Eating clean?

My pinterest feed seems to be full of 'clean' eating recipes at the minute, which seems to mainly be code for eating fresh unprocessed foods. At least I think that's what it is. I might have got distracted when I was reading about it.

However, there was one recipe which caught my eye, for a smoothie which tastes of apple pie and is incredibly filling. I've been mainly having this for breakfast this week and I throughly recommend it.

Ingredients

5 raw almonds
1 red apple
1 banana
3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup nonfat milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Core and slice the apple, chop up the almonds and slice the banana.  The turf the whole lot in a blender and blend for 1 minute on high speed.

It makes one 16-ounce serving for a total of 382 calories and it really does keep you full into lunch time.  Best of all, I can make it the night before, then take the flask from the fridge in the morning and drink it after my cycle to work.

In search of the perfect cake

Several weeks ago, some friends and were at the literary and philosophy festival 'HowTheLightGetsIn' held in Hay on Wye.  Hanging out in literary and philosophy festivals is what I do now that I am a proper adult, I'll have you know.

While we were there, suffering from an almighty hangover (adult - really) I had some of the best cake in the world ever.  Seriously, this was the best cake I have ever put in my mouth ever.  I was accosting strangers and demanding that they taste it, it was that good. It was moist and sweet, yet not too sweet and tart and tangy and moist.  I know I said moist twice, which from someone who really doesn't like the word moist is a lot, but there is no other way to describe it.

Obviously I wanted to try and recreate this as soon as possible.  So I read some recipes and then tried this one.

Lemon polenta cake

• 6oz/175g unsalted butter, softened
• 8oz/225g caster sugar
• 7oz/200g ground almonds
• 3 large eggs
• Zest of 4 whole lemons and juice of 1
• 4oz/115g polenta
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 325F/160C/gas mark 3. Line an 8” (20cm) tin with baking parchment.

• Put all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz to a smooth batter.

• Spoon into the lined tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out with no uncooked batter on it. Cool in the tin. 

And you know what, it was ok.  I think if I hadn't had the first, perfect version then I would have been quite content with it.  But it wasn't as good as it should have been.  It didn't sing the way that festival cake did.  I didn't even bother to take a picture of the cake for you.

There's nothing for it, I am going to have to try again.

And while I'm trying, if you want some evidence of us being literary and adult at HowTheLightGetsIn, before the cake changed my life, you can hear us participating in this debate which was recorded that morning on the future of love, which will be aired on 3rd July on radio 3.

Beautiful Cake

As I mentioned I was up in Aberdeen last weekend, visiting family.  On Saturday evening one of my cousins and his new wife came over for dinner and my poor sister was faced with catering for both a vegetarian and non-fish eater (me) in the same meal.

She and my brother in law produced amazing lamb kofta kebabs and homemade falafel, with wraps, a gorgeous herby salad and a delicious spicy yogurt.  

 I offered to make dessert and to keep in with the middle eastern theme decided to make Rachel Allen’s Lime, Pistachio and Rosewater yogurt cake.  I really love this cake.  It is so easy to make and tastes like Turkish delight in a light, moist, cakey form. And it’s really pretty.

Ingredients

•  225 g self-raising flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
•   1 pinch salt 
• 75 g ground almonds 
• 100 g caster sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 generous tbsp or 50g runny honey
•  250 ml natural yogurt 
• 150 ml sunflower oil 
• 1 lime, finely grated zest only 

Take the flour, baking powder, salt, ground almonds and sugar and sift together in a large bowl.  Then take the eggs, honey, yogurt, oil and lime zest and mix together in another bowl/measuring jug. 

 Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until completely combined.  Tip into a lined 22cm round tin and then bake in a preheated oven at 180 for 40-50 minutes.

My big sister’s oven is quite a lot hotter than mine, so I’ve got to admit I burnt the cake a tiny little bit.  But it turned out ok in the end.

For the syrup

• 150 ml water
• 100 g caster sugar
• 1 lime, juice only
• 1-2 tbsp rose water

Make up the syrup by mixing together the water and sugar and keeping on a gentle boil until the liquid reduces by half.  Add the lime juice and boil for two minutes longer.  Take off the heat and add the rosewater.

Then, using a skewer, make holes all over the top of the cake.  Slowly pour on the syrup and leave to settle for an hour.

For decorating

• 50 g unsalted pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
• rose petals, (optional)

Scatter on the pistachios and rose petals and serve.  We served it with some crème fraiche, with a lime zested over.

told you it was pretty

Unexpected Sunny Days

Something strange has happened this year. We've had not one but two beautiful sunny, hot bank holiday weekends in May. This is made stranger as I took the boy up to Aberdeen for the second weekend, so he could meet the remaining elements of my family.

Before we left I had been scaring him with tales of his very blood freezing in the cold North. 

But instead, this was the scene which greeted us on Saturday afternoon as we sauntered along the beach. We might even have paddled in the North Sea.

On such a gorgeous day, it seemed only right that we celebrated with some summery cocktails before dinner.  I had previously found a recipe for thyme martinis, which I had palmed off to my parents to test for me.  Their reports had been positive, and as all the ingredients were to hand it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Thyme Martini

2 measures of gin

1 measure of limoncello

1 measure of line juice

Shake over ice, garnish with some sprigs of thyme which have been grilled on the BBQ for 30 seconds and serve

Elegant Insults

There are two things that I really love in life.  A well placed greeting card and well constructed and heartfelt swear.  Why wouldn't I love something that combines both of these things?

I very rarely recommend products on this blog, but I can't help myself with these cards by Calligraphuck.  They're brilliant. I highly suggest that you all go and buy one for someone, anyone.

I sent this one to the boy last week.

I'm waiting for a good opportunity to send this one, next.  Maybe as a wedding card.

And unless something better comes along (which is highly unlikely) this is totally going to be next year's Valentine's card.

Not only are the cards brilliantly entertaining.  They're excellent quality and really lovely things.  Best of all they come with beautiful butterfly close envelopes. 

Anyway - go forth, buy insulting gorgeous cards and send them to random people.  It will make the world a better place.

How to distract a group of mid thirties from ranting about restricted parking zones.

With surprise cake of course.

This is actually what I have spent most of the weekend ranting about.  George Ferguson's proposed residents parking scheme, because it is one of the worst thought out ideas in the world ever.  I'm not going to start talking about it here, because I won't stop and you'll never find out about surprise cake.  Which would be a shame, because the cake is good.  As is the surprise.

To make surprise cake you will need

For the cakes

• 6 eggs
• 12 oz flour
• 12 oz sugar
• 12 oz butter
• teaspoon baking powder
• teaspoon vanilla essence.

Line four round tins with baking paper and make up the sponge mix.  Split evenly between the tins and bake at 180 for 20 minutes, or until the sponge is light golden and set.

Turn the cakes out of the tins and cool on wire racks.

Once the cakes are cooled, take two of them and cut a four inch circle out of the middle of each of them.  I cut round a ramekin.  Remove the centre circle.

For the Butter Icing

• 10 oz icing sugar
• 5oz butter
• splash of milk

Mix together until a light fluffy consistency.

Take one of the complete cakes and pop on the plate you're going to serve the cake on.  Then take one of the cakes with the middle removed and spread butter icing on the bottom, stack on top of the bottom cake.  Repeat with the next cake with the middle removed.  At this point you should have one complete cake left (the lid).

Fill the hollow in the middle of the cake with whatever you want.  I used M&Ms.  Other sweet treats are available.  Layer on the lid and then ice the whole thing with butter icing.

 

  Then when you cut the cake the sweets spill out of the middle.  Fun idea huh?

The perfect summer drink

I think I have found the perfect new drink for summer.  By found, I mean that Charlie sent me a link to it after she found it on Pinterest.  I'm not actually sure what we did in the days before Pinterest.  Probably drank and ate all the same things all the time.  Or actually read recipe books.  One or the other.

Anyway, this drink is awesome.  I fully intend to drink nothing else this summer.  In fact I like it so much I actually invested in an ice crusher.

Smashed Raspberry Lemonade

For this drink you will need the following

• handful of raspberries
• teaspoon of raw sugar
• 2 shots of limoncello
• 2 shots of triple sec
• 1 shot of lemon juice
• lots of crushed ice
• soda water
• assorted silly things like straws, cocktails sticks, slices of lemon and kilner jars to make it look appropriately poncey.

So, take a handful of raspberries and a teaspoon of raw sugar and throw in the bottom of a glass/kilner jar.  Muddle these together.

Add the alcohol and lemon juice, then fill the rest of the jar/glass with crushed ice.  Top off with soda water and drink.

Look how pretty it is!  And how shiny and nice my little sister's work surfaces are. 

As you probably gathered, I made these while I was up visiting my little sister recently.  So just for good measure, here are some pictures of her and her gorgeous boyfriend modelling the drinks like pros.

 

Aren't they pretty?