Tag Archives: Recipe

The Great Escape!

Hello… It seems AGES since I was here! I keep thinking I’ve got things sussed and then it all goes pear shaped again. I’m still getting kind messages hoping I’m feeling better, and I am, thank you so much. But it’s always the way, just as you think you ought to escape and lift your foot off the pedal several things happen all at once. So much for pacing myself!

Firstly, we’ve been decorating.

I’ve still got most of the contents of downstairs, upstairs but at least the dust sheets have gone. Fortunately it was while the weather was still warm so we could have the doors open and Higgins was happy to have his bed out in the garden during the day. Henry, however, was determined to sleep where he always sleeps come what may… Did you spot him?

I now find I am on the committee of our Village Community shop (not quite sure how that happened but there are some smooth talkers in our village!) doing window display, website and social media stuff. We got off to a good start with a recipe card scheme for the shop. I devised a Croissant Bread and Butter Pudding recipe which is delicious (though I say it myself!) nothing like those dreadful B & B puds we used to be served at school. I’ve put this on the shop website so if you click here you can try it for yourself…

It’s not exactly helping my healthy eating regime though…

Our Open Studios Two Rivers Trail group has decided to get together for a Christmas Fair and Art Exhibition next month so organisation is gathering pace. You can find out all about it on the Two Rivers Trail website. Do go and look at the artists work on the website, there are some beautiful things and a real variety.

This will be the only fair I go to as Planet Penny for the forseeable future, so if you are in the area it would be lovely to see you. I’ve started making a few things but I’m afraid creativity time has been limited lately. I’m quite excited about my crochet Christmas baubles though…

… and look forward to adding new colour combinations. No two alike as usual!

Tomorrow I’m off with my chum Kit for a day out. We’re off to Alexander Palace and the Knitting and Stitching Show which I’m really looking forward to. It’s a long day but it will be worth it.

And then, I’m running away! Look,I even have a running away App on my phone!

escape app

I’m leaving Tim to look after Higgins and Henry – or possibly the other way round? packing my bag and and heading off to spend some time with two of my favourite little boys. I’m not taking the laptop, and although I shall have my phone I am determined not to look at it more than twice a day. What I thought would be fun though would be to make use of Instagram to keep a picture diary of my holiday, so if you want to keep up to date you can follow my escapades right here!

Obviously the Etsy shop will be closed until 18th October when I get back, but I hope to be bright eyed and bushy tailed after my little break.

I’m off now, see you later…x

Almond Macaroons

Sometimes there just has to be a sweet treat with the afternoon cuppa, don’t you think? It’s a time when a piece of fruit doesn’t quite hit the spot. So I’m going to share this recipe for Almond Macaroons from my notebook, which you can nearly imagine is a healthy choice. It’s certainly vegetarian and gluten and dairy free. No added fat, no flour, and lovely healthy almonds. Sugar, well… sssssh… look the other way! It is a treat after all…

And we need it today, what a change in the weather! The temperature has dropped, the rain is hammering on the roof and a spot of baking in a cosy kitchen is just thing to cheer us up!

So, start off with a couple of baking sheets lined with baking parchment, you’ll need to give the macaroons room to spread as they cook. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (160 deg C – fan oven)

Ingredients

2 medium eggs,whites only

125g (4oz) caster sugar

125g (4oz) ground Almonds

1/4 tsp almond extract

blanched almonds

Put the egg whites in a large grease free bowl and whisk into stiff peaks. Add the caster sugar a little at a time, whisking after each addition until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Gently stir in the almond essence and ground almonds so it’s well mixed, taking care not to knock out all that air you’ve just beaten in!

Spoon teaspoons of the mixture on to the prepared baking sheets spacing them slightly apart. top each one with a blanched almond, pressing in lightly, and bake in the centre of the oven for 12 – 15 minutes until lightly golden and firm to the touch.

Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes or so before moving to a wire cooling tray. When they are completely cold transfer to an airtight tin or jar.

They will keep for about a week (if they last that long!) Lovely with that cuppa, but also adds a delicious crunch to good vanilla icecream…

Advent Calendar – Day Twenty Three

Day Twenty Three on the Advent Calendar and my little girl is coming home for Christmas! And tomorrow Tim will be back, weather permitting and Christmas can begin…

So what we need is a seasonal tipple to celebrate and what could be better than mulled wine?

This is the recipe in my little black book which I always turn to…

1 bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon or similar)

3/4ltr water

1 orange stuck with cloves

1 orange, slice

1 lemon sliced

3 tblsp sugar

small piece cinnamon stick

1 tspn ground ginger

2 tblsps brandy

With everything in saucepan, bring it up to simmering point stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Keep it at this heat for 20 min or more, but do not allow to boil or the alcohol will evaporate. (This can be made in advance and reheated)

Serve in warmed glasses.

What more can I say? Cheers and Bottoms Up!

Advent Calendar – Day Twenty Two

Today for the Advent Calendar I’m going to let you in on a big secret! It’s my special pudding for Christmas time, the one that people always get excited about and ask for. But the biggest secret about it is that it’s probably the easiest pudding I ever make, it’s one of the most delicious and everything you need can be stored in the fridge, freezer and cupboard ahead of time.

So before I regret letting the cat out of the bag here it is…

Penny’s Extra Special Extra Easy Christmas Trifle

You start off with either Trifle Sponges or Jam Swiss Roll which you either break up (the sponges) or slice (the Swiss Roll) Arrange in the base of a pretty serving bowl.

Take a 350g pack of frozen fruit, I use about half but it depends how fruity you want to be! I like raspberries or a mix of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, scatter them over the sponge…

…reserving about a cupful. Put these in a small pan with a dessertspoon of sugar and a little water and heat slowly, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and you have a light fruity syrup. Stir in about 2 tablespoons of sherry, it’s always Harvey’s Bristol Cream in our house, and spoon over the fruit and sponge in the dish.

Next, the custard. You have three choices here. You can go down the route of ‘proper’ custard, with milk eggs and sugar and stirring and splitting, swearing and worrying, you can crack open the Bird’s Custard Powder and make a pint of custard according to the instructions, or you can buy a carton of your favourite supermarket’s readymade custard in a carton.

Whatever you choose, stir in 2 or 3 tablespoons of sherry until it’s completely blended and smooth and if it’s hot allow to cool slightly before spreading it over the fruit and sponge. The beauty of the frozen fruit is that it finishes cooling the custard, and the custard defrosts the fruit.

At this point you can cover the dish with cling film and pop it in the fridge for up to 24 hours. To finish, whip a carton of whipping or double cream until it forms soft peaks and cover the cold custard.

Then decorate. My personal favourite is toasted slivered almonds, but you could use more fruit, or glace cherries, or even hundreds and thousands. Whatever you use, I can guarantee compliments.

Today I’m off to my mum’s for a pre-Christmas get-together with my sister and her family, guess what I’m taking with me!

Ooh, we’re nearly there…see you tomorrow…x

Courgette Lemon Drizzle Cake

Well it’s official, I’ve failed again in the Veg Garden, and I started this year so well! I’ll tell you all the disasters another time, but in amongst the blighted potatoes and skeletal sprouting broccoli the Courgettes and Runner Beans are magnificent!

The only problem with courgettes is that 50% of the household (well, 75% if you count Henry and Higgins) don’t actually like them! But they are sooo easy to grow, take up loads of space so it makes the garden look very productive, and have such pretty flowers…

but then over night, this happens…

…and there’s a limit to how many you can slip into Shepherds Pie, Curry or Lasagne before protests are made. I went off to consult Delia, Jamie, Nigella and Nigel et al for suggestions and this time the wonderful Nigella inspired me to come up with my own take on a Courgette Cake. The acid test was persuading my horrified cousin to try it and he actually came back for ‘seconds’. (His small son was angling for ‘thirds’!)

So in the interest of helping anyone else with a ‘courgette mountain’ to contend with I’m passing on this version based on Nigella Lawson’s recipe in her book ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’.

250g courgettes

2 large eggs

125ml vegetable oil

150g caster sugar

225 SR Flour

½ tspn bicarbonate of soda

½ tspn baking powder

Juice of 1 ½ lemons

100g Caster sugar

24cm square tin, greased and lined

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. (Fan oven 170°C)

Grate the wiped, but not peeled, courgettes with a coarse grater then turn into a strainer over the sink to drain off any excess liquid.

Put the eggs, sugar and oil into a bowl and beat until creamy. Then sieve in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and beat slowly to mix completely. Stir in the grated courgette.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is slightly brown and firm to the touch and an inserted cake tester comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking put the lemon juice and sugar into a small saucepan and heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved.

As soon as the cake is out of the oven, prick all over the top with a fine skewer, (I use the cake tester as it makes really fine holes) and spoon the hot lemon syrup evenly over the top of the cake. Leave in the tin until absolutely cold before removing it or it will collapse into crumbs and you will be forced to eat it warm with icecream…

This is a moist and delicious cake prettily flecked with green which will keep people guessing if you are coy about the secret ingredient!

Midsummer…

…can it really be the longest day? I try hard to avoid the thought, put into words on TV this morning, ‘Well, it’s all down hill from now on!’ Nooooo…

But I’m getting excited now. This weekend We are off to the the South Coast, near the New Forest, to stay for the weekend. It will be a family party, to include little boys – and Higgins – so it’s going to be fun! And as it’s an early birthday celebration for me, I am, wait for it … not allowed to do any cooking !!! WOW! (I’m just hoping that doesn’t mean I have to do all the washing up!)

But, I’m sure that doesn’t mean I can’t slip a cake or two into the coolbox to take with us, and I do have a banana problem. Why do they apparently leave the shop green, and within the space of (it seems) a day they look like this?

But I have my trusty Michael Barry recipe to help out on these occasions…

(You can always tell a good recipe book by it’s disgusting appearance and grease splattered pages. This one is twenty years old and some pages have to be prised apart…oh dear!)

However, I will pass my version this banana-y goodness on to you to use if you are ever similarly affected by a glut of squidgy-ness.

Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 4, 350 deg F (180C)

8oz (225g) SR Flour

4oz (100g) butter

5oz (150g) golden granulated sugar

1lb (450g) bananas (the gooier the better, peeled and
mashed)

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

100g Silver Spoon chocolate chips
Method

Mix all the ingredients except the chocolate chips together, in a food mixer or by hand in a bowl with an electric whisk. When it’s thoroughly mixed, add the chocolate chips. Pour into a 2lb loaf tin, I line it with a strip of baking parchment, and bake for between an hour and an hour and a half. The loaf is done when a skewer pushed into it comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

The chocolate chips are a real indulgence, I often use up ends of bags of assorted dried fruits, cherries, nuts in this recipe and you could add some mixed spice, no two cakes are ever the same! It keeps well too, if it’s allowed to!