Family-friendly recipes and snippets of family life from an Irish kitchen.
Every year I consider cooking something a little different for the main feast on Christmas Day, but year after year I return to the tradition that is turkey and ham. A number of years back I steered a little away from tradition and in place of roasting a whole turkey, I opted ...
Every Christmas, my Mother would make a trifle to offer as an alternative to plum pudding on Christmas day. This trifle recipe may not be traditional but has become a real favourite in our house. Welcoming winter scents fill the kitchen as the berries are being mulled, ones so ...
My mother would always boil the Christmas ham on Christmas Eve. The first cutting of it would be thinly sliced and packed between thick slices of batch bread. These sandwiches generally weren’t eaten until just before midnight mass and by far were the tastiest sandwiches of the ...
With so much to do on Christmas day, from the starters to the turkey and ham, all the accompaniments as well as taking time to admire Santa’s gifts, one would be forgiven for taking an easy option for dessert. This is my effortless but very satisfying Christmas dessert. It couldn’t ...
This creamy potato & leek gratin is full of flavour and makes a wonderful accompaniment to any roast meat. It can take a little time to thinly slice the potatoes, but once sliced the gratin only takes minutes to assemble. If making for Christmas dinner, as a time-saving measure ...
Children will love to make these magical stained-glass cookies. They are the perfect cookies to hang on the Christmas tree, however, I would advise you to simply hang them just before eating, as if left for too long the cookies will begin to soften and the centre will begin to ...
If you are in search of something easy to make with the children, chocolate apples are a great choice. I find forks make the decorating and eating of the apples a lot easier than the traditional lollipop sticks. Pop the apples into the fridge the night before decorating ...
This is a regular chocolate truffle mixture, which I would normally scoop into balls and dip into chopped nut, however, since it is the spooky season, I’ve moulded the mixture into mouse-like shapes. With the addition of little eyes, ears and a tail, these tasty little creatures ...
Young children love to make these spooky cookies. The biscuit base is a simple shortbread, but any round biscuits, such as digestives or rich tea, could take their place if time wasn't on your side for baking a batch. The shortbread dough is perfect for little hands to manipulate, ...
The traditional Halloween barmbrack was a fun way to tell someone's fortune for the coming year. As a child, I remember inside each brack would be a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin and a ring. Each item was individually wrapped in greaseproof paper, as each ...
No matter how many children we have, whether we leave the house to work or are tied to the school-time runs, I think most parents have a similar approach to weekday family meals. Dinner needs to be nutritious enough to sustain the busy lifestyle a modern life dictates. ...
Pancakes are so easy to make, and this is one of the reasons I have loved making them with the children over the years. The pancake recipe below is a little different from the standard pancake mix, but it's still very tasty. These wholesome pancakes contain lots of goodness and ...
Last week, I was delighted to appear on an episode of Ear to the Ground. In the kitchen of The Merry Mill, I baked some gluten-free, oaty fruit muffins. This is the home to the Scully family, and together they grow, harvest and mill their oats on the family farm. These ...
Food Writer | Recipe Developer | Food Stylist and Photographer | Author - Apron Strings | Recipe Column - Irish Country Living (Home Nurse) | Irish Food Writers' Guild member.
Nessa's Family Kitchen is an Irish food blog with family-friendly recipes and snippets of family life from an Irish kitchen.
