Treats for the neighbours

After giving my Nan and Grandad the festive fruit cake I'd made, in return my Nan gave me a tin full of home made mince pies and jam tarts. Unfortunately I couldn't eat them as they weren't dairy free. So, last night I decided it would be a good idea to give the pies and tarts to my neighbours as they would only be wasted. I decorated a cardboard box and filled it with the treats, (I also put two tiny apples in), then sneaked downstairs and left the box in the hallway...

Festive Fruit Cakes

Late night cake making..

fruit cake before the choc frosting

Ingredients..

2 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour

1 cup soft brown sugar

1 cup mixed dried fruit

grated lemon peel

1 cup soya milk

8tbsp veg marg

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon 

In a small pan melt together the veg marg and soft brown sugar on a low heat. In a seperate bowl mix together all dry ingredients and stir, then add the raisins and peel. Pour the melted marg and sugar into the dry ingredients and mix well. Then pour into a well greased cake tin and pop in the oven for 30-40 mins, 180oC

Topping ingredients..

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup veg marg

Beat the marg in a bowl until soft, then add the icing sugar and beat well. Stir in the cocoa powder until everything is combined.

Then spread evenly over the cake.

 I grated some hazelnuts on the top and added a dark choc with a Robin on top too, which made for a great gift for mi Nan n Grandad :)

While I was in a cake frenzy I though I might as well make another for myself and friends.

I made it with the same method and ingredients but I used oat milk instead of soya, and sprinkled the loaf with almonds instead of hazelnuts..

Enjoyed a slice with a cosy brew..

I submitted this entry to Bake Fest, hosted by Sanjee

http://sangeethaskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-event-announcement-bake-fest-2.html

Tales from Glastonbury

A few snaps from the lovely Glastonbury, full of mystical and beautiful witchy and wizardy folk..

Here's where we stayed..

http://www.shekinashram.org/

A beautiful and friendly communal space, we shared the indoor facilities with others that were staying there, sharing an amazing breakfast together in the mornings..lots of oats, nuts, fruits and dairy free milks to choose from (rice, oat, soya and hemp). We were also made a scrummy smoothie each morning which was made of banana, hemp milk and spirulina, which is a green algae superfood, it tasted amazing and made you feel amazing too! Cameras and mobile phones weren't allowed in the Shekinashram as they interfered with meditation, so I didn't take any photos inside. But here are a few of the garden..

The shops in Glastonbury are amazing, just a walk on the street there is so much to see, the houses are beautiful and the people are so friendly, warm and welcoming..passers by smiling and saying hello or good morning..

And on our first walk we were greeted by a lovely tom cat..

Then we came across a little shop called the chocolate love temple, a place where the people there make the chocolate themselves from the raw cacao bean. We got to try a sample and it was that good that I had to get some. I got a 'mixed magic' bar, the flavour is proper tasty and is great for when you have a craving for something sweet, and you only need a little bite as it's quite rich and intense in flavour. It gives you a great healthy buzz too..after I had some I felt alert and perked up, but there wasn't a crash like sugary chocolates can give you, because there is no sugar in it

Ingredients in the raw cocao..

cacao butter

cacao paste

cacao powder

purple corn

maca

lucuma

yacon syrup

maple syrup

cayenne

vanilla

orange essential oil

(high in anti-oxidants and a good hormone balancer)

Gluten and sugar free

The man in the shop was really passionate about explaining the benefits of cocao and how important superfoods are for us. He also recommended this book..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superfoods-Medicine-Future-David-Wolfe/dp/1556437765

There's also some good raw food info here..

http://positivelivingbath.co.uk/raw-food/

I was excited to find that there was lots of vegan choices in Glastonbury too, everywhere you went had dairy free milks, lots of teas to choose from and amazing vegan foods on the menu.

chai latte

We had lunch one day in a place called the Hundred Monkeys, they served veggy and non veggy foods as well as vegan, but there was plenty of vegan things to choose from. I went for the Solstice Winter Veg soup with homemade brown bread..reet tasty..

Then me and mum shared a chai tea

The amount of teas they had was crazy..but good crazy..

After good grub and tea we were set up for a good walk and went to the abbey and chalice well..

On the way back we bumped into some friendly little creatures..

who were kind enough to lead us the way to the Church. 

There we found that the grass was taking a well deserved rest..

Glastonbury was a lovely place to be to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and festive season.

x

Orange spiced banana buns

These buns were a lovely treat for the end of Autumn, the nutmeg and cinnamon in them were a nice and cosy spice to warm you up inside whilst the weather outside was blowing cold and breezy..

Ingredients..

2 and a half cups of wholemeal self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

8tbsp marg

half a cup of dark brown muscavado sugar

6tbsp brown demerara sugar

2 ripe bananas (mashed, and save a little for topping buns)

3tbsp orange jam

a little orange peel

1tsp nutmeg

1tsp cinnamon

half a tsp ginger

half a cup of soya milk

1 cup of currants (or raisins)

Method..

Place all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Melt the marg and muscavado sugar in a pan on a low heat. In a separate bowl add the mashed bananas and mix in the brown demerara sugar, orange jam and soya milk. Transfer the melted marg mix and banana mix to the flour mixture and stir, being careful not to over stir. Add the mixture to bun cases (filling half full as the buns will rise a little) then place on a bun rack, placing a slice of banana on each of the buns for decoration. Pop in the oven for 20-30mins on 180oC - until golden brown. Leave to cool and enjoy!

The buns will last in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Try adding cocoa powder, almonds or dark choc for something different.

I decorated one of the buns with a robin and gave to my nan..ready for the festive winter season.

x

I submitted this entry to the Bake Fest hosted by Sanjee Vijay: http://sangeethaskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-event-announcement-bake-fest-2.html
organised by Zesy Palette.

an afternoon slice, or two, with lord landfeel

A cold, rainy afternoon with no plans and a jar of organic apple cider vinegar that needed using inspired me to make something cakey. I wanted to make this recipe http://nuttycrunch.blogspot.com/2011/12/fat-free-lady-grey-tea-bread.html but that involved steeping raisins and tea for a few hours, and I didn't want to have to wait that long for something cakey on this afty..the urge for it now was too strong!
So, instead I went with all the same ingredients but just changed them a little, and I didn't make the topping either, no blueberries, shall save for another cakey day though and maybe make beforehand to prepare for the afternoon cakey urge.

Ingredients

2 and a half cups organic wholemeal self raising flour

third of a cup dark muscavado sugar

5 tbsp marg (or soya spread)

1 tsp cinnamon 

half a tsp cardamom

1 small jar of organic apple sauce with cider vinegar

2 cups organic soya milk

1 cup raisins with mixed peel and currants

Firstly, melt the marg and the sugar in a small pan on a low heat, while this is melting put the flour, cinnamon, cardamom and raisins in a bowl. Add the apple sauce to the melting butter and sugar and stir until all is combined and melted, gently pour this over the flour mix. Mix well, but careful not to over mix, mix until all is just combined. Then pour the mixture into a well greased loaf tin and pop in the oven for 30-40mins, until golden brown. You'll be able to tell if the loaf is ready when sticking a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

Enjoy! 

There's lord landfeel, great company on those cakey afternoons.

(Lord Landfeel was created by mi friend Mikk!)

That afternoon I also began the gnome book I bought from the 'rare and racey' book shop.

A lovely book for the afternoon before a snoozy nap.

x

A Thai style evening..5.12.11

Had mum over again for tea this eve and decided to stir up a thai stir fry, which ended up tasted quite Caribbeani too! I had most of the ingredients in and it didn't take long at all to make. Here are the ingredients:

2tbsp olive oil

3 spring onions

2 cloves garlic

fresh ginger

1 red chilli

fresh coriander

1tsp lemon grass

juice of half a lime

1 red pepper

spinach

pack of smoked tofu

some black beans

soy sauce

2 tbsp tomato puree

a little water

bean sprouts

basmati rice

4tbsp coconut milk

Start by frying the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli in the olive oil for 5 mins. Then add the soy sauce, stirring in the red pepper and frying for a further 5mins. Then add the tofu and everything else, except the rice (which you need to cook beforehand then add right at the last 3mins of cooking with the coconut milk).

And it's done!

I usually like to add cashews to stir frys but mum hates them with a passion (I think she has a serious fear of them).

We had it served with some rice crackers and a little tofutti cream cheese. Twas very nice!

The next morning was a cold and an early one, so me and mum decided to have breakfast in bed and have a chilled out 'dude' style morning. Inspired by mi dear friend Amy, who's also a fan of the dude style gown mornings. When I say the 'dude' I mean in style of the one and only true 'dude'

Mr. Lebowski..and staying in true dude style we kept on our dude dressing gowns too!

Mum had a pot of earl grey with soya milk and I went for a cup of chai with soya.

I made mum toast with sunflower spread and blackcurrant and rhubarb jam (which I got from a Victorian Market stall in Sheffield over the weekend) and I had a warm bowl of oatmeal with soya milk, banana, raisins, brazil nuts and the jam.

After our chilled out dude style morning we had a stroll into town and visited Sheffield's book store 'Rare and Racy. We found it had an upstairs too which I'd never noticed before. It was lovely, filled with books and was a right little cosy cove! 

We had a good look round but didn't stay long as mi mum had to get back home, I could have rumaged in there all day..must go back soon!

Mum did find a great book which I couldn't resist getting though..

My new bedtime book :)

Parkin with Sally

We're now in December and I'm really missing the Autumn we've had, tas been a lovely one. And a lovely one especially filled with Parkin. All the beautiful colours of the leaves and sky..the reds, browns, even shades of purple of some leaves! and gorgeous reds/oranges of the sky..made me feel all warm inside and inspired me to make a parkin to go with those warm feelings inside.

My first attempt at it wasn't the best, it crumbled and wasn't as sticky as parkin should be, it still tasted nice, but I wanted to get that great sticky parkin like the ones like your nan used to make.

My last attempt at parkin was great, after an afternoon spent with my nan in Sheffield, visiting the market and going for a brew, I told her about my parkin experiements and she mentioned that after you've made it, try leaving it in the fridge in an air tight container for a few days to a week, maximum, and the flavours will have time to develop more and it'll become more sticky.

So, that's just what I did. And, it was amazing! The best parkin to date! 

Even Sally agreed!

Here's the ingredients..

1 cup wholemeal self raising flour

2 cups oatmeal

2tbsp molasses

halfcup dark brown muscavado sugar

6tbsp marg (vegan spread)

1tsp ginger (ground or fresh)

half tsp nutmeg

1tsp bicarb of soda

3 ripe mashed bananas

1 cup mixed peel 

1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

melt the marg, molasses and muscavado sugar in a pan on a low heat. In a seperate bowl mix together all dry ingredients, then add the mashed banana and marg mixture, mix well until all combined then add to a well greased baking tray. Pop in the oven for 40mins on 180oC. You can tell when the parkin is ready by sticking a knife in the middle..if it comes out clean then tis ready. Leave to cool and enjoy, or, for a more moist and stickier parkin, leave in an air tight container for a few days to a week maximum, either in the fridge or somewhere dark and cool. The longer you leave it, the better in taste it will get..that's if you can sleep at night knowing there's tasty parkin in the fridge!

I shared a couple of slices with Sally in the late afternoon, and gave some slices to my friend Michael.

The rest I saved for my friend Rachael, it was her birthday so I thought it would be a nice gift for her, and a nice way to say goodbye to a lovely Autumn we've had.

Chow for now parkin, now December is here maybe it's time for rich, sticky fruit cakes!

x