quick and easy snacks

Really quick one.. Slice a ciabatta in half - spread oodles of pesto on each slice right to the edges, warm under the grill for about a minute and a half (or even better put in a preheated oven for two mins to warm the bread right through).. then add a large slice of tomato, a couple of slices of pickled garlic and a thick slice of mozzarella (black pepper to taste) and grill until mozzarella drips off the edges and the tomato is softened and warm... this is easier if you haven't got fresh basil in, you can keep pesto in the cupboard.

milkstone - I did the ciabatta thing too and it was delish. Tonight I'm making Liana's mackerel with apple. Result. The tearing basil thing is a myth really. I worked as a chef for a couple of years and to be honest, as long as its fresh, basil tastes basily whether you rip, tear or chop it.

precicely Elaine, I love real food, the finest in fresh and natural produce. I also love shit that has to be mivroewaved into napalm just to stop it being a biohazard. as long as it tastes good then it'll do for me.

First, catch your tiger....

Bacon, sausage,beans,eggs, hashbrowns and fried bread. Keep your rabbit food and basil on lightly grilled Chippybatter bread.

Haven't you lot heard of crisps?

Do you cut the bread into the shape of a tiger, like Turkey Dinosaurs?

I've just had tiger bread....what you do is cut the bread into a shape of a tiger (easier said than done, but use a small knife and persevere), then paint on stripes in chocolate spread, grill, and growl.

I read this in a fitness magazine: Graham crackers, lite cream cheese, and berries (think raspberries or blackberries, but blueberries or strawberries would be good, too). It's like a bite-sized, low-calorie cheesecake. Yum! You know what I'm crazy about lately? Scones. Quite exotic for an American. Though I suppose the maple frosting-covered ones at Starbucks don't really count... Do they? -Elaine.

Yes, they count. I've invested heavily in them. They better count.

Grill and Growl! That surely is the heading for your next cookery feature, complete with man in apron only??

never mind that healthy nonsense! I've just devoured TWO bacon and egg muffins with a slice of processed cheese on each and NO SAUCE. It's weird but I've tried every kind of good quality cheese and none has the same effect as cheap nasty processed cheese slices, individually wrapped to maintain the nuclear half life.. just toast a muffin (not the sweet blueberry kind, the breakfast bread kind) and sit two slices of bacon folded over to fit on the bottom half, then your slice of crap cheese (corners folded in as it's square and the muffin is round) then your fried egg on the other half of the muffin. Then you stab the yolk and drizzle the outpouring yellow delight over the cheese to allow for even distribution of yolk, then slap the two halves together and voila! bloody beautiful. it is, of course, based on the version that Macdonalds do but to the power of fifty. I can feel my arteri4es hardening as I type, should probably get some beer inside me to put THAT fire out eh?

Find quiet spot. Remove underwear (either sex) Drop to knees.... Oh no, this isn't what this is really about is it? It IS quick and easy though :-(

Yes but does it fill a hole?:o-)

Good God! Somebody send Miss a blow-up doll.

Wot a barbie full of dynamite?

Hold the doll, I was just jesting. Come on you guys, a little adult humour never hurt anyone.

Get a tub of humus from Sainsbury's/Tescos, crush some black pepper, a pinch of paprika, then add some olive oil, and if you have a lemon squeeze in a bit taste... Warm up some pitta bread in a toaster... rip and scoop. Yove got to get your fingers dirty. Have a nice cup of strong sugared tea on standby.

Wouldn't one stick be enough flash? Okay...maybe two for good measure.

bread

we should turn these into a book and sell them in aid of abc - each recipe could come next to a poem/short by the abctaler who wrote it and a pic. It would be like Calendar Girls but, er, not.

I forgot to add that it was toasted under the grill...it would be filfthy if not

Whilst reading Brideshead Revisted and enjoying a few units of Famous Grouse, I've taken a late afternoon liking to Jacob's Thai crackers dipped in hummus. A sliced Co-op cold sausage or two (left over from my mid-morning fry-up) and a liberal dash of Begal Mango chutney adds a savoury dash...Yum Yum...keeps me afloat before I throw my Sainsbury's ready meal into the oven at 5.30... Chin up, abc snackers! *advances to page 7*

That should read: "...a liberal helping of Bengal Mango chutney adds a savoury dash..." However: "...a liberal dash of Bengal Mango chutney adds a savoury helping..." also works...

I've discovered you can buy hollandaise sauce from waitrose, so I pretty much live off eggs benedict at the moment.

I've never had the guts to try it...eggs concern me at the best of times, as do any egg bi-products... how do you cook yours? Maybe I could try it for tea if I'm feeling brave. (eggs - they're sort of wobbly and a little wrong)

How about tortoise eggs ? (Ewww, I've made myself sick now, trying to gross Hayley out. Stay calm and think about lipgloss. Lipgloss is good. Lipgloss is shiny. Nice lipgloss)

Eggy bread... soak slices of bread in a mix of eggs and milk (a la scrambled eggs) and then shallow fry in a little olive oil. Add some tomato ketchup and scoff. Kind of eggy, kind of pancakey. Gorgeous.

eggy bread is a possibilty - you get the flavour of the egg in a salty, ketchuppy way. Thanks emaily for making me imagine the worst poached eggs in the world ever (a line of tiny tortoise eggs wibbling on toast), washed down with a luke warm glass of tortoise milk, unpasterised of course. (Oh god, not even the lip gloss will save us)

Poached. Dropped into lightly boiling water for not very long at all until they look cooked and then quickly fished out with a slotted spoon. Eaten on toast and marmite with lots of black pepper. Or on toast and bacon underneath hollandaise sauce.

I called you emaily. I blame the tortoise. (if tortoises really did have milk, can you imagine how gruesome feeding time for all the tiny tortoise would be. Shudder.)

Dan, I admire you in many ways, but I just can't do it. I just can't. *runs away from desk and grips onto bannisters for fear of passing out*

Smoked mackeral in tiger bread. This is fab.

Wow. I've never grated an apple before, where does it all go? That was delicious, thanks Liana.

Leftover Seafood Gumbo. (It's always better after sitting in the fridge overnight)

C'mon...somebody bite!

What is tiger bread?

a very quick snack bread (baguette is best), drizzle with olive oil, rub with garlic, grill and yeah, what is tiger bread?

Ever try those Toaster Scrambles Ely? The dogs love them.

smoked mackerel, flaked (cheap at supermarket) or tin tuna grated green granny smith apple black pepper squirt of lemon mix all together in mayo, stuff in hot baguette God I'm starving now.

never heard of 'em Rad. Toaster scrambles, surely the eggs just fall off when you put it in the toaster?

OOOh! Liana! I'm going to eat that. Perfect. (and thanks for the other suggestions. Maybe one day I will be ready for eggs benedict)

How quick has it got to be? For a real quickie, toast ciabatta (ideally in the oven, I have an aga) thick slices are best, while this is going on, put a generous amount of the best olive oil you can afford in a bowl, add a clove of crushed garlic, add a generous handfull of basil, chopped coursly, pinch of salt a few grinds of pepper, then slice a few tomatoes, stirr it all and when the toast is ready, rub it all over with a clove of garlic and then load it with the tomato mix. Jude, sometimes I add finely sliced red onion to this. A bit more time and the world is your oyster. Cooked lentils or butterbeans, tinned if it has to be, a handful of walnuts fried lightly in olive oil, make a dressing with this oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar, thyme, clove of garlic, crushed, lots of pepper, add it to the beans, best if they are luke warm, add a bunch of finely chopped parsley and a handfull of rocket, add the fried nuts and crumble some feta cheese. Enjoy.

Milkstone, you are a culinary genius. I'm so hungry now I cannot wait to leave this office and get to Tesco.

my god ... i am going to make these NOW ....

Scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese-like matter, all tucked inside a pastry and frozen. Pop them in the toaster and you get a burnt frozen breakfast. One of those meals on wheels ideas for people on the go. The Great Dane can gulp one without even chewing. He knows too, just sits there next to the counter waiting for it to burn your fingers and for it to hit the floor when you pull it from the toaster. I wonder what he makes of those blisters on his tongue?

oh god ... i have no ingredients ...

1: if you're gonna poach an egg in an open pan rather than in a special poacher you should start the water swirling first so you create a little vortex in the middle, this keeps the egg in one piece while it sets and not like a reject from ghostbusters. 2: go on then radio, what's gumbo? 3: your request for great snacks is a little short on detail, the suggestions that followed may have included things that you don't have in stock and would have to go out and source, you might as well just eat out. what do you have in? 4: Assuming you have the very basics in at least I can highly recommend digestives with craft philidelphia and stilton and green grapes with either red wine or milky coffee. Alternately, if a hot meal is needed, you could boil together whatever veg you have lying around and add half an oxo cube into it then leave to simmer until soft, finally fry it all up with an egg to bind (a la bubble and squeak) with thick toast and brown sauce and a huge mug of tea.

if you want to poach eggs without creating a vortex ... ( say you are poaching for 6 people in one pan) ... then add a bit of vinegar to the water before plopping the eggs in ... this stops them spreading about in the water ... i can't believe anyone wouldnt love a poached egg ... they are divine ...

Oh you bunch of gits. Once your eggs are fertilised there is no snacking fun to be had. No stilton, no poached eggs, no salami, no vino, no sushi. Is snacking wasteland. And still I have to wear elasticated trousers.