Hi Lovelies,

I adapted this recipe from a ‘classic’ Slimming World corned beef quiche recipe which I have to personally say is rank due to the corned beef!

I bake these in batches of about 15-20 as they are great little snack treat either cold or warm, or you can bake in an oven dish for a larger family sized portion. Mr Tramp has 2 of the breakfast versions for his breakfast at work.

They are so quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

300g plain cottage cheese
6 eggs
Salt+ pepper
Spices of choice
Filling of choice – For this recipe I am using….
3 rashers of bacon with rind removed and chopped up
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
Button mushrooms
2 tomatoes for garnish

You will need muffin / fairy cake tins or an oven dish

Method

In a dry non stick frying pan, cook your filling ingredients until they are around 75% cooked. If you are making bite sized quiches, make sure you chop everything up accordingly by size! Leave this to cool while you complete the next steps.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees and ensure the shelf is in the middle.

In a bowl, beat the 6 eggs and season well. At this point you can add any spices you would like to use. I add chilli and garlic if I am making this for lunches but I skip it for the breakfast version.

Add the cottage cheese and mix thoroughly to ensure there are no clumps.

Once the filling is cooled and the oven is up to temperature, add the filling to the egg and cheese mixture and again mix very well. Be warned, it looks highly unappetising at this point but it does get better!

Spoon in to the individual cake tins (or large pan) and leave a small gap at the top of each serving. Make sure you get filling in each one as you spoon it in.

Thinly slice a tomato and add a slice to the top of each mini quiche

Bake for 15 -20 minutes for mini quiches or up to 45 minutes for  large quiche depending on your oven.

When baked, before they start to cool, knock them out of the tins and place them on a wire rack, upside down, to make sure the bottoms firm up and don’t go soggy. If you leave them to cool they are trickier to get out!

 

Shown here without the tomato garnish

You can use all your leftovers up to make the quiche so it’s great for budget lunches

Kept in an airtight container they will last a week or so but I can guarantee they are so tasty you won’t have them hanging round for long!

Give them a try and let me know how you get on and what your filling is!

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Hello Lovelies,

During an unseasonably warm December, we found ourselves hankering after a Saturday afternoon pub lunch somewhere scenic after a days off roading. We have our usual favourites but we thought we’d branch out. After trying to think of places, I randomly googled “Best pub lunch in Durham” and picked one at random. That is how we found The Anchor Inn in Whittonstall.

Situated roughly 5 miles from Consett, Corbridge and Stocksfield (DH8 9JN) we thought we were on to a winner thanks to the beautiful surroundings, hilltop location and easy accessibility.

Set atop a hill, the village of Whittonstall boasts beautiful scenic views of the area and the small village happily only has 1 pub, The Anchor Inn. Steeped in that old world country charm, the pub has recently undergone a revamp at the hands of the owners, Karen and Gavin Raey who took over in 2007.

The more formal dining area, dressed for lunch

Care has been given to provide the locals with a bar to drink at, an informal area for pub lunches as well as a more formal dining area. Not to mention a separate function suite and rooms for weary guests to lay their head. Trust me, after the food here you may be tempted to book in and sleep off all the tastiness. Small touches in the décor stand out, such as stoneware pots bearing the owners names sitting on the windowsill.

 

The view from our table, with personalised earthernware

The Anchor Inn has what would you could call an eclectic menu that is HUGE. Ranging from your traditional pub grub favourites, to American classics to Asian. All perfectly executed, made fresh and very, very plentiful. The quantity does not overshadow the quality.

To start, we shared the Squidward squid (£5.95) which was cooked and seasoned perfectly for that Asian kick of salt and pepper batter. Served simply with a chilli mayo dip it wasn’t over done or fanciful for the sake of it.

Next we had a main, of which I am never allowed to photo Mr Tramps as he hates waiting to start. He always dives right in!

He chose the Steak and Ale Cobbler (£9.50) was jam packed with delicious tender meat, ‘proper’ gravy and well cooked vegetables with a buttery mash topping. The ale was a delicate but definite taste.

I opted for the Whittonstall Cheese Steak sandwich (PRICE) from the Born in the USA page. I was expecting something quite small but my word was I shocked. I couldn’t actually finish and Mr T had to help out. Made on a fresh sub roll, filled with tender thin strips of beef, griddled peppers and onions, completed by the obligatory cheese sauce. Served with wedges and coleslaw, it was a perfect change from the usual pub grub.