Welsh Cakes

There's little better than a proper thick Welsh Cake, homemade and served still warm with a coffee or tea. I'm not sure where they rank alongside Bara Brith (another Welsh favourite, which I will be bringing you this weekend) but they are well worth a try should you ever have the chance, especially after a small soup with bread, or as an afternoon snack on a blustery March day.

Blueberry Yoghurt Smoothie II

Blueberry Yoghurt Smoothie

I've been playing around with smoothies for a while, but I think this one is the best so far. And the key? Well, it's simplicity! Take a punnet of blueberries, add a banana and a few tablespoons of plain yoghurt and blend together, before serving with breakfast. You could try adding in some cinnamon or mixed spice, which gives it that final kick. And the fun thing is that you can play around with it, adding fruits that are coming into season or ones that you particularly like. In the picture you can see that after a while in the fridge it became more like a proper yoghurt, so I ate it with a spoon, which made it more of a dessert - but it's healthy, and that's what matters.

Soda Bread

Tasty, cheap, quick... What's not to like? I have to confess that I'd never even heard of soda bread before my Sister offered me some, but then we all have to learn somehow, right? But after making it once, and another time and then realising that it takes half the time that normal bread takes and is that little bit richer, you kinda get used to it. Although I wouldn't recommend more than once a week, it's almost like eating a cake (especially if you put jam on it)...

INGREDIENTS

500g flour (half white. half wholemeal is best)
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp salt
40g melted butter
1tbsp treacle
300-350ml buttermilk

RECIPE

Combine the dry ingredients, taking care to combine them well. Then make a well in the centre before slowly pouring the buttermilk, butter and treacle in and forming a dough. Do not overwork the dough, simply bring it together with a knife, knead for one minute and shape it into a round before placing on a baking tray. Cut a cross through the bread, going deep but not all the way through and then cook at 180c for 25-35 minutes, carefully checking it to make sure it's cooking well. It's ready when it sounds hollow at the bottom, which you can check by softly knocking on it after taking it out.

Enjoy!

Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

Blueberry Crush Smoothie

Smoothies have been popular for a while. In fact, I don't know when they haven't been popular. But the question always is, should I make them myself, or just go and buy one? I tend to buy them if I'm out and about, but make them at home when I can. Fruit that supermarkets are selling off cheaply because it's close to the due date can be good, or random bits of stuff that I have in my fridge (and it can be quite random)! Then, I also use bananas, apples and yoghurt in most of my smoothies anyway. Whatever I have really, it's pretty much always gonna taste good! This one, however, was different, since I wanted to add some carrots into the mix, to liven it all up a bit:

INGREDIENTS

a few carrots, very finely sliced
some blueberries, say 250g
a banana
two apples
yoghurt
honey
a crumbled biscuit

RECIPE

Whack all the ingredients together, except for the biscuit, making sure they combine well as you blend them. Depending on how you like your smoothies, thick or less so, you can add more yoghurt or more fruit. Then put into a glass, add the crumbled biscuit and enjoy! As you can see, my smoothie was so think I needed a teaspoon!

Pancake Day!

I love pancakes. I just do. They can be sweet. Or savoury. They can be filled with raspberries and hot chocolate sauce. Or they can be embellished with fried onions and blue cheese. There's endless variety with them, and endless fun. Want to play with buckwheat flour? Then pancakes it is! Want to discover what mixing half-double cream/half-chocolate tastes like? Then pancakes it is! Really, there should be pancake days every month. Today there were three pancakes on the menu: Raspberries and chocolate sauce, cheddar cheese and onion and honey and lemon.

INGREDIENTS

for the pancakes:
85g self raising flour
1 egg
1/2 pint milk

for the fillings:
Savoury:
onion
cheese
Sweet:
50g dark chocolate
50ml double cream
Some raspberries

RECIPE

Whisk the flour egg and milk together until it resembles a smooth creamy texture. Meanwhile fry the onions and set aside some grated cheese. Place some oil in a pan and warm up before placing a ladle of batter into the pan, cooking for 2 minutes before flipping. Serve with the onion and cheese.
For the second pancake, melt the dark chocolate and double cream together over a pan of simmering water in a bowl which is not touching the water (I usually place my colander in the pan and the bowl inside that). Then cook another pancake and place the raspberries and chocolate sauce inside.

Enjoy!!!