If I told you some people did not grow up eating honey, would that surprise you? It sure shocked me, but not everyone grows up eating the same things. So it has been lots of fun talking with customers on how to use honey. It has been even more fun showing people how they can add honey to their diet so that they can fight allergies at the same time. I am excited to say that adding honey to the diet is super easy and super yummy. One of my favorite ways to use honey is in my yogurt; I can’t stand the yogurt loaded in sugar, it is way too much and ruins the flavor. With plain yogurt I am able to add different honeys to make a totally new yogurt every time. Then you have the many fruit combinations that can take yogurt to a whole new level. The best part is this is a recipe that adults and kids love!!

Homemade honey yogurt:

6- 8 ounces of plain yogurt

1 Tablespoon of your favorite honey

1/3 cup of your favorite fruit

*If you use frozen fruit, set out a couple of hours before use. Place 8 ounces of plain yogurt in a bowl and add the 1 Tablespoon of honey; mix well and add the ¼ cup of fruit. The fruit can be mixed in or just used as a topping. Enjoy!

Homemade honey yogurt dip:

6 ounces of plain yogurt

1 Tablespoon of honey

¼ – ½ cup of 5 different fruits; banana’s, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.

Place the 6 ounces of yogurt and the 1 Tablespoon of honey and mix together thoroughly. Place bowl in the center of a plate and place cut and/ or washed fruit around the bowl. Dip the fruit into the yogurt dip and Enjoy!!

Tips: Use the yogurt or dip within 2-3 days for maximum freshness. Sliced bananas and apples should lightly be squirted with lemon or orange juice to keep them from browning; they should be used right away when possible.

From our bee hive to yours,

Queen Bee

It’s been a while since I made a stir-fry. I kept telling myself I didn’t have time to make one… if you have ever made a stir-fry you will know how absolutely ridiculous that statement is. There is generally a lot of chopping involved in a stir-fry, but the cooking takes mere minutes. This recipe doesn’t even involve much chopping, so it’s super-quick.

The paprika, ginger and honey do a sexy little dance on your tastebuds, it’s a bit like sweet ‘n’ sour but not quite – however you care to define it, it is absolutely delicious. It works all by itself with some flatbread as a starter, or you can cook up some Basmati rice and it makes a great evening meal. I made this with Basmati rice with butter and lemon, I cannot begin to tell you how well they go together.

RECIPE – serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course

50g butter

4 tbsp olive oil

3 banana shallots, finely chopped

1 long green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

3 fat cloves of garlic, finely sliced

a big thumb of ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp paprika

250g peeled raw tiger prawns

250g large tiger prawns, shell on

the juice of half a lemon

2 tbsp runny honey

the zest of half a lemon

a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

lemon wedges, to serve

METHOD

First, prepare all your ingredients, this cooks quickly so you need to have everything to hand.

In a large pan or wok, melt the butter with the oil and when it is hot fry the shallots for a couple of minutes until translucent.

Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for a further couple of minutes, then add the paprika, stir thoroughly then add all the prawns. Stir-fry over a medium heat – adding the lemon juice part-way through – for a few minutes until the prawns are just pink, they will cook on so take them off the heat sooner rather than later.

Once you have taken the wok off the heat, add the honey to glaze the prawns, stir well then add the lemon zest and parsley, then adjust the seasoning and take it to the table.

Perfect with flatbreads as a starter or, my favourite, with Basmati rice with butter and lemon.

Source: Love and Fishes

I’m such a huge fan of seasonal cooking, and never more so than in Autumn. Figs are in season for such a short time, but I think they may be the most beautiful fruit in existence – slicing through the dusky, purple-velvet exterior to reveal the vibrant reds and pinks inside genuinely excites me. Perhaps I need to get out more, but I challenge anyone to tell me they aren’t something special.

This recipe is a simple one, and makes for a great pudding or an indulgent breakfast. You can adapt it to whatever you fancy – for a dessert, you could switch the yoghurt for a rich vanilla ice cream, and add a nut brittle if you’re feeling adventurous.

Ingredients (serves 2):
– 4 figs
– ½tsp ground ginger
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 1tsp butter
– 1tbsp runny honey
– Greek yoghurt, to serve (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Wash and dry the figs, then use a sharp knife to cut crosses in the top of them and place into a small oven-proof dish.

2. Dot the butter over the figs, then sprinkle over the ginger and nestle the cinnamon stick between them. Drizzle over the honey, then bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on the ripeness of your figs.

3. Serve warm with the Greek yoghurt. For an extra burst of flavour, you could also grate over some nutmeg or orange zest.

When a friend of mine took up beekeeping this spring, I started keeping track of recipes that prominently feature honey. Given that my friend’s a bit of a pie guy, when Katya pointed out this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I received my first jar of Spiderdoodle Honey from Doug about a month ago, and while I’ve been enjoying it in my weekend coffee (and in honey-lemon-ginger teas while recovering from a cold), I hadn’t baked with it just yet. This weekend we went out for dinner to celebrate his birthday, so I figured it was the perfect occasion to bake him a pie.

I got a tiny bit creative with the crust, since the rest of the recipe was pretty straightforward. I keep seeing gorgeous pie crust designs various places on the web, and I’ve never tried anything fancier than a lattice. Since this didn’t have a top crust, the only place to play was the border, so I braided it.

It was easier than I thought, but you have to be really gentle with the strips of dough. Fortunately, the cream cheese pie dough from Rose is super forgiving – and I use nothing else for pastry, any more.

I haven’t quite hit perfect timing on partially pre-baked crusts, yet. You want it baked enough that it won’t get soggy when a wet filling is added, but not so baked that it burns during the second baking cycle.

Despite my careful watch, it got just a bit too dark in the first round. As a result, I actually partially cooked the filling in a pot on the stove, before putting it in the shell & back in the oven. I didn’t want it coming out with a burnt crust and under-done filling.

This is what it looked like straight out of the oven. At this point, it was still super jiggly, but given that it was still bubbling furiously, I figured the filling would still be cooking for a few minutes even after removal from the oven.

After it cooled, I sprinkled it with coarse sea salt. The recipe called for flake salt, which I couldn’t find, and I thought the crunch of the coarse salt would make a nice contrasting texture, which it did. The recipe also called for 1-2 tbsp of salt, but I just couldn’t bring myself to sprinkle on more than a few (large) pinches. The tasters said it was just the right amount of salt.

I’m not sure if I’d change anything if I were to make this again. Maybe throw in some raisins, like a giant butter tart. This is basically sugar pie (tarte au sucre), but with honey.

I ended up exchanging the pie for another jar of honey. Fair trade, I think! I want to try honey caramels, next!