During Salad Scentral, which finished a little over a week ago, I received a request for a spiralized salad recipe with a soy dressing.  It is great that people are so motivated to eat healthy with the New Year.  And I aim to please, therefore I had to post the recipe today as I am on the move again with planes, trains and automobiles. So as I was getting all the bits and pieces together for a snapchat cooking tutorial (username: blissbakery) I happened on a news item about Blue Monday. Apparently today, January 18^th, is coined the saddest day of the year!  So what better way to bust out of the blue than with a colorful, healthy salad.  And of course a bit of bad singing and dancing by yours truly! You know it! Yet in spite of the sore ears of my followers, there is always a good recipe for the pain!  This one is light, easy, meatless, and it actually keeps well.  That is important as most salads start to wilt once you put the dressing on them . Believe it or not this one tastes better when you give it a chance to marinate a bit.  Hence, I popped some in a tupperware and headed out the door.

I am traveling to America today to see my family.  I’m so excited!  I also want to arrive feeling well. That can be hard to do when going such a long distance.  But the quote, “Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail” is keeping me on task.  I may not have control over flight delays or elevators not working at the London Tube stations (though I was lucky to get a couple nice people to help me lift my heavy bag up the stairs), but I can control what I put in my mouth. And this salad, along with an organic apple and some healthy oaty flapjacks I baked last night, will get me through!

Ingredients
1 seedless English cucumber, Blade D, noodles trimmed if too long
1 large carrot, or 2 medium carrots, peeled, Blade D,
1 medium zucchini, Blade D, noodles trimmed if too long
Large handful of mixes leaves (spinach, watercress and rocket/arugula)
½ cup toasted flaked almonds
For the dressing:
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons creamy almond butter
2 tablespoons  soy sauce (you can also use tamari sauce which is gluten free)
1 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, pressed and minced
1 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (or chili garlic sauce or red pepper flakes)

Instructions
Pat dry the cucumber noodles to rid of excess moisture. Place into a large mixing bowl along with the carrot and zucchini noodles. Add in the mixed leaves and almonds.
If you have a jar (I used the almond butter jar which was nearly empty, just the 2 Tbsp left which I needed) then put all the ingredients in the jar and shake well. Or using a bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing until creamy. Taste and adjust if necessary. If using low sodium soy sauce you may need to add a bit of salt.
Pour the dressing over the noodle salad and toss to combine thoroughly. Serve immediately or chill for future use, 1-2 days in the refrigerator for optimal freshness. (adapted from Inspiralized)

So while everyone on the plane is eating mystery meat, I’ll be breaking out my lovely Spiralized Veg Noodle Salad with Asian Dressing. No offense to my son, who as I have shared here before, likes airplane food.  Then for my afters treat I’ll be having my tasty flapjacks.  Um, I might have already devoured the apple just now while writing this!

I hope everyone has a great day in spite of what the media tells us! I mean this term Blue Monday has only been around since 2005.  It isn’t scientific, and likely makes people feel more sad because they think they are supposed to be.  I say, have a dance party in the privacy of your own home.  Sing a little (hey if I can do it anyone can, I have the world’s worst voice) and smile ALOT. Smiling actually stimulates muscles in your face and that triggers your brain to brighten up you mood.  Lastly, have some colorful food. Whether this salad or something else that brings a rainbow to your tummy!  And I am gonna keep spreading some LOVE!  I carry this quote with me everywhere.  I like to think that if WE spread just a little bit of LOVE right where we are, then that multiplied will make the world a better place!

Rainbow (not Blue) Monday Love!

YDP

PS.  A special thanks to my Hubby for the Spiralizer gift for Christmas, I love it!  But for anyone that doesn’t have one, don’t fear. You can still make this by using your best chopping knife and cutting the veg into julienne (thin strips) or using a flat/square style potato peeler like I used when I made the Courgette and Carrot Ribbon Salad.

Salad Scentral was a success my friends!  What a great week it was sharing different salads everyday. Starting with Monday’s selection of four different salads.  Then on Tuesday trying a warm salad to heat our insides for the winter. Then incorporating the salad theme with our famous Woman Crush Wednesday.  Having a little fun with a Musical Mexican Themed Salad on Thursday.  And even going on a mini Foodie Fieldtrip Friday after our ‘free of everything’ ABC salad! Here they are just to recap…

Monday: A Quad of Salads consisting of Irish Strawberry Salad, Papaya Boat stuffed with Turkey Salad, Courgette and Carrot Salad, Apple and Grape Mixed Leaf Salad

Tuesday: I Feel Good Salad which was packed with superfoods kale and Brussels sprouts and served warm.

Wednesday: Smoked Salmon and Mango Salad recipe from Catherine Fulvio was so flavorful and healthy with watercress too!

Thursday: Musical Fruit Salad packed with watermelon (and even served in one), corn and black beans (aka our musical part of the salad) but oh so tasty!

Friday: ABC Salad which is as easy as 123!  Free from everything, meaning no dairy, no sugar, no wheat, no meat, no onions or garlic. But one thing it isn’t free from is taste. It is beyond satisfying with the Avocado, Beets and Citrus.

On Monday though I had four salads on offer for the snapchat tutorial (username: blissbakery), I only posted the one Irish strawberry salad recipe.  So I wanted to give you the recipe for the amazing Courgette and Carrot Salad.  It is super easy to make and looks beautiful on a platter at a buffet, or in a bowl on the table.  Or quite simply on your plate for lunch or dinner!  It can be jazzed up with some cheese of your choice and some seeds or nuts, as I have done in this picture.  The key is having either a mandoline (on my wish list for one day) or else you can use what I do which is a veg/potato peeler that is flat.  My son gave me the one I have and it is quite old, but they look like this one here.

Courgette and Carrot Salad

Serves 6

2-3 medium courgettes, thinly sliced*

200 g (7 oz) carrots, peeled and thinly sliced*

1 Tbsp (15 ml) red wine vinegar or lemon juice

3 Tbsp (45 ml) Extra virgin olive oil

1-2 Tbsp freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

2 Tbsp (10 ml) honey

salt and ground pepper to taste

1. Prepare the dressing by placing the last five ingredients in a screw top jar and shaking well to combine .

2. Place the courgettes and carrots in a large salad bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

3. You may wish to add chopped nuts such as cashews for a bit of crunch or even a bit of crumbled cheese (such as feta) as well.

*It is important to slice with either a mandolin or a wide peeler and peel lengthwise to make long ribbons

It was great to receive messages from the other snap chatters saying they were inspired with the salads this week and actually sent pics of their re-creations.  It does help to feel that “we’re in it together” and have the support to do so.  It can be overwhelming, especially this time of year, with all the eating plans, workout routines, and detoxes.  However, just a basic but important change of adding more salads into the week can help.  In fact, Hubby even thanked me Friday night for a week of salads.  He admitted he felt lighter and more energetic as a result. As I said before he isn’t really into salads normally.   But with a few bits and bobs added like seeds, nuts, cheese and a protein for instance, and he will even go for seconds! I had a lovely cookery student who once told me she never really ate salads until she attended my classes. After tasting some of mine, she too began to play around with all the fun ways you can create a myriad of salads with just a little invention.

If I could sum up Salad Scentral week in one word it would be color (or colour if you are on this side of the world). Looking back at all the pictures, not only of my own creations, but the ones at Ottolenghi and the beautiful salad made from Catherine Fulvio’s Woman Crush Wednesday, they all capture the eye.  Like a rainbow on a plate!  And the saying goes that you eat with your eyes first.  So many times I have seen a salad with iceberg lettuce, a tomato or two and some white creamy processed dressing from a bottle. Not very exciting, or healthy for that matter.  I only just discovered this link here that elaborates on the important health advantages of eating different colors, and what each color in our various fruits and veg can do to help our bodies work better.

So I hope you too are inspired to try out some salads.  Mix and match flavors and textures. Add some fruit, along with the veg and maybe some beans or lentils. Try serving your salad in a hollowed out melon, or papaya (as I did on Monday with the turkey salad).  In the winter months heat your bodies on the insides with a warm salad. Enjoy making, serving and indeed eating salads and you too will reap many health benefits from them.  My mentor Darina Allen has a mixed leaf salad with every dinner. She eats it after her main meal, as they do in France, as it is believed to aid digestion. Darina is gorgeous, energetic and youthful even at sixty-seven years young. That right there confirmed my belief in the power of some good, real, clean and tasty food such as salads!

Colorful Love,

YDP

P.S. Though many people only know me for my baking and sweet treats (yes that’s me I love my goodies) I adore salads of any description.  I guess I don’t feel as guilty with the odd splurge when I’ve been good having my healthy doses of salads!  So don’t fear, even if you jump on the Salad Scentral Express, with the odd treat every now and again, you too will have  the stamina to stay the course!

No, that isn’t a typo in the title.  Scentral is my own concoction of the words central and scent. Cuz today, and every day this week, we are gonna be going salad scentral crazy over here.  This, being the first Monday of the new year, is the day most people perceive as walking the tightrope of “to do” things: To detox, to give up alcohol, to quit sweets, etc etc etc.  And because many people have been off work during the holiday period, this day is also the big “to go back to work” day.  Argh!  Lots of grumpsters out there with a HOLIDAY HANGOVER!  With so many self imposed demands and restrictions no wonder the sad faces.  But I have a recipe for you to brighten your week with colors and flavors that look good, smell good, and taste good.  These tick all the boxes of the revamped food resolutions too.  And they might even make going back to work a bit more pleasant!  Either pack them in your lunchbox to save a few bucks, or, instead of going to the burger joint for lunch, pick up a salad to go.

I am an admitted salad addict. Therefore it is easy for me to be a cheerleader for the gorgeous greens.  I’ve even posted several salad recipes here on the blog: Cauliflower Salad, Fig and Green Bean Salad, Butternut Squash Salad, Brussels Sprout Salad, Sweet Potato and Chorizo Salad.  Truth be told, I have to have one with every meal. Even with breakfast, I’ll have a fruit salad (or at least a selection of berries and bananas on my porridge).  I just love the way fruits and veg make me feel.  Without them, my meal seems incomplete.  And since I don’t own a scale, don’t believe in diets (as I have said before I try to avoid things with the word “die” in them) and only recently began taking vitamins, I rely on the goodness of salads for my health.

When you read all the magazines and newspaper articles this week recommending you drink more water and cut the crap out of your daily routine, having a salad is actually a bit of both.  It is proven that fruit and veg are naturally loaded with water. And because of their fiber content they help you feel full so you are less likely to crave the crap.  But the best advert for a good salad in my book is how it affects all of your senses.  Does it taste, smell, and look good? And does it feel good in your mouth when you are chewing it?  If it has lots of different textures it will defo give your daily calorie intake some pizazz. Today’s recipe is all of those and more! Normally I am going on about how good the house smells with all the baking I do. Well today the scent is actually fresh, bright, crisp and farmlike! A healthery instead of a bakery!

Often as we begin the school/work week we hear about Meatless Mondays.  I think it is great notion. But personally, I need a bit of protein too.  Salads can easily be modified to add a bit of that with some leftover roasted chicken, or by adding nuts and cheese to it. It makes it more substantial (and is about the only way I can get Hubby to eat a salad by the way).  I’ve told you before about the Flavor Bible which is a great resource for understanding flavor combinations and foods that work as alternates.  So say for instance if you found a cool recipe online for roasted pumpkin salad and you can’t find any in the shops, you’ll have learned that you can substitute it with butternut squash.

If I were an artist I would draw an interactive diorama of salad ingredients to show you how you could mix and match depending on your taste, dietary restrictions,  and what is available in your fridge/pantry.  Basically, a salad schematic.  I would break it into six sections:  1. Greens (spinach, kale, iceberg, arugula/rocket etc) 2. Veg (broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, courgette/zucchini etc) 3. Fruit (strawberries, pomegranate, dried cranberries etc), 4. Cheese (blue, parmesan, goat’s etc), 5. Nuts (pine nuts, pecans, almonds etc), and 6. Protein (salmon, chorizo, chicken, bacon etc). This would also have an addendum that included different salad dressing options as well.  It could be on your iPad for reference or even as a handy kitchen gadget that resembles an artist’s color wheel thingy that you could hang on your refrigerator door.  But there are some other good helpful salad visuals available here and here to get you going.

It is also important to note, some salads are also best served warm (which I appreciate since living in Dublin and now London, where winters are not cold salad conducive).  I would urge you to not only try incorporating more salads into your life, but also to be creative with your plate and put together your own combos depending on your likes and dislikes.  In other words, if you see a salad recipe and you think, that sounds pretty good, but I don’t like blue cheese. Well then omit it or substitute it for a cheese you do like.  Go on, have fun with it!  Because all this deprivation, having to eliminating this or that, isn’t fun.  But instead when you start adding things to your life (like a daily healthy salad) and make it fun like a game, then you’re likely to stick to it for the long haul!

To start us off this week, I am going to give you a recipe for a super simple yet shockingly satisfying Irish Strawberry Salad.  This is actually my daughter’s favorite salad that I make and she even posted it on her blog a few years back which you can see here.   I decided that it would be a good one to start with, especially in light of the fact that in two weeks time I will be traveling to America to see her and her family!

Ingredients: I have not put amounts as it depends on how many you are serving and how much of each element you want in it.

Salad greens of choice (I use a mixture of organic baby spinach, arugula/rocket and watercress leaves) washed and dried (important)

Strawberries (organic if possible and Irish Wexford strawberries if you are so lucky) washed and sliced

Nuts of choice (I like to use toasted flaked almonds, but you can use pecans or whatever you prefer)

Dubliners Cheese (okay no way are you allowed to switch up this ingredient) grated

Dressing of your choice (for store bought, I use Newman’s Own) or homemade vinaigrette (see below).

Preparation:

Pop all the ingredients in a bowl, pour the dressing on and toss it all together. That simple! This is a good recipe to add some protein to such as roasted chicken if you have it on hand.

What is great about this salad is that it has veg and fruit together!  If you can’t find fresh strawberries (or refuse to buy them in the shops in the middle of winter because they are flown in from Egypt) then exchange it for dried cranberries instead.  Again, have fun with it guys!  Speaking of cranberries, I have a great recipe for a vinaigrette which I make in a nearly empty cranberry sauce jar.  So it actually gives a bit of zing to the recipe!

1/4 cup vinegar ( I used sherry vinegar)

3/4 cup oil (I used organic extra virgin)

1 tsp cranberry sauce

1 tsp minced shallots (optional)

1 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Shake everything up in the jar and pour over salad just before serving. There is a great resource for salad dressing combinations here. Basically, it is a 1:3 ratio of vinegar to oil. It is nice to use a third ingredient (also called an emulsifier) to help bind the oil and vinegar together. Such as my cranberry sauce, or you can use mustard, or honey for instance. Also, you can add minced garlic or chopped fresh herbs for more depth of flavor.

Again, have fun, play around, and make adding salads to your day dreamy not drudgery! Here’s to a sensational week, month and year ahead!

Some Salad Love Slathered on Ya!

YDP

P.S. One of the best compliments a chef can receive is to see someone enjoying a dish they’ve prepared. This past summer when I was at my daughter and son in law’s I cooked dinner for some of their friends. One of their guests apparently doesn’t eat salads. And I had made an acorn squash salad for a starter. Well guess what?  He ate the whole thing!  Everyone around the table, in fact, commented on it. So if you are one of those, thinking you just can’t get into the fruit/veg trend, maybe try it with me this week and see if you join the salad scentral society (of which I am the founding member)!

If you know me at all, you know two things.  One, that Wednesday is my favorite day because it is an opportunity to crush on a special female foodie.  And two, I am all about the LOVE and look for it in all aspects of life, even hosting a #LOVEfest competition.  With that said, today’s honoree is the absolute perfect choice.  Ella Woodward, or Deliciously Ella as she is most widely known, is one of the most popular foodies out there at the moment, be it male OR female.  Lucky for us she happens to be a lovely lady!  Not to mention that she is also a big fan of LOVE.  In fact, on her new book cover she is wearing a cool sweater (jumper for my UK/Irish followers) with, what else, L-O-V-E on it!

I realize we have a couple more days of decadence before the New Year’s resolutions kick in. But this is actually the best time to start thinking about how to tackle January with some good healthy food.  Ella is just the person to help us with that endeavor. This super sweet and beautiful young lady (and yes she is young, only 23 years old) has had her own journey to clean eating and better health.  I thought I was a sugar fiend until I read about Ella’s sweet tooth.  But in order to overcome a debilitating medical condition, she did more than just go on the straight and narrow for the New Year.  She overhauled her entire eating regime giving up sugar, dairy, gluten and meat.  As well, she adopted exercise such as yoga into her routine.  From someone who couldn’t get out of bed 95% of the day a couple years ago, she completed her first half marathon in the autumn of this year.  She chronicled all this on her blog which garnered a massive loyal following as well as a super popular social media presence.  And her cookbook Deliciously Ella has broken all sorts of sales records and won numerous awards.  With her second book due out very soon, she also has a brick and mortar in Marylebone that just launched called The Mae Deli. This new venture is with her fiancé Matthew (the M, and she being the E part for the name of Mae’s Deli) is already getting loads of delicious buzz.

And speaking of delicious, while all of Ella’s food is delicious, I thought I would recreate her Carrot Cake Cookies for #WCW.  I think in order to be successful at a New Year’s resolution, I’d better be well equipped or else there is temptation to grab something naughty.  With this recipe I think I can whip out a batch and keep them on hand so when Jan 1st rolls around I will still be able to have my treats without guilt or feeling deprived.  If you want you can follow along with my snapchat tutorial (username: blissbakery) while I make these super simple but oh so good goodies!

Ingredients

270g of oats * (I used organic Irish oats)
3 ripe bananas (about 340g) *(I used organic free trade)
3 red apples (about 350g)* (I used organic Gala)
2 carrots (200g) * (I used organic)
150g of sultanas * (I used California raisins)
3 tablespoons of date syrup *(I didn’t have this so I used maple syrup instead)
2 tbs of nut butter – peanut butter is especially good (although you can ignore the nut butter totally if you don’t eat nuts) *(I used organic almond butter)
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoons of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of ground ginger

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C
Grate the apples and carrots (no need to peel them) and mash the bananas. Then mix them with all the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
Grease a baking tray with coconut oil.
Scoop a heaped tablespoon of the mix and pat it into flat cookies shape on the tray, do this until all the mixture has been used. Try to get an even amount of sultanas in each cookie as those that are heavier with sultanas are more likely to burn. The mixture should make about 25 cookies.
Then bake the cookies for about 30 minutes until they turn golden brown, at this point take them out the oven and let them cool slightly.

I am a crazy carrot cake aficionado, so of course I had to go for this recipe.  I thought eliminating the cream cheese frosting, so indicative of a typical carrot cake topping, would be a tough one for me.  But the flavors in these cookies are so incredible and the texture so moreish you just don’t miss it. While all of Ella’s recipes are plant based, she has stated she doesn’t miss meat in the slightest.  I am pretty reliant on needing some protein, especially since I had gestational diabetes both times I was pregnant.  I had to inject insulin daily in my second pregnancy so I’m lucky it went away after both of my children were born.  Which is why indulging my sweet tooth isn’t so good for me on a regular basis.  However, these little gems packed with vitamins are not only healthy but also have the hint of sweetness that I crave.

Most articles written about Ella Woodward are going to make mention of the fact that she is part of the Sainsbury Grocery Store family.  But I have a hunch that soon enough, any article about Sainsbury is going to mention that they are related to Deliciously Ella and The Mae Deli fame.  She has really brought a whole new perspective to how food can be used to heal the body instead of hurting ourselves through the misuse of processed food.  It isn’t about losing weight folks it is about feeling better by eating clean!  Her natural radiant beauty and vivacious energy is a great advert for her way of life.  And though she has included chicken and salmon options at her deli (of which I am grateful) she says it is a place for health and happiness.

What a great way to start the new year folks with Ella’s kind of positivity!  I hope you take time to learn a bit more about her and support her new book, book signing tour, supper clubs and cooking classes.  Ella is a self taught chef and is working hard to impart all her kitchen and nutritional wisdom.  But we need to be open to it and soak it all in as well.

Thanks Ella for your effort to share your own journey and for inspiring so many others to find a healthier self.  Your warmth towards and support of your followers does not go unnoticed. You practice what you preach and do it all with gentleness and grace.  You are truly one of a kind and deserve all the good things that are coming your way.  Including today’s Woman Crush. Though I’m sure it will continue well on past just Wednesday!  Happy 2016!

Peace and Love!

YDP

P.S. Tomorrow I am taking my snapchat friends along on a “Thursday Thrill Trip” to The Mae Deli since I won’t be able to do the usual Foodie Fieldtrip Friday because of New Year’s Day. So stay tuned for more crushing on all things Ella Woodward folks! Very excited to see all the healthy food she has on offer there!

With a little break from the popular Woman Crush Wednesday series (due to YDP’s participation last week in the Great Blogger Cookie Swap) we are back with passion!  This is the day we honor one of the wonderful women from the culinary world.  And who is getting crushed on today?  Well, we are infatuated with one of the U.K.’s most recognizable foodies, none other than the amazing Nigella Lawson!  For the first time, this week readers and snapchat followers joined in with their suggestions to help choose which cook should get the Yankee Doodle Paddy Spotlight of LOVE.  And with Christmas just a couple days away, Nigella has been chosen to get all sorts of fondness showered on her today!

Nigella‘s new book, Simply Nigella seems to be on everyone’s Christmas list.  It is called the “Feel Good Food” book and pretty much anything she makes will leave you feeling good!  She already has nine best selling cookbooks to her credit, numerous television series under her belt, a popular app, and umpteen awards such as the 2014 Observer’s Readers’ Award as Best Food Personality, just to mention a few of her phenom accomplishments.  She really is a Domestic Goddess (as was the title of one of her books) and has been a ‘go to’ for many looking to up their kitchen game. She has made cooking and eating an unabashedly beautiful art form.  And all of this from someone who doesn’t even like to be called a chef.

Nigella didn’t study culinary arts but she has perfected a way to translate them to the masses.  Adored by women, men, well known chefs, people here in the U.K. and all around the globe.  Her warmth, openness and willingness to engage with her fans has really helped create a protective net around her.  Which is why when she went through some recent difficulties she had a legion of supporters behind her wishing her well.  And this latest book and accompanying television series has been just the thing to get back on track, for all of us!  Cuz life does have its ups and downs.  I can relate to Nigella’s notion of cooking being a wonderful way to make sense of the world around us as I have shared on here before.  I love her quote in a recent article, ““I was thinking how ushering forth this cake induced in me a feeling of cosiness and serenity, and I felt I’d got to the stage in my life that what I was creating in my new home and my new kitchen… it’s about feeling an enormous sense of light. The food is uplifting and the comfort you get from it makes me feel restored and full of vitality.”

So I am going to create some light with her amazing Christmas Rocky Road recipe.  It is currently being featured on her website as a “Cookalong Competition” whereby you make one of the suggested monthly recipes and upload a photo for a chance to win a signed cookbook.  And I will be doing it live on snapchat (username: blissbakery) if you’d like to follow along.  It will be viewable for 24 hours until it disappears, but I would urge you all to give this delicious recipe a try yourself and enter the contest.  Because what Nigella has nurtured is a wonderful sense of community both on her website and her social media.  She includes a regular “#follow of the day” on her Instagram that certainly gives those chosen a massive boost.  I’m not just talking about more followers to their account,  it is the overwhelming sense of joy that someone as wonderful as Nigella Lawson would lend her seal of approval.

Christmas Rocky Road

Ingredients:

250 grams (8 oz) dark chocolate
150 grams (6 oz)  milk chocolate
175 grams (1 1/2 sticks) soft butter
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) golden syrup or light corn syrup
200 grams (7 oz) amaretti biscuits
150 grams (1 cup) brazil nuts (shelled)
150 grams (2/3 cup)  red glace (candied) cherries
125 (2 1/2 cups) grams mini marshmallows
1 tablespoon icing sugar
edible glitter

Method

Chop both sorts of chocolate small, or use chocolate buttons made for melting, and then put into a heavy-based pan to melt with the butter and syrup over a gentle heat.
Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin to get big- and little-sized crumbs; you want some pieces to crunch and some sandy rubble.
Put the Brazil nuts into another freezer bag and also bash them so you get different-sized nut rubble.
Take the pan off the heat, and add the crushed biscuits and nuts, whole glacé cherries and mini-marshmallows. Turn carefully to coat everything with syrupy chocolate.
Tip into a foil tray (I use one 236mm x 296mm / 9¼ x 12 inches), smoothing the top as best you can, although it will look bumpy.
Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, which will take about 1½–2 hours. Then take the set block of rocky road out of the foil tray ready to cut.
Push the icing sugar through a small sieve to dust the top of the Rocky Road. Then, if you like, add a sprinkling of edible glitter for some festive sparkle.
With the long side in front of you, cut into it 6 slices down and 4 across, so that you have 24 almost-squares.
MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Make the Rocky Road and refrigerate to set. Don’t add the icing sugar yet, but cut into bars, then store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week. Decorate with icing sugar and edible glitter about 1–2 hours before serving.
FREEZE AHEAD TIP:
Make the Rocky Road as above and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in a cool place. Decorate as above.

One of the things I love most about Nigella is her willingness to offer help and suggest tips for finding success in the kitchen.  For me, one of my kitchen challenges has been the transition from America to this side of the pond where everything is in metric!  It would do your head in trying to sort out all the conversions.  But she effortlessly (as with everything) has both versions available with the click of a button. Thanks Nigella!

Being a mom of two kids myself, I know how important the holiday time is for family.  I just want to take this opportunity to wish you Nigella a most wonderful Christmas and send lots of love and light your way.  I also want to thank you for being an inspiration in more ways than one.  There are so many of us out there that appreciate the passion and respect you have for food and cooking.  And your humility about your influence in the culinary world is as beautiful as you are!  But trust me, when loads of your fans eagerly tear off the wrapping paper on Christmas morn to find they have received your cookbook, you’ll likely hear the sound of many ovens being fired up!  Cuz there will be a whole lotta Nigella’s recipes on the go!

Lots of love to THE Domestic Goddess,

YDP

P.S. True story, it was destiny that Nigella would be today’s #WCW because besides the help from the snapchat followers, my friend (who also made our moving announcements) the awesome Holly Shortall and her BFF Jamie Tuohy met Nigella in Dublin not long ago!  As well when I was on one of my Foodie Fieldtrip Friday’s recently, I spotted a giant billboard ad for her book and I had to take a picture.  So it is a lovefest that has been marinating!