My kids love Nature Valley Dippers. They are legal school snacks but I get annoyed at the price tag. £3 for 8 packs of 2 small biscuits and all the plastic packaging they come in. So during half term, I set out to see if I can make them. Can’t be hard – basic flapjack recipe (crunchies for the South African’s reading this), dipped in milk chocolate. Imagine my utter delight when I found a recipe online claiming to be the one and only Nature Valley recipe! Betty Crocker has given me a fantastic recipe for making these oat and honey bars.

I double the recipe and spread thinly in a baking tray that fits my oven – so a big one (on baking paper) and cook for 15-17 mins. I also melt 1/2 bar of milk and 1/2 bar of dark chocolate, mix and then drizzle onto the biscuits when they have cooled and been cut (do cut while warm!).

I got 42 from the last batch. Spent about £6 on ingredients and lets chuck another £1 of electricity so each biscuit costs about 16p. Compared to Nature Valley Dippers, that’s a saving of 2p per biscuit. Crap – that’s a good use of my time on a Sunday then…….. They do taste absolutely bloody fantastic. And I know exactly what’s in them. And there’s no packaging…..

I’ve actually managed quite a lot of cooking recently which feels good. It certainly has been a while since I cooked anything worth writing about. I keep forgetting to take pictures too so then there’s no proof that I actually did it! So, here’s a brief foray into cooking exploits since Christmas:

BILTONG!

This was an excellent Christmas gift for COD. A biltong maker (essentially a dehydrator) and a trip to the local butcher and yet more legal school snacks appeared! I have now made two lots of biltong using the Greedy Ferret’s perfect biltong recipe. I used ground coriander the first time and then coriander seeds and some dried chilli second time around. Coriander seeds are better and less chill flakes for the third time and we like our biltong really dry so at least 7 days drying but probably more like 10.

BEETROOT

We get a fair bit of beetroot from our local veg delivery company, Living Larder, which is great because it is absolutely food of the Gods. I’ve even managed to get the girls to eat it in risotto. It is also the most incredible colour. I don’t have a recipe to direct you to but I generally use Jamie Oliver’s risotto recipe and adapt to the ingredients at hand. We make vegetable risotto about once a week these days as I can get the kids to eat all sorts of veg in it. I also don’t actually use celery but generally use leek instead. So, beetroot risotto, I grated fresh, peeled beetroot and added it with the onion, garlic and leek at the beginning so it cooked as I cooked the rice into the dish. I had meant to buy feta to crumble on the top but forgot but it was perfect with tonnes of parsley and some fresh green peas!

But we did get a lot of beetroot over a two week period so I wasn’t quite done! Friends came over for a dinner party and it’s been ages since I got out the pasta maker. I really love making pasta and ACOD asked if she could be my trusty helper! Cue some beetroot and feta (big) ravioli and some beetroot tagliatelle. I adapted this Riverford Pink Beetroot Pasta to make the filling and then used the walnut and basil (I couldn’t find fresh oregano) pesto as a topping. For a sauce I made a burned butter sauce with fresh basil. It was pretty good. Totally forgot to take pics of finished dish……..

In other news:

• 2024 has started with a level of busyness that is epic! The girls keep us busy and work possibly even busier but it’s all good.
• COD is about to enter his last year of his 40s and party planning for the next big one is already underway!
• LOD is 14 and has chosen her GCSE subjects. Such a grown up young lady these days!
• EEROD is 11 and tells me weekly she is almost 12 and nearly in senior school which means she gets a phone!
• ACOD is the little pocket rocket and as much nonsense as she is cute
• Ballet still dominates EVERYTHING! The girls have done festivals, showcases, Swan Lake and we have the Isle of Wight Music, Dance and Drama Festival coming up. We’re reciting poetry, playing flutes and dancing our toes off.
• In between this, the girls are all doing amazingly well at school and involved in multiple sports teams.
• I still run. Last October I ran around the Isle of Wight in 3 days with friends which was one of the best experiences of my life. This year we’re planning more adventures.
• We still have a dog. Fly is almost 2 and loves nothing more than a ball throw and a cuddle (we think perhaps he thinks he’s a cat judging by how much he loves a lap and a cuddle)