Lemon Thyme - My Newest Discovery

This Post was written by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla.

I wanted to share with you my new discovery - Lemon Thyme.
I'm sure many of you know this herb, but some maybe not... like me a week ago.
I discovered it by chance when my online ordered groceries arrived with surprise, they replaced mint that I have ordered with lemon thyme ;)
I did not use it like I previously planned to do with mint, in my favourite Minty Cherry Tomatoes but... I made something even more delicious: Baked Salmon with Seaweed Salt and Lemon Thyme.

Have a great and sunny week! :)

Don't Target My Kids

This Post was written by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla.

Junk food is full of fat, salt and sugar. Eating it regularly could cause serious health problems like high blood pressure and obesity.

If you care about health of your children, sign the petition of the British Heart Foundation campaign against junk food advertising. I signed it already :)

To learn more about this campaign, please read here: Don't Target My Kids.

Wholesome Lunchbox

This Post was written by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla.
Here is a post from my blog, that I thought would be of interest for some UK food bloggers.



Recently I have been looking for some lunchbox ideas for kids and I could not find that many of them. So I decided to announce this event to collect some of the recipes in one place. I don't want to limit entries to kid's lunchboxes, so even if you don't prepare lunch for children, you can enter any recipe that is good to put in a box and take as a lunch with you. I will post summary with links to all entries on the weekend 16th-17th of February.

Please send all entries by 15th of February (midnight, UK time)at:
coffeeandvanilla(at)416studios(dot)co(dot)uk with “Wholesome Lunchbox” in the subject line, including:

- link to your post
- your name
- your blog name
- location

1. Your entry has to be lunchbox food, preferably easy to prepare and healthy.

If it is a lunch for kids it should contain one item from each of five categories:
- Tummy fillers (sandwich, wrap, muffin, quiche, pizza slice, pasta salad, rice salad, couscous salad etc.),
- Five-a-day options (fresh, tinned or dried fruits, nuts, seeds, fruit salad, jelly made with fruit pieces and natural juice, raw vegetables),
- Dairy products for growing bones (yogurt, fromage frais, rice pudding, custard, cottage cheese, raita, cream cheese),
- Snacks / Treat (small piece of cake, chocolate bar, mini pastry, cookie, flapjack, crackers, bread sticks),
- Drinks (water, milkshake, smoothie, juice).

2. Your entry can be post from your blog archive, or posted especially for this event.

3. Please use event banner in your entry linking back to: http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=1429

Looking forward seeing your entries.... Margot

Banana Nut Bread - perfect with a cup of coffee, especially on rainy mornings

This Post was written by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla.

Banana Nut Bread

5 medium bananas - mashed roughly (about 700g)
200 g unsalted butter (melted)
½-⅔ cup of walnuts (chopped or not)
2 eggs (beaten)
3 tbs of vanilla sugar (30g)
1 tbs of baking powder
1 cup of soft dark brown sugar
2 pinches of salt
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg

Stir everything together and place in 2 medium size buttered tins or layered with teflon sheets.
You can use also 2 medium size bread loaf tins.
Bake in 140°C (248°F) for an hour – an hour and half.

Leave to cool down before serving. Taste even better the next day.

Makes about 15 servings.

* Make sure that you don’t put too much bananas, or you don’t mash them too much because cake will not grow like on the first picture.
I use my fingers to mash bananas

** When my daughter was younger I used to chop nuts, right now I add them almost not chopped what is adding texture to the cake.

Seasonal Recipes

This Post was written by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla.

Christmas and New Year's has passed so fast that I did not even realize it is already time to put all decorations back in the box for the next year. There was a time also to clean up my blog and replace Xmas recipes with some warming up dishes for the cold weather we have here in UK.

Here is a few of them...

Fruit, Cheese, Nut & Leaf Salad

very flexible winter salad where you can use ingredients that you have in your cupboard at the moment



Easy Celery Soup

very simple and delicious soup, perfect with fresh bread or mashed potatoes on a side



Green Pea Soup with Parmesan and Balsamic Vinegar

one of my favourite soups recently, originally from Running with Tweezers



Grandma Nina Pischinger (Polish wafer dessert)

delicious but easy to prepare dessert with hint of vodka



For the whole list visit my: Seasonal Specials.