Charity Bake Sale - DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal

Our Charity Bake Sale

In my place of work we have built quite a reputation for our ability to raise money for charity purely through the power of baking.  

We have worked hard to nurture this reputation over the years and this week’s Charity Bake Sale was certainly no exception. 

There were delicious goodies a plenty!

Near: Stained Glass Jello
Far: Guinness Chocolate Cake

The beautiful buffet of treats consisted of both homemade and shop bought deliciousness all spread out on tables in one corner of our office with colleagues from across departments tempted by our efforts coming and going throughout the day.

Let me tell you, it is incredibly difficult to resist trying one of everything or just digging in and eating it all when it’s right in front of you all day.



The sweet and savoury dishes sat side by side, with delicately constructed desserts nudging up against their sturdier savoury counterpart.  A plate baked Steak Pie and a lattice topped Spinach Pie alongside the Blueberry Lemon Millefeuille and Coffee Kisses. 

Left: Coffee Kisses
Right: Cinnamon Apple Muffins



I have to admit that the Coffee Kisses are one of my all time favourite bake sale treats and I love it when they make an appearance at our Bake Sales.

The recipe comes from the Bero cookbook and they are incredibly more-ish.

They go especially well with a mug of coffee or cup of tea, well heck, technically they are great even with a glass of water! 

I’m not ashamed to say that my mouth is watering now whilst just gazing at the photo of them, mmm...



Blueberry Lemon Millefeuille

All my drooling aside, I’m very pleased to confirm that we raised a whopping £247 in aid of the DEC’s East Africa Crisis Appeal.

It really warms my heart that I am lucky enough to work with such wonderfully generous and giving people, thank you to everyone for making it such a success!

Mussels Provencal

Mussels are one of those foods that can be a bit scary to try for the first time. I managed to avoid officially trying them for a very long time. 

It was only when a certain someone, who absolutely loves mussels, gently nudged me to overcome my fear of the unknown seafood and give ‘em a go.  

Let me tell you, I am so glad he was so persistent on the issue because they are absolutely divine!

Plus the fact that this certain someone really enjoys cooking them as you can see from these photos (yay!) and doesn’t seem to mind going solo on the de-bearding/scrubbing process that goes along with it (yuck!).  

Long may these delicious edible epiphanies continue!

I’ve been told that the following link is for the recipe which was used: http://www.ehow.com/how_4611881_mussels-garlic-white-wine-sauce.html

Cauliflower Stilton Soup

When you think about summertime, it isn’t traditionally the time of year when you would choose to have a thick & warming soup for your dinner. However, if you live in England it could well be on the menu and you’d be grateful for that fact.  

A steaming bowl of delicious soup served with crusty brown bread on the side is just what you want after a drizzly morning or a chilly afternoon.  

It’s even more of a treat when the soup is made for you to enjoy by someone else!

This recipe was adapted from the Easy Cauliflower Soup recipe found on the Waitrose recipes page.  It is pretty simple and gets points for frugality too since it uses items already in the average store cupboard.

Cauliflower Stilton Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 fresh bay leaf

1 large potato, peeled and diced

1 large cauliflower, cut into florets

3 tbsp greek yoghurt

250g Stilton

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and gently cook the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the bay leaf and 1½ litres of cold water, then the potato and cauliflower. Bring to the boil then simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are just tender.

Remove the bay leaf then purée the soup using a hand blender or a liquidiser until smooth. Pour back into the pan, add the yoghurt and crumble in the Stilton. Heat through gently to melt the cheese then season generously with freshly ground black pepper.



Jesmond Mixer Market

Poor Girl's Kitchen Caramel Bar

Good food, a nice atmosphere and unique stalls are all attractive individual aspects to hope for when attending a local market.  It is a huge bonus when all three aspects come together in one local venue. 



The Mixer Market in Jesmond offers a lovely combination of local food (especially baked goodies, mmmmm!), vintage items and craft stalls. It is held on the last Sunday of each month and it has a really friendly, creative and very welcoming vibe. 

Cake Poppins Hedgehog Cake Pop

There appears to be both regular stalls and new stall holders each time which means there are always new things to check out alongside your trusty favorites. 

This was the second time that I've attended the market and I was not disappointed.

Poor Girl's Kitchen Mint Glory-o's

I only wish I had a larger budget since there were some really unique items that would have made great gifts, but as it was this time around, I was totally focused on satisfying my sweet tooth, mmmm..... 

• Cake Poppins: http://www.cakepoppins.co.uk/
• Poor Girl's Kitchen: http://www.poorgirlskitchen.co.uk/

Festival Food



Stoats porridge



Experiencing the Wickerman Festival this weekend was a fantastic way to break myself into the festival phenomenon. 

It was friendly, fun and full of fantastic food (all my favourite f’s in one place!).    

We had a hearty start to the morning: Porridge from Stoat’s Porridge Bar with flakes of toasted almonds, pear and cinnamon.

The Wickerman Festival is a music festival near Dumfries in scotland which has occured for the past ten years over a weekend in July. It takes place in the middle of rolling farm land with a view of amazing landscapes on all sides and moody clouds in the sky above.

Pimm's

I enjoyed my first official Pimm’s complete with a cute branded stirrer which of course I kept (my Dad would be proud!). 

Musical highlights from the weekend include: The Pigeon Detectives, Noisettes, and Feeder. 

Plus some great scottish bands (Miaoux Miaoux and We Write Letters in particular) played the Solus Emerging Artist Stage and I'll be keeping my eye out for them in future. 

There were also some awesome DJ sets in the dance tents (Utah Saints drew us in for the long haul even when bedtime called!)

 

Peanut Butter Cups

This is a reposting of an entry earlier this year from my non-food blog, but since it is food related I wanted to repost it on here.  Plus, these have now become part of my 'baking' repertoire, so it only seems fitting to post it again in order to share the peanut butter & chocolaty love!

I never realised just how straight forward making Peanut Butter Cups could be.  It is pretty darn simple (and I love simple recipes!), a little messy but there are only a handful of ingredients and no actual baking necessary, just some simple melting.

So I finally decided to try it and after finding the recipe on the Joy of Baking page, voila... the results have been taste-tested by my colleagues and friends and have passed the test with a chocolatey thumbs up!

The Joy of Baking webpage makes me drool and there are so many delicious looking recipes to try....hmm.... what to make next?

Pasta Shells with Broccoli and Anchovies

Recently I’ve been trolling through my Good Food magazines from the past few years scouting out new recipes to try and this was quite a simple looking recipe which I thought would make a nice change from the usual weeknight meal routine.

The Pasta Shells with Broccoli and Anchovies recipe uses only a handful of ingredients, most of which were already in the house (who doesn’t have olive oil, lemons, garlic and a cute little tin of yummy anchovies in their store cupboard these days?).

It was quick to make (on the table in less than half an hour) and was rather tasty too!

I left out the chili by choice since I didn't want to have a bright red face for the rest of the evening, but I absolutely loved the combination of anchovy, lemon and broccoli with the satisfyingly chewy texture of the pasta. Delish!

This is definitely going on my list to make again soon.