All Greek To Me

So a quick pop into Cardiff town centre and a short wonder around the arcades.. I come across this little gem! Loving all things Greek how could I just walk past? No way. Stepping inside I felt like I was in Greece, the decor is so simple but so effective. The cobbled style floor just like paved stones and blue touches immediately reminded me of photos from Santorini. The smell of Greek olives in the air and friendly chit chat. I know this is a place my boyfriend would love and can't wait to take him! 

I couldn't quite get the shop keeps names with all the food chat but they are such lovely women. Immediately showing her Greek custom she offered me some food to try, which I could not turn down. Completely 100% fat free choco bites. They're made with olive oil instead of butter which tastes amazing (not at all savoury as I initially thought) selling at 5 for £1, bargain on the go snack.

Fat-free chocolate bites

Everything is made by the owners from scratch and you can taste it in the quality of the food.  The cheese pie was amazing too. Although All Greek To Me just opened yesterday I know they'll be around for a while, if your in Cardiff definitely pop in and say hi. They're very friendly and the food will speak for itself.

Delicious Greek pie

Situated in the classic Cardiff arcades, nearest the castle ( I really can't remember the arcade name! If you know where I'm talking about please comment and correct me haha)   'High Street Arcade'

What do you think, gorgeous and quaint or what?!

Until Next time xo

*Update - this lovely lady is called Leda. I still love this shop and pop by every week. 

Carrot Cupcakes

I love carrot cake, its one of my favourites. The name just makes it feel slightly less naughty when you've got your feet up with a cup of tea and a large slice. But when I looked up a few recipes online the name is very deceiving. The recipe I took uses 200ml of sunflower oil?! I was really unsure if it was   just a typo or a joke. It felt pretty disgusting putting that much oil just on top of eggs and mixing! But as Ive learnt from so many disasters in the past, always follow the recipe! Especially if like me, your just a home baker haha. If you not like me and count your calories daily then you may want to cut down on your carrot cake intake!

I wish I had picked up a few little carrot fondant decorations to make it a bit more obvious but hey ho. I used around 200g of grated carrots but it still didn't quite give the taste, I think if you try this then 1 whole tablespoon of cinnamon would be advised. It brings out the taste of the carrot a lot more.

Recipe
275g caster sugar
200ml sunflower oil
4 medium eggs
300g carrot (more or less)
150g nuts or dried fruit
225g wholemeal or plain flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Cheese frosting:
125g unsalted butter,
125g full-fat cream cheese
275g icing sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Edible decorations 

1.Cream the eggs and oil together
2. Mix in carrots
3. Add sugar and flour
4. Mix in nuts
5. fold in cinnamon and cocoa powder
6. Cook for 15 minutes at 170 degrees
7. Mix all frosting ingredients together and spread over cooled cakes

Cookie Dough recipe

Everyone has become addicted since Americans have broadcast it all over their sitcoms and then trickled into Domino's and American style diners and of course Ben and Jerry's. Its delicious and really fattening but it does taste amazing. The only problem is after about 5 teaspoons, its so sweet and rich that you get a bit sick of it. So its probably best to make these as cake pops which I might try soon. I got this delicious recipe here.

Fairly cheap ingredients

My indulgent dough

Original recipe

Recipe:
200g butter
230g brown sugar, 
200g all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of milk
toppings

1. Cream butter and sugar together until smooth
2. Add vanilla extract and 2 spoons of milk
3. Mix in half the flour
4. Add all the flour and milk and mix well
5. Mix in all the toppings
6. Eat raw

This would probably taste amazing, stuffed into the middle of a cupcake. What do you think? You need to serve this straight away as if you keep it for too long, the butter melts and seeps out. blegh.
Until next time xo

Zombie Cupcakes

I'd love to take credit for this monstrosity but I stole the idea from yoyomax12 from youtube click to watch. She's a baking mad mum who makes some amazing cupcakes which I'm obsessed with copying. Instead of using green icing for grass, I made a pandan cake instead. Which is an Asian cake using pandan leaf extract and coconut milk. It tastes amazing, which I thought was more interesting than just chocolate.

Ingredients:

120g unsalted butter

220g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp pandan paste

250ml coconut milk

300g plain flour

Chocolate biscuits

Chewit sweets

Biscuits

Icing sugar

Jam

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C

2. Whisk butter and sugar until pale and light

3. Add egg one at a time until well mixed

4. In a small bowl mix the pandan paste with some coconut milk until dissolved 

5. Add the pandan mix to the butter mixture and mix well

6. Add the remaining coconut milk and flour alternating, careful not to curdle. Fold in

7. Fill cupcakes 3/4 way full

8. Cook for 25 minutes

9. Skewer the cakes, a clean stick is a cooked cake.

10. Watch video for decorating tutorial

These look so gross but they taste amazing! 

Until next time xo

Simple Salmon

Really quick easy dinner. 

You'll need some veg, salmon and stuffing mix.

Boil any harder veg like potatoes and carrots until slightly soft. While doing this slightly stir-fry any veg, add hot water to a small amount of stuffing mix. Then put them all onto a baking tray and under the grill, with a sprinkle of chicken stock cube. While the veg and stuffing are browning add the salmon into a hot, oiled pan. Season with a little salt and pepper.

What do you think? Takes 15 minutes, it's simple, healthy and delicious.

Halloween Treats

Halloween is only 25 days away. My god. I don't even have a costume yet! I want the trickle treaters ( I mean trick or treaters, but I've always said trickle) this year to have something a little different. I've done a trial run of some cookies I'm planning on giving out. I've got a few ideas for other creepy, gross treats. But they're for another time!

Recipe

100g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

275g plain flour

1tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy

2. Add the egg and vanilla, mix again

3. Fold in the flour until it forms a dough mixture

4. Roll out dough, by dusting the surface with flour first and cut shapes

5. For jack face, use the lid of vanilla extract bottle to cut eyes

6. Place all biscuits onto a baking sheet and preheat oven at 190 degrees

7. Place hard boiled candies into eye holes and they will melt into place

8. After cooling decorate with writing icing.

Make sure to use boiled candies and not sugar ( My sugar eyes burnt or did not melt at all!)

These are pretty sweet, but the kids loved them. My little brother wont eat jack, he think's he's too scary! Awww.

I denied this guy a face completely because he couldn't decide if he wanted to melt or not melt. 

Until next time xo

Banana Cake and Melting Moments

My Auntie gave me a massive bunch of bananas today, they had just gone past their firm stage. She's been so busy she hasn't had a chance to eat them. If this has happened to you, do not bin them! Just grab a simple viccy sponge mix and add the banana's. Perfect. This is a really great bake for children too, I made this with my Brother, Nye. He had so much fun, he tried eating some raw vanilla essence too behind my back! Don't know how nice that tasted, he didn't try to do it again. haha.

Looking a bit scruff, some naughty fingers stole a few when I went to get the camera! They really need some crushed walnuts for next time I think. I decided, the oven was hot and I'd seen these on tv recently so hey, why not... some Viennese whirls.

More naughty fingers, my little brother named this 'the big mini mac sandwich' I wouldn't recommend it, but he managed to get it down in one. I decided to make teeny tiny ones, just because they're alot easier to pipe. The mixture started drying in the piping bag and it got really stiff. But they still tasted really nommy.

Banana cake Recipe
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
170g caster/granulated sugar
170g self raising flour
170g soft margarine (butter is fine too)
1 tablespoon vanilla essence

1. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar well until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla continue mixing. Then sift in flour mix well. Once you can no longer see any white flour, chop 2 bananas roughly and mix again until the chunks are smaller about 1/2cm. Or just look like little drops of banana :)
2. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
3. Spoon a teaspoon of mixture into well greased cupcake trays. (I used spraying oil to get a better coverage, but butter is fine too!) 
4. Slice the 3rd banana thinly and add 1 layer to each cupcake. 
5. Fill the cupcake with a tablespoon of mixture over the banana.
6. Cook for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Tip - if you can't get your cupcakes out easily, you didn't grease enough! Grab a tablespoon to help scoop them out.

                                                                                                                               

Viennese Whirl Recipe
250g unsalted butter
60g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
60g corn flour
250g plain flour

1. (Preheat oven at 180 degrees) Beat the icing sugar and butter with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light, pale and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla and beat again. Now add both flours by sifting and mix well until smooth.
3. Spoon mixture into pipping bag and pipe onto baking parchment or grease proof paper.
4. Cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown. This will vary with size. 5cm diameter whirls take 12 minutes.

For the filling - 
Some jam
100ml semi skimmed milk
2 tablespoons plain flour
100g caster/granulated sugar
100g butter 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Simmer milk and add flour. Stir until all flour has dissolved. Lay onto plate and cover with cling film until warm/cool.
2. Whisk together sugar, butter and vanilla essence until very pale and light. (15 minutes by hand or 6 minutes by electronic)
3. Add in the milk mixture to your butter and sugar, whisk well until all is mixed it.
4.  After your whirls have cooled spread a thin layer of jam to one side, then some cream mixture to the other and squish together.

Hope you enjoyed todays bake! Until next time xo

Lemon Meringue Pie

If your following me on twitter you'll already know I've been overloading on baking shows. The new series of the Great British bake off is underway and I'm addicted. As nasty as it sounds its really funny when their cakes explode, fall on the floor or collapse but its more amazing when they make ridiculously huge, elaborate cakes. (One guy even air brushed pink icing on this cake! Show off haha)

This is a really cheap and quick recipe for Lemon Meringues!  Instead of making my own lemon filling because I was really lazy, I used 3/4 a jar of lemon curd. Mixed it with 2 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of butter and 2-3 tablespoons of corn flour.

Tip - To help keep the bubbles in your egg whites, add 1 drop of cider vinegar or lemon juice. Add icing sugar 1 spoon at a time! You'll know its ready when it forms stiff peaks and you can hold the bowl over your head. But do you trust yourself enough?!

How did yours turn out?

Cheap, healthy snacks on a budget

A big expense of weekly shopping are the snacks. Crisps although don't seem very expensive are pretty bad, your mainly paying for packaging and air. They'll also make you pretty fat if your eating a lot. Some quick, cheap and healthy snack ideas for everyone on a budget:

1. Beetroot chips - Usually vacuum packed beets are cheaper than fresh, but its up to you which you use. Slice into thin crisps, its easier to use a peeler than a knife to make thinner slices. Lay onto a paper towel to remove excess moisture, then toss with olive oil in a bowl. Single layer and oven roast on the lowest shelf for 20 mins on a low setting. This also works nicely with parsnips, courgette, potato and sweet potato.

2. Greek yoghurt - Adding toppings makes the snack. So the traditional Greek yoghurt and honey or tinned tropical fruit mix, you could also use jam if your really skint. Chocolate chips and crushed nuts. Dried fruit is also good, but slightly expensive. Total is a really nice brand but store brands are still good.


3. Tomato and mozzarella stacks - Just simply slices of tomato with mozzarella drizzled in olive oil. Or spreading cheese topped with chives.


4. Chocolate popcorn -  Pop and add a bag of chocolate chips. Sesame - Toss 4 cups of plain popped popcorn with 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil and 1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds. Or you could use plain popcorn topped with butter. Its usually cheaper to buy plain popcorn.

5. Celery sticks and dip - Hummus is delicious or you can pick up any chip dip like cheese and chive, garlic and  3 cheese. Stuff the curve with chopped chorizo or red peppers and grated cheese.


6. Chocolate and nut clumps - Melt 1 bar of cheap supermarket chocolate. To do this you can either microwave at 15 sec intervals. This method burns quickly. Alternatively snap the chocolate into a bowl and place over a boiling pan of hot water. Don't let the water touch the bowl, just let the steam work. Add in the nuts, mix and drop into small bowls on tin foil and refrigerate.


7. Sweet potato chips - Peel, slice into french fry shapes and fry in shallow olive oil. Or you could just slice across and make circle shapes, this is so much easier. Season with a pinch of salt and vinegar.

8. Peanut crackers - Spread peanut butter and lay sliced bananas over crackers. You could also use Nutella, but unless you have a £land near you its going to be pretty expensive.


9. Caramel dipping apples - Melt 50g of butter with 200g of brown sugar or caster. Stir over a low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and mix 125ml of cream until combined. Slice apple chunks and dip.


10. Fruit leather - You'll need some fresh fruit. Peel and core depending on what fruit you've chosen then chop. Now boil them in a saucepan, you'll need 1/2 cup of water for 4 cups of chopped fruit. Simmer and cover for 15 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash the fruit in the saucepan. Taste and see how sweet you'd like your leather and add sugar accordingly. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon, this makes the fruit taste stronger. Add spices if desired, cinnamon, nutmeg. puree in a blender and pour into a baking tray. Cook at 140 degrees for 8 hours. Its a long time but its worth it if your just in the house for the day to keep an eye on it. Slice and eat.