Lentil Ragu

As you may or may not know, I am currently trying to reduce the amount of meat (especially red meat) in my diet. I have stopped short of going vegetarian, but am trying to have at least 4 totally meat free days a week.
Yesterday it was just me eating and I came across  this recipe in an old copy of Good Food Magazine. After reading some of the comments I was a bit apprehensive about trying it, but I though it was really nice. It's easy to prepare; once you have chopped all the ingredients they just go in a pan and are left for about an hour. One thing I did find (as stated in some of the comments) was that this recipe made loads. I halved it, thinking that it would do me yesterday and again today. I was wrong!! This made loads, I now have enough for my dinner today and probably enough for a few more in the freezer. Therefore I would recommend if you're going to make it that you either make sure you have a crowd to feed, or have space in your freezer for the excess. I speak as someone who likes slightly larger portions too.
Good Food recommend that you serve the ragu with pasta- specifically spaghetti. I had mine with linguine, but i think any sort of pasta would work. I'm not sure that I would try it with any other starch though, maybe rice might work. I've  got plenty in the freezer if I want to give it a go.
I topped mine with Parmesan cheese which isn't vegetarian, but any other strong cheese would probably do.

Chocolate Brownies

Those of you who are regular readers will know that I don't often do baking. This is mainly because I don't have the ingredients at home and the fact that I have difficulty following  a recipe to the letter. Indeed when I made these brownies I decided to add a bit of Vanessa. I decided to make these after finding a recipe in a supplement in the Telegraph, but an exact copy of the recipe can be found here. Instead of the white chocolate I added dried sour cherries as I love the combination of chocolate and cherries. I was slightly nervous as I would class myself as a baking novice, but these are incredibly easy if you follow the instructions carefully. The only difference I would make if I made them again is that I might use slightly less strong chocolate- I used one with 85% coco solids instead of the recommended 75%. This doesn't make then bad, it just makes them extremely rich, maybe too rich for some. But I will definitely make them again, probably around Christmas as they are perfect to offer to guests who have just popped in.
I would also add, in the reciepe it states to slice them into 16. I sliced mine into eight, a portion this size was just too big given how rich they are, also when it says leave to cool, as hard as this is to do, make sure that you do leave them to cool, they will taste so much nicer for it.

Elderflower cyder review

When I was in Sainsbury's the other day I noticed that they had elderflower cyder on offer. Loving all things elder flowery I decided that I had to give it a go. The fact that it was on offer too sealed the deal.
It was not like other cyders, which are often very dry or have a cheap, chemical taste. This had a pleasant flavour of elderflower along with a slightly sweet cyder. It was very refreshing (quite good as we recently have had record-breaking weather) and had a clean taste. I had it on its own, but I would think that it would also go well with barbecued foods, if we get the weather for it. I'm not one of these people who only drink cyder when the weather is nice- instead I tend to think of it as a good alternative to wine.  So if it's still on offer (or if I'm feeling flush) then I will definitely buy this again.