Preheat your oven. Pop the eggs in a bowl and whisk up. Once you've done this, add the milk and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Then add the flour, and whisk up again until its the consistency of single cream. Leave the batter to sit for 10 minutes.
While you're waiting, place around 1cm of vegetable oil in six of your muffin tray holes. Pop in the oven for around 10 minutes (keep an eye on this as oil can catch!) and remove from the oven when the oil is hot. Ladle your batter in on top of the hot oil, you want to see it sizzle each time so act fast! Pop your tray back in the oven for 15 minutes until golden and crisp. p.s. don't be tempted to open your oven door as they won't be as good!!
Mix together the brown sugar, butter and coocnut oil together. Then add in the flour followed by a second mix. Finish with the cranberries and white chocolate, with another mix together.
Mould the mixture into small golf bowls, and spread evenly onto a lined baking traying. We suggest six at a time. Lightly press down on top of the cookie balls so they spread whilst baking.
Pop into the oven for 18-20 mins until they're golden brown. Cool them down on a cooling rack, and they are good to eat. YUMMY!
With Christmas only around the corner, we had to make something super festive! We picked up Asda's Enchanted Elves Cottage kit which has everything you need to make your own chocolatey rocky road house :)
Ingredients:
As mentioned above, we bought a kit to make ours but if you have a mould for your house already, you will need...
* Cooking chocolate
* Digestive biscuits, crushed
* Mini marshmallows
* Smarties or m&ms
* White icing (for piping)
* Small cones (for the trees!)
Instructions:
Divide the chocolate and crushed biscuit into two and the marshmallows into three piles. Empty the first lot of chocolate into a small bowl and melt over a pan of warm water. Dip the wafer cones in the chocolate one at a time, letting the excess dribble off for a smooth finish. Stand on a plate and leave to set.
Add one pile of each of the biscuit and marshmallows into the chocolate. Empty the mixture into the mould, filling to the edges of each shape. Place in the fridge to set for around 25 minutes. Once set, place shapes onto greaseproof paper and repeat this step until you have all the pieces you need to build the house!
Snip the end of the piping bag and carefully build the Elf's Cottage using icing to stick the panels together. Don't forget to decorate the trees too! While waiting for the cottage to set, decorate a serving plate or board with a snowy icing setting. Once set, pop your cottage on the board. It's now time to go wild and decorate! :)
Icing
* ½ cup cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
* 2 tbsp agave syrup
* 2 tbsp almond milk
* 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
* 1 tbsp coconut oil
* Handful of dried cranberries, chopped
Instructions:
Add
all of the ingredients to make the Christmas pudding balls in a food
processor and mix together until it begins to form a big ball. Once it’s
all in one big ball, separate into 20 little ball shapes and make sure
you press the top down with your thumb for a flat surface for the icing!
Pop these in the fridge to set while you make the icing.
To make
the icing, drain the cashews and add the almond milk, agave syrup,
coconut oil and lemon juice and blend until smooth. Pop this in the
fridge for 30 mins so it firms up and is easier to spread on the balls.
Pop the icing on the top and add little pieces of chopped up
cranberries! It’s as easy as that :)
This one was delicious, Lauren reckoned it tasted like chicken fajitas :)
Ingredients (serves 2):
* 2 chicken breasts
* Olive oil
* 1 onion
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1 green chili
* 1 tin butterbeans
* 500ml chicken stock
* 1 tsp dried cumin
* 1 tsp dried oregano
* ½ tsp chili flakes
* ½ handful of fresh coriander
Instructions:
Bring a pan of water to the boil and place your chicken breasts in there to cook – this will help them stay tender and be easier to shred! Leave them in there to cook for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and shred!
While your chicken is cooking in the pan, chop your onion and crush your garlic and pop them in your casserole pot with a drizzle of olive oil. Once they’ve softened, add the green chili and give it a good stir. Take a small cup of the butterbeans and place in a blender with 100ml of the chicken stock. This will help the chili become thicker more quickly. Add the stock, the butterbeans and the bean and stock mixture to the pan and stir well. Pop the chicken in the pan, mix through and place the lid on top. Leave for 10 minutes and then add the chopped coriander to the simmering pan.
Cook until the chili is at your desired thickness and enjoy with rice.
Ingredients (serves 3)
* Salmon – You can buy this already flaked but we did it at home
* Spaghetti (we used wholewheat!)
* 1 lemon
* 2 spring onions
* Handful of spinach, chopped
* Handul of frozen peas
* 100g cream cheese
* 1 tbsp chives
Instructions
If you’re preparing your salmon at home, preheat the oven and line a baking tray with tin foil – this will help separate the skin and the fish after cooking! Place the salmon on the foil and season with a little salt and pepper and a splash of lemon juice and place in the oven for 25 minutes or so, until cooked through. Once cooked, pull apart with a knife and fork to create the flakes for the spaghetti dish.
While this is cooking, measure up and prepare your spinach, spring onions and peas and get the water on the boil. Add the spaghetti to the boiled water and once the spaghetti is cooked add the frozen peas into the water for around a minute. Drain and pop back in the saucepan, and on a low heat, mix in the cream cheese. Then add the spring onions and finally the spinach. Add more lemon juice and stir together. Serve with a wedge of lemon and enjoy!
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 170c. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water!) and leave until all melted and smooth.
Remove the chocolate from the heat, add the sugar and stir well. Add the flour and stir until fully combined. Zest an orange and mix this into the mixture. Finally, add the eggs and mix until thick and smooth.
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spoon the mixture in. Bake in the preheated oven for around 30-35 minutes. Once taken out of the oven, pop the segments of Terry's Chocolate Orange on top.
This is a great lunch to have on those cold rainy afternoons. A classic winter warmer :)
Ingredients (serves 4)
* 1 x large sweet potato
* 1 x leek
* 1 x white onion
* 1 x carrot
* Handful of chorizo
* 2 x garlic cloves
* 1 tbsp rosemary
* 1 tbsp paprika
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 600ml chicken stock
Chop up your sweet potato leaving the skin on, and throw into a large baking tray with olive oil and rosemary. Pop this into a preheated oven at 250C. Leave in there while you chop up all the remaining ingredients.
After 15 minutes, take out the sweet potato, give a good shake and add the remaining ingredients.
Roast for another 15 mins, take out and into a saucepan. Add your chicken stock, and let it simmer away for a good hour if you have the time, with the lid on.
Then it's time to blitz up the soup into your chosen thickness. You can serve right away, or even store in the fridge, ready to heat up for lunch at work.
We love making this, just tastes extra special making your own pesto. It's so yummy!
Ingredients:
* large handful of basil
* 40g parmesan cheese
* 2 x garlic cloves
* 1/2 lemon
* 2-4 tbsp olive oil
* handful pine nuts
Instructions:
Lightly toast your pine nuts in a frying pan without any oil. Then into a food processor followed by all the other ingredients, finishing off with the juice of half a lemon. Judge how much oil you want, depending on your preference of oily or dry pesto.
Blend up into a fine paste, and you are ready to go.
You can store them in ice cube trays for quick access when cooking. We reckon one cube per person in a dish.
Ever wondered how you make pumpkin puree for those autumn/Halloween bakes? Look no further…
Ingredients
A pumpkin!
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 175c and slice your pumpkin in half. Take care to remove all the seeds and stringy bits and then slice into smaller segments.
Place the segments of pumpkin onto a baking tray and place in the oven for 50-60 minutes – the pumpkin will be done once it falls off the fork when pierced.
Let the pumpkin cool for a couple of minutes, then begin to peel the skin off the back of the segments – you should be able to do this with your hands but you can use a knife if needed! Pop the pumpkin in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 175c and grease a loaf tin with some butter. In a large bowl, pop the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in and mix together.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, granulated sugar and brown sugar together until combined. Then add the pumpkin, orange juice and oil. Once all combined, add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix together gently with a wooden spoon. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes in total – cover the loaf with some tin foil after 30 minutes to stop the top burning! The cake should be moist so will be done once a toothpick comes out clean with a few moist crumbs. Enjoy!
A fun way to enjoy breakfast, pretending you are being naughty! Ingredients (Makes 2):
* 2 x ryvitas
* 2 tbsp flaxseed
* 2 tbsp honey
* small handful of unsalted peanuts
* 8 tbsp natural yoghurt
* 1 tsp chia seeds
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 75g raspberries
Instructions:
Let’s start with the base! Pop two ryvita (or rye crackers) in a food processor and add the flax seeds, nuts (we used peanuts) and honey. Pulse until it begins to look like the biscuit base of a cheesecake. Spoon out into the jar and pat down lightly to create the base.
To create the creamy middle, add natural yoghurt into a bowl and add the chia seeds. Mix together and leave for a couple of minutes to allow the chia to absorb the yoghurt to make it a little thicker. Then add a little bit of vanilla extract and mix through until evenly distributed.
Now for the fruit topping! We chose raspberries but you could choose anything you like – smash these up in a bowl and then pop on top of your ‘cheesecake’. Place in the fridge to chill, then enjoy!
Ingredients (serves 2): * 1 xRed Onion * Chorizo * 300g mixed beans * 1 x portobello mushroom * 390g chopped tomatoes * 1 whole tomato * 1 medium carrot * 1 yellow pepper * 1 tbsp paprika * 1 tbsp basil * 1 tsp chili flakes * salt and pepper * 70g flour * 15ml water
Instructions: Chop up all your ingredients. Add the red onion to a hot pan to soften and then add the chorizo and carrot. Then add the pepper, mushroom and tomatoes. Drain your tinned beans and add them to the mix, followed by the chopped tomatoes. Add chilli flakes, basil and paprika to taste, followed by a little salt and pepper.
Leave to simmer on the hob while you make your flatbread. Place the flour and water in a food processor and mix until it forms a big ball. Roll out the dough so it's flat and heat up a griddle pan. place the flatbread in the pan, and flip over once it looks cooked on the underneath.
Once the flatbread is cooked, your stew will be ready! Serve together and enjoy.
Instructions:
Chop the onion and pop into a frying pan until softened. Then add the mince and keep stirring to ensure it all gets cooked. Then add the carrots, pepper and green beans. (Once all cooked, you may want to drain any fat from the mince away!) Now add the chopped tomatoes, the chilli flakes, paprika, american mustard and coriander and leave to simmer while you make up the cheese sauce and preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 200c. Pop the butter in a pan and melt slightly, then add the flour and mix together until it forms a paste-like consistency. Then add the milk and stir on a low heat until it begins to thicken - this could take up to 10 mins. Add nutmeg and dijon mustard to the mixture. Once thick, add 150g of the cheese to the pan and mix through until melted.
You can now begin to construct your lasagne. Add one layer of the meat mixture to a oven dish, then a layer of lasagne sheets and then a layer of the cheese sauce. Repeat the layers and sprinkle the remaining 50g cheese on top. Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes and enjoy!
These are a great alternative to make your breakfast more exciting, a bowl of bran flakes can get boring.
Ingredients (Makes 2):
* 40g porridge oats
* 1 banana
* 100ml almond milk
* 4tbsp yoghurt (we used soya coconut yoghurt)
* 1 tbsp peanut butter
* Honey
* Blueberries
* Half tsp cinnamon
* Half tsp nutmeg
* Toppings- we like more blueberries, nuts and more honey...!
Instructions:
Mash up a banana in a bowl, making sure there are no chunks. Add your oats, milk and yoghurt to the bowl and mix together.
Pop in a handful of blueberries, and while mixing them in, try and squash them to infuse the flavour. Then add the peanut butter, mix together well to spread the peanut butter, and then some honey to taste. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well.
Place in the fridge overnight....then in the morning, stir and add your toppings!
At the weekend, I headed out for a spot of afternoon tea with my good friend Catherine. She had booked us a table at Bea's of Bloomsbury following a recommendation in the Tea & Cake London book (which I had bought her for her birthday!) I'd also heard good things so was very excited!
The cafe itself was very kitsch, with teapots and teacups for lampshades and lots of other pretty touches. And of course, there were so many delicious treats on show - I'm tempted to go back to try one of their chocolate swirls or a Nutella duffin (a kind of donut/muffin hybrid)....mmm.
Our afternoon tea arrived, and although I was slightly disappointed at the lack of salmon sandwiches, the bread used to make the sandwiches was amazing, it tasted like sea salt and rosemary focaccia. SO good. Also included in our afternoon tea tower was a selection of mini chocolate brownies, blondies, meringues and marshmallows, a scone each with jam and cream and a cupcake each. I picked the lemon meringue one, while Catherine got a red velvet. With bellies too full to even tackle the cupcakes, we had those boxed up and I picked up a jam duffin to take back for Matthew (good girlfriend points!)
So all in all, Bea's of Bloomsbury provided a good place to catch up on a deep Bake Off chat and enjoy some sweet treats while eyeing up Nutella cheesecake! Pretty much the perfect Saturday afternoon... I recommend :)
Ingredients (Makes 2): * 1 cup of ice * handful of spinach * 4 inch piece of cucumber * 1/2 lemon * 1 tsp grated ginger * 1 avocado * 1 tsp peanut butter * 200ml ice cold water
Instructions:
Add the ice to your mixer first, to ensure all the ingredients stay cold together.
Continue with filling the mixer with the remaining ingredients. Finishing with the cold water, fill depending how thick or thin you want the overall smoothie.
Blend up into a smooth consistancy and serve right away.
Soften the red onions in a large pan, and then throw in all your other ingredients. Simmer on the hob for a few minutes. Then pop into your preheated oven for 1 hour to 1.5 hours. It's as easy as that!
Serve up with some Guacamole (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6XcWIszmfQ) and sour cream. Delicious!
Ingredients (serves 2):
* 225g turkey mince
* 400 ml coconut milk
* 1/2 white onion
* 2 tbsp curry powder
* 2 tbsp dried coriander
* 1 tsp chilli flakes
* 1 tbsp fish sauce
* handful of green beans
* 1 cal spray
* Olive oil
Instructions:
Unwrap the turkey mince and put it in a bowl. Add a tbsp of curry powder and a tbsp of dried coriander and mash the mince together. Mould this into your meatballs.
Dice an onion, add some olive oil to a pan and begin to fry. Once the onion has browned, add the coconut milk. Lower the heat, and add 1 tbsp curry powder, 1 tbsp fish sauce and a sprinkling of chilli flakes. Stir regularly.
Spray some 1 cal spray into a hot frying pan and carefully place the meatballs into the pan. Keep the meatballs moving so they brown all over and keep their shape! While the meatballs are cooking, add the green beans to the sauce.
Once the meatballs have cooked through, add the sauce to the pan, stir together and simmer for a few minutes. Sprinkle with coriander before serving.
So earlier this week we were added to the Food Tag, thanks to Lopè Ariyo for tagging us. You can watch her video HERE. As you know, we don't talk to camera in our videos, therefore we decided answer the questions on our blog. The answers are below, and who we tag next for where the Food Tag will go onto. The questions were good fun!
The Questions 1. Are you a foodie who loves to cook and eat or a foodie who just loves to eat. Matthew: I do love cooking, my favourite is a good roast dinner on a Sunday. But of course you can't beat a date night at a nice restaurant :) Lauren: I like to cook but I do prefer the eating! It's really satisfying to eat and enjoy something you've made yourself!
2. Three ingredients you can't live without M: Wow this is tough, trying to think of a meal with only three ingredients. Probably, pasta, tomatoes and cheese. I was a student, and it's a good start to any meal :) L: Eggs, avocado and chocolate (although not together!)
3. If you could travel anywhere in the world to eat one particular dish, where would it be? M: Not a particular dish, but I would love to travel around Italy trying out their cuisine, I LOVE the Italian food. The dishes come our looking so simple, but the flavours can be so good! L: This is tough! It'd be a toss up between India and USA...I'd love to travel around India to try out some really authentic food but I'm also a sucker for a supersize burger and a milkshake!
4. If you could cook & dine with anyone in the world, who would it be? M: I think it would have to be James Hetfield (Metallica lead singer). That man is a legend, I bet he would have some amazing stories to tell! L: Probably an obvious choice but Stephen Hawking! It would be awesome to hear more about his life and he's got such a good sense of humour too - he'd be a perfect dinner guest!
5. Favourite food related book/movie? M: The brain dish from Hannibal...only kidding! I would say The Breakfast Club. It's food related in the title, no particular stand out food in the film. But it's still a great movie :) L: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs....just IMAGINE if that film was real!
6. What is your guilty pleasure? M: Haha, at college I used to always have super noodles on toast, and I still love it now! L: Spooning Nutella from the jar...
We Tag Caroline Artiss - Matthew has worked with her before, a great Malaysian Chef,,and just a lovely lady! :) youtube.com/carolineartiss
Warren Nash - A fellow brit, who makes lovely dishes. He gets some great shots of his food. youtube.com/warrennash
The Vegetarian Baker - He subscribed to us the other week, makes great bakes aimed at vegetarians. youtube.com/TheVegetarianBaker
Barry Lewis - May have heard of him already, we love his recipe videos, good fun. Especially the one's he includes his kids with, Lauren loves those!
youtube.com/myvirginkitchen
Ingredients (serves 2):
* 1 whole chicken (We only ate half - think of the yummy leftovers!)
* 1 large potato
* 1 carrot
* 1 broccoli
* 1 cauliflower
* 2 parsnips
* Gravy granules
* 1 lemon
* Olive oil
* Rosemary
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 250c. Peel your carrot, potato and parsnips and dice up ready to cook. Pop the peel in the bottom of a roasting dish. Place your chicken on top, put a lemon inside (this makes it taste so good!) and drizzle a bit of olive oil on the top. Season with a little salt and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, the chicken should have begun to brown on top. Take it out of the oven, add a good sprinkling of rosemary on top and a little more olive oil. Lower the temperature to 200c before popping the chicken back in the oven for an hour.
You can now start on making your roast potatoes. Add the diced potatoes into a pan of water with a pinch of salt, and bring to the boil. Boil for around 10 minutes, before draining and oiling them up to go in the oven! These will take 35-40 minutes to cook.
Once your potatoes are in the oven, it's time to prepare the parsnips! Add these to a pan of water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes, and drain them. Take the tray of potatoes out of the oven and add the parsnips to them. Pop back in the oven for 20-25 minutes while you prepare the veg!
Take your chopped broccoli, cauliflower and carrots and place them in a pan of water. Bring them to the boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain them and then add them to the tray of potatoes and parsnips and place back in the oven for 15 minutes.
Once your chicken is ready, carve up the meat and use the juices in the tray to add flavour to the gravy. Make a batch of gravy using the gravy granules and boiling water and mix together in a pan. Add the juices and trimmings to the pan and simmer for a few minutes. Use a sieve to separate the trimmings from the gravy.
Once all your veggies are ready, serve up your roast chicken dinner with a generous helping of gravy!
Ingredients:
* Ciabatta
* 1 avocado
* 2 eggs
* Chorizo
* Closed cup mushrooms
* Butter (for ciabatta)
* Salt and pepper
Instructions:
Chop up your chorizo and mushrooms and pop them in a pan on a medium heat. Slice your ciabatta in half and toast while the chorizo and mushrooms are cooking.
Take your avocado and slice up the inside. Pop it all into a bowl and mash with a fork, ready to pop onto the toasted ciabatta.
Now to poach the egg! Crack an egg into a ramekin. Bring a pan of water to a simmer, make a whirlpool and pop the egg in. Leave to poach for 3 minutes before removing from the pan and popping onto a plate with kitchen towel to soak up the any water on the egg.
Butter the ciabatta, pop some of the mashed avocado on top of the bread. Add the chorizo and rooms and top with a poached egg. Season with a little salt and pepper.
Today is our 1st Birthday on YouTube, and we just wanted to write a quick message to say a big thank you to everyone who has subscribed, watched, commented on, shared and liked our recipe videos. Not to mention followed, liked and Plus 1'd us on all the social networks. We started this channel as a bit of fun to show off the new recipes we learn on the way from living in our first home together in London :)
Over the year, we've gained 250+ subscribers, and in total over 10K views, which is amazing! We couldn't appreciate it more. Also, most recently we have become a part of the Videojug Network, so good times ahead :)
So going back, here is our first video we uploaded. Which was actually taken from Mattthew's YouTube channel when he used to vlog during his time at university. He's still a little embarrassed about those, so we don't share them. But if you search enough through YouTube you could probably find them. Think we've come along way since this first video! Also, quite fitting that our first video is how to make cupcakes :)
We look forward to making more recipes, and hope to find you in the comment section! Here's to another year. CHEERS!
Ingredients (makes 2)
* 4 1/2 tsp ground coffee
* 200 ml
* 375ml boiled water
Instructions:
Add the ground coffee to the cafetiere (4.5 tsp for a small cafetiere, 9 tsp for a medium cafetiere). Boil the kettle, and once cooled for a minute, fill the cafetiere. Stir well and pop on the lid.
After 2 minutes, give the coffee another good stir. Pop the lid back on and wait another 2 minutes. While you're waiting, warm up some milk (in a microwave is quickest but you can do this over the hob too) to add to your coffee.
Once the 2 minutes is up, scoop off any coffee grounds sitting on top of the water and plunge. Grab your favourite mug, add the warm milk first, and then pour in your coffee.
We used Pact Coffee for the ground coffee, it's delicious!
Ingredients:
* 100g dark chocolate
* 300g hazelnuts
* 50g desiccated coconut
* 1 tbsp vanilla paste
* 1/2 tsp salt Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180c. Weigh out your hazelnuts, evenly spread them on a baking tray and pop in the oven to roast for 10-12 minutes. Once they're done, place them on a tea towel to cool slightly. To get the skins off of the nuts, fold over the tea towel over the nuts and roll around to try and get the skins off! (This should happen quite easily, but if you need to, use your fingers!) It doesn't need to be perfect, but removing the skins will make the spread smoother!
Pop the hazelnuts in the food processor and process until you have formed a hazelnut butter - this can take a while but it is so worth it! Once you have a smooth butter, melt the chocolate and add to the processor. Also add the vanilla paste (you can use extract if you don't have paste!), desiccated coconut and salt and blitz up together until everything is properly combined. Pop it in a clean jar and store at room temperature - this should last for 2-3 weeks!
Last week Scoff released a video on their channel with Richard Burr (last years Great British Bake Off finalist) where he shared his recipe for homemade sausage rolls. You can watch the recipe here.
Straight away we loved the sound of these, they looked really simple to make. The next weekend, we were heading to a 1st birthday party, and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try them out.
Matthew made them, and they turned out brilliantly. We were missing harissa paste, but we attempted to make our own into the mix with dried coriander, garlic and a little extra chilli flakes (forgetting to add some balsamic vinegar). After the baking they were a little spicy, it was quite a nice edge to them. But that's what you get with homemade creations, something unique.
Some behind the scenes
At the party everyone loved them, even after we explained they could be a little spicy, no one had complaints. Just lots of compliments. A total winner! We will definitely make these again.
It seems sausage rolls are a big thing at the moment in the food world, noticing the lads over at Sortedfood making them own gourmet version, and the big man Jamie Oliver had a batch in an issue of Time Out.
If you want to try out the batch we made then watch the recipe on Scoff that we mentioned earlier. Click here.
Ingredients (Makes 30):
* 240g caster sugar
* 240g unsalted butter
* 240g self raising flour
* 4 eggs
* Zest of 2 lemons
* Half a lemon's juice
* Half a jar of lemon curd
* Icing sugar
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 200c. Pop the sugar in a large bowl and add the butter in small chunks, using a electric whisk to mix until combined. Sift in the flour, add the eggs and mix together until fully combined. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and mix together.
Line a baking tray with cupcake cases. Spoon a teaspoon of the cake mixture into the case, make a little well using the end of the teaspoon, and then add half a teaspoon of lemon curd. Top this with another teaspoon of cake mixture, and smooth over so the curd is all covered. Repeat this until all are done (we had to do several batches as we made so many!)
Bake for 15 minutes, until the tops are pale golden brown. Once cooled, dust with a little icing sugar.
A couple of weeks ago, we realised that neither of us have ever gone strawberry picking! We soon corrected that with a trip to Garsons in Esher. Garsons is a garden centre that also has a 'Pick Your Own' farm, with over 150 acres of land, where you can pick anything from berries, to carrots and even sunflowers!
We started off by heading over to the strawberry fields. After learning how to pick the proper way, we made a start on collecting a punnet full of lovely strawberries. It was so nice to see all the strawberries of all different sizes and shapes - quite different to the uniform ones you see in the supermarket! While we were there, we decided to also go and pick some raspberries and blackcurrants. We were expecting the stash that we'd picked to cost quite a bit but we were very impressed with how reasonable it was - we actually spent just over £5!
We froze half our strawberries, along with the raspberries and blackcurrants to make some smoothies with, and used the other half to make our strawberry and apple crumbles!
Ingredients (Makes 2): For the top: * 80g plain flour * 55g unsalted butter * 40g golden caster sugar * pinch of salt * 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the filling: * 1 medium cooking apple * 2 handfuls of strawberries * 25g golden caster sugar * 1 tbsp vanilla extract * 1 tsp ground cinnamon * juice of half a lemon
Instructions:
Peel and slice the cooking apple into chunks. Add to a saucepan and stir over the heat to soften. Add the golden caster sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and vanilla extract to the saucepan and mix together.
While the apple is softening, add the flour, butter, sugar, vanilla extract and salt to a bowl to make the crumble topping. Mix this together with your fingers to create a breadcrumb effect. Do this until all is mixed together.
Wash and chop your strawberries and add to the saucepan once the apple is soft. Stir together until the fruit is soft and the sauce is thicker. Add half of the mixture to each ramekin. Top with the crumble topping and pop into the over for 30 minutes at 180c. (you might want to pop the crumbles on a baking tray - it can get messy!!)
Your crumble will be ready when the top is golden. Serve with cream, ice cream or creme fraiche. (We chose the latter!)
The other week, Matthew watched a video from The Happy Pear, where they made a simple oat milk chocolate shake. We were amazed at how easy oat milk is to make, and were inspired to make our own.
Our batch was just 1 part standard oats (we bought a bag of porridge oats for £1) and 3 parts water, and then a heaped tablespoon of honey to give an added sweetness. The Happy Pear suggested to leave it over night, which we did, and like they said it made it taste extra sweet. After the overnight soak, we simply blended the mixture together and sieved through into a separate bowl.
Overnight it does separate, but blending a good shake sorts that
blending / sieving the oats / the left over result
We were so surprised at how great this tasted, it was so sweet. Basically tasted like soya milk, and more surprisingly quite thick. The perfect milk to go into a smoothie, so most mornings we've been making our Breakfast Smoothie.
This one batch, made about 6 smoothies between us, which is amazing, considering how cheap and easy it was to make. We'll definitely be making this more often!
Instructions:
Combine 2 tbsp of instant coffee granules and 100ml boiled water and mix together until all dissolved. Add the sugar, honey and vanilla extract and stir.
Add 300ml milk to the coffee mixture. Give it a stir and then add a tumbler of ice. Blend up until smooth.
We've been looking for a food market to head our way since moving into our flat a year ago. Then the other week, a flyer came through our door announcing that the West Hill Farmers Market would be coming to the area every Sunday!
The fresh bread looked so good, and the colourful pasta
We took our first trip at the weekend to grab some breakfast and some bits for the week too. We've been trying to get a bit healthier so what could be better than some nice farmers produce?!
There was a great range of fresh meat- we picked up the most awesome chicken from one of the stalls. It was so nice to actually be able to have a chat with the farmer you're buying from!
We also picked up some fresh greens for the week. Plus some delicious pastries and coffee for our breakfast. Looking forward to popping in regularly- there were so many more stalls we'd love to try things from!
¡Hola! We have just returned from a little trip to Barcelona and thought we'd update you all on the delicious food we had while we were away! Of course, top of the list was paella, tapas and sangria. Lauren had never been to Spain (or at least the mainland!) before so was really looking forward to trying some authentic Spanish cuisine.
A friend recommended that we visit Meson Jesus, a little family-run restaurant in the Gothic quarter of the city. We went for the paella and it didn't disappoint at all - a really authentic dining experience! Definitely worth a visit if you're in the city.
On our second morning, we took to Mercat de la Boqueria, a food market just off of Las Ramblas. We were amazed by the amount of fresh fruit and juices for sale, the colours were amazing and the range for sale included dragonfruit and other exotic fruits. And of course, we loved ALL of the meat. Except the skinned rabbits and sheep heads of course...they almost pushed us (well, Lauren at least!) to the verge of vegetarianism!
We couldn't visit without indulging in some tapas. We stumbled across a little place for tapas in a square near Barceloneta Beach while trying to shelter from a passing shower. The chicken croquettes here were among the best we've ever tasted!
Of course, we had a few treats! Sadly no churros (this time!) but we did have the most amazing ice lollies! After taking a trip to Park Guell, we spotted these amazing looking fruit ice lollies and had to stop and try them. I picked a coconut and strawberry lolly, and Matthew picked a kiwi and mango one. Safe to say, they were delicious and arguably healthy too as we could taste the real fruity bits! The little alleys in the city were home to so many little gelaterias which had such amazing ice cream, including blackcurrant, strawberry cheesecake and even Kinder Surprise flavour!
It would have been rude not to hang out at one of the many beach bars in Barcelona and enjoy some sangria. So, before heading back to London, that's exactly what we did. We'll be back Barcelona!
