Donal Skehan is back and he's on a mission- to show people just how easy it is to prepare delicious, home-cooked food. And to do it, Donal is taking his third series on the road in a vintage Citroen H van and laying out his stall at festivals and gatherings around the country. It's Donal's HomeCooked roadshow.

Donal will be travelling the country to promote the HomeCooked message and this brand new series sees him visiting Waterford for the Food Festival, Kerry for the Set Dancing Festival, Ballymaloe for the Lit Fest, Howth for the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival and Limerick for the River Fest, and more. Donal will be taking inspiration from home and abroad and introducing us to lots of mouth watering recipes, including Chilli and Lemongrass Chicken, Howth Seafood Chowder, Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa, Blue Cheese Beef Sliders and Butterflied BBQ Yoghurt & Mint Lamb.

As well as the dishes he cooks for the crowds at the Festivals, he will also make lots of cakes, biscuits and other sweet treats in a section of each programme called Donal's HomeCooked Bakery.

So, each week in this new series we're going to have a section dedicated to those delicious indulgences that everyone just can't get enough of. Crisp chewy meringues with lashings of cream and summer fruits, plump profiteroles dripping with chocolate sauce, sweet and salty dark chocolate caramel biscuits, crème brulee doughnuts and rich peanut butter sandwich cookies – all of these will make an appearance in Donal's Bakery!".

Episode One: Dublin Bay Prawn Festival

Donal starts this new series in Howth, his home town, where he cooks at the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival. The dishes are Howth Head Seafood Chowder, Wild Garlic Soda Bread, Surf and Turf Salad and a Raspberry Pie.

Recipes:

- Surf N Turf Salad

- Howth Seafood Chowder

- Raspberry Goddess Pie

Episode Two: Dungarvan Food Festival

Despite the rain in Dungarvan Donal cooks up two delicious dishes, Chilli & Lemongrass Chicken and Beer Batter Fish with Mushy Minty Peas and Rosti Potato Cakes.  In Donal's HomeCooked bakery he creates an epic Crazy Monkey Brownie Baked Alaska.

Recipes:

- Chilli & Lemongrass Chicken

- Beer Batter Fish with Minty Mushy Peas and Rosti Potato Cakes

- Crazy Monkey Brownie Baked Alaska

- HomeCooked Weekly Competition -

Episode 2 | Dungarvan Food Festival

Every week during the new series of Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked on RTÉ One at 8.30pm we will be giving away a wonderful prize!  All you have to do is send us a picture of a dish from series which you've cooked at home.  You can find the links to all the recipes in the series so far in the episode guide above.  You can tweet us photo on twitter to @DonalSkehan followed by #HomeCooked or upload it to our facebook page with #HomeCooked or alternatively send it via email here.

This week we have Bosch Handblender up for grabs.  To be in with a chance of winning show us your HomeCooked cooking skills and send us a photo of your food!  The competition is open to viewers in the Republic Of Ireland until Monday the 23rd of June and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 25th of June at 8.00pm.  We'll be featuring some of the best shots right here on the website and our facebook album!

In this stunning new book to accompany the 12-part primetime TV series, award-winning food writer Donal Skehan shows how easy and satisfying it is to serve great food every day.

Donal’s infectious enthusiasm for cooking encourages everyone to get in the kitchen. Whether you’re time-pressed mum or dad, a culinary novice or a student looking to feed friends tasty no-fuss meals, Donal’s irresistible recipes will get you cooking up a storm.

Homecooked includes new takes on well-loved family classics, such as Stuffed Pork with Apple and Ginger Sauce, One-pot Whole Chicken and Failsafe Bread 101, plus original and inspiring new ideas like Blackened Salmon with Green Goddess Avocado Salad, Blue Cheese Beef Sliders and Mikado Coconut Cream Cake.

Nothing beats a good home-cooked meal – and Donal’s highly photographic and stylish new book is a must-have for anyone who agrees.

CHAPTER BREAKDOWN

– Everyday Dinners
– Fast and Healthy
– Comfort Food
– Food for Friends
– Big Sunday Lunch
– Weekend Brunch
– Desserts and Sweet Treats
– Home Baking

Out October 2013, preorder copies over here…

Hi guys!

Welcome to the June newsletter, can you believe it's June all ready?  Times flies when you're having fun!

We've been having lots of fun recently as the festival season in Ireland has really got into full swing.  Myself and the Kitchen Hero team have been traveling all over the country filming episodes of the new series of Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked which just started back on RTÉ One Tuesday nights at 8.30pm.  The first episode went out to over 410,000 viewers with a 28% share which is the best ratings we've had for the show yet!

I had the most wonderful time at the BLOOM festival in Phoenix park, Ireland's largest and most well attended food and gardening exhibitions.  It's the one event I look most forward to every year and this year I was thrilled to be giving cookery demonstrations alongside some of Ireland's top names in food!  You can read about it below.

FEAST: A Dinner Journal, my brand new food magazine was launched last month and since it's release it's been getting quite a lot of love with mentions in the Irish Times, Sunday Business Post, The Herald plus lots of lovely comments on twitter and facebook.  I'm thrilled it's been so well received and we're already gearing up to start shooting for our High Summer issue out later this summer.  You can read more about it below.

The news I'm so excited to announce is that I've just recorded a mini series for Jamie Oliver's Food Tube, which starts today! It's all about quick cooking little suppers and you can check out all the details below.

There's lots going on in this months newsletter, from summer recipes to my favourite food blogs, cookbooks and lots more, so enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Donal x

Well after months of planning and plotting Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked has finally started on RTÉ One, proudly sponsored by SPAR Ireland!  In this series I'm travelling all over Ireland in my trusty Citroen H Van armed with a big pile of HomeCooking recipes.  We've been everywhere, from Dungarvan to Portmagee and Ballymaloe to the Dublin Docklands spreading the message of easy home cooked recipes.  My aim is to get people inspired to get into the kitchen and get cooking! 

The first part of the series (7 episodes) goes out throughout this summer and then will return for six further episodes with a Christmas special in November.  My brand new book which accompanies the series will be out in October and I'm very pleased to show you the cover shot by photography maestro Myles New.  The book will feature all the recipes from the show plus lots more for everyday cooking situations like quick dinners, sunday lunch, food with friends, and an entire two chapters dedicated to baking and desserts! If you want to be the first to receive it you can preorder it over here.

Until then the TV series should keep you going and if you try some of the recipes make sure to tweet me a picture or post a photo on facebook, I always love hearing which recipes you like the most!  Next week's episode is coming to you from Dungravan where despite the rain and wind, I'm cooking up Chilli & Lemongrass Chicken and Beer Batter Fish with Rosti Potato Cakes and Musy Minty Peas!  Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked | Tuesdays 8.30pm RTÉ One.

When I was 12 I got my first Jamie Oliver cook book and still to this day it gets pulled off the shelf for inspiration! So when the folks at Fresh One got in touch asking if I would be interested in filming a mini series for Jamie's Food Tube, I said Hell Yeah!  Jamie launched Food Tube just this year and it already has a ridiculous amount of subscribers and views, a proper success. 

The channel features masterclasses from Gennaro Contaldo, food photogrpahy tutorials from David Loftus (proper hero!), and it also features new talent like the guys from Sorted Food, The Chiappas and DJ BBQ.  My series is called Donal's Dinners and features quick cooking dishes which are packed full of flavour but are incredibly simple to prepare! 

We had so much fun recording the series with my buds from Nomos Productions, long sufferring cameraman Marc Dillon (take 32!) and genius director Robin "Demolition" Murray!

You can check out the first episode with a recipe for lemon and mint griddled chicken with mushy spiced chickpeas below and on Jamie's Food Tube and you can subscribe to the channel to hear when the next one will go out!

Bloom is the one food festival I look forward to the most and this years one in Phoenix park has to have been the best one yet.  It's a whopping 5 day event, celebrating Irish food and gardening and is jam packed to the brim with inspiring people and products.  One of the highlights for me is giving cooking demo's on the main stage, which is essentially, what I like to think of as the equivalant of the Oxygen festival for foodies, minus the the mud! 

I was also at the GIY Ireland tent to present the winners of the Innocent Smoothies Sow & Grow campaign.  Beating off over 25,000 children who have been learning to grown their own were the first class of St. Kevin’s Girls National School in Kilnamanagh in Dublin’s Tallaght, taught by Ailbhe Forde who won a trip to the zoo and lots and lots of gardening equipment.  It's a wonderful campaign getting young people to understand where their food comes from and you can check out more information over here.

I was also judging at the Sheridan's Irish Cheese Awards alongside Darina Allen, Elaine O’Connor, Charlotte Kamin, Nate McElroy, Miah Buckley, Pat Fenton, Ruth Hegarty and Ketty from French Foodie in Dublin.  We all had the tough job of selecting some of Ireland's best cheeses.  There could only be one gold winner and that was St. Tola Goats Cheese with an ash rind.  A really beautiful cheese which you have to try this summer!

You can see a video below about the cheese awards:

Now that summer is in full swing there's so many things getting me excited this month, here's a few links to people, products, places and events I'm loving at the moment:

- I'm very excited to be attending the brand new pop up supper Club, The Guerrilla Gourmet Club launches next week.  It's a gathering of great Artisans by Ross Golden Bannon and Chef Gareth Mullins. The five course menu will see each dish matching anchor artisans with national and international profiles to fledging artisans.  Tickets available here.

- As usual I'm a bit late to the game on new places to eat but I finally managed to get in to the rather brilliant Brother Hubbard on Capel Street in Dublin.  A quirky little cafe with some incredible cakes and coffee and a totally drool worthy menu to boot.  I was there for an early breakfast and had the most incredible semolina pancakes with a sweet ricotta créme, baked rhubarb and orange compote, fresh minth and hazelnut-almond praline.

- Already a convert to the sweet and sticky Highbank Orchard Syrup, at the Sheridans Irish Food Festival I picked up a bottle of their proper cider, made from the apples at their completely organic orchard in Kilkenny.  If you manage to get your hands on a few bottles this summer it's really beautiful drink.

- I managed to steal a few days away in Cannes in the south of France this month.  One of my favourite places to visit when I'm there is the food market Marché Forville at 12, Rue Louis Blanc which features the most amazing selection of produce and inspired me to cook up some delicious deep fried courgette flowers with goats cheese and lavander honey.  A great visit for anyone with an interest in French food.

- It was my birthday on the 3rd of June and rather than a birthday cake, this year, I got a giant log of Ireland's recently crowned best cheese, St. Tola Goats cheese with a black ash rind from County Clare's wild atlantic coast.  It's a really special cheese which you have to try and it was the perfect end to a brilliant birthday.

- I was in London last month putting the finishing touches to the new book and while I was there I got a chance to eat at Koya Udon a Japanese Noodle Bar in the heart of Soho.  It's become incredibly popular with queues out the door at lunchtime.  We snook in early and managed not only to get a seat but to guzzle down hot udon in a hot broth with smoked mackerel and green leaves and braised pork belly with cider.

Chocolat

- Eric Lanlard

There are very few books I would buy solely based on the cover but for the cover alone French master patissiére Eric Lanlard's Chocolat is instantly eye catching.  The oozing chocolate swirl cake on the cover however is only a prelude to the stunning recipes inside.  With chapters like "From The Bakery", "Truffles and Treats" and "Drink's, Sauces and Spreads" you just know you're in for a chocorific time! Recipes like Hot Chocolate Soufflé, Chocolate Toffee and a homemade Chocolate Hazelnut spread are extremely tempting and will have you reaching for the book time and time again.  But first on my to do list is the beautiful Chocolate Millefeuille…

Available online over here…

The MacNean Restaurant Cookbook

- Neven Maguire

If you're not from Ireland, Neven Maguire is a bit of a legend round these parts.  He's a champion of Irish food and with the mere mention of his name ladies go weak at the knees.  Neven has been cooking on Irish screens for many years now and is a household name with many cookbooks under his belt.  The MacNean Restaurant Cookbook is the culmination of years of hard work and beautiful recipes and is a total celebration of Irish food.  A great collection of both high end signature recipes and everyday dinner's, The MacNean Restaurant Cookbook shows off Neven's tireless dedication to good quality food and produce perfectly.

Available online over here…

Our brand new food magazine, FEAST: A Dinner Journal made it's debut last month and since then it has been read by over 30,000 people across the globe.  I'm so thrilled with the reaction we've had and we're already gearing up for the next issue out later this summer. 

We are currently working on different distribution methods including an iPad app so stay tuned for news of that later this summer. 

The first issue features just some of Ireland's most exciting names in food and the perfect recipes like Braised Connemara Hill Lamb with gremolata and nettle mash, Ballyvolane Gravadlax and Brown Hound Bakery Lemon Temples, for a Spring/Summer Feast!

For this debut issue you can view it online for free below or download it on your iPad and purchase a print copy over here.

La Buena Vida

http://nicolefranzen.blogspot.com/

I first came across Nicole Franzen's work when we were both featured in Katie Quinn Davies beautiful Christmas magazine a few years ago.  Since then Nicole's work has been featured in publications across the world including Bon Appetit, Saveur and Kinfolk.  Her photographs are beatifully displayed on her blog La Buena Vida where she features recipes and her latest work.  Based in New York, her food imagery regularly features beautful restaurants and stunning fresh produce markets.  A wonderful source of inspiration.

Must try recipe: Pulled Pork Carnitas

Rachel Khoo

http://www.rachelkhoo.com/

Not a traditional food blog, but Rachel Khoo's blog is a great source of inspiring food links and neat little ideas.  Rachel shot to fame after the BBC series Little Paris Kitchen where she ran supper clubs from her tiny apartment in Paris and cooked through deliciously simple Parisien recipes.  With top tips on picnics, eating out in Paris, markets and her latest news, Rachel's blog is a sweet little resource for an foodie with a French flair!

Must try recipe: Elderflower and Lime Martini

The HomeCooked journey across Ireland starts tonight in my hometown of Howth at the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival!  Make sure to tune in over on RTÉ One at 8.30pm and you can catch up on the RTE Player after it airs.  You can find the recipes from tonights show on RTE Food over here.

For the last few months I have been plotting and planning my kitchen garden and after a very slow spring it has just started to burst with colours.  When we first moved into our house three years ago the back garden was completely over grown with weeds as high as my waist.  After a lot of hacking, cutting and clearing we eventually made enough room to install a few raised vegetable beds and since then I've been growing veggies every year.

It all feels like it's just about to kick off, my chives are showing off with flowers a plenty, the pea bushes I've planted have just about started climbing, and the strawberries are plumping up a getting ready to start blushing.  My big aim in the garden this year was to create a bit more height, which might explain the blair witch style constructions you can see dotted around the veggie beds.  They may not look like much right now, but if you look closer you can see runner beans, french beans and sweet pea poking their heads out at the bases.

Although the garden didn't exactly provide much love when we first arrived after a little bit of hacking I've managed to save a great big old elder tree from being strangled by ivy and beautiful lilac bushes which come into bloom in late Spring/early Summer.  I'm pretty pleased the elder tree is looking much healthier and I have plans for a major cordial making session in a few weeks once the flowers come out.

I'm feeling pretty proud to say all the veggie beds are now filled and in a couple of weeks, I have high hopes we'll be eating lots of homegrown vegetables.  In the beds, there's squash, pumpkins, broad beans, purple sprouting brocolli, sugar snap peas, potatoes, kale, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, rainbow chard, cabbage, brussel sprouts and lots of different types of salad leaves.  I'll take some more photo's later in the summer and keep you posted on how it's all growing!

I'm very excited this week to be gracing the front cover of Ireland's iconic RTÉ Guide to celebrate the launch of the new series of Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked!  It hits Irish TV screens in a matter of days and in the first episode I'm cooking at the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival in my home town of Howth. 

On the menu there's a surf and turf salad, my Howth head seafood chowder, wild garlic soda bread and a raspberry goddess pie! Tune in on June 11th this coming Tuesday on RTÉ One at 8.30pm.  Until then you can check out a quick promo for the show with a taster of some of the recipes below:

It's been a couple of very busy weeks, getting FEAST all finished and launched, plus we've been fitting in the filming of the new series of Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked, (on RTÉ One from June 11th) each weekend at different festivals throughout Ireland.  On Saturday we were at Trim castle and then on Sunday we finished our current run of filming at the fabulous Sheridans Irish Food Festival.

The festival has been running for four years now and is one the best food festivals in the country which boasts many of Ireland's most famous food producers.  I've been there every year since it started and it really is not to be missed and an absolutely essential date in any Irish food lovers diary.  At the last 3 festivals that have been held, there has always been glorious sunshine, but unfortunately this year, the one we decided to film at, of course in true Irish tradition, it bucketted down with rain!  It didn't dampen people's spirits and there was a brown bread baking competition, cheese tastings, sausage sampling, plus lots of artisan food stands.

We shot two simple recipes, a spicy kedgeree and lime and coconut chicken in between my brown bread judging duties alongside Elisabeth Ryan from Sheridans.  My kedgeree demonstration was in full sunshine and then right on schedule the rain arrived just as I began serving up the lime and coconut chicken.  We had a great crowd for both, who all stuck around, tucked in and oooh'd and aaah'd right on call!

You can check out a short behind the scenes video we shot yesterday while we were filming which hopefully will give you taster for the day.  Unfortunately we didn't get much of the food stall there on the day, but,  and not that this is any consolation, my fridge is full of lots of goodies which I'll be making my way through this week!  Pork belly from Edd Hick, Highbank Orchard Syrup and cider, Bellingham Blue Cheese and Kilbeg yoghurts, will all be devoured over the next few days. 

An idea that started a long time ago, has finally come to life today and I am very thrilled to introduce you to FEAST: A Dinner Journal!  It's a unique quarterly food magazine which celebrates seasonal eating. All the features within the magazine lead to one final meal and a celebration of passionate food producers and craft.   It's been quite a journey to get to today and we have travelled all over Ireland to shoot the photography for each separate feature. 

In this first issue the focus is on, just some of Ireland's most exciting names in food, who have kindly shared their recipes for a course in our FEAST.  A small but very dedicated team have worked with me on this so a massive thank you to Ross Golden Bannon, Sharon Hearne Smith, Jane Matthews and Sofie Larsson for all the time and long hours put in.

The first issue will be completely free to view online for a limited time and you can also order printed copies here.  If you enjoy it, please make sure to share it with family and friends via the links beneath this post, order a print copy and you can sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about the next issue here.  But now without further adieu, I give you… FEAST: A Dinner Journal.

Hi guys!

Welcome to May, sunnier skies, longer evenings and best of all lots of wonderful new season produce!

This month it's all go with the new series of Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked, we are continuing to film before the show starts June 11th on RTÉ One.  We had a great week here in my own home kitchen cooking lots of baking recipes but it's also been so much fun to be out and about visiting festivals across Ireland.

The big news I've been waiting to tell you all, is that this month I'm launching my very own quarterly magazine online.  It's called Feast: A Dinner Journal and is a celebration of seasonal food which I've been creating alongside some very talented people over the last few weeks.  The first issue will be available online free for all on the 16th of May and you can sign up to be the first to recieve it here.

Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less starts on Good Food Channel in the UK on Monday 13th of May with two back to back episodes at 7pm.  I'll be taking part in a twitter takeover right after the show on Monday night, answering questions via the Good Food Channel twitter page.

This month make sure to check out Delicious Magazine for my lemon and blueberry slices and Good Food Magazine for my Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches and recipes from the Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less TV show.  This weekend the Irish Independent are also featuring the recipes from the food shoot myself and Kate Packwood from the Wild Flour Bakery put together, so make sure to pick up a copy.

At the end of last month, I flew to London to shoot the cover for Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked which is due out later this year in October.  I'll hopefully be able to share the finished cover in the next few weeks.  I've just received the spreads with the fully designed version and I'm so excited to share it all with you!

There's lots in this month's newsletter to inspire you in the kitchen.  Some of my favourite spring/summer recipes are included in my recipe roundup, there's a great selection of exciting new cookbooks on offer, two rather sweet baking blogs, details of the Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked filming schedule and links to the things making me most excited about food this month.

Happy cooking!

Donal x

Master It- How to cook today
- Rory O'Connell

I first met Rory O'Connell, one of Ireland's most inspirational chefs and teacher at Ballymaloe Cookery School, backstage at a cookery demo he was giving in Dublin where he was carefully picking over bunches of beautiful herbs from his garden.  It is this care and consideration he clearly takes with all elements of cooking which translates beautifully into the tome that is Master It: How to cook today, his first cookbook. 

I particularly love the premise of this book, the focus is not solely on the recipes but more so on the method and details of cooking, something which often gets lost amongst our seemingly endless appetite for new and exciting recipes. 

In each chapter Rory concentrates on a particular basic skill and includes a set of seasonal recipes to practice it year round.  Anyone who has seen Rory in action will have seen his meticulous attention to details and this is beautifully communicated through his passionate writing and recipes.  A timeless cookbook for any good cook.

Book available online here…

The Guilt Free Gourmet
- Jordan & Jessica Bourke

Brother and sister duo, Jordan a trained chef and Jessica Bourke a nutrionist have devised the perfect cookbook for those who like to have their cake and eat it without the guilt.  In The Guilt Free Gourmet the recipes offer naturally healthy alternatives to dairy, processed wheat and sugar and prove that indulgent food can also have it's health benifits.  

Jordan is a chef in London (formerly of the Michelin star Petersham Nurseries restaurant) and Jessica is a leading nutritional therapist, and together they have created a tempting collection of recipes paired with nutritional information explaining the benefits of certain ingredients.

The theory is that the combination of these recipes and nutritional information will help you to lose weight, feel great and improve your energy.  Jordan will be giving a Guilt Free Gourmet demonstration in Donnybrook Fair in Dublin on the 8th of June.

Book available online here…

Apron Strings- Recipes from a family kitchen
- Nessa Robins

I was very excited when I first heard fellow Irish food blogger Nessa Robins was going to be writing a cook book with the guidance of my former book editor Eoin Purcell.  It was Eoin who encouraged me to write my first cookbook Good Mood Food. 

Nessa's food blog where she shares recipes and stories from her family kitchen has gone from strength to strength, winning awards and being featured in mainstream media and now, she has produced a truly personal cookbook from the heart of her family home. 

In each chapter, Nessa, a nurse and mother of four, tackles the everyday cooking situations most families are faced with. 

Her book filled with a collection of delicious recipes will ensure, like most good cookbooks, this one will be covered in splatters and thumb marks.  The perfect cookbook for any busy family.

Book available online here…

Comme Une Lait Fraise http://www.likeastrawberrymilk.com/

I've been following the ever fabulous Fanny, since her days blogging at her first food blog, Food Beam.  A trained pastry chef, Fanny is based in London and updates her blog with dreamy photos and illustrations of sweet treats and adventurous baking. Having grown up on the French rivera and trained in Paris, she now works in one of London's most talked about restaurants, I'm still not sure which one though, maybe she'll tell me one of these days.  While you might get swept away by her sweet drawings, recipes like Chocolate Self Saucing Cake and Custard Filled Cornbread will find you either eyeing up the baking cupboard or halfway through a tub of chocolate ice cream.  Go now and dive into her deliciousness…

Must try recipe: Madeleines aux framboises…

Hummingbird High http://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/

After a visit to London's famous Hummingbird Bakery, food blogger Michelle realised she had just eaten the best cupcake in her life.  It was that sweet experience that prompted her to start her food blog.  She posts about the delectable deserts, cakes and sweet treats she bakes as she cooks through recipes from the Hummingbird Bakery cook book and other tasty sources of inspiration.  Her recipe index reads like my dream baking day with drool worthy titles like Lemon Cupcakes with Hibiscus Cream Cheese Frosting, Cracked Ginger-Molasses Cookies and Orange Scented Cake Donuts with a Milky Earl Grey Tea Glaze.  From the confidence her baking quest has brought her, Michelle has now begun to develop her own recipes, which I can only imagine will be equally special.

Must try recipe: Brownies and cream sandwiches…

The Kitchen Hero: HomeCooked van "Gertrude" is on the road all this month and so far we've already visited Ballymaloe Litfest in Cork, Riverfest in Limerick and the Portmagee Set Dancing Festival in Kerry.  We'll be hitting up a few more festivals before the TV series begins in June, we'll be at Sheridan's Food Festival in Carnaross on the 26th of May and if you stay tuned to my facebook and twitter I'll keep you posted on the latest additions.

It's been so much fun to get out of the kitchen and meet people at the different festivals and I've thoroughly been enjoying setting up our little set at each destination.  Cathy from Little Piggy Hire is a props genius and has been making our table display so beautiful that people no longer want pictures with me but instead want to just photograph the van, don't worry I don't take it personally, she's a beaut! 

My aim with this TV series is to show people, really simple home cooking recipes, with exciting ingredients to get them into the kitchen, cooking.  It has been so rewarding, to see people trying the food I've been cooking at the festivals, and I hope that when the TV series starts airing, it will encourage everyone to get cooking!  We've still got another month to go but the show will start airing the 11th of June on RTÉ One.

There's quite a few things occupying my food brain at the moment, the following are some of the people, things, websites and more that are keeping me excited this month:

- One of my favorite ways of collecting delicious recipes online is through Pinterest, my food board is getting bigger and bigger and there are so many delicious looking things to try…

- I came across the lads from Sorted Food through Jamie Oliver's Food Tube, they make brilliant videos with recipes and lots of fun and are well worth checking out…

- I am a little addicted to Glenilin Farm Rhubarb Yoghurt pots, they come in mini glass milks churns and are truly delicious…

- I finally got to visit The Fumbally in Dublin earlier this month after hearing so many great things about it, I had a delicious beetroot, goats cheese and walnut pesto sandwich, I'l be back for more…

- One of the very inspiring people I met at Ballymaloe LitFest last weekend was Claire Ptak, whose beautiful London bakery, Violet, is high on my agenda for a visit next time I'm there…

- The Saveur Food Blog Awards too place recently but the list of nominees is a fantastic resource for finding exciting new blogs to drool over…