Here are the best articles, recipes and healthy food info I've spotted on the web, over the last week.

 

 

Easter is looming, which often involves family get-togethers, meeting up with friends and plenty of eating. The eating, of course, includes Easter eggs and hot cross buns.

I love Easter eggs and hot cross buns. Particularly hot cross buns - there's something about their doughy, spicy, fruity flavour which puts me in seventh heaven. However, for me an integral part of my enjoyment is their limited availability. I’d never buy or make a fruit bun normally and I don't eat chocolate very often, however I wouldn’t dream of missing out on my annual hot cross bun and Easter egg.

We tend to think of these foods as treat foods, especially as they're only available in the build up to Easter. However, while they used to only be in shops a few days before Easter, hot cross buns and chocolate eggs are now available for months in advance. Which leaves a lot of opportunities to treat yourself.

This presents a problem if you're trying to maintain a healthy weight, as of course, eating lots of hot cross buns and Easter eggs is not good for your health.

At the risk of being seen as a killjoy, I’ve got a radical idea: why not just eat hot cross buns and Easter eggs at Easter? Don’t have them for months on end and don’t bother with the cheap-o rubbish ones. Buy really good, delicious chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. Revel in them and eat as many as you want. Thoroughly enjoy them, but thoroughly enjoy them for one day and leave it at that.

 

That's what I'll be doing.

 

I really can't wait for asparagus season to start. More than most years, I've had enough of the regular winter produce and am yearning for something new.

 

Asparagus would be divine. However, I'd also settle for broad beans, globe artichokes, sugar snap peas, the first apricots of the year - any sign that spring is on its way.

As much as I'm on the lookout for different produce, I also find I'm restless in the kitchen. Having spent the winter cooking and loving soups, I now find I want something new. I'm attracted to brighter, crisper flavours. Over the last week I've been thinking about a Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart and this amazing looking Spring Salad. Baked Avocadoes with Fresh Basil and then buying extra basil to make my first pesto of the season. Jamie's Mor occan Broad Bean Salad with the lovely toasty breadcrumbs and Nigel's gentle Broad Bean and Lettuce Soup.

Perfect Spring meals which I can't wait to cook.

 

Where I live Easter coincides with the change of season from summer to autumn. And while autumn might have officially started a few weeks ago, it takes a while for the weather to catch up. At the moment, the days are still warm, however they're getting shorter, there's a chill in the early morning air and the tibouchinas are in full bloom. Winter is on its way.

While I always regret the end of summer and all the wonderful produce available, autumn also has its treats. Foods to revel in and be excited by.

There's much to love from figs, quinces, pomegranates, pears, apples at their freshest, persimmons, okra, Brussels, celeriac, wild mushrooms, pumpkin, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, mandarins . . . and the list goes on.

The onset of autumn also reinvigorates my cooking. Sometimes by the end of summer I find myself in a cooking fug. I've spent the last couple of months avoiding using the oven, because of the way it heats the house and I'm bored with salads.

Plus the cooling of the weather and change in produce means I can start making some of the northern hemisphere recipes I've been bookmarking for the last few months. Recipes like this really simple tomato soup meal, spiced up oat filled pear muffins and a mushroom lasagne. Or how about balsam ic glazed pumpkin with walnuts, this Mediterranean style okra and tomato stew and Ottolenghi's butter bean puree with dukkah?

Once I remember all this, autumn really doesn't feel so bad.