Mediterranean Casserole

Check out this really hearty dinner perfect for the whole family. I kind of threw these ingredients together to come up with this casserole but none the less it is really yummy and definitely worth trying! 

Ingredients:

12 x Meatballs
4 x Medium White Potatoes
1 x Onion
1 X Pepper
150g Chorizo Roughly Sliced/Cubed
2 x Garlic Cloves
1 x 400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
1 x 400g Tin Cannellini Beans
1 x Tbsp Paprika

Method:

1) Fry the meatballs in a little oil until brown then remove from pan and set aside.

2) Add onion, pepper, chorizo and garlic to pan and gently fry until softened. Add the paprika and stir.

3) Add the tin of tomatoes and about 1/4 of the empty tomato tin of water.  Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for about 15mins.  Add the cannellini beans and stir through.

4) Meanwhile, while the sauce is simmering boil the potatoes until soft.

5) Add the potatoes and meatballs to the sauce and place in the oven to cook for a further 15mins.

Love Sophie...xxx

Getting Creative With Felt

I was on Pinterest the other day and came across the idea of 'Adopt Your Own Monster' a fab alternative to party bags!  

The monsters in the photo are called Ugly Dolls but it got me thinking if you had a bit of time and creativity why not make your own?  

After doing some routing around on pinterest I also found these adorable patterns for other creratures which you can easily make yourself with some felt and a sewing needle!  Here are the photos and links to my top 5:

1) Create your own letters and make your childs name for their bedroom! (Made By Rae)

2) Here are some great Monster patterns to create your own 'Adopt A Monster' from Its Always Autumn.

3) Ooh I love these little Mushroom Houses from Red Brolly they are intended for use as pincushions but I think they would be loved by a little one just as a toy or decoration! Admittedly they look a little fiddley but the end result is definitely worth it and the instructions are pretty comprehensive!

4) These cute owls come from Pregnancy Baby & Child and are meant to be made into a baby's mobile - soo sweet!

5) Mmmm..feeling hungry - these look so tasty with really easy step by step instructions too.  These will be great for creative play time! Click Here.

Enjoy! Love Sophie..xxx

Ham & Cheese Sliders

Wow these look amazing don't they?! (Now if I only knew what Hawaiian Rolls are!)  I will be trying these at the weekend and I really cant wait they look fabulous!

Check out See Aimee Cook for this very tasty looking recipe and if you want a quick look at the recipe see below:

Ham & Cheese Sliders on Hawaiian Rolls
12 Hawaiian sweet bread dinner rolls, split in half
1/2 lb thinly sliced deli ham
1/2 lb thinly sliced Swiss cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp poppy seeds, optional

Preheat oven to 350. 

Evenly distribute the ham and cheese among the rolls and make sandwiches with each. Arrange them all in a 9x13 pan.

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire, and poppy seeds. Bring to a boil and then pour over top of the sandwiches. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are browned and the cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Really Easy Coconut Ice

I originally found this recipe in Good Housekeeping magazine and I have tried it out a few times now.  It is really easy to do and looks really effective, great for presents!  

This recipe involves no baking and only four ingredients what more can you ask for?  If you can pick up some pretty jars and ribbon you can present these as perfect homemade presents which look gorgeous but won't cost you the earth.

Ingredients: 

405g Tin Light Condensed Milk

300g Icing Sugar Sifted

300g Desiccated Coconut

Red/Pink Food Colouring

Method: 

1) Line a 15cm x 20cm tin with baking parchment.

2) Mix the condensed milk and icing sugar together then add the coconut (the mixture will be stiff).

3) Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin and flatten until level.

4) Add the food colouring to the remaining mixture and stir well.  Press on top of the white coconut ice until even.

5) Wrap in clingfilm and leave to set in fridge overnight.  Once set cut into bitesize cubes.

Love Sophie..xxx

Converting US Recipes For The UK

Wow check out this amazing recipe from Buns In My Oven (my absolute favourite food blog)!  If you love peanut butter you will love these Chocolate Peanut Butter Reese's Sandwich Cookies!

The only problem with this American recipe is trying to convert the recipe for us Brits, but I have found this conversion table from The Good Food Channel which should do the trick:

AMERICAN LIQUID MEASURES

1 cup US = 240ml
1 pint US = 480ml
1 quart US = 950ml

AMERICAN SOLID MEASURES

1 cup flour = 125g flour
1 cup butter = 225g butter
1 cup brown sugar = 170g brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar = 170g granulated sugar
1 cup icing sugar = 100g icing sugar
1 cup uncooked rice = 170g rice
1 cup chopped nuts = 100g chopped nuts
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs = 150g fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup sultanas = 140g sultanas

If you have 'cups' to measure the ingredients then of course you can use these. Apparently it shouldn't actually matter what size the cups are as long as you use the same 'cups' to measure all the ingredients for your recipe this way all the quantities will be relevant.

The Last Instalment For NaBloPoMo!

It's the 30th November and today is the last post for NaBloPoMo! I hope you have enjoyed hearing from me everyday!?  If not don't worry the torture has come to an end! Thanks to Vonnie at Nowt Special for hosting NabloPoMo 2013 for us and to answer her Day 30 prompt - The hardest part about blogging everyday for me is trying to come up with something interesting to say!

For this last post I thought I'd link to some of my favourite November 13 posts:

1. Turning 30!
2. Buns In My Oven
3. Job Description Of A Mum
4. The Book Of Bedtime Stories
5. Ode To Mummy
6. Pizza Rolls
7. Meet The Kittens
8. Give A Three Year Old A Camera...
9. This Week I'm Loving...
10. A Blast From The Past

I hope you enjoy reading these...if you would like to hear more from me please follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Bloglovin!

Now let's wave goodbye to November and welcome in December!

Banana Muffins

I was looking for another idea to use up our over-ripe bananas at the weekend (it seems we have a lot of these soft, spotty bananas in our house by the end of the week) and came across this great recipe at a fab blog called This Mummy  The recipe makes 12 muffins, it's very easy and quick to make and as Laurenne says, not to bananary! I also added chocolate chips to mine and made some little cases for these muffins using baking paper squares pushed into the silicone muffin moulds. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

125g Butter
150g Caster Sugar
A Few Drops Of Vanilla Extract
1 x Egg
2-3 x Bananas Mashed
190g Self Raising Flour
60ml Milk

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C

2) Heat butter and sugar until melted (you can do this in a microwave or in a bowl above a pan of boiling water).

3) Add the vanilla and bananas and str to mix.

4) Add the egg and stir then sift in the flour.  Add the milk. (I also added white and milk chocolate chips at this stage).

5) Pour the mixture into the muffin cases and bake in the oven for around 20mins or until golden and cooked through.

There are loads of great posts on Laurenne's Blog so please pop over to her and check them out!

Sophie...x

For more tasty recipes featured on my blog click here.
 

The Easiest & Tastiest Lasagne!

This is my absolute favourite go-to recipe and I make it all the time whether it is just for me, hubby and the kids or whether I am having a bigger get together with friends and family.  

It is perfect served with breads and salad and its' a real winter warmer.  It is also the most easiest meal to make and so tasty too! You should really give it a go!

Ingredients:

500g Minced Beef

1tbsp Olive Oil

1 Onion

1 Carrot

1 Pepper

Jar of Italian Tomato Sauce

Tin Condensed Mushroom Soup

1/2pint Milk

Lasagne Sheets (Dried)

Grated Cheese (Mozzarella or Chedder)

Method:

1) Add olive oil to a frying pan and fry chopped onion, carrots and peppers. (You can add other veg too if you like i.e. mushrooms or celery).

2) Once the veg is softened add the minced beef and fry until browned.

3) Add the ready made Italian tomato sauce i.e. Dolmio and stir.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins.

4) Whilst the meat and sauce is cooking prepare the white sauce by adding milk and soup to a jug and stir well to mix. 

5) When the beef is ready add half of the mixture into a casserole/lasagne dish and top with a layer of lasagne sheets.  Pour half the milk/soup mixture over the top of the sheets evenly.

6) Repeat as above adding a layer of beef then a layer of lasagne sheets and top with the remainder of the white sauce.

7) Top the lasagne with the grated cheese of your choice and cook in the oven for 45mins at 200C/Gas 6 until golden.

I hope you like this recipe! For more recipes please visit my Food & Baking page! 

Pizza Rolls

These pizza rolls are incredibly easy to make and really taste good.  As chief lunch box maker I do sometimes feel despondent  at the thought of another daily lunch box making sesh, so these are great to make at the weekend and store in the freezer.  When you need to provide an easy yet scrummy lunch all you have to do is whip these bad boys out and send them on their way (the family and the pizza rolls)! 

1) Make your dough, I make mine using a bread maker all you need to do is tip in the correct ingredients, press start and wait for 90 mins.  If you don't have a bread maker you can easily make your own dough using a recipe on the net.

2)  Once the dough is ready to handle, roll out into a large rectangular shape using a rolling pin (see below).

3) Using ready made pizza sauce or red pesto or even your own home made sauce cover the dough thinly. Grate some cheese and sprinkle over the top of the pizza sauce (Quick Tip: Don't be tempted to add too many toppings - less is more).

4) Roll the covered dough carefully into a swiss roll shape and cut into sections around 1-1/2" wide.

5) Place the cut rolls/sections onto an oven proof tray lined with baking paper and cook in a oven set to 200C/Gas 6 for around 20 mins or until golden and firm.

It's NaBloPoMo #14 today! For more Blogs please visit Vonnie at http://nowtspecial.wordpress.com.  You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter just click on the Links to the right! 

Blondie Brownies - Lovely!

For NaBloPoMo #7 I thought I'd bake a batch of these lovely sweet Blondies and store them in my freezer for (pretty much) instant gratification!  

I thought you might like to try these for yourselves as they are incredibly tasty!

Ingredients:

125g Butter
200g White Chocolate, chopped
2 Eggs
100g Golden Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
130g Plain Flour
1 pinch Salt
50g Glacé Cherries

• 
  

• Method:

1) Heat oven to 180C/Gas 4 and line or grease a baking tin.

2) Melt butter and white chocolate in microwave or over a pan of simmering water and allow to cool slightly.

3) In a separate bowl whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla then add to chocolate and butter whisking well.

4) Sift in flour and salt and add remaining chopped white chocolate and cherries, stir to mix.

5) Pour mixture into baking tin and bake in oven for 20-25 mins until set and golden in colour.

6) Once cool cut into squares and ENJOY!

Buns In My Oven

So its NaBloPoMo #6 and today you should take a trip to www.bunsinmyoven.com and visit a fellow blogger across the pond!  

I love Karly's Blog, she is so funny and witty and her recipes are pretty indulgent too!  Obviously she is an american so the recipes are american and a little tricky to translate but putting this aside I find myself druelling at the mere thought of pretty much all of Karly's recipes on this blog!  

I think its safe to say that none of these recipes are particularly kind on the waistline ;) but they do look like they taste fabulous!  Here are my top 3 recipes!

1) Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookie Cups

2) Creamy Baked Spaghetti

















3) Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Please take a look at this fabulous Blog - I think you're going to love it!

Our Pumpkins - Happy Halloween!

Ok I have bought the pumpkins and now it's time to let the children loose and design their own faces (this should be interesting)!  You may have noticed that there are three pumpkins that is because I wanted to do one too!

Here are our Pumpkins (mine's the one in the middle in case your wondering):

Looking at this picture it seems we've been a little creative this year - I hope you like them!  I have also tried to be a domestic goddess and have kept all of the edible pumpkin flesh which I have steamed and puréed ready to make some pumpkin cakes and soup etc. I will try and post the recipes soon.  

Happy Halloween!