Marshmallow Balls

These are the marshmallow balls that my granny used to make. My kids love making them today, and we still use her handwritten recipe. Granny was a complicated character and could be quite abrasive. But one of the loveliest things about her was her generosity as a host. These marshmallow balls are simple. But it requires effort to get all the ingredients and they're fiddly enough to put together. Granny made these for us kids every Sunday we visited and it was always a treat. I guess sometimes actions speak louder than words.

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Claire Mitchell

Rice Pudding

Baked rice pudding today. Not a complete success as I really wanted the dark brown skin but I think we used too much rice and not enough milk! Enjoyed chatting on the phone to my Mum in hope of tips, at any rate, and she unearthed old recipe books and scrap-booked recipes on labels.

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Margaret​ Roberts

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Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb Crumble. Now it’s a little caramelised hahaha. But my husband is a great lover of Rhubarb so I make him a crumble as a nice treat. He ate nearly the whole lot yesterday by himself in lockdown.

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Charmain Jones​

Red Beans & Rice

Red beans and rice - a Louisiana classic!! t's very easy to make but takes a long time - something most classic Cajun dishes have in common. Best to start with dried kidney beans, soaked overnight. Then they need to cook on a low heat for 5-8 hours in a vegetable or chicken broth.

The key is to get them really soft and mushy, that's the traditional way! First, saute the Holy Trinity of Louisiana cooking (celery, bell peppers, and onions) with salt and pepper and cayenne pepper (if you like it spicy). Then add beans and broth with some oregano, thyme, garlic, hot sauce of choice, and plenty of bay leaves (I find you really can't use too many). I'm not very exact with the measurements because that's the Louisiana way!

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Laney Lenox

Veggie Meal

This was tonight's tea. It would have been made yesterday as it's a great lazy Sunday cooking but the visit to the supermarket took much longer than expected. I have been veggie for a few years now and this is a lovely stodgy comfort food to have as a treat. The dauphinoise potatoes are very luxurious but the rest of the meal - lentils in vegetable stock, roast tomatoes and steamed leeks are virtuous enough. (...) We probably use this River Cottage cookbook more than any in our house, it's great for encouraging you to try veg in a new way or to swap things for something else that's in season or in your cupboard. With a weaning baby at home, we always offer him the same meal we are having and he usually loves it. Some of his food always ends up on the floor and then into the compost heap or the wee brown bin.

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Nicola Simpson

Potato & Soda Bread

Spending so much time indoors has inspired me to try something new, have tried potato bread, plain and with scallions, soda bread, fruit sodas and wheaten bread, my knowledge like my waistline is getting bigger.

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James McGowan

Soda Bread

Christopher baked a soda today, using a recipe in his Mum’s old cookbook...threw in some raisins as well... it’s really tasty.

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Anne Murray​

Queen Cakes

The Queen Cakes have been made and I ate 4 before they had gone cold! I decided to try making the recipe without using electronic help. It was a good workout, creaming the sugar and butter and took a long time! The recipe I used was the one from Mum's old gas cooker cookbook from the early 1960s. Sometimes when we were young she used to put mock cream on the buns and make butterfly buns. I have my granny's Mrs Beeton's book of Household Management, 1923 edition and a 1992 edition and have looked at the recipe for Queen cakes from them too. I didn't have margarine, castor sugar or dried fruit so I used butter, granulated sugar and some coconut instead. They still tasted good - very rich.

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Linda Ming

Mackarel with Pink Peppers

We have a jar of pink peppers which we have carried around since we lived in Germany over 10 years ago. The Germans like to have them with smoked salmon and cream cheese.  We had a packet of smoked mackerel in the fridge so we decided to try blitzing it with the peppers and some yoghurt. It was delicious on toast and tasted better the next day after the flavour fo the pepper had infused into it. Another one of those unique lockdown recipes concocted from long-forgotten ingredients at the back of the cupboard.

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John Graham​

Soda Bread

During this lockdown, I have started making bread. I've had a go at soda but I really need an old fashioned griddle, my frying pan is not ideal for cooking the bread. I have had a go at baking bread using yeast, I thought it was a "Black art" but I have had success every time. My problem is the bread disappears very quickly, I haven't got children in my house but termites... they eat their own body weight daily!!! When they cut inch thick slices my heart sinks... please leave some for tomorrow. My biggest problem is sourcing strong flour. I can't get it anywhere at the minute. I follow a Jamie Oliver recipe on Youtube.

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Joan Aldridge

Spicy Shepherd's Pie

We picked this one out of “Pinch of Nom” cookbook. It’s a spicy twist on shepherd's pie. Four portions from this. We love it. Since it’s hard to get out for a meal it’s nice to make something tasty. I’ve eaten all the cookies from Granny Boyd’s cookie recipe or I would pop them up too. Hardest thing seems to be to find flour or yeast at the moment!

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Conrad Kirkwood

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Pineapple Upside-down Cake

[Aunt] Tena and I are into baking during the lockdown. This week we are going to make Pineapple Upside Down cake. Recipe recommended it be eaten while warm with ice cream. We could not ignore such good advice so each of us scoffed a large slice - verdict - yummy!

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Alexandra Barr​

Victoria Sponge Cakes

To celebrate birthdays in our house, you get to choose what’s made for your birthday tea. My birthday was in late April and it was going to be a little different with just the three of us. I need not have worried as a beautiful meal was cooked by my husband and son and instead of a cake this time my son baked individual Victoria sponges. They were fantastic.

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Barbara Bailie

Cake in a Mug

I've just been given this recipe for, believe it or not, a cake in a mug! I'm calling it the Lockdown Emergency Cake in a Mug. So here it is and a photo. I thought I could just prise it out with a knife but my daughter said NO! You dive in with a spoon. So I did. There was more than I expected so I kept some for pud tonight.

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Betty Armstrong

Fairy Cakes

My ten-year-old twins first attempt at making Fairy Cakes, they were delighted to get making a mess  Not only have they learned how to bake during this lockdown but they are not both experts at washing dishes - a great team effort.

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Ann McGeown

Jamaican Patties & Croissant

Epic fail. The Gluten-free (GF) croissant... tasted more like a bagel, after zooming three of my friends all French and 2 GF like me, I raised the expectations and excitement far too much. The recipes required I had hardly any sleep for 2 days and it so wasn’t worth it...we did giggle and I was complimented on my black eyes. GF Jamaican Patties, like home, made a batch for the freezer too. No one knew they were GF. Real comfort food.

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Wendy McGuire

Toad in the Hole

Special recipe - was one of many saved into a booklet by my husband when he was a house husband for a short period and he was learning to cook. Our two boys were young and it became one of their favourites. I do refer to the booklet from time to time and made this yesterday as a 'special recipe'. I was so pleased with the result that I had started to dish it up and then remembered that I wanted to take a photo of the finished product ie evidence hence a photo of half a Toad in the Hole and a served up helping!

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Mary Robinson

Mint Aero Cheescake 

I love watching Bake Off...I love Bake Off Extra Slice even better as I am hopeless in the kitchen [...]

My mother never really baked and growing up, food was invariably meat, spuds and really overboiled veg [...]

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At work, we held a lot of shared lunches where everyone would bring in a little something and we'd graze and have a nice chinwag together. Most of us are now furloughed and we have a Whatsapp group to keep in touch.

So many of my colleagues have made this Mint Aero Cheesecake during lockdown as it is really simple and reminds us of happy days together where it was always a favourite [...] I am cheating as just haven't got around to making it yet myself! 

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Rhonda Dempsie

Lemon Curd

We loved lemon curd as children, as did my nieces and nephew. I remember it as a vivid yellow colour.  Now many of the additives have been removed so the colour is duller.  We found a recipe for lemon curd and one of my sisters made it. It tasted lovely, her daughter said. It was a bright yellow colour.  But it was so runny it had to be eaten with a spoon.  Perhaps the next attempt will be more successful.

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Frances Kerr

Coleslaw

This is my first ever attempt at making homemade coleslaw and I am very pleased with the outcome, I am also really surprised at how simple it was to make. Cooking has never been one of my skills or interests, but I just might try my hand at other recipes during this time of lockdown!

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Maire Loughran