Easter Break

The second week of the school Easter Break has been as busy as the first, only this week I also had to fit in going to work for 2 days as well, but the time I wasn't at work was enjoyably spent with my 2 girls.

On Friday we went to Harewood House, it is only a short 10 mile journey from where we live and well worth the visit. It has lovely grounds, an amazing adventure play area for the kids of all ages and places to eat, drink and generally saunter round.  The Bird Garden also had the girls full attention and at 2pm they even fed their resident penguins.

It was so very lovely to just let the girls have their freedom and allow them to run about within sight, enjoying whatever they wanted to do.  They coloured in badges, talked to the birds, ate ice cream and spent sooooo long at the play park that their legs must surely be ready for dropping off

The hours flew by and we had hardly explored all the grounds had to offer and we didn't even visit the house, I figured we could do that another day when the weather was not as nice and it didn't seem fair to drag the girls away from the park to make them walk calmly round the house, they had serious energy to burn!

When we did eventually get home, youngest daughter had fallen asleep in the car and I managed to successfully move her from the car into her bed - result! Then eldest daughter asked if we could use the time to make some biscuits - well, this at least meant I could try out my latest purchase, my biscuit stamp!  

Using a simple plain biscuit recipe:

250g softened butter

140g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

300g plain flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

Daughter No1 quickly mixed together the butter and sugar, added the egg yolk and vanilla extract and finally the flour and I mixed them all together and formed it into a ball.  Taking small portions of the mixture and rolling it in my hand to make a small ball the size of a walnut, I placed the ball onto the baking tray and using the stamp, pushed it down firmly onto the ball of dough till it was half a centimetre thick - easy!

These were then popped into a preheated oven of 180C or 160C for fan assisted ovens and cooked for 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden.

I think these would make a lovely gift popped inside a polythene gift bag and tied with ribbon, but for now they made a great accompaniment to a good strong cup of tea and 5 minutes peace and quiet while daughter No2 continues to nap!

I'm off to find a corner of the garden with my cuppa and biscuit, while the sun is shining and enjoy the last official day of the Easter school break before it's all back to the usual routine next week - boo!!

Cheats Cheesecake

The school holidays are upon us here and I am utterly fed up with the weather, but I refuse to be all British about it and talk at lengths about how dreadful it is so will quickly skip over it!!

So in spite of the thing I'm not talking about and the very reason why I haven't been very far today, I have been trying to throw together meals that I already have the ingredients in for and at the request of daughter number 1, I was instructed to conjure up a dessert, a family favourite that I had to share, it's so simple it's ridiculous!

It's what I call my cheats cheesecake and goes as followed:

Serves 4 or a generous 2!

Bash 4 digestive biscuits (other biscuits such as Ginger Nuts or Nobnobs also work well) with a rolling pin to a crumb & throw in a handful of rolled oats.

Add to a pan 25g of butter & heat gently till it has melted and starts to froth ever so slightly, well that's the proper way but I never do and just add it all together and hope for the best - I have hungry bellies to fill, I can't hang around for frothing butter!! Add the crushed up biscuits & rolled oats and mix till all incorporated and forms a crumble.

Tip into individual serving bowls & leave to cool for a moment (save a small amount to one side)

Add Greek yogurt over the top of the crumb mix.

Add fruit of your choice or I like to heat fruits such as blueberries, raspberries or slices of apricot gently in a pan with a sprinkle of sugar to make a fruit syrup. Or if super lazy, use those yogurts that have the fruit served separately, just pour the serving of fruit over the yogurt, I do like to use Greek or natural yogurt, the regular stuff is just too sweet!

Top again with the put aside amount of digestive biscuit and add a drizzle of honey if you so prefer.

Voila! Empty bowls all round in this house!!!

Try it, it's real quick to put together, doesn't involve fancy ingredients or tricky techniques, ideal for a relatively fast dessert.

Enjoy the holidays and stay dry!!

Granny Squares

What a difference a week makes, I think I blinked and Summer was over. I sure sign colder weather is on the way is when I finally relented and switch the heating on. I've also had to dig out some fluffy socks to keep my feet warm and the slow cooker has even made a few appearances in this last couple of weeks!

One thing I did think was fast disappearing was night feeds, but it would appear that after sleeping through from about 9 weeks, my daughter has suddenly decided that she wants to wake for a feed not once but twice in the night.  I am quite literally feeling like I could fall asleep standing up. I suppose my smug smile needed wiping off my face for all the times I happily told anyone and everyone that I was getting a full nights sleep and what an easy baby I have. Now, don't get me wrong, an easy, wonderful and happy baby she is and she's probably just going through a growth spurt and hopefully (with fingers crossed) she will soon start sleeping through again!

A result of feeling a little dozy these last few nights has meant that hook and yarn have rarely seen the light of day.  My stack of granny squares has not been greatly increased and they sit there looking hopeful at me from the bureau. 

In a bid to try and cast out the 'dead on my feet' feeling, I have been donning the baby papoose and setting out with baby and dog for some lovely long walks. The sky is looking a lot more grey and gloomy these days and rain showers can be seen in small pockets moving across the hills, it's often a race to get back indoors before being soaked to the skin with these passing downpours!

I have found a little energy to try and continue with my own challenge of making something from 'The Great British Bake Off" programme. I am such a huge fan of this series and admire the contestants for putting themselves through the pressure of baking such amazing cakes, breads and biscuits etc all the time being filmed while also being under the intense scrutiny of Paul and Mary. I love to bake, I spend a huge amount of time in the kitchen looking for things I can make. I love to read food blogs and enjoy looking at a recipe book as much as I do reading a good novel. However, I could never imagine having the amount of bravery it must take to appear on that show, quite simply, I would break under the pressure, especially with Paul Hollywood's steely blue eyes staring critically at anything I managed to cook!!

So, in moderately less pressurised surrounding, (my own kitchen) I set about making something from this weeks show and tried my hands at Macron's!! I searched the Internet and found this recipe which didn't look too tricky to follow. I must admit that I tried unsuccessfully on 2 occasions before I made a batch I was happy with. They were lovely, if maybe a little on the big side, more Grande Four then Petit Four! My hubby and eldest daughter demolished them in no time. I imagine they would make a lovely present all boxed up and tied with ribbon, must make a note of that for Christmas maybe (oh, how even more depressing thinking of the C word already!!!)

My baby girl is getting a little older now (a whole 14 weeks now) and she enjoys spending short periods of time sat in her bouncy chair playing with her toys. At this stage she loves looking at black and white objects and can literally shake with excitement at her Lamaze toy. It's amazing how something so small can have so many things. Our front room is fast looking like an aisle of Toys R Us. As much as tripping over brightly coloured toys all day fights with my urge to have it all tidied away, I do love to watch her giddy with pleasure over all these things, it's worth all the sleepless night and messy house - honest xx

Wishing you all a hooky full, sunshiny warm, relaxingly chilled week. 

Spring is here!!

!!!!

Hey guess what, I'm expecting a baby, but then, you knew that right!! Well the realisation of this hits me every now & then and inbetween these moments I am almost unaware of this monumentous news. Crazy I know, but with my first pregnancy, everything was new & I wanted to know everything right then, right now, but this time, 6 years on and feeling more confident in myself, I know I'm capable of carrying this baby & when the time comes, I'll be ready. I suppose the term 'one in the oven' has a good feel for me, as you know, I love to bake, and once that cake is in and baking, I don't think about it again till nearer the time it's ready to come out. Well, in some ways, thats how I like to think of this pregnancy, only the final product will be better than any cake I've ever tasted. 

This week though has been one of those 'hit me' times and a need to be organised has briefly kicked in, but as is typical for me, this was not in a purchasing the all essential baby equipment style organised, no my thoughts were towards the kitchen and stocking the cupboards, frigde and freezer for the months when I won't want to, have time to or even want to think about being in there and making meals, but a family I have and a family I need to cook for. Now I know they can more than fend for themselves but why waste this time I have now to cook up a storm and get some baking done, that way at least I can avoid the occasional 'delights' my wonderful husband concocts (I didn't marry him for his culinary skills)  

So today with more snow on the cards, I rolled up my sleeves and headed for the kitchen and began, today's creations were:
Chocolate chip loaf cake

Banana and honey loaf cake

Ginger loaf cake 

Lemon drizzle tray bake

This took me just over an hour to do, that's right, 4 cakes in an hour. I think my many years of baking has taught me a style of baking I love and that's straight forward, no fuss type baking and also little tips I use to ensure I'm not frantic in the kitchen, covered in flour emptying drawers looking for a measuring spoon!!! I'll share with you my top 10 tips to stay calm in the kitchen: 

• Always wear an apron, it saves your clothes getting mucky & bleach marks from the flour on brand new black tops ( been there!!!!) & handy for drying wet hands.

• Use scales, I have electronic ones. Baking, in my mind is a science and using correct amounts means more good results at the end of the day.

• Containers!!! I can't stand using bags of flour or sugar, as every time you unroll the top you get covered in a dusting of flour or sugar spills onto the work tops and then sticks to you at every opportunity.  Some baking powders come in such small containers that you can't get a measuring spoon in & you reason with yourself  that you can gently shake the powder out onto the spoon which will be ok & end up with the whole lot falling out in one great lump & into your mixture - cue one very enraged mum desperately trying to flick it back out of the bowl with the only implement to hand, a fork or other useless item ( yep, done this a few times too) I like to decant these types of dry ingredients into containers, I like to use the containers they use in our local sweet shop, she gives them away for free when empty. I also use jam jars & kilner jars, anything that is air tight and wide enough to get a spoon in. 

• When using ingredients like honey, syrup or treacle, place the measuring spoon in hot water first before measuring out said ingredient, it'll slide off the spoon with no mess or fuss.

• If a piece of egg shell falls into your egg mixture, the right tool for the job to get it out again is actually one of the broken halves of the eggshell itself! The jagged edge of the shell cuts through the viscous egg white, letting you scoop up the bit of shell without any fuss. (Sorry, bit scientific, promise not to go there again!!) 

• Keep a jug of hot water nearby, it's handy for sticking in utensils you use and then can be taken out again when required and given a quick dry, otherwise you end up using lots of the same things like spoons, knives, spatulas etc

• Always use free range eggs, I'm not saying they are of superior flavour or anything like that which I'm sure they are, but more for the welfare of the chicken. I use in excess of a dozen eggs a week, that soon mounts up over a year (624 if you're wondering!!). That's a lot of chickens laying a lot of eggs for 1 family, doesn't take much to ensure that chicken is a happy one!! 

• Timers, use it!! I have seriously on many occasions, made a tray of brownies, set the timer, sat down, picked up my crochet and the outside world fails to exist anymore, I've even remember once thinking "mmm, what is that lovely smell, next door must be cooking something delicious" & then the the timer goes off and I remember its me that's baking 'duh', I really am that dizzy sometimes!!!!!

• Disposable liners - they are just brilliant. No greasing tins, no complicated origami sessions trying to get parchment paper to fit to your tin, no washing up, no temptation to just not use it, resulting in cake sticking to tin, using a knife to try coax it out, scratching tin, throwing in dishwasher in a temper and then having the non stick surface eroded away, thus making tin practically useless & only good for giving daughter to use in her pretend kitchen - yep, you live & learn, my daughters kitchen will testify to this, great for making mud cakes now!!! 

And that is it, of course I would always recommend making sure you have used all the ingredients required before putting into your tin, no point baking if you've left out something important like baking powder or sugar!! Always bake because you want to and not because you have to, errors will happen, results will be effected and you'll not want to bake again. 

And now for a bit of a crochet!! 

Now, I do feel this blog is heavily becoming like a food diary,  but originally I started this blog to record my crochet makes, as well as other homemade creations, but then at the time of starting this blog, I embarked on my biggest project ever & so I'm still half way through making a granny striped blanket for my daughter. 

In hind sight, if in the first place I had got off my lazy bum and actually measured the width of my daughters bed & not guesstimated it, I would probably have finished by now, but instead I'm still on with finishing this blanket that could now probably fit our super king size, but never mind, I am absolutely loving making it, love having the vastness of it over my legs as I work on it every opportunity I get while the snow falls once again, it's a feeling of being all snugly, under my blanket, warm & cosy & that's how I hope my daughter will feels when it's eventually makes it to her bed and hopefully before this weather finally starts looking warmer!!!  

Here are just a few glimpses of my WIP and I hope I can reveal it all in it's glory very very soon!! 

Now I'm off to cling film wrap my cakes and get them safely put in the freezer before they are spied by certain members of this family, ie all of them & then back to my blanket. (ha, who am I kidding, that lemon drizzle tray bake will never make it to the freezer, never made one that has yet!!!)

Happy times in the snow to all and I'll be back soon 

Busy week

Well I'm still frantically making cupcakes and selling them in a bid to raise money for Comic Relief Twittermillions.  I have changed the design this week to reflect the approach of Easter, and also maybe because I was becoming a woman possessed looking for red food colouring and buttermilk in my local community, especially as snow made an unexpected and quite frankly unwelcome return!! 

I hope to return soon, I have a gorgeous granny stripe blanket that I'm currently working on that I can't wait to share, if the weather doesn't cheer me up, seeing this bright assortment of stripy colours all together certainly will!!!

Back soon

Girlie Lunch

A while ago I invited a couple of friends over for lunch and promised to cook something new, usually I'm a tea and cake type of person, but wanted to test my culinary skills. With the school holidays here, we decided that we would meet as we all had tiddlywinks in need of a play date and we could enjoy a natter while they caused havoc upstairs! 

The menu, I'll admit wasn't my own creation. I had had this very meal at a friends house one evening and loved it so much I decided to try to recreate it. The original recipes are from Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall's cookbook River Cottage Veg Everyday. I don't have this cook book and so I made it up and hoped for the best!

On the menu then, was Goats Cheese, Pesto, Pine Nuts and Spinach Pie, I love how the spinach wilts away to nearly nothing when cooked!

And the side dishes consisted of, sliced Green's and leeks with a sprinkling of cashew nuts and a can of coconut milk (just the hard white part, not the watery stuff!!)

 and also Samphire. I love this vegetable, or really I should call it a plant. I eat it a lot when we are holidaying in Cornwall or when our fishmonger is able to get hold of some for me. It grows in coastal areas and has a salty tang to it. I steamed it briefly in butter and lemon juice. 

And lastly I roasted a tray of small new potatoes with a sprinkle of sea salt

My friend Katy bought the dessert, Carrot Cake with an orange frosting. It was delicious. The whole meal was lovely and it was great to have a table full of people both big and little tucking in. Clean plates all round. 

Then while the littlies rushed back upstairs to finish essential den making duties it left us to sit down with a cup of tea and have another chatter and enjoy a few hours crocheting. Katy has started a granny square blanket, much like the once recently completed by Lucy at Attic24, the picture of the blanket she hopes to emulate is here. Julie was finishing an adorable poncho for her daughter, and I decided to try use up some of the yarn left over from my Sunburst Granny Square blanket and make this little cheeky owl!

I have to firstly say it is a pattern I found on a lovely blog called Daisy Cottage Designs and the pattern is not only easy to follow, is uber cute and also free!, A link is here should you wish to take a look. 

When I was sewing the various parts together, I placed one of those wheaty bags that you get inside some toys these days that can be heated in a microwave to warm up. It's nice and weighty so Miss Owl here can sit nice and proudly, I also added some rice wrapped in a piece of cotton to the bottom of each leg. The rest I stuffed with regular toy stuffing. 

My plan had been that she would sit in the nursery looking all sweet and adorable on a shelf or in the cot, like some colourful accessory to brighten the room, but my daughter had other ideas and on first sight, firmly pledged Miss Owl was hers, and so now it is. 

Looking at Miss Owl here, she looks far to comfortable to be just some ornament on some shelf and so I have decided that she deserves to be a big sister and I'm on with crocheting her a younger sibling, I think possibly a brother, whom I'm sure will also not be allowed to sit on a shelf alone!! I best crack on, fortunately these little cuties don't take 9 months to 'cook' and are so lovely to make that it takes me only a few hours to assemble. 

Hope you see you all again soon xx

School Holiday Survival Kit!

School Holiday Survival Kit

The school holidays are upon us once more, wow, how the time has flown since Christmas!! Unfortunately, I'm flying solo on this weeks break as hubby has to work, but I still have a very active 5 year old who requires entertaining every minute of every day.

My first instinct to prepare for a full on week of activities, is to dig out my collection of cookery books and begin looking for some sweet inspiration in the form of cakes, biscuits and pastries.  

My trusted fail safe favourite is always the ever popular cupcake. I love using the Hummingbird cookbook & the recipe is easy enough to find on line, if you don't have the pleasure of owning the book, I'm sure I gain weight just looking through the pictures. I decided to make the Vanilla variety. The batter is quite wet, so I find that putting it into a jug first, and then pouring it into the cases an easy way of making sure more gets in the case and less is wasted - result!!

Of course, the butter icing had to be pink!! A house dominated by women dictates that pink prevails in many aspects, including cake decorations! A quick sprinkle of 100's and 1000's to crown this gooey delight, and hey presto, first batch of baking completed and safely tucked away in a tin before they are spied and eaten.

Next on my list was lemon tarts, my husbands absolute favourite! I simply made a sweet pastry, using twice the amount of plain flour to butter, adding a small amount of caster sugar and a few tablespoons of cold water to bind together. I chilled the pastry for a while in the fridge while I prepared the tin. I love making teeny tiny tarts and this mini tray ensures the tarts are small enough to pop whole straight into my mouth, what could be more perfect! I added a star topping for no other reason than because I felt that way inclined! The lemon curd filling was shop bought, I have never got round to making my own and this particular brand is lovely and tangy, it certainly ticks all the boxes.

I will admit, this batch didn't make it to a tin and the minute they were cool enough, were gobbled up by us all with a cup of tea, they really do go down a treat - fortunately I have some pastry left over and will be making more very soon!

In the course of my uninterrupted afternoon (the joys of a play date) I also rustled up a lemon drizzle tray bake and a batch of shortbread. 

My cake tins are now full with a selection of sweet offerings, I feel prepared for collections of hungry children, impromptu picnics and last minute guests. 

Heres to a fun packed week off, hoping you all have a good one. Back soon....now where is that tray bake!!

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day

I spent the perfect Valentines Day with my husband at a local tea rooms enjoying a cup of tea served in 

a proper china cup and saucer.

 

With rough cut sugar cubes & sugar tongs. Each table set with its own bunch of fresh flowers.

A light lunch of warm goats cheese salad with a walnut and balsamic dressing. Truly a scrumptious treat!

It was lovely to finally see the sun, and a peek of blue sky, if only for a short time.

Then home to see the postman had delivered my eagerly awaited package of Rooster Wool all the way  Coastal Yarns in Cornwall.

I can now finish the border on my recently completed Sunburst Granny Square blanket, but more on that later.

Hope to be back soon xx