Slime the UK version


There are lots of recipes on the internet to make slime but most of these are for the US and use products like Sta flo Starch and Elmers glue which cant be got in the UK unless you order them from the US so i really wanted to make this but find a way to do it with UK products.  I had quite a lot of experimenting and failings as you can see below but finally i cracked it

English Muffins


Who doesn't like a hot buttered muffin !!!!

These were quiet easy to make and im rather happy on how they turned out.


Ingredients 
450g strong white flour
8fl oz milk
55 mls of warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Polenta (optional just for a nice finish and crust.






  • Warm the milk and add the sugar and yeast set aside till frothy (5 mins)
  • Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt  add the milky yeast
  • Use a dough hook and bring together in your food mixer till it forms a dough or do this by hand, you will need to add the water to bring it together
  • Need for 10 mins till smooth and leave to prove for an hour till it has doubled in size
  • Knock back and need again cut and shape into balls prove for another 20 mins
  • Add a little oil to a griddle and dip you muffins into some Polenta (optional)  and place on the griddle and cook each side till they feel cooked through.  They will rise a bit more while cooking


To break them open it is best to open them with a fork so you get a rip with peaks and trough which is great to get nice wells of butter to get trapped in when they are still warm.  

English muffins are very versatile and are great with jam but my hubby likes them with bacon a poached egg and fresh hollandaise sauce 
Hollandaise Sauce recipe 

125g butter
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of white wine vinegar
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
splash of cold water if needed

This is an easy recipe to do and versatile for Smoked haddock towers as well.  Melting the butter in a microwave in a jug for about a minuet making sure to remove the white solids and set aside.

I use a glass bowl heated over a saucepan of gently bubbling water and add the whisked egg yolks salt and vinegar and whisk constantly add a little cool water if need be until the mixture thickens about 4-5 minuets.

Once thickened removed from the heat and gently add the butter slowly stirring all the time until you get a silky sauce if it becomes to thick add a splash more cold water and whisk again.

Season with a good squish of fresh lemon juice and fresh ground black pepper.



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Chocolate and Walnut cookies



This weeks theme anything Cookie 

Because the house smells great with fresh baking and its always nice to lick the spoon of your creation and share a slice of cake.


Great blogger bake off week 1


I am bursting with pride  (quite literally with all this cake ) as i have won Great Bloggers Bake Off week 1 and i am the star baker.  What a way to wake up to the day as the results were announced, you could cut the tension with a knife as there was stiff competition from all the ladies that entered you can see the round up here of some truly wonderful cakes.  This week there were 3 categories Victoria Sponge, Angel cake and a Chocolate show stopper to choose from, as you can see from the link there were entries for all 3 and enough cake to put the W.I to shame.  

Tonight The Great British Bake off is Bread week and its all about bread sticks, muffins and show stopper bread. i will be making muffins and i cant wait to see what all the other ladies will bring to the table.  What are you baking ?


Elderflower Angel cake with Rose infused white ganache cream


If it had not escaped your notice The Great British Bake Off is back!!! How exciting i love this show and enjoy meeting each person and going on their baking journey with them, even if it is through t.v. The highs of star baker the lows of using salt instead of sugar or being that person that did not quite make it.  I marvel each and every week at how clever the ideas and how creative these people are and i one day aspire to be like them.

Rose and Pistachio Panna Cotta


Rose and Pistachio Panna Cotta

I adore Panna Cotta its such a lovely dessert and really rather easy to make i don't know why it cost so much in the shops.

How does your garden grow August

Cooking with my best friend

I had my friend over recently and we spent a really lovely girly day cooking in the kitchen no kids running around us shouting mummy can i have this, mummy i want that, except for little Ella who was no bother and was snoozing in her cot.  So we got to be two women, just two individuals enjoying each other's company swapping the weeks stories of what was happening at home while cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and sipping down cups of tea.



My Ultimate summer driving playlist

Crafty Keynko has tagged me and asked what 3 toons i like to listen when out in the car but actually i listen to these when walking to and from the shops and they have a good stepping pace and they are kinda good to do the house work to as well Bonus !!!!

Sophie's Birthday

 We took Sophie to a theme park for her 4th Birthday, what with Ella being weeks old and sleepless nights and Sophie never visiting a theme park before this all fitted together perfectly, rather than a party where a lot of planning and energy would be needed.

Carrot Cake



This weeks theme anything Vegetable cake based

Because the house smells great with fresh baking and its always nice to lick the spoon of your creation and share a slice of cake.


Home made bubbles



What child does not like bubbles?  Sophie loves them and i always seem to have them in my shopping basket, so i thought it was time to make them myself and there are many places on the internet they can give you recipes for them.

I made my recipe with the following ingredients my water and soap were equal i have found recipes that had less soap in it but when we blew the bubbles they didn't last very long and i had to keep adding more soap.  oh i made a lot as we blow bubbles all the time so feel free to make the recipe smaller.

6 cups of water
6 cups of soap
2 tblsp glycerin
1 cup corn syrup




We also made our own bubble tools, 4 straws taped together to make tiny bubble pipe.  A fruit shot bottle bottle with some muslin over the top to make bubble snakes.

We also recycled a fabric conditioner bottle with tap to make a bubble station so the kids can just help themselves to more bubble liquid  ( i saw this somewhere recently and i cant remember where but what a great idea of a bottle)











Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

How does your garden grow August

With the new baby things have been very busy here and especially so for my lovely husband who has spent a few weekends working on a rather neglected part of the garden, i say neglected it used to be one of our vegetable plots but the area was such a hot zone the only thing the thrive there was tomatoes which tasted fantastic due to all the sunshine they sucked up.

Pretty Summer Salad


I love Salads and fish i also love it when meals come together quickly so i can focus on other family activities. Here is a quick and simple sophisticated salad i just pile on a plate and let everyone dig into.

Roast off the salmon and flake when cooked
Boil the pasta and plunge into cold water when al dente
Use a mandoline and slice up a fennel and some radish
chop some dill and arrange all ingredients on a plate
dress with fresh squeezed lemon and good olive oil

Hey presto a great healthy salad

Bake It

Love of sharing food





Whipping up tasty home made family favorite treats and sharing them here with you.
A mum creating weekend treats, party surprises or cooking with kids in the kitchen your find a lot of foodie comfort love here that you can try out for yourself.

Hit the category and this will take you to a post where you will find the recipes 

You can also find lots of mouth watering images and links on Pinterest

Room 101

My lovely buddy Nicola from F.A.B at Forty has opened the door to room 101 for me to throw 3 things inside that annoy me, i want to rant about, i hate or want to banish etc.  However Nicola has already chosen 3 really good things that would also be top of my list Flies, Bottles meats and Clowns.


The Smurfs 2

 Smurfette the only girl in Smurf village is having nightmares as we discover she was created by the wicked Gargamel, who has made it big in France with sorcery tricks that are possible from the magic essence made from Smurf.  Gargamel has run low on the Smurf essence and plans to open a portal and grab Smurfette to kidnap her and get the secret recipe Papa Smurf used on her to turn her Blue.

Cheesecake


This weeks theme anything Cheesecake !!

Because the house smells great with fresh baking and its always nice to lick the spoon of your creation and share a slice of cake.


Cornwall

We are not going on holiday this year as we have the new bundle in our lives we have a love affair with Cornwall and even though we can not go i will have to make do with this video of stills from a holiday when Sophie just turned 2.  We have a bell tent which im slightly obsessed about so sorry for the first 1 min in the video!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfqV7XfVQ_g


Family Farm Holidays Cornwall