Autumn Lunches

Straight off the bat, lets apologise for the photo taken on my phone. My camera wasn't playing ball this morning.  Anyway, inspired by this post, I knocked up this lunch today.

I had made the soup earlier in the week, and it really is incredibly simple. First, I chopped up 2 red peppers, and halved about 16 tomatoes and chucked them in a roasting dish. Add a bit of garlic, a generous helping of sea salt and pepper as well as a coating of olive oil, give it a quick shake and you're good to go. I was in the house for the morning so I popped it in the oven on a low heat (around about gas mark 4) for 3 hours as I was doing chores but I've done it before in a hotter oven for less time - just keep an eye on it and shake it around every now and again to prevent it burning.

I wish I'd taken a photo then because the results smelt and looked incredible - I'll definitely be oven roasting more tomatoes and sticking them in Kilner jars as gifts nearer Christmas. I could've eaten the vegetables there and then, but for the purposes of the soup, it's as simple as sticking it in a blender with about a pint and a half of vegetable stock before blitzing. It's delicious enough to eat as is, but if you prefer your soup a bit creamier, I find it works well with the tang of creme fraiche.

The toastie was a combination of blog inspiration and coming across my toastie maker when having a clean up. After buttering the outside of the bread, I layered up a finely slice Braeburn apple and brie inside and let the toastie maker work it's magic. I love the combination of flavours - apple and cheese was always part of my supper as a child - but wish the apple had retained it's crunch. I'm thinking it might be best to toast the bread and cheese under a grill {as if you were making cheese on toast} and adding in the apple at the end as you sandwich the two halves together. I think I'd definitely keep this in mind next time as I think the crunch of the apple would've worked brilliantly.

Regardless, this lunch was delicious. It's far more than the sum of its parts and so simple to boot {noticing a pattern?}.  It struck me as the perfect Autumn lunch, I have to say.


Love B x

Low fat Banana & Blueberry Muffins

I baked these on our lazy Sunday afternoon in {remember that 'diet' I talked about, well it'll start this week...honest...}.  I had a bunch of bananas that are definitely on their way out and because I hate wasting food, I figured I'd know up a batch of banana bread. Then I rationalised that I'd probably eat a sizeable amount of the loaf single handedly and found myself googling 'low fat banana muffins'.  This recipe substitutes butter for oil, uses only egg whites, has less sugar than your standard muffin/cake mix and has oats {and they're always healthy right?} so I figured they aren't too anti diet.

I had to alter the original recipe somewhat - I didn't have nearly enough oats or blueberries, so mine look less delicious than the original counterparts but I can honestly tell you that they are scrumptious.  Perfect with a cup of tea on a quiet Sunday afternoon. If When I make these again, and I can assure you I will, I'll definitely try and use the right amount of ingredients. I imagine that the extra oats would give the muffins a lovely texture. As it is, using soft brown sugar makes them sweet, without being overly so and you would never tell that the mixture goes easy on fat.

I've still got a few more bananas left to use up so I'm excited to try out this recipe from The Kitchen.

Delicious!

Love B x

Sorry for the poor quality photos - it was already getting dark when I took photos at 6.30pm!

Carrot Cake

Now, I'm going to be totally honest. The other day I twigged that my jeans were a little more snug than I'd care for, my face and physique a little more rounded. And it dawned on me, I probably ought to be going easier on the biscuits and taking smaller portions from the abundant buffet on offer at work. However, I like to start things like this on a Monday {or the first day of the month, or a New Year..} - it seems a bit tidier, a bit more appropriate for some reason. So until Monday, I'm doing what we, in my family, call "eating everything but grass". Which is where carrot cake comes into it. I had never eaten carrot cake until last Summer, having convinced myself that I hated the stuff. Low and behold the absolute opposite is true and I could eat the stuff all the time. Combined with the fact it's my boyfriend's favourite cake and it was a clear winner.

I used a loaf tin I had lying around instead of a square baking tin so I had to adjust the cooking times accordingly {gas mark 4, middle of the oven for 55 minutes give or take} and I used the cake recipe from this site but the icing recipe from here because I had some Quark left over that I wanted to use up. The result was delicious. Light and carrot-y whilst the icing had a just the right amount of tang to it, I think from the addition of the Quark. 

I have to say, the icing didn't turn out as thick as I would've liked though I still liked the effect and the taste. I know this was in part down to overbeating but I always seem to have a bit of bother with cream cheese icing. This is confounded by the fact that an eternal debate rages in our house as to how cheesey it ought to be {to me, it ought to have some of the tang of cream cheese coming through, to my boyfriend, why on earth would you put cheese on a cake?! Isn't it buttercream icing instead?!}. Regardless, I made it on Saturday afternoon and it barely saw out the rest of the weekend, which is always a good sign in my books. A cake that lasts long in our home, is clearly not that good a cake!

Does anyone have any good carrot cake recipes? Or advice on the icing front/ I could really use some!

Love B x

Sunday Brunch

I love pancakes. Crepes, dropped scones, thick, thin...whatever variety, I could eat them for quite a large percentage of meals {this was lethal when Edinburgh festival was in town and there were various crepe stands dotted around just calling my name}.  They do, however, require more effort than is ideal in a laid back Sunday brunch for two.  This is why these are perfect, and genius. So obvious is the idea that I am kicking myself for needing Nigella to point it out to me in her 'Nigella Express' book rather than coming to the conclusion myself.

Make the dry mixture ahead of time and store it in a sealed container. Simples. Literally, hit-yourself-in-the-forehead kind of simple. No worries, once I knew of it, an IKEA kilner jar full of the stuff can always be found on a shelf in my kitchen. My waistline is less appreciative of the ease with which I can make pancakes but never mind.

All you need is 600g flour {I used up all the odds and ends of bags I had in various cupboards}, 3 tablespoons of baking powder, 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, a teaspoon of salt and 40g sugar {I used vanilla sugar that I'd gotten super cheap from Lidl}. Mix it all together and store in a medium/large jar.

To make up the pancakes {around 10-15 depending on how big you like them!} add 1 egg, 250ml milk and 1 tablespoon of melted butter to 150g of the pre-made mixture. I keep these details written on a piece of pretty paper stuck to the jar so I don't have to root around in a cookery book for quantities; it just makes this even more simple. Add a tablespoon of batter to a pan over a medium heat {the medium is important - I'm often way too impatient, whack the heat up and end up with pancakes that are burnt on the outside and undercooked inside. And hungry} and flip when bubbles appear on top. They should be golden on the outside.

I personally like mine with 0% fat Greek yoghurt, blueberries and syrup. YUM.

Does anyone have any other favourite brunch recipes? I'd love to hear them, especially easy ones! I hope you've had a nice weekend! I can't believe it's already Monday tomorrow...

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 14

So to finally wrap up my fourteen days of food {considerably after my original 14 day deadline!} I thought I would go back to doing what I love most - baking. I'm pretty confident when it comes to baking, and willing to have a go at anything, normally with reasonable results {though I did attempt to make Rowies once for my Scottish boyfriend - we don't really talk about that incident...}.  When it comes to this however, I feel like I've met my nemesis.

Want to know what it is?

Banana bread.

Complete and utter fail. Every time. They either don't cook, or they over cook and burn even if I am meticulous about keeping my beady eye on them.  My sister makes an incredible version and I can't lie, I'm a tad envious. I love a challenge though! I laugh in the face of banana bread {and then weep a bit when it fails yet again}.

Now, I must admit, I've started writing this post as it is in the oven so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I used this recipe once before and it worked, though it burned before it had the chance to cook through. This time I've been sure to stick tin foil over the top when it was a lovely golden brown colour and I'm biding my time and trying to be patient and not open the oven too often to test if it's done {though we're just over an hour in and it's still not totally cooked. Patience Bridge, patience.}.

Anyway, I used this recipe here though I substituted 4 bananas for 3.  Maybe it's just me, but I seem to buy giant bananas and I've wondered if some of my overly soggy attempts have been thanks to the seemingly huge quantity of banana in there. It doesn't seem to do any harm to cut one out.

The result? As you can see - it looks pretty good! I am pleased to say I think I may have finally won! Waawaaweewaa! It was delicious. The tinfoil on top did it's job marvellously and the resulting loaf is probably not likely to see out the week. Marvellous.

One further word of advice, I normally use an all in one method with my magimix but decided this time to cream the butter and sugar alone for a pretty long time {5-10mins} before adding the rest as instructed.  I think it helped. Oh, and when you add all the liquidy ingredients, it will look like this, don't panic {it looks gross just to warn you}:

As soon as you start to fold in the flour however, all returns to normal and doesn't seem to do anything to the taste or texture so don't panic!

Do you have a favourite banana bread recipe? I'd love to hear it!

I have to say, I've loved doing these 14 different foods. It's been good to push myself to make things I normally wouldn't. I don't think this will be the last food post at all.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of food: Day 13

I included a little sneak peaks of this Day of Food quite a while back now. We had friends coming round one evening for some drinks and food, and I had hoped to make a batch of 3 different dips. As it happens, I couldn't get any tahini for houmous, so that was out of the question. I had wanted to make a tomato salsa dip too but, to be totally honest, I really like the ones you can buy? I'd love to make my own version of them, if anyone has any good recipe suggestions. It frustrates me that the only 'salsa' I can knock up involves chopped fresh tomatoes, and whilst delicious, it's not really the same for dipping, is it?

Which left me with Guacamole. As simple as this dish is, I've never made it before. Like they say though, there's no time like the present.

I looked up some recipes online but the basis premise was the same throughout so I just played around with quantities. In the end I used:

2 big tsps of Very Lazy Chilli

2 avocados

1 ripe tomato

2 finely sliced spring onions

A generous helping of frozen chopped Coriander

Juice of one lime

Pinch of sea salt

I mashed together a tsp of the chilli {the very lazy stuff made this so easy!}, spring onion, coriander and a tiny pinch of salt into something a bit paste like. After that, I peeled and diced up the avocado, mashing it in with the paste. Not too much though - I like my Guacamole to be a bit chunky {unlike the lurid green stuff you get in a pot at the supermarket}. I diced up the tomato, and stirred it through the mixture with the rest of the spring onions and coriander. I finished it off with a tad more seasoning and the juice of the lime.

It was delicious, I have to admit. One hundred times nicer than the stuff you can buy and, especially with the shortcut ingredients {Coriander & Chilli} it was super simple with minimal prep time.

I made mine about 30 minutes or so before everyone turned up so I stored it in the fridge. One neat trick I did come across on my Googling search yesterday, is that you should press a layer of clingfilm onto the Guacamole before you store it in the fridge. Literally onto the surface. This stops any air getting to it so it will still be a lovely vibrant shade of green by the time you come to eat it.

Hope you liked this! Does anyone have any particular guacamole recipes that differ from this? Or like I said, is it pretty standard?

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 12

Right, so this is actually a drink but hear me out.  I've wanted to have a pop at making a 'green monster' for a while.   Having read all about it's amazing-ness {not a word, I know}, and being a complete sucker for stuff like this {aka anything that claims to promise amazing hair, skin, eyes, energy etc in, literally, one glass} I had to give it a go.  

I had a pop at making the original but changed my mind and through in the blueberries I had left from my batch of muffins {these had been frozen so they had to act as my batch of ice too - does anyone really keep a bag of ice in the freezer?} because the original recipe wasn't sweet enough for me to be willing to drink a batch of the stuff. I also left out flax seed because I wasn't even sure what that was and I was pretty certain my local Scotmid was not going to have any.

I have to admit, I'm a bit torn on this one.  I don't hate it by any stretch of the imagination and I certainly plan on making it again {especially if it does keep up it's end of the deal and have all these seemingly magical properties}.  That said, to tell you I couldn't taste the spinach would be to tell a porky pie. It's definitely not spinach-y, which I thought was pretty incredible, but you know you're drinking something other than just the banana and blueberries {though the green colour gives that away a bit too...}. I got my boyfriend to have a, very nervous, sip and when I asked him if he liked it, his somewhat delayed and hesitant response was "well...it's a bit....grassy". Says it all really.  I can't imagine any of the menfolk I know would really be into this one, but like I said, it's reasonably tasty and drinkable and gives you a nice hearty punch of vitamins! Not bad really! Just for the record, the recipe I've linked to made about a pint and a bit, but then I didn't add any ice to bulk it out.

Anyone ever tried one? Got any suggestions to make it a bit less 'grassy'?

Update: having made this several times since I actually wrote this post, the green monster has really grown on me. I use a bit less spinach so it is less 'grassy' and try to use slightly unripened bananas. Maybe it's because I know I'm drinking something that is good for me but I actually kind of enjoy it. Word of advice - don't use defrosted frozen spinach when you run out of fresh stuff. That really does taste like grass and it will make you want to vomit. Not a pleasant start to the morning.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 11

Two foodie posts this week! I had planned on saving this for next Tuesday {in keeping with the pattern that has developed in these posts} but these were too tasty not to share. So, Day 11 comes in the shape of these delicious stuffed Romano peppers. I had only come across giant couscous in various pre-packed guises and I knew I wanted to cook with it on my own terms. Obviously when I finally stumbled across a box, I grabbed it up with both hands. This recipe is delicious and summery - we ate it as a side dish to pork chops - and is at once filling without being heavy. As usual, I can't give you exact measurements but the ingredients are as follows:

{enough for 2 portions}

2 romano peppers

olive oil

100g {roughly} giant couscous {I finally found some at Waitrose}

Feta

Mint {remember the fresh, frozen, pre-chopped packet from Waitrose?}

Chilli {I used the 'very lazy' kind}

Sea Salt & pepper to taste

I halved and deseeded the peppers before drizzling them with a little bit of olive oil and popping in the over to roast whilst I made the couscous according to the instructions on the packet. Put simply, I fried the couscous in a dash of olive oil until golden brown then added 200ml of cold water and stirred until it was all absorbed. Keep adding water until the couscous is soft. Once the couscous was cooked, I took the saucepan of the heat, stirred through plenty of chopped Feta {I really like Feta so I might've gone a bit over the top}, a good sprinkling of the frozen mint and a couple of teaspoons of the chilli. It gave it a pretty decent kick {by my wimpy standards} so go easy on that last step if you aren't a fan of hot dishes.

To finish, I simply spooned the mixture into the pepper halves {which had probably roasted for 20 minutes or so} before serving.

Enjoy!

Love B x

Parmesan Pencils

{here via here}

Wouldn't these make a perfect gift for a foodie? Shame there was only a limited first run of 500 created {and it sold out in a fortnight}. The leads in these giant pencils are actually flavoured parmesans - pesto, chilli and truffle - that you literally 'shave' over your meal. Genius. Not only that but they come with recommended portion sizes based on the scale on the pencil, as well as the calorie content of each portion. Love it!

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 10

This is the last of the recipes from Delicious. I made the other two midweek suppers but to be honest, they were a fancy steak sandwich and a prawn pasta dish, neither of which I felt I needed to share. This was a different kettle of fish though. I've never cooked with Halloumi before - though I don't know why 'cause I think it's pretty delish. Anyway, aside from needing to stock up on the key ingredients {Halloumi and sesame seeds} this recipe was again, really straight forward. Quick yet vaguely impressive, it worked well for a mid week dinner {I'm rapidly acclimatising to working 8 - 6 again, and it feels good}.

Once again, for simplicities sake, the magazine suggested prepacked roast vegetables but to be honest, I don't really think it adds all that much prep time to chop a courgette, an onion and some peppers. I do feel I should let you in on a secret though. I always add half a packet of Mediterranean vegetable seasoning to my roast vegetables. I love the flavour, and frankly they taste better {to me}.  Makes a delicious, quick dinner even simpler.

The result is bright, colourful and perfect for a summery meal. The halloumi adds enough 'bulk' to the meal that I got away without needing to add any meat - a rare occurrence in our home. Well. I ought to clarify that. It left me feeling like I didn't need to add any meat. My boyfriend? For all there was a nearly empty plate, he kept reiterating that it was "more like a side dish".  In a nutshell, I think I can safely assume he's a carnivore: unless there is meat {or it's welcome replacement, carbs} it isn't really a meal. To each their own. I, for one, loved it. AND I was stuffed.

Ignore the ugly-ass plates. I need to buy some crockery that is not the stuff provided in our rented flat.

If anything, following these recipes has made me think a little more about the details of a meal and how much of a difference they make to even simple, mid week suppers. Paying attention to stuff like that has made me feel like I wasn't just chucking food on a plate for the sake of eating quickly, rather that I was taking the same care I would if I was making a 'nice' dinner. 

Love B x

Cupcakes galore

A few weeks ago, my mum, sister and I took part in our local village fair by setting up and running our own cupcake stand.  "B's Buns" as we call it, is a long running joke in our family but we genuinely do enjoy baking and, I must admit, most of the time we aren't too shabby at it!

This was the second time we'd taken part in the fair, and we spent the bulk of the 24hours beforehand baking and icing 600 cupcakes. I can promise you, it's a bit tiring! Worth it though - we had a great day, made a bit of cash and I got to hang out with two of my favourite people doing something we love! Want to see?

                                                              

I didn't seem to take a photo of the miniature sponge cakes we did, which is a shame. My absolute favourites were the the strawberry cheesecakes. I must admit, we taste tested everything as we went along: by the end of our baking marathon we could barely face the thought of eating another sweet thing - tasting the buttercream icing was hellish!

My absolute favourites are these beauties. I'd iced cakes as roses before but it was my sister's idea to put them into bunches.  I have to say, I think they're absolutely beautiful - too good to eat almost! I think she came across the idea but couldn't tell you where for the life of me.

They looked so pretty!

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 9

Sorry for the poor quality photos - I probably ought to think about a new camera. That, and I was rather hungry so I was somewhat rushing...

Second Delicious recipe here. Once again though, I ended up playing around with the recipe a little bit because I didn't quite pay thorough enough attention when translating the recipe into a shopping list. Consequently, I substituted a couple of ingredients, and skipped another entirely. No bother!

I substituted 'wholesome grains' for Merchant Gourmet mixed grains - not exactly a big substitution. I obviously don't know what the recipe would be like with the original ingredients but I can't imagine it would that be that much different/different really at all. The recipe also called for pre-roasted peppers. Having just bought ordinary peppers, with the intention of roasting them myself, I consequently completely forgot about them until it was far to late to add them to the recipe. Doh. The final substitution was a pre-mixed summer salad mix. I simply used the frozen chopped mint and coriander I had bought for the Thai rice along with some fresh chives.

No harm, no foul though. Dinner was delicious. Empty plates all round. The stew consisted of fried chorizo, chopped tomatoes with chilli, herbs, some chicken stock, red onion and the mixed grains {and technically, the peppers}. I'd post the recipe but I'm not sure if that's ok {am I worrying a smidge too much?}. Anyway, it was as simple as frying the chorizo and onions, adding everything else and letting the mix simmer for about 10 minutes. 

You could definitely taste the mint in this dish. I don't really think of mint when making most savoury dishes but it definitely gave the stew a 'summery' edge: it didn't feel overly heavy and was the perfect dinner for a gorgeous July evening.

I served it with 2 reduced fat garlic baguettes. A lot of food I know, but my boyfriend seems capable of eating a redunkulous amount of food in one sitting. I tried to hold back on eating too much garlic bread but even with it, the whole dinner is pretty healthy. Plus, there was enough left over for lunch - perfect!

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 8

My lovely Mum bought me a subscription to Delicious magazine a year or so ago, and I love when my monthly dose of food comes through the door. I often use the recipes as a source of inspiration but this time I've decided to follow one through entirely. Actually, I decided this time to follow through and make every single one of their 'shortcut suppers'.

To be honest, as long as I have been reading the magazine I've been in the time-rich, cash-poor place that students tend to inhabit.  I have literally just started working full time for the summer, so whilst I'm still kind of cash-poor, I'm also now short on time too. Whilst I love nothing more than busying away a few hours in the kitchen, playing with recipes to fit my budget/the ingredients I have to hand, I also want to be able to knock up a healthy, tasty {and ok, a little bit impressive looking} dinner in a reasonable time frame. Because their shortcut suppers often called for pretty specialist ingredients from Waitrose, I've pretty much avoided the recipes. Until now...

Today's recipe is Thai fried rice. It was so simple - all the way from frying the shallots to folding through the rice and chicken and finishing with a splash of sweet chill.  Their recipe was even more simple than my version: they suggested pre-packed rice and pre-cooked chicken, which would dramatically reduce the cooking and prep time, but I stuck to my guns and   spent an extra 20 minutes or so cooking chicken and rice from scratch

What really lifted this dish for me {and made it super simple and flavoursome} was using the frozen spicy Thai mix from Waitrose. These packets are currently on offer {or they were when I bought them last Thursday} of two for £2.50 and so I picked up a whole mishmash of Thai spices and frozen herbs - a good load of which I used in this dinner.  I much prefer cooking with fresh herbs but I struggle to really keep herbs alive {I managed once!} so having batches, pre-chopped, in my freezer is perfect.  The spicy Thai mix consisted of lemongrass, coriander, ginger, garlic and chilli, so nothing haven't heard of, but not having to prep or buy all those ingredients fresh beforehand meant making this delicious, impressive dinner quick and simple, even when cooking everything else from scratch.

Whilst doing the bulk of my grocery shopping at Waitrose is still beyond my budget right now, it was definitely worth spending that bit extra to have all the ingredients in my freeze. The offer in particular, made it great value for money {when you consider the fact I easily spend that much on more, constantly buying - then accidentally killing off - fresh herb plants}.

Yum!

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 7

On a personal level, I really want to finish off what I started with my fourteen days of food.  Granted, my initial fourteen days has long since lapsed {as have the 14 after that, and that 14 after that}.  Regardless, I'm going to carry on, though at a more leisurely pace.

Last Christmas, my Dad bought me this cookbook on the promise that I would make him the Turkish delight from the recipe within. Done deal as far as I was concerned.  Turkish Delight is possibly his favourite sweet of all time so I was more than happy to oblige and while away some time in the kitchen. Plus, like I already pointed out it was recently his Birthday, and what better to make him than his favourite sweetie?

The recipe is really quite straightforward - the only ingredient I struggled to find was rosewater but a trip to a local deli soon resolved that issue.  I won't post the recipe on here but I will tell you the book is worth buying if you love the idea of homemade, foodie gifts.  It's broken down into seasons and there are suggestions that are appropriate for all manner of occasions - from gifts for friends, to nibbles that you could make for around your own table. The Turkish Delight was so simple to make - I dipped mine in chocolate after it had cooled and it just made it all the more delicious. "Better than the stuff from the shops" and "wow wee" were the responses, so I must've done something right.

The man himself:

Next on my list are the marinated goat's cheese and fortune cookies, and come Christmas time I certainly plan on making Panettone {dangerous - I could eat a whole one by myself}.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 6

Bread. What can I say? We have a love-hate relationship: I love it in all it's various shapes and sizes, it hates my waistline.  Moving past that I decided that I still had to attempt to make bread this fortnight.  As one of my favourite food stuffs {so yummy and versatile!} it would've been plain rude to leave it out.  Again though, I do try and mitigate what makes its way into my diet so I opted for granary bread {although toasted white bread with lashings of salted lurpak and raspberry jam is my idea of heaven. Spec if I have a smidge of a hangover...}.

I have to admit, I cheated on this one and used Hovis granary bread mix.  I do normally like doing things all myself but today was a pretty heavily scheduled day {and yet I chose to make bread?!} soo mix it was! Plus it was uber cheap - £1 for a fresh from the oven batch of bread, yes thank you, don't mind if I do.  Anyhoo, it means there ain't much of a recipe.  I've tried to make up for it with lots of gratuitous bread photos though! No?

Waiting 2hours for it to rise and the 30mins is totally worth the effort {which was minimal because I didn't even hand knead this sucker, I used the dough hook on my mixer.  Rubbish food blog post I knoooooow}.  I had planned on just having one slice, that hasn't happened at all.  So I can confirm for you that it is TOTALLY delicious.  Hands down tastes better than buying a loaf from a shop. Which is odd cause surely the Hovis mix and the Hovis loaf are the same dealio?! Something to ponder on...

I reckon having taken serious baby steps this time, next time I'll have a full on go at making the dough myself.  I'm sure I must've done it in home ec at some point and I'm positive it can't be that tough {famous last words}. I tell you what though, there is nowt that makes you feel more like a domestic goddess than having a freshly baked loaf of bread sat on your kitchen table.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 4

Thought I was maybe going to leave you food post-less today? WRONG. Far too stubborn to give up on a challenge, so much so that I've realised I'm going to be away for 3 days in the middle of this so I will need to be pre-emptively baking {don't hold me to this - I'm away for an interview so may have to do some prep.  Sadly I don't think cakes will cut it}.  Anyway, up next is lemon drizzle cake.

Now this is one of the boy's favourite cakes and was pretty high on the request list when I suggested this little challenge.  And I've never made one before so I figured why not.

I looked up the basic recipe from google and came across this one but played around with the quantities, as is my want and ended up just using the basic Victoria sponge recipe my Mum ingrained in me as a little girl with some lemon in it!.

I started off preheating my oven to gas mark 4 {160 degrees C I think?} and uses a basic Victoria sponge recipe like I said - 8oz  S.R flour, 8oz caster sugar, 8oz butter and 4 eggs. I personally used an all in one approach, adding in a tsp of baking powder and the finally grated zest of 2 small lemons before whacking it all in the mixer on a medium speed for a while.  If you aren't taking the easy option, cream together your butter and sugar and in a separate bowl beat your eggs together.  Mix in the eggs, little by little, to the butter/sugar combo, alternating each time with a bit of sifted flour.  Right at the very end, when you're down to just a bit of flour, fold this in rather than beat to get lots of air into this mixture.  Add your lemon zest at the same time {I nearly forgot the lemon zest...doh}.

Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper before adding in the mix and baking for approximately 45minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  If, like me, your oven isn't fan powered, keep your eyes peeled in case one side starts to burn/cook a smidge too fast.  Just turn it round quickly {I'm sure Delia wouldn't agree with opening the oven but whatevs}.

When you finally take the cake out the oven, poke a whole load of holes in the top using a skewer, sharp knife or fork.  Mix up approx 100g of caster sugar with the juice of the 2 lemons you zested before {is that even a word?!} and use this as your drizzle.  Pour over the top of your cake whilst it is still warm and leave to cool thoroughly in the tin {you have more willpower than me if you manage this}.  I thoroughly recommend eating it whilst drinking a large cup of tea, as I am right now. Genuinely? I reckon I could eat the whole thing.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 3

Apologies for the poor quality photos in this post, I was somewhat preoccupied with not burning dinner to worry to much about setting up better lighting.

Doesn't look like much eh? Trust me when I say this dinner rocks. Oh, and please ignore the old lady plate {I long for the day when we will no longer live in a furnished flat}. Instead of a snack, today I thought I'd post what is currently the favourite dinner in our house.  It's deviating from my original plan of challenging myself to make something new everyday this fortnight but realistically? Sometimes it's Saturday night and you want something familiar, delicious, quick and simple.  These bbq chicken quesadillas fit the bill perfectly.  I can't remember where I came across the original recipe - it's pretty commonplace - but I do remember being reminded of it when I stumbled across it in a blogpost recently {though I can't for the life of me remember where? If anyone could enlighten me I'd be so grateful!}.  Anyway, the blogger in question referred to it as her go to dinner to make her hubby do all the tasks he'd rather not do. I have to say I haven't tried it out in the same with the boy but considering his reaction to them, and the frequency of his requests for them, I'm pretty sure he'd be putty in my hands.  I'll be sure to use the power for good...

Start by heating your tortilla in a pan until it starts to bubble up a little bit. I'd stick with a medium heat - you have to wait a smidge longer but it's better than burning dinner! Add you cheese, chicken and bbq sauce {I personally marinade the chicken in the bbq sauce at the start rather than adding the sauce to the chicken once it's in the tortilla} and fold the tortilla in half whilst still in the pan.  Press down with the spatula to make sure all the cheesy, chicken-y goodness sticks together.  If, at this point, the top of the tortilla isn't crispy and brown enough then just keep flipping the quesadilla over until you're happy with it.  If you want them extra gooey, stick them in the oven for 15mins or so on a really low temp.

I also read that caramelised onions make a great addition to these but we didn't have any onions in the house {ridiculous eh? Exams completely wrecked my life skills}. I'd serve these up with more bbq sauce for dipping and a crisp green salad.

For the record, even though the rice krispies and oreo truffles might suggest otherwise, I do try and watch what I'm eating. The boy is less fussed and claims to spot 'diet' foods a mile off. I use reduced fat cheese in this and make sure I weigh it before hand so I know what is going into my food, wholewheat tortillas would probably be a better choice {though I admit I used white this time...} and by marinading the chicken beforehand you use less bbq sauce {meaning, if you're using pretty standard supermarket stuff like I was, you'll benefit from less sugar}.  The side salad doesn't hurt either...

For a quick and easy midweek dinner I'd totally recommend this. I used 4 tortillas and 6 chicken thighs to feed the 2 of us but that was good for a heart appetite, you could easily use less.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 1

I don't have a clue why these have posted in the wrong order. Hey ho!

Like I said, I love a challenge {even if doing absolutely nothing yesterday was lovely!} so here I go with the first of fourteen foodstuffs {seems rather a lot now I think about it, damn alliteration}.  I decided to start with the peanut butter and chocolate rice krispie treats I'd first seen here.  I have to admit, I played around with the recipe a bit to fit both with budget and the limited kitchen equipment I have here {a sugar thermometer is on my list - is that lame?}.  Anyway, I bought mostly everything at a poundshop though if you have the time, money and inclination I'm sure you could use much higher quality ingredients {I would if I could!}. Want to see the finished version?

I love 'em! And I swear down they're moreish.  I accidentally ate one when I was finished taking this photo and now I want another, and another...Slippery slope my friends.  Slippery slope.  Aesthetically, they don't look any more fancy that your standard rice krispie treat but it terms of taste it blows the old school version right out the water.

In terms of having a recipe for you, everything was a little adhoc.  I melted a couple tablespoons of butter over a medium heat before adding most of the bag of marshmallows and stirring until completely melted. Once all the marshmallow lumps are gone, remove the pan from the heat and stir in a healthy dose of rice krispies.  Again, a bit adhoc, I just kept adding more until all the mix seemed fairly evenly distributed.  Press this down into a baking tray or dish lined with greaseproof paper {the paper is super important or you're just going end up with the mix setting solid to your dish.  Fail.}.  After that, I melted probably a whole pot of peanut butter together with a few squares of milk chocolate and spread the mix over the marshmallow/krispie goodness.  It gets better.  Melt up the rest of your milk chocolate {I used just under 2 200g bars} and pour THAT over the peanut butter over the marshmallow/krispie goodness.

Salivating yet? I was.

At this point, stick the whole lot in the fridge to chill for a while.  I took it out again briefly to initially chop into squares to make my life a bit easier.  I think it took roughly an hour to chill through.  The wait was so worth it though.

These guys have just the right amount of sweetness tempered with the salt from the peanut butter {it takes the edge off just enough so you can eat twice the amount you planned...} and the recipe really is super simple to follow, even adhoc. I think it took me under 30minutes to make, if it was anywhere near that.  If I make them again I think I'd make a few alterations: I'd probably use more of a higher quality peanut butter - the layer I ended up with wasn't quite thick enough for my liking {I'm a peanut butter fiend} and I'd probably use dark chocolate over milk, again to take the edge off the sweetness a bit more.

I have to say, the first bite I was uncertain of but I found myself craving {and going back for} more. They're definitely calling my name from the fridge.

Have a go - it's definitely worth it.

Love B x

ps.  I don't recommend making these if you plan on being seen in swimwear in the immediate future.  I warned you, they are at the top of a very sliperry slope.  Just saying.

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 2

Well, so much for my lofty ambitions of fourteen consecutive days of food.  Blogger seemed to have a wee hissy fit yesterday and  my Day 1 post disappeared for quite a while.  I tried uploading this post yesterday but it wasn't having any of it.  So, 24 hours late, here we go. Please accept my apologies.

Today's recipe is really simple {even more so that the rice krispie cakes}: smoked mackerel pate.  If you aren't a fan of big fishy flavours, I suggest you probably just skip this, it isn't going to be your cup of tea. 

I used a whole packet of smoked mackerel for this - roughly around 250g - and about half a pot of quark. If you haven't heard of quark, it's  pretty brill.  It's fat free soft cheese and it's pretty neutral flavour wise making it a brilliant base for spreads, dips or for for marinades like tandoori. It's also fat free so if you're watching your waistline it's pretty handy to have in your arsenal.  

Anyway, I blended together the mackerel and the quark with a pinch of salt, pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice and, Bob's your uncle, you've got a delicious smokey fish pate to spread on toast. Using these quantities, this 'recipe' makes quite a lot, which I could personally just eat all day but if you maybe aren't inclined to do so, it freezes really well.  

I wish I could be more specific with a recipe but there really is no need, just taste taste taste and you can't go wrong! I recommend slathering it on toast but I can't lie to you, I could just eat it with a spoon {oh so classy}.

Enjoy!

Love B x