Halloween was my favourite!  I sent my husband off to the shops to buy a pumpkin.  I was going to make the soup and he could have fun carving it.  I wasn’t sure about a recipe, so had a little go at making my own and it worked wonderfully.

Verymissberry Pumpkin Soup

1 small Pumkin

I large Sweet Potato

1/2 an Onion

500ml Veggie Stock (Low salt)

200ml Milk

1cm grated Ginger

2 small cloves garlic

A bunch of Corriander

Pinch  of Salt & Pepper

Chop all the veggies and garlic and roast them with a touch of oil in the oven for 30mins on Gas Mark 6. When they look soft, pop them in a pan on the hob and add the 500ml of stock along with ginger, coriander and salt & pepper and leave to simmer for a further 15mins before adding the milk and then turn the heat and continue to simmer for 10 mins.  Taste and season as needed!

Its really nice to save and roast the pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top. (Keep them out of the hubbys sight, mine ate them all before hand.)

Yum yum yum!

Life’s back to normal work and sleep, work, sleep and eat.  Though I have found time to make this yummy recipe I wanted to share with all you fish lovers out there.

I have recently found lemon sole, not the most flavoured of fish but great if you cook it with creativity.  So here goes,

place the fish in a flat dish, making sure you score both sides to let the flavour in.  Set the oven to Gas mark 6 and start chopping the ingredients.  Tomatoes, garlic, basil, red onions, mushrooms, lemons, salt & pepper I roughly chopped them all and placed them over my fish and then made a dressing of lemon, garlic and olive oil to drizzle over the top before placing in the oven.  I only cooked two pieces of sole and this took about 10 - 15 mins.

It works really well with salted Canarian style potatoes and salad.  Wonderful!

My friend at work made these lovely chocolate truffles, so I though I’d given them a go as well. They worked quite well, I decided to put rum in them, but I guess you could use baileys or sherry.

They are slightly different from normal truffles because they don’t have cream in them. This means they’ll last a little longer I hope.  The ones above are coated in sugar, chocolate and Almond.

I’m going to try them out on people this weekend and see what they think, if all goes well i’ll post the recipe soon.

As Christmas as near I though I would make some Mince Pies. I however don’t like them, but my partner does. One of my school pupils at work gave me a jar of home made mincemeat as a Christmas present, so it would have been rude not to us it.

So here is the recipe for them:

125g Unsalted butter

200g Plain Flour

Orange Zest

Almonds Ground & Flaked

Icing Sugar

Mincemeat

Cinnnamon

Unrefined Sugar 4 tbsps

Once your all set you should follow the next few steps to yummy pies.

1.

To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the unrefined sugar and orange zest. (Take some out for crumble top.) Spoon in 4 tbsp water, mixing with a knife until the dough starts to come together. Knead lightly, flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins.

2.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry out to a 2-3mm thickness and trim to a rectangle. Re-roll any trimmings and make mini ones. Fill the pastry shell with a thin layer of mincemeat and spread out to smooth. (Can be frozen, uncooked, in trays for up to 1 month.)

3.

Go back to the crumble ingredients and add a little water so it binds a bit. Sprinkle over the mince pie. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 20 - 40 mins until the pastry is cooked and golden brown. Cool in the tins for 5 mins, dust with icing sugar then serve with brandy butter or crème fraîche.

What to do on a breezy summer afternoon, bake brownies!

This has to be one of the best chocolate brownie recipes I have ever tasted, and I have made quite a few. They are always to runny, to set or just plain crunchy. This is perfect bitter sweet goodness!!!!

Its easy to make and only slightly messy, you’ll need;

150g Butter

150g Dark Chocolate

2 Eggs

1tsp Vanilla

175g Caster Sugar

100g Plain Flour

1 large spoon of powdered chocolate

Tiny bit of salt.

White chocolate chips (Optional)

Ok, this is what you need to do;

On a low heat melt the butter and chocolate and set aside to cool slightly. Next beat the eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy. Sift the flour, chocolate and salt into the sugar and eggs, and lastly mix in the chocolate and butter (Don’t beat it).

Scrape it all into a low tin and bake on Gas 4 for 20 mins. Making sure you check it after 10. It is done when the top is pale and cracks have started to form. Now let it cool before cutting into squares and enjoying.

After working at a school with many staff from the NZ and OZ, I’ve had my eyes opened to all number of yummy treats. One of my favourites is Afghan biscuits, they’re tasty chocolate and cornflake treats, generally topped with chocolate icing and walnut pieces, I believe they are a real Kiwi treat.

This is my recipe, so I hope you like it?

225g Flour

75g Castor Sugar

200g Butter

25g Coco or Chocolate Melted

50g Cornflakes

All you need to do is soften the butter and add the sugar, flour and coco. Mix well and add the cornflakes.

Place them in rough blobs on a tray and bake for 10/15mins at 180c or Gas Mark 4. I like to take them out while they are still sticky in the centre.

Top them with icing or frosting of your choice, and enjoy.

My second recipe is Filo Parcels filled with mushroom, red onion, tomato and ricotta;

Easy to make, you layer you filo alternate ways in a baking tray or cake papers, then brush the edges with a little oil. Next fry the onion, mushroom, and add salt & pepper, before mixing the tomatoes in and removing from the heat. Mix all with ricotta cheese and add the the centre of each case and cook for 30 minutes of Gas mark 4. It is important to keep checking the pastry!!!

I have the best recipe for rich dark chocolate cakes, I have teamed this off with bitter dark chocolate buttercream and they are yummy!!!

The Best Yummy Chocolate Cake

This is one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve tasted, moist, spongy and tasty, it possible to make with dark or milk chocolate.

You need:

1 tsp Vegetable Oil
3 tbsp Cocoa Powder (Dark if you have it.)
100ml Boiling Water
50g Dark Chocolate
½ tsp bicarbonate of Soda
100g of unsalted butter
175g Soft Muscovado Sugar
125g Milk (or condensed Milk)
1 Large Egg
150g Self Raising Flower
1tsp Baking Powder

Instructions:

• Rub the oil inside you preferred cake tin, and line with baking parchment, (Large cup cake are an option.) and preheat the oven to 180c/350F/gas 4.

• Stir 3 tablespoons of cold water into cocoa until you have a smooth paste, whisk in the boiling water. Straight away stir in the chocolate and the bicarb, and leave to melt and fizz. Add a touch of red food colouring if you’d like a nice red velvet colour.

• In another bowl, beat butter, sugar, milk and the egg until very smooth.

• Sift together flour & baking powder, beat half of this into the egg mixture, fold in the chocolate mixture, beat in the remaining flour until smooth.

• Scrap into the baking tin and cook for 40 – 45 minutes. Put a knife or skewer in to see if its cooked, take out and leave in the tin to cool. Turn out once cold.

Topping:

25g (1 oz) cocoa
About 4 tbsp boiling water
100g (4 oz) margarine
About 300g (12 oz) icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence – optional

Instructions:

• Blend cocoa with a little boiling water in a mixing bowl, then blend in the margarine.
• Sieve the icing sugar and beat it into the margarine a little at a time.

or I use warmed dark chocolate.

I am thinking of taking these lovely little cakes into work with me.  My GCSE Art pupils have finished there exam and I want to say some kind of thanks for there hard work, a little tradition I started a few years back.