I'll show you productive

A quick check of the calendar last week revealed that this weekend would be the first one I would be spending at home in 4 weeks. That left me with 2 warring factions of my brain;

Side A: Oh my god brilliant you must sit about and do knack all and celebrate the fact that you don’t have to go anywhere or see anyone
Side B: Do not waste this weekend.

The fact is that I’m not really brilliant at just sitting around. Don’t get me wrong I can veg like the very best of them but sometimes I just get a little itchy and don’t like the feeling of just being slumped on the sofa staring blankly at the television. Hence even when I’m watching some incredibly mind expanding programme like The Hills or Hollyoaks, I’m usually doing something else whether it be cross stitch or crochet or, less often, ironing.

I decided to please both sides of the brain. There would be time for vegging but I was determined the weekend would not be completely unproductive.

Saturday included the very boring task of going shopping. For the first time ever I planned out in advance what we would be having for tea this week and needed a few extra bits. Then it was time to make start on a friend’s birthday present.

Her birthday was the day before mine. As in 3rd April. And I saw what I wanted to get her in February. I bought it and congratulated myself on my superb organisation powers. Then I promptly forgot to get around to actually making the damn thing. If only one thing would be achieved this weekend it would be the making of the guinea pig.

Yeah. I bought a little ready to sew up kit and made her a guinea pig. Because she has guinea pigs. And, you know, I’m hilarious.

I’d put this off because I looked at the instructions a while back and nearly gave myself a brain aneurism trying to figure out what in god’s name it was on about. Luckily for me, the boyfriend speaks Incomprehensible Sewing Instructions so he was there to let me know what I was supposed to be stitching to what.

The end result? Probably the funniest gift ever. I don’t know why but every time I look at it I want to dissolve into giggles. Just look at him.

Fred was slightly less than impressed with my efforts but I’m hoping my friend will appreciate it and forgive me for being a month too late.

I thought Sunday was going to be a write off because I had a night on the town on Saturday but I must be getting sensible in my old age because I jumped in a friend’s taxi at midnight, rather than keeping on going until the early hours. (Truth be told I would have carried on partying like a rockstar but there’s one thing you need to know about Hull. There are no taxis. Seriously. There are none. Don’t even think about going out without booking one to come home and even then it most likely won’t turn up.)

Things weren’t looking brilliant on Sunday. I spent the morning lying on the floor where I’d fallen asleep (I was trying to fix my bad back, which hadn’t totally appreciated me going out in 4 inch heels. Tell you what though, alcohol? Best painkiller ever. Didn’t feel a thing all night), watching Hollyoaks and thinking really hard about getting out of my pyjamas.

I had a sudden spurt of energy about 3pm and got my backside in the kitchen where I made Simone's Cherry & Sultana cake. The verdict? So so good. And even better still warm from the oven with a cup of tea. Oh. My. God.

I also made a Spinach & Ricotta Chicken Lasagne which J had featured on her blog a while ago. You have got to try this out. It was beyond good. What’s beyond good? Oh I know....ACESOME. I felt like I’d actually made an effort in the kitchen, I felt most smug with myself, especially seeing as there was an incident a month ago when I tried to make lasagne and it didn’t go well and I may or may not have actually cried about it. I feel I’ve put that ghost to rest now. Pictures? Erm, no because I was shovelling it in my face. AND there’s some in the freezer to have on a day when I’m lazy.

And lastly, I finished another piece for the Embroidering the Truth exhibition. I’m on a roll now people, five completed and 2 more months to go. I’ve actually got so many quotes stored up that I’m going to have to start picking favourites because I’m not going to have time to do them all.

(I overheard this one at the Post Office when a group of girls were talking about a fancy dress party they were going to)

So I reckon that qualifies as the perfect balance. Productive? Yes. Lazy? Yes. (I never did get out of my pyjamas on Sunday. Well technically I did but that was to shower and put them back on again. Yeah I’m kinda gross.)

Sweet & Simple Bakes - St Clement's Drizzle Cake

After last month's disaster I was a bit wary of getting back in the kitchen again but apparently you have to get back in the saddle after you fall off so I had no choice but to get my behind back in to the kitchen again.

Someone in the office is about to go off to have an operation so that was all the excuse I needed to bake this delight and bring it in for everyone to share.

And I was in luck because everyone liked citrus flavoured cakes and absolutely loved this cake.

It was just the right amount of citrus flavour and had a lovely golden colour from the orange and lemon zest.

All in all - a success!! Unfortunately I only had time for a couple of hurried photos before it all disappeared - but I guess that's never a bad thing.

The recipe can be found here.

A big thank you to Rosie & Maria who have been a little quiet on the blog front lately - hope you're both well and know that all of us appreciate the effort you guys go to to provide us with a new challenge each month!

Sweet & Simple Bakes

What to do when it's a beautiful sunny weekend....

...go to a surprise birthday party for a special birthday...

...eat cupcakes (thanks once again to Sweet & Simple bakes!)...

...then retire to bed for a very big sleep before rising and going to sit in another garden...

...talk to the ladybird....

....and to furry ginger people (about how it's not a good thing to catch and eat butterflies)....

...then come home and eat cupcakes, drink cups of tea and watch Sunday tv

Sweet & Simple Bakes - Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

How super-organised am I this month?! I've already done the Sweet & Simple Bake. I. am. a. winner.


About a year ago I decided I was going to try and bake something. I seriously had never done any baking, we didn't do home economics at school and Mum wasn't a huge baker so I had no-one to learn from. After years of the most inventive thing I've ever done being chocolate rice crispie buns, I thought that it was time to give it a whirl.


If you'd have told me then that I'd be making carrot cake I'd have laughed in your face.


BUT I JUST DID IT!!!


A colleague was leaving, taking our office down to a merry band of 3 so we thought we'd have a little leaving party. When we were talking about cakes she said that she would like me to bake something (how good did that make me feel?!) so I decided I'd give the carrot cake a whirl, especially seeing as I'm going to be away the last week in July, which is when I usually do the bakes in a last minute rush.

So being the super-organised person I am, I went for it. Only it had to be a special cake because it was a celebration so out came the edible pink glitter and after a few shakes it became a cake that was meant to party.

Find the recipe HERE

As usual it lived up to its name and was incredibly simple to do. I did leave out the walnuts, but only because I forgot to buy them!

I still can't get over the fact that I made a carrot cake!

Sweet & Simple Bakes

Sweet & Simple Bakes - Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake

"It's easy" I said to myself.

"All you have to do is bake something each month."

It's actually harder than it sounds! I eagerly go to the Sweet & Simple Bakes page at the beginning of each month to see what I have to attempt and think to myself "Brilliant. I can do that. I'll do that next week."

Or next week....

Or the week after that....

And before you know it you're at the last day for posting and begging your boyfriend to drive you round to the Tesco Metro down the road so that you can oranges and chocolate - two kind of important ingredients for this month's bake. I really wanted to complete this month's bake after the disaster of last month's attempt at lemon curd muffins on the day now called Black Saturday.

Luckily I have a nice boyfriend who obliged and I got my baking mojo on last night in the kitchen.

Et voila! Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake!

I was surprised how easy this bake was. I'm a little bit scared of loafs having only made one accidentally once before.

However, true to form, it was indeed very simple to make and very sweet to eat!

(Plus I got to go mad with the sprinkles which is always fun)

I was everyone's favourite person in the office today as I brought a slice in for everyone, with one of my colleagues remarking that it was the best thing she'd eaten all week. I'm a bit worried about her diet to be honest...

And they'll be loving me even more tomorrow when they discover that there's more to go around.

For the recipe, stick your cursor over.......HERE!

Looking forward to the next bake!

Sweet & Simple Bakes

Lemon Loaf thingymajig

I was lucky enough to get an extra holiday on Tuesday, we get a few 'free' holidays each year, usually after a bank holiday, making it a rather glorious 4 days off work.

Unfortunately I had a double session at uni which rudely interrupted my holiday, but I was determined to have an action packed afternoon. I had plans to hoover and change the bedding and wash the kitchen floor and iron and cross stitch...

However none of that seemed to happen. Where does the time go?

I did manage to get the ironing crossed off the list, I did that whilst I watched Diagnosis Murder and got a huge wave of nostalgia of being back at uni when my day wasn't complete without a hit of Dick van Dyke and his murder-solving doctor friends.

Nothing else happened though. For some reason, rather than clean I decided to bake! And really, there wouldn't be much point in me washing the kitchen floor for me then to get flour and eggs and butter all over it (you would not believe the mess I manage to make when I get in the kitchen).

So I turned to a little book I got ages ago, Good Housekeeping's Easy to Make Cakes and Bakes, and had a look to see what I fancied making. I came across these Vanilla Crumble Bars which looked amazing. Only problem was that it required a shallow baking tin and I don't have a massively well-stocked kitchen. I have one loaf tin so that was what I had to use.

I came out with a very nice loaf which wasn't particularly vanilla-y but was very nice and lemon-y. And I obviously didn't have bars so much as...well...a loaf. So I have re-christened it Lemon Loaf Thingamyjig.

Ingredients

250g butter, softened

250g caster sugar

125g plain flour, sifted

175g self raising flour

grated zest of 1 lemon

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c and grease your baking tin.

To make the crumble topping, put 75g of the butter and 75g of the sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the plain flour and blend until you get rough breadcrumbs.

Put the remaining butter and sugar, self-raising flour, lemon zest, eggs and vanilla extract in the food processor and whizz until smooth. (Note to self: Next time you make this remember to put the blade in before you put all the ingredients in so you don't have to make more mess.)

Put the mixture into the tin and sprinkle the crumble topping over the surface and press down to cover.

Bake for 50-60 minutes (mine took a little longer to be honest), covering loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes if the mixture is browning too much. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out on to a wire rack.

Slice away and enjoy!

Okay so this didn't turn out like the picture in the book and I definitely wouldn't have called it a vanilla anything because the lemon is so strong it covers any vanilla flavouring. But what it is is lovely and light and citrusy and the perfect antidote to the depression of being back at work. My work colleagues all agreed as we munched away this afternoon with a good old cup of tea!

Rachel's Baked Cheesecake with Blueberries

The day: Bank Holiday Sunday

The event: Sunday lunch round at the in-laws

The challenge: Make something for dessert that will feed 10 people and will be fairly straightforward to make, given my limited talents in the kitchen.

The saviour: Rachel Allen, Bake

The result: Brownie points from the in-laws who can rest assured that I am looking after their only son very well. And a warm glow hearing people very happily munching away and asking for the recipe.

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take a photograph of it when it was whole, my boyfriend's family is not to be messed with when it comes to feeding time at the zoo so I had to grab a picture before the last of it was snaffled!

BAKED CHEESECAKE WITH BLUEBERRIES

Ingredients

175g digestive biscuits

75g butter, melted

175g blueberries (plus extra for decorating)

450g cream cheese

150g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, lightly beaten

Icing sugar, to dust.

24cm diameter spring-form/loose-bottomed tin

Method

Preheat the over to 180c. Butter the sides and base of the cake tin.

Place the biscuits in the food processor and whizz until quite fine. Mix with the melted butter and press down in to the base of the tin so it's nice and even. Spread the blueberries over the base and whack it in the fridge while you make the topping.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs together in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour over the top of the blueberries and then bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until it is pale golden and should only wobble very slightly when you gently shake the tin.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then run a knife round the edge to loosen it and carefully remove it from the tin. Transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle over a few blueberries and dust with icing sugar.

This could not have been easier to make. In fact it was made so quickly that I found myself reading through the instructions again and again, absolutely sure that I had missed something vital out along the way.

It tasted amazing and will forever now become my go-to dessert when I need to make something that looks much more impressive than it actually is!

This is the 2nd thing I've made from the Bake book so far and I'm loving it. She explains everything in such a straightforward manner and both the Snickerdoodles and this came out perfectly. Can't wait to make the next thing I have bookmarked!