I made this tear and share chocolate star bread in January 2021, in full lockdown banana bread hysteria mode, but as lockdown also left me feeling like I’d much rather be making and eating chocolate bread than actually writing about it, I’m only just getting around to this post now.

Never mind. As Bee always says when she’s editing stuff I’ve written – no one will miss it because they won’t know it was there in the first place.

It’s here now, and that’s the main thing, because it really is worth telling you about. It’s the kind of baking that ticks a lot of boxes – it’s very fun to do, it makes an excellent picture for Instagram AND it tastes good. Normally I’m a ‘two out of three ain’t bad’ kind of girl with cooking, (RIP Meatloaf), so this star bread nails it.

See? I told you it was good for Instagram – nice and symmetrical and square, like we used to do in the old days. Bung a polaroid photo style border around it, job done.

As you’re here you’re probably wondering how to make it. I tore the recipe out of a copy of one of the Tesco magazines sometime in late 2020, but I did share a picture of it on Instagram at the time, which I’ve managed to find. I’ve zoomed in, squinted a bit, and hopefully have got all the ingredients right.  View Post

Advertisement feature in association with Carrot Kitchen

Today I want to introduce you to Carrot Kitchen, the world’s first mobile cooking buddy for kids, and show you how your kids can use Carrot Kitchen to improve confidence in the kitchen, learn new skills AND make chocolate bat brownies.

One of my proudest moments as a parent was when Bee went off to university eight years ago (gah!) and was the only person in her flat of eight who knew how to cook or use a washing machine. I think that to get to be a full grown adult and not be able to wash your own clothes and at least chuck together a spaghetti bolognese is pretty shocking to be honest. What are all these parents doing packing off their kids without basic food skills? More importantly, (for us as parents), how have they been pulling their weight at home if they can’t even cook dinner?

I’ve always tried to encourage my kids to cook and Belle, who is now 19 and my only child left at home, is a lovely cook and always has been, as evidenced by the easy tomato soup video she made when she was 13. It might be the most adorable thing you’ll ever watch. (Unless you’ve seen her singing Small Pleasures in her primary school production of Oliver Twist.) She does a fantastic lasagne and her baking is immense. Remember when she made these steamed bunny bao buns? They were SO good.

I know, I know, I’ve done well, thank you. 10/10 for parenting when it comes to cooking at least.

The point I’m trying to make is that empowering kids in the kitchen is important – it equips them with essential life skills, it means they can contribute to the cooking and take the pressure off you AND it’s fun. Cooking is a brilliant creative outlet, it helps your maths skills and coordination and it encourages healthy eating – it’s really got an awful lot to offer.

I do get though that sometimes it’s hard as a parent to find the time or the motivation to cook with kids, which is where Carrot Kitchen comes in.

Carrot kitchen – a cooking buddy for kids

Carrot Kitchen is aimed at kids from aged 6-13, but you could use Carrot Kitchen with younger children too if you were supervising. With a Carrot Kitchen subscription kids have access to loads of tasty and healthy recipes and skill videos, all designed by food education experts. There are step-by-step recipe videos, featuring real children, so kids can cook independently or with friends and family. View Post

A little while ago I discovered the joy that is getting cookery books out of the library.

I’ve always gone to the library, obviously, I’ve not just suddenly discovered it as concept. I’ve facilitated my fair share of summer reading challenges with the girls, and been to story times, and done all the usual library things, but for some reason it had never occurred to be to get recipe books from the library. Silly really, as they are BOOKS, dur.

So anyway a few weeks ago I went along to the library, with my tote bag, and there were shelves and shelves of them! I sat on the floor and looked at all the pictures of all the things I’d probably never get around to making, but liked looking at nonetheless. I concentrated on baking because I find it more enjoyable cooking when I’m not hungry, just for the fun of making something. When you’ve been answering the ‘what’s for tea’ question every day at 4.30pm for over 20 years then the joy of cooking actual meals becomes a teeny bit diminished.

I ended up with a big stack of books for my tote bag and one of them was DONUTS by Vicky Graham.  View Post

Homemade Snickers bars – Advertisement feature in association with Snackmasters

I could not be more excited today.

You know how much I love making things that look like other things, (remember the homemade party rings and homemade Tunnock’s teacakes?), well today I’ve been actually, properly recruited to make my own homemade Snickers bars! I know, it’s my dream job right? I am so chuffed with it, honestly, I can’t tell you.

I’ve been roped in by Snackmasters to help promote their new series. Snackmasters is a Channel 4 show where top chefs go head to head to try to recreate an iconic dish or snack. I loved the first series, where they made things like a Burger King Whopper and a bag of Monster Munch, and the most recent series is shaping up to be just as fun, with chefs recreating KFC, Wagon Wheels, and, which is were I come in, the Snickers bar.

Now I’m going to say straight up that although I haven’t watched the episode yet, I’m 100% confident that if I was one of the chefs, that I would win. It’s a bold claim I know, but every single person I’ve tried my homemade Snickers bars on has said that they are EVEN BETTER than the original. Now you could argue that in a competition where the aim is to copy something, that making your version even better than the original equals a failure – to those people I say get in the bin.

My homemade Snickers bars are amazing and that’s the end.

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I’ve always said I’m more of a biscuit than a cake person.

I know, controversial, but I’ve just never bought into that whole ‘I’m a woman and therefore I love cake’ storyline. Getting a slice of cake will not entice me to your event. I will not make a guilty looking face and say ‘ooh go on then, just a small bit’, like I don’t really deserve it but I’m going to ‘treat myself.’ 

If I want to eat something then I will eat it and I will enjoy it, I won’t be part of a weird female subcultural that defines itself by sweet treats.

Hmmm.

I’m not sure where that feminist cake rant came from. But also I don’t apologise.

I’m not saying I hate cake or anything, that would be an unusual way to introduce a post about cake, I’m just saying I prefer cookies. Or bourbons. God I love bourbons. I’ve even made homemade bourbons such is my love for them. If I could sit somewhere sunny with a packet of bourbons, a good book and a cat on my lap, fur warm from the sun, I reckon I’d be about as happy as it’s possible to be without being on a brunch date at a cat café with Reese Witherspoon.

So my idea was this – make a cake, but disguise it as a giant bourbon biscuit. Trick my subconscious into thinking I was eating a huge bourbon, when actually it was a light and fluffy sponge. Genius right? And why stop there? When I started diving into the idea of cakes that looked like other things, I even discovered amazing things like this fast food cake from agnes de sucre. A cake that looks like burger and fried chicken? I’m in.

Back to my bourbon cake – did I manage to trick myself? Sort of. Not really. But it looked awesome so it was totally worth it.

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Advertisement feature in association with HelloFresh

Cooking at home is wearing a bit thin isn’t it? A whole year of coronavirus, repeated lockdowns, and quite frankly if I never have to shop and cook for myself again it will be too soon. I just don’t want to have to think about meal planning, I don’t want to come up with new recipe ideas, my brain has run out.

Fortunately there are companies like Mindful Chef, Gousto and HelloFresh ready to do the brainwork for me, who can take the time to create and put together new, interesting and healthy recipes and save me from another dinner of blue cheese and Frazzle sandwiches. (An actual lunch I ate.)

This week in our HelloFresh box we had sweet and sour chicken, really tasty halloumi tacos and pork chilli and bacon cheesy burritos with a zesty avocado black bean salad.

That’s the recipe I’m going to show you today.

HelloFresh recipes come with exactly what you need – all of your ingredients in the right quantities, easy to follow recipe cards and no waste. For me that’s one of the things that normally puts me off trying new recipes – knowing that in a couple of months time I’m just going to be throwing away 7/8 of a jar of harissa paste. With HelloFresh you save money and avoid this as they only send you exactly the right amounts. View Post

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What have you missed most over the last 12 months? I’ve missed food, specifically someone else cooking for me. Belle cooks at home a couple of times a week, which I do really appreciate, but that still involves me helping her decide what she’s going to make, shopping for ingredients and clearing up after her.

Let’s just say it’s not exactly the stress-free restaurant experience.

What I really want is for someone to do everything – the planning, the choosing, the cooking and the washing up – as well as keeping my wine glass topped up. Oh and I want to be surrounded by witty and entertaining people. It’s not too much to ask is it?

The closest we can get at the moment is a takeaway. A takeaway at least takes care of the bulk of the work, leaving me just in charge of wine and Belle having to take on the role of ‘witty and entertaining company.’ She tries. She’s more entertaining than I’ve become in the last year for sure.

As an extended family we miss eating out together too. Pretty much all of our family occasions and celebrations would normally revolve around eating out and we’re notorious for arriving somewhere ‘just in time for lunch’. Lockdown has made it hard to make special occasions feel special – it’s hard to get that ‘treat’ vibe isn’t it?

One way we can still feel like we’re spoiling ourselves is by getting a takeaway and so this week I treated my Mum to a takeaway via Foodhub. View Post

Advertisement feature – the best homemade chicken korma with Simply Cook

Things are a bit slow on the ‘eating out with friends’ front at the moment aren’t they? (She says, making the understatement of the year.)

It’s a shame, because eating out with friends is one of my best hobbies. If 2020 has made me realise anything it’s that I’m actually a lot more sociable than I give myself credit for. I do enjoy my own company, but I miss seeing people so much.

What’s surprised me the most is that I miss everybody, not just good friends, who I’ve made an effort to see when I can, but all of those other people, the people you maybe only see once or twice a month at events or groups, but who you always enjoy a chat with. These kind of small interactions seem inconsequential but they have a big impact.

And I miss the food. I’m not going to pretend it’s ALL about the people.

I miss eating things I’ve never tried before and having someone else cook it AND wash up for me. I miss trying new flavours and generally eating things that aren’t chicken nuggets and jacket potatoes and spaghetti Bolognese. You get stuck in a rut when you’re at home all the time don’t you? Eating out isn’t just good fun in itself, it inspires me to cook different things at home too.

Today though I did COOKING! Hoorah!

I made a Moghul chicken korma using a spice kit from Simply Cook. There are three individual pots of specially blended pastes, powders and potions* each in recipe box, along with a recipe card with a handy tear off shopping list so you know exactly what to buy to create your delicious, restaurant quality dinner. View Post

Advertisement feature in association with Tesco

There’s no getting away from the fact that Christmas is going to be a little different this year. There’ll be no crowds of people gathered around the bandstand performing hearty renditions of Oh Come All Ye Faithful, no jostling for position at the front of the mulled wine queue on a group trip to the Christmas market, none of those extra things that give you those warm, festive feelings.

However, Christmas is far from cancelled.

If anything, it’s been wonderful to see the number of people jumping on the festive bandwagon early, getting the tree up, tucking into mince pies and bejazzling the front of their homes like they’re auditioning for Deck The Halls. If any year needed us to raise the festive bar it’s 2020. View Post