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Dairy Free Coconut Biscuits

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I haven’t really talked much on here about the problems we have been having with Chloe. I will write an update post sometime soon but right now she is dairy free so I have been trying out new recipes so that she can still have the occasional treat and also adapting older recipes that I use. Like this one for coconut biscuits. I won’t deny that when you make this recipe with butter it is delicious, melt in your mouth butteriness but when replaced with coconut oil they are still incredibly tasty and actually hold together better and are more biscuity.

Chloe LOVES them.

Here’s the recipe, let me know if you try them.

Coconut Biscuits

You will need:

225g Caster Sugar
150g Self Raising Flour
100g Shredded/Dessicated coconut
100g Coconut Oil
1 Beaten Egg

Makes between 30 – 40 depending on how generous you are with your mixture.

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.

Melt your coconut oil and add to your other ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Using a teaspoon of the mix for each biscuit shape into balls and place well spread out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake for between 15 – 20 minutes until lightly golden. Remove carefully and leave to cool and harden on a wire rack.

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Making Time For Pastimes

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Before we had children we would easily watch 4 or 5 films a week.. I would also read a minimum of 3 books a week and I worked full time AND had a social life. Since we had children a lot of the hobbies we enjoyed seemed to vanish into the oblivion which also stole our sleep. Arrhhhh.

But. And this is a big BUT I’ve started to realise we really need those things which help us relax, to unwind ..to be someone other than mum or dad for an hour or two.

So I’m making time for it. When the children go to bed ( if they both happen to sleep at the same time ) I’m going to take a break. Maybe not every night but at least once a week and watch a film. I was a bit inspired by the Mummy Barrow film club too and I think we are going to follow with interest the films that are watched and maybe join in with one or two. Last night we watched Jack Reacher – not without a few interruptions of course.. Thanks Chloe. Quite a good film although can I admit I’m not really a Tom Cruise fan?

Next we are moving onto some Eighties Classics .. I asked on social media for some recommendations and we have some great films to look forward to. Can you believe I’ve never watched Working Girl? or Stand By Me?

As for books I’m currently reading If I Stay by Gayle Forman ..it’s too early for me to give a verdict as I’m only a few pages in but I’ll let you know when I’m done.

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I’ve actually managed to finish one book already this year – Postcard Killers by James Patterson. I find his books quick and easy to read as although they are thrillers and fairly chilling they tend to grip you so much that you want to finish it as quickly as possible and this one was no different. I enjoyed but it wasn’t one of his best in my opinion.

Last year I challenged myself to read a certain amount of books. It didn’t happen and I was annoyed so this year there is no figure just a promise to myself that I will make more time for these things I enjoy.

So a year of cooking..reading and watching films lies ahead. I suppose I better squeeze some exercise somewhere too 🙂

Coconut Loaf Cake

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You may notice a theme starting here.. I’ve fallen in love. With the loaf cake. I’ve flirted with it a few times over the years but ahh it’s just so easy. Easy to slice. No fuss with the decoration as nobody expects a loaf cake to look anything more than rustic and just as much flavour as a standard cake.. You could even spread it with butter. While it’s still warm. So good.

I like adding coconut to dishes or cakes. Coconut milk in my rice to accompany jerk chicken, toasted coconut in my curries and sweetened desiccated coconut in cakes.

It’s perfectly good without a topping but I love to drizzle some melted dark chocolate over the top and sprinkle with a little more coconut. It just takes it up a level.

You will need:

225g Self Raising flour
175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
125g sweet dessicated coconut
3 Eggs
30ml of milk

Topping:

100g Dark Chocolate ( I used Green & Blacks )
25g of dessicated coconut

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.
Cream your butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add your eggs, one by one and beat until you have a smooth mixture. Add your flour and mix well. Finally add your coconut and milk and best until combined. Pour into a greased 2lb loaf tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted to the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool.

Melt your chocolate and drizzle over the top of your cake, don’t worry about being precise or making it pretty. Sprinkle over your coconut. Serve immediately or leave until chocolate hardens.

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10 Things I hate About New Year

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I apologise in advance for the grumpiness of this post but I have never been a big fan of New Years..especially New Years Eve itself. I always get a little wistful and the fact that I was more than a bit tearful by 10.30pm on the night itself last week was not really a surprise to me. Here are a few reasons why New Years sucks:

1. No matter what happened the year before there will always be regrets. Things you didn’t achieve. Places you didn’t go.

2. Everyone is going on a diet at a time of year when you really want hot chocolate and comfort food.

3. There are sales everywhere..it seems everything you bought for Christmas is suddenly 70% off. This enfuriates me.

4. There are half eaten packs of Christmas biscuits, a rogue Toblerone and some satsumas getting soggier by the day yet the actual warmth and festivity of the season is over.

5. Your house minus Christmas lights and tinsel is suddenly bleak and bare.

6. You feel the need for change, a new outfit, a new look, a new job even but the oomph you need to do it was packed away with the decorations.

7. Your young children don’t quite understand that Christmas is really over and that chocolate for breakfast is just not ok anymore.

8. They find it even harder to understand when they see you finishing off their selection box pre 8am while hidden in the pantry… It was a long night.

9. It doesn’t feel right to keep adding Baileys to your hot chocolate when everyone else is drinking green juice.

10. Easter eggs are already in the shops leaving you no time between festive gluttony and the need for a creme egg with every supermarket shop. Yes I’ve already eaten one. Ok two.

Do you like New Years? Did you make resolutions?

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Ranty Friday

Getting My Happy On – Camp Bestival

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It’s a miserable time of year even if everything is happy and alright in your life so it’s the perfect time to plan things. Holidays..house renovations..new careers… FESTIVALS.

If you are a regular reader you will know how much we enjoy both music and food festivals and try to attend as many as possible each year.

One that we always try to go to is Camp Bestival, we have been lucky enough to be Camp Bestival bloggers for the past three years and it’s always a family highlight for us.

This year the theme is Camp Bestival Goes wild and I’m excited to plan out outfits and also some bits to pimp out our camping area.

You can expect lots of Camp Bestival news here over the coming months but for now here’s a little line up info:

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LIVE MUSIC FROM: UNDERWORLD / CLEAN BANDIT / KAISER CHIEFS

PLUS MANY MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED IN THE NEW YEAR

BRAND NEW FAMILY SHOWS AND FESTI FAVES:

THE CAT IN THE HAT

WITH A REALLY WILD LIVE SHOW

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND, WITH A CAMP BESTIVAL SPECIAL IT’S….

DICK V DOM GO WILD IN THE RING!

ALL OF THIS PLUS… CAMP BESTIVAL GOES WILD – PART 1

EXPLORE YOUR INNER BEAST: BUSHCRAFT / DEN BUILDING / FORAGING / SURVIVAL SKILLS / WILD COOKING / WOODLAND ADVENTURES: MUD KITCHENS / CAMPFIRES / NATURE HUNTS / MASS SLEEP OUTS / DAILY PICNICS / FALCONRY

WITH LOADS MORE STUFF FOR ALL THE FAMILY TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

Wake Up & Smell The Coffee

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Just before the Christmas period I was invited to an event hosted by Curry’s PC world and Nespresso in Cardiff. It was going to be a day all about coffee. Now a year ago if I’d received that type of invite I probably would have said no as I don’t drink coffee and have never really enjoyed the taste. The smell has always been appealing but the taste.. Not so much.

But I’m all for trying new things and one of the things I really want to learn to like is coffee. Just because it always appeals to me when others have it. The event was held in a gorgeous tea room called Waterloo Tea in Wyndham Arcade, Cardiff. I could have spent forever browsing their various teas but no. Today was about coffee.

On arrival we were given a cold coffee drink, mine was cinnamon flavoured and I managed to drink it all. It wasn’t too coffee like if that makes sense and I enjoyed it. It had chocolate in too which probably helped.

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After this initial welcome drink we were split into groups to enjoy the various activities on offer. Lucky for us our first activity was lunch and Waterloo Tea put on a gorgeous spread for us.

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I *may* have enjoyed a cup of lemon roobois with my lunch!

We then spent a few hours doing the following:

Learning how to make the perfect latte with accompanying art of course:

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Can you guess which mine was? Well it was a first attempt.

We went to a tables where we played a game called cups which involved tasting LOTS of coffees. I didn’t do very well with this part as a lot of the coffee was far too strong for my newbie palate.

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There was another station creating coffee based cocktails which were pretty cool and I may have sampled a few of those!
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Our final activity was being introduced to the machines and getting hands on with all the whizzy gadgetry. I loved this as we are currently on the hunt for a coffee machine for our house so was great to get some tips.

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Thanks to Currys PC World for inviting me to this fun event and to Waterloo Tea for hosting and also to Joe’s Bloggers I had a great day and well I’m definitely swaying more towards coffee these days. You may make a caffeine fiend out of me yet.

It’s All About The Food

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I spend a large portion of each day thinking about food. Mostly it’s not about eating it luckily but about what I’m going to cook later that day or what I would be rustling up in the kitchen if I had a spare hour or three!

I could while away an afternoon trawling through recipe books as I read them as you would a novel. Each recipe can take me to a different place or spark a different emotion in me.

This is why I’ve decided to make more dishes from scratch this year than ever before, I’ve known for a long time that cooking soothes me and makes me happier. This is a time in my life when I can certainly do with any or all mood boosters. This isn’t a New Years resolution as such but a promise to myself to do something each day which makes me happy. Which calms me down. Which distracts my mind from dark places and comforts me.

An activity which I can share with my eldest daughter and the results of which can be shared with the whole family. I’m going to invite more people to dinner. Make treats for friends and family. Cooking from scratch for most meals is sure to help our overall health and definitely a good idea for ensuring Chloe doesn’t have any dishes that could cause an allergic reaction – more on that soon.

As well as recipes I will create in my kitchen, I’m going to use as many of my books as possible and I’d also love it if you could share your favourite recipes with me in the comments below. I’m eager to sample some tried and tested family dishes.

I’m determined to find ways to improve our home lives. Improve our health and hopefully you will enjoy reading all about it.

Here’s to even more fresh food and less convenience junk…and maybe the odd mug cake?

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Creamy Chorizo, Rosemary and Potato Bake

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I love potatoes. They are so versatile and are pretty cheap too. I could probably post a new potato recipe every week as I’m always experimenting with them. This recipe for a creamy bake is similar to dauphinoise or gratin. The chorizo gives the sauce a bit of colour and an incredible flavour. You can taste the fresh rosemary with every mouthful and well it’s just a little bit indulgent with the double cream too. No New Year detox here I’m afraid.

You will need:

750g Potatoes sliced thinly ( I used new potatoes but any will do)
300ml double cream
50ml of milk
1 shallot, diced
2 inch chunk of Chorizo diced finely
A few sprigs of rosemary, washed and chopped finely.
2 garlic cloves crushed or a large squirt of garlic purée

Preheat your oven to gas mark 5.

Sauté your shallot,chorizo and garlic in a frying pan until browned. Turn off the heat then add your rosemary and set aside. Layer your potatoes in an ovenproof dish. Now add your cream and milk to the frying pan and stir to combine all ingredients. Pour the mixture over the potatoes, ensuring all are covered. Sprinkle with black pepper and bake for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are soft and the top is golden brown.

Enjoy.

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My Word For 2015

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I’ve seen a lot of other bloggers choosing their word for 2015.

I’ve thought long and hard about what my word should be.

And I think it should be TRY.

I’m going to TRY to make myself happier every day.

I’m going to TRY to teach my children to be loving and kind.

I’m going to TRY to be a good partner, mother, daughter and friend.

I’m going to TRY to let myself heal after a really difficult two years.

Above all I’m going to TRY not to put pressure on myself.

And to TRY and remember that whatever happens each day there is always the promise of pudding.

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Banana & Blueberry Bread

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Banana bread was one of the first things I ever baked. I am known to deliberately leave bananas until they go black because they make the bread/cake taste incredible. My family always pass on their slightly pass their best bananas too so I make this recipe quite a lot!

I normally like to throw something else into the mix, dark chocolate is a favourite as are walnuts but Izzy is addicted to blueberries so this combo is probably the one I make the most.

It goes perfectly with a cup of tea in the morning just on its own or spread with proper butter. It stays moist for several days but I challenge you to keep it that long!

You will need:

250g plain flour
115g butter
115g dark brown soft sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 mashed & very ripe bananas
1 large handful of ripe blueberries
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 and lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin.

Mix together your flour, bicarb and salt in one bowl and cream your butter and sugar together in another bowl before adding your eggs, bananas and blueberries until well blended. Now tip your wet ingredients into your dry and mix until combined. Don’t over mix. Pour mixture into prepared loaf tin and bake for between 50-60 mins. You will need to use a skewer to check it is completely done.

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