Life just gets in the way...

I haven't blogged since March - March! How is that possible? This weekend it is July... Where did the time go??

OK, a quick catch up for anyone checking in with the blog.

New Year's Resolution - we are still going strong with the resolution and cooking from a recipe every week. We've missed only two weeks since the start of the year but sort of 'made up' for it by doing two recipes in other weeks. It's still a great idea and it has made us not only cook new things over and over but turn to our cookbooks and recipes for a little tip or trick when cooking something really basic or an old favourite. We've also cooked about half a dozen different types of pancakes! Our new exciting breakfast is pancakes at least once a week and we've tried crepes, drop scones, buttermilk pancakes, American style pancakes and more - it's a great way to do something different at the weekend...

Secret Post Club - my other favourite thing at the moment is Secret Post Club. Run by Heather from the Notes from Lapland blog it is a monthly gift swap for bloggers. I love it! Everyone month I get to have a think about what to send, make something new for someone, get creative, look out for some little bits and bobs to make up a great package to post and then just when I'm least thinking of it something arrives for me! I've always believed in the power of post, ever since I spent a summer working at a camp in America, I love sending postcards, letters and little gifts to friends and this just takes that to the next level, spreading the joy across the internet making something as anonymous as blogging into something as personal as the joy of giving...

So, it seems I need a new blogging strategy... hmmmm... Let's hope it doesn't take quite so long for me to blog again... :)

Week Four - Lemon Drizzle Cake

This recipe came from a yoghurt pot. I tend to keep recipes that I find on packets or in magazines and one of my major motivations for making this resolution in the first place was that I now have an A4 ring binder stuffed to the brim with bits and bobs that looked tasty but have never been cooked in my house.

I love baking and try to do it as much as possible. Before The Child came along there was usually a banana cake either in the tin or in the freezer as I made the best of browning bananas, but now he'll make short work of them before there is any danger of them getting to that stage!

Having had a mild obsession last year with lemon and poppy seed muffins I thought this was just the next natural progression and decided to make this recipe this week.

Another angle for the resolution is that The Boy works shifts so isn't with us every week. In his absence it falls to me to make sure that something is still cooked to a recipe each week to keep us on the straight and narrow with this year's task. I thought about cooking a main meal but the thought of making something, probably enough for four, and having to eat it every night while he was away was just depressing. Thinking about it again I decided that it would also be nice to have a treat while he's not around, something to keep me going, and offer to visitors, so baking seemed to fit the bill! So most weeks you see baking as our recipe will be the ones I'm home alone!

This cake was great, really easy to make. But I must make a confession, something that hasn't happened to me in many a long baking year - it didn't cook all the way through! I think I took my eye off the time just as it went in the oven and so just estimated how long I thought it had been in. When checking it I touched the centre gently and thought I felt the cake spring back under my finger, but once I had got it out and it started to cool it became clear that I'd got something wrong as it sank and was basically raw in the middle! Oops!

Not to be put off I just cut that bit out, drizzled the icing on the rest of it, and away we went. It was yummy! But another word of warning, it didn't keep very long at all. I think a combination of the middle having not cooked properly and the icing making the cake very lovely and gooey mean this is one that you just have to guzzle down the day of baking - what a chore!

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Week Three - Butterbean and Sprout Falafels

This week we had a new twist to the resolution. Surrounded by veggies that we about to expire we realised that if we went out and got new ingredients for a meal, which no doubt there would be leftovers from, then we were in danger of ending up with a whole rack of veggies straight in the compost. Not good.

So we used the BBC Food Recipe Finder and put in the ingredients that we had to see what would come up. All you do is put in the ingredient(s) that you have and away you go. Handily for us there is even a tick box for 'Vegetarian' so that all the results only come back with veggie options.

I put in brussel sprouts (always left over after Xmas, even though we totally love them) and pressed search. What would we find?

And there it was, the answer to our dilemma - Butterbean and Sprout Falafels. Even the fact that they had butterbeans in was a bonus as we had some in the freezer from an earlier experiment with The Child - the beans were rejected and have been frozen ever since waiting for me to try them with him again.

It is great to feel that the resolution is growing with us, that we can enjoy great new food but also use ingredients that we already have in the house, this week felt like a lazy one as there was no shopping to be done before we started - bonus!

BBC Food Website - the recipe finder is on the homepage.
Butterbean and Brussel Sprout Falafels - we made the fried sprouts and dip as well, yummy!

Week Two - Handmade Ravioli with Caponata

The Boy took control this week and chose to make ravioli from scratch (without the aid of a pasta machine!)

The basic recipe and method for making the pasta dough is really simple. Kneading it was a bit tough though and by the time we had left the dough to stand while we rolled the first lot out it became really hard to manipulate at all. So it is possible to make this without a pasta machine but to get it really fine/thin and not completely break your wrists I would advise rolling it all out very quickly once the dough has rested!

The Caponata was a simple recipe but tasted great. I was dubious that the aubergine would cook through as the actual cooking time seemed really quick but my fears were totally unfounded as it was tender and well cooked by the end. A nice quick recipe that would make a great filling for jacket potatoes or served as a tapas with other dishes.

Jamie's Basic Pasta Recipe
Jamie's Caponata Recipe

Week One - Korma

I've made New Year's Resolutions for many years. Nothing major and life changing. One year I vowed to be 'more high maintenance' in an attempt to be a bit more of a girl, put make up on every day, have regular haircuts, that kind of thing. Another year I decided not to put off things any more, mainly dull purchases of things that I needed but would rather not have to buy. Each one has worked out quite well, I wouldn't say I'm still a high-maintenance, well-groomed, perfectly-organised version of the person I once was, but I think it all rubs off on you a bit over the years.

And so, as I mentioned in my last post, we decided to cook a new recipe every week for the whole year.

Week One - (Not) Chicken Korma from Indian Food Made Easy by Anjum Anand

I made this recipe using Quorn pieces instead of chicken as we are veggies (the same weight of Quorn as she recommended chicken), and I added peas as we love them, but apart from that we followed the recipe to the letter.

It was a great meal. The korma was really delicate in flavour and the coconut tasted delicious with the spices. If I was going to do it again I would crush all the whole spices very slightly before I put them in again as I feel like the flavours didn't really infuse into the dish as much as they could have.

It was very straight forward though, really easy to make. The Quorn was marinaded beforehand and then as long as you have everything out and ready it is only a matter of minutes to have it bubbling away on the stove. Otherwise it would only have been a few more minutes to fish around in the cupboard - either way it is more of 'throw everything in' dish than a 'complicated cooking techniques' one.

The Boy and I are thinking we will do this again as the centre piece for a curry night, serving this with Daal and making our own naan bread.

You can see the recipe in full here.

New Year, New... Er...

And so it is 2011. Here we are. Another year is upon us. And what is this year going to bring? Well, goodness only knows!

I liked 2010, it was a good year but trying to look at the next one stretching out in front of me I seem to feel like it is just so full of potential and possibility that I could easily end up doing nothing with it at all.

I've not made any resolutions - well, one with The Boy to cook something new from a recipe every week but that's for fun, not self-improvement.

So this could be the year I do anything at all. Set up a new business, find a new job, a new home, move to another part of the country. Anything is possible and suddenly it's exciting all over again...

Posh afternoon tea by the sea...