Claire's Cake Bake & Other Foodiness

My mum kindly offered my services a few weeks back to bake some cakes for the cake stall at the Zoes Place Summer Fete.

It seemed like a great idea at the time, come Saturday evening post-baking it seemed altogether exhausting.  We arrived to set up our stall very last minute, but despite the rush, it was nothing less than a huge success.

Every year Zoe’s have a cake stall & the local Greggs bakers supply them with numerous freebies to sell so we had a front stall of homemade cakes and a side stall of Greggs baked goodies.  I am pleased to say that the homemade cakes sold out quickly & we were left with lots of Greggs muffins and cookies but by the end of the day everything had been eaten.

Between us, we made:

• 3 sandwich cakes
• tray of rocky road
• tray of mars bar rice crispy bake
• 24 sponge cakes with icing
• 24 rolo cupcakes
• chocolate muffins
• blueberry muffins
• chocolate cornflake cakes

We’re not sure of the final figure but it looks like we made just over £200 which will be doubled by my mum’s work, so it was certainly worth an exhausting days baking.

Yet another quick dish I’ve thrown together. It is filling and rather tasty in a zesty kind of a way.

Ingredients

• 2 Tuna Steaks
• 1 lime
• 1 red chilli
• Olive oil
• Tin of mixed beans (Soya beans, Chick Peas, Pinto Beans, Black Eye Beans, Red Kidney Beans & Aduki Beans)
• Mixed salad leaves - we used rocket, spinach and watercress
• 3 tomatoes

Method

• Rinse Tuna & put in a dish so that they can lie down next to each other
• Squeeze juice of lime & a good glug of olive oil over tuna
• Chop chilli finely & add to tuna - cover dish & pop in fridge for 20 minutes
• Put griddle pan on to heat up
• Drain tin of bean & rinse well
• Put tuna in griddle pan, pour over excess liquid, season with salt and pepper - cook as you like it
• Place a good handful of leaves on a plate, sprinkle over a good handful of beans & place tomatoes around the side
• Place tuna steak on top of salad & serve

Delicous and healthy, even if I do say so myself.

On the rare occasion I have to make dinner for one, I’ll often opt for a cheeky little creamy mushroom pasta type dinner as Anthony isn’t a fan of the humble mushroom.

Tonight we were supposed be enjoying sausages from Hollies Farm Shop in Northwich (a new discovery when we bought a new car from the area a week or so ago).

However, Anthony had to have a tooth out this afternoon so wasn’t up for anything but soup and with sausages on the intended menu, that certainly means he really couldn’t eat anything.

Back to the mushrooms though. Every time I make something like this it is just thrown together at the drop of a hat, no recipe in sight. Tonight’s was quite delicious & I thought it about time I share (& post!).

Mushroom & Thyme Pasta for One

• 6 Chestnut mushrooms
• 1/2 small white onion, chopped
• Sprig of fresh thyme
• 2 Tablespoons low fat creme fraiche
• Pasta

Carry on reading & leave a comment…

In this weeks vegetable box we got some Chicory. Its actually something I’ve never eaten before.  So after a quick flick through my vegetable guide - aka Sarah Ravens Garden Cookbook - I discovered that chicory, if eaten raw, can be quite bitter, but once cooked it can be delicious. I opted for the cooked version and we ended up with quite a pleasant Sunday lunch (though not in the traditional sense).

Braised Chicory for two - lunch sized portion

• 2 pieces of Chicory
• 4 slices prosciutto chopped into small strips
• Salt & Black pepper
• 15g unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon water
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• 100ml double cream

Method

1. Butter a small oven proof dish & put oven on a low heat (100°c)
2. Arrange chicory in the bowl and dot with little knobs of butter & the strips of prosciutto
3. Season with salt & pepper
4. Put a piece of greaseproof paper over the dish & put on lid (mine didn’t have one so I used tinfoil)
5. Braised in oven for 40 minutes until tender & lightly browned
6. Take out of oven and add lemon juice & cream
7. Serve with crusty bread

I just wanted to pop by & say Hello. Things in real life have been hectic the last few weeks for many various reasons - the best being I’ve started riding lessons on a Tuesday night with a lovely horse called Larry (in fact Tuesdays have been renamed Larryday in this household)

With everything going on I’ve not been making many exciting new dishes & resorting to quick, easy, tried & tested ones so I’ve not had much to report.

The only nice tasty meal I can report back about is a steak & cous cous salad we enjoyed a little while back…

Quite a simple cous cous with green beans, a little red onion and chickpeas served with a steak cut into slices & marinated in a little oil with some spicey herb rub.  Quick, simple but very nice.

Last weekend I made some Lamington cupcakes as a ‘Get Well Soon’ gesture for my brother who had just had an operation.

I had intended on following Bill Granger’s recipe for Lamingtons themselves but the sponge mix didn’t set and with 6 eggs in it I wasn’t overly surprised. So after a quick re-think I whizzed up a batch of Nigella’s trusty cupcakes and then topped each with lamington icing.

Carry on reading & leave a comment…