Lets Celebrate and Eat Cupcakes with Eat Your Photo...

Lately I have really been enjoying blogging and I am so happy with my choice to move away from beauty blogging and blog about something I really love ... FOOD!! 

And what better way is there to celebrate then with cupcakes!! :) Not just any cupcakes but amazing and delicious cupcakes with my logo on thanks to Eat Your Photo and their edible goodness!

The cupcakes were hand delivered within days of confirming details and packaged really well, insuring they wouldn't be damaged. They also included a sheet with the ingredients which I thought was great as I like to know what is in what I am eating.

Each cupcake was perfectly filled and neatly decorated with my chosen picture - my blogs logo.

As you can see below the picture is clear and every inch edible :)

The cupcake itself was light and fluffy and topped with just the right amount of frosting. They got a huge thumbs up from me, my OH (my biggest cake critic) and Mr Benjamin of course.

Overall I was hugely impressed and with my sons upcoming Birthday in May, they will definitely be hearing from me.

You can order your own unique cupcakes via the Eat Your Photo website - www.eatyourphoto.co.uk and you can follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates and examples of their work and creations.

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Fluffy Pancakes with Summer Fruit Compote..

Finally its PANCAKE DAY!! Yay!! I have been saving this recipe especially for today!

These American style pancakes are so damn good I may never make a 'crape' pancake again. They are so fluffy and so srummy, piled high and smothered in butter and syrup or fruit compote.

The recipe is thanks to my wonderful American friend Lauryn but the fluffiness, I believe, is down to making your own baking powder. When we first made these pancakes we were out of baking powder and had to make our own. We found that what ever we made with our homemade baking powder was just amazing and so fluffy. So that is now the 'said' way to make pancakes, but you can of course just use normal baking powder. :)

Ingredients

for pancakes
1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp melted butter or oil
1 cup milk

for summer fruit compote
2 cups of frozen mixed summer berries
2 - 3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp lemon zest

for baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp bicarb
that will equal 1 tsp of baking powder.

Method

for pancakes
1. Mix the flour,baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the egg, butter and milk.
2. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing just enough to combine. Do not beat.
3. Heat your pan until it is HOT and add little oil/butter. Each pancake should be about a 1/4 cup measurement .
4. Cook the pancakes until the tops begin to rise and bubbles dot the surface. Turn and brown on the other side. About 3 minutes altogether. (keep warm in a low oven while you cook the rest)

for the compote
1. Place the berries, zest and sugar over a medium heat and cook down. About 10 minutes. Taste for sweetness. Serve hot or cold.

These pancakes can be very versatile, for something different you could add blueberries to the batter or even bacon and go all out American. What ever you do they will be delicious!

And on that note of deliciousness I will love and leave you ( I have weigh in...eeek).

 HAPPY PANCAKE DAY and happy cooking.

syns - ALLOT...sorry.

Chicken Noodle Soup...

Last night I wasn't in the mood for a major cooking session and really fancied soup, chicken noodle soup. So I looked in my favorite Little Book of Soups and found a recipe. I tweaked it a little of course, I can never leave recipes alone. I always have to put a personal touch on them. That's why I love cooking! You are open to a world of flavor and imagination.

Ingredients

Fry light
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
750ml Chicken Stock
60g of thin noodles, I used Chinese noodle (dried)
3 cooked chicken breasts, torn into pieces/shredded
4 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp chili, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Spray a little Fry light into a pan and fry your onion and garlic until soft and transparent. 1-2 min.
2. Add your stock and noodles and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and cook for 6-8 min or until the noodles are cooked through.
3. Add your chili, parsley and chicken and leave to cook for another 3 min or so. Season.
4. Serve piping hot with an extra sprinkle of parsley.

This soup would be perfect on a cold and rainy day like today and great for when you are feeling a little sick. If you leave the noodles out it would be perfect to freeze. Just add the noddles when heating it up.

recipe - inspired by SW Little Book of Soups

Syns - free

Valentines Day...

How was everyones Valentines yesterday? Mine was well...delicious! :)
I had a wonderful Valentines filled with flowers, kisses and lots and lots of GUILT FREE food! Yup that's right, guilt free!Thanks to Slimming World I didn't have to worry about packing on the lbs on this usually indulgent day.

For brunch me and my mini Valentine had delicious Mushroom, Spring Onion and Chili Egg Cups, in heart shapes of course and then for dinner with my OH I planned a super scrumptious 3 course meal and all under 15 syns.

Recipe can be found on my FB page - Omelet Cups

Our 3 course meal was 

| Starter - Herbed Cheese and Bacon Souffles with Salad | 

| Main - Beef Wellington with Asparagus, Snap Peas and Cherry Tomatoes |

| Desert - Strawberry Trifle | 

Recipes can be found in Extra Easy Entertaining and Food Glorious Food recipe books.

What did everyone else get up to for Valentines Day, did anyone else cook their own dinner? And was it SW or was it totally delicious and hugely synarific :)
What ever you got up to I hope you had a LOVEly time.

Lots of love and Kisses from me and mr Benjamin!!

Nutella Cookies and milk...

So its world Nutella Day today and how could I not jump on that one and make something full of nutella chocolaty goodness. If not for my sake, the smalls boys.

Now I didn't have much in so I had to make something simple, and boy is this recipe simple. Just 4 ingredients and a little mixing. Great for making with kids  :)

Here is how I made them.

Ingredients

1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of nutella
1 egg
and a little sugar, about half a cup

Method

1. preheat your oven to 160C fan. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. put everything into a bowl and mix till it forms a smooth dough.
3. divide into small balls and then place on your baking tray. Use a glass, a spoon of just your fingers to push them down slightly.
4. place in the oven and bake for 10 -12 min.
5. leave to cool and then enjoy with a glass of milk.

The small boy enjoyed them...ALLOT!!

Pea and Ham Soup...

I have had a great week full of lb losing deliciousness, 5lbs to be exact!! :) So with this great loss I am feeling good and ready to work hard to get to my target by summer.  But saying that 'working hard' is not really what it sounds like and that is the beauty of Slimming World. You don't feel like you are on diet as you can eat nearly everything and everything is just SO tasty! You do have to stay off the doughnuts though...sigh :\ Its a hard life when you want to be skinny lol

But enough of that lets get to tonight's recipe, Pea and Ham soup. It is the first in a serious of delicious soup recipes from SW Little Book of soups that i will be posting throughout February, along with other yummy recipes from Food Glorious Food for #FreeFoodFeb.

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and finely chopped
800ml veg stock
400g frozen peas
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh tarragon, plus extra to garnish.
200g lean ham, diced
salt and pepper

Method

1. Place onion, potato,stock and peas in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20min or until the potatoes are tender.
2. Stir in the tarragon and using a handheld blender blend until smooth.
3. Stir in the ham, reserving some to garnish. Bring back to the boil.
4. Season to taste and sprinkle with remaining ham and tarragon.

This soup is super easy to make and packed with flavour and freshness.

Syn free

recipe from Little Book of Soups