Buckwheat Cheese Souffle Blinis

What is more glorious than weekend brunch? The slow, easy pace. The comfort food, allowing the day to fold out around you. The vast amount of culinary possibilities allowable; sweet or savoury, lunch or breakfast.

I have to say, it's one of my favourite meals. We try not to go overboard but sometimes a little indulgence in the middle of the day is wonderful.

This is a Sophia Dahl recipe I found on the BBC with a few alterations of my own. When I first saw the title and the chef attached, I assumed I'd have to make massive alterations to increase the healthier properties but it's surprisingly restrained. Really high in protein and quite low in calories, considering.

Topping possibilities are limited to your imagination. We had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on ours. Stewed apples, poached eggs and hollandaise, ham and applesauce, etc. etc. Let me know if you try something else on yours!

170g Buckwheat flour

2tsp baking powder

salt & pepper

290ml milk

2 tsp mustard powder

75g low-fat cheddar cheese

75g low-fat onion and chive cottage cheese

4 egg whites

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Add mustard powder, cheddar and cottage cheese. Mix well.

Whisk eggs whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter gently.

Heat skillet pan over medium high heat. These can be cooked with a knob of butter, little olive oil and just some non-stick spray.

Pour batter into hot pan. I use a 1/3 cup to scoop out the right amount. The batter should be enough to make 8, which serves 4.

Herbed High Protein Muffins

Only one more day till the weekend and boy, will it...drag...on... What's going to get me through this afternoon? A little high protein, low carb snack. 

Baked a batch

 of these muffins last night and they smell so good I'm almost tempted to have more than one today. These are perfect for a healthy grab and go breakfast or an afternoon energy boost and can be adapted to any tastes. I split the batter in half and added sun-

dried tomatoes and basil to one half and sauteed mushrooms and fresh thyme to the second half. 

Other variations could be olives and thyme, roasted

 peppers and hint of coriander, or sauteed garlic potatoes and rosemary. Let me know if you try a different variation of flavours or a different type of flour. I was tempted by a 

toasted wheat germ and rye blend but I kept it a bit more traditional. 

1 cup/200gr low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese

3/4 cup/60gr grated fresh parmesan cheese

1/4 cup/50gr whole wheat flour

1 cup/80gr ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup/20gr chopped sun-dried tomatoes (or variation)

2 tbsp chopped fresh herb or 1 1/2 tsp dried herb

1/4 cup/50ml water

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat to 400F/gas mark 6

Mix together all ingredients except 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. 

Stir until just moistened, don't over mix

Spoon into 12 greased or lined muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over. Bake 30-35 minutes. 

Stadium Pretzel & Cheese

Bank holiday weekend and....shock horror....it's raining. Perfect day to bake. In light of upcoming summer and memories of past summers spent at baseball games, I thought I tried my hand at pretzels. Big, crunchy, salty jumbo pretzels which are best eaten dipped in nacho cheese. These take a while to make but are worth it.

Jumbo Pretzels
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 pkg fast-active dried yeast
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
4 cups strong white flour

Water should be hand-warm, about 85F. Put in a bowl with yeast and sugar. Let stand for an hour.

Gradually add flour, creating a soft dough. You may need more or less flour. Knead for 10 minutes. Put in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Twist dough into figure 8 shape, logs or twists. Put on greased baking sheet and brush with egg wash (1 yolk and 1 tbsp milk). Sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Leave to rise until doubled.

Bake at 240C/gas 9 for about 10 min. To finish with a nice golden brown colour, put under the grill for a few minutes. Serve with nacho cheese for dipping.

Nacho cheese
1oz sharp cheddar cheese
1 slice laughing cow light cheese spread
1 tsp minced jalapeno pepper
1 tsp jalapeno juice
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp chili powder
pinch garlic granules

Mix all together. Heat until cheese is melted.