Today i never had any pineapple...

I wanted to attempt a pineapple upside down cake but didn't have the tinned pineapple in the cupboard that i thought i had.  Instead i used timned peaches and hoped for the best.

It was either that or grapefruit segments, but i feel that would probably have turned out worse than it actually did!

I found a Nigella recipe that looked fairly simple, and followed it. 100g Plain flour, 100g sugar, 1/4tspbicarb, 1tsp baking powder, 100g stork and 2 eggs.  Whizz it up, add 3 tbsp of fruitjuice and pour it over a layer of fruit on the bottom of a pan. So i did.

I was a bit worried it would be soggy due to the fruit bit looking at it in the baking tray after 30 mins it looked promising.

But i forgot how hard it could be to get upside down cake out a tin.

Well. 

It's out.

It's not pretty, but it's out!

The proof will be in the tasting so ill see how that goes later!

Also on the baking agenda today is scones because one of my colleagues is leaving for 6 months and we're having a nice wee lunch for her on Tuesday :-)

See you later!!

Today i attempted to make sushi

Many moons ago i used to make sushi on a regular basis, and i loved it. I usually used red pepper and ham to fill them, and i never quite got the recipe right  (despite following the recipe on the back of the yukata (?) packet)!!

A few weeks ago i decided I'd try again, so bought the nori and rice vinegar and its been sitting in my cupboard ever since. Today I'm on annual leave for the day so i thought, bugger it - it's time!

Them i realised i didn't really have anything to fill it.

I followed the instructions to make the rice - 1.5 cups  (i have cup measures, get me ) of rice with 200ml water, bring to boil them simmer on a low heat for 15-20 mins.

Except that the rice was already sticking to the bottom after 10 mins. I didn't really know what to do so i just kinda stirred it round and added a bit more water, put the lid back on and popped it back on the heat - and hoped for the best.  After another 5 mins I'd had enough so took it off and added in my mix of vinegar, salt and sugar.

Now, i looked everywhere for the exact quantities of these that i needed bit i couldn't find them. I went for 3tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar and 1tsp salt and stirred.  It dissolved eventually so i chucked it over the rice and stirred some more.  The rice then went into a plate to try to cool down. That takes a while, and i ran out of patience, so i just started to build it. Fuck it.

So!! I got a sheet on nori, and a handful of rice and spread it over the seaweed.  But what to fill it with?  I eventually found a rogue slice of leftover ham in the fridge, and a jar of hot and spicy beetroot and sliced it all up. Yum! They worked well, but by the time i got to the 4th nori sheet i decided to try something different.  I found a wee tin of soy/ginger tuna in the cupboard so banged it on the rice. It rolled up quite well :-)

And the result? The rice is crunchy, it's a wee bit too salty and a bit warm still, but strangely edible!  Not bad for the first attempt in about 10 years :-)

Happy new year!

Today i am full of the cold and bloody miserable. I wasnt out partying last night and i was asleep by 130am (which is better than my boyfriend who was asleep by 1!). 

That Still Game programme was good though.

Yesterday i made a ham joint thing with honey and mustard. Apparently it tastes brilliant but i won't know until my cold buggers off. I was a bit nervous about making it  (bloody £10- worth of meat!) But i boiled it then drained, then boiled for 2 hours with bay leaves,peppercorns and honey in the water. After, i roasted it at 200 for 45 mins coated in 3tbsp each of honey and wholegrain mustard.

I really can't wait to eat it!

Meant to be going to my fellas mums for steak pie tea later but i won't be able to bloody well taste that either.

Rant over, and happy new year again!

Xx

Tonight I made some stuff for Christmas!

Well this year me and my fella are heading to my sister-in-laws mums house for Christmas so, not really knowing what the etiquette is, i pet to make a couple of puddings! 

Now then, banoffee pie and nutella cheesecake are in the fridge setting , waiting for a good dollop of whipped cream and some decoration tomorrow night :-)

I'm right excited for Christmas this year! I've got a brand new nephew to play with and, by the looks of it, a fair few bottles of cava to get through! Game on! One more day to work then I'm on it! 

First the banoffee pie!

Digestives blitzed

Buttery biscuit base setting in the fridge

and on with the bananas

Ariel view (there's a few of these)

I cheated and got ready-made caramel

Another ariel view,  just the whipped cream to go tomorrow!

And now for the Nutella cheesecake...  

Cream cheese first...

Add lots of Nutella-y goodness!

Mixed it up with some icing sugar...

Gave it a whirl...

Popped it onto another buttery biscuit base!

And ta-da!!!  It's now in the fridge with the banoffee!

As a wee aside, I attempted to make cranberry sauce.  I just followed a basic recipe but added some clementine juice to it tonight to try and make it a bit nicer :)

I hope it goes with the turkey!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Tonight i took photos of the stuff i made yesterday!

Well, yesterday i was meant to be revising for a new autism module I'm doing with the open uni  for work. So naturally i found any way possible to distract myself from sitting down with my books. 

The result was a nutella cheesecake, meringues, and homemade vanilla ice cream.

Lovely, chewy meringueness!!

Questionable vanilla ice cream.

All in all they weren't too horrible - i was quite chuffed with myself if truth be told!  The cheesecake was a Nigella effort but with no hazelnuts. The meringues came from a basic Mary Berry recipe and the ice cream was the first one that came up on Google that didn't involve an ice cream maker! 

Nutella cheesecake.  Bloody awesome!!

Previous to these, i also made some blueberry and white chocolate cupcakes (that i made up myself really, and hoped for the best )and some pancakes that are slowly going hard in the kitchen as i type this! 

White choc and blueberry cupcakes.  I forgot to take the pic when they looked less stale...

Its my birthday on Friday so i think I'm might attempt some nice savoury food for then. Who am i kidding, I'll probably get a steak and eat it blue with an onion. I'm classy, me.  If anyone reading this  (anyone??) Has some nice birthday treat suggestions please let me know. I do enjoy a challenge :-)

Tonight i made traybakes

Well, tomorrow is my best pal's wedding party after she got married 2 weeks ago. I originally said I'd make lots of cupcakes but someone else who is better at them offered instead so when i asked her what she wanted she said traybakes! So here i am! 

My stuff!!!

The plan was to make about 7 different ones to cut into wee bits so everyone could get a bit of something. So far I'm  finished 4 of them! 

First off was the base for peppermint slice, then when that was in the oven i smooshed up some custard creams for a different one.  Then i made a mars bar crispie because that's the easiest one. With the mars cooling i made peppermint icing (a bit too minty i think but fuck it) and popped the tons of condensed milk i bought into the  custard cream thingy! 

Peppermint slice base and custard cream thingy.

And then i was done! Its amazing how simple things still take bloody ages to make!

But then i thought no- if i finish now them I'll have even more to do in the morning! So i made some fudge which -by the way- is fucking amazing! First time I've ever made fudge and its just brilliant! It doesn't look very much portion wise, but it says it cuts into 60!! 60!?! That should be interesting! 

Mars bar crispy.  Nom.

Custard cream slice with rainbow drop top.  How fancy am I?!?!! :)

So tomorrow I'll get cracking with boiled fruit cake (smiddy loaf to my friends), tiffin cake and millionaire's shortcake.  I'll probably have to buy more syrup as Andrew realised the other night that the combination of syrup and digestives was his favourite thing ever (wee shite).

Off to bed with a bottle of wine :-) see yall tomorrow!

Fudge, 74c

Fudge, 112c

Fudge, 118c

Goodies in the fridge!!!

Today i made some Mars Bar krispie.

Well, not exactly.

It was made from Titan bars- ALDIs own tale on a Mars Bar.  Titans, butter, syrup and ALDIs own brand rice crispies and voila!

I'm enjoying a sweet supper tonight, with some Seed&Bean chocolate for good measure.

Yum!

http://www.seedandbean.co.uk/