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Now I don't know about you but when it comes to coleslaw I am extremely picky and only homemade will do. There is absolutely nothing worse than the soggy, boring, mayonaise laden coleslaws available from supermarkets which have been sitting in the salad bar all day long. Don't get me wrong, some places can get it right, but they are few and far between. It is extremely inexpensive and takes only a few minutes to make a really tasty coleslaw at home, plus you can add whatever you want to it! This is my plain coleslaw recipe but feel free to experiment with it, add your own ingredients and ideas!

Red Cabbage and Carrot Coleslaw
I have a handy dandy Magimix food processor and it makes this recipe so simple and takes only minutes to prepare. If you don't have one, it's no big deal but it makes this easy recipe a little more time consuming. This crunchy coleslaw is the perfect accompaniment to any meat or poultry dish.

Serves 4-6 people
3 carrots, grated
1/2 head of red cabbage, finely chopped or coarsely grated
3 spring onions, finely chopped
3 tablespoon of mayonaisse
1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard
A good pinch of ground black pepper

Add all the vegetables to a large mixing bowl. Add the wholegrain mustard, ground black pepper and mayonaisse and using a large spoon combine all the ingredients until the carrot and cabbage is evenly coated. Transfer to a large serving dish, cover with cling film and place in the fridge until you are ready to serve. The coleslaw should last 2-3 days kept in the fridge.

You may have noticed there has been a serious lack of recipes around here lately, but I want you too see that as a good thing! The good news is that behind the scenes I have started work on my new book, so right now that's the main focus and everything else is kind of on the back burner at minute! Hopefully very soon I'll be able to reveal a lot of really exciting news about the book and some other VERY exciting projects coming up. I will do my best to keep the recipes coming but for now here's a really great little summer dish! Enjoy!

Zingy Purple Potato Salad
When people think of potato salads in Ireland, heavy mayonaisse laden over boiled potatoes come to mind, but I'm here to change all that! This potato salad is light, bright breezy and packed full of zingy flavours! There is nothing better than great veggies being shown off at their best with a really simple recipe! While most good vegetable shops have them from time to time, t these purple potatoes can be tricky to come across and while not essential for this recipe, they really add great colour to the dish! If you can't get your hand on them, normal baby potatoes will do just fine. This dressing is a great compliment to any steamed or boiled vegetables like asparagus or garden peas!

Serves 4
750g of baby potatoes (mix of purple and white)
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
3 spring onions, finely chopped
A handful of dill and basil, roughly chopped
A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a pot of cold water, cover, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes and slice in half lengthways.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the dressing. Whisk together the vinegar, oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, spring onions, and herbs. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Pour the dressing over the cooked potatoes and gently toss, until everything is combined.
Serve straightaway!

Now generally I am a Chicken and fish fan so this dish mostly came about because my girlfriend gently suggested that I should cook something other than chicken tonight! Not one to dissappoint I head to the butchers with this in mind and picked out some lamb chops. Ok I know carrot and cabbage mixed together is coleslaw but there's something off putting about coleslaw which make my mind conjure up images of soggy cabbage drenched in watery cheap mayonnaise. Ew! So that why I'm sticking with carrot and cabbage salad!

Oregano Lamb Chops

• 4 good quality lamb chops
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely
• 3 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of good quality balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
• A good pinch of sea salt and ground pepper

Put the lamb chops in a ziploc food bag and add the chopped garlic plus the rest of the ingredients to the bag. Zip Lock the bag then shake so that the mixture completely coats all the lamb. Then put the bag in the fridge to marinate, while you prepare the salad. It's like sooo easy!

Simple Carrot and Cabbage Salad

The salad is just as easy. You will need:

• 1/4 of white cabbage
• 1 Large carrot
• 1 tablespoon of homemade mayonaisse
• A good pinch of Sea Salt and Ground Pepper.

Peel the carrot and slice into thin strips and place in a large bowl. Then chop the cabbage finely and seperate into pieces. Add the cabbage, mayo, salt, pepper and mix it all up! Put the salad mix in the fridge.

I normally cook this for just my self and my girlfriend so I take two of the chops out of the marinade bag, reseal it and freeze. I find that when the meat is defrosted in the marinade it makes it very tender. So anyway take the lamb chops out of the fridge and place on a hot grill and cook till brown on both sides (about 5 mintues either side). Take the carrot and cabbage salad out of the fridge and put a portion on a plate and place a golden brown chop ontop!

Enjoy!

One of the things I mastered last year, was preparing healthy dishes which are easy to have with you on the go.
We (Industry) were on the road everyday during the summer when we released our first two singles so I made sure we all ate well in between our fairly tight schedule.
Healthy salads were normally on the cards and went down the best, but if we were stuck for time quick and tasty wraps sorted us out!
As I mentioned we were on tour with JLS all week, and the wraps below kept us full on the road up to belfast! We have been debuting our new tracks which you can hear over here, and here, so I hope you don't mind that I have stuck up a few photo's from the gig on Saturday night. We were very excited to perform in the O2 in Dublin, but I want to brace yourselves for the photos below, because a momentous occassion took place where I got my first pair of knickers thrown at me! Knickers on a food blog, who'd have thought! :)

Quick Fresh Veggie Wrap With Crispy Prosciutto
Wraps are extremely handy for a quick and tasty lunch! The best thing is that you can really go wild when it comes to the ingredients. There are so many variations on this recipe which I make regularely, like avocado and bacon, chicken and chickpea, or even tuna and rocket!
Find your favourite combo and experiment. If you can't get your hands on proscioutto just pick up some streaky bacon instead.

Serves 2
6 slices of prosciutto ham
2 large wholemeal tortilla wraps
2 tablespoons of mayonaisse
2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves
1 carrot, grated
1/4 of cucumber, sliced thinly
5-6 spring onions, sliced thinly
A good pinch of ground black pepper

In a large hot frying pan fry off the slices of prosciutto until crisp and golden. Remove and set aside on plate with a piece of kitchen paper.
Spread 1 tablespoon of mayo on one of the tortilla wraps.
Arrange the slices of cucumber, carrot, and spring onions down the centre of the wrap. Add the spinach leaves and then place 3 slices of the crispy prosciutto on top.
Roll up the wrap and enjoy! Repeat with the second the second wrap.