Of chocolate bellies and healthy choices...

I think I may have overdone the chocolate indulgence a little over Easter :-)  I was given a lovely large dark chocolate egg which was delicious...note the use of the word "was" - no wonder I feel ready to pop!  No regrets though - it's Easter only once a year (just as well).

The latest giveaway was really exciting for me as I was keen to share the River Cottage bread book and it was lovely that people took the time to take part.  Well done to the winner, Pigsmightfly!  I will do another giveaway next month, so it's worth keeping an eye out for the announcements.  In the meantime I will think of a suitable prize... :-)

I might have to eat a few lighter things over the next few days, so that I can still fit into my clothes after my chocolate binge.  One of my favourites is a simple fish dish: trout cooked in a foil parcel.  Not only is it simple and quick but it's also tasty and doesn't cost the earth.  The last time I made this, I served it with small new potatoes and salad. The whole thing takes less than half an hour to prepare and cook and for me, it ticks all the boxes when I want something a bit healthier to eat and don't have much time. 

Now all we need is the temperatures around here to rise a bit and this will become a regular on our summer menu...

Giveaway winner!!!

It's 8:20am and I have just drawn the winner of the latest giveaway prize, the River Cottage Bread book....There were 6 lovely comments on Monday's post (plus one from me but that doesn't count), so I threw a die to get a number (4), counted down the list four places and found the winner...PIGSMIGHTFLY!  Congratulations!  Please email me your address (my email is in my profile) and I can send the book to you :-)

To everyone who took part, thank you so much!  There will be another giveaway next month, so please look out for the announcements.

I will write another post in a couple of hours with a recipe - just wanted to announce the winner first as promised :-)

The Great Easter Giveaway

It's Monday, 1st April and this is no joke:  here is the Great Easter Giveaway! 

The prize: a copy of the wonderful River Cottage Handbook Bread! 

I love this book and I hope the winner will too!  It definitely has become my bread bible and so far, every recipe I have tried has come out really well.  It is so well written and the recipes so easy to follow that even as a novice bread baker, I have found these recipes straightforward.

The rules:  as per the previous giveaway, simply leave a comment on today's post and I will draw the winning name out of a hat.  Given the time difference to some countries, I will draw the winner on Wednesday, 3rd April at 8am UK time, so as long as you have commented by then, you will be in with a chance to win.

Good luck and thank you for taking part!

Rabbit-proof fence...and the giveaway prize...

I promised to share my cake with you today.  It's taken me a little longer because I had run out of KitKats (other chocolate fingers are also available ;-)) and Mr Happy Larder had to dash to the shops to get some more.  So, finally, here it is:

I hope it tastes good - fingers crossed!  I saw the KitKat fence idea a little while ago online and thought that would make the ideal decoration.  Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw it but if I do, I will let you know.  The cake itself is just a simple chocolate sponge with a layer of chocolate ganache in the middle and on the outside.  Ganache is something I had never made before but it is very easy - it's basically just heated double cream with melted chocolate.  Once cooled you can use it to create a wonderful even glaze on a cake or leave it a little longer and it becomes pipeable and spreadable for cake decoration.  The little carrots in the picture are shop-bought, the rabbits (recognise Karl?) are made out of marzipan and the lawn is just a bit of green icing, rolled out thinly.  The ribbon came from one of my birthday presents - I knew it would come in handy one day :-).  So, all in all not a difficult cake at all but I am very pleased with the result and hope my niece and sister-in-law will be too.

I had also promised you some more details about the next giveaway.  Please remember to stop by on Monday, leave a comment and you are in with a chance to win a copy of the River Cottage Handbook BREAD.  It is an absolute gem of a book and got me into making my own bread, so I hope the winner will enjoy it as much as I do.  Also, there is a US version available, so I can get that one for the winner if preferred.

Right, time to lay the table for coffee and cake now...

Have a very happy Easter!

PS:  recipes for the chocolate sponge & ganache to follow shortly...

Ready!

I really am not too sure where the day has gone today!  The house is now guest-ready, I have per-cooked a couple of simple meals (of the meatballs & pasta variety) and the cake is almost done.  That's probably where the time went :-).  It was my niece's birthday a couple of weeks ago and my sister-in-law's is tomorrow, so I wanted to make a cake - I hope they will like it!  I will post pictures and the recipe tomorrow so that I don't give away the surprise today :-).   I had made a rainbow cake for my other niece a little while ago, so I have to follow it with something equally nice.  It's only fair, isn't it?  

I love having guests and making all the preparations - it means that when everyone is here, there will be no stress and we can just enjoy ourselves rather than slaving away in the kitchen.  I usually make a menu plan for the visit and prepare and precook as much as possible.  It's busy and quite full-on right now but will be very relaxing over the weekend - perfect!  For now, I shall collapse on the sofa for a bit but don't forget to come back tomorrow to see the cake and also to find out more about Monday's giveaway!

We had steak at the weekend - bought from a wonderful indoor market in Swansea where you can buy pretty much anything from potatoes to pajamas.  I like supporting the traders, many of whom are farmers and local businesses and so far, we have really enjoyed the produce.  That is until we bought the steaks from one of the stalls - the meat wasn't cheap and looked good, so we were very much looking forward to our dinner.  What a disappointment!  Not only did the meat taste less than average, there was so much water coming out of it after grilling that we could not believe it - that must have been one thirsty cow!  Seriously though, I was pretty annoyed - we will still buy at the market but avoid that particular stall.

Little treasures...

I was thinking this morning that every time I use one of my mum's recipes, I am only satisfied with the result if it tastes exactly like hers :-)  Even if my dish is nice - if it doesn't taste like my mum's, it's not right.  As a little girl she learned to cook and bake from watching her mother and I guess that's how it happened for me as well.  Having a mum (or dad, for that matter) in the house cooking and baking is a very good inspiration.

My mum makes the best baked cheesecake in the world!  It has a hint of vanilla to it and she sometimes puts raisins into it as well - delicious.  Her recipe uses quark (a type of soft curd cheese) and the cake is just lovely and light.  I will ask her for the recipe, so I can share it with you.

In the meantime I have one for baked mini cheesecakes that I think you will enjoy.  We found that these tasted best the day after baking which is ideal if you want to prepare something for guests in advance.  They also freeze incredibly well - just defrost and you have fresh cheesecakes.  Perfect! 

I will give you the original recipe below which uses cranberries - I replaced these with tinned cherries, cut up into small pieces and put a spoonful of cherry sauce on top (made by reducing some of the juice from the tin plus a few cherry pieces and some sugar over a medium heat).  I also used a different base for the cakes as described below.

Mhm...I could do with one of these little treasures right now...

Almost Easter...and another give-away

Hot Cross Buns...

We have just finished our dinner (fish pie - yummy!), the dog is asleep and I can finally get round to writing my blog post.  It's been a busy day - with Easter fast approaching, I am getting a few things ready for our visitors.  I am hoping the sun will come out, so we can go for walks etc - an Easter egg hunt outside might be pushing it a bit.


I have baked a batch of hot cross buns (they are a traditional Easter bread here) - I have popped these in the freezer...they will taste freshly made once defrosted and toasted.  They will be fab for our Easter breakfast :-)

Karl...

I have also made some of the decorations for our Easter cake. This is the first one, made out of marzipan (the little carrot is shop-bought & made out of chocolate).  I have named the little fellow Karl but now I am not sure I will be able to eat him.

Note to self:  never name your cake decorations if you are planning on eating them! :-)

Before I forget, I am planning another give-away to take place on Monday, 1st April (no April fools joke!).  So, if you missed out last time, please remember to visit the blog next week Monday, leave a comment on the day and I will draw the winner from all entries.  The prize is a great one which I hope you will enjoy...more details soon!

Have a great start to your week!

The comfort of old friends...

We have gale-force winds and pouring rain today and Keith the dog was not impressed when he found out that the weather in the park (where he desperately wanted to go) was exactly the same as the one in the garden (where he really didn't want to go because of the rain).  After 20 minutes of trotting around in the wet, he had enough and we came back - needless to say that we are both still trying to dry off.

It's been a busy few days with little time for trying out new recipes.  I did cook but relied on our trusted favourites - sometimes you just need the comfort of knowing exactly what ends up on your plate :-)  It's almost like spending time with old friends - no need to explain anything, just enjoying the company. So we had sausages with homemade coleslaw and baked potatoes, savoury mince with rice and peas and stuff like that - easy & yummy at the same time.

One of the dishes I did make that I want to share with you is this fish dish: salmon wrapped in pancetta (a very thinly sliced bacon).  I love how the pancetta goes all crispy and the fish stays lovely and moist!  We had this with a creamy dill sauce and served mine with pasta and Mr Happy Larder's with crispy potato cubes - both worked equally well and with a handful of mangetout on the side made a tasty and complete meal. 

The wrapped salmon does also work really well with potato gratin (you can find the recipe here) and you can also add herbs before wrapping up the pancetta...sage leaves are great for this but why not try basil for a change?  I hope you will love this dish as much as we do.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I will spend my time trying out a few new recipes, so I will have plenty to share with you coming up to Easter :-)

A good start to the day

The start of another week after a relaxing weekend.  We took Keith the dog for his walks and watched a fabulous game of rugby on TV where Wales beat England.  Brilliant!  Being neither Welsh nor English I could just watch it for the fun of it :-)

I love weekends!  Coffee, reading newspapers and relaxing over breakfast is just too lovely for words (even if it doesn't happen like that very often).  Before going out walking this Sunday, I wanted to make a breakfast that would really set us up.  A little while ago I watched a cookery programme on TV which featured these little treasures and I have wanted to try these ever since: "croque madame muffins" - although I'd describe them as "egg cups".  How cute are these?  And not only that, they are absolutely delicious and easy to make but look impressive enough to serve to guests.  

I love how you can adapt these to your taste - I included ham and spinach in ours to make a kind of eggs florentine version but you could easily leave these out.  If you are a vegetarian, then these are also great - no need to have the ham in them if you don't want to.  

I'd really recommend you'd give these a go!