Yummy Scrummy Afternoon Tea

Sorry I have been so quiet the past few weeks. Life has been very busy lately and my poor blog has been neglected. I have got lots of pics in my phone so over the next week or so I will get the blog updated again!
What a better place to start than Afternoon Tea??? Me and the girls LOVE treating ourselves to Afternoon tea. We have visited lots of different places in our Area but sometimes I think it is hard to beat a little tea party at home. This was all thrown together pretty quickly the night before so its all very simple.
The star of the show was definility the Peanut Butter cake. It was so moist and delicious and I will definitely be making it again.

I used this recipe and it came out perfect. I cooked it in a pudding bowl which is how i got the dome shape.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10499/peanut-butter-cake

Sandwhiches were Tuna mayo and sweetcorn, Chicken garlic mayo and sweet roasted peppers and Honey Roast Ham and mustard. 

Scones were a basic scone recipe and of course filled with Jam and clotted cream. 

The girls made the little Jelly shots and dipped strawberrys in chocolate.

The mini Lemon Meringues were gorgeous and really easy to make. I made little sweet pastry tarts and filled them with a spoonful of Lemon curd and topped with meringue.

The apple pies were made using the same pasrty cases and filled with an apple and cinnamon sauce and topped with whipped cream. 

All washed down with Yummy Scrummy Suki tea and the girls had Hot chocolates. 

What's not to love???

Cake Makes Everything Better♡

Its cold and miserable outside and I got soaked doing the school run!
What better way to cheer myself up is there than to make cake! Im sure the kiddos will thank me for it later too.

Simple Victoria Sandwich

☆Ingredients

•8oz Butter or stork

•8oz Self Raising flour

•4 large eggs

•Tablespoon baking powder

•Jam and cream to finish

☆Method

•Preheat the oven to 180degrees and grease and line two 8inch sandwhich tins. 

•Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

•Beat in the eggs one at a time

•Fold in the flour and baking powder

•Divide the mixure between the two tins

•Bake in the middle of the oven for 20mins

•The cakes should spring back when touched and should be lightly browned. 

•Once cooled sandwhich the two cakes together with the Jam amd whipped cream

Delicious!!

Anyone for cake??

Tosset Cakes!!

Is anyone watching Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast?? We love it! So far I have wanted to try everything they have made! Will definitely be giving the Beer Butt Chicken a go the next time we have a BBQ!   

A couple of weeks ago  they reinvented the 'Tosset Cake'. A Gorgeous little spiced biscuit which used to be highly popular in Lancashire but when the Rations kicked in during the war it died out as it has large amounts of Butter and sugar in it.

I couldnt wait to try it!!
I Copied this recipe from the one Jamie used online.

Tosset Cake

Makes 25

500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

150g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

500g unsalted butter, softened

1 heaped teaspoon caraway seeds

1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds

Icing sugar, for decorating

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.Sieve the flour and sugar into a large bowl, then rub in the butter.

 Lightly crush the

seeds in a pestle and mortar, then add to the bowl.

Stir the mixture so it comes

together to form a dough, bringing it together to make a ball, then wrap in cling film

and place in the fridge to rest for around 1 hour.

Roll out the dough on a flour-dusted surface to roughly ½cm thick, then stamp out

circles with a 6cm pastry cutter. 

Place the dough circles onto a flour-dusted baking

tray and sprinkle with a little sugar. Pop in the hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until

firm (you want them to be a nice pale colour, rather than golden). Transfer to a wire

cooling rack to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar and serve.

Tea anyone???

My tips for slashing the shopping bills!!!

On the subject of saving I thought I would share some of my tips on how I have managed to bring my shopping bills down.....

♡Meal Planning
I can not stress enough how beneficial this is!! Long gone are the days where I am standing infront of the fridge gazing in at 4pm with tiny voices of "Im hungry" in the background.  Now a days I know exactly what we are having for tea a week in advance and most days it is prepared at 8am so I am completely stress free at tea time! Not only does meal planning keep me organised, it also has stopped me running in and out of Sainsbury's several times a week and wasting money!
I like to involve the family in meal planning and I aim to do one new recipe a week.

♡Shopping Lists
Once we have decided on our meals for the week I go through the cupboards and see what we need and write up a list. Lists are good. They stop me wondering around the isles thinking I wonder will I need this, or throwing random things in the trolley for the sake of it which I really do not need! If I could stick to the list I would be flying but im actually pretty pants at that but I am definitely getting better!! The Mister is very good at sticking to lists so when he is around I tend to send him shopping.

♡ Well Stocked Cupboards
I try to keep my cupboards well stocked with a variety of dry staples and herbs and spices. This has taken time to build up as it would cost a fortune to go out and buy it all at once. These staples are the base of all my cooking. I make everything from scratch and not only does it save us money but I know EXACTLY what I am feeding my children and that feels good!!!! When I notice that something is running low I pop it on the shopping list.
Here is a list of things I could not live without in my kitchen-

Pasta- shapes and spaghetti
Rice- Basmati and paella
Noodles
Rapeseed oil
Sesame oil
Baslamic vinegar
Red and cider vinegar
Borvil
Beef/chicken/lamb stock
huge range of herbs and spices, far too many to list
Tins of tuna and mackerel
Baked beans
Tinned tomotos
Tomoto puree
Flour- wholemeal,  plain and self-raising
Baking powder
Cornflour
Dried fruits
Coco powder

Im sure there is more but that is what springs to mind. So basically any recipe I want to make I have the majority of the ingredients aready in the house. 

♡ Only Cook what is needed.
I used to have a very bad habbit of cooking whole packets/boxes of things even tho my family would never eat it all. For example. I would cook a packet of 8 sausages. Two for me,  two for the Mister and one for our Eldest daughter M. The other three would be put in the fridge incase someone fancied one tomorrow,  but of course that never happened. So they were dumped!  This happened on a regular basis.  Also, I would make a huge pot of bolognaise, we would eat what we needed and the rest was put in the freezer never to be seen again. Now I know some people who would have no problem lifting that out the following week and and Ta Da! Dinner is served fuss free!! I just never seem to do it!! So after trial and error I have discovered that the best way to stop wastage is to cook exactly what I know we will eat. If I make something like bolognaise or a chilli we will eat it two days in a row so it does not get lost in the freezer. I never serve the dish up the same way, with a few small changes it turns into a completly different meal.
For example-
Night one- Spaghetti bolognaise
Night two- Sloppy joes using leftover bolognaise. 

Night one- Chill Beef with Rice, sour cream and guacamole
Night two- Baked spuds with leftover chilli

Night one- Irish stew
Night two- Cornish Pasty and beans made with leftover stew

Those are just a few examples.  I do that with lots of things.

♡ Cheaper Cuts of meat
Since discovering the slow cooker I have been being more adventurous with my cuts of meat. Things like a skirt of beef, chicken thighs,  neck of lamb,  ham shanks and beef oxtail all cost very little but will be melt in the mouth beautiful after a long slow cook. Ask your local butcher about cheaper cuts the next time you are in.

♡Local, Seasonal  Produce.
Shopping in local farm shops and markets is definitely the way to go where fruit and veg are concerned. We are actually very lucky to live in an area were we have plenty of choice. The prices can vary greatly so be prepared to shop around and see who is offering the best deals. Also get to know what is in season. Buying seasonal fruits and vegetables will work out cheaper.
Things that are at their best now are-
•Leeks
•Savoy Cabbage
So take advantage and think up recipes! 

♡Dont Pay For Convenience
My mother is terrible for this. Peeled spuds, diced onions, crushed garlic,  grated cheese, the list is endless.  All these things are far more expensive. Being organised and doing all these things yourself will definitely save you money.

♡ Avoid 'Kiddy' Foods.

These are no different than any other food, they are simply packaged different.
•Instead of buying cheese sticks or cubes try cutting a thick slice of cheddar cheese and use a cutter to cut out difference shapes.
•Instead if buying small pots of fruit/jelly or custard try filling up small reusable pots from a large tin or packet of jelly
•Large packets of bread stick and crackers are much cheaper than the small packets designed for lunchboxes and it's very easy to split it yourself.

So there you have it. Some of the things we have done to reduce our food shop and wastage.

I would love to hear more if anyone has an ideas that works for them please share xx

One Bird 2 ways!

So, we are trying to save at the minute. Trying!! We are putting up a two storey extension so we need every spare penny we can possibly gather!
For me the biggest way we can cut back is on food. I waste HUGE amounts of money in Sainsbury's. I can't seem to run in for a loaf without spending £20+. I went through the bank statements before christmas and I had spent £680 between Sainsbury's, Lidl and Tesco in 4 weeks. That was only what had been spent on switch, im sure there was bits and pieces bought with cash not to mention take aways!! I realised this needed to change ASAP!
So I started putting a bit of effort into Meal Planning and shopping.  Starting putting more thought into how I could stretch meals further. So far its going well and I am definitely spending less on food!
Usually I would make a roast dinner and pull off some meat for a sandwich the next day. These days I have been aiming to get at least 2 meals out of our sunday roasts.
Here is what I did with a whole chicken last week.....

I started off by cooking the whole bird in the slow cooker, I simply popped a lemon up his butt and put the lid on. This is the first time ive done this and I was very impressed, I will definitely do it again.

After a few hours I lifted the bird out. It actually fell to pieces which wasnt part of the plan but it was beautifully moist and smelt delicious.  The base of the slowcooker was full of the lovely juices from the bird which I was not going to waste. 

I wanted to make A ratatouille type veg dish to go along with the chicken and I wanted to have enough left over to make a pasta meal the following night. I chopped up a mountain of veg and threw it in the slow cooker with the stock from the chicken. 

I used, onion, garlic, carrot, parsnips, tomato, celery, peppers, mushrooms and corguette. 

To the veg I added a big squeeze of tomoto puree, some dried mixed herbs and black pepper. I put  the chicken pieces ontop of the veg and put the lid back on and left it until tea time.

The smell was gorgeous. 

When the hungry herds came home I simply served up the chicken and veg with some baby boilers. Very tasty meal with very little effort.

The following day was easy peasy! 

I Boiled up some pasta, mixed through the left over chicken and veg, popped in a casserole dish, grated some cheese over the top and put in the oven for about 40mins. 

Effortless dinner number two!!!

Yum Yum

Curried Salmon Kedgeree

Ok, so I didn't actually make this one. The Mister did, it was so yummy tho I had to share it. I seen similar on the bbc good food website and adapted it.
I was slightly worried about serving my 8 year old daughter  boiled eggs, rice and Salmon in the one bowl. She is one of these kids that likes things the way they are 'supposed' to be, ie. Eggs are for breakfast!!! However,  we try to serve new meals as often as possible and usually after 10 mins of huffing and puffing she gives it a go! As she approached the table I could see her eying up her bowl and I held my breath waiting for the volcano to erupt but no, she simply said " Are the eggs hot?" " Yes M, the eggs are hot". So she sits down and gets stuck in!!!!!! Result!!!!!!!
It is definitely a meal I will be serving again. So here it.............

Ingredients-
Rice- we use brown, can be cooked in advance
Hot smoked salmon
Large onion diced fine
Sliced garlic and ginger
Diced mango
Diced tomato
Yellow and red peppers diced fine
Teaspoon each of fennel/cumin/onion/mustard seeds
Teaspoon each of ground coriander/cumin/garm masala/turmeric
2 heaped teaspoons of Tomoto puree
Soft boiled eggs

Method

Heat oil in a wok and add your whole spices. 
Once they start to pop add your onion, garlic and ginger and sweat it off low. A pinch of salt would work well here to sweeten the onion but as im cooking for kids I don't add any.
Throw in all your diced veg and after a few mins add your ground spices.
Add tomato puree at this stage and then toss in your cooked rice and flake up your salmon. 
Once the rice is hot serve up straight away with a few quarters of soft boiled egg.
Delicious xx

My first ever post!!!

So. ..... After months of talking and thinking about writting a blog I have finally got around to it!!!
I loveeeeeeeeeeee cooking and baking! I get huge satisfaction from planning and preparing healthy meals for my family! I have an organised system of meal planning, shopping and preparing meals in advance. So it is extremely frustrating when the tiny people turn their noses up at it! - But that is another story.......
As a family we love to entertain.  Any excuse to gather around family and friends for a big  feast and we will do it!
Im very lucky that the Mister in our house is also a dab hand in the kitchen so there is always a culinary delight not far away!!! Im always taking pics of my food and sending them to friends so now I can just upload them to my blog! 
I really hope you enjoy my posts and maybe even find some of them useful! 
So there you have it, my very first post in my very own blog! !!!
Feeling excited!!!!
Emma xxxxxx