Does Pancake Day (24th Feb 2009) conjure up thoughts of a lifeless pancake languishing on a plate with a twist of lemon and sprinkle of sugar? To make your pancakes a little more exciting and truly scrumptious, the key ingredient is vanilla.

Feeling adventurous this Pancake Day? This is your last chance to indulge before Lent so what better way to celebrate than with some deliciously gooey fun! Cadbury has created an extra special recipe in time for Pancake Day that is sure to turn your Shrove Tuesday into the ultimate Shrove GOO-day

Why not try these Cheesy Apple pancakes? Perfect for Shrove Tuesday, the pancakes appeal to the whole family including kids who love the cheese and apple filling! Or you can make them as a healthy light snack when socialising with friends.

Organico, the Mediterranean organic food specialists, welcomes the Coeliac UK’s** Free for Tea week in May (11th-17th) and what better way to celebrate gluten-free tea-time than with an organic polenta cake!

While we tend to think of Autumn as ‘chutney season’, at any time of the year we can find ourselves faced with a bargain, one which cries out to be preserved for enjoyment long after its normal usage period. Many market stalls and greengrocers will offer excellent deals of produce, such as peppers.

Mini Shepherd Pies make handy individual eating, especially if frozen. This recipe makes use of New Zealand lamb mince which is good but also uses baked beans which we’re not sure about. Mind you, it does make the mince go further and you can’t ignore anything that cuts costs now can you?

It’s easy to make a positive change to your diet this year with a great range of recipes from the British Trout Association. Many people now know that eating two portions* of oily fish each week provides essential vitamins and fatty acids that are an important part of a healthy diet, though many people do not realise that Trout is in fact an oily fish.

If you want to spice up your love life this Valentine’s Day, there’s a new way to get things stirring – ‘Cupid’s Curry”, available online from DoddleCurry.Com, who offer spice kits to make cooking curry at home a doddle.

After the excesses of the festive period, and the general cutting back on rich food during January, we start to regain our appetite for the occasional treat. Here from the Fruisana Kitchen is a quick and easy recipe which uses store cupboard ingredients.
Chocolate is always a favourite and this delicious cake, with its soft, rich, gooey centre makes a perfect dessert perhaps for Valentine’s Day?

‘Candlelight, romantic melody and aromatic scent all add to the pea-fect ambience of the night, while the brilliant green of each dish assaults your vision. If you can let yourselves merge with the richness of gourmet sensuality you can actually imbibe romance.’

Blimey! We’re talking abut peas here, more romantic than you think apparently. Here’s a complete Valentine pea meal for you