Omega Seed Brittle

With the 3-Peak Challenge looming both Hubby & I are trying to find ways to help us get through the 11am and 3pm sugar slump without reaching for the biscuit tin. To help keep on top of my snacking at work I usually pack a bento box. This helps me control portion size as well as encouraging me to have a balanced diet. Hubby is talking of taking a bento snack box to work to keep him away from the temptation of the corner shop. Hubby in particiular has a very sweet tooth so these bars are perfect for him, because not only does he get a good sugar hit it has the added benefits of slow release energy and all the good stuff that is in seeds. A Mars bar can't promise to do that!

I always have a packet of mixed seeds in the cupboard. Not only are they great for making granola with, but also for sprinkling on cereal and adding to flapjacks. I also carry a small tupperware box of seeds and dry fruit in my handbag for low energy wobbles. This particular seed mix contains pumpkin, sunflower, sesame seeds and linseed which means it is packed with omega-3. Great for body and mind. Omega-3 is something that the body can't produce and must be introduced through diet. I know there is some debate as to the benefits of omega oils, but I notice a significant difference in my skin and moods when I have a regular intake of it. However I don't buy into all the products out there at the moment with "added omega-3". I prefer to get it straight from the source. These products are just playing on public anxiety and food fads making out that Omega is a new amazing supplement, when in reality it has been something all of our bodies have needed from year dot.

The main source of Omega-3 is oily fish, but as I'm not a big fish eater I try to find other ways to getting it and this is perfect.I buy my omega seed mix from a Vegan Wholefood shop, but I have seen similar mixes in the supermarket.

When your making this, what ever you do make sure you wash the pan soon after making it or you'll have a job getting the encrusted honey off the pan.

Omega Seed Brittle

85g (approx 6 tbsp) omega seed mix or similar
3 tbsp honey

1) Place both the honey and seeds in a frying pan and slowly heat until the honey has begun to caramelise and the nuts begin to toast.

2) Pour out onto a piece of baking parchment and allow to set in the fridge.

Fresh from the oven - Rustic Loaf

At the end of last month via UKFBA Claire introduced me to a new baking group called Fresh from the oven. As I'm a keen baker, I was keen to join the group to help improve my skills. This months challenge was hosted by Brianna. She chose a Rustic Loaf recipe from from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes. The idea behind the recipe was that it was a good, basic recipe that introduced a simple preferment, minimalist ingredients, and let us practice our shaping techniques.

I learnt all about preferment at River Cottage, though it was called the sponge dough method at RC. I've been keen to use the method and decided to set time to do it. It's by no mean the quickest loaf I have ever made, but my goodness did it taste good. The addition of wholewheat also made it filling. The preferment gives a very slightly sour taste, not too unlike sourdough.

Initially the dough was very wet and too difficult to work with so had to add some more flour (this may be due to me making a dodgy conversion with the measurements from cups to g/ml). I also have to admit I didn't let it prove for as long as the recipe said as 1) I was running out of time and 2) it was rising quite rapidly thanks to the hot, humid weather and I was worried about over proving the dough. Looking at the crumb of the dough the big air pockets are a sign that is was beginning to over prove so I caught it at about the right time.

I need to get better at making a tighter shape and have asked for some proving baskets for my birthday. What you can't see on the photo is that in both of the loaves Hubby & I made they burst a bit on one side due to how we shaped it and supported the dough during proving. Although I was initially unsure of the recipe I'm really happy with the loaf I managed to produce and will certainly be using this method again.

The full recipe for the loaf can be found on The Fresh Loaf.

The Garden - 2009

A few months back we made some big changes to the garden. Gone are the majority of the pots from last year and in are raised beds made from recycled pallets, of which was Hubby's idea. Initially I was a bit anti getting rid of all the pots we had spent ages sourcing, but with a bit of shuffling and ridding of pots that had cracked, Hubby got down to making the raised beds. He picked up the pallets for free from work. His resourcefulness shows no ends, though at the moment he has put a stop at the idea of making a shed from old pallets...though if we had a garden big enough I'm sure he'd give it a good go.

With the lessons we learnt last year we've planted a slightly different selection of veg this year and have improved our gung-ho method for vegetable growing thanks to a mini greenhouse from Ikea and the ingenious Paper Potter.



Planted so far this year we have strawberries, radishes, spinach, beetroots, carrots, mixed salad, artichokes, rhubarb, broad beans, garlic, peas, kale, sweetcorn, brussel sprouts, leeks and the grape vine has sprung back into life, but there is yet any fruit on it. We also have some Purple Sprouting Broccoli ready to be planted. In addition to all this we also have the odd mushroom thanks to some free mushroom compost that had been given to us.



I also now have a dedicate area for my herb garden currently we have mint, thyme, rosemary & sage. Once the garlic has been harvested I can use their pot for a second herb garden containing chives, coriander, basil & another herb I haven't decided on yet. Due to limited space in the garden we now have a general rule - it can only be planted if it has culinary uses. Hence the Butterfly Lavender, not only does it look good, smell good, keeps flies away but can also be used in the kitchen.

The one little problem we've had this year was the salad we grew. We sowed too much of it at once, couldn't eat it fast enough and it bolted. The radishes have been deliciously spicy and it won't be long before the strawberries have ripened. I'm looking forward to trying everything else once it has been harvested. Nothing beats vegetables fresh from the ground.

Summer Good Food Show with Miele

I've been invited to quite a few Miele events before, but due to work commitments I was unable to make it so when they invited me this time I jumped at the chance. Before the Miele invite I was already going with Hubby & friends so they still went and I met up with them later. This was the first time I had met up with fellow bloggers and I have to admit I was quite nervous. I didn't have my SLR on the day and used my compact so I wasn't too happy with the photos I took so most of these photos are courtesy of Miele.

Joining in on the event was Nic, Sylvie, Anne, Sunita, Naomi, Celine and Jan

First part of the day was seeing Simon Rimmer in the Super Theatre. I've always been a fan of Simon Rimmer and Something for the Weekend is my Sunday morning lie-in TV. Any chef who has a recipe for Jaffa Cakeshas all of my respect! In the Super Theatre he made steak tartar and a delicious looking banana tatin. After seeing the show us bloggers went back stage for a drink, meet our fellow bloggers and also saw Gino d'Campo, The Hairy Bikers and Simon Rimmer.



After being given a bit of time to wonder around the show, where I met back up with Hubby & friends, we made our way to the Miele stand where their range of goods was explained to us. I liked the steam injection in their ovens which would be perfect for bread making. Once I don't live in a tiny Georgian cottage, where shiny-shiny-fancy-things don't look right, I wouldn't say no to one of their products.



Once the products had been demonstrated to us, it was our turn to get up on stage with Sophie Mitchell to do some cooking. Although I knew in advance I would be cooking with Sophie it was only a short time before the event that it dawned on me I would be cooking in front of an audience. I have to admit I nearly pulled out as the fear of doing something like this shot through me. Especially when I found out we would be cooking scallops, a food I just don't enjoy. The 2 dishes we made were Thai inspired with scallops for starter and the main being crab stuffed lemon sole on a spicy mango salad.



Well I'm very glad I didn't pull out as I really enjoyed it even if I did hash up taking the skin off a fillet of lemon sole thanks to a set of blunt knives. Sophie was lovely and I'm glad I had cooked Thai before as it helped me to keep up with her and understand what was in all the pots in front of me. We cooked our dishes using the steamer programme in one of the Miele oven. I was impressed as to how fast it was all cooked and with no additional fat. What made it even better was that we were able to try our cooking afterwards. I'm not a fan of scallops (I don't like the texture) but Hubby gladly ate them for me. After finishing our meals and taking lots of photos, well we are food bloggers, Miele gave us some goodie bags and I bid farewell to my fellow bloggers and headed back into the show with Hubby & friends.



As it was now about 4pm the show was beginning to quieten down making it easier to get around the stalls...and not be bashed in the ankles by those annoying pull along boxes many people had. Although it is smaller than the Good Food Show in November we still managed to find some gems.

Lauden Chocolates gave all of the other chocolate companies there a serious run for their money. The chocolates were not only stunning to look at but also absolutely divine to taste. The flavours literally exploded in my mouth. The people on the stall were also deeply passionate about their products.

This isn't the first time I've mentioned Teahouse Emporium, I mentioned them last time I went to the Good Food Show and purchased some of their blooming flower tea. This time I bought some Kalahari tea along with some Cranberry & Elderflower tea, the tea leaves alone smell delicious even before they have been infused in water.

As for the worst products - fizzy vodka..why? Brought back wrong memories of my student days and Yumberry Juice it deserves to be done for breach of product description. Yumberry juice is not yummy in the slightest.

It was a great day out and it was lovely to meet other food bloggers and be able to put a face to a name. A big Thank you to Miele for inviting me.

Bara Brith & Butter Pudding

This particular loaf of Bara Brith had been hanging around for a week or two after I made it for my Welsh mother when she visited a few weeks back. To be honest I think we forgot about it in the cake tin as it is a very rare occurrence for cake to be left for a long time in this house. Now I did originally plan to accompany this blog post with a delightful photo of me aged 8 in traditional Welsh dress, but decided my credibility would go down the pan if I did, so you'll just have to do with a pic of the pudding.

I'm not one to throw perfectly good food away and the nature of Bara Brith means it doesn't go off very quickly, however it does begin to dry out making it perfect for a bread & butter style pudding. As much as I love feeding the fluffy fledglings with crumbs of cake I wasn't sacrificing all of this Bara Brith to our feathered friends. I was really pleased how they turned out, with the Bara Brith giving more depth to the pudding than usual bread would. I would be interested to try it with other dry cakes that have gone past their best. We had the puddings with lashings to custard. In my eyes the only way this type of pudding can be served.

Promise I will blog something savory soon!

Bara Brith & Butter Pudding
makes 2 indiviual puddings

6 slices of bara brith (or similar fruit loaf)
75ml milk
40g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla pod
1 egg

1) In a small saucepan mix milk, sugar and vanilla and gently heat until sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and allow to infuse for 15 min, then remove vanilla pod.

2) Using a circular cutter, cut rounds of the bara brith. Butter both sides and pile into a ramekin. Once the milk has finished infusing whisk in the egg. Pour the custard over the bara brith and leave for 30 to allow the cake to soak up some of the custard. Cover ramekins with buttered foil.

3) Preheat oven to 170oc. Place ramekins in a deep baking pan then pour boiling water into the pan so it is half way up the ramekins. Place in the oven and bake for 40 min. Remove the foil and bake for a further 5 min to brown the top.

Fête Fairy Cakes

Today is fête day, but with storm clouds rumbling outside and showers of hail I'm seriously thinking it is going to be called off. Like all good fêtes we have a cake stall. As I'm renowned for my general cake geekiness I thought I should contribute to the cake stall. No nipping off to Tescos and trying to pass their cakes off as mine, for me!

I decided to make something that I haven't made in years. While cupcakes have been à la mode for the last few years I wanted to go English Old School and go for the cupcake's daintier, less ostentatious cousin - the humble fairy cake. Until I made this batch I had forgotten how much smaller the fairy cake is compared to a cupcake.

As I'm not a huge fan of icing at the best of times, though I love the look of big cupcake swirls, I wanted to use a thinner icing that could be brightly coloured with ease. This icing acts more like self-levelling concrete and hides all the cake imperfections and also can hide a cake if it hasn't risen as much as you hope. Frankly I wanted another excuse to play around with my new food dyes.

I found the animal decorations in the back of my baking cupboard. Hubby bought them when we attempted chocolate covered apples, but thankfully I found hundreds and thousands before we made them; and yes these sugar animals were still in date. Hopefully the cakes sell well and make some money.

There is a secret ingredient, well not so secret as I'm about to tell you, that goes into these cakes; and it's custard powder. The custard powder does 2 things. It makes the cakes fluffier as well as flavouring the sponge. Hubby tasted one of the cakes last night and spotted the subtle custard taste. I don't really use custard for making custard, I prefer proper custard or a tin of ambrosia (yes I know, but there is something very comforting about it!) and use it in baking more. If you have any custard powder you can use cornflour to help keep the cakes fluffy. Of course cornflour alone won't flavour the cakes so add some vanilla extract.

This recipe is based on a Good Food recipee, though I have altered the method and icing.

The storm is getting worse...I wonder if these cakes will end up on the staffroom coffee table tomorrow instead.

Fairy Cakes
makes around 20

140g unsalted butter, softened
140g vanilla caster sugar (you can use normal caster)
3 eggs
100g self-raising flour
25g custard powder

for icing
200g icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp boiling water
food dye (optional)
sprinkles (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 190oc. Arrange cake cases in fairy cake tin. Beat together butter and sugar then one by one beat in the eggs.

2) Stir in flour and custard powder until ingredients are well combined. Half fill each fairy case with the batter. Don't over fill or you won't have room for the icing to puddle.

3) Bake for 15 min until risen and golden. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

4) Beat together icing sugar, lemon juice and boiling water until you have a smooth icing. Colour with dyes if wanted. Using a teaspoon slowly pour the icing on top of the cakes. You can guide the icing somewhat as to where you want it to go. Once you have finished icing, cover with sprinkles and leave for the icing to set.

Crème de Framboise Cheesecake

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. Statistically the 2nd June is the one day of the year were your most likely to have great weather. It was pure chance we booked our wedding on this day and the weather statisticians didn't disappoint in 2007, 2008 & 2009 soaking us with glorious weather each year. We'll ignore the fact that in 1975 snow fell on the 2nd June!

Last year we celebrated by eating our way around York, this year we made a bit more effort than usual with our weekday dinner and made some mini cheesecakes then washed it down with a delicious bottle of champagne. We are celebrating it again this weekend when we go to one of our favourite restaurants.

I always look forward to this time of year when raspberries come into season. Although our local PYO is yet to open I found some luscious Scottish raspberries in the supermarket. Loosely inspired by my Baileys cheesecake, and what I had in the cupboards I decided to come up with individual raspberry cheesecakes. When I've been making desserts like this recently I've been using light cream cheese rather than the full fat version as I find it makes a lighter dessert and I like to think it's a bit healthier. However this does make the mixture looser and is better served in ramekins rather than turned out onto a plate.

Crème de Framboise Cheesecakes
makes 2 individual cheesecakes

2 digestive biscuits
150g pack of cream cheese
40g icing sugar (to taste)
2 tbsp Crème de Framboise
punnet of raspberries

1) Crumble one biscuit into each of the ramekins.

2) In a mixing bowl whip cream cheese until smooth then add icing sugar to taste. Stir in Crème de Framboise. Mash together a handful of raspberries then stir into cheesecake mix.

3) Pour cheesecake mix into ramekins then chill for 3 hours before serving.

A rainbow of Peppermint Creams

Looking back to the days when I was the pupil in a Home Ec class rather than the person instructing the only thing I can remember making was ginger nuts, jam tarts and peppermint creams. Proper retro food.

A few weeks ago one of my pupils approached me with a cookbook she had been given for her birthday and pointed out the Peppermint Cream recipe and how she would like to make these. I thought it would be a good opportunity for the kids to play around with cutters and colours. Back in the 1980's we were hardcore in the Home Ec kitchen and used raw egg whites to make peppermint creams, but now thanks to me doing my Food Safety qualifications and realising that what I do in my home kitchen isn't appropriate to do in school I needed to find a recipe that didn't use raw egg. Using raw egg whites with kids and having to deal with the potential consequences (a salmonella outbreak flashed in front of my eyes) isn't my idea of fun.

It took some trawling through lots of recipes to find a recipe that didn't feature raw egg. Some replaced the egg with condensed milk and another with just plain milk. Then it dawned on me, could I just replace the egg with water? I haven't made them since my school days so this morning armed with a big bag of icing sugar, my new food dyes and some peppermint extract I set about experimenting with peppermint creams.

Now I have to admit I don't usually use food dyes, or if I do I try and use natural colouring but shopping in Lakeland has a habit of drawing me in and making me buy things I don't realise I need...especially when they come in a rainbow of colours. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to food dye and I need a bit more practice at thoroughly blending the gel dyes into the icing paste, just a good thing I like the marbled effect!

Peppermint Creams

400g icing sugar (you may need a bit more)
2 tbsp water (again you may need some more)
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
food dyes (optional)

1) In a large bowl sift in the icing sugar then add the 2 tbsp of water and peppermint extract. Mix until you have a dry, firm dough. The more you knead it the more it will come together. If more water is required to bring it together add 1/2 tsp at a time.

2) If using dyes, knead into the icing then roll out until 5mm thick. Cut out shapes and place on greaseproof paper. Allow to dry for a few hours before eating. Once they are dried they can be dipped in melted chocolate.

Salad Season

The Bank Holiday has been a busy one with visiting relatives, good food, showing how much of a geek I can be at a Pub Quiz plus a visit to a Beer, Wine & Cheese festival. With the beautiful weather and the fact I had to cater for a crowd we had a delicious meal of salad leaves and radishes picked straight from the garden along with Hubby's recently cured salami, honey & mustard ham, cottage loaf baked by me plus a large cheeseboard. To accompany all of this food we also tried some new Farrington Oils products.

I've been a big fan of Farrington Oils for years and have written before about how much I enjoy their products before. When I was offered the chance to try some of their new products, I jumped at the chance. Plus my family who buy their Mellow Yellow dressings from Waitrose were also interested in trying the new vinaigrette and mayonnaise.

The first to try was the Classic Vinaigrette. In the garden we are growing a mixture of rocket along with other strong tasting salad leaves and this vinaigrette accompanied them perfectly and managed to bring the flavours out well.

The mayonnaise is the newest addition to their ranges and it quite unlike any other mayonnaise out there. I'm not usually a bit mayo eater, but this version is mouthwatering. With the subtle taste of Dijon mustard plus the lemony sharpness, we have tried it with numerous dishes over the last few weeks. From chip dunking to more refined chicken salad each time it has been delicious. I think I will struggle to eat any other brand since tasting this version! As you can probably tell by looking at the jar in the pic it was rather empty by the time I got around to photographing it proving how much we enjoyed it.

Ginger & Dark Chocolate Biscuits

It's very rare I buy biscuits for the house as I usually make them, apart from boring digestives for things like cheesecake. If I do buy biscuits I adore Green & Blacks ginger biscuits. Unfortunately I can't find them anywhere and they no longer feature on the G&B website. They were crispy biscuits with a strong ginger kick and dipped in 70% dark chocolate. With a sweet craving, that a horrible microwave jam sponge wasn't going to hit, I decided to play around with some store cupboard ingredients to try and emulate the delicious G&B biscuit.

Not in the mood for faffing around with dipping the biscuits I chopped up a 70% G&B bar and stirred it into the biscuit dough. They worked well even if they do look a bit ugly. They have a noticeable ginger taste, but I would be quite happy to double the amount of ginger and even try it with stem ginger. You'd never guess I like my ginger! I've enjoyed these with my mid morning cuppa...and have been trying to sneak some while Hubby isn't looking.

Ginger & Dark Chocolate Biscuits
Makes approx 20


115g softened butter or margarine
50g granulated sugar
70g muscovado sugar
1 egg
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger (double if you like lots of ginger)
75g 70% dark chocolate, chopped

1) Preheat the oven to 180oc. Beat together butter and the two sugars until light and fluffy. Then gently beat in the egg, flour, bicarb and ginger. Fold in chocolate.

2) On a lined baking tray, blob teaspoons of the mixture. As these spread leave about 3cm between each biscuit. Bake for 10, until golden.

3) After baking, transfer straight away to a wire rack to harden. You'll probably need something like a fish slice to move them as before they have hardened they are quite floppy.

Cherry Bakewell Biscuits

With a hectic and stressful week in work I wanted to do some stress relieving baking and a recipe I found on a forum I lurk on, ticked all the right boxes. The recipe is based on Smitten Kitchen's slice & bake cookie palette. I've never made a biscuit like this before, but I think I now may be hooked. It is such an easy technique and it was nice coming home from work with some fresh dough in the fridge knowing I was less than 15 min away from freshly baked biscuits. These are also the first biscuits (I think) that I've made in my KitchenAid. I did a half batch as quite frankly my hips are turning more Nigellaesque by the day.

While looking through my baking cupboard for biscuit fillings I found some glace cherries that really needed to be used. Along with my almond extract the idea hit me. Biscuits inspired by my favourite cake, a Bakewell tart and so it was born - Cherry Bakewell Biscuits.

They are incredibly moreish and Hubby & I are trying not to eat them all in one sitting, and yes they do taste like the hallowed Bakewell. The primary reason for making them is for a treat in our lunchboxes as if I know I've got a little homemade treat in my box I'm less inclined to raid the staffroom biscuit tin. I've already started to think about other variations of this biscuit - dark chocolate & sour cherry, lemon & poppyseed, apricot & almond...

Cherry Bakewell Biscuits
Based on Smitten Kitchen's slice & bake cookie palette
Makes 25

115g unsalted butter, room temperature
40g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp almond extract
140 plain flour
100g glace cherries, chopped

1) Beat together butter and sugar until you have a buttercream, then beat in yolk and extract.

2) Add cherries and flour then beat again until ingredients are well combined. Flatted dough into a disk, cover in clingfilm and chill for 30 min.

3) Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out into a long log with a diameter of around 3cm. Wrap back up in the cling film and chill for a further 2 hours (minimum). If the dough isn't chilled sufficiently it will begin to misshape when it is sliced ready for baking.

4) Preheat oven to 180oc. Cut the dough log into rounds about 1cm thick and place on a lined baking tray. Bake for 12-14 min until they are cooked. Once cooked transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Sour Cream Rhubarb Cake

At the moment Hubby & I are training for the Yorkshire 3-Peak Challenge, I was coerced into doing it by a good friend. One of my lifetime ambitions has been to complete a marathon and considering there is no chance you'll get me running a marathon the next best thing is to walk the equivalent distance of a marathon while taking climbing 3 peaks along the way...oh and all in 12 hours. Thinking about it, running the London Marathon is becoming more appealing.

Back in me youth I would have had no problem but now I'm a 20-something I need to get my fitness back and prepare myself mentally for it. We've been doing quite a lot of walks recently and am slowly trying to increase the distances. This bank holiday We headed to Calke Abbey to do a 12 mile walk while taking in the bluebells and Foremark Reservoir with of course the obligatory ice-cream stop. The one thing I like about walking is seeing the seasons change and I'm getting better at spotting wild food.

The other task for the bank holiday was to find something to do with the rhubarb that was beginning to take over the raised beds. Now, rhubarb is my most hated veg, yes to me it's a veg as it grows up from the ground rather than from a tree/bush/plant. It doesn't help that I've never had much luck cooking with rhubarb. I've tried making crumble with it and roasting it, but nothing could make me like it...until now. Ok I lie the Rhubarb Bellini I drank at River Cottage began to convert me.



In time honoured tradition of having surplus veg and not having a clue what to do with it I put it in a cake. Think back to the Beetroot Brownies & Squash Honey Drizzle Cake (though I have Hugh to thank for both of these recipes). While surfing the web for a recipe that took my fancy I stumbled across a recipe for Sour Cream Rhubarb Squares on the Good Food website. I did alter the recipe somewhat as many of the comments mentioned it was too sweet and I overestimated how much of the rhubarb int he garden was ready to be picked. I was really pleased with the result. It made a beautifully moist and light cake with the nuts on top giving a nice contrasting texture. It also worked well hot with a custard just as well as it did cold with a cup of tea. I imagine it would also work with apple instead of rhubarb.

Sour Cream Rhubarb Cake
12 slices

100g unsalted butter, softened
50g golden caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g of mixed nuts, roughly chopped (I used brazils, almonds & walnuts)
200g soft dark brown sugar
1 egg
225g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
300ml soured cream
150g rhubarb, chopped into 1cm pieces

1) Melt 15g of the butter then stir in caster sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Put to one side while you make the cake batter.

2) Preheat the oven to 180oc then line a 33x23x5cm baking tin. Cream together the remaining butter with the soft dark brown sugar and egg. Then fold in flour, bicarb, soured cream and rhubarb. Pour into tin.

3)Sprinkle the cake with the sugary nut mix. Bake for 35 min.

Sweet Chilli Jam

This weekend started off quite busy with me making a batch of Tiger rolls and Guernsey Gâche. The Gâche, a butter laden fruit bread, was delicious, but I feel it needs a bit of tweaking until I post the recipe.

The rest of the weekend has been spent trying to recover from a nasty cold and preparing for a new term of Cookery Club (CC). CC has gone from strength to strength. This term 50% of the children old enough to come, applied to join my club. However due to funding and space I'm only able to offer places to 2/3 of these children, meaning I had to disappoint some kids but I have already got the funding to run it again in the new school year. One thing that has totally shocked me is how many boys applied. From last terms 4 boys taking part it has ballooned to 24 boys applying with a significant proportion of those being aged 9+. I don't have a clue how I managed to influence so many boys to get into cooking, but I'm very proud. I try to bring a bit of fun science into my CC and we don't make Fairy Cakes (I call them muffins!) so I think this may have had had an impact.

As well as my cooking in the kitchen Hubby has also been busy making salami and Sweet Chilli Jam. The salami is being made with some of the Middle White pig a friend gave us back in February and it is also a chance for Hubby to play with the KitchenAid gadget I gave him for Christmas, a food grinder. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the offaly smell due to the ox runners, but once they are out hanging in the meat safe in the outhouse the smell soon goes.

This particular recipe for Sweet Chilli Jam was concocted by Hubby and his friend (a fellow foodie) while on a work jaunt to Manchester. Hubby not one to use recipes. Kind of a bung it in a see type of bloke, so this recipe is a guestimation of quantities. It turned out to be the perfect dipping consistency. Not as thick as a traditional jam, but not as thin as a sauce. If you wanted it thicker it would just be a case of adding more pectin.

Sweet Chilli Jam
makes about 5 jars (that should keep us going for a few months!)

15 chillis, finely chopped
350ml cider vinegar
900g jam sugar with pectin
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1) Mix together all the ingredients together in a pan. Simmer for 20-30 min until you get the desired consistency. Transfer to a sterilised jar.

Cooking up camping grub

I can't believe it's been 12 days since I last wrote. I didn't get the job, but I have been offered freelance with them which I will do in the school holidays. It should hopefully open some doors for me and make them realise they should have taken me on as a full-time afterall! For the last week of my half-term we spent a few days camping in Edale...then recovering from walking the Edale Horseshoe along with some of the Pennine Way. We had planned to do Derwent Edge, but unfortunately the weather wasn't suitable. Climb when thunderstorms are predicted? um no thanks!

When camping I don't find the planning of food easy. We're quite hardcore when it comes to camping and try and keep it as lightweight as possible. For cooking we only use a Trangia stove and use meths for fuel. The food needs to be easy to prepare & transport, ideally a 1 pot dish and also packed with slow releasing energy so we can manage the walking & climbing we do. In addition it has to keep fresh without the aid of a fridge. I also don't want to have to take a multitude of ingredients as often you can't park next to the tent.



Apart from the one evening where we cheated and went to the The Old Nag's Head for dinner (they do very good plates of food for walkers) every other meal was eaten at camp.

Breakfast

When camping we want a breakfast that is filling and will keep us going until lunch.

Mornflake Lyle's Golden Syrup Porridge is one of the best breakfasts we have found. The main reason for this is that oats are packed with energy, it's warming and as the golden syrup is included we don't have to remember to pack sugar. We often eat a banana too for vitamins and as one of our 5-a day. We get around the milk problem by using small cartons of UHT. Not really what we would drink at home, but while camping with limited facilities it's all we can viably use. Bacon butties for breakfast are tempting, but the washing up of a greasy burnt pan puts us off!

Lunch

Lunch is usually eaten on a walk so it needs to require no cooking, won't get squished too easily (or tastes ok squished!), relatively light and energy laden. Lunch usually consists of some cheese, preserved meat (like salami) and tortillas wraps. Tortillas are better than traditional bread as it keep well and doesn't matter if they get squashed between the hydration bladder and emergency blanket. We also take some cereal bars. If I haven't got around to making my energy bars I find Eat Natural bars a good alternative, my favourite being the cranberry & macadamia bar.

Snacks

Snacks are essential when hiking to keep energy levels up. One of the most popular hillside snacks is Kendal Mint Cake. Considering it is essentially a big block of peppermint sugar it is great for a burst of energy, but at the same time has a habit of giving me a sugar high that can send me a bit hypo. We usually keep Kendal Mint Cake for emergency rations so for a quick sugar burst on the hillside we eat good old Jelly Babies. There is something comforting and refreshing about a few Jelly Babies that keeps us going to the end of the walk or till the next stop.

This time I also made a malt loaf. A delicious fruity cake that lasts for days and doesn't get squashed easily. However a whole cake can be quite heavy so we left it at camp so it was a treat for us to have with a well earned cup of tea when we got back.



Dinner

As you know, I'm not one to buy ready made food. I very much enjoy the whole process of making something from scratch however when camping this is when my two loves collide. Until I own a dehydrator or food-safe vacuum machine I think I will sometimes cheat as I really struggled to find a dish to make from scratch that ticks all of the boxes. One example of a dish I found in one of my "camping cookery" books was a stew that required 2 hours of gentle simmering. 1) how much fuel would that use?! 2) After a long day trekking the last thing I want to do is wait 2 hours for food.

A few months back in one of our walking magazines gave a very favourable review to a brand called Look What We Found so decided to give it ago. Previous camping trips we have tried dehydrated brands of food, of which, to put it politely, are horrible. We were interested in trying a brand that just needed heating up, but also used natural ingredients. It took some tracking down, but we eventually found some in Sainsburys. On the second night we ate their Chilli Con Carne and I was very impressed. It tasted just as good as my chilli and had a nice warming kick. We ate it with a portion of rice. It also had the added bonus of not giving me terrible indigestion like other processed meals go.

And how do we eat all of this food? With a trusty
spork & Orikaso dinner set. I'm not sure if the Orikaso company exists any more, which is a shame as their products are good and they featured on Dragons Den. The dinner set is lightweight and packs flat which is a huge advantage for us.

Camping & Hiking is such a huge passion for us and I try not to let my love fo food get in the way, but sometimes it can be difficult!