Hi everyone – hope you’ve been having a good weekend. I had a much needed very chilled one which involved catching up with friends, doing some mandatory chores around the house, watching a hilarious comedy DVD with my husband and sister + brother in law and one of my favourite things to relax by – BAKING.

My Mum used to bake a lot when we were kids (and she still does – she is a BRILLIANT baker) and over the last few years I’ve taken up the craft myself. Pretty ironic as a diabetic really, given that a lot of the stuff I cook is sugary and bad for you. It’s always good to have people lined up to give it away to as my husband doesn’t like sweet stuff anyway.

For some reason whenever I bake I like to put our silly little transistor radio on, and the ultimate baking radio station – Coast FM. There’s just something about all that old music that gets me in the mood for creaming, rolling, sifting and folding. I love the innocence of the songs. Maybe there’s a subconscious thought in there somewhere about 50s housewives and baking…. hmmm.

Anyway, the point of my story was to highly recommend Alison and Simon Holst’s Easy Everyday Recipes which came out last year (and I got given for Christmas). I don’t really have that many special diabetes cookbooks but this one is great and a lot of work has gone in. Particular favourites are the mini bran muffins and the spiced tea cake – but there are plenty of main meal dishes in there which are lovely too.