Recipes

I didn’t realise that Easter 2022 was next weekend !

So given the week that is coming I decided to do a bit of a search for healthy chocolate ideas, or healthy Easter chocoalte gifts.  To my surprise some of the most commonly googled things about chocolate were questions like:

Is chocolate good for you?  And will chocolate kill a dog?

This is a question we often see people ask, along side - Can I eat oatmeal with diverticulitis? Or What foods can cause a flare up?

High fiber diets are recommeded for people prone to diverticulitis to prevent diverticulitis symptoms. This is because a high fiber diet, prevents pressue in the colon and helps prevent the flare ups. On the flip side 

Duqqa, du'ah, do'a, or dukkah is an Egyptian and Middle Eastern condiment consisting of a mixture of herbs, nuts, and spices.

This is a simple Yogurt dukkah, that works beautifully as a dip for vegetable sticks or flat breads, as a sauce in a pitta, or drizzled over a salad. It brings serving homemade soup to a new level, as the mix of creamy yogurt and coarse nut sprinkle on top is superb.

I had a two over ripe bananas, so rather than waste, I mashed them with one egg, added three table spoons Velvet Cloud yogurt, 2 teaspoons of bread soda, a few drops vanilla essence, and then enough oatmeal to make

Dan Guerin is a chef in Cush Ballycottin and uses Velvet Cloud throughout the year. He recently had a recipe in The Irish Times -  Velvet Cloud yoghurt pannacotta with  pumpkin in a spiced caramel - This made me realise we hadn’t posted a pannacotta recipe before. Making pannacotta (which actually means cooked cream in Italian), with Velvet Cloud, is popular with a lot of chefs in Ireland because the creaminess of the yogurt, makes a really luxurious dessert and then they then add their own twist

It’s the Perfect Week For Salad Dressings

Easy Peasy Caesar Salad Dressing With A Sheep’s Twist

I had never cooked with an anchovy in my life until I saw a recipe last week for Caesar salad dressing using mayonnaise, so given that we always use Velvet Cloud instead of Mayonnaise I decided to replace the Mayonnaise with our yogurt and the parmesan cheese with our Rockfield cheese. I know I am biased but this is a seriously delicious dressing, I’ve made it twice since and have a small jar in the fridge now for whenever I am making a quick salad lunch.  

Inspired by a social media post of Turkish eggs with Velvet Cloud yogurt, posted by the lovely McHugs bar in Ennis over the weekend, I decided to put up a recipe for Baked Eggs which we use all the time. We find it’s a great one for a weekend lunch, and you can make it in single ramekins or a big dish if you are serving a crowd. Plus you can add and take away fillings as you wish.