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The Perfect Chai Latte

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I have always been a bit of a sucker for warm, sweet drinks. From tea to hot chocolate and even the occasional horlicks. I’ve recently developed a bit of a thing for Chai Lattes. Costa make a really good one but my favourite so far has been from Marks & Spencers cafe.

I can’t always have my lattes at a cafe .. Unfortunately.

So I had to recreate it at home. Now you can buy sachets ( similar to the hot chocolate ones you can get ) or capsules for fancy coffee machines but there didn’t seem to be any decent recipe on line for making your own using spices and tea bags.

I of course had to experiment and it took a fair amount of attempts but I’ve cracked it. Well in my humble opinion anyway!

There is room for a little flexibility and of course everyone has different preferences on how sweet or creamy they like it but one thing which is not negotiable is the foamy milk. It’s a must! I get mine all frothy in the Vitamix but you can buy fairly cheap milk frothers which will give the same result.

Chai Latte

You will need:

1 Twinings Chai Tea Bag – I’ve used others but I love this one
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon palmyra jaggery powder or sugar substitute ( or sugar – up to you )
1 cardamom pod
2 cloves
1 tsp of light coffee mate
100ml of hot water
100ml of milk

Add your tea bag, cardamom pod, cloves, palmyra jaggery and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to your hot water, stir and leave to infuse for 6 minutes. Add your coffee mate to your milk. I then heat and froth my milk using my Vitamix but if using a standard frother you will need to heat your milk first. Remove your tea bag and pour the infused tea through a sieve into a clean mug or latte glass, add your milk (reserving a little foam) leave to settle, top with a little foam and sprinkle on a little cinnamon and brown sugar or more palmyra jaggery.

It is creamy, spicy and tastes incredibly indulgent. Bliss and calm in a cup.

Honey would make a good substitute for the palmyra jaggery or agave. You can of course use sugar and cream if you like but I prefer the lighter, healthier taste for everyday.

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Hammet House Photo Diary

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We were recently invited to stay at the gorgeous Hammet House in Pembrokeshire and to try out their rather superb dinner menu created by their new head chef Ashley Chapman.

A full review is coming up sometime in the next few weeks but I just had to tease you with a few photos before then:

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And this.. This is just a teaser. The utter indulgence and quality of this hotel has to be seen to be believed. Full details of ALL of the food and the hotel to follow in the review.

Follow @HammetHouse on Twitter for special offers and drool worthy pics.

Thank You For The Day

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I am in the midst of depression, post natal depression, severe depression, post traumatic stress..whatever you want call it or label it.

It’s astonishing how an illness can totally encompass you.

How rather than you having depression, depression has you.

It totally has you in every way possible.

It takes the joy away. The beauty. It takes away the person you were. It’s made me snarly where I was laidback, irritable when I would have laughed.

But it hasn’t taken away today. It hasn’t taken away my family, their love for me is unwavering. It hasn’t stopped my eldest from looking at me and telling me I’m her best friend. Or from my youngest loving to be wrapped tightly in my arms while I stroke her neck. It hasn’t taken away the love of my man or the support from my parents.

Today I found it hard to even use my fake smile. But..

I’m still here.

There may be brief moments where I almost wish I wasn’t. But I am.Here.

Thank you for the day.

A Preview Of Wychwood Festival 2015

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You should know from reading this blog how much we love festivals. Music festivals, food festivals and literature festivals are high up on my list of favourite places to be. Recently we were invited to attend this years Wychwood Festival.

This is a new festival for us to attend but it’s actually been running for 11 years and previous years reviews make it sound more than a little awesome.

Sometimes this guy even shows up:

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So what can you expect from this years festival:

Soul and funk maestro Craig Charles is back by popular demand, armed with an extensive collection of dance floor hits to raise the beats and bass of the Big Top attracting thousands of Wychwood revellers to dance the Sunday away. Excited to be invited back, Craig comments, “We Play funk & We Play Soul, 3rd Year back at Wychwood Festival’s Big Top, lets have it!”. Saturday’s Big Top invites another legendary DJ to take to the stage with Andy Kershaw. The much lauded DJ started his broadcasting career at Radio One in 1985 where he presented for 15 years delivering an incredibly eclectic range of music inviting dance fans to enjoy his irresistible tunes that span Soukouss to salsa, roots reggae to Rai, Soca to South African Township Jive.”

CBBC favourites Dick and Dom have reigned supreme on television becoming pan-generational household names. Entertaining children and parents up and down the country for the past seventeen years with their unstoppable range of comedy sketch shows and silliness they are now the most recognisable children’s television presenters. The pair are responsible for the BAFTA-award-winning Dick and Dom in da Bungalow and BAFTA nominated Diddy Movies as well as authors in their own right with Slightly Naughty But Very Silly Words and the hilarious new handbook Whoopee Book of Practical Jokes. The dynamic duo head up Wychwood’s very own Children’s Literature Festival in association with Waterstones, with an interactive show. The rest of the programme will be coming soon.

London based promoters Smashing Blouse who take the reigns of the The Big Top, have announced their second wave of artists. Famous for showcasing the best in up-and-coming artists, previous years have seen Bipolar Sunshine, Wolf Alice and Kyla La Grange all perform Wychwood. This year Ghostpoet and Fickle Friends will be joined by Black Honey, Ted Zed, Jamie T’s tour support, Palace and Zane Lowe’s future radio of 2015, Demob Happy.

You know all this and ahem.. A few little names you may have heard of such as UB40 and The Proclaimers..

As well as.. camping AND glamping options. Great food options such as wood fired pizzas, higgidy pies, ice cream and of course Real Ale.

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There is also the Booktrust which offer rhyme time and story sessions and the wildly popular Headphone Disco.

It sounds and looks like there is something for everyone.

Wychwood Festival returns to Cheltenham Racecourse from 29th to 31st May 2015. Weekend tickets are priced at just £129 for adults, £104 for concessions, £62 for 10-15 year olds, £22 for 5-9 year olds and under 5 free. Day tickets are available from £42 for adults, £32 for concessions, £22 for 10-15 year olds and £10 for 5-9 year olds and under 5 free. All tickets and more information is available from www.wychwoodfestival.com

36hr Sticky Sous Vide Ribs

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I’ve made ribs so many times over the last year in my Sous Vide Supreme. I’ve cooked them for 24hrs, 48hr and 36hrs. I’ve added fancy marinades, prepared BBQ sauces and dry rubs. I’ve served them with chips, with coconut rice or my favourite way with tortilla wraps and a huge salad.

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This is my favourite,incredibly simple way of cooking ribs in the Sous Vide. Just three ingredients, rubbed in and left in the water bath for 36hrs before a quick burst in the oven to make the sauce extra sticky.

Cooking the ribs in the Sous Vide does something rather special to the meat. It falls off the bone and is incredibly tender and moist. I’ve made these for my parents and my Dad who really does not like ribs LOVES these. I urge you to give this recipe a go. It’s worth buying a Sous Vide to only ever cook ribs in. Honestly.

You will need:

Ribs ( I normally cook around 4 racks at a time)
For each rack of ribs allow:

3 tbsp of dark muscavador sugar
2 tbsp of sweet smoked paprika

Combine the sugar and paprika and rub well into the ribs. Vacuum seal the ribs and place in a water bath preheated to 80C. Leave for 36 hrs before removing and placing ( gently ) into an roasting tray along with half of the juices. Cook in a very hot oven for approximately 15 minutes until the sauce had become dark and sticky. Serve immediately.

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* I was gifted a Sous Vide Supreme last year for the purpose of a review.

Tefal Cook4Me Review – Part Two

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Last year we were sent a Tefal Cook4Me Multicooker and it’s pretty amazing. It can cook a meal in 10 minutes. Start to finish. You can brown, pressure (quick) cook, slow cook, reheat or keep warm.

I use it regularly to make soups and its also really good for casseroles, meatballs and spag Bol.

I’ve found that I am inspired quite a lot of the time to throw new dishes together as I know I haven’t got to slave over the hob for hours on a dish that may not turn out the way I want. Last night I made a totally delicious Spanish Chicken with Orzo pasta. From start to finish it took me about 17 minutes.

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If you fancy making it yourself it was a bit of a throw it all together recipe but it worked and here it is:

You will need:

3 chicken breasts
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of boiling water
1 chicken stock cube
1 pepper diced ( I used yellow)
1 carrot diced
1/2 sweet potato diced
1 shallot diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
100g of orzo pasta
1tbsp of olive oil

Turn on the browning function and brown your chicken, shallot and garlic in the olive oil. Then switch to manual before adding all other ingredients and giving a good stir. Cook on the quick cook setting for 14 minutes. Check the chicken is cooked at this stage and tear apart into the sauce. Cook again on quick cook for a further 3 minutes.

If using traditional cooking methods, you could do so using a large pan but allow longer cooking time to ensure chicken is thoroughly cooked and the sauce has time to thicken.

Serve with hunks of fresh bread – it’s worth noting that my little ones simply loved this dish.

If you want a kitchen device that you can use for lots of different dishes, is easy to clean and simple to use I highly recommend this Tefal Cook4Me.

*As stated this item was gifted for the purpose of a review. For stockists click here.

Going Dairy Free – Review

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Towards the end of last year we discovered that Chloe has a dairy allergy. Since then we have discovered that dairy products are in a rather astonishing amount of food. Some days choosing what she can and can’t eat gets pretty frustrating. I found cows milk had been injected into a turkey joint I bought last month – weird but not unusual it seems.

We have been sampling some dairy free products at home and these are a few that we have tried and liked so far:

The Coconut Collaborative make dreamy yoghurt from coconut milk and it’s so indulgent that it’s hard to believe there is no dairy in it. Free from dairy, soya and gluten I would be surprised to find someone who didn’t enjoy these yoghurts. Yes they were for Chloe but I had to try it first 😉

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Goodness Gracious Food Pouches are dairy and gluten free and available in the following flavours: Carrot, Broccoli, Pea and Quinoa Puree as well as Chicken, Sweet Potato, Spinach Puree with Mint and Lemon Juice. We have now tried them all and they went down well with Chloe and I had a little taste too and they are pretty nice!

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Amy’s Kitchen have a large range of dairy free options including: Lentil Soup, Lentil Vegetable Soup, Split Pea Soup, Hearty French Country Vegetable, Hearty Spanish Rice and Red Bean and Hearty Rustic Italian Vegetables. We have really enjoyed these soups as a family and they are ideal for grabbing healthy food on the go.

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*These products were gifted for the purpose of this review.

10 Reasons To Buy Your Camp Bestival Ticket Right Now

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More of the Camp Bestival line up was announced today making families all over the UK super excited!

Here is the full announcement:

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And here are my ten reasons why you need to buy a ticket right NOW:

1. Mr Tumble:

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This was the look on my daughters face when she saw him perform last summer..need I say more?

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2. Kaiser Chiefs:

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Rubayyyy…aahhhhhh ahhhh ohhhhh

3. Payment options:

At the moment there is still the option to pay by payment plan which is a bonus if you are useless at saving like me.

4. Boutique Camping:

Boutique camping is AWESOME and the various companies sell out quite quickly so if you have your heart set on a certain glamping option it’s best to be quick.

5. Dick n Dom:

Your children will love them as they are so much fun but they also have appeal for the adults and they are pretty lovely to everyone albeit slightly tipsy when you see them wandering around the festival site in the evening.

6. Level 42:

This festival really isn’t all about the kids. It’s a family festival which has something for all generations and even better if you are an 80’s child like me!

7. The Feast Collective:

This really shouldn’t be so far down my list as the food is one of my absolute favourite parts of Camp Bestival. I spend hours trawling around the various stands and munching on all that’s on offer.

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8. The Dingly Den:

Many an hour can be spent in the magical forest. There is so much for the kids to do and can be a welcome respite on a hot day. We particularly loved wandering around in the evening when it was all lit up with fairy lights.

9. The Fireworks:

The firework show at Camp Bestival is truly spectacular and it’s worth the ticket price for that alone! You have to see it to believe it and the atmosphere is electric.

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10. Getting creative with your kids:

Letting your children go wild with finger paint without having to worry about cleaning up is so much fun.

And there are about a million other reasons why you should go. It’s truly an incredible experience for big kids of all ages.

Making A House A Home

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When does a building become more than a building and more like a home? I think it’s time spent there and changes you make to the house itself. We have had many discussions about looking to buy a bigger house and have even looked at how much of a mortgage we would be able to get using various mortgage calculators but for now we are staying put at least until the girls are a little older.

This means we have started making some home improvements.
Our house is a little small – at least upstairs as there is an extension and wooden conservatory downstairs so my OH is making built in wardrobes in the bedrooms to save on space. Considering the fact that he has no carpentry training and is squeezing the build into a very short space of free time he is doing an incredible job.

He also built me this pantry which has freed up some much needed cupboard space:

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And yes it’s in desperate need of a good sort out!

Our next project is utilising more of the space in our rather shabby wooden conservatory. I really want to make more storage spaces whilst prettying the place up a little. Pinterest is my friend here and I love this idea found on www.forrent.com

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And also this one from www.bhg.com which could house a few of my cookery books!

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We have already created our storage bench with an ottoman lid to store toys and one corner of the room is now my photography studio for food blog pics.. Which you should hopefully have seen have improved a little! I was spoilt with special lights and props for Christmas.

Do you have any tips or advice for storage ideas which also look good? I will keep you updated with pics of our progress as we finish each project!

*this post is in collaboration with Santander.

Love Soup

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There are lots of variations of Love Soup floating about online or in recipe books. The Jack Monroe version is one of my favourites. This is my version of Love Soup ready for Valentines Day next month. It’s warming, delicious and EASY. I make mine in a Vitamix but other blenders would work too I imagine. The Vitamix just takes all the work out of it and also heats it which is a bonus.

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There are two ways to make this – you can use all raw vegetables or you can use baked sweet potatoes which I actually prefer for the extra flavour.

You will need:

2 carrots
2 sweet potatoes ( preferably baked with flesh scooped out and skins discarded)
1 shallot
1/2 clove of garlic
1/2 red pepper
1 mug of vegetable stock
1 handful of fresh coriander
A pinch of crushed black pepper

If you are using a Vitamix, place all ingredients in and blend on the highest setting ( increasing gradually ) for approximately 4-5 minutes until steaming hot. Serve immediately or chill and refrigerate. If you are making this using a pan and hand blender you should dice your veg and herbs and cook until soft with the stock before blending with a hand blender (carefully) until smooth.

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This is delicious and full of flavour. My girls love it as do I. It’s also great served with pasta as it’s fairly thick and tastes almost creamy – add sautéed chorizo for a special treat.

I’m linking this to Extra Veg run by Michelle and Helen.

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