Yelvertoft food guru cooks up mouth-watering naughty and nice treats to celebrate the season

Yelvertoft mother Milly Fyfe is a farmer’s wife and writer of our Countryside Kitchen feature.

She lives on a livestock and arable farm with her husband and two young boys.

The kids are so excited for Christmas this year! I reckon it’s partly to do with the fact that the school have been practicing for the nativity since the middle of November and the Christmas fair was really early, held on December 1.

I’m not sure if I can contain the excitement for much longer…

So with that festive vibe in mind, I’ve been in the kitchen getting my bake on, involving the children and creating a few masterpieces.

And in the spirit of giving at Christmas, you are getting not one but two recipes from me this month. One naughty and one nice.

The naughty recipe involves a lot of chocolate, the nice recipe involves Brussels sprouts because they are super good for you and I know that you’ll really enjoy this twist on tradition.

Before I sign off for Christmas, can I ask you a favour? I’ve just had my website revamped and it is so much more user-friendly. Will you go and check it out and let me know what you think? The site is: https://www.nofussmealsforbusyparents.com/ and there is also a short two minute video which explains what I am trying to achieve now that No Fuss Meals for BusyParents is a registered Community Interest Company (CIC)

Merry Christmas and thank you for all your support during 2023.

Naughty

Chocolate Bark – get the kids involved in this

Ingredients

200g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

100g white chocolate

Handful of mini marshmallows

Handful of chopped nuts (walnuts or pistachios are nice)

Handful of chopped cranberries

Handful of festive sprinkles

You can also use freeze dried raspberries which give an extra pop of colour but appreciate that its probably not your average store cupboard ingredient.

Method

Melt the chocolate in separate bowls suspended over pans of simmering warm water

Allow to cool slightly once melted

Line a baking tray with baking parchment and spread the dark chocolate onto the tray. Then use a teaspoon to blob or swirl the white chocolate on the top of the dark chocolate.

Now it’s time to get creative with your toppings. Place the marshmallows, nuts, cranberries, festive sprinkles on top of the chocolate.

Place in the fridge to set

Chop up into small shards to enjoy or place into small cellophane bags to give as a festive gift.

Nice

Brussels Sprouts stir fry

Ingredients

100g of Brussels Sprouts, chopped up finely

1 packet of Bacon lardons

1 onion chopped

50g of frozen peas

Dash of Sesame oil

Dash of soy sauce

Handful of Sesame seeds

Method

Fry your onion in the oil until soft.

Add your bacon lardons and fry until crispy.

Add the shredded brussels sprouts and frozen peas and a dash of soy sauce and stir fry untilthe vegetables are soft.

Shortly before serving add some sesame seeds and enjoy!