celebrating christmas in july with iceland.

Christmas... not the first word that springs to mind in the middle of Summer. But a great festive feast can take time; with all that planning behind the canapés, starters, mains, desserts and of course the ultimate cheeseboard. But who knew your freezer could be your best friend for a bountiful Christmas banquet? Embracing the #PowerofFrozen, well loved British supermarket Iceland invited me to sample their seasonal delights ahead of that all important December 25th. 

happy 5th birthday to recipes and reviews!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a fantastic New Year's Eve which was full of friends, family, fun and fizz. I enjoyed a quiet night in this year, dining on fillet steak, shaking up homemade cocktails and playing games. 

As January 2016 rolls around, with it comes another anniversary for Emily's Recipes and Reviews. I can't quite believe that my little food blog is now five! And what better excuse to make this lemon, poppy seed and raspberry cake?!

foodie christmas traditions.

Just like any season, with Christmas comes with annual traditions with family and friends. From gingerbread houses and festive bakes to special breakfasts and fusion feasts from around the world, I've put together a few little anecdotes from my fellow food bloggers on how they spend their Christmas break. For the last few December 25th mornings, I've put together a breakfast of lazy eggs for all the family. So simple but perfect to keep that hunger at bay whilst the house filled up with mouthwatering scents of Christmas dinner.

#fdbloggers secret santa.

Christmas has to be one of the favourites seasons of a food blogger. Food everywhere, cheese boards a plenty and edible gifts for all! Over with the fellow #fdbloggers on Twitter, we've been doing our own secret Santa gift swap. Exchanging gifts with foodies from all around the UK and Ireland, you can head over to the hashtag #fdbloggerssanta to see an array of super thoughtful foodie packed parcels from a mystery Santa. Here what I got from Sal... I mean, Santa...

jus create with jus rol.

I'll be the first to admit that I've never made my own puff pastry. And if you have, I commend you. Time and time again, the likes of Jus Rol or supermarket alternatives have come to my pastry related rescue. I have no problem getting involved with my old friend shortcrust, especially if I want to add crushed pistachios or chocolate to the mixture, or try my hand at vegan and gluten free pastry. 

But if I'm looking for a quick fix for a weeknight recipe or maybe something special, I'm not ashamed to roll out the ready made and get creative. I went along to Ateliers des Chefs for an evening of pastry tips, tricks and most importantly... tasting. Our hosts for the evening were professional chefs Mark Dodson and Sally Abe who were taking on the philosophy - jus create!

the mindful eating challenge.

Rainbow food, colourful creations and vibrant greens. Eating healthy doesn't have to be boring. Flick through Instagram and you'll see reams and reams of inviting seasonal salads, avocado worship and that deliciously gooey cake that you can't quite believe is sugar free. 

Whether you're getting creative with kale or perfecting your matcha green tea latte, there's no doubt healthy recipes are the new black (or green). With this in mind, Joe's Bloggers put us food bloggers to the test with The Mindfulness Eating Challenge. Think; healthier food choices, thinking about where your dinner came from, less processed food and making recipes from scratch. 

macarons: an illustrated guide.

Macarons, macarons, macarons. I may have gone a bit macaron mad. As well as food blogging, searching out the best sushi and Instagram-ing my breakfast, I also love to play around with illustrations. So I thought I'd put the two together and create this recipe guide to making the tiny treats. 

What do you think? Would you try your hand at macarons with French meringue now or maybe you've got some tips to share too? I'd love to know your thoughts on my illustrated infographic approach too. I've written a recipe tutorial before but it is pretty lengthy and picture heavy!

Now you've mastered the basics, you can find my macaron recipes on my blog, as well as vegan macarons with chickpea liquid instead of egg whites. Enjoy!

PS, Feel free to share my guide but please credit back to my blog!

19 things food bloggers will understand.

The stash of Kilner jars, the pursuit for the perfectly gooey egg and the endless Post-Its decorating your cookery book stack. Sound familiar? Me too. Here are nineteen things that the seasoned food blogger is all too well acquainted with. 

Now, have you Instagram-ed your dinner yet? Are you sitting comfortably with a stripy straw in your drink? Okay, then let's begin.

#fdbloggers: get to know.

Oh how I love the #fdbloggers community. Because what's food blogging when you can't chat to others about your last meal, new favourite plate or recent foodie blunders?

Don't underestimate the amount of times you can Instagram an avocado, perfect the ultimate soft boiled egg shot or get the right angles on that buttercream. Never again will you (or any of your friends or family) eat food hot again. Sounds lots of fun, yes? Head over to the #fdbloggers Twitter hashtag and you'll see I'm right!

I was recently tagged by brilliant baker Mike over at The Bearded Bakery and lovely Megan of Got To be Gourmet in the latest #fdbloggersgtk so thought I'd better put my piping bag down and get to it...

happy 4th blog birthday.

happy new year everyone! i hope you had a wonderful christmas and fun filled new year's eve, whether you stayed in with a cuppa or indulged in one too many g&ts. i wrote my first ever blog post about some simple chocolate truffles back on the 4th of january 2011. four years on, i'm still somehow spending my weekends baking, evenings searching for the best natural light and saturday mornings running off the calories. 

the festive tag.

everyone is loving these festive tags lately, aren't they? i should really be wrapping some christmas presents right now. instead i'm watching nigellissima, drinking a snowball and answering these rather christmassy queries. could i get any more festive? since both the lovely amelia of xameliax and michael of the bearded bakery both tagged me up in similar seasonal blog posts, i've merged the questions into one festive blog bonanza. enjoy...

sushi dinner party.

a few weekends back i hosted a little sushi dinner party at my home with fellow leicestershire foodies and bloggers alex and charlotte. i love making homemade sushi so i loved the idea of mixing and matching my favourite flavours and teaching others some new skills along the way.

square meal bloggers' afternoon tea at boyds brasserie.

with a striking entrance hall and opulent chandeliers hanging from high ceilings, boyds on northumberland avenue is renowned for a british tapas and brasserie style menu. i'm told that miniatures of britain's classic dishes are what they do best, having read some fantastic reviews. on this occasion, a handful of food bloggers were invited by square meal to sample their new afternoon tea menu, which has only been running since july 7th. talk about pressure, hey?

my new kitchen and blogging space.

if you follow me on twitter or instagram, you'll probably have seen me post bits and bobs of various homeware i find pretty or new accessories for my kitchen. earlier this month, i moved from the city of leicester and back to my roots in north leicestershire. although my hayfever isn't very happy about this, i very much am.

i've been enjoying runs in the countryside, getting used to pottering around in a new kitchen and mostly being excited about having a desk. a room. with a desk. and a chair. so since i've seen a few of these bedroom tours, what's in my wardrobe, handbag, where does my pet sleep sort of blog posts, i thought it was about time i shared my kitchen and blogging space with you. go on, read on you nosey parkers.

browns lane, loughborough.

a few weeks ago, i caught up with fantastically fabulous blogger charlotte of lifestyle blog charlottelouiset. having first met at a birmingham blogger meet earlier in the year, we soon came to realise we live very close and share one of the best interests a person could have... food! so naturally, we went to try out the lunch menu at browns lane in loughborough. 

national make a friend day: meet luchia cooks.

happy national make a friend day! today your task list is to smile at everyone you see, hold the door for others even if they don't say thank you and maybe even give someone your last rolo. since starting food blogging i've met some awesome fellow bloggers and foodies online... so in the spirit of make a friend day let me introduce you to bristol based luchia of luchia cooks. who, yes, did make those incredible looking avocado brownies pictured above.

happy chinese new year!

happy chinese new year - 2014 the year of the horse! here is a photograph back from when i visited kowloon bay, hong kong, back in christmas 2008. a fascinating place that i'd love to return to. first i need to get over my growing fear of flying and save up to visit somewhere i've always wanted to visit... japan! 

as i have a real love of chinese and east asian cuisine, i thought i'd put together some of my chinese inspired blog posts. now just to pick what to make tonight...

christmas 2013: from handmade gifts to hearty grub.

just a few snaps from this christmas. this festive season has been lovely. there's been christmas bake offs at work, festive afternoon teas, my first clandenstine cake club and i even had a little go at making some handmade christmas gifts.

the liebster award.

So I hadn't heard of this lovely idea until I was nominated myself by lucy scott bakes alot - a baker and a crafter who has some brilliantly indulgent recipes! You can also see her other liebster nominations here.

"The liebster award is for bloggers with under 300 followers and the rules of the award is that the nominee must link back to whoever awarded them, write 10 random facts about themselves, answer the 10 questions from the award giver, and then nominate other bloggers and make up 10 questions for them to answer. It's a great way for new and undiscovered bloggers to meet new people, get more followers and find some blogs that they want to follow."

I think this is a fab idea and couldn't wait to get going... so firstly I'll write 10 random facts about me.

♥ My initials are ELC like the toy shop Early Learning Centre.

♥ My favourite colour is green.

♥ I have a diastema in my teeth... also known as a gap tooth.

♥ I have an addiction to buying duvet sets. 

♥ When I was seventeen I met mark hoppus of Blink 182.

♥ I studied MA Print Journalism with NCTJs but have since forgotten most of the shorthand.

♥ I have three tattoos; a rose, a key and the letter E.

♥ My favourite karaoke song is Valerie.

♥ I always name my cars; so far Luigi, Freddie and now Felix.

♥ I am a total Japanophile and could probably live off the cuisine. especially sushi which I was lucky enough to write my dissertation on. Yum.