We Love Cooking! [Search results for tea] 

The race is on to get the decorations up, the pumpkins carved, the costume sorted and the treats and goodies all laid out! Yes, Halloween is literally two days away. I've just moved into a new house so despite the fact that we've been carting furniture in and out I have found time to pick up some pumpkins, although carving them is still on the 'to do' list. I'm planning to make a velvet pumpkin soup served in the pumpkin itself, some roasted savoury pumpkin seeds and an all American pumpkin pie if I get a chance over the weekend, but this week I've been busy baking up barmbrack! I had planned to include the recipe in last week's Cork News Menu pages but unfortunately it was eaten up before I got a chance to take a picture!

Barmbrack is a big part of Halloween tradition here in Ireland, with objects baked in the dough signifying different things. In most shop bought barmbracks you'll find a ring, which if you're lucky enough to receive it in a slice means you should be wed within one year! My mother recently told me the story of when she lived in Finland as a child and my grandmother generously baked a barmbrack for their Finnish neighbours, only to be berated by the lady next door after her child nearly choked on the ring! Needless to say they moved back to Ireland not long after! In keeping with tradition, I cheekily asked the baker at our local supermarket if he could give me a ring to put in my barmbrack, and he had no problem handing over a few, so don't be afraid to ask! This is a really easy recipe but it does take a bit of time, so if you want to enjoy it on Halloween night, make sure to get cooking today!

Halloween Barmbrack
This recipe makes a really beautiful moist loaf which is packed with flavour from the mixed spice and dried fruit, which sits overnight in cold tea and whiskey to soak up all the goodness. You can drop the whiskey if you wish but I think it adds another flavour kick...

Makes one 900g loaf
225g cream flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
375g packet of fruit mix
250ml cold tea
50ml of whiskey
125g light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice
A ring to place inside

Place the fruit mix in a bowl and pour over the whiskey and cold tea. Allow to soak up the liquid overnight.
Preheat the oven to 170oC/Gas Mark 3 and grease and line a 900g loaf tin
Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and mixed spice in a mixing bowl.
Make a well and break in the egg, using a wooden spoon, mix the egg with the dry ingredients. Add a little bit of the liquid the fruit mix is sitting in and mix it through. You may not need all the liquid, you are looking for a wet dough.
Then stir through the fruit mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Add in the ring and stir through.
Spoon the wet dough into the lined loaf tin and place in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the loaf tin and placing on wire rack.
Cover in cling wrap and tin foil and allow to sit for 1-2 days before cutting into it.
Serve in slices spread with a little butter and good cuppa!

What I think I love most about Gizzi's book is her take on recipes, a perfect example being this Sticky Banoffee Pudding, what an inspired idea of combining banoffee pie and sticky toffee pudding, clearly the woman is a genius! If you are intrigued by the lovely Gizzi then you should definitely take a peak at the video below, where she talks about her style of cooking and her favourite recipes in the book.

Which reminds me I really should make one of those for Good Mood Food! Now that you have a full grasp of what Gizzi is all about I think it's high time we getting cracking with one of her recipes. I chose this recipe basically because not only does it look delicious, but because it combines two of my favourite desserts, simple really! :) Also don't forget to give me your questions for Ms. Erskine in the comments below or on twitter and facebook.

Gizzi Erskine's Sticky Banoffee Pudding
This is my boyfriend Dean’s recipe. While he is a fantastic cook, he is so lazy he never cooks for me, except for this. And my God, does it make up for it! The banana is terrific with the toffeeish dates and keeps the pudding really moist.

Serves 6
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 40 minutes
250g dates, stoned and chopped
250ml hot black tea, made with 1 teabag
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
85g softened unsalted butter, plus extra butter
for greasing
175g caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
175g self-raising fl our, sieved
3 bananas, roughly mashed
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
vanilla ice cream, or clotted cream, to serve

For the sauce
100g light muscovado sugar
100g unsalted butter
150ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4 and butter a 22cm baking dish.
Place the dates in a small pan and cover with the hot tea. Bring to the boil and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the dates have softened, then stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the fl our, banana, mixed spice and the date mixture and pour into the baking dish. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the top is springy and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce. Put the muscovado sugar, butter and cream into a pan, place over a low heat and melt until the sugar has dissolved. Then whack the heat up and simmer for 3–4 minutes, or until the sauce is a light toffee colour.
Serve the pudding with the warm sauce and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or clotted cream.
Or remove the bananas from the ingredients and you’ve got a classic sticky toffee pudding!

(Taken from Gizzi’s Kitchen Magic by Gizzi Erskine published by Virgin Books, price £20)

It's not all cupcakes and pies in Leila's book, "A Piece Of Cake", she also has a fantastic chapter on savoury breads. Apart from the delicious homemade baguettes below she has a wonderful recipe for the typically Scandinavian, crisp bread, which has whole aisles dedicated to it in Swedish supermarkets. Aswell as numerous variations on the the classic Italian focaccia bread, and mouth watering options for transforming plain old scones!

The first thing you will notice when you read Leila's books, or any Swedish books for that matter, is that fresh yeast is used in many of the bread recipes. Here in Ireland and in many other countries, fresh yeast isn't readily available in the supermarkets, whereas in Sweden it is sold in little foil packs stored in the fridge. If you are going to be following Leila's bread recipes, you're going to get your hands on some fresh yeast. So, for all the Irish readers out there with no fresh yeast, I have the solution, if you go to the bakery in most supermarkets and ask one of the bakers nicely for some fresh yeast, they will generally sell it you for a really reasonable price!

Leila Lindholm's Baguettes
We associate the baguette with France, but actually the French didn't start to bake it until the 1920's. That was when Austrian journeymen brought a Polish method using sourdough to France and started to use this for baking baguettes. The approach gives the baguette its typical light structure containing large air bubbles.

Makes 4 loaves
For dough 1
5g fresh yeast
300ml cold water
300g strong bread flour
Vegetable oil for the baking sheets
Flaked salt, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or poppy seeds

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in the water.
Add the flour and mix to make a smooth, soft dough.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave the dough to prove for at least 4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 240oC/475oF/Gas Mark 9.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and divide it into four. Gently press each portion into a rectangle.
Tuck in one of the long sides and roll up the dough. Shape the ends into points.
Twist the baguettes slightly and put them in a greased baguette tin or an ordinary baking sheet.
Leave the baguettes to prove under a tea towel for about an 1 hour.
Brush the baguettes with water and sprinkle flaked salt and the seeds of your choice on top. Use a knife to make diagnonal cuts in the surface of each loaf and immediately put the baking sheet in the centre of the oven.
Reduce the heat when the baguettes start to colour.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool uncovered on a wire rack.

For dough 2
15g fresh yeast
300ml cold water
1 batch of dough 1 (see above)
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
420-480g bread flour

To make dough 2, crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in the water.
Add dough 1, the salt, sugar and flour and mix until the ingredients bind together. Knead the dough by hand or at a low speed in a mixer for about 15 minutes.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to prove for about 1 and 1/2 hours. Proceed as above.

Irish Brown Yeast Bread
This has to be one of the easiest bread recipies in the world with no kneading it’s a no brainer! The loaf can be frozen and defrosted when needed and is the perfect accompaniment to a hearty soup or made into a chunky sandwich. For anyone hooked on white bread this is a really healthy alternative and you can also add rolled oats sprinkled on top for an extra crunch.

450g of wholemeal flour.
1 teaspoon of salt.
1 7g sachet of dried yeast.
1 teaspoon of treacle.
15 Fl Oz of warm water.
A small handful of mixed seeds

Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Dissolve the treacle in the warm water and add to the dry mix. With a large spoon combine the ingredients until it forms a wet mixture. Turn the mixture into an oiled and floured loaf tin, sprinkle with seeds and cover with cling film or a damp tea towel. Place in a warm spot to allow the yeast to do its work for approx 20 mins. Cook in the oven for about 45-50 mins at Gas Mark 7/ 220oC. You will know when the loaf is done when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow.
The bread is quite moist and will last for anything up to a week, you can store it in an airtight container. It also freezes brilliantly for up to a month, so you could also make a few extra to save for later.

Photos: Jocasta Clarke

Who knew writing a book would actually take a bit of work! I've been meaning to post something over the last few weeks, but every spare minute has been focused on the writing and taking pictures. But more importantly I'm here and I have a recipe!

This is Sofie's very first Halloween, as they don't celebrate the night as much in Sweden. She was working late last year and was less than impressed when I tried to introduce her to the fun of the event by jumping out of the wardrobe with a mask on! With the big night landing on a friday this year, we're getting into the spirit of things and have been busy carving pumpkins. Sofie has named our two "The Dark Knight" and "Darth Wader" (I think she meant "Darth Vader", must be the Swedish pronounciation!).

Hope you like our's, we'd love to see your pumpkins, so if you have pictures post a link in the comments section!

I had planned to post this recipe since the start of the month, so I'm glad I'm finally getting around to it. Just in the nick of time too! It's Halloween this Friday, so if you haven't got a pumpkin just yet, here's a great little snack you can put together with the reminants of the gutted vegetable.

Nacha's Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

My parents are in the fruit and vegetable business, this meant we always had two massive pumkins every Halloween, when my brother and I were growing up. Carving pumpkins became an annual tradition and everyone had a role. My brother and I would draw the faces, my mom would gut the pumpkins, and my dad would carve them. There was always huge arguements over choosing the right pumpkin and even more competition when it came to drawing the best and most scary face!
I picked this recipe up from our first au-pair from France, Nacha, who taught us never to throw away any of the precious seeds. They are so tasty toasted with butter and sea salt. Here's the simple recipe.

The seeds of 2 large pumpkins.
4 tablespoons of melted butter.
A generous pinch of coarse sea salt.
A generous pinch of ground black pepper.

Cut off the top of the pumpkins. Using your hands, separate the seeds from the gooey insides and transfer to a colander.
Rinse the slippy seeds under cold water and pick out any remaining stringy orange flesh. Transfer to a few sheets of kitchen paper or a dry tea towel and pat dry.
Tip the seeds into a large roasting dish and spoon over the melted butter. Toss the seeds so they are all coated in the butter and season with sea salt and black pepper.
Toast in the oven at 200oC/390oF/Gas 6, for 20 minutes or until nice and golden.

Pizza was one of the first things I learned to cook when I was a kid, I think it was because the preparation is fairly hands on so it's a perfect starter recipe for younger aspiring cooks! The great thing about homemade pizza is that you can cater for the taste of every person you make it for. This recipes topping is just a suggestion but the same day I made this I made a pizza's with parma ham, goats cheese and peppers, so you can really use whatever takes your fancy.

For the pizza baking session, I had the help of my cousin Harry, who had decided to miss out on his Sunday morning rugby practice to make pizza. I don't know about you but I would obviously have made the same decision! His favourite part was getting to punch down the dough!

Chorizo and Mushroom Thin Crust Pizza

This dough creates a wonderfully, thin, crisp yet still chewy dough which ticks all the boxes for me! You can easily freeze the dough after it has finished rising, punch down, and pop in a freezer bag. Take it out the day before you plan to use it and allow to it to defrost in the fridge.

Makes 3-4 thin bases
255g of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
175ml of very warm water
1 x 7.5g sachet of active dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

For the topping
About 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce per pizza
175g of mozzarella
100g of chorizo, sliced thinly
1 large mushroom per pizza, sliced thinly

Combine the water, sugar, and yeast in a measuring jug. Set aside in a warm place in the kitchen for about 10-15 minutes or until it becomes frothy.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
When the yeast and water mixture has become frothy stir through the olive oil.
Make a well in the flour and pour in the yeast and water mixture, using your fingers slowly combine the flour in from the sides and continue to mix until a rough dough forms.
Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add a little extra flour until it becomes smooth. Form the dough into a ball and turn in an oiled bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and set in a warm spot for about 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Punch the dough down, knead again for a minute and place back in the bowl to rise for an additional 10 minutes.
Split the dough into 3-4 pieces and roll out as thin as possible. Flour a baking sheet and transfer the pizza base to it. Spread the base with the tomato sauce, sprinkle with mozzarella, chorizo slices and mushroom pieces.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 200C/Gas Mark 6 or until the cheese turns golden and the crust becomes crisp.
Serve straightaway!

Unfortunately, the convenience of picking up a pre-washed bag of designer salad leaves has quickly become common place in our modern lives. In fact in 2005, the bagged salad market was growing at 7 percent a year and was estimated to be worth over 1.2 billion dollars a year in the US. However success stories aside, the gases and chemicals sometimes used in the production of these bags, add unnecessary toxins which our bodies can seriously do without. A normal salad leaf will last about 4-5 days in the fridge where as some of these cut salad leaves can keep on looking fresh for a whopping 10 days! That just can't be right!

There is nothing more satisfying than preparing your own salad leaves which you know were produced locally. It's a much greener kitchen practice, and it tastes so much better. I actually got the idea to write a post about this because Sofie had never seen anyone washing salad leaves before me, (she has led a very sheltered life in Sweden ;) and thought maybe there were a few people out there like her who didn't know the easy process to do so.

There are so many exciting salad leaves you can choose from, so be adventurous, it'll make the difference when it comes to plating up! Here's my quick and simple steps to preparing salad:

1. Fill your sink with cold water.
2. Remove any packadging from your Salad and cut out the core or seperate the leaves from the stem.
3. Submerge the leaves in the water and give them a good swill, allow to sit for about 10 mins. (This will allow dirt to settle to the bottom, and the cold water will bring wilted leaves back to life.)
4. Take a handful of leaves out of the water at a time and spin in a salad spinner until they are completely dry. (Salad Spinners can be picked up relatively cheap, I got mine for 5 Euro. Moisture is not your friend here as it will shorten the life of the stored leaves, so make sure they're dry.)
5. Store the leaves swaddled in a dry tea towel, or in an airtight zipper bag, in the bottom crisper drawer of your fridge . The leaves will last anywhere between 4-6 days depending on the leaf.

A list of all the Food and Drink blogs Ireland has to offer:

• Bandon Farmers’ Market
• Bibliocook
• Bubble Brothers
• Cafe Paradiso Blog
• Cake Creations
• Conor’s Bandon Blog
• Cookzors
• Cork Food
• Dine and Wine Club Cork
• Dublin Gobbler
• Eat Drink Live
• Eaters Regret
• Eating Out Ireland
• English Mum
• Fairy Cake Heaven
• Food and Drink Ireland
• Food For Life - Kevin Thornton
• Food Lorists
• Gastronom.ie
• Geeky Pants
• Glenisk Organic Dairy
• Grannymar
• Ice Cream Ireland
• iFoods Video Recipes
• I Just Love Food
• Irish Wine Contemplations
• Italian Foodies
• Letters on Lunches
• Little Bird Eats
• Martin Dwyer
• Munster Pubs
• Myfood.ie Blog
• Ollie’s Place
• Ommnomnom
• Organico
• Organic Yum-Yum
• Our Grannie’s Recipes
• Peppermint Tea
• Pink Whisk
• Rocking Grass
• Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments
• Simon Tyrell
• Sour Grapes
• Stuff Yer Bake
• Sunday Lunches
• Stuff Yer Bake
• Superyacht Chef
• Tast.ie
• The Fruity Cook
• The Good Mood Food Blog
• The Natural Foods Bakery
• Truly Scrumptiousness
• Ummera Smoked Products
• Val’s Kitchen
• Vinca’s in the Kitchen
• Well Done Fillet
• Messy Chef

We (Industry) just started our radio tour for our brand new single, "Burn" which is due for release on the 21st of August, so we have been travelling all over Ireland visiting all the radio stations. It is quite hard going, early mornings and late nights, but after the last single going to number 1, it's well worth it! The one thing I have been finding difficult is eating on the road. Unless you plan ahead you are at the mercy of petrol stations at the side of the road where the choice ranges from a hot deli counter to plastic wrapped sambos- not really my cup of tea!

My quick solution is to make my own healthy salads, and somehow I got roped into making one each for the other three! Now I say roped, but really I offered and totally enjoy making them, plus I have this thing for praise... Anyway, this is the favourite salad so far and I can see why, it's pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself! Try it out, give it a whirl, let me know how you get on!

Asian Teriyaki Chicken Salad

I make this salad to go, if you want to do the same, keep the dressing separate and add it when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4
4 chicken breasts
4 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small Chinese cabbage, finely chopped in shreds
A large handful of sugar snap peas, finely sliced
2 red peppers, sliced finely
1 red onion, sliced finely
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
½ a thumbsized piece of ginger, finely minced

Combine the teriyaki sauce and garlic in a bowl and add the chicken breasts.
Toss to combine, cover and then place in fridge while you chop the salad ingredients
Heat a griddle pan over a medium heat with a little oil and fry the chicken breasts for 4-5 minutes either side or until hey are cooked through. Remove the breasts from the pan set on a chopping board to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing.
Add the Chinese cabbage, red peppers, red onion and snow peas to the bowl. Toss until the vegetables are nicely coated with the dressing.
Serve the salad in large deep dishes and sprinkle with a little shredded coriander.
Slice the chicken thinly and arrange on top of the vegetables.
Serve straight away.

I'm in Sweden until Monday and I had planned a few more Halloween recipes to stick up on the blog, unfortunately the combination of loosing my power adaptor and lots of travelling meant that I didn't get round to actually posting them. Sweden doesn't really celebrate Halloween and it is seen mainly as an American holiday but seeing as I grew up with the tradition of carving pumpkins, I thought it was high time my Swedish friends got their carve on!

Sofie and I spent the day yesterday searching for the perfect pumpkins to bring over to her little cousins who were very excited at the idea of gutting the pumpkins! In fairness to Sweden they have a great selection of pumpkins on offer and it's not all the generic ones we get in the supermarket in Ireland.

After a lot of searching and mini breakdown from Sofie, we finally found two big fat orange pumpkins! It was lots of fun carving the pumpkins with Niklas and Jonas but my favourite part of the whole process is making these delicious toasted seeds!

Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

These seeds are my perfect little alloween snack and they are far more healthy than your average Halloween treats! Try experimenting with flavours, I have yet to make a sweet version of these but I'm pretty sure they would work good too.

Serves about 4 people as a snack
The seeds of 2 pumpkins
3 tablespoons of melted butter
2 teaspoons of chilli powder
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons of sea salt

Remove the seeds from the pumpkin, place in a colander and rinse with water until they are clean.
Shake off any excess water and place the seeds on a dry tea towel and pat dry.
Place the seeds in a large roasting tray and pour over the melted butter.
Sprinkle the seeds with the chilli powder, cayenne pepper and sea salt.
Toss the seeds until they are all thoroughly coated.
Place in the oven to toast for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool, though to be honest sometimes they taste the best straight out of the oven! Just watch out for burned fingers!

This has to be one of my favorite Turkish street foods. I got the great opportunity to watch how they are made, not out of choice, I might add! We had ordered 2 of the pizza's at this little restaurant right beside the local mosque in Fethiye, and the owner spotted me taking pictures around the place earlier. He quickly dragged me in to the kitchen, full of pride and instructed me to take pictures of the pizza's being made!

Not that I was complaining, the guy who was doing the cooking, gave me a full demonstration and from the speed he was producing the pizza's, it was pretty clear that he had done this before! The small pieces of dough are rolled out into long thin oval shapes and then a mix of meat, egg and herbs is placed on top. The dough is then folded in towards the centre to form a chewy crust. Don't let the idea of pizza throw you, this is nothing like it's Italian cousin. The recipe here is adapted from a Turkish cook book, with the advice of the Fethiye pizza maker, thrown in for good measure!

Turkish Pizza (Pide)

1. 5 Cups of Flour.
2. 4 Tablespoons of Butter.
3. 1 Sachet of Active Dried Yeast.
4. 2 Cups Of Milk.
5. 1 Teaspoon of Salt.
6. 1 Teaspoon of Sugar.
7. 3 Eggs.
8. 250g Minced Lamb.
9. 1 Beef Tomato, finely chopped.
   
10. A Good Handful of Coarsely Chopped Parsley.
11. 1 Medium Onion, finely chopped.
12. A Good Pinch Of Salt and Pepper.

When the dough has risen, seperate into egg sized pieces and flatten them into long oval shapes on a floured surface. Place the meat mix in a long line, on the dough and make sure to leave about 2cm on either side for the crust. Fold the dough in on either side and place in an oven for 10 minutes, at 240oC.

Serve straight away and slice into smaller pieces.

These are possibly the most tasty little buns I've ever had! I first sampled them homemade at a Swedish friend's house, and was intrigued by the very foreign shape, yet familiar Christmas flavors. When I moved to Sweden last year, I quickly found out they were standard fair for everyday life and were similar to what the croissant does for the french and what the scone does for the English. All in all they were pretty bog standard! However, I was given a Swedish cookbook recently which had the recipe so I had to try recreating them, it's not really your standard fairy cake mixture, but the effort was worth it, even if just to put a smile on my homesick girlfriend!

Generally if you stick to the recipe you can't really go wrong, the only variation I made to the recipe was rolling the dough a bit more thinly to get more rolls, but that is entirely up to yourself!

If you don't have pearl sugar, which I didn't the first time I made them, you can substitute it with a sprinkling out dark brown sugar.

Swedish Cinnamon Buns
Makes about 40 Buns

1. 2 Cups of whole milk
2. 4oz butter
3. 2 packs of dried yeast
4. 1/2 tsp salt
5. 2/3 cup sugar
6. 5-6 cups of flour

1. 4oz butter
2. 1/2 cup of sugar
3. 2 tbsp of cinnamon
4. 1 egg beaten
   

When the mixture is lukewarm add the two sachets of active dry yeast, making sure it is really mixed through.

Stir in the sugar and the salt.

Slowly incorporate the flour in one cup at a time, try not to loose it, as the mixture will eventually come together, and you won't be left with a sticky mess forever!

When the dough has taken shape and is no longer sticky, turn out onto a floured surface and need for about 3 minutes.

Leave the dough to rise in the bowl covered with a damp cloth for 45 mins. Try and find somewhere warm as the yeast will do it's job a lot quicker.

While the dough is rising , prepare the filling. Gently melt the butter and add the cinnamon and sugar, making a thick spreadable mixture.

When the dough has risen, cut it in half and roll it into a rectangle about 5mm thick, and then spread the filling all over.

Then roll the dough so you get a snail effect, and slice into approx 15-20 pieces. Place the slices in those cute little paper wrappers face up and coat with the beaten egg.

Then sprinkle your little babies with some pearl sugar, or brown sugar if you can't get some.

Bake the rolls in the oven at 250 degrees Celsius for about 5 mins or until the turn golden brown!

Enjoy! Perfect with some afternoon tea, a wild night in with the lads, or even a sneaky one to yourself! The choice is yours!

Big congratulations to the Jelly Monster, you have won the super cleaning pack from the lovely people at Lilly's!

Not only that but for all you lovely people who entered with your worst stains, the folks at Lilly's have decided to suggest the best ways to get rid of them! Check out the answers below!

Ian Healy said...

Curry on white clothes is a fecker :( Oh, Jagermeister on a white shirt! That's messy. Spaghetti bolognese on white. Actually, I should stop wearing white...

The Secret Gardener said..
Red wine on a cream plush carpet in a rented house that I attempted to remove with washing up liquid so adding a nice green tinge. Added some salt and a bit of water and hey presto an almighty bloody mess and my deposit gone in an instant.

Dazzledust25 said...
My husband always gives out to me about being so clumsy. One afternoon there we were having a coffee and I rested mine on the arm of the sofa. He warned me to be careful and then in an instant knocked his own cup flying and destroyed out new cream fabric couch! Nothing got rid of the massive stain. Now when it gets warm our couch has a lovely coffee aroma haha so wrong!

Or shoe polish on himself's new fancy white shirt.... I got in sooooooooo much trouble ha ha ha

Oh I so hope I win I love cleaning products and have been wanting to try more eco friendly stuff!

My daughter was playing on the green with friends. She got grass stain on her pants. Then she was on her bike and fell from her bike and cut one knee. Blood and grass stain mix does not remove!!! I tried everything!!!

Thanks to all at Lilly's for answering the comments and I'm sure if you have any more stain related troubles they would be happy to help!