New shoes

I have a pair of shoes from Office, which I love. They are simple, canvas mary jane pumps with black polka dots. Unfortunately, they are in very bad shape; I have checked and Office doesn't do canvas ones any more, only jersey, which I don't like. I trawled the internet for some similar shoes with no luck, but did find some plain hessian ones in Tesco.

I picked them up yesterday and while the quality is nowhere near that of my originals (not surprising, as they were less than half the price!), they are comfortable. They did need a bit of work to make them look like more than £8 shoes, but 10 buttons and some thread later, I am very pleased with the result.

Fake Empanadas

I have faked something today, but it is new, so I can count it as part of my New Year's resolution (cook something new every week). I had some leftover gyoza skins from the weekend Wagamama cook-off and decided to finally use up the half chorizo that has been glaring at me from the fridge. These are not dairy-free, but Charlotte is at school, so it's ok.

Method

In a blender, I whizzed up:
1 chicken breast
1/2 an onion
1/4 orange pepper
A big chunk of chorizo
About 60g Manchego cheese

Once this was suitably minced together, I dolloped a teaspoon onto a gyoza skin, moistened the edge and folded in half. I flattened them a bit and made sure the edges were well sealed. I made 17, I think, from this quantity of mix.

I put About 1cm of oil in a frying pan and gently fried them for a couple of minutes on each side, 6 at a time. Unfortunately, the filling seeped out and burned in the oil, but apart from that they were easy and tasted great. Now I need to learn how to make empanada dough, so I can make them properly and hopefully not leak everywhere.

Lemon cheese-cakes

It's a friend's birthday today, and my husband will be seeing her later, so I decided to send him off with a batch of cakes for her. She also bakes, so I thought I'd try something new to see what she thinks of it, and these little babies turned out remarkably well.

Method

Make up a batch of 5:4:4:2 cake mix with 1tsp vanilla extract in it.
Place 8 large cupcake cases in a 12 bun muffin tin, then put about 2cm depth of mix in each case.
Dollop about a teaspoon of lemon curd on the middle of each cake, then cover it with another couple of cm of mix. I'm not being very specific about quantities as I was rushing a bit, and didn't concentrate!
Bake in a 180c oven for about 18 - 20 minutes until they are browned on top and cooked.

I left them to cool in the tin, before removing them and icing them. You can see that I broke one open to check out the inside. It was still a dollop of lemon curd, and had not stopped the mix around it from rising. Some had leaked out a bit, you can see the dark patches on the cases where the lemon curd started to caramelise.

I made up some cream cheese frosting using 1tbsp full fat Philadelphia cheese, 1tbsp soya margarine and kept adding icing sugar until I got a thick, smooth consistency. I also added 1tsp of vanilla extract to the icing. I am already considering the next batch, and have plans to make strawberry jam ones with strawberries and whipped cream on top.

Stuff to do with kids

I was collecting books for the book stall at our school fair recently, and in one of the boxes I found a very tatty looking box with a couple of dozen little coloured leaflets inside. It couldn't go in the sale, but I didn't want to throw it away either, so I saved it to investigate at a later date.

I looked through the leaflets yesterday morning and discovered exactly what they were. A set of little projects to do with kids - some making, some educational and some puzzles. We picked a making one and tried it out. All you do is thread 2 disposable bowls onto string and hook them onto each end of a coat hanger to make scales. You can then see if things weigh more or less than each other.

The kids got their marbles out and before long, Charlotte was making guesses as to how many of different sizes would balance the scales. She didn't realise it, but she was doing maths and enjoying it too. Brilliant. Next I want to try the one where you make a sugar syrup and dangle a knotted thread in it and sugar crystals grow on the knots - it's titled "Grow your own candy". Who's a big geek? Me, and I don't care who knows it!

Noodle soup

Today, on possibly the hottest day of the year so far, Emma asked for noodle soup for lunch. Noodle soup is a bit of a generic term in our house, the soup always has noodles in it, but the rest of the ingredients change depending on what is in the fridge. Today I made it with pork, but I often use chicken.

Ingredients

About 150g pork or chicken, chopped up small
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tin of creamed sweetcorn
500ml stock
Light soy sauce
5-spice seasoning
Vermicelli or fine rice noodles

Method

Gently fry the onion to soften but do not brown it.
Add the chopped meat and cook through.
Pour in the tin of sweetcorn and the stock and simmer for a few minutes.
Season with a little soy sauce and 5 spice, taste and add more if necessary.
Break the noodles into pieces as you add them to the soup, then simmer for a few more minutes until they are soft.

Sometimes I use spring onions instead, or dark soy instead of light, a little cornflour if it is too runny etc. It's also great without the noodles if they are not your thing. All in all, a very adaptable recipe!

Here is Emma enjoying hers today:

Dairy-free banana cake

There is always a cake brewing when I notice half a bunch of bananas in the bowl that no-one is going to pick up and eat in a million years. The ones that are more black than yellow and very, very squishy. My mum always used to make banana bread with these rather sad, dejected looking fruits as they make a much better cake than the firm, yellow ones. This is her recipe (almost):

Before mashing

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour
50g soya margarine
1 egg
50g sugar (I use light brown soft sugar)
grated rind of a lemon (I use 1/2 tsp lemon oil)
3 medium sized bananas
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice (optional, not part of the original recipe)

Method

After mashing, not too pretty!

Weigh out the flour and margarine into a large bowl and rub together to make crumbs.
Stir in the sugar.
In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork and mix in the lemon, egg and mixed spice.
Add the wet mix to the dry and stir together.
Pour into a 2lb loaf tin which is either lined or greased and floured.
I like to sprinkle a tsp of demerara sugar on top to give a crunchy crust.

Ready to cook

Cook in 180c oven for 35 - 40 minutes, until a toothpick poked in the top comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then place on a wire tray to cool.

This cake is most delicious when it is still slightly warm. It doesn't keep for long (maybe 2 days) as it is quite moist, the perfect excuse to have another slice!

My creative kids

I'm having a day off today. It was such lovely weather that I decided to be destructive in the garden instead of creative in the house. I chopped 2 big bushes down and hauled them off, then felt all weak and had to sit down and watch my mum do some of my gardening instead.

While I was outside, I noticed how much the children enjoy being creative. They have had chalks outside and decorated the path, which is great, because a bit of water and it's all clean again.

They definitely have the creative streak, as I often come downstairs in the morning to find them furiously scribbling away at some new picture or creation. I have to say, my current favourite is Emma's trouser people, that she thought up all by herself before proudly presenting them to me.






Luckily, they also take after their dad, so they have rhythm (which I totally lack), an interest in music and the three of them love playing Mario together on the Wii!