Going old school

Well last night I went to my first Royal British Legion meeting, where I was made a member of my local branch. To say it was interesting was an understatement but hey ho I will get them busy soon doing all sorts of stuff. They do a great job for those that have served in the forces and I can't wait to get involved. Will keep you updated with what we get up to.

Today I really fancied a jam roly poly. I can't stand the ones you can buy frozen and so out came the suet. I have a step by step guide coming up if you want my recipe. I told the girls on the way home what I had made for pudding and they practically ran all the way home lol.

Here is my recipe.

You will need

250g self raising flour

50g caster sugar plus a teaspoon

125g shredded suet

8 tablespoons water

jam (I don't measure it out just spread it on)

one egg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a bowl put the flour, sugar (except one teaspoon), suet.

add the water mixing until a dough forms, don't make it sticky!!

roll out onto a floured surface

spread jam all over leaving a border of around half an inch wide all the way round

spread border with egg and fold over to prevent jam spilling out when cooking

spread border with egg again

starting at one side roll into a tube shape and seal the join.

cover all over with egg wash, sprinkle over the remaining sugar and the cinnamon, bake in a preheated oven to 200c for 30 - 40 mins

You should end up with something like this.

I also tried something new for dinner too. I created some great chicken wraps. There was not much left at the end as everyone wanted second and third helpings which I didn't really mind.

I cut a green, yellow, and red pepper, an onion, 2 large carrots and 500g chicken breasts into strips.

I fried off the chicken until brown, added some cajun spice mix and the veg, then added 200g soft cheese and 100g cheddar cheese.

Once all combined put into wraps simple and tasty and got quite a lot of veg into the kids. Here is all that was left.

I have also finished off a cross stitch it is only a bookmark but it got me started with the stitching bug again.

Here it is as a finished bookmark

I also have a great teacher thank you gift that I will be making with the kids to give to their teachers at the end of term so I will post that up as soon as we have done it.

I will be going out to buy the ingredients tomorrow and we will hopefully be doing it tomorrow night if not it will be Thursday night (well we do have to have them done for Friday!!)

If you have any thoughts about recipes you would like me to try or any questions about the things I have done then please feel free to leave me a comment on here.

Birthday Party

I am going purple with my writing today in honour of my little girl whose favourite colour is purple.

Well yesterday and today have been fun, 16 screaming kids and a ton of baking to do. It wouldn't have been so bad if my electric mixer hadn't died on me half way through baking my buns but hey ho I got there on the end lol.

So today is Emily's 6th birthday, and she had a party on the Sunday. Thirteen of her friends turned up which was lovely and she got some great pressies. Almost had a panic attack when the room wasn't open when we got there but got it sorted out quite quickly so that was good.

My niece had her 6th birthday party on Saturday. This is my three ready to go. Emily loves to have her hair curly though it takes me ages to do and lasts for about 15 mins before it all drops out despite copious amounts of hairspray.

Emily and Millie were born 3 days apart it was a race to give birth to them to see who would be first both went over our due dates Millie by one day and Emily by five. She still procrastinates lol.

This is Emily's birthday cake. How lovely does that look!!

Anyway back to Emily's birthday preparations I have done a step by step guide to all my recipes if you want to try them out.

Firstly I made the buns/cupcakes.

To make 35 cupcakes

You will need

400g Self raising flour

400g Caster sugar

400g margarine

8 medium eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

Step One 

cream the margarine and sugar together. do this as long as you can the whiter and creamier you get this bit the better.

Step Two

Add half eggs and mix until combined, then add half flour and baking powder.

Step Three

repeat step two and then mix until creamy and smooth

Step Four

Divide mix into paper cases and bake for 20 mins at 200c

Step Five

Once cooked and golden brown on top remove and allow to cool

This is my recipe for butter cream icing to go on the top which you can do while the cakes are cooling.

You will need

250g Unsalted butter

500g icing sugar

1teaspoon vanilla extract

beat the butter until soft, add icing sugar a little at a time and mix in thoroughly add vanilla and keep on mixing until all combined, soft and smooth.

If like me you don't have a piping bag (because your friend borrowed it and never returned it) then spoon the mix into a polythene food bag

Secure the top with a twixit clip and cut of a small corner and there you have it a bag ready for piping. Store in fridge until you are ready to pipe.

you will end up with something that looks like this

I also made some other little things here are step by step guides to do them too.

Bacon and cheese bites

You will need

a 24 cup mini muffin pan (mine is from Pampered Chef available from me at www.pamperedchef.biz/traceyw )here

A mini tart shaper (again from Pampered Chef here)

260g shortcrust pasty

3 rashers smoked bacon

100g grated cheddar cheese

3 eggs

cut up  your bacon into small pieces and fry off. (I used my Pampered Chef pan as there is no need for oil)

combine your bacon cheese and eggs in a bowl.

shape your tarts by putting a ball of around 10-11g of pastry into each well and pressing your shaper into each one.

divide the mix between the wells and bake for 15-20 mins at 200c. remove and allow to cool.

Mini cheese and onion tartlets

You will need

24 cup mini muffin pan (see above)

260g shortcrust pastry

100g grated cheddar cheese

half an onion

3 eggs

finely chop your onion I used my Manual Food Processor  (available from here) 

add your cheese and egg and mix until combined

shape tarts as before and divide mix between wells

bake for 15-20 mins at 200c

I then made some mini lemon tarts which is just shaping your pastry as above and adding a teaspoon of lemon curd into each well

I also made some toffee apple tartlets which again you shape your pastry as above, combine luxury toffee sauce (about 2 tablespoons) with 2 apples cut into small chunks.

Divide mix between the wells and bake for 15-20 mins at 200c

Here is Emily blowing out the candles on her cake

Happy Birthday Honey!!!