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Pilgrim’s Choice Blogger Challenge

This month, Pilgrim’s Choice challenged me to create a dish using their new range of pick-and-mix cheeses. As you know, I am not the best at cooking, baking, or anything food-related. Don’t forget I am the girl who can burn beans! Seriously, I’m not kidding here, but I thought why not have a go and see what I could come up with? It was not as easy as it sounds, truth be told.

I received a lovely little selection of cheeses; however, I wanted a handy 80g piece additive-free in bright, fresh, and funky packaging, perfect for trying something new. I used to work on the deli counter in Morrison’s, so I have tried many different types of cheese, although I am a good old cheddar or Red Leicester kind of girl at heart. But it is good for us to try new things every now and again and that is exactly what I wanted to do with these cheeses. These are the flavours I received,

a collage of pick and mix pilgrims choice cheese blocks

Smokey Cheddar
Vintage Cheddar
Wensleydale with Cranberries
Wensleydale with Apple
Firecracker
Indian Spice

Quite the variety, but what to make was still the question. I’m a simple kind of girl, don’t eat anything fancy really, and I wanted to do something different yet stick to what I would usually eat. So I used them all in different ways in meals I enjoy, but my favourite was the one I was stuck on most, Wensleydale and Cranberry. Having tried it in the past and not being fussed about it, I wanted to incorporate it into something I would enjoy, so I made cakes! With cheese! The recipe will be at the bottom of this post if you fancy trying it out yourself.

I used the firecracker cheese melted on some chicken for fajitas; I put it in the frying pan to melt while the chicken was cooking. It was absolutely delicious, especially as I don’t really like peppers, so it tends to get a bit boring, teamed with some kale it made a delicious meal along with some chunky wedges. The Wensleydale and Apple was perfect as a snack on some dark rye Ryvitas, a little on the sweet side for me but a nice change from cheese spread. I couldn’t resist using the Vintage Cheddar for some good old cheese on toast topped with black pepper and tinned plum tomatoes, which are perfect for breakfast! I used leftover Firecracker Cheese and the Smokey Vintage in one of my favourite foods, filled baked potato skins just delicious, and lastly, was an ultimately failed attempt at an omelette using the Indian Spice cheese. Thanks to my utter fear of eggs it all just went horribly wrong but the cheese itself was not the issue at all, blame the dodgy chef!

a collage of recipes using pilgrims choice cheese

Honestly, I think if I see any of these cheeses, especially the firecracker, I will definitely be purchasing some, especially if I am making fajitas!

P.S.. please excuse the lack of photos. My phone died while I was baking! Obviously, the shock of me actually baking!

Cupcakes with Wensleydale with Cranberries

What you will need:

a muffin baking tray
paper cases
mixing bowl
sieve
grater
spoons/spatula

Ingredients

250g plain flour
150g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
175ml milk
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
75g Wensleydale with Cranberries cheese
2 tablespoons orange peel (optional)
cocoa powder (optional) as much you would like to add I used 2 heaped tablespoons
2 tablespoons pecans/walnuts

Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into mixing bowl and mix together
Add in milk, oil and egg and mix until all flour is moistened
Grate Wensleydale with Cranberries cheese into mixture
Add in any other optional ingredients and fold into the mixture
Use teaspoon to to measure equal amounts into cake cases
Place in a pre-heated oven gas mark 5/190c/375f
Bake for 20 minutes
Enjoy!

This is the recipe I used but obviously can be adapted by more adept and experienced bakers to make it into muffins/cakes/loaf anything really. But as a complete and utter novice and pretty useless baker I was really surprised at how well they turned out. I really enjoyed them and roped my mum into trying them too, she ate 2! 2 cakes! That I made! Here is what she had to say:

“A really nice cake. The sponge was a little bit heavy, probably due to the cheese, but it had a nice taste, was not too strong, and was a nice blend of flavours.”

It is worth noting my mum actually can bake/cook/manage not to burn beans! Hope you enjoy if you decide to try this out!

*Disclaimer: I was sent all the above flavours of cheese to try out in different recipes. All thoughts, meal ideas and recipes are my own*

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