Monday, February 27, 2017

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 9

This week's meal plan... Monday – I’m at a work event in evening so home late, but not out all evening, so we can have pizzas from the freezer (update - I was even later than I thought so had something from the train station for my dinner!)   Tuesday – pancake day. My vegetarian mother-in-law is coming to dinner, and as usual I’m working from home today. She loved the macaroni cheese I made once before so this time I am going to make macaroni cheese with garlic bread crust from this recipe -with a couple of sausages for my husband as...

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Chicken and Chorizo Filo Parcels

Isn't it always the case that when you use ready-made pastry, you have some left over that find its way into the fridge or even the freezer? Not long ago I decided I needed to use up some filo pastry and had a look on the Jus-Rol (the pastry brand) website for inspiration. I thought these chicken, manchego and chorizo briouats.   I made them a little differently, as I always do; I left out the lentils as I don't like them, and rather...

Friday, February 24, 2017

Eight Great Pancake Recipes: Sweet, Savoury, Gluten-Free, Vegan

    It's almost Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as Pancake Day - so here are 8 easy and delicious pancake recipes, from sweet to savoury and even vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free!     First up, because it's not all about being indulgent, are these buckwheat pancakes. These are gluten-free and don't contain any refined sugar. Delicious with smoked salmon and goat's cheese. These sugar-free coconut milk pancakes are also...

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Scrabble Name Picture for a Londoner

I like giving homemade gifts and ever since I discovered Hobbycraft's box frames I haven't run out of ideas. I first made a picture spelling out a family's names in scrabble letters several years ago; now they are much more common and it's easy to buy packs of the wooden letters with flat backs which are easy for gluing (for instance Hobbycraft, Amazon and the Works sell them quite cheaply). I wasn't planning to make another one any time soon until...

Monday, February 20, 2017

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 8

Last week was a bit of a strange week. Our boiler broke down, and me, my husband and our cat moved in with his mum for a whole week! I don’t know what we would have done without her – luckily she had a spare room, likes cats and was generous enough to share her home with us. It took a week for the boiler to be repaired following a catalogue of disasters – we told our home insurer we’d had to move out as the house was uninhabitable since it was so cold, and that the engineer needed to ring when he was on his way (we were only five minutes away at...

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Forever Friends Envelope Birthday Card

I found this card recently when I did a big clear out of my craft stash; I'd put it aside finished but didn't use it as I couldn't find the right occasion, and then mislaid it. When I found it, I didn't think it was very good, then realised what I actually felt was that it wasn't finished. At that point the card just had the cupcake paper on the bottom half of the card and the Forever Friends bear clutching an envelope on the top. I added a thin...

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Super-Moist Vegan Strawberry Cake

  I’m not that good at taking a hint, I guess. I made this vegan strawberry cake for my friend Alice’s birthday in 2013,   Vegan Strawberry Rose Birthday Cake - Caroline Makes http://ift.tt/1dErdfS I made this birthday cake for my friend Alice, not that we needed more cake as we also went out for afternoon tea! But I wanted to try out a chocolate transfer sheet ...  and since then she has mentioned a few times that...

Friday, February 17, 2017

Restaurant review: The Founder burger at BRGR.co

Have you ever wondered how McDonald's became the behemoth that it is today? A new film called The Founder tells the story of Ray Kroc - played by Michael Keaton - who started out as a milkshake machine salesman, and realised that the two brothers who ran a burger restaurant - the McDonalds - were on to something. How he turned the fledgling business into a global company is the central story of the film: you can see the trailer here. Soho burger...

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

This is something a bit different for breakfast or brunch - a cheesy ham and hash brown casserole. I think it would work well as a side dish as part of a larger breakfast - if you were cooking for a crowd for instance. We had it on its own and my husband said it needed something like sausage or bacon with it, and as it is quite rich and calorific, I think perhaps a couple of spoonfuls with some fried eggs or similar would be better. Either way it...

Monday, February 13, 2017

Meal Planning Monday 2017 - Week 7

This week's meal plan is a bit sparse, for reasons which I shall explain later! I haven't had a lot of time to plan meals or access to my cookery books lately. Monday Out at a burger restaurant doing a review Tuesday - Valentine's day and my husband suggested we get some really good steaks. So I suggested he cooks dinner for a change! Wednesday - Out with a friend for her birthday Thursday- sweet potato and goat's cheese lattice pie for me (bought in the supermarket from the reduced section, thought it looked interesting!) and chicken pie for...

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Restaurant review: Village Cafe and Bistro, Banstead

Christmas Eve, when it is also a Saturday, is going to be a very busy day on the high street - and restaurants and cafes most likely benefit from the increased footfall as well. So we were lucky to get a table at the Village Café and Bistro in Banstead, Surrey, given they made a mistake and messed up our booking! We were spending Christmas Day with my family so wanted to see my husband's family on Christmas Eve. His sister-in-law had decided to take...

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Spiced Biscuit Bundt Cake

You know the little packets of biscuits you get in cafes with a cup of coffee? Often they are Lotus biscuits  - and they are so popular you can actually buy the lovely caramelised biscuit taste in a spread! I had some at home which all got eaten with a spoon used up before I could do any baking with it, and then I was in Lidl and saw they had an equivalent spread so bought some of that. I had a look on the internet to see if I could find any...