Nigella Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars

I am not ashamed to say, that I am a bit of a Nigella fan.  I like the fact that she takes short cuts in recipes and is not afraid of using shop purchased items as a base for her recipes.

One of my long standing favourite recipes is the "Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars" which features on page 310/311 of her "Kitchen" recipe book.  I had forgotten all about this lovely treat till a memory popped up on Facebook which prompted me to make the bars again.

It is a simple recipe really, consisting of butter, syrup, milk and dark chocolate melted in a pan, then added to a bowl of crushed crunchie bars and salted peanuts.  But the taste is fabulous.  When I make it, I make a double batch as my friends absolutely love it.

When I make this, I always use disposable foil trays.  I find that they are easier to get out of them than solid tins.

Cauliflower Cheese with leeks and bacon - Yum!

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Now that the cooler weather has arrived, I find myself turning to comfort food.  Yesterday I made a beef stew, today I made a fabulous tasty cauliflower cheese.  It all goes in one tray so there's not too much washing up either!

I am pretty loose with my ingredients, as I tend to put in what is in the fridge or pantry.  Here's a rough guide of what you will need.

• A large cauli broken down into small florets (I have also used broccoli if I've not had much cauli to hand).
• Two leeks washed, stripped, cut into lengths and then into segements (semi circles).
• Ricotta Cheese (approx 200g)
• Creme Fraiche (approx 200g)
• Worcester Saunce - a dash
• Mature Cheddar, grated (approx 200g)
• Parmesan, grated (approx 50g) to be sprinkled on top 
• Bacon(chopped) or lardons (approx 100g) fried
• 2 roasted red peppers (the ones in the jar) diced
• Mustard powder (about half a teaspoon)
• Ground pepper for seasoning

Preheat the oven around 180.  Place the cauli florets in the dish and place in the oven for around 10-12 minutes (it gives the cauli a bit of a nutty flavour).

When the cauli is out of the oven, sprinkle with chopped red peppers and leeks.

In a bowl add the Creme Fraiche, Ricotta, Worcester Sauce, Mustard Powder,  grated mature cheese  and ground black pepper and mix together.  If you find the mixture a bit stiff to stir, then use a little milk to loosen the texture.

Spoon the mixture over the cauli, pepper and leeks.  Finally sprinkle the Parmesan Cheese on top.  

Pop in the middle of the oven for about thirty minutes, when it should be golden brown.

I like to leave my cauli cheese to rest for ten minutes before serving so that it soaks up any juices in the bottom of the baking dish.

Enjoy.  Sam x

Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

Today I had three helpers with baking, two eleven year olds and one nine year old.  I wanted to make something relatively easy but equally not be too run of the mill, so came across a recipe on-line.  

You can read the recipe here.

The recipe was pretty straight forward.  It does seem to make a lot of batter.  I found that it filled 12 paper cases and I didn't even need to scrape the bowl.

I love the tartness of the raspberries against the sweetness of the white chocolate.

I have to say my helpers were delightful girls and a pleasure to be with.  They were rewarded with an hour in the hot tub and a box of muffins each to take home.

Rocky Road with Maltesers

The daughter of our friend is eleven and she likes to bake, but her Mum doesn't, so as they were coming to visit, I thought we could make something quick while she was with us.

Fortunately, I had all the ingredients in the pantry so we were able to get cracking.  I did work from a recipe I found on line, but tweeked it a little here and there.

Ingredients

300g Dairy Milk Chocolate (for main recipe)
100g Dairy Milk Chocolate (for the topping)
100g Plain/dark Chocolate (for the topping)
200g Digestive Biscuits (crushed and chunky)
125g Butter
3 tablespoons Golden Syrup
100g Mini Marshmallows
Box of Maltesers

Grease & line a 7-9" square tin (I use a foil tray as it saves on washing up and it is easy to tear the bake away from the foil).

Place the 300g chocolate, syrup and butter into a saucepan and melt gently, stirring to make sure it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.  

Add the crushed biscuits, marshmallows and a handful of the maltesers and mix together.  Then press into the prepared tin or tray.

In a bowl, break up the remaining milk chocolate and plain/ dark chocolate and melt gently (I use the microwave but keep an eye on it).

Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the mix in the tin, pushing the chocolate to the edges and corners.  I then threw the remaining maltesers onto the chocolate top.  (My little helper also added mini eggs to the top so it's ideal as an Easter treat too).

Leave to set before cutting up into about 16 portions.  (You can accelerate the setting time by popping it into the fridge for half an hour).

I'm not even going to think about the calorie count of this, but you will definitely need a cup of tea or coffee with this!

Enjoy.

Sam xxx

Yum Yum, It's Cake Time

The cake tin was empty so I decided to make what we know in our house as Yum Yum cake.  The recipe is pretty informal, so you can throw in or leave out anything that suits.  

Recipe:

250g Butter (very soft, close to melting)

2 cups of Self Raising Flour

3/4 cup of Sugar

3 eggs (whisked)

1 cup Sultananas

1 cup of Raisins

1 cup of Currents

1 cup of Glace Cherries (halved)

Handful of Pecan/Walnuts or Brazil nuts (chopped into large chunks)

A sprinkle of sugar for the top

Preheat the oven to 130 and grease a baking tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the whisked eggs, fold in the flour and remaining ingredients (if the mixture is very stiff, you can add a splash of milk).  Put the mixture in the baking tin and cook for 35-40 minutes.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

(I individually wrap each portion and pop it in the freezer as it's great when you have an urge for cake and there's nothing about, especially when defrosted in the microwave).

Sweet Potato, Carrot & Red Lentil Soup

It's another hottie outside so I'm staying in.  I like to batch cook and the last couple of days i've had a craving for home made soup, so I've made a huge batch of Sweet Potato, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup.  (If you're on Slimming World, this is ideal as it's free).

When I make a soup like this, I don't weigh & measure my ingredients, I just throw them in and see what I get.  So the recipe below is quite loose.

Onions, Celery and garlic chopped/crushed and fried using Frylite.
Chop the sweet potato and the carrots and add to a pan of boiling water with a chicken or beef stock cube in it.  Then add the fried onion, celery & garlic mix.  I usually add a squirt of tomato puree and mixed herbs and season.  Then add about half a bag of red lentils.  Bring to the boil then turn down to simmer.  

I make a large batch and then freeze it in portion sizes.

Sam x

Rocky Road Bars

Today I made a batch of Rocky Road chocolate bars. 

I tweaked the recipe, by adding part milk chocolate and I used digestive biscuits instead of Rich Tea biscuits as that was what I had.  In hindsightt, I should have stuck to the recipe as the combination made it a bit greasy.  Here's the link to the recipe I used
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Rainy Day Baking

It's still raining. The builders arrived but were not able to progress with the build of the craft room because of the weather, so they have gone home for the day.

The cake tin was empty, so I made a Victoria Sponge Cake and a slab of Very Chocolatey Brownies. The brownie recipe is one that I found on line, you can view the recipe here. It's an amazing recipe. The brownie has both a crisp and moistness and is absolutely yummy.

Funny how smells trigger memories. I love the smell of the house when I'm baking as it reminds me of my childhood.