Delicious, easy recipes by Jay Wadams

Welcome to
Days of Jay

I'm Jay, cookbook author and food photographer.

Days of Jay is my website, where I share easy, delicious recipes for home cooking.

My recipes are packed with photos and useful tips and tricks to help you as you cook. They are all inspired by healthy, seasonal ingredients and my travels across the globe, especially in Germany, Italy, Cyprus, and Australasia.

Welcome to
Days of Jay

I'm Jay, cookbook author and food photographer. Days of Jay is my website, where I share easy, delicious recipes for home cooking.

My recipes are packed with photos and useful tips and tricks to help you as you cook. They are all inspired by healthy, seasonal ingredients and my travels across the globe, especially in Germany, Italy, Cyprus, and Australasia.

I am so excited to have you here, so let’s dive in and get cooking!


It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!


Well, the countdown is until the year’s end, and Christmas is just around the corner. Check out some of my most popular Christmas and festive recipes below!

Perfectly tender, rosy roast beef is easier than you think! Slow Roast Beef where the beef is seared before roasting at a very low temperature produces juicy, delicious beef every time.

Perfectly tender, rosy roast beef is easier than you think! Slow Roast Beef produces juicy, delicious beef every time.

GET THE RECIPE

Homemade Irish Cream couldn’t be easier to make, tastes streets ahead of the commercial stuff, can be adjusted precisely to suit your sweet tooth and makes an excellent gift for friends – if you are prepared to share it!

GET THE RECIPE

Cinnamon Star Bread Title Card showing star bread from two angles. Text overly 'Sweet Cinnamon Star Bread'.

One of my favourite Christmas bakes is Cinnamon Star Bread. With the delicious flavour of cinnamon rolls, this sweet bread recipe makes a beautiful loaf to feed a crowd. It is also actually much simpler than it looks, relying on clever cutting and twisting of the layers of dough to achieve the beautiful design.

GET THE RECIPE

German Dominosteine Chocolates Title Card.

Dominosteine are a traditional German Christmas praline made from layered gingerbread, fruit jelly and marzipan, all coated in a luscious layer of rich dark chocolate. These delicious treats are fun to make at home and are so tasty!

GET THE RECIPE

Christmas Fruit Mince Tart

There’s nothing quite like the delicious aroma of a freshly baked Christmas Fruit Mince Tart to let you know the festive season has really begun. With brandied fruit mince and a buttery almond pastry, this recipe is perfect for a Christmas feast.

GET THE RECIPE

German Christmas Stollen Title card showing two pictures of Stollen.

German Christmas Stollen is always a real treat during the holiday season. Made from an enriched yeast dough, loaded with rum-soaked fruit and candied peel, Stollen is delicious served with a cup of coffee or a warming mug of Glühwein.

GET THE RECIPE

German Braised Red Cabbage title card.

No festive table in Germany would be without a big pot of braised red cabbage, flavoured with apple, cloves and juniper berries. Depending on where in the country you are, this could be called Rotkohl or Blaukraut and it is the perfect accompaniment to roast goose.

GET THE RECIPE

German style Gingerbread hearts

My easy recipe for making traditional Oktoberfest Lebkuchenherzen or Gingerbread Hearts at home. Hang these brightly decorated hearts around the neck of your sweetheart (or eat and enjoy!)

GET THE RECIPE

Quarkbällchen German Donut Holes title card.

Super light and fluffy on the inside and crisp and sugary on the outside, my German-style Donut holes or Quarkbällchen recipe is so easy it’s like kitchen magic. Made without yeast, they are ready in minutes. Perfect for parties or sharing with friends (or just eating all to yourself!)

GET THE RECIPE

Tender, moist turkey breast filled with traditional stuffing and roasted to perfection. This delicious roast only cooks in under 2 hours, making it perfect for smaller celebrations.

Tender, moist turkey breast filled with traditional stuffing and roasted to perfection. This delicious roast is ready in under two hours, making it perfect for smaller celebrations.

GET THE RECIPE

The Latest Recipes From My Kitchen

Discover my latest and greatest recipes below, or use the search function to find exactly what you’re looking for.


If you’ve run out of yeast you can still make a delicious loaf of bread with common household ingredients. Easy No Yeast Bread uses baking powder to create a beautifully risen loaf of bread in just over an hour.

Easy No Yeast Bread

It surprises many people to discover that you can make perfectly delicious bread without yeast, using common household ingredients. Yeast is, after all, a rising agent, and most kitchens have a jar or packet of another rising agent tucked away…

Spicy, fragrant and bursting with flavour, Asian inspired Pork Meatball Soup with noodles will chase away the winter blues. Ready in under 30 minutes, it is ideal for a weeknight dinner.

Pork Meatball Soup

It’s November and soup season has officially started in my household. I felt like something spicy and fresh to banish the start-of-winter-blues. Today’s recipe for Pork Meatball Noodle Soup is just what the doctor ordered: juicy, garlicky meatballs and a…

What could be more comforting than an old fashioned Bread and Butter Pudding? The magical transformation of stale white bread into a sweet and custardy pudding is always a delight.

Bread and Butter Pudding

Rain, rain and more rain. The house is surrounded by fog and drizzle, the fire is roaring happily away and I’m wrapped up warm with a big pot of tea. ’Tis the season for comfort food in my house, long-simmered…

A classic of the Italian kitchen; Linguine Alle Vongole with fresh clams, sweet cherry tomatoes, garlic and olive oil will never go out of fashion. Perfect for long, Italian style lunches, or a romantic dinner for two. Bon Appetit!

Linguine Alle Vongole

One of the many things that I love about living in Italy is being able to get my hands on deliciously fresh clams or vongole at any time. Landlocked Munich has many charms, but a serious lack of fresh seafood,…

Country-style Farmhouse Rabbit Stew is a rich and warming casserole filled with classic flavours. If you like, ask your butcher to joint the rabbit for you.

Farmhouse Rabbit Stew

A simple country-style rabbit stew or casserole with classic flavours, rosemary, thyme, garlic, and bay, with bacon and wine to round out the sauce.
Sweet, tart and wonderfully autumnal, Rosehip and Apple Jelly is full of the flavours of the fall. Perfect for serving with scones and whipped cream or alongside a cheeseboard with some tangy cheddar.

Rosehip and Apple Jelly

Sweet, tart and wonderfully autumnal, Rosehip and Apple Jelly is full of the flavours of the fall. Perfect for serving with scones and whipped cream or alongside a cheeseboard with some tangy cheddar.
Rich, hearty and seriously tasty, Black Bean Veggie Burgers are so flavoursome and so good. Packed full of goodness with beans, oats, walnuts and sunflower seeds, these burgers are a real crowd-pleaser.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

It is POURING outside. Huge gusts of wind are sweeping the yard and rattling the shutters as Storm Alex batters Europe. With rain coming in sideways, you can guess where I am, right? Absolutely! Cosy and warm in the kitchen…

Bavarian Potato Salad

Bavarian Potato Salad ‘Kartoffelsalat’

We are bang in the middle of the Oktoberfest season, and while no Oktoberfest is being held in 2020, that doesn’t mean we can’t have our favourite Bavarian foods at home! If you’ve been following along you will have learnt…

Recipes By Meal Type


light-bites
Main Event
Sweet Things
cocktail hour

Marillenknödel – Austrian Apricot Dumplings
Wurstsalat (German Sausage Salad)
Easy Cherry Tomato Tart
Zwetschgendatschi (Bavarian Plum Tart)
Homemade Chocolate Popsicles

Looking for Dinner Inspiration?


Below are some of my most popular dinner recipes. Quick and easy with simple ingredients and big flavours.

Spicy Chicken Burgers serves with homemade coleslaw and fresh corn
Mussel au gratin or as the Italians call them Cozze al Forno are a fantastic starter or light meal for two. So quick and easy to prepare they are packed with Mediterranean flavour.
Summer Roast Vegetable Salad
Pork San Choy Bow Title Card.
Garlic Herb Crusted Chicken

My FAvourite German Cake Recipes

While people often associate Germany with pretzels and beer, it’s really all about coffee and cake!

Get the recipes!

Easy German Cake Recipes