Packed Lunches and Picnics

Evening all!

This morning started off very exciting in #tweettreat land, with recipes donated by @LouDPhillips - Lou Diamond Phillips himself - and by @Schofe - Philip Schofield! How cool was that? Thanks and kudos to @ShirtnTie and @thejayfaulkner respectively for those two, very well done guys. :) That brings our celebrity total to 82 - a mere 58 to go! Very doable.

Some lovely, unusual recipes came in for today's challenge. Though we didn't quite hit the 1500 mark - we have 1494 recipes - I'm sure we'll get there tomorrow. I really like this one:

"Fry onion garlic add Shi-i-take s&p put in wrap smeared with smashed avocado+juice fresh lemon tomato&salad on top"


And today's rockstar is @CreaZin! Well done, nice to see another newbie winning a challenge. :)


Tomorrow's challenge, as suggested by yesterday's winner @Danoosha, is for cakes - or any and all baked goods, including cookies, etc. As ever, the best recipe will earn rockstar status. 


Have fun!

The Staff of Life

Happy Tuesday everyone, especially to newcomers to #tweettreat - feel free to read down through the blog, try out some of the recipes, and spread the word! :)

Today's challenge was Bread; either baking it or recipes featuring it. You have been a very busy lot and loads of great recipes came in; it was really, genuinely hard to pick a winner today. In the end, I chose this one:

"Brioche
60g bttr, 3tbsp mlk, 2 egs, 30g sug, 275g pl four, 1 sch yeast tsp mixspc milk into melted bttr, add rest set brd mker on sweet 500g loaf"


That is a perfect example of a #tweettreat if ever I saw one - concise, intelligible and yummy! What's amazing to me is that this great effort came from a #tweettreat newbie, @Danoosha, who is today's rockstar of #tweettreat. Some of the rest of you could learn a thing or two from that (cough@chiddle84cough)


Tomorrow is my darling daughter's last day of school before the summer holidays (can you smell the dread from there?). So, tomorrow's challenge is for packed lunches (cos no more of them for a while) and picnics (if the weather holds!)  As ever, the best recipe will win rockstar status. :)


At time of blogging, we have 1482 recipes and 80 celebrities! I'm sure we'll easily pass the 1500 mark tomorrow.


Thanks again everyone, and huge ongoing thanks to #teamtweettreat - I couldn't have picked a better bunch of people to work with even if I had, you know, actually picked you. Instead of you foisting yourselves on me. Love you all! ;)

Musical Monday

Hi all and I hope you had a good weekend!

My Monday got off to a truly stonking start when I received a #tweettreat from none other than @neilhimself - Neil Gaiman! A very nice recipe it is too, for cherry crumble. I'm still on cloud nine. :)

Anyway, today's challenge was for musically inspired food, either suggested by the title of a song, featuring in a musical, etc. There was less messing today than I'd feared with this topic, and some very good recipes were tweeted. Today's winner is one which put a nice twist on the music-inspired theme:

"Toast 2 sl of bread. Put peanut butter on 1 piece, banana on other. Sandwich together and fry in real butter. Bow to the King."


Today's rockstar is @jeanharrie! Well done you. As of today, I've received 1442 recipes from 340 contributors including 79 celebrities. Not half bad. :)


Tomorrow's challenge, as suggested by @chiddle84, is bread. You can tweet recipes for baking bread, or to use leftover bread (breadcrumbs?) or even things to make with bread, such as sandwiches. A nice, versatile task that - so no excuses, right?


Now, a few more statistics for you. I've been getting rather nosy about you lot and wondering where all of the #tweettreats have been coming from, so I spent the day on some more statistics. So far, I've received recipes from 15 countries, with the nationalities of people donating #tweettreats breaking down as follows:
UK               47.18%
Ireland          19%
USA             17.8%
Scotland       3.26%
Canada        2.37%
France         1.48%
N. Ireland    1.19%
Australia        .89%
Netherlands   .89%
Kenya           .60%
Bahrain         .30%
Israel            .30%
Mexico        .30%
Qatar           .30%
Spain           .30%


I find this sort of thing fascinating, though it'll prolly bore you lot to tears! I thought it very interesting that although this project started in Ireland, by far the most contributors to date have come from the UK. On a day you're all probably pretty down about the World Cup, that's something you can feel good about!


Talk to you all tomorrow. 

Thank Crunchie it's Friday!

Welcome to the weekend!

Today's challenge was Thank Crunchie it's Friday - or thank Mars, or Maltesers, or Skittles, or anything else. You were invited to create quick and easy desserts with choccie bars from the corner shop (so long as they weren't Nestle.)

Now, remind me never to do a challenge like this again, cos I've had a longing for chocolate all day that has nearly been the undoing of me! You all relished this task, with double cream, caramel and chocolate abounding in your recipes. Evil sods that you are.

Anyway, it was hard to pick a winner cos they were all massively calorific, but this one really sounded good to me:

"Melt 300g mlk choc & 25g butter Bash sm pk Rich Tea bisc & 4 Crunchies & stir in Press into 15cm sq foil tin Chill Cut into sqrs"

Today's rockstar is a relative newcomer to #tweettreat, but a very welcome one - @JackyHSF! Well done, and keep them coming. :)


We also beat our goal today, which was 1400 - we now have 1409 #tweettreats, and 73 celebrities! The celebrities section on the right hand side of the site will get a makeover during the weekend, cos it's getting a bit unruly...


On to Monday's challenge; given how much fun everyone had with Food on Film, Monday is Musical Monday. Food in songs (even bad puns; "Oh, EClaire..."), food from musicals (Oliver?) etc. Let your imagination run wild! Try to make actual recipes, though. If you can. 


Now, if anyone reading this blog is still confused about what Twitter is and what it's for, this video... really won't explain anything at all. Sorry. 


Have a great weekend everyone, enjoy and have a good rest - you've earned it!

Tart Thursday

I despair of the twitterverse, I really do. I mention that today's challenge is for tarts, and suddenly you all turn into giggly ten-year-old boys. Honestly.

Still, you seemed to be having fun coming up with the goods! Some fantastic recipes came in today, bringing us to a total of 1384. We've also now received contributions from 70 celebrities - half our goal of 140! Huge kudos today to @mduffywriter, who managed to get a contribution from @PaulaAbdul of all people - and to everyone else who's spread the word and pushed the message today, thank you too.

On to tonight's winner, which is this:

"Fill cooked pastry case with stewed apple.Dot with bits of marzipan,cook in mod hot oven til marzipan rich brown& sort of crispy on the top"


Tonight's rockstar is @Chadwickauthor! Fabulous sounding recipe. It had me at marzipan. ;)


Now for some interesting statistics, which took me all day! Thus far, I have received: 


1384 recipes from:
323 contributors with a combined following of:
3,348,350


How incredible is that?! And how amazing are all of you, for all the work you've done!


Round of applause for yourselves, please! 


Now, tomorrow's challenge is an easy one; Thank Crunchie it's Friday! I want simple recipes that involve Crunchies. Or Mars Bars. Or Maltesers. Or crisps. Anything, really, so long as it's not a Nestle product - no Nestle products will make the grade in this book!


Have fun with this one and I'll talk to you all tomorrow :)

Romancing the Stones...

A very quick blog post tonight, hopefully before midnight so it counts as today! Sorry, I had some friends drop in for a couple of drinks and got very held up with tonight's bloggage. 

Anyway, today's challenge was Romance - romantic food, aphrodisiacs, food your beloved loves, etc. All I can say is that this challenge proved that there are some very sick, very kinky people out there in the twitterverse! I expected oysters on the half shell, but I actually got multi-flavoured chocolate body paint from @mduffywriter...

However, that's nothing on tonight's winner, which is this:

"Aphrodisiac: One for the men, obviously! Cojones al ajo. Skin, slice, and gently fry sheep or stallion testicles in olive oil with garlic."

This jaw-dropping offering was from tonight's rockstar, @davidgilray! Remind me never to come to your house for dinner, ok?

Tomorrow is Tart Thursday. Tarts of all descriptions are welcome. Sweet, savoury, miniature, @mduffywriter ;) -  whatever. As ever, other recipes are also welcome. Today we reached the respectable number of 1355 recipes, and 60 celebrities. How far can we get tomorrow? 

Mother Hubbard Miracles

Today's challenge was for those meals that you manage to ingeniously scrape together from whatever is left in the cupboards, rather than going shopping (or if you're broke!). You came up with some great ones, one or two that I'll definitely be trying.  Today's winner is this:

"Slice potatoes thin, parboil for 10 mins. Put in dish with onion, mushroom, cheese layers. Add stock and milk. Bake for 30 mins" 


I really like the sound of that. Today's rockstar is @dorristheloris - your student days have been worthwhile after all!


Tomorrow's challenge - as suggested previously by @neversarah - is Romance. It's a loose category (phnar phnar), so you can tweet heart-shaped food, recipes that sound romantic/poetic, aphrodisiacs, even your loved one's favourite dish. I'm not fussy. :) Remember, the daily challenges are just for fun and I'm happy to take any recipe, any time. 


Now, some news. The wonderful and very very clever @neversarah suggested some time ago that I should aim for 1400 recipes in the finished book, as a direct reflection of the number of characters in a tweet. She also suggested aiming for 140 celebrities. See what she did there? See? Told you she was clever. :)


Anyway, after due consideration, that's what I'm going to do. (I hope.) It means I'm going to have to increase the target from 1200 (which we've exceeded now anyway, we're at 1326) to about 1600, once again to allow for editing and culling. 


At present I've received recipes from 58 celebrities, so we're not quite halfway there on that score. Come on, #teamtweettreat! :) I hate to keep asking and pestering you all to help, but so many of you have gotten so good at celeb stalking - I mean, asking - that it's a little scary. ;) I know it's easy to start flagging at this stage - I'm fairly wiped myself - but I really believe that it will all be worth it in the end. I couldn't have gotten this far without all of you helping and contributing, and I really hope you'll put up with me for a while longer. :)


Talk to you all tomorrow!


Last minute edit - forgot to add this link, to another funny recipe blog post. Enjoy!

Muggle Munchies and Magic Meals

Well I for one am pretty glad Monday is nearly over! Getting recipes today has been rather like pulling teeth. I suppose you're all exhausted after your huge movie-meal effort last week, is that it? ;)

Anyway, today's challenge was for food from Harry Potter.  I didn't get many of those, though I got a good few other recipes today from some newbies - hello and welcome to #tweettreat! A special hello to @paulakahumbu who single-handedly tweeted about 20 recipes today. :)  Well, since I can't award rockstar status to myself (can I? No? Ok.) today's winner is this:

Slug Jelly
"In glass bowl layer diff coloured jelly & jelly Bugs sweets.couple drops green food colouring to whipped cream & use to top."


That was from @NettieWriter! Well done Nettie. :)


Tomorrow's challenge - as set by @rebeccaebrown - is for store-cupboard meals. You know, those dinners you manage to pull together out of what's lurking in the back of the fridge/cupboard cos you just couldn't be bothered going to the supermarket! Inventiveness is the order of the day. Let's call it the Mother Hubbard challenge, shall we? ;)


We hit the 1300 mark tonight, which was fantastic. I'm aiming for 1350 tomorrow - can we do it? :)


Till Tuesday, byee!

Football Fever

Thank Crunchie it's Friday, eh? This week has been insane, so it was quite a relief that today was rather quiet in #tweettreat land. Still, we've reached a total of 1255 recipes, which is very respectable.

Today's challenge was for World Cup related grub - anything spherical, or served in a cup, or eaten while watching football. My favourite was this:

"Whiz 1/2onion, 1garlic, 2 eggs, bread crumbs, grated nutmeg, salt. Add to 1kg minced meat. Form balls & brown.#Tweatballs."


I mean come on! It even features a jolly good pun. :) Today's rockstar is @SCallejo!


Special mention also has to go to @thejayfaulkner, who seems to have trawled through his entire address book today in search of more #tweettreats - thanks Jay!


As you may remember, yesterday's winner was a recipe for pumpkin juice from Harry Potter. Earlier today @dorristheloris suggested that food from Harry Potter be the next theme, and a jolly good idea it is too.  Therefore that is Monday's challenge! Much of what they munch in Hogwarts is classic English fair; pies, puddings and custard, and so on. You can reproduce any dish - or have a go at Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans, if you fancy it! There's plenty of inspiration over at Mugglenet. 


A late addendum here; I knew I was forgetting something when I was writing this post! Here, courtesy of @davidgilray, is a very topical article - read and enjoy! (If you're male, you might want to cross your legs.)  


Hope you all have a great weekend, talk to you on Monday. :)

Food on Film

Heavens to Betsy, what a day!

Today's challenge of food from the movies - as suggested by @neversarah - seems to really have captured everyone's imagination. 104 recipes flew at me from all directions, I could barely keep up! Our new total is an incredible 1237.  Wowsers. That means we beat today's target, beat tomorrow's target and even beat Monday's target! (That means I can take tomorrow off, right? Right?)

Anyway, things got a little silly today, but it was all part of the fun. A lot of the recipes weren't actually edible, but did cause great hilarity. You can read them all in the #tweettreat stream, and some in the #movietweettreat stream created just for today.

However, I've decided that since this is a recipe book, the winning recipe actually needs to be edible, at least in theory.  It's still an incredibly difficult job to narrow down all the great recipes I received today, but this one stood out most:

"5 cups apple jce,1 cup pumpkin puree,ground ginger & cinnamon to taste.Whizz tog,serv over ice. Pumpkin Juice / Harry Potter"


Today's rockstar is the wonderful @NettieWriter! :)


Now, in keeping with the "theme" theme, tomorrow's challenge is the World Cup. You can tweet ball-shaped recipes, dishes of whatever nationality is playing, food you'd eat while watching football, or even things you can eat in a cup. I really don't mind, have fun with it! (But not as much fun as today, please, I'm flattened!)


See you all tomorrow, have a good night. :)

Regional Recipes

Welcome to Wednesday, whose challenge was for regional recipes - or dishes that are popular in your own neck of the woods.  We've now reached the terrific number of 1133 recipes. I wonder if we could hit 1166 tomorrow, and break the 1200 barrier by the end of the week? That'd be amazing!

This challenge generated some interesting and unusual recipes, my favourite of which was this:

Pease Pudding
"Split peas, onion, water. Bring to boil then simmer till soft. liquidise, add egg. oven gas 4 30 mins"


I finally know what the nursery rhyme of my childhood was all about; "Pease pudding hot, pease pudding cold, pease pudding in the pot, nine days old" etc. And so, today's rockstar is @rebeccaebrown!


Mind you, that's one recipe I definitely won't be trying. Groo. ;)


Tomorrow's challenge - as suggested by @neversarah - is food from the movies! It can be a dish suggested by the title of a movie, or a dish eaten or mentioned during a movie. Don't worry, I'm not asking anyone to recreate Babette's Feast in 140 characters. :)


Finally, I'll leave you with another funny recipe-type blog post, this one by @ElizabethBastos.  It seems very apt, given that I'm Irish and today's challenge was for regional dishes; anyone with an Irish mother (or Mother-in-law!) will relate. :)


See you all tomorrow. 

Food for a Fiver

Hi all,

Todays challenge - as set by the lovely @rebeccaebrown - was Food for a Fiver, or budget family meals.

The great news is that we've passed another milestone, that of 1,100 recipes - we now have 1,102! Thanks again to all of you, old hands and #tweettreat newbies, for putting up with me and continuing to produce the goods. :)

And so, on to today's rockstar, which is this:

"Savoury Bread and Butter Pudding: 
Slice+butter stale bread. Layer in dish w/chopped onion+ham. Add beaten eggs/milk/blk ppr. Top grtd chs. Bake 180 till golden."


Today's winner is @helen_kara! Well done, that dish could't come to more than £2.50, never mind a fiver. :)


Tomorrow's challenge is for typical dishes for your country/region. I've received some great recipes over the weeks from various different countries, many of which I'd never heard of before, and I'm interested to read more.  It doesn't have to be an official, national dish; just something that's popular in your neck of the woods.  (For all you English followers that'll be curry, then?) ;)


As ever, the best recipe tomorrow will win rockstar status for its tweeter.  Let's try to hit the 1,125 mark tomorrow, ok?


And now, to leave you on a light note, have a read of this - I think it's the funniest food/recipe related blog post I've ever read, courtesy of @PenguinGalaxy.  


Till tomorrow!

The Evolution of Fairy Jane - Goth to Glitter!

Just a little added extra today; @mduffywriter wrote a poem in my honour. I told her I was going to put it up on the blog, so here it is:

In Twitford all the fairies came

to hear their fairy queen.

She had a great idea and

was hoping they’d be keen.

So Fairy Jane began to tell

her real exciting news.

She needed help to form a plan;

they didn’t dare refuse.

Although they quite admired their Queen;

an energetic fairy,

she sometimes donned a grumpy face

that made her seem quite scary.

She never wore the sparkling stuff,

or fairy wings so pretty;

preferring dark & gloomy clothes

to make her seem more gritty.

She didn’t drink the fairy dew

but loaded up with coffee.

Instead of nibbling magic stars,

she just chewed gum and toffee.

But when they heard her plan in full,

they all became excited.

They’d help her every way they could;

Team Fairyland united.

A plan to gather recipes

was what she had decided.

She’d surely quickly reach her goal

with all the help provided.

Now very soon the word was spread

of Fairy Jane’s new mission.

And fairies all applauded her

for having such ambition.

The recipes were flooding in,

but Jane still wanted more.

Celebrities would do the trick;

she’d pound their Twitter door.

The wizards and the fairies who

were helping Fairy Jane,

would listen to her nagging;

(God, she really was a pain!)

The weeks went by, the team worked hard,

and Jane soon cracked a smile.

She realised her team was fab;

they’d made it all worthwhile.

No longer did the fairies fear

the fury of their queen.

For now she only ever smiled

and never more was mean.

She even tried some sparkly clothes

and ditched her gloomy cloak.

She started to endear herself

to all the elfin folk.

And so she called a meeting where

she promised all her team

she’d bring them to Avoca for

some scones with jam and cream!

 

THE END

You've Been Kept Stewing!

Hope everyone had a good weekend?


Today's challenge was for stews, of any description. I've received recipes for meat stews, vegetable stews, even stewed fruit. Our total is now at 1076 recipes!


One of the recipes I'll definitely be trying myself is this one:


"Vegetable Stew: 
Sauté onion.Squeeze 1/4 cup grated ginger, add tin toms, chilli paste, boil Cook 5 mins + 2 chopped sweet potatoes & half cauli, 15 mins"


And today's rockstar is @HazelKLarkin - well done, Hazel!

I just want to say as well that I tried this recipe for tzatziki yesterday by @helen_kara:

"Tsatziki: Rub bowl with cut garlic. De-seed and finely chop cucumber. Mix in bowl with Greek yogurt, fresh dill, salt to taste."

It was fantastic - really easy, tasted fabulous. Will be making that again. :)

Now, tomorrow's challenge - as set by the genius who is @rebeccaebrown - is for Food for a Fiver. It can be any sort of food so long as it's a complete meal for four people for £5 or less.  (If in Europe, think €8; if in US, $8; Canada, about $10, etc.)

It's a great suggestion, well done Rebecca. :)

Keep an eye on the list of luminaries to the right of the screen; it's changing daily! Thanks again to #teamtweettreat for all their hard work chasing people up. 

Till tomorrow!

Start Spreading the News!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the shiny new-look #tweettreat blog! (With grateful thanks to @ukegnome who saved my sanity at one point, and didn't even raise his voice.) ;)

You can now see a list of the luminaries who've joined us at #tweettreat down the right-hand-side of the page, and details of how to get involved are further down on the right. I hope you all approve? :)

Anyway, today's challenge was spreads, since we're spreading the word so well about this project (with heartfelt thanks as ever to #teamtweettreat).  So without further ado, you may all drool over this:

"Small piece poached salmon add mayo lemon juice black pepper salt. Whiz in blender. Spread on sliced toasted baguette."

And today's rockstar is none other than the very lovely @austenonly! Well done Julie. :)

Now, since we're all going to be stewing over the weekend anyway, your challenge for Monday is stew.  You can stew anything you like, from meat, fish, or vegetables to fruit. You can even stew your tea, if that takes your fancy. And if you can make an interesting #tweettreat out of it. :)

Remember, if you try any of the recipes, let us know here in the comments or on Twitter. Also, please let me know what you think of the new-look blog in the comments!

Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks again to you all for your help and support. :)

Starters for Ten

Howdy all,

Things continue to go swimmingly in the #tweettreat camp.  We now have 1029 recipes, and have been joined by yet more well-known names, such as:

@austen_addict  - Laurie Viera Rigler, auther of Confessions of an Austen Addict and Rude Awakenings of an Austen Addict
@wendytalksback - Wendy Austin, BBC Radio Ulster anchor
@RFLong - fantasy writer, author of The Scroll Thief and others
@ClaireAllan - bestselling author of Rainy Days and Tuesdays and others

Again, they're just the well-known names who joined the ranks of #tweettreat today. :)

Now, our latest challenge was for starters or appetisers.  As usual you didn't disappoint, I received lots of lovely recipes. Here's my favourite:

"My fave starter-steam asparagus, wrap in prosciutto & grill, serve w/flakes of parmesan, pine nuts & balsamic vinegar"


I chose the above cos it features several of my favourite foods! And today's rockstar of #tweettreat is @RFLong! Well done and thank you. :)

Now, @mduffywriter has very kindly been mounting a campaign to drive up the followers on this blog - so if you're reading this and you don't already follow it, please click the follow button now. We need to drive the numbers up to help spread the word about #tweettreat.

And, in the spirit of spreading, that's your next challenge - spreads! It can be anything at all that's spreadable, such as jams, preserves, pates, chutneys, etc. etc.

I'm also aiming to beat the 1050 mark tomorrow - can we do it? Yes we can! :)

We're going Bananas over here!

Welcome to Wednesday!

The last 24 hours have been very exciting on #tweettreat.  Not only have we passed the 1,000th recipe mark - yes, we're now at 1,008 - but we've also been joined by several other well-known names.  Such as:

@SJRestaurant - St John Restaurant
@justcookit - Masterchef finalist Alex Rushmer
@TheBobbyBall - comedian Bobby Ball
@fionalooney - writer, journalist and playwright
@Paul_Cornell - Novelist, comics and TV writer, notably for Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Primeval
@shobnagulati - Actress best known for her portrayal of Sunita in Coronation Street

 - and they're just the notables who've joined us recently!  #Tweettreat seems to be really taking off, which is enormously gratifying. However, it certainly wouldn't be anywhere close to where it is now, if it weren't for a group of very helpful people - @mduffywriter @rebeccaebrown @NettieWriter @LevParikian @TheJayFaulkner @cathyby and @chiddle84 - who are now the self-styled #teamtweettreat! I'm very grateful to them all, and to everyone else who RTs and spreads the word. :)  I'm also terrified I've left someone out; if so, my humble apologies!

Now, today's challenge was for banana recipes, and our rockstar is this:

"Cuban rice: Serve boiled rice with fried egg, tomato puree and fried bananas."

I chose that because it was so unusual; today's rockstar is @SCallejo! Well done.

Tomorrow's challenge is for appetisers, starters, whatever you like to call them; I don't have enough, and I need more!

See you all tomorrow. :)

Snack Attack

Happy Tuesday, all!

Or, not so happy if, like me, you're in the Republic of Ireland and yesterday was a bank holiday. Which makes this a surrogate Monday. But howandever.

The #tweettreats are continuing to come in thick and fast. Lots of new people are joining in, some of whom are very well known.  It's great to see so many new faces (avatars?) :)

Today's challenge was for snacks; the sort of thing you nibble on while watching TV or a good movie.  A huge variation of snack suggestions came in, some were really unusual; but today's rockstar just jumped straight out at me.  It is this:

"Big bag nacho chips. Tin chopped tomatoes. Chilli. Top w. cheese. More chilli. Bake till cheese melts. Add Tarantino and serve!"

How could you beat that? And today's rockstar is @joannechocolat, no other than Joanne Harris!

Tomorrow's challenge, by popular request (well, by @DazedPuckBunny and @thejayfaulkner) is for banana recipes. Anything and everything to do with bananas - do you curry them? Put them in a cocktail? I don't care, so long as it features that yellow fruit.  As ever, the best recipe will earn rockstar status.  :)

Finally, I need to reiterate again how much I appreciate the continuing efforts of so many of you to spread the word and ask people for #tweettreats. I really, really couldn't do it without all of you guys. Keep up the good work!

It's Breakfast time again, hip hip hooray!

A very happy Monday to you all!

What a busy weekend it's been for #tweettreat.  Thanks to the concerted efforts of many, many people who've spread the word about this project all over the Twitterverse, the recipes have been coming in thick and fast.  We've also had contributions from some very well known names indeed!

68 new recipes came in over the weekend, bringing the total number of recipes received to 944. We're very close to cracking the 1,000 mark, and we're flying towards our goal of 1,200.

Some of the names who joined us this weekend need no introduction.  They include:
@JillMansell
@swannyg66 (Graeme Swann)
@LoreleiKing
@joannechocolat (Joanne Harris)
@Beathhigh (Ian Rankin)
@campbellclaret (Alistair Campbell)
@domjoly
@sheilaoflanagan
to name but a few! Thanks again to everyone who helped to stalk - I mean, ask - various celebrities for their help. ;)

Now, today's challenge was for breakfast dishes, and some lovely ones came in.  The two that leapt out at me, though, were these:

"Split a roll n toast inner surfaces. Fry an egg so it crisps at edges but yolk stays soft. Red/ brown sauce. Messy/delicious"

and this one:

"Rebus's Scotch Eggs: boil 2 free range eggs. Pour yourself a malt while you wait. Discard the eggs and keep drinking."

Both are from @Beathhigh - Ian Rankin himself - who is today's rockstar of #tweettreat!

Tomorrow's challenge is for TV/movie snacks - what do you nibble while ensconced before the screen?  As ever, best one will be tomorrow's rockstar. :)

This project relies so much on all of you - I could never have come this far without you. Please keep spreading the word and hounding your friends for recipes.  Remember, it's all in aid of Medecins sans Frontieres - a good cause if ever there was one. :)

Rice to the Occasion

Wow, what a day this has been for #tweettreat!  Thanks to concerted efforts from some fabulous friends, the word about this project has been spreading farther and faster than ever.  A huge push is on to get the attention of various celebrities, and hopefully get recipes from them.

This evening alone recipes came in from Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66), @JillMansell, @LoreleiKing and @clairehennessy. Hopefully more and more well-known names will join our ranks over the coming days!

It's incredibly hard to pick one rockstar on a day like today, when so many people have done so much work.  Lots of new people have tweeted recipes for the first time, other people have badgered on my behalf.  However, today's challenge was for rice/pasta/couscous salads, so one of those will be honoured.  Today's rockstar is:

"Tropical rice salad. To cold cooked rice add tinned/fresh pineapple chunks, mandarins cut small, dessicated coconut & sultanas."

And today's rockstar is @hmhunt! Congratulations. Really like the sound of that one, will be giving it a try. :)

Special mentions also have to go to three ladies I had a great chat with this morning, and who have given me tremendous help to drum up interest in #tweettreat.  They are @mduffywriter, @Strictlyinkblot, and @HowDidUGetThere.  They are not alone - lots of you have helped so much - but they deserve special mention.

Now, before I start blubbing and thanking my mom and my neighbour's cat, I'm just going to set the next challenge.  Monday is a Bank Holiday in Ireland, but not everywhere, so I will be blogging; and Monday's challenge is for Breakfasts.  Or Brunch, I'm not too fussy; but you know, that first meal of the day.

Have a great weekend everyone, and keep spreading the word!

Comfort Food

Evening all!

Well, you exceeded my expectations today; I was hoping to get to 840 recipes, but actually now have 846.  Give yourselves a round of applause!

Today's challenge, in light of the terrible events yesterday in Cumbria, was for comfort food.  The recipes I got today were carb, fat, sugar and alchohol laden - perfect, in other words. ;)

They were all great, and it was really hard to pick a rockstar, so I'm cheating slightly.  Tonight we'll have a headline act and a support group. (Hey, it's my blog, I can do what I like!)

So, our support act (a bit of a no-hoper, but let's give him a round of applause for effort) is this:

"In a glass, mix Coke, Fanta, Sprite and Lilt. Add either fresh cream or vanilla ice-cream and serve. nommy nom, nom nom."

He calls it a Creamy Uku.  The support act is none other than the tweep we love to torment, @mruku!


And now (drumroll, the crowd goes wild!) our big-name headline act is:

"2 pkts digestive bisc, 2 oz sugar, 4 oz butter,2tbl sp cocoa.Mix crushed biscs in melted butter with sugar&cocoa. Put in tin & cover with choc."

Tweeted by Ireland's fave current-affairs-TV-talk-show-host-type person, @MiriamOCal!

Thanks to both of them, and to everyone else for your recipe contributions today. There are a lot of new faces appearing in the #tweettreat stream and it's great to see you all.  :)

Tomorrow's challenge - as suggested by @fmulreany - is rice salad.  That may seem like a limited topic, so you can tweet pasta or couscous salads as well.  Happy cooking!

Nothing half-baked here

Happy Wednesday all!

Today's challenge was for baked goods; the sort of recipes I find very difficult to get into 140 characters personally.  They're also the sort of recipes I want most; I like to bake something for a special occasion, but haven't the patience for long step-by-step recipes.

So I was particularly impressed by the standard of the recipes that came in today, which was very high.  After much deliberation (and an unnecessary amount of drool) I have chosen the following rockstar:

"Cream 115g butter w/1/2 cup sugar. + 1 tblsp golden syrup, .5 tsp vanilla ex., pinch salt, cup self raising fl. Form balls, bake 170c 12 mins."

Added points, of course, are awarded for the outrageous use of the word "balls" in a recipe. ;)  Today's rockstar is @chiddle84, for the second time!

Now, in light of today's shocking events in Cumbria, it doesn't seem right to announce a frivolous or silly challenge.  As a result, tomorrow's challenge is for comfort food; either food you make for yourself, or for family and friends, when in need of a bit of cheering up.

The total so far today is 824; I'd love to get to 840 tomorrow. :)

Take care everyone.

Waste Not, Want Not

In these recessionary times blah blah yawn yadda yadda.

Anyway, it's not cool to waste food anymore - if it ever was, that is.  Today's challenge was for new and interesting ways with leftovers.  I got some good ones that I'll be trying out myself.  I especially like today's rockstar winner, which is this:

"Left over rice salad: add peas, finely chopped celery, chopped walnuts, grated ginger, garlic, dress with sesame oil and sherry."

And today's rockstar - a newbie, who hopefully won't be a one-hit-wonder - is @juxtabook! Thanks for that one, it's really unusual.  :)

Tomorrow's challenge is for baked goods - cakes, tarts, bread, muffins, cookies - anything baked.

Remember, if you try any of the recipes I'd love to hear about it.  I'm also collecting all kinds of recipes all the time, not just the daily challenge ones.

By the way, the running total is now 815 - not too shabby. ;)  The goal of 1200 is really starting to look achievable!

Sorry for the belated bloggage tonight, I'll see you all tomorrow. :)