Munchies and Munchkins

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Hide the veggies pasta sauce

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My daughter will eat pretty much anything. I know I’m lucky and many of my friends and family really struggle with what their toddlers will or won’t eat. I am also sensible enough to realise this may not last forever and next month she may be as picky as picky can be.

Today I was making up a pasta sauce for my OH to take to work and decided to make up a batch for Izzy at the same time. Now as I said at this moment I don’t have any problems with getting her to eat veg but this is a sure fire way of knowing that she gets everything she needs.

So here we have a super easy but tasty tomato sauce which can be whipped up in 5 minutes and frozen if necessary.

You will need:

A carton of passata (500g)
A large handful of baby spinach leaves
2 handfuls of frozen broccoli ( steamed or boiled)
1 sweet potato ( diced
50g of cheese (grated)
1 knob of butter
1 tbsp of chopped parsley

Boil/steam your broccoli and sweet potato and set aside.
Sauté your spinach in butter until soft, add your passata, broccoli, sweet potato, cheese and parsley. Warm through and use a hand blender to thoroughly blend all ingredients.

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This made enough to feed my hungry man and toddler with another leftover for another meal. Next time I’ll definitely make double and freeze a batch.

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Picture me happy – PrinterPix Competition

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I’ve always liked taking photos and never really liked being in them. When I had Izzy I went into overdrive taking photos of her every 5 minutes it seemed. When I realised I had taken thousands of pics in her first year ..it seemed a bit mad. Is it mad though to want to capture everything? Childhood is so fleeting and that funny little face they made for 5 seconds when eating their first strawberry may last a long time in your memory but wouldn’t it be nicer still if you could have that image perfectly preserved forever? Even if its only ever used to embarrass them at their 18th birthday party. Definitely.

In 95% of the photos we have of Izzy, it’s her on her own or with family members or mostly with her handsome daddy but very rarely with me. I don’t like being in front of the camera and well her first year I felt like I had hardly a minute to brush my hair so I may not have been at my most photogenic during that time! In the photo below my OH has captured me and Izzy at last years Camp Bestival dancing around to Mr Tumble on stage, it was such a happy happy weekend for us and for once the absolute pleasure on her face far outweighed my tired eyes or lack of make up. I felt radiant in the glow of my love for my family. Cheesy? Yes for sure but true. This may not be the most perfect photograph and you could do better with an actual camera ( this was an iPhone snap) but to me it is me as a mother with my ever so beautiful little girl, smiling at the man we both love. It couldn’t be more perfect in my eyes.

Thank you to Tots100 for making me dig through my photos and reminding me of some special times. Its also made me realise that even if I don’t want to be in pics, I should be as at some point it will be lovely for my daughter to look back and remember. Tots100 are running a competition where you could win a stack of goodies from Printerpix. This is my entry. I am camera less at present so it would definitely come in handy!

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This post is Becky’s entry into the PrinterPix photo competition

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

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I love chocolate and I love cake. I mostly enjoy chocolate cake but sometimes it’s either not quite chocolatey enough or far too chocolatey. If you are a fan of chocolate cake you will understand what I mean. Too chocolatey and it’s can be sickly, too rich and leave an unpleasant aftertaste.. Not chocolatey enough and it’s well a rather bland brown cake. I’ve played with recipes for ages now and I have found or rather worked away at various combinations until I’ve found the ULTIMATE chocolate cake – well for my tastebuds anyhow. I thought you may like to try it and seeing as it wouldn’t be possible to send you all a slice I will share the recipe with you, hoping you will try it and let me know what you think. I should add its simple enough for even the clumsiest baker and would be ideal as a dessert for Valentines day. Chocolate is the food of love – in my house anyway.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

You will need:

150g of Cake flour ( this is a special flour from Flourbin) SR would also work
30g of Hersheys cocoa powder (any good quality cocoa would do)
175g softened butter ( I used lightly salted lurpak as its what I had )
175g Caster sugar
1 level tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
1 tbsp milk ( plus 1 extra if required)

Preheat your oven 180C or gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins or use silicone! ( much easier )
Place all ingdients ( except milk) in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. You want a dropping consistency so add your milk and if needed the extra spoonful. Divide mixture between the tins and smooth until level.Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when pressed with 1 finger. Cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

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Filling:

If you served this as a dessert you could whisk double cream with 1 tbsp of baileys and a 2 tbsp of caster sugar until thick and use as a filling or you can do as I did and make a delicious chocolate & vanilla buttercream instead.

Chocolate and vanilla buttercream:

125g Butter – very soft
30g cocoa powder (sifted)
200g Icing Sugar (sifted)
1tbsp warmed milk
1tbsp Nielsen Massey vanilla or a vanilla pod or BOTH!

In a large bowl beat your butter with a wooden spoon or an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
Gradually mix in the icing sugar and cocoa powder until smooth and creamy.
Add the vanilla and sufficient milk to give a fairly firm spreading consistency. Delicious.

Icing:

I make a chocolate glacé icing to go on top. I used the silverspoon recipe for glacé icing and whisked in a little Hershey’s cocoa powder before spreading on top, leaving to set slightly and decorating with white vice versas as I thought it would look cute. There are so many ways in which you could make this cake extra special – such as by making a ganache to top or even completely cover your cake or by really going to town on the decoration!

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This cake is so moist it will taste delicious for several days but I doubt it will last that long.

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When making any kind of cake especially if for a special occasion always use the best, freshest ingredients you can afford. Always use free range eggs, the best vanilla ( Nielsen Masseys – not sponsored unfortunately) and its definitely worth using special Cake flour. This is a new discovery for me after a lovely parcel from The Flour Bin and I’m enjoying trying it in different recipes. Look out for my competition sometimes this week when you can win a £30 voucher to spend with them!

Happy baking x

Meal Plan Monday

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I’ve been a bit rubbish at meal planning the past few weeks, firstly we had a week away then a few things got on top of me and I just had a bit of a break from planning and social media etc but it just made me feel worse. Meal planning saves time and stops you worrying about what you have left in the fridge to eat the next day as you only shop for what you need – thus it also stops overspending and ensure you use up everything. So with that in mind I’m back in track and without further ado ( waffle ) here is this weeks meal plan:

Monday : roast dinner – cant really take credit for this as was cooked for me by OH’s dad.
Tuesday : Comforting Chicken Casserole – recipe here
Wednesday : Red Lentil Thai curry – recipe here
Thursday : Beef stew and dumplings
Friday & Saturday : Off to London to visit friends so takeaways or restaurant food 🙂

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Breaded Garlic Mushrooms

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I know I said that I was going to try posting healthier recipes but I lied. Well I didn’t lie. I did try and am still trying but sometimes an idea comes to me and I just have to act on it.

I enjoy the odd garlic mushroom. Normally as a starter or on a sharing plate during a pub meal, occasionally I have bought ready made ones at the supermarket but I’ve always been disappointed. They either do not taste of anything or they are soggy.

Well due to my current budgeting/frugal living I had a ton of breadcrumbs, I also had some mushrooms that were almost ready to die. Really I had no choice. I’ve never attempted to make them before and didn’t look up a recipe so this is probably (definitely) not the traditional way to make them. You will need just 4 ingredients.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms – any ones ( washed and dried)
Breadcrumbs
Beaten egg
Garlic paste ( in a tube like tomato purée)

Get two plates, put your breadcrumbs on one and your beaten egg on another. Mix in a few squirts garlic paste with your beaten egg ( leave to sit for 10 mins) heat the oil in your pan or deep fat fryer until bubbling. Roll each mushroom in egg ( cover well) then roll in breadcrumbs (also cover well)
Cook in hot oil until golden brown and crispy.

Serve with anything. A homemade garlic mayo alongside would be epic but sweet chilli is good too.

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Breadcrumbs tip – instead of throwing leftover bread away, mix with herbs until fine in a processor and freeze in small portions in freezer bags. It defrosts almost immediately and can be used in a number of dishes.

Got Milk?

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I don’t drink enough milk. In fact I rarely drink any. I never have time to have cereal in the mornings and I realised the other day that other than drop in my tea I hadn’t had any all week. Not having enough calcium in your diet is not good,especially when you spent 5 years of your adulthood on the contraceptive injection which can cause osteoporosis. Anyway I’m rambling. When I was pregnant I made sure I drank milk,in fact I drank a ton of it due to horrendous heartburn but since I stopped breastfeeding last year I have stopped taking care of my body as much which is sad.

I have decided to have a milky drink/ milk based smoothie etc every day to get some extra calcium in and enjoy it too.

This started this week and so far I’ve enjoyed Nutella hot chocolate and Banana&Vanilla smoothie. Yum. What a good excuse to drink delicious things. I take my hot choc in an insulated cup on my journey to work. It smells so good I’ve had envious looks all week. Smug smiles from me until I get to work and see I have chocolate milk over my nose 😮

You don’t really need recipes for these drinks as they are self explanatory but here you go:

Nutella Hot Choc

1/2 pint of semi skimmed milk ( you could use any type)
1 tbsp Nutella
Approx 1 inch of boiling water

Heat your milk. I zap it in the microwave for 2 mins. Mix your Nutella with your boiling water and then top up with the boiling milk and stir well. If you like a more cocoa..y type of drink add a spoonful of drinking chocolate powder ( such a cadburys or green and blacks) but its truly delicious just left alone. No sugar,no extra flavours just warm hazelnuty Chocolatey milk. Ahhh. Bliss.

My love affair with Nutella hot chocolate began last June in France. Hot chocolate tastes even better on holiday.

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Banana Vanilla Smoothie

1/2 pint of skimmed milk
1 ripe banana
1 tsp of vanilla essence ( I use NielsenMasseys)
4/5 ice cubes

Blend all of above in smoothie maker or blender. Serve. You could also add strawberries. If you want to be super healthy add a handful of baby leaf spinach. You won’t really taste it but its so good for you.

So there you go,simple delicious ways of getting your calcium requirements. Or you could just eat cheese…hmm but that’s another blog post.

The MAD blog awards – Thank you

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I should start by saying thank you ..so THANK YOU. I’ve been nominated by some of you lovely people for not one but two MAD Blog awards. I’ve been nominated for best family life blog and best food blog which is so exciting! Nominations don’t close until 18th Feb so I won’t know if I’ve made the short list until after that time but its an honour that someone considered my blog to be interesting enough to be nominated amongst some quite frankly amazing writers!

I’ve only been blogging since April 2012 but I am thoroughly enjoying it and I hope you are too 🙂 I’ve had some really interesting experiences and met some wonderful people via my blog and twitter. I really appreciate your support as everyone knows that part of the appeal of writing is knowing someone is enjoying what you have written so while I don’t expect to win, the fact that you read my blog, comment on my posts and share them on twitter has been enough for me.

Thanks again.

I’m not going to beg for nominations but if you do love the blog enough to use your one ( yes one so use them wisely) set of votes to nominate me I thank you muchly.

To nominate click here

To read more about how the MAD blog awards work and to see some of the amazing blogs up for awards please click http://www.the-mads.com/

MAD Blog Awards

Knocking up some Gnocchi

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Being able to make the food you love from scratch has to be one of the best parts about being a foodie geek. I love Gnocchi and if you have read my blog over the past 6 months you will see at least 2-3 recipes pop up using the ready made stuff.

A while ago I was given a book from two of my lovely friends and its called Homemade and written by Yvette Van Boven. I’d never seen this book before and never actually seen it anywhere since but I’m sure you can find it online and it’s definitely one I recommended buying. The book itself is a bit mad and all over the place and it has recipes for all sorts of things from bread to ketchup and marshmallows to liqueurs and all from scratch. Imagine knowing that everything you served was made from scratch. So if you made a burger and the roll, the burger and the ketchup were all made by you .. Well that would feel kinda good yes? So whilst I’m not setting myself ANOTHER challenge as I don’t want to go overboard I do want to make more dishes entirely from scratch.

Gnocchi seemed a little scary to make but I don’t know why. As always being the disorganised chef I realised at the last minute that I didn’t have enough potatoes so I substituted with sweet potatoes and it worked. In fact it worked so well I don’t think I’ll be buying ready made again as it just doesn’t compare.

Ill give you a list of ingredients and a bit of a how do I but if you really want to know how I recommend buying the book as each step has a picture and well I just can’t do it justice!

You will need:

1kg (2lb) mix of potatoes and sweet potatoes or you can just do potatoes
1 egg
300g 00 flour (pasta flour)
Pinch of salt

Step 1

Boil potatoes in skin until soft, remove skin whilst still hot. Mash or use a potato ricer ( I don’t have a ricer – it’s in my want list)

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Step 2

Tip onto a clean work surface and add your flour ( not all in one go – it gets messy) you may not need it all or you may need a tiny bit more. Also add your salt.

Step 3

Add a beaten egg ( again not all in one go ) and mix together with your fingers. Be prepared for mess and stickiness.

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Step 4

Knead into a smooth dough, if needed add more flour or your egg.

Step 5

Roll out into a rope and divide into equal sections

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Step 6

Roll the sections into smaller sausages.. Mine were quite long.

Step 7

Cut these sausages into small cushions and leave

Step 8

When they are all cut roll over the back of a fork ( or use a gnocchi board if you have one)

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Step 9

Save under a clean tea towel until ready to use

Step 10

Or cook immediately, they are ready when they float to the surface

Cooked and ready for my bake

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It’s worth noting that this recipe makes a lot of gnocchi! I divided into 3 batches and cooked one and froze two. I haven’t defrosted yet so can’t comment on how they coped with being frozen – I’ll let you know when I do!

Gnocchi and bacon cream bake

I placed my cooked gnocchi in a small cazuela (overproof pan) and poured on some single cream,chopped parsley, seasoning and cooked bacon. I gave it all a good stir and baked for 15 mins them sprinkled on a little cheese and cooked for 5 more minutes. It was delicious served with a salad and garlic breaded mushrooms – this recipe will follow later today.

Just ready for the oven:

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And just out of the oven:

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My verdict: it was slightly fiddly and messy but I enjoyed and the end result is more than worth it!

Give it a go x