Autumn Apple Cake
With several apples I’d picked from my friends orchard, left over from the Autumn Chutney I’d made the other week, I decided to make one of my favourite puddings: Autumn Apple Cake. I say pudding but this particular cake is just as tasty cold, as part of a packed lunch, as it is fresh from the oven with hot custard, cream or ice-cream to accompany it (ask the Mudlets’ if you don’t believe me). Continue reading
The recipe doesn’t yield a lot of jam/sauce, so I’ll need to make a second batch.
This was the same recipe I used last year but despite the use of a jam thermometer which was a birthday gift from a friend last year, and boiling the mixture twice, the ‘jam’ this year is definitely more of a dipping sauce but just as sweetly fiery as last year, although not as hot. But then we’ve found that the whole chilli crop hasn’t been as hot this year which (in spite of what Mud may think), isn’t such a bad thing really. Continue reading
It looks pretty good but only time will tell what it tastes like
With six 2 lb (2.72kg) bags of frozen, whole tomatoes taking up space in my freezer, I decided I needed to start doing something with them. So Monday saw me hunting in the local supermarket for cider vinegar, muscovado sugar and raisin and a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon was spent having coffee and an natter with a friend, followed by a visit to her apple orchard to gather enough cooking apples to feed a small army. Continue reading
Chocolates birthday cake
Deciding on the kind of birthday cake they want is usually quite high on the Mudlets’ lists of things to do, as their special day approaches but this year, for whatever reason, Little Mudlet hadn’t furnished me with a single idea by the time we entered the week leading up to her birthday. So I put on my thinking hat and came up with a plan. Continue reading
Freshly picked, another 3lb of rhubarb for the freezer
Of all the vegetables that I grow in my garden, Rhubarb has to the easiest by far in terms of harvesting and storing, especially when a glut occurs. This year, my rhubarb appears to be enjoying something of a renaissance and is throwing out stalk after stalk of edibleness …… a glut has certainly occurred which is why I found myself dealing with nearly three pounds of freshly pulled stalks, over the weekend. We didn’t actually need any of the rhubarb for the weekend and so I set about preparing the stalks for freezing. Continue reading
Yummy!!!
One of the drawbacks to being the person who makes the birthday cakes for your family, is that when it comes to your own birthday you generally have to settle for a shop bought cake ….. if you get one at all that is. Another drawback is that the expectations of the family start to rise with each birthday, with demands for even more fanciful and elaborate concoctions from the younger members of the household whilst older members (that would be Mud by the way) sample each creation, mentally scoring it against the Marks and Spencer one he had 20 odd years ago.
Hot Crossed Buns fresh from my oven.
In my humble opinion, Easter Sunday without Hot Crossed Buns is a lot like Christmas dinner without parsnips and Brussel sprouts, so faced with the realisation that I had forgotten to pick some up whilst we were out yesterday and so this was indeed the very scenario that we were facing, I decided to see if I had the ingredients in to try and bake some myself. Continue reading
The mini cake pops looked a treat and were very well received.
Last year, Little Mudlet was given a two book box set of recipe books, one on mini cakes and the other was mini pies. The box also contained a supply of mini cake cases. She was thrilled with this set and has often sat quietly thumbing through the pages, looking at all the recipes. When it came time to decide what little treats I could make for her party the other week, my thoughts turned to her recipe books and I had a look to see if I could make some mini treats for little people.
Tah dah! As ordered: one Pumpkin Mouse House cake
In my opinion, one of the most endearing and yet terrifying aspects of parenthood, is the unwavering belief a child has in the abilities of its’ parents and specifically in my case, the belief that I can magically produce wonderful birthday cakes in the blink of an eye. Back in spring it was a Bookworm for Middle Mudlets’ party and the child in question was certainly pleased with the end result. Autumn, however, heralds the arrival of Little Mudlets’ birthday and after hours pouring over various cake books, she opted for the impressive, yet daunting, Pumpkin Mouse House cake from the same book that had offered simple step by step instructions for the aforementioned Bookworm cake.
Very pretty: Pickled Ohnivec and Cayenne Chilli Peppers
For the last few weeks, the chillies in the greenhouse have been tucked up under horticultural fleece overnight, to protect them from the rapidly falling nighttime temperatures whilst the chilli peppers continue to ripen. I have watered, removed dead and decaying foliage, cosseted and pampered this precious and abundant crop, waiting for the time when I could pick and then pickle them. With the smaller Cayenne chillies ripening rapidly, it was the Ohnivecs that I was waiting for.
The Land Rover Owners Ex Wife 