food

Where Does Milk Come From?

December 7, 2016 by Anne Sweet Leave a Comment

Does your child know where milk comes from? I’m happy to say that all mine do, we often talk about where our food stuff comes from and we’ve been to plenty of farms and talked about what comes from which animal.

However, according to research from Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons with children aged 4 to 8 years, over one in ten boys believe that milk comes straight from supermarkets. A fifth of five year olds believe that chocolate is made with eggs and a third of children believe that a cow’s diet consists of sandwiches and pizza.

Now I believe my children to be quite food savvy, but when I asked the Little Man how chocolate was made he gave me the ingredients you would put in a cake, milk, flour, eggs, and apparently this is quite common among young children. We will be learning much more about chocolate next week when we visit Cadbury World.

The research by Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons has been followed up with a video by foodie mum of two Giovanna Fletcher designed to show families about food provenance, in particular where the milk comes from to make Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons.

Do you think it’s important for children to know where their food comes from?

Disclosure: I may have been bribed with chocolate to feature this post, but don’t tell the kids shhh!

Great British Bake Off Fondant Fancies

October 24, 2016 by Anne Sweet 5 Comments

I can’t believe that next week is the final of the Great British Bake Off, this year has gone in such a hurry.
This week we saw savoury Palmiers for the signature bake, a Savarin for the technical bake and Fondant Fancies for the Showstopper.

Andrew did really well this week saving himself from final elimination as it was Selasi that was shown the door with just one week to go.

I have made Palmiers before and I don’t have a tin to bake a traditional Savarin, although I do have something similar, I guess I didn’t fancy it.

The kids had already decided for me anyway, they wanted to make Fondant Fancies.

Of course, my kids like their cakes pretty plain so when we were coming up for ideas for their cakes they wanted chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and icing. So, forgive me these are not the most exciting or fancifal Fancies.

Also, I really can’t get on with watering down fondant. I still have nightmares from when I had to do it when I made the Mokatines from last years Bake Off. This time I messed up when the icing was just not runny enough to cover the cakes, so I watered it down a little more and then it was too runny.

Maybe if I’d been decorating them myself I would have been more patient, but it was not good when the kids were all keen to do it but have the patience of a flea. It was really mess too. I think there was more Icing on the greaseproof paper than on the cakes themselves. I tried to scoop it up for a second coating but the kids were pretty quick at scooping it up into their mouths.

messy cakes

The cakes were tasty enough, but I wasn’t happy with the decoration.

Fondant Fancies

Ingredients:

300g self-raising flour

325g soft butter

325g caster sugar

25g cocoa powder

4 eggs

buttercream

100g soft butter

200g icing sugar

10g cocoa powder

Fondant

500g fondant icing

75g water

drops of food colouring of choice.

Method:

preheat oven to 170C/gas mark 4

grease and line two 7″ square tins

cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl

add eggs and beat in one at a time

sift in flour and cocoa powder and fold the mixture together

pour evenly into tins and bake for 30 mins until a skewer comes out clean

cool the cut into equal cubes (9 per tin)

Make the buttercream by creaming together the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter

coat four sides of the cakes but not the top and bottom

put the remaining buttercream into a piping bag and pipe a shell on the top of each cake

Chill in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour

Make the fondant by mixing the icing with water and food colouring.

We split our icing into three and made one white, one blue and one orange.

put the cakes on a cooling rack over a sheet of greaseproof paper

pour the fondant over the cakes from the top and allow to drip over the sides.

Another method I’ve heard of is to put a fork into the bottom of each cake and dip them into the fondant icing, covering all sides, then leave them to drip on cooling rack.

Do not do as I did and make the fondant to runny.

Here are our finished Fancies.

As you can see from this next photo, I also could have spent a little more time mixing the fondant with the water and there were some lumps present.
Next week, I’m going to attempt a bake without the help of the kids.

10 Foods that Make Me Happy

October 19, 2016 by Anne Sweet 2 Comments

Today’s Blogtober16 prompt is simply 10 favourite foods.

Being a bit of a foodie I have to say I have many more than 10 favourites so I’ll have to cut them down.
When I was young I had problems with food, I must have drove my mum insane. She never made me separate meals though, I had to eat what I was given or go without. When I turned vegetarian at thirteen she said ok you get egg and chips everyday! Good job I didn’t decide to be a vegan then.

I didn’t stay vegetarian for more than three years though, which is a shame because I could live quite easily without meat, it’s just more difficult once you are part of a meat eating family and you are cooking for them.

Also, I didn’t eat fish as a child. As an adult I only ate salmon and tuna and despised white fish. Now, I’d say I love fish. I don’t know what happened, maybe my taste buds changed once I reached forty, but I now like fish much more than I like meat.

Lets get on with it, here are my top 10 favourite foods that make me happy. Not in any particular order, just 10 of the best.

1. Cake! I love cake, fruit cake, sponge cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake even beetroot cake. I love decorating cakes too but I’ve lost a lot of my skills this year now my hands hurt. Here is a recipe for a recent cake I made which is currently my favourite. Toffee Apple and Pecan cake.

2. Fish: As I said, I love fish. Tuna, Salmon, Trout, Cod, haddock. I’ve yet to find one I don’t like now, although I don’t like smoked fish. In fact I don’t like anything smoked. Some of my favourite fish recipes are Salmon Swirls or Salmon and Leek Quiche.

3. Sushi: There was a time when most people thought that sushi was just raw fish and rice. I love sushi of all kinds, including the raw fish which is actually called sashimi. My favourite sushi is either a California Roll or Kappa Maki which is cucumber! We have even made fruit sushi, which we called Frushi.

4. Cheese: I love cheese, I have to limit myself because I would eat it all the time. We have a cheesy New Year tradition were we have a huge selection of cheese and crackers and a few bottles of nice wine and we sit and watch a favourite classic movie. I don’t mind if my cheese is soft or hard or crumbly or even blue. I also love it when it has things added like cranberries, chillies or nuts. Yum.

5. Chocolate: Goes without saying. Chocolate is fab it makes you feel so good. I’m really not fussy about it, I do prefer creamy milk chocolate like Cadburys, but I also like Thorntons or Hotel Chocolat. I read somewhere once that a gift from Thorntons or Hotel Chocolat is a last minute gift because the person has forgotten about getting something thoughtful. Needless to say, I’m not of that thinking. Give me chocolate and I love you! Simple.

6. Chicken: I love chicken because it’s so very versatile. If you need to cook a meal and don’t have a clue then grab some chicken and do whatever, spicy, saucy, citrus, plain, put it in a pie, fry it, batter it, crumb it. I know you can do a lot of these things with all meats but chicken is also the quickest to cook. It’s a must in our house.

7. Bread: Bread is not just an accompaniment it’s an essential food in our house. I love making my own bread and my recipe for really easy Pitta Bread is one of my most read posts on this blog.

8. Bento: When I go out for lunch with my eldest daughter we either go for sushi or bento. This is little compartments of delicious food served in a box. Then afterwards we always go for a Matcha Tiramisu which is delightful.

9. Curry: We tend to have a home made curry most weeks, it may be an Indian Balti, Tikka Masala or Chinese style fish curry. Our family favourite is a Mabo Curry which is made with minced pork and tofu. I can’t believe I haven’t shared the recipe on my blog but it’s usually my eldest daughter who cooks it and she does it so well. The curry actually originates from a game so there isn’t an exact recipe. Ours looks like this image (link to recipe included if you click image) but we don’t use curry cubes. If you did want to try them you can buy them as Katsu Curry cubes in supermarkets.

10. Pie: Whether it’s meat, fruit or vegetable I really love pie. probably because I really love pastry. I don’t even mind which kind of pastry covers my pie, puff, shortcrust, water crust even suet. In this post my kid in the kitchen give you both savoury and sweet pie recipes.

My daughter has begged me to include Cheese Sticks because she loves, and my Other Half’s favourite is home made curry. My eldest daughter loves something that actually made me feel ill when I tried it, it’s called Takoyaki…look it up, but it contains something with tentacles yuk!

Our Meal Plan for This Week

April 18, 2016 by Anne Sweet 4 Comments

Do you write a meal plan each week. I do, I have to plan everything. I’ve got seven mouths to feed and the plan is generally done on a Sunday when I do my online shop. I can’t believe I actually miss going to the supermarket but with no car and legs that can’t walk more than a couple of metres then it’s obviously not a choice I have at the moment.

I have a list of all the meals we enjoy and try to add something new most weeks. The new meal is not always a hit, but when it is it goes onto our long list. Then I rotate the meals so that we are not eating the same things week in week out. I’ve not shared my meal plan before but as I keep watching out for others who do this every week I thought I’d have a go. I may give up after my rotation of meals has finished, especially if my new meals flop.

I have two fussy eaters so my menu has to take them into consideration, but occasionally they will end up having something different to the rest of the family.

Here is this weeks menu:

Monday – Pizza, we all have different tastes so I often just buy bases and we add our favourite toppings. The kids love pizza night and getting involved in the cooking.
Tuesday – Indian Mix Up – we take a selection of Indian foods, like samosas and bahji, and serve them with a potato curry, rice, chapatis and popadoms. Basically we serve it up as a pick and mix
Wednesday – Quiche and salad. again we all like different quiches so we make our own to suit, current favourites are quiche lorraine, salmon and leek and spinach and goats cheese.
Thursday – Spaghetti bolognese, the kids have spaghetti and meatballs.
Friday – Fish and chips. The other half doesn’t eat fish so he has faggots. Mushy peas are a must.
Saturday – Golden Curry, this is a chinese style curry with chicken, carrots and potatoes and steamed rice.
Sunday – Lamb steaks with pear and cider, hassleback potatoes and asparagus. (This is our new meal for the week, my compromise as the older kids are fed up of Sunday Roasts.)

So there you have it. I generally stick to it but if I have to do something different it’s usually a pasta bake or sausage and mash.

What’s in Your Box This Week?

April 4, 2016 by Anne Sweet 2 Comments

Welcome to what’s in the box, the weekly linky where you are invited to add any links to blog posts or vlogs about your favourite boxes.

I’ve been researching subcription boxes and I really didn’t realise just how many there are, and for all sorts of things. I’ve decided to share a few of the ones of found with a bit of a theme each week. This doesn’t mean that the post you want to link has to follow the theme, all boxes are welcome.

So, this weeks theme is food. As you may remember, last week I received my first Degustabox which is a monthly box of surprise food which you may not have tried before. You get a selection of snacks and drinks to try, I loved most of my box last week, but I’m not sure that I will love everything they send. Thankfully I’ve a big family so I’m pretty sure nothing will go to waste.

Here are a few other food boxes I’ve discovered;

Hello Fresh
For great recipe boxes with everything you need to make great meals and recipe cards included.

Abel and Cole
For fabulous organic fruit and veg delivered to your door. But! they also do meat and fish and recipe boxes.

Flavrbox
Promises you will eat well and live healthier with their monthly suprise box of healthy foods and treats

Bonjour French Food
subscribe for a monthly rendez-vous with France, with a choice of boxes from the charcuterie to Grandmas cupboard.

There are loads more in the food category so I’ll return to it again in the future.

I’ve decided to set up this linky so that subscription box lovers can link up and find out what everyone else is getting.

It might give you some ideas of the best ones to sign up too!

In the future I hope to feature some of the best posts that have linked up, so please do join in. I’ll also tweet your posts and share them on my Facebook page. I’ll also comment on all submissions.

Last week we had some lovely vlogs from the lovely Michelle at The Purple Pumpkin Blog

The rules are simple.

link up your subscription box post or video, it can be any kind of box
take a look and comment on a couple of other posts in the linky, it’s only fair and you may find something exciting to subscribe to.
include my badge so that others may find the linky and join in.

There you have it, simple!

I’ll put the linky up every Tuesday and you can add to it until Friday. Do tell your friends, this is a new linky and we need everyone to join in.

I really can’t wait to see what you’ve had in your boxes!

Here’s my badge, the copy code is underneath.