Good Intentions!

I've been full of these lately, plans to get the house show home clean, keep on top of the ironing, start more cooking from scratch, healthier eating, in fact eating at all in the day would be a start! Also it's been my intention to bake more, sew more and blog more. I have quite a good baby who will happily sit in her chair with a toy, and will play alone in her baby gym. I think it's me with the problem, mummy guilt! I feel guilty leaving her to play with no attention from me, so instead I'm trying to cram everything else in while she sleeps, which isn't a lot during the day anymore. I shouldn't complain as this means she's sleeping at night instead. Still, it would be nice to do some of the 'me' things. 

So I guess this is an apology to any readers still out there, and anyone who was hoping to start reading about the baby's adventures, as that's another good intention that never became anything! My hope is to be back to regular blogging soon, with some recipe testing, some campervan adventures, and a new topic - baby product reviews. 

Another Pinterest Meal

Tonight's evening meal was another Pinterest find, that I tried, liked and will be trying again. Unfortunately I'd run out of chilli flakes so I had to leave them out. However, it was another quick & tasty meal to add to my favourites. 

The pin 

The Recipe can be found here

The result

Becoming Willy Wonka

Today was the day my oldest nephew turned 19 and made me feel really old. Today was also the day I tried making chocolate bark for the first time. Right now, you're probably thinking 'What on earth is chocolate bark?'. Well this is another thing that Pinterest has taught me. I first came across bark when I repinned a photo (below) of some that had been shared by a friend. 

Photo from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

So today I set about making this delicious looking treat as a present for my nephew's birthday. Unfortunately the bark in the photo above was made with limited edition M&Ms only available in America. After searching the net for other ideas, I decided I'd invent my own combinations. 

Basically, bark is melted chocolate spread across baking paper and topped with whatever you choose. This can be other chocolates, sweets, dried fruits or nuts. You then put it in the fridge for an hour and then break or slice into pieces. Mine has turned out a bit thicker than the above as I wasn't entirely sure how much chocolate to use for each one. 

1) White chocolate, strawberry flavour buttons & Coco pops

 Tesco have just started stocking these strawberry buttons made by Silver Spoon. 

I started by melting white chocolate, and once that was set I poured the melted strawberry buttons over the top. 

I then topped this with Coco Pops 

2) Cookies & Cream 

For this one I melted white chocolate, stirred in broken up Oreo cookies, spread into the tin and then topped with more broken up Oreo cookies. 

3) M&Ms 

This one is the one I could improve on. For this I melted milk chocolate and topped with M&Ms. In hindsight I feel it would have worked better if I'd stirred the M&Ms in rather than using them as a topping. 

4) Swirled

To make this I melted milk chocolate and immediately topped it with melted white chocolate and then swirled the 2 chocolates together. I then topped with Galaxy caramel bites. 

These were really simple to make and have loads of topping options. I will be definitely be making these again. Thank you Pinterest. 

Another Pinterest Share

I've been wanting to try these since seeing them on Pinterest last week. After being lazy and deciding not to cook the beef we'd bought for Sunday dinner, I decided to try these out. 

This is how they should look, recipe here

I used a 4 hole Yorkshire pudding tin, and didn't have a cutter big enough to cut the circles, so just trimmed the crusts off and cut each slice in half. 

To save on washing up I melted butter in the tin on the hob, and buttered each slice of bread before putting them in the tin. 

Here are mine 

As you can see, the eggs are a bit overdone. The recipe says to cook for 20-25 mins. 

They still tasted good, although next time I'll be putting them in for 15. 

Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Last week I discovered Pinterest, an online pin board where you can create boards of ideas and share them with other people. It didn't take me long to start getting addicted to pinning, and I've started to build up a good collection of recipes and craft ideas I would like to try out. I decided this would be a perfect blog opportunity. 


So yesterday I made chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars which were originally pinned from the blog 'My Baking Addiction'. As this is a US recipe I had to work out my quantities first. Luckily we were bought some measuring cups as a wedding present, so some measurements stayed the same. However, if you don't have these, there's a great conversion chart here. I also found this useful for the butter. 


To save you looking it up, 5 tbsp butter converts to 2.5 ounces. I also wasn't sure what Graham crackers were so used digestive biscuits as these are usually the base for cheesecakes. 1 1/2 cups were roughly 1/3 of a 400g packet. Lastly, 325 F oven temperature is about 190 C. 


I'll let you follow the original recipe. However, I would like to share a few photos of the process. 

All the ingredients measured and ready 

Making the cookie dough

I used a round tin as my oblong one was too big for the quantity of biscuit base.

Ready to go in the oven

All baked and cooled

Cut into wedges and ready to eat

These were very sweet but very tasty. Enjoy!

Spanish Rice Minus the Prawns

Tonight's recipe share is from BBC Goodfood. The actual recipe is Spanish rice with chorizo & prawns. However, I don't like prawns so I decided to leave them out. For the full recipe, click here. For my version, with step by step photos, please keep on reading. 


1) Slice one onion and cut one red pepper into chunks. I used a red onion, and a variety of peppers to use up what I had in the fridge. 

2) Gently fry them in 2 tbsp olive oil until soft. 

3) Add the chopped up chorizo 

4) Cook until the oil starts to come out of the chorizo 

5) Add the paella rice and stir so it's all coated in the oil

6) Stir the saffron into the stock and pour into the pan

7) Cover and cook for 15 minutes until the rice has absorbed the liquid

8) Serve, and enjoy! We certainly did! 

This was so quick and easy to make, yet tasted really good. This will definitely become a regular meal in this house. We'll probably experiment with the ingredients too. 

For the list of the ingredients and the full recipe, please click here 

Tonight's Tipple

As you may know, me and my husband have been experimenting with cocktails lately. I've had some friends asking for the recipes to some of the cocktails we've tried. So from now on, I'll try and share the recipes each weekend, just as I'm trying to do with new meals I've been cooking. 


Tonight's cocktail is called Almond Joy. The measurements were in ounces, and it was easier to convert to tablespoons than jigger measures. 

For this you will need: 

1tbsp Malibu/Coconut Rum

2 tbsp Disaronno/Amaretto

2 tbsp Creme de Cacao

4 tbsp cream

ice

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake and strain into a hi-ball glass filled with ice. 

My verdict: Like an extra strong Baileys!

Enjoy!

A Quick & Tasty Tea

Tonight's recipe share was taken from Sarah's Cake Blog. Last week, fellow blogger Sarah made a delicious looking cheese & bacon plait, in her baking with kids feature. Being a fan of quick and easy to make meals, and seeing the opportunity to grab a recipe and adapt it to my own tastes, I thought I'd give this a go, and as I have no kids, I cooked alone! 


The difference? Sarah used  bacon, white onion and cheese in her puff pastry plait. I chose to use pancetta, red onion, cheese, and some left over peppers. I also cheated by using ready rolled puff pastry. 

I started by chopping the peppers & onion. 

I then roasted the peppers for 10 minutes, and gently sautéed the onions. 

After grating some mature cheddar cheese, I laid the ready rolled pastry on a lightly floured board.

 Using a knife I lightly marked lines vertically down the pastry sheet, marking it into 3. I then started laying the ingredients along the middle section. 

 Using a sharper knife, I made diagonal cuts in the pastry on each side of the filling. 

Using beaten egg to stick the pastry together, I started one end, bringing a strip of pastry from each side, over the top of the filling to create a plaited look. 

I then brushed beaten egg over the top, lifted onto a baking sheet, and baked for 25 minutes at 190 degrees. Sarah baked hers for 30 minutes at 180. I have a fan assisted oven, so you may want to adjust to suit your oven type. 

I served mine with a baby leaf salad, simply dressed with a vinaigrette made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. 

This is a versatile pastry dish that could be made with just about any filling  you like, would be a great way for using up leftovers, and would be delicious hot or cold. 

Thanks again to Sarah for sharing the recipe first. If you would like to see Sarah's original recipe, click here.

Almost the Easiest Cookies to Bake

This post isn't so much recipe sharing, but more tip sharing. I baked these cookies yesterday and they are so tasty, I don't feel guilty for the cheat. These cookies are almost the easiest cookies I have ever made. I use the word 'almost' because although this is pre-made cookie dough, you do have to do a teeny amount of work. Last year my friend Maria, who then lived on the US Air Force base, bought me some cookie dough that was not only pre-made, but was also cut into neat round shapes and laid out on a sheet. All that was required was to peel them off, put on baking tray and bake. So that is why I use the word 'almost'. 


So here is my tip, new in at Tesco is this pre-made cookie dough, and this week it's half price at £1.50 for a tub. It says it bakes 12 cookies, I got 17 out of it.

Very easy to use: 

1) Remove Packaging and loosen lid. 

2) Put in microwave on high for 30 seconds to make dough easier to handle. 

3) Using a dessert spoon, put lumps of dough onto a  lined baking tray. 

4) Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes. I think the packet said 190 degrees, Our oven is fan assisted and I nearly burnt the first batch at 13 minutes, so the second lot went in for about 11 minutes. 

5) Remove from oven, and leave to cool. 

6) Eat & Enjoy! 

I've been good and have saved some for another day. 

If you're wanting to know where the cool jar came from, then check out my friend's facebook page, Mearns Foil Printing.

Tasty Pancakes

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or as most now call it, Pancake Day. This morning I made a comment on Twitter about how Shrove Tuesday, among other days with Christian origins, was becoming better known for pancakes other than the religious meaning. I'm not a regular church goer, but I do think it's sad that a lot of people don't actually understand the real meaning of Shrove Tuesday, Easter or Christmas. I wonder how many people realise that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and how many know anything about lent? As I said, although I have beliefs, I'm not a regular church goer, and I also don't have the willpower to give something up for lent. I just think it's sad that's all. Anyway, my comment this morning provoked the thoughts of a fellow blogger, and I got my first ever mention in another blog. Mother & Other has written a great piece about the meaning and her feelings about Shrove Tuesday. 


So back to the pancakes, it was my intention to try out several filling ideas tonight, take photos of them all and  share the recipes. Unfortunately I forgot to buy chocolate chips for one of the fillings, and I got a bit carried away with the eating and forgot most of the photos. So I'm afraid you'll just have to make do with the recipes. 


Pancake 1&2 - Savoury


Melt a small knob of butter, add 2 handfuls of spinach and leave to wilt. Stir in 2 dessert spoons of mascarpone & heat through. Spread over one pancake, grate some cheddar cheese on top and cover with another pancake. 



Pancakes 3, 4 & 6 - Honeycomb Butter

In a bowl, bash a 40g Crunchie bar with the end of a rolling pin into chunky crumbs. Add 50g soft butter, 1 tbsp honey and a pinch salt, then tip mixture onto a sheet of cling film and roll into a sausage shape. Twist the ends to tighten, then chill for 30 mins. Top 2 warm sweet pancakes with a slice of Honeycomb butter and an extra drizzle of honey.

Pancake 5 - Strawberries with Haagen Dazs Strawberry Cheesecake icecream. 


Husband had strawberries with clotted cream. 


Now I'm feeling like the size of a house, and will probably need to be rolled to work in the morning! 


I'll leave you with the recipe that was never tried, and I'll be back to upload photos from my phone in the morning. 


Night x 

Recipes taken from BBC GoodFood