I make these regulary with my 3 year old daughter, she loves making them and Daddy loves eating them! Good old fashioned Sunday afternoon fun!

What you need

1 pack of chocolate chips.
150grams of soft Isle of Man Creameries butter.
2 ½ cups of Laxey Glen Mills flour.
2 tablespoons of coco powder
4 medium eggs from Staarvey Farms
1 cup of sugar.
¼ cup of milk.
1 tablespoon of baking powder.
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Good pinch of teaspoon of salt.

What to do

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C)

Beat the butter and the vanilla extract together to form a light, airy mixture

Add the eggs one at a time, and beat gently

Add ¼ cup of the sugar after each egg and mix thorougly

Put the baking powder and salt in the milk, then add to the mixture

Fold in the flour, cocoa powder and the chocolate chips

Pour the mix into your muffin cups, rougly ¾ full

Bake for 20- 25 minutes or until muffins turn golden brown

Leave to cool on baking rack

Offer to make numerous cups of tea so that you have another excuse to sample your muffin delights!

I have just managed to get hold of the latest times and dates for Farmers Markets being held around the Isle of Man in the lead up to Christmas. So there’s no excuse for not having a Isle of Man food Christmas this year by buying local. I think anyone who hasn’t been along to them yet it can be a bit of an eye opener as to what is actually produced and in season on the island, wrap up and check them out it will be a lot of fun too!

3rd December - Farmers Market at Tynwald Mills, St Johns in the courtyard area outside the Neb Cafe (11am-3pm)

5th December - Douglas Farmers’ Market at the Villa Marina colonnades (10am-2pm)

10th December – Farmers Market at Tynwald Mills, St Johns in the courtyard area outside the Neb Cafe (11 am-3pm)

11th December - Isle of Man Farmers’ Markets, Ramsey will be having Christmas Evening Markets at the Corner of East Street, Ramsey to coincide with Ramsey late night shopping (6pm-9pm)

12th December – Christmas Farmers’ Market, Ramsey, on at Albert Road School (10am-1pm)

16th December – Evening Farmers Market at Tynwald Mills, St Johns in the courtyard area outside the Neb Cafe to coincide with late night shopping at Tynwald Mills (6-8pm)

17th December – Farmers Market at Tynwald Mills, St Johns in the courtyard area outside the Neb Cafe (11am-3pm)

19th December - Douglas Christmas Farmers’ Market at Villa Marina Colonnades, mulled wine, mince pies, and hot roasted chestnuts (10am-2pm)

20th December – Castletown Christmas Farmers’ Market will be at the Southern 100 club house on the bypass (1.30pm-3.30pm)

18th December – Isle of Man Farmers’ Markets, Ramsey will be having Christmas Evening Markets at the Corner of East Street, Ramsey to coincide with Ramsey late night Shopping (6pm-9pm)

19th and 22nd December - Paddy’s Market, Port St Mary will be holding their Christmas Continental Market under canvas, there will be plenty of stalls plus music and Gluvine. 19th (10am – 2pm) and 22nd between (5pm-9pm)

23rd December – Evening Farmers Market atTynwald Mills, St Johns in the courtyard area outside the Neb Cafe to coincide with late night shopping at the Tynwald Mills (6pm-8pm)

Serves 4 – 3 Scallops each or two if you really love Scallops like me!

What you need
12 scallops,
6 slices Oaked Smoked streaky bacon (Moore’s is good for this)
1 Lime
Yep that’s it! Sometimes simple food is the best.

What to do
Preheat your oven to 190 C / Between Gas mark 4 and 5
Remove white scallop meat from the shell, remove roe, wash and drain, set aside
Cut the bacon slices in half and wrap each half around a scallop.
Get the cocktail stick and secure in the scallop and bacon wrap.
Cut the lime in half and squeeze half over the scallops.
Place on a baking tray and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until bacon is crisp.
Remove and finish off with another squeeze of lime over the scallops

Dig in! Simple, quick and easy and tastes great. You can have as a simple snack or dress this dish up with some simple winter leaves for a stunning starter.

I Love Manx is reminding all producers and sellers of Manx made food and drink that the deadline for inclusion in the 2010 ‘Your Guide to Manx Produce’ is Friday 20th November.

The guide provides details of farmers’ markets, farm shops and retail outlets across the Isle of Man, as well as details of other local independent suppliers of Manx produce as well as the main processors of Manx food and drink.

This year sees the addition of eateries on the Island that support Manx produce.

Also included is a seasonal month-by-month guide to Manx fruit and vegetables, game, seafood and meat to help consumers eat with the Manx seasons; enjoying the diversity of fresh tastes with minimal food miles.

The guide, now in its third year, has expanded with each reprint as the demand for Manx food has increased with consumer desire for produce from top quality, fully traceable, local sources.

Once more, Your Guide to Manx Produce has been endorsed by the The Hairy Bikers, who are amongst the most enthusiastic supporters of Manx food and drink, as demonstrated by their appearances at the Queenie Festival and Septembers’ Food and Drink Festival at the Villa Marina.

Entry in the guide is free (subject to the conditions on the entry form).

Anyone interested in being included should simply download an entry form from www.ilovemanx.org or phone 662204 for a copy and return it to DAFF using the address at the bottom of the form by the deadline of Friday 20th November.

I Love Manx Campaign is a joint initiative of the Manx National Farmers’ Union and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

This is one of my favourite tea time dishes for three reasons. Its really easy to make, its quick and it tastes fantastic! So he goes yessir!

What you need

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 chicken breasts chopped in to even sizes approx 3cm

Any spare vegetables – I used baby sweetcorn and mange tout, but you can easily use peas, green beans or even brocolli, whatever takes your fancy really

4 large teaspoons of Green Thai Curry paste (You can ge this from Tesco/any supermarket or make yourself – see below)

Juice of  a lime

A good handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

A pinch of salt

1 tin of coconut milk

This can be served with Thai Rice or Noodles. I went for the noodles on this occassion, the kids prefer it over rice!

If your making the paste you will also need:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 green chillie

1 tsp of dried cumin seeds

1 tsp of coriander seeds

2 large cloves of garlic

1 small onion, roughly chopped

A chunk of fresh ginger, chopped

1 lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped

Zest of a lime

A Handful fresh coriander

What to do

For the paste if your feeling daring throw all the paste mix in a blender and get whizzing! After its been pulped have a sniff, it smells great doesn’t it!

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken. Stir this around until it takes on a bit of colour. Then add the 3-4 large tsp’s of the paste and get it all sizzling nicely and releasing all those flavours. Once the chicken has browned well and the paste starts to catch to the pan, add the vegetables and the coconut milk. Let this simmer for 7-10 minutes

Remove from the heat and add the fresh coriander and the squeezed of lime juice. Drop in your cooked noodles and stir through.

Enjoy – I do at least once a week!

Well done to all 72 of the Isle of Man’s schools dinner staff who have achieved a 100 percent pass rate in exams and have gained the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) level two award in food safety. It’s really great to know that the preparation, hygiene, handling, cleaning and storage is all taken seriously when preparing meals for all the kids on the on the Isle of Man. It really is reassuring to know that when it comes to lunch time their in safe and reliable hands.

I am sure all the parents on the Isle of Man are very proud and no doubt Mr Oliver would be as well.

Big up the Isle of Man Dinner ladies!

Apparently it’s British Sausage this week – you learn something new every day!

The Sausage week is being celebrated by Ratcliffe’s Butchers in Castletown and for those of you who don’t know Chris or Lenny as he is better known and his Dad, well they have been making cracking sausages for years now!

Throughout the week they will be making up a whole host of sausage recipes and trying out some new varieties incorporating local ingredients such as Manx cheese and Bushy’s beer so be sure to head on to Castletown for some tasty meaty treats. They will also be doing sampling on Friday and Saturday so I might even head down for look myself – I do love a good sausage or two, oh and smothered in Colemans English Mustard! Yum!

Bizzarely it seems that there is a British Sausage Appreciation Society that has Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee as the main endorsers… now that is bizarre!

I headed to 30 North Quay, Douglas today for a spot of lunch. The Velvet Lobster is a rather small but nicely decorated eatery situated on the newly refurbished side of the quay.

The decor is modern and neutral and with open dining tables with fixed seating for either two or four and it is rather cosey but pleasant at the same time!

The menu suits the lunchtime trade and has snacks and dishes ranging from cheese on toast, classic BLT, vegetable tart to Mackeral salad, plus some nice looking homemade cakes and there is always a decent specials board, usually with a a couple of meat dishes and vegetarian. The Jamaican Curry Goat to my fancy so ordered this with an intriguing milkshake called a coffeebanoffee!

The service was efficient and polite and I didn’t have to wait to long before my lunch arrived. One thing you notice straight away when I was tucking was that the food is freshly prepared and cooked each day with good quality ingredients, I was happily impressed. The portion size was just right for a lunchtime, the curry was delicate and the flavour of the goat really came through. And as for my coffeebanoffee, well, this is the substance that empires could be built on, it tasted fantastic with the cool, icey, toffee-coffee combo flavours really working well. It slipped down nicely – a somewhat strange choice as an accompaniment with a curry!

All in all I had a very pleasant meal and I would certainly recommend it for a spot of lunch, they have a licence now so you can also have a beer or glass of wine with your meal and they even serve on Friday and Saturday evenings. I will certainly go back again.

Gourmet Shark Verdict – A very good lunchtime all rounder that consistently hits the spot!

According to a new study, eating a diet high in processed food increases your risk of developing depression. The research also suggests that people who eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish lessen their risk significantly. This is even more reason to shop local and get cooking your self instead of buying processed foods lacking in any goodness!
If you want to know more about how food could be making you sad click here.