Category Archives: Food

Smells and tastes better than it looks – Orange Chocolate and Cinnamon Cake

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Orange, Cinnamon Chocolate Cake

This rather messy looking cake, smells and tastes so wonderful because it is full of the warming scents of Orange, Cinnamon Spice and Chocolate.

Having found two 20cm spring form cake tins, this would make a simple sponge layered cake with a thickly indulgent butter cream icing.

Ingredients for the Orange Chocolate cake:

200g Caster Sugar

200g softened butter

4tsp Orange Juice

5tsp Coca Powder

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon Powder

3 Beaten Eggs

200g Plain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder and the Zest of 2 large Seville Oranges

Orange Marmalade (for the filling)

For the Butter Cream filling:

(I have made this using a Sunflower Margarine as my hubby doesn’t get on well with Cows Milk, and used a dash of Orange Juice)

Icing Sugar (about twice the volume to the butter)

Butter or Marge

Pinch of Salt

Orange Zest

1 tablespoon of Milk/Orange Juice to taste and loosen the consistency of the filling to your desired consistency

To make:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Mix together the softened butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. I mixed it together with a spoon rather than used an electric whisk.

Heat orange juice and then mix in 4 tablespoons of the Coca Powder to form a paste and add to the Sugar and Butter mixture, add the rest of the Coca Powder into the mixture and mix until all the ingredients are combined.

Beat in the 3 whisked eggs a little at a time until the mixture has combined to form a batter like mixture.

In a bowl add in the Strong Flour, Baking Powder Cinnamon and Grated Zest of Orange and combine. Sift this mixture into the batter like mixture and gently fold into the mixture until the two have combined into a thick cake mix.

Divide evenly between 2 Cake Tins (20cm wide). I have lined these with Grease proof paper, to help ease the cake out of the tins.

Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. You’ll know the cake is ready when you put a skewer through and it comes out clean.

Cool the cakes on a baking rack.

I found a tip in one of Delia’s recipe books about how to remove cakes from a spring form cake tin. Put the cake on top of a tin can and push the side of the cake tin down, it should slide off the cake, leaving the cake on the base. Use a pallet knife and gently remove from the base of the tin.

Put a tea towel over the baking rack so that you don’t get lines on the cake. (I didn’t do this bit as I thought the lines would be inside the middle of the cake.

It will take about 20 minutes for the cake to cool completely.Slice of Orange Chocolate Cake with Cinnamon

For the Buttermilk filling – I made this orangey by grating the zest off another orange and adding this to the marge. Combine in Icing sugar and keep mixing/adding icing sugar until you get the consistency you want for the cake. I added a splash of orange juice as well as some Soya Milk to make the consistency a little gooey.

Once you have the filling made, spread a thin layer of Marmalade on each side of the cakes and spread the buttermilk filling on top. Sandwich the cake together, dust icing sugar on top and the cake is ready to serve.

For people who like to decorate, the cake would look great with butter icing on top and some of those jellied orange segments or fresh oranges to decorate. But I was too eager to eat the cake, so were the kids, so it just got a coating of icing sugar before being served for last night’s tea.

Hmmm delicious!

Seriously easy chocolate loaf cake

Posted in At home, baking, Food, Home, inspiration, Uncategorized by

Chocolate Loaf cake

I’ve been working on the chocolate magic cake, the one where you mix the ingredients together and in one bake, a magical transformation happens during the baking and the cake mix changes into three layers, the middle is a rich chocolate custard. The only thing is, I haven’t got it quite right and it takes a lot of ingredients not to mention washing up involved.

So, whilst the effort will pay off eventually, what I wanted to do yesterday was to make something seriously simple and easy, but also rich, indulgent and fill the house with a chocolatey aroma that’s warm and comforting.

Looking through all the cookery books, I found a recipe that fulfilled all the requirements, everything in a store cupboard, and a seriously easy, no effort bake.

Hidden within Nigella’s feast recipe for Halloween called Ghoul-Graveyard cake, was the chocolate cake ingredients, all of which are in my store cupboard and fridge:

Ingredients:

250ml milk

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (white distilled vinegar will work too)

225g plain flour

50g coca

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

200g caster sugar/soft brown sugar

110g softened butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract

To make the Chocolate Loaf Cake:

Put all the ingredients, except for the milk and vinegar in a food processor and blitz into a soft dough.

Scrape the sides down and pour in the milk and vinegar slowly (milk and vinegar should be combined in a small jug – you’ll find that as the vinegar is added the milk starts to curdle, this is ok and I’d say looks like and has a similar consistency to buttermilk).

Once all the ingredients are combined pour into a cake tin. The instructions were for a 26 cm spring form cake tin.

As I didn’t have one to hand and I didn’t want to grease the square cake tin I had – this would have required effort…. I used a loaf tin with a paper case lining. No effort again, just poured the cake mix into the loaf tin.

In a preheated oven, I left the tin to bake for 45 mins on gas mark 3 (170c)

That’s all there is to making this cake. Once cooled, dust with some icing sugar. It doesn’t need much as it’s the richness of the chocolate thats lovely about this cake recipe.

The only thing left to do is, serve it, with a mug of hot chocolate to make it a proper guilt trip of chocolatey indulgence.

Cake Dough mix in food processor
baked cake in loaf tin
Lightly dusted with icing sugar
Chocolate Loaf
Chocolate Loaf slice
Ingredients for Chocolate Loaf
Chocolate Cake Mix
Chocolate Cake in loaf tin

 

Hearty Autumn Minestrone Soup with Cavolo Nero

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Minestrone Soup with Cavelo Nero

Some lovely Cavolo Nero leaves arrived in Friday’s Organic veg box and we decided they would make for a lovely hearty autumn soup.

The dark green leaves of the Cavolo Nero are also known as Black Kale and like Kale are full of vitamins, A, C and B, not to mention fibre, calcium as well as minerals.

Cavelo NeroIt has a sweet flavour, and I think it’s an easier veg to tempt kids to eat more  greens.

Since it can be used in so many ways, in a soup, or lightly braised with garlic or onion, it makes a great accompaniment.

For lunch, we wanted a hearty soup that would serve as the main meal, served with crusty bread or these soft chewy pretzels from a local bakery.

There is something warm and comforting about the smell of minestrone soup gently cooking away on the stove that makes a weekend seem to last that bit longer.

As there is no set recipe for minestrone, it’s just made out of the vegetables that are in season and can be vegetarian or contain meat.

After a quick rummage around our fridge and grocery cupboard, here’s what we used for the soup:

Ingredients:

Chicken stock was made with the left over carcass of a roast chicken we had previously cooked for a meal. If you want to skip this, a stock cube or ready made stock can be used instead.

Light Olive Oil (1-2 teaspoon if necessary)

Bacon lardons or pancetta

1 or 2 sticks of celery (chopped to the same size as the bacon lardons or pancetta)

2-3 Baby leeks (or large leeks trimmed to remove the thick green leaves, use the tender middle section of the leeks if possible). Chopped to the same size as the pancetta/celery

Baby Sweet Corn chopped (Alternatively Carrots if you have these instead)

Cauliflower florets chopped (optional)

A hand full of mushrooms. Chopped

Peeled Chopped tomatoes (x 2)

1-2 cloves of garlic

3-4 stems of Cavolo Nero leaves, or any green leafed cabbage you have to hand (Savoy works as a great alternative, as does Chinese Leaf – this would make the soup look lighter in colour). The leaves should be finely chopped – to the size of the pancetta or bacon lardons that are being used in the soup.

A cupful of small pasta shapes for soups (We had the small star-shaped pasta called Stellini)

To make:

In a very large pan, fry off the bacon lardons or pancetta. It’s the saltiness of the bacon that will infuse with the vegetables making it very tasty.

Add chopped leeks, mushrooms, baby sweet corn, cauliflower, peeled tomatoes, celery, garlic, gently saute in pan, once the vegetables are soft. You can add some light olive oil if the fat from the bacon is not enough to keep the vegetables from sticking to the pan. The aim is to soften the vegetables in the pan with the bacon.

Once the vegetables have been softened, pour in chicken stock and simmer gently for a minimum of 20 minutes. Longer if possible. The goal is to let the vegetables, bacon and chicken stock work together for maximum flavour.

Just before serving add the pasta shapes and Cavolo Nero leaves and simmer until the leaves and pasta shapes are tender.

Enjoy!

Easy Tray Baked Salmon with Roasted Veg

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image

We decided to treat ourselves this week to wild salmon.

Most of the time, it’s much more economical, if you are cooking salmon to go for the farmed kind of salmon. It is better for the environment, particularly if you select the type of farmed salmon that comes from responsible, sustainable fisheries. But this time, we treated ourselves to the wild variety, still from sustainable sources, which means that when the fish is caught, it is done responsibly and does not deplete the stock of wild salmon in the rivers.

Wild salmon has a different texture to farmed salmon, the flesh is denser and there is less fat, I think it’s because the fish have been swimming in the wild and are exercising a lot more, it’s a little bit special treat on a few occasions.

Some years ago, I learned about sustainable fishing whilst working on a project. It made me think more about where food comes from.

You can visit the website about Forever Fish to find out more about fish and sustainability,  I think we should all try to do our bit, however big or small. Since then we try to choose sustainably sourced fish whenever we can.

Back to the recipe:

This is such a simple dish to make and comes from Jamie Oliver, we first watched him prepare this on telly a long time ago. It’s one of those simple recipes that you don’t really need a recipe book for once you’ve made it and discover how simple it is.

It is so tasty, I wish you could be transported to within the photo to be able to smell the lovely scent of the wild salmon with roasted veg.

In a pre-heated hot oven, (220 c) put a deep roasting tray in with a drizzle of olive oil.

Place two salmon fillets into the tray, season with salt and pepper and lemon juice, on the other side of the tray, place your vegetables into the tray.

I think in Jamie’s original recipe, there are olives, fine green beans, small baby tomatoes, garlic and a small tin of anchovies, but you can use any type of veg as long as it’s been cut fairly small – such as baby sweetcorn to change things up a bit.

It’s the anchovies that make this dish so flavourful, infusing their briny saltiness into the vegetables so that the taste of the sea comes to life.

With all the juices from both the veg and salmon mingled together, this is what makes this taste so stunning.

We like this with french fries or on this occasion, we made these little cubed roasted potatoes, just par boil the cubed potatoes so that they are just on their way to being cooked, put them in a hot tray that’s had some olive oil heating in the oven. Smother them with the hot olive oil and bake with the salmon tray bake at the same time. They may need to be put into the oven ahead of the salmon -about 20 mins for the potatoes, depending on how big the cubes have been cut.

The salmon and veg, should cook in about 10-15 mins (check at around 10 mins) as it depends on the thickness of your fish fillets and how you prefer them – well cooked or just done.

Enjoy!

Banana Loaf with Sour Cherries and a Cinnamon Crunch topping

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Banana Loaf with Sour Cherries and a crunchy topping

I’ve been clearing out our grocery cupboard. Every few months, I make an effort to purge our groceries to make sure there is nothing lurking in the back of the cupboard that is going out of sell-by date.

It sometimes reveals some interesting finds.

Today, I found these dried sour cherries. I don’t remember buying these, so it must have been my hubby. At any rate they are about to reach the end of their shelf life. Rather than waste them, I decided to put them to use in a cake.Sour Cherries, bananas, dried apricots

Since I also had some bananas which were going very brown, they were now not so great looking in the fruit bowl but would be perfect for this Banana Loaf.

Ingredients:

75g Dried apricots (dried squishy fruit such as apricots if you have them)

75g Sour Cherries

Zest of 1 lemon

100g Unsalted Butter (softened but not melted)

125g soft brown sugar

2 large eggs (free range if possible)

2-3 large ripe bananas

200g self raising flour

Loaf tin (13x23x7cm)

Loaf tin paper case (optional)

For the crunchy topping: (this is optional)

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon of Rolled Oats

1 teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

To make the cake:

In a bowl, mix together the Sugar, Butter and eggs. Combine them until it is a soft batter. Add the chopped fruit (apricots and sour cherries) along with the zest of 1 lemon.

Mash the bananas until they are gloopy and runny and add these into the bowl and stir gently.

Add sifted self-raising flour gently, I tend to put the sieve over the bowl and gently tap in the flour, folding in the flour into the mixture. It should look a little lumpy, (making sure that there are no pockets of flour in the mix).

Spoon into the loaf tin as evenly as possible (it will spread out as it cooks).

My eldest made the crunchy topping at school during one of the cookery lessons and she showed my how to make this delicious topping.

To make the crunchy cinnamon topping:

In a Saucepan, gently melt the soft butter and soft brown sugar, add in rolled oats and ground cinnamon, making sure you coat all the oats with the cinnamon and buttery sugar. Once golden brown take off the stove and add small dollops of the mixture over the top of the cake mix that is in the loaf tin. As it cooks the small dollops of oats mixed into the butter and sugar will turn cook with the loaf and give a wonderfully fragrant cinnamony crunchy texture to the cake.

In the pre-heated oven, bake on 160c for about an hour (check around 50 mins to see if the cake is ready). It’s ready when you can put a skewer into the cake and pull it out clean.

This cake can be eaten hot from the oven but can be stored for a couple of days in an air-tight container to keep it moist.

Banana Loaf with sour cherries
Crunchy rolled oat cinnamon topping
Melted butter, oats and brown sugar with cinnamon
Cake mix in loaf tin
cake mix with mashed bananas
lemon zest
dried fruit added to cake mix
Chopped soft dried apricots with sour cherries
brown sugar and butter creamed
Loaf tin cake cases
Over ripe bananas, apricots and sour cherries

Cinnamon Muffins with Fresh Blueberries and Walnuts

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Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins with Walnuts

I’ve been wanting to make something that brings the sweet warm smell of Cinnamon into our home, now that the nights are drawing in and Autumn is showing it’s first signs of arrival.

Yesterday, (Wednesday) it rained so much that even though  both my kids were wearing their rain coats, when they arrived home it was two wet and soggy girls who needed something cheerful to chase away the dreary weather.

Taking a rummage around our cupboard, we have a very small amount of plain flour and some wholemeal flour. In our fridge was a fresh pack of blueberries that we had to put into our youngest’s lunch bag as a snack.

These ingredients will make one of my favourites – Blueberry Muffins.

I first tried this recipe in the early 90’s when Delia Smith shared the recipe and how to bake them on telly.

The recipe and they way they were baked were a revelation, not only did she use fresh berries, (The cakes I had been taught at school had been sponge cakes, or fruit cakes usually made with dried fruit, so weren’t exactly inspiring or tasty) she showed us how easy it was to make American style muffins and most importantly they looked so yummy.

I hadn’t really thought much about baking until that is I made these muffins and realised how easy they are to make and the way they make a home smell so warm and so delicious.

The fresh blueberries burst as they cook and when you bite into these muffins, because some of the blueberries haven’t quite exploded, they’ll do so as you bite into them, so you get the hit of the warm tangy flavour of the berries, along with the sweet taste of the muffins.

Fresh Blueberries bursting in a muffin

Fresh Blueberries bursting in a muffin

I’ve adapted the recipe slightly because I want to combine the fresh blueberries with walnuts and bring in the scent of Cinnamon.

For an extra kick of Cinnamon, I’ve added a caramelised brown sugar topping that gives the muffins a lovely crunchy texture to bite into.

You can of course make these into smaller sized cupcakes, (this recipe will make approx 12-14) but since we’re eating these for our desserts tonight, they’re being baked in our “Man Sized” muffin tin to serve warm straight out of the oven with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

The ingredients below will makes approx 6-7 large man-sized muffins

Ingredients for the muffins (Adapted from Delia Smith’s American Muffin recipe)

2.5 oz plain flour (75g)

2.5 oz wholemeal flour (75g)

half level tablespoon baking powder

quarter teaspoon salt

1 large egg

one and a half ounce soft brown sugar (40g)

4 fluid ounces milk (110ml)

2oz butter, melted (slightly cooled)

half teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)

quarter teaspoon ground Cinnamon

4 oz small blueberries

2 oz Walnuts (Pecan nuts work as well) finely chopped

Muffin mix in tin before baking

Muffin mix with crumble topping in tin before baking

For the crumble topping:

1.5 oz brown sugar

1.5 oz self-raising flour

1.5 oz butter

1 oz walnuts (chopped finely, any nuts if you prefer a different type)

Half teaspoon Ground cinnamon

How to make the muffins:

Sift the flour (You can of course just use plain flour, but we had wholemeal, so I used half and half) with baking powder, Cinnamon and salt into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk the sugar, eggs and butter (melted) and milk together. This time I remembered to put the sugar in!

Fold the dry mixture very gently into the wet batter mixture, the consistency should look lumpy and well, wrong as there should be lumps and bumps everywhere. (Sifting the flour is important to make the muffins light and airy)

Spoon in the blueberries and the finely chopped walnuts. I like pecans with this recipe too, and I think they will work just as well if you like Pecans instead of walnuts. Very gently again, to maintain the light texture of the batter.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins. I’ve used these foil muffin cases as it’s easier to get out of the tins and less mess to wash-up.

To make the topping:

Ingredients for the crumble topping

Ingredients for the Crumble topping

This is really simple to make, it’s basically a crumble mixture. Mix the flour, cinnamon and butter and crumble together with your fingers, add sugar and hazelnuts and mix together so that it looks like a very fine crumble mix. Sprinkle over the muffin mixture in the muffin tins before putting them in the oven.

Bake in the oven for approx 20-25 minutes (if you’re going for the Man size versions), 15-20 minutes for the smaller cupcake versions.

Take muffins out of the tins – (they are cooked if you can put a knife/skewer through and it comes out clean). Serve immediately if you want to eat them hot. or let them cool on a baking rack. They can be enjoyed for a day or two afterwards, but really I think they’re yummy straight out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins
Muffin mix in tin before baking
Wet mix of sugar, butter, eggs and milk
Dry ingredients in a bowl for blueberry muffins.
Some of the ingredients for Fresh Blueberry Muffins
Walnuts for the muffins
Ingredients for the Crumble topping
Fresh Blueberries in Muffins
Mansized muffin tin filled with baked muffins

Feast and Famine on the 5:2

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Salad with sliced chicken

I’ve never been able to maintain my weight or more importantly my size by sticking to a diet.

About a couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a programme on telly which has made a significant impact on my lifestyle.

If anyone reading this post isn’t familiar with the 5:2 diet, visit the Fast Diet site which explains the health benefits of fasting two out of 5 days of the week.

So here’s the thing, I resent the notion of giving up indulgent treats such as cake or chocolate or a really great fry-up. Missing out on Peking Duck as part of a Chinese feast or a fully loaded Sunday roast, is my idea of hell, so I hated dieting and gave up easily when the smell of something lovely was being cooked by my husband for the rest of the family. I could never resist.

So re-training myself to fast for 2 days each week so that I could eat normally on the other 5 days (as long as they’re not consecutive days) seemed achievable, so I gave it a try and haven’t looked back.

On a fast day, I eat a couple of rice crackers with coffee and a glass of water with lemon juice for breakfast – just so that there’s a routine for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At lunch, it’s usually a bowl of salad leaves, some cucumber, tomatoes, maybe some radishes or a carrot that’s been cut into thin ribbons,with a slice of chicken or ham torn or shredded into the salad. If I am home, a few leaves from the fresh basil on my kitchen window sill will get added to the salad to make it more fragrant with a dressing of just balsamic vinegar.

Dinner might be a bowl of soup, this can either be tinned soup or home made that I’ve watered down, along with some rice crackers or a light broth and a few noodles.

As long as the total amount comes to 500 calories. I keep things simple on fasting days when my brain and stomach is too hungry to work on cooking something complicated.

I’ve figured out that rice or corn crackers are about 30 calories each, a bowl of salad is around 50-100 calories depending on the sliced meat I’ve added (A boiled egg is about 90 calories) or noodles (I use half of a serving of dried noodles and cook with chicken stock, Miso or some soy sauce). Anything goes as long as the total is about 500 or less. Dinner might just be a banana for instance.

It works for me because it’s simple to remember to stick to a schedule of 2 days of fasting in a week, usually a Monday and Friday.

Yesterday, however, I had a big meeting to attend and I didn’t want to think about an empty stomach.

So today, I’m fasting and whilst my kids are indulging in their hot chocolates. I tell myself it’s only a day. Tomorrow I can feast.

So simple and effective. I’ve lost about three-quarters of a stone and kept it off.

Previously, I’ve lost weight then piled it back on when I’ve stopped dieting and feeling guilty when I’ve fallen off the wagon.

If I miss the 2 days fasting in a week, I don’t feel the guilt, I’ll simply restart the routine the following week.

This works because there are times when I want to be indulgent with food full-on, such as when we’re on holiday or at Christmas or Chinese New Year.

Just to be clear, fasting for consecutive days, for long periods of time is not healthy and It goes entirely against the approach and principles of the 5:2. The aim is to eat a healthy balanced diet with normal portion sizes on the 5 days when not fasting.

This approach is quite the opposite of being on a diet, and has become part of my lifestyle. When I think of it in this way, I don’t feel as if I’ve given up on all the pleasures that food has to offer.

Do let me know if any of you are using the 5:2 and maintaining a healthy and balanced approach to food. I’d love to know if you have any tips to share.

Idiot proof Orange and Almond cupcakes

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Orange and Poppy Seed Cupcake

For anyone that can’t follow baking instructions (me) these cupcakes turned out to be idiot proof.

I had the following ingredients in my cupboard and thought I’d make some tasty little cakes.

Some of the Ingredients for Orange Poppy Seed Cupcakes

Ingredients:

125g Butter (softened)

2/3 cup soft brown sugar (or Caster Sugar)

1 large Orange (grate the rind and juiced)

2 eggs at room temperature

1 cup self-raising flour

3/4 cup ground almonds

Some of the ingredients for Orange & Poppy Seed Cupcakes1 tablespoon of Poppy Seeds (optional)

1 tablespoon of Popping Candy (optional)

Icing Sugar (for dusting)

I thought I would make some simple cupcakes for an afternoon / tea time treat.

My daughter arrived home from school early today and I was just assembling the ingredients when she asked if she could help with the baking.

The instructions for cupcakes are so simple, as we have made these so many times, I didn’t pay too much attention to actually reading it properly.

I somehow managed to put the Self raising flour and sugar together in the bowl while I was measuring out the ingredients.

What I should have done was creamed the butter and sugar together along with the eggs and the grated orange.Orange and Poppy Cupcakes (8)

However, when I’m baking with my kids, I am distracted by their questions and excitement at the steps involved in cake baking. This time the distraction took the form of what additional ingredients we should add in the mix to make it our own (Popping Candy) and my personal favorite ingredient for cakes, Poppy Seeds, which gives a cake a bit of a crunchy texture.

Also, using brown sugar was a better alternative than caster sugar, if you have this instead, as it’s not so processed and will give the final cupcakes a softer caramel flavour.  As the sugar was lumpy, I asked my daughter to separate the sugar and we added this into the flour.Eggs and Butter with Grated Orange

So, instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, we mixed the butter with the eggs along with the grated orange zest which produced a very runny looking batter.

By this point I realised my mistake, it would be impossible to separate the sugar from the flour and combine this into the batter mixture, so I got my trusty electric hand-whisk and mixed the batter into the sugary flour instead.

The resulting mixture formed the cake mixture that looked about right. Into this we added the orange juice (1/4 cup) and the almond flour, this was gently folded into the mix, along with the poppy seeds and popping candy.

Batter for Orange and Poppy Seed CupcakesOnce these ingredients were combined, we put them into the little cupcake cases into the cake tins. This recipe makes about 12-14 generous sized cupcakes.

I love cupcake cases as they’re so easy, no greasing the tins and no worries or hassle of whether the cake will come out of the baking tin at the end of baking, so we use the paper cases a lot.

Added to the fact that the individual cakes are easy for packed lunches, they really are a mini cake perfect to take anywhere.

Poppy Seeds and Popping Candy in Cake BatterWe put the tray of cupcakes into a pre-heated oven on 180 c, and let them bake for 15-18 minutes (checking at about 14 mins, to see if they were cooked as we have a fan oven, things tend to cook faster) Use a skewer or knife to put into the cupcake and if it comes out clean, they’re cooked.

Cake Mix in cupcake casesReally you are supposed to wait until the cupcakes have cooled before dusting with icing sugar.

By this time, my youngest had arrived from school too and both kids were now not content with just licking the remaining mixture from the mixing bowl as the smell of the orangey almond cakes had filled the kitchen and dining room.

They wanted to eat them straight away, so we dusted the cupcakes in the tins straight from the oven. (You are supposed to let them cool before dusting the icing sugar)

Orange and Poppy Cupcakes (1)Pretty much fool proof as they turned out pretty good in spite of the fact that we forgot to cream the sugar and butter and added a few optional extras of popping candy and poppy seeds.

I had just enough time to put a few on a small plate and take the pictures for this post before they disappeared.

Soothing Hot Lemon & Honey drink remedy for colds and flu

Posted in At home, Drink, Family, Health & Wellness, lifestyle, Uncategorized by

Hot Lemon & Honey drink remedy for cold

I came down with a cold not long after returning from our holiday. I have a feeling that it was probably caught whilst on holiday, but the symptoms only started to show once we got home.

By last Monday, my head felt as if it was caught in a vice and a sore throat was making me feel as if it was on fire.

My first thoughts was to turn to the usual remedy in our medicine cupboard, which is a hot mug of Lemsip. After two days however, I didn’t feel much better, in fact I was counting down the hours to my next fix of Lemsip.

It was at this point that I decided to stop using Lemsip and try something more natural as my stomach wasn’t feeling too great with all the chemicals and my head was feeling fuzzy as if it was wrapped in cotton wool.

Lemon and Honey as a hot drink was easy to make and since when you look at the ingredients on a pack of Lemsip, it contains for the most part lemon and paracetamol, plus a decongestants.

I decided that all natural ingredients would be better and hopefully it would also act as a detox and help cleanse my digestive system.

For blocked nose, instead of the chemical decongestants in the Lemsip, I have been inhaling steam from boiling hot water and adding a few drops of Olbas Oil (If you don’t have this, eucalyptus or any type of oil that has menthol/mint essential will have a similar effect) in a large bowl with a towel over my head.

Adding a few drops of lemon essential oil to the water as well, means that the steam is also acting as a facial, opening pores and giving my skin a deep clean.

As a parent, I’ve never been keen on using over the counter medicines on my kids. In fact my youngest doesn’t like Calpol (a liquid suspension of paracetamol in syrup) that I used to give them when they were very young. She too prefers the hot drink of Lemon and Honey when ever she feels a sore throat beginning to take hold.

For coughs, on my last visit to the GP with my daughter when she had a bad cough, he advised that a simple linctus of honey and lemon or glycerine would be just as effective as an over the counter medicine to help soothe a cough.

In fact in the UK, the National Health Service has information about simple treatments for colds and coughs, which advises against over the counter medicines for coughs as there isn’t enough evidence that they are effective.

 

Red colour pork Chinese style with braised vegetables

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Red Pork Chinese Style

Red Pork Chinese Style

This one is a favourite dish of ours. Whenever we cook this, it is with guilty pleasure as the belly pork isn’t something that is exactly good for those who are health conscious.

I think though a little indulgence sometimes is also good for the soul.

We tend to cook this dish when the kids are staying with their grandparents. (My eldest insists that she does not like Chinese food and so far nothing has worked to persuade her otherwise. It is one of my disappointment, so we don’t cook this one very often).

The dish is actually called Hung Shao Pork, and if you were to say this in Chinese, the translation would be equivalent to Red casseroled pork. The red being the colour that the pork takes on as it slowly cooks and releases its flavour in the glutenous streaky fat running through the meat.

Chinese red pork casserole

Chinese Red pork casserole

Once the onions, garlic and freshly sliced ginger have been gently fried in some oil (sunflower is best as this is odourless) small batons of the belly pork that have been cut into smallish pieces and lightly salted (the size is approximately your little finger) is added and gently fried with the onions, garlic and ginger.

At this point, whilst it is sizzling away, dark soy sauce is added so that the rich dark flavour of the sauce will infuse and work its way into the pork. Add a splash of water and a splash of Chinese wine (if you have this to hand, If not, then some sweet sherry will also work in this dish). Honey added to sweeten the dish along with the saltiness of the Soy Sauce and Star Anise will make this dish rock.

You can use a saucepan or a casserole dish that can be used directly on the cooker, so no need for a wok if you don’t have one.

When the pork has been fried, turn down the heat to the lowest setting and then leave to simmer away for about 30-40 minutes, with the lid on, turning 2-3 times during the cooking time. The goal is to get the lovely pieces of pork to be slightly crispy, but also tender and juicy with the luscious red sauce coating it and making it sticky and oh so yummy to taste.

To balance the richness of the pork, we tend to cook some simple chinese vegetables – Pak Choi with some sugar snap peas, the crunchy sweetness of the sugar snaps are a great compliment to the pork. In fact any Chinese greens if these are available or in season. If not, then fresh brocoli or spinach also works well with this dish. The greens are gently braised in some water, lightly seasoned with salt, with the water not covering the vegetables completely, but as if you are using the liquid to fry the vegetables in.

Braised Chinese Vegetables

Braised Chinese Vegetables

Once the vegetables are just cooked, they can be just on the verge of being cooked, take off the heat and add a very small splash of sesame oil and soy sauce to taste, if you like (seasme seeds sprinkled over the vegetable at this stage will also be a tasty addition.

All of which is simply served with some fragrant Jasmine and wild rice.

Enjoyed with some light sparkling white wine as a balance to the richness of the pork.

Ingredients: 

1 pound of lean belly pork, including skin (bought as a whole large piece, cut into small pieces)

Approx 4 tablespoons of dark soy sauce

Approx 1 tablespoon of water

Fresh Ginger (small amount – roughly equal amount to the onion)

1 small onion

1 Star Anise

1 spoonful of honey (sweetness to taste – add more if you prefer)

Approx 3 tablespoons of Chinese wine (sherry if not available – taste and add more if you need to)