Starting small…
This one success led to two cake making books for Christmas!
A couple of months ago I had some pears, which where rapidly approaching their best before date. I was determined not to let them rot away without being eaten – again!
I Googled some recipes and found an idiot-proof version of a classic recipe for a chocolate and pear cake. I’ve made it a few times now and have perfected it pretty well.
My enthusiasm for the resulting chocolate covered apron, floured nose and ‘mmmms’ from friends knows no bounds. It’s also led to my gaining an unfounded reputation for being a decent cake cook, and more importantly to my receiving two beautiful cake-making books for Christmas.
On Monday (2nd Jan), our neighbours popped over to watch a film, so I decided to have a stab at one of the recipes in my new cook books and settled on the Mixed Berry Muffins in my Hummingbird Bakery ‘Cake Days’ book.
They went down a treat! Very handsome muffins, and tasty to boot! They were really easy to make and would be nice for a Sunday breakfast with a coffee.
For lunch, I decided to keep it simple. After all, it’s only the 2nd January, and my first day of cooking (we were rather hung over on the 1st so got a pizza takeaway… oops!)
I did the usual olives in a bowl, humus, yogurt with chopped chives and a yummy wholegrain French bread stick. BUT I did also cook Jamie Oliver’s Quesadillas.
They were so quick and easy to make and the only complaint was that I didn’t make more! It was the perfect choice for a cold afternoon of watching films with our friends, as we made our way through a lovely bottle of Campo Viejo Rioja…
I can’t pretend I went as far as making my own guacamole, but I did ‘pimp’ the shop made stuff by adding lemon juice, sea salt and chopped plum tomatoes.
Tomorrow I’m planning to make the red grape pizza with soup, and potato and asparagus pastry on Wednesday. We’re out on Thursday and Friday, and I might tackle a beef stew on the weekend. Wish me luck!
NB. I managed to follow the recipe without using an electric whisk as suggested. I’d also recommend leaving the muffins in for 35 minutes.
World of Yesil 