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1 Minute Eton Mess

Ok so I'm in college right now and I am supposed to be revising but I'm posting this as procrastination. Eaton mess is one of my favourite desserts but no matter how hard I try my meringues never come out looking quite as good as shop bought ones. Any way when you want a quick weeknight dessert who has the time to be messing around with eggs and sugar trying to make your own? The ones I used for this were from Marks and Spencer’s food selection and are pretty darn good.

If you have never made Eaton mess before you don’t know what you’re missing! There is something wonderful about putting a dessert together all nice and neat then crushing it into oblivion with a fork and serving that as dessert instead.

What you’ll need (to make two) is:

• 2 handfuls of strawberries;
• Small carton of double cream; and
• 2 meringue nests.

What you do is:

Whip up your cream till thick and the peaks stand up on their own then pile all your ingredients together in a bowl.

Have at it with a fork (release the days frustrations). Finally, after all that hard work, Enjoy :)

In case you hadn't noticed I had mine sat out in the garden :)

Curried Fried Rice

Ok so this recipe may sound a bit odd at first, but if you are a fan of any of the chinese fried rice dishes and you like curries you are going to love this. This one was made last night by my Mum, its one of our family favourites and takes 10 minutes to make from start to finish. Ideal when you have other things that need doing, like revision or reading a book you just got really into. 

Another great thing about this recipe is that it allows you to use up and meat you have left in the house. Yesterday ours was sausages but you can use literally any thing, or you can omit the meat for a vegetarian option.

What you'll need to make this for two:

• 1/2 an Onion (finely sliced);
• Meat of your choice (enough for two), last night we used 4 sausages but 3 would have been enough;
• Rice (I'll let you decided how hungry you are);
• 1 handful of Peas;
• 1 handful of Sweetcorn;
• 1 (very heaped) tbsp of curry paste of your choice (make sure its a paste not a sauce), I used:

• 1 1/2 tsp Sugar;
• 1/2 tsp Salt; and
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder (although be careful with this if you have used a very spicy curry paste).

Here is the very easy steps:

1.   Put your rice on to cook in a separate saucepan, the general rule for rice is that it takes 10 minutes to cook when covered with boiling water.

2.   Pop your meat into a frying pan and cook until almost done.

3.   Add the onions and continue cooking on a medium heat until softened (don't forget to check the rice). 

4.   When the onions are starting to brown add in the peas and sweetcorn (if you are using frozen ones, it is fine to add them in straight out of the freezer). Continue cooking for 2 more minutes.

5.   Add the curry paste, sugar, salt, and chilli powder and stir to coat all of the contents of the pan. 

6.  Your rice should be done by now so drain it off and chuck it into the frying pan and stir on the heat until the rice is coated in the curry paste as well.

6.   Enjoy your meal :) For this one I recommend an ice cold beer.

If you do try this, let me know what you think.

Nutella Frappuccino

I came across this drink on a food blog called USMasala, on that site it is called the 'Nutella Cold Coffee'. But as I changed the recipe a fair bit (I sort of made it up as I went along), though following their recipe as a guideline, I changed the name too. 

Basically I am mildly addicted to caffeine, but as it has been SO hot over the last few days I have resented my hot cups of coffee more and more. So yesterday I tried this and, I have to  tell you, I'm in love. Its like a hazelnutty, ice cold mocha. It is so easy to make, you just throw all the ingredients into a blender and blitz till smooth.

What you throw in is:

• 3 tsp coffee (I used half decaf and half regular);
• 2 handfuls of ice cubes;
• 2 tbsp of nutella;
• 1 tsp of sugar (or I used 25mls sugar syrup); and
• 1- 1 1/2 glasses of milk (use the glasses you want to serve in).

This should do 2 glasses of pure joy, making you slightly hyper on a mixture of caffeine and sugar.

I decorated my glass with stars for extra joy :)

'Pesto di Pollo' Salad

My food history has quite humble origins. When I was younger I used to work as a waitress at Pizza Express. Now, anyone who has waitressed at a restaurant with a limited menu (such as mostly pizza) knows that you quite quickly get bored of eating the same thing every shift (and you do eat the same thing as its free food, who's going to buy their own dinner when you can get it for free?). So every once in a while I liked to mix it up and have a salad. The 'Pollo Salad' (which I'm not sure that they do any more).

This salad is a variation based on that very salad, hence I have kept the Italian themed name (if it's grammatically wrong I apologise, I don't actually speak Italian). It is the perfect salad for the lead up to summer; it's full of red pepper which is unbelievably good for you and is very low in fat, except for the goats cheese which you are welcome to leave out. However, every thing in moderation leads me to believe that a little bit of cheese every now and then wont do you any harm.

The 'pesto di pollo' salad is unbelievably easy to throw together which is ideal when you would rather be out in the sun than cooped up in the kitchen. 

To make this salad for two, what you'll need is:

• 1 Red Pepper;
• 1 Tomato;
• 1 Bag of Salad (I used Baby Leaf Salad);
• a handful of Mixed Olives (use fresh ones from the counter if you feel fancy);
• 1 - 2 Chicken Breasts (depends how hungry you are);
• 2 slices of goats cheese;
• Olive oil;
• Balsamic Vinegar; and 
• Salt and pepper.

What you need to do is:

1.   Cut up the chicken into bite sized pices and fry them in a little oil, I like to use flavoured oils when cooking any thing for salads, for this I used basil infused olive oil. (You can oven bake the chicken if you like, I just fried it because it was faster.)

2.   When the chicken is almost done add a spoonfull of your favouite pesto to it and finish cooking it. (If you are baking the chicken, mix it in pesto before you pop it in the oven.) I used 'roasted red pepper pesto'.

3.   Meanwhile prepare the rest of your salad: divide the salad between two plates, chop up the red pepper, tomato and goats cheese and scatter them over the leaves, along with the olives.

4.   Dress the salad. You can either mix together the olive oil and balsamic to make a dressing or you can use a pre-made mix. It you add just a squeeze of lemon juice into the balsamic and olive oil mix it's also very nice.

5.   When your ready to eat, pop the chicken on top and enjoy, I recommend with a glass of white wine.

I should also mention that this salad was designed to go with the pizza express house dressing so if you've seen it in the shops and fancy trying it this would be the opportune moment. (P.s. the dressing is mildly adictive and I havent stopped loving since I worked there 7 years ago.) Alternatively you can pop along to an actual Pizza Express and try the original Pollo Salad, that is if they still do it. 

Pikachu Cake a.k.a. Simple Sponge Cake

So, this post is a pretence. I am going to give you my recipe for simple sponge cake but really all I want to show you is the awesome Pikachu cake I made for my friend who I lived with at university. (She used to sing the Pokemon theme song quite a lot... a real lot.)

What you'll need to make the cake is:

• 3 Eggs;
• 6 oz Self-Raising Flour;
• 6 oz Caster Sugar;
• 6 oz Butter; 
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder; and 
• a dash of Vanilla Essence.

For the Filling you will need:

• 100g Butter;
• 200g Icing Sugar; and
• Strawberry Jam.

So what you need to do is:

1. Preheat your oven to 170C and grease two circular cake tins.
2. With an electric whisk, cream together the sugar and the butter.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients and whisk until really light.
4. Divide the mix between the two cake tins and pop in the oven.
5. Bake for 18-22 mins (until you can stick a knife in it and it comes out clean).
6. Take out and leave to cool, in the mean time whisk together the butter and icing sugar to make butter cream for the filling.
7. When the cake is cool, spread one cake with the buttercream and the other with the jam then sandwich together.
8. Now you can either sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy or...

BOOM!!! Pikachu cake :) 

(Yes its a bit rough around the edges but for a first go at fun icing pictures I'm chuffed.)

American Style Pancakes

It was blissfully warm this morning when I woke up, perfect weather for a lazy sunday. Unfortunately I have a day full of revision to look forward to so I am stuck inside (if I lie outside, although I start with the best intentions, I just end up napping in the sun). However, I decided that this morning that I would postpone revision and have a late breakfast outside in the sunshine. So I knocked up a stack of pancakes and covered them in strawberries, cream and maple syrup. It was glorious. 

These are seriously easy to make and don't require any complex flipping skills. Which suits me. You can also add whatever fun things you have in the house to the mix, such as chocolate chips, bacon bits, blueberries, etc. For now though, I'll just give you the basic recipe and let you experiment at home. 

What you need for the pancake mix:

• 130g Plain Flour;
• 25g Caster Sugar;
• 1 tsp Baking Powder;
• 1/2 tsp Salt;
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon;
• Pinch of Nutmeg;
• 1 Egg;
• 130ml Milk;
• 30g Butter (Melted)

What you need to do:

1. Whisk all of the ingredients together with a fork until smooth.
2. Heat a frying pan and grease with a little butter.
3. Cook your pancakes, one at a time. Flip them when they look golden brown on the underside.
4. Top with toppings of your choice and enjoy!

I find that one big stack is good to share between two or three depending how hungry you are. I recommend serving in the sun with some sort of frappuccino.

Raspberry Surprise Lemon Cupcakes

So you may have noticed I've been a bit distant the last few days. I'm sorry but the weather has been absolutely incredible and as all Mancunians know you have to make the most of the sun while its here (we don't get it that often). Today it is a fantastic 24C so I am taking a break from the sun and writing to you.

The other day people in my house thoroughly needed cheering up, so I thought 'what better than some awesome cupcakes'. So I created some lovely lemon cupcakes with a raspberry jam filling and lemon butter cream frosting.

The recipe I'm about to give you made 5 large cupcakes (in muffin cases). 

For the Cake mix you need:

• 1 Large egg;
• 55g Butter;
• 55g Caster sugar;
• 55g Self-raising flour;
• 1 tsp Lemon juice; and
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder.

For the filling and the frosting you will need:

• 50g Butter;
• 125g Icing sugar;
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice; and
• 5 tsp Raspberry jam.

Heres how you make the cupcakes:

1. Turn your oven on to 170C (for a fan oven) and line a muffin tin with muffing cases.
2. throw all your cake mix ingredients into a large bowl and whisk up until the mixture gets much lighter and fluffy. The mix should be quite thick.
3. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, you only want to fill the cases 1/3 - 1/2 of the way up.
4. Pop the tray into the oven and cook for about 15-18 minutes until the tops are golden and when you stick a knife in them it comes out clean.
5. While the cupcakes are in the oven, mix together the butter, icing sugar and lemon juice to make the frosting. You may need to add more icing sugar; you want the frosting to be nice and thick.

To fill and frost the cakes:

When your cupcakes are cool, cut a little hole into the top of the cakes and pick out a little bit of the cupcake to make to make room for the raspberry jam. (Feel free to eat the cake you remove :) but remember to save enough to cover the jam). Then fill the little hole with a teaspoon of raspberry jam and pop back on the cake cover bit.

Then all you need to do is cover the tops of your cakes in the lovely lemon frosting you made earlier. (You may need to stir it up a bit to soften it so that it spreads more easily.) Then enjoy either with a tall glass of milk or, if you also require cheering up, a nice chilled glass of white wine.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

When your craving something sweet but you cant decided whether it should be chocolaty or cakey I always find that cookies and donuts fill the spot perfectly. So thats how I found myself making a batch of cookies yesterday. 

I love this cookie recipe, the cookies aren't ridiculously chewy but they're not as solid as biscuits either. They also have a lovely crispy sugary texture to them. But best of all they are perfect for tea/coffee dunking!

What you will need:

• 140g Butter;
• 80g Caster Sugar;
• 100g Light Brown Sugar;
• 1 Large Egg;
• 190g Flour;
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder;
• 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda;
• 1/2 tsp Salt;
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon;
• 1 tsp Almond Essence;
• 50g Ground Almonds;
• 150g White Chocolate; and
• 150g Milk Chocolate;

What you need to do is:

1. Pop your oven on and turn it to 170C (for a fan oven). Also before every thing in it gets too hot sort out the shelves in your oven so that you can fit a couple of oven trays in at a time.
2. Next, line your oven trays (I usually use two at a time) with either grease proof paper or if you don't have any of that rub them down with butter and sprinkle with icing sugar.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the sugars, butter and egg, until smooth and light.
4. Then use a spoon to stir into the mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, salt, cinnamon, almond essence and ground almonds. Make sure its all combined well, use your hands to squish it together if you fancy, thats what I do :) (just make sure your hands are clean first).
5. Chop up the chocolate into little cubes and mix them into the cookie dough.
6. Break of pieces of cookie dough (I use a large teaspoon worth of dough per cookie), roll into little balls and spread out onto the trays. Ensure thats there is enough room between them for them to spread out. 
7. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes per batch. (Until they are just browning.)
8. Remove from oven and leave to stand on the trays for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.
9. Enjoy :)

Dough Pizza Kitchen, Manchester

Yesterday I took a night off cooking and headed to Dough in Manchester's northern quarter for dinner and drinks. For pizza, Dough is fast becoming one of my favourite places. Its menu is quite a novelty, like any other pizza place they have the basics such as the Margarita and the American but in addition they have a wide selection of ... more creative pizzas. These range from their 'Duck and Brie' pizza with pear and pickled cabbage to their 'Wasabi Prawn' pizza with pickled ginger and kale. 

Yesterday we opted for a late dinner; however, despite the time, the restaurant was still full and stayed full until we left. The busy restaurant, along with the friendly staff and the atmospheric lighting made the restaurant an ideal place for dinner with friends. 

I tried to get a picture of the starters before they were eaten
 but I failed. This is what was left of the antipasti by
the time I managed to get my camera out.

Despite the variety of lovely looking starters (I particularly fancied the oven baked camembert) I was out voted and we ordered the antipasti and a garlic pizza with melted mozzarella to share. 

The antipasti was simple and tasty with just two or three slices each of chorizo, parma ham and salami along with a handful of (I'm guessing out of a jar, pre-pitted) olives (yes, I'm an olive snob) and some very nice feta. It was lovely but there wasn't really enough to share it. The garlic pizza was also nice, though personally I thought that there wasn't enough garlic on it (merely a hint of garlic). Also the pizza bases are made slightly thicker than at your average pizzeria; also not as crispy (however this may have been because it was a busy friday night and the kitchen was rushing out the pizzas) but I didn't mind this as they were still very tasty. 

For mains, we all decided to try one of the more exotic pizzas and just for you guys I got a picture of each:

I had the 'Moroccan' pizza which had on it: spiced lamb, red onions, diced mango, mozzarella, spiced tomato sauce, mint leaves and honey yoghurt. The lamb was gorgeous, it may not have been the best cuts of lamb but the spices on it were amazing. I was a bit dubious about the mango pizza combination but it was actually surprisingly. Though I think its very much a personal preference thing, one of my friend made it clear that it definitely wasn't to his taste.

The Moroccan

That same friend, who had been less than keen on mango as a pizza topping, ordered the 'Breakfast' pizza which was topped with crispy bacon, sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella, an egg and chives. I have it on best authority from him that it was very good. But then when is a full english not good?

The Breakfast Pizza

Another of my companions always orders margaritas when we go for pizza because she loves the basic cheese-tomato-dough combination. This time I managed to convince her to try one of the strange pizzas so that I could give you a review of it. She chose the 'Paella' pizza which is topped with salt & pepper squid, tiger prawns, mozzarella, mixed olives, oregano, paprika and peas. She ate the whole thing so I'm assuming it was good she also said that the prawns were particularly lovely and juicy. 

The Paella Pizza

The last member of our party, who was feeling slightly delicate after a wild thursday night out, went for one of the simpler pizza options - the 'Ham and Eggs' pizza. This was exactly what it sounds like two eggs, serrano ham and mozzarella. Unfortunately, suffering as he was, he failed to eat most of the pizza. However this meant that I got to try a little bit of this one myself and it was very good. There is something fabulous about eggs on pizza. Though I have to say the eggs on this one were a little bit overdone. 

The Ham and Eggs

After all of this, as you may have guessed we opted to skip desert. All in all it was a very nice dinner though if I had any criticisms it would be that I personally thought the pizzas could have benefitted from a little longer in the oven and that there was definitely not enough cheese on them. So if you go I suggest asking for extra cheese. Also I would recommend booking in advance if your planning on going; you can book online here.

 Inside of Bluu

If, like us, you don't fancy the night ending with dinner there are plenty of lovely bars and clubs in the Northern quarter. Attached to Dough is Apotheca which does amazing cocktails (watch out for a review soon) and across the way is Bluu Bar which is where we headed last night and is alway guaranteed to be busy on the weekend. 

Amaretto Sours (My Version)

As all I ate yesterday was a slice of toast (busy day) I don't really have any yummy foods to share with you. However, in the evening I did sit and put my feet up with a lovely amaretto sours. Now, before we go on I should warn you, this isn't the cocktail aficionados version of an amaretto sours. This is my version, made the way I love it and if I do say so myself its pretty good!

So what you do is get a little glass and fill it with ice, crushed ice is preferable but cubed ice works when you cant be bothered to crush it.

Gather together your ingredients: Amaretto, Sugar Syrup and Lemon Juice.

As you can see I have opted for the cheap version of all of the ingredients, don't judge me, student budget. Anyway, next you pour out a generous measure of amaretto (about 35ml).

Then pour in your sugar syrup (15ml) and lemon juice (10ml).

The sugar syrup will sink to the bottom and the lemon juice will sit on top of the amaretto. This gives it a nice cocktail effect. So you can either serve it like this or mix it up. 

Finally sit back relax and enjoy.

The measures for the ingredients are to make the drink to my taste. experiment a bit when you make it and adjust it to your taste.

Here is an obvious chart for your adjustments:

More lemon = more sour

More sugar syrup = sweeter

More amaretto = more almondy (yeah I know not a real word) and more alcoholic.

Cinnamon Roly Poly

Over easter I was making a banoffee pie and happened to have excess short crust pastry. So what did I do? Well I covered it in my favourite jam, rolled it up and popped it into the oven. 20 minutes later I had a childhood favourite, jam roly poly, to nibble at as I prepared dinner for the evening.

So this evening, when my friend hinted at me making a dessert for after dinner, jam roly poly popped into my mind I thought "hang on... lets take this to the next level and make a seriously easy posh dessert..." and hey presto the cinnamon roly poly was born. 

What you'll need:

• Either find a recipe for short crust pastry and the ingredients on that OR pre-made short crust. (Today I just used shop bought pastry - fast and fuss free :) )
• Cinnamon;
• Light Brown Sugar;
• Icing Sugar; 
• Butter;
• Handful of Pecan Nuts; and
• Can of Light Squirty Cream.

What you do:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170C, clean down your work surface and sprinkle with icing sugar.
2. Roll out your pastry into a rectangle that is twice as wide as it is long.
3. Dust the pastry with icing sugar then sprinkle generously with cinnamon and light brown sugar leaving an inch and a half at one end with nothing on. 
4. Melt a large knob of butter in a microwavable bowl.
5. Pour the butter out on the pastry.
6. With the back of a spoon mix the butter with the sugar and cinnamon to make a thick paste, again assuring that one end has nothing on. Try to ensure the paste evenly covers the pastry.
7. Roll up the pastry from one side to another starting with the end where the paste goes right up to the edge. 
8. Pop onto and oven tray and leave for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. 
9. When done, slice and serve with cream sprinkled with pecan nuts. 
10. Enjoy :) 

Chorizo & Potato Salad

Wednesday is salsa day. I'm just back from my salsa class and watching the apprentice at the moment as I type this up. In honour of my new wednesday night hobby I felt like throwing together one of my spanish influenced dishes. This salad was something my friend and I thew together in the tiny little kitchen (it was only big enough for two people standing side by side) in our apartment in barcelona. We had over indulged the day before and fancied something fresh but filling so as to prepare us for a night out. 

Honestly, you wont believe how good this is until you try it!! Also its actually a very healthy well balanced meal. Its also a salad that you can eat with boys as it contains a decent amount of meat and is therefore filling enough that they wont complain they are still hungry. (If in doubt, and you are eating with some particularly ravenous boys, throw in a loaf of fresh bread as a side.)

Ok, so what you'll need to make this delightful salad (for 2 hungry people) is:

• Chorizo, 120g;
• 3-4 Small-medium Potatoes;
• Bag of Mixed Leaf Rocket Salad;
• 12 Kalamata Olives (or other black olives);
• tsp Oregano ;
• tsp of Chilli Flakes;
• 1/3 tsp of Cayenne Pepper;
• Dash of Lemon Juice;
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin;
• Pinch of Salt and Pepper; 
• Butter; and
• Balsamic Glaze to drizzle as a dressing.

Now you've collected together what you need, this is the easiest thing to make.

1.  First cut your potatoes into little bite sized chunks and throw into a pan of boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes or until mostly cooked. Then drain and throw into a frying pan with a small knob of butter on medium heat.

2.  Then chop up your chorizo into bite sized chunks. Keep turning the potatoes untill the begin to brown.

3.  When the potatoes are looking golden, add the oregano, chilli, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix up so the potatoes are evenly coated then add the chorizo to the pan.

4.  While the chorizo browns, put a couple of handfuls of the salad into two bowls and scatter the olives across it along with a little drizzle of the balsamic glaze.

5. When the chorizo is crispy on the outside, take off the heat and divide the potatoes and chorizo between the two plates. Serve Immediately before the salad wilts.

6.  Enjoy! I suggest an accompaniment of sangria or a light red wine :)

Thai Coconut Noodle Broth

I was going to have spaghetti for dinner tonight, I had it all prepared in my head, exactly what I fancied. However when I got round to making dinner I discovered that someone (who I will not name) ate my spaghetti for breakfast (with a tube of tomato puree!!). After a long day at college *sigh* I was feeling much to lazy to go out to the shops so looked for alternative dinners in the kitchen cupboards.

Spaghetti substitute :)

Sorry its a bad picture,
just wanted to show you
which brand I used.

I settled on something with noodles (because, in my head, they are somewhat like spaghetti... kind of). Rummaging in my cupboard with a Thai theme in mind I came across some Tom Yum Paste and created a recipe around these two ingredients.

I must say it came out rather well.

The ingredients for my noodle broth were as follows (for two people):

• Noodles enough for two (how much is up to you);
• 1 1/2 Mugs of water (you may need more);
• 3/4 Mug of coconut milk;
• Pinch of salt;
• Dash of soy sauce;
• Dash of lime juice;
• Chicken (diced) enough for two (again how much is up to you);
• 2-3 tsp of Tom Yum paste (Add these to taste as all pastes will be slightly different and everyone will like varying strength of flavours. Start with 2 then add more later to taste.)
• 2 Kaffir lime leaves
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• (You can also add any vegetables you fancy e.g. red pepper, broccoli, mangatout and baby sweetcorn. Just slice them thin and throw them in 7 mins before serving.)

What you do:

1. Pop the water into a pan and bring to the boil.
2. Break the noodles into smaller pieces (I broke them into thirds) and add to the water with the salt, soy sauce, lime juice and kaffir lime leaves.
3. When the noodles are cooked drain them BUT save the water and kaffir lime leaves as it will be used to make the broth.
4. Now depending on how much water boiled off as you were cooking the noodles you may need to add a bit more to the pan, this will depend on how thick you want the broth in the end. I left mine as it was. 
5. Add the tom yum paste, the coconut and the chicken to the water in the pan and turn down to a simmer. Leave for 12-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. (This may take longer depending on the size of your chicken chunks.)
6. If you are adding veg, pop it in the pan 10 minutes after the chicken.
7. To serve separate the noodles out into two bowls and empty out the chicken any broth evenly on top of them. 
8. Enjoy :)

Yum Yum :) - P.s. I didn't actually eat mine with chop sticks, I regret to say
I'm not that skilled.

Wong Wong Bakery

I had a long day at college today, so when I finished I thought I would treat myself to a peanut butter pancake. These are one of my favourite treats from the Wong Wong Bakery in Manchester. I was introduced to the bakery by a good friend while I was at University and it fast became one of my favourite bakeries for snacks and cakes. 

A lot of the goodies in there are slightly unusual (to me any way) however every one I have tried is utterly delicious! From the fresh fruit topped cakes to the char siu pork stuffed sweet buns to the leek and bacon plait to my personal favourite - the peanut butter pancakes (a mere 50p per pancake!).

Usually I buy two pancakes and take one round to my friend so that we can sit and eat them with a cup of tea and have a natter. Today I treated my self to two and devoured them with a cold glass of milk :). The pancakes are only little, honest. They are also called pancakes but they are not made with regular pancake batter, its much thicker and stickier (I think its made with rice but don't quote me on that). 

The bakery also does fabulous cakes for birthdays and the likes, with a sponge to die for (though probably not literally). If you don't believe me you can have a look for yourself here. 

Home-baked Chips and Guacamole

So for my first post I thought I'd start with something simple and let you know what I had for dinner tonight. All in all it was a low effort dinner, chips and dips. Potato chips may not be the most healthy option however they're my favourite and a great accompaniment to an evening of College work (which I am currently sat avoiding by typing this post). 

Baked Fries and Guacamole

Home-baked chips:

1. Cut two large potatoes into sticks about 1/2cm thick and boil for 2-3 minutes. 
2. Drain the water off the potatoes and add a knob of butter, cajun spice mix (mine was shop bought, not made this time), salt and pepper to the pan with the potatoes and toss till well coated. 
3. Pop them out onto an oven tray and bake on 190C for approx 25 minutes or until golden brown (tossing every 10 minutes). 
4. When they are done sprinkle liberally with salt and serve.

Guacamole:

1. Put in a food processor: an avocado, half a little red chilli, a garlic clove, a dash of lemon juice, a dash of tequila and a pinch of salt and pepper. (Adjust depending on your tastes.)
2. Blitz, then dish into a bowl and serve. 
3. If you aren't going to serve immediately pop the avocado pip in the bowl, it will stop the avocado going brown, I don't know how, it just will.

My fancy rum and coke.

I also served this with spicy yoghurt (which you can make at home by adding a tsp of a hot sauce of your choice to two tbsp of yoghurt) and a nice cold glass of Coke Cola with some fresh lime (and I spiced mine up with a bit of the old Captain Morgans).


This should all serve two people with generous helpings of chips. It will serve 3-4 with cajun spaced chicken breast on the side if you fancy that.