a healthier diet. That is why my spring reading list is all about healthy eating. Summer is not too far away and there is no better inspiration than dreaming of hot summers days and holidays!

Selecting which books was the hard part. I was challenged to buy one, maybe two books. As usual I simply could not decided. I went to my local Tesco Extra to look for some health inspiring books. We usually buy our books from there as they always have a great selection at a really competitive price. Plus the convenience of being able to pick up a book while doing the weekly shop is definitely a plus point!

As you can see there a lot of books to choose from. In the end I narrowed my choice down to three books. The books that I selected varied in price from just £3 to the most expensive being £8. I also decided to go for books which are not as well known as some of the other popular authors. I am going to tell you a bit about each of the books that I chose and also share with you the recipe for the breakfast pot below that I have made from one of the books.

I chose the following books...

Olive It! - Cookbook Giveaway

I have got an exciting new giveaway for you. I have been given not one, not two books to giveaway, but a whopping twenty copies of Olive It! cookbooks to give away to Hijacked By Twins readers.

This book has been written to celebrate the olive and all that can be made with them. Olive It! is full of Mediterranean inspired recipes. Whether you like them green, black or mixed there will be a recipe to delight. Olives are so much more than a pre dinner treat and really are underestimated. They are such a versatile and nutritious ingredient that can be transformed into exciting, mouth watering dishes in a matter of minutes.

The olive campaign has been funded by the EU aid and in collaboration with the Spanish olive growers so you know that the olives which have been used in these recipes will be from some of the best olive groves in Europe.

Today I am going to tell you all about my new competition but keep your eye out as I will be giving you a taste of what this book has to offer over the next week or so!

Without further ado here is all of the information that you need to be in with the chance of winning one of these delicious books!

• Enter the Rafflecopter below and complete all of the mandatory options and as many of the optional choices as you like
• The competition will run from 00:00 18/12/15 until 00:00 08/01/16
• Once the winners have been selected they will be notified then I will pass on the winners email addresses for the delivery of their prize to be arranged
• I cannot be held responsible for any prize. I am simply hosting the giveaway on behalf of the company.
• Only open to UK residents 

So get ready, get entering and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tempt Chocolate Book Review and Recipe for National Chocolate Week

Don't you just love it when a national week is a food which you love! This week is both National Chocolate Week and National Curry Week!

Two foods which are great!

I was recently sent a copy of Tempt from Parragon Books. Tempt is a book dedicated to everything chocolate. It is full of decadent and delicious chocolate recipes from fudge to biscuits, from cakes to slabs, from ice creams to puddings. Every page will make your mouth water and your tummy rumble. I completely intend to make as many of these recipes as I can.

When it came to selecting a recipe to try I will admit to changing my mind many a time. In the end I decided to make Plain Chocolate and Peanut Butter Energy Balls. I selected this recipe as I love peanut butter and find that if you purchase the right sort of peanut butter it really is good for you and can provide you with a natural source of energy. The recipe also includes linseed and I decided to add my own different ingredients. I have altered the ingredients slightly to accommodate the added extras. But you can find the original recipe in this delicious book which is available to buy in Waterstones and WHSmith.

This is what I did...

Baking with Vegetables - Parragon Book Buddy Review and #CookBlogShare

Recently I became a Parragon Book Buddy. Each month I will be trying out and reviewing one of their fantastic cook books! I love cook books and have a great collection already but I do not really use many of them now, so I am hoping that reviewing these books will help me, and you the reader, discover some new books to fall in love with.