It’s Friday! Apologies for the blog absence over the past wee while but this past week has been a bit hectic. There was the Press Launch for the Leeds Loves Food Festival last Thursday, Saturday was a day of running errands and Sunday we flew home for a few days to sort wedding stuff. To say it was busy was a bit of an understatement! 

Sunday involved a late morning flight then driving a hour away down to Newry to see the family for my little cousin’s Confirmation Day and that evening we had to drive up to Ballymena to see the hairdresser for my wedding trial. Monday morning saw us on the beach for our engagement shoot, then up to the hotel for a meeting to finalise stuff and that evening it was back to my parents to go through the music for the ceremony with my brother. Tuesday mum and I went into town to get my bridal jewellery and to nosey at outfits for her and then that afternoon we went out for a family lunch before heading back to the airport for our evening flight. It was a busy few days!!!

I actually can’t believe we only have 9 weeks to go and my hen party is next weekend. Time is truly whizzing past.

But anyway! Enough of my wedding ramblings and let’s talk about cake! The theme of our most recent Wharfedale CCC event was Budget Cakes and I opted to make a Lemon and Blueberry loaf. After our theme of Luxury Cakes and hearing what some people spent on ingredients I knew a budget theme would be great to try out. I realised I always seem to have flour, eggs, butter and sugar in the cupboard so all I needed for this was some lemons and blueberries.

A simple icing glaze finished this off perfectly and it worked out a lot cheaper that making up some buttercream.

Lemon and Blueberry Loaf

225g stork

225g caster sugar

225g SR flour

4 eggs

Zest of 3 lemons (reserve some for decoration)

To decorate

200g icing sugar

A few drops of lemon juice

Handful of blueberries

Enjoy!

I strongly believe in the saying – “buy cheap, buy twice” especially when it comes to cookware and bakeware. As I’ve got more into my cooking and baking I’m slowly replacing our cheap and cheerful products with items that will last a long time and withstand constant use.

I do a lot of cooking in our frying pan; whether it’s making a speedy spag bol, delicious steaks or frying up the bacon for a breakfast sandwich on a weekend; our frying pan gets a lot of use!

A few weeks ago the non-stick started peeling off our current pan and as luck would have it, at the same time the lovely folks at Ozeri got in touch asking me if I’d like to review their frying pan. I’ve reviewed a few of their products in the past, in particular their wok which is still going strong over 18 months later!

Following the success of the wok I had high hopes for the frying pan and it did not disappoint! We gave it some vigorous usage over the past week – cooking on it every night and not once has anything stuck. We also left it in the sink for 24 hours without cleaning it after frying some steak which had left behind a sticky residue just to see how well it washed. It washed perfectly!  I just ran the hot tap, squeezed some fairy liquid on the sponge and it wiped clean instantly. I didn’t even need to scrub. 

***Product was sent for review, all opinions are my own.***

Monday again! Every time I do one of these posts it makes me realise how quickly the weeks are flying in which means it’s only 11 weeks til the big day!

I didn’t go to SW last Thursday; I had been so good all week bar a cookie on the Friday and home made pizza on the Saturday. When I go on my scales on Thursday morning it looked like I’d had a 1lb loss which I was happy with but when I weighed myself when I got home from work I was 2lb heavier. I felt so annoyed and frustrated that I just didn’t go to SW. My consultant then text me on Saturday and suggested I come to her other group in Menston tonight but at the moment I’m undecided. I’m sticking to plan, I’m at the gym 2-3 times a week yet I’ve hit a plateau I can’t seem to get past.

I’ve decided though to try low-carbing it for a bit to see if that makes a difference. I love my pasta and rice but this weight-loss needs a boost. I managed to be carb-free over the weekend apart from cake club on Sunday but even then I was quite controlled. This morning I had scrambled eggs and mushrooms for breakfast and leftovers from yesterday’s roast for lunch. I’ll be honest, I am not enjoying it. I like my spuds with a roast and I love weetabix for breakfast – eggs at 6:30am is not fun!

I’ve also got a foodie event to go to on Thursday where the food is by Almost Famous (burgers!) and then we fly home on Sunday for a few days. All I can do is stay on plan as much as possible and fingers crossed I can shift these last few pounds.

But anyway! Enough of me moaning – let’s get on to this week’s meal plan.

Monday – SW Chicken curry using up the leftover from yesterday’s roast. Going to have green beans and broccoli (I hate broccoli!) instead of rice.

Tuesday – Salt and Pepper Pork with Cauliflower Rice.

Wednesday – Cottage Pie with Swede Mash

Thursday – I’m out at this event but Mr T will have burgers

Friday – Steak

Saturday – Salmon and Asparagus. I saw a recipe in the good food mag for this so going to try it out.

Sunday – flying home for a few days so here’s hoping I can stay on plan.

As always I’ll be linking up over at Mrs M’s. Have a great week!

It was Mr T’s birthday last week so of course I needed to make him a cake! He loves chocolate but doesn’t go in for loads of icing so I knew a bundt was the order of the day. I also decided to use the Jubilee tin he bought me for my birthday as a special little nod to him.

My usual chocolate cake recipe doesn’t always work well as a bundt as it’s quite a wet mix so even with lots of greasing and flouring bits of the cake still stick to the tin. I didn’t want a light chocolate cake; it needed to be dense, fudgey and rich in flavour.

After doing some digging online and checking out my favourite blogs I came across this recipe from Ruth at The Pink Whisk. I did need to up the quanities and fiddle with the recipe slightly but it resulted in one yummy bundt! Mr T and I may have had more than one or two slices but it’s his birthday so it would be rude not to. It did mean a slight gain at SW the following Thursday but I didn’t mind, this cake was worth it!

  

Chocolate Birthday Bundt

240g butter, softened

150g molasses sugar

290g light muscovado sugar

4 eggs

300g plain flour

110g self-raising flour

110g cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

330ml milk

2 ½ tbsps vinegar (I used malt and it was fine)

To decorate

250g icing sugar

A few tablespoons of warm water

Chocolate drops

Enjoy!

Happy Monday folks!

I’m in a surprisingly good mood for a Monday but the sun is shining and all I can think is that in two weeks time we will be back home for a visit sorting out wedding stuff – hair trial, hotel visit and engagement shoot woop!

Anyway… back to the point of this post – Meal Planning Monday. I’m struggling at SW at the moment. I’ve lost 9lb so far but hit a bit of a plateau. I really want to get slimmer but it’s a struggle. All I need is another 5lb off to get to target but I’m getting frustrated with the lack of progress. I think bank holidays, Mr T’s birthday and a few busy weekends aren’t helping matters.

So here’s what we are having this week. It’s looking like a fairly quiet week for us and so sticking to plan should be easy. We are in town on Saturday sorting out some ring and suit stuff so we might go for lunch but other than that no other real plans.

Monday – Beef Tagine. I made brisket yesterday from my Save With Jamie book and he recommends using the leftovers in this tagine. I made a point of setting aside the meat we would need for the tagine and then served up the rest. There was still loads and it definitely stopped us over-eating.

Tuesday – Salt and Pepper Pork

Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognese

Thursday – Salmon, Rice and Veg

Friday – Steak

Saturday – depends on if we go out for lunch/tea so I’m leaving this one open.

Sunday – Roast Chicken. I hate chicken, the smell alone makes me want to heave but there are so many yummy looking chicken recipes out there I’m trying to force myself into liking it. If not Mr T is going to be eating it for the rest of the week haha!

Have a great week!

As always I'll be linking over at Mrs M's - see you there!