Monday 28 February 2011

The Dreaded Banoffee Pie

The last time I had Banoffee pie was at a friend of my parents barbecue party and I was about 12 years old. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever eaten (not much has come close since then) and I have never ventured anywhere near it since. Making this was going to be a big hurdle so I thought I would get it over and done with early on. I like the four parts of this pie individually so in theory I should like it all, digestive biscuit base, caramel layer (tin), bananas cooked in butter and then a vanilla cream on the top. Now, I have a sweet tooth, but this was on another level. It did taste good, but I'm not in a rush to order it from a menu in a restaurant. If your looking for a simple pudding to make for after your Sunday dinner then this is the one.

Sunday 27 February 2011

Glam Mac 'n' Cheese







Here we go, were off! In our house Macaroni Cheese is always our emergency food, we’ve always got cheese, flour, butter and milk in the house, and to make it a little more exciting bacon and ketchup. Where this Glam version is different is the addition of spring onions and using blue cheese, along with a breadcrumb crunchy topping. I am totally converted by the crunchy top. I also think using blue cheese makes it so much easier to make, just tear and drop in and it melts, no more grating, which or course saves washing up! It’s really rich, Zoe lapped it up though, which is always a good thing. Highly recommend, emergency mac and cheese just won’t be the same.

Friday 25 February 2011

Getting Organised, and Overwhelmed!

It finally dawned on me recently that I wasn't going to get anywhere near baking the book if I simply opened it up at the beginning of the week and picked a recipe. So I sat down and created lists, which I love to do, lists of types of meals where I could place the right food in the right place. So I have family meals, puddings, one offs and treats. As I was writing these lists in became apparently clear what a huge thing this is going to be, and how long its going to take. A lot of the recipes can be slipped into our normal family meals, such as fish pie but then there are other things, like the fig and mint tart which will need an occasion. Perhaps when I'm nearing the end I'll have a party and make all the odd things left over at the end!

Friday 18 February 2011

The Plan

Anyone who knows me will know that I have a slight obsession with all things cake and baking. My ultimate baking for a long time has been Mary Berry, who is always my go to in times of trouble. However, a newcomer is going to take that title, Lorraine Pascale. She manages to make even the most daunting of tasks seem simple and isn't afraid to take shortcuts and say it's ok, shop bought pastry is not a sin! Well, having bought her book and tried a couple of recipes, which have been successful I really want to try the rest and give myself a bit of a challenge, so I am going to go through the book front to back and blog about it on the way, not original I know, but I want to share my successes and highly likely failures, and maybe inspire a few others to bake a batch or two!