In my kitchen - July 2016

There is no central In My Kitchen round-up this month, but I am sharing some of my July highlights.

There is a lot happening in my kitchen this month. I think one of the most exciting things is the presence of home grown raspberries. My raspberry bushes are doing incredibly well and I'm picking 6-10 berries every few days. This is not something I could do in Australia!

When I'm not eating raspberries I may be found eating local Kent cherries. These are now available at roadside stalls all around us. The stalls aren't noticeably cheaper than the supermarket (unless you buy enormous quantities that one cherry eater really can't justify) but they are a nice way to support farmers directly.

My kitchen has also seen some new meat alternative products. Tesco keeps bringing out additions to their range and I enjoyed these oriental cakes recently.

They are a bit like risotto cakes, and the accompanying lemongrass and ginger sauce was particularly tasty.

I also tried a new-to-me option from Gosh!, in the form of mixed seed, quinoa, carrot and coriander bakes. They have a minted pea centre, which I found a little odd, but they were still nice for a change.

Tesco have also produced an own-brand alternative to Naked bars. They aren't quite like Naked bars - the banana ones include soya protein pieces (a bit like the Naked crunch range) and the berry ones include oats - but they are substantially cheaper. They're good for throwing in my bag and having on hand when out and about.

I am always drawn to creatively shaped crumpets and so was pleased to see these dog ones recently. They don't look overly dog like, but I still had fun eating them. This one is spread with Marmite.

After loving the Doisy & Dam chocolate Mr Bite gave me for Christmas (with ginger, chilli flakes and hemp seed) I recently picked up another in their range. This one features mulberries, chia seeds and spirulina. It is just as good as my Christmas block and has consolidated my love of the brand - excellent mid-cocoa dark chocolate with a smooth texture and interesting flavours.

Some of my UK readers may have seen the Pip & Nut range that has turned up at Sainsburys. It features nut butters with various flavour twists, but I've resisted buying the jars as they are quite pricey. Recently their individual squeeze packs were on special so I picked up the coconut almond butter variety. I liked it, although it is sweeter than my usual nut butters due to added agave syrup. I also don't love the individual pack format - too messy!

Another exciting nutty discovery was this PB Fit peanut butter powder. It is made from roasting peanuts and then extracting much of the oil. The result is a powder that can be turned into low fat peanut butter (if you mix it with water) or added to things to give a peanut flavour. I've been doing the latter - it works well in smoothies, yoghurt and on soya ice cream.

My kitchen (and my desk) has also featured more green smoothies lately. It might not be overly summery yet, but the lighter days and intermittent sunshine make smoothies appealing again.

Last but not least, my kitchen features a new phone - the Moto G 4th generation Android model. It replaces my 2-year old Moto G that had a cracked screen for a year (after I dropped it on a rock!) and which had run out of memory space. I love the new model and the in-built camera is also much improved from my previous phone. It will be interesting to see how much I use my proper camera relative to the phone one now.

What is happening in your kitchen this month?

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