Me & Candi-Cloud: Hybrid Brownies

Candi-Cloud: Hybrid Brownies Candi-Cloud and I made these amazing brownie-muffin hybrids! I found the original recipe on stumbleupon.com and just knew it had to be done!! 

Here's her blog post!

I'm Back!!

Amazing panoramic views on top of Poet's Walk

Hello again!

I've been away for a while - moved into a small flat with the OH about a month ago and just havent had time. MY GOD moving is stressful! There's the packing up your life, transporting it all and then you've got to unpack it all again!

We're in Clevedon now - it really is lovely being right next to the beach

Clevedon beach and pier

Luckily we don't really have much stuff so unpacking only took 2 days! There was a rather epic battle between the OH and an Ikea chest of drawers.....at first it looked like the drawers were winning, but after a quick dash to the neighbor's to get a pair of pliers and a hammer - man won!

We've expanded our family and bought some more fish..... we named them Cletus and Opal (one guess which one is Cletus) the OH loved Cletus at first sight - for me it was more pity because he looked so sad! love them all now!!

Cletus

All the fishies!

Now we're settled in i'm planning on doing some more proper cooking and posting a bit more! i'm hoping to find some quirky little places around Clevedon i can share as well!!

Chicken Katsu Curry & Egg Fried Rice

This is my Boyfriend's favourite dish when we go out for Japanese, so decided to finally give it a go myself! It went down very well! I kinda just made the recipe up from looking at a load of other recipes and adapting it to what i had to hand.

Chicken Katsu Curry & Egg Fried Rice

Serves: 2

Cooking Time: around 30 mins

2 chicken breasts
Rice
3 medium eggs
1 red pepper, finely chopped
Soy sauce

25g Panko Breadcrumbs

Sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp tomato puree
2 chicken stock cubes (make 1/2 cup stock)
1 red onion, finely chopped

Egg Fried Rice:

1. Cook the Rice and leave to cool, add the chopped pepper. Mix the egg and soy Sauce.

2. Fry the rice in a wok for a few minutes, then push the rice to one side of the pan. In the other side of the pan pour in the egg mixture and leave to cook for a few minutes.

3. Once the egg has started to cook, scramble it and mix it into the rice and cook for a few more minutes.

Katsu Chicken Curry:

1. Dice the chicken breast into small chunks (you could do it in slices, or whole and slice once cooked). Roll the chunks in flour, then dip it into the egg, then roll them in the breadcrumbs. Bake for 15-20 mins.

2. Fry the onions in a small saucepan until soft. Mix together the chicken stock, curry powder, paprika and tomato puree, then add to the saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. SERVE!!

Slow cooked beef brisket

This is my all-time favourite way to do. A beef joint for Sunday lunch! 

Cooking time: at least 4 hours
Serves: 2+

• Beef brisket
• 1 bottle vintage cider (the best is old rascal but any cider will do - vintage is best though!)
• 2 red onions - roughly chopped
• 1/2 tbsp chilli flakes
• A small handful fresh herbs
• 1 tbsp bbq sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato pureé
• 1 tbsp gravy paste

1. Place the onions in the bottom of the cook pot. Place the beef on top.

2. Pour the cider over the beef. Mix together the chilli flakes, herbs, tomato pureé, gravy paste and bbq sauce with some hot water - to make 1 cup of liquid.

3. Pop the lid on and leave it to cook for a good few hours!

This always goes down well with the OH when I cook it. I usually serve it as a Sunday roast-type dinner with veggies and potatoes!

All the juices left in the cook pot once done makes a lovely gravy, just add gravy powder/granules to thicken it a bit!

New addiction!

Ok so recently I've heard people talking about etsy.com.....basically its kinda like ebay but its for mostly handmade and vintage things, and there is no bidding....so not really like ebay at all!! Maybe more like amazon? Anyway, it's an online market place and it truly is full of wonderful things!!

I've been spending quite a bit of my lunches browsing the site and so far have made 4 purchases in 1 month!

3 necklaces and a phone case! Haven't received 2 of the necklaces yet but its still within the delivery dates so just need to keep waiting!!

Absolutely love this necklace, took me ages to decide to buy it, only cost like £6 including postage.

The phone case came through the post this morning and it really is amazing! The fact that my phone fits (Samsung galaxy -humungus phone!) is a miracle!! And its so darn cute!!

Found some really amazing stuff on there like handbags designed to look like books, quirky jewellery and they even do wedding stuff!! 

I'm already eyeing up my next purchase - a vintage style apron....I have absolutely no need for an apron, however I would start wearing one when I cook just because I want a cute frilly one!! This is the one I like:

Update!! I've bought something else.....

Slow cooker roast chicken

Got a chicken this week so decided to try and find a recipe to do it in the slow cooker! I just googled "slow cooker roast chicken" and found this recipe. I have done slow cooked roast beef, but that's a recipe for another time!

This really is so simple - chuck it in the pot and leave it! No liquid needed because the chickens juices are enough to make gravy with! Maybe next time i'll sprinkle in a chicken stock cube...

Slow cooked roast chicken

Serves: however many!
Cook time: at least 7 hours

1 whole chicken - giblets removed
1tsp smoked paprika
1tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp salt
1tsp pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 medium/ 2 small red onions - quartered


1. Mix the herbs, spices, salt and pepper and rub into the chicken.

2. Place the onion, garlic and a few foil balls in the bottom of the cook pot (this keeps the chicken off the bottom and burning!) then put the chicken on top.

3. Cook on high for 1hr then turn to low for at least 6 hours.



Completely forgot to take a picture of the finished, plated up meal, but it was lovely, a bit awkward to get out of the pot - it was so tender, the meat just fell off the legs and wings, so had to cut the off before attempting to take the rest out. Be careful if you are planning on using the juices to make gravy/sauce - may be better to strain it because there were lots of little bones and bit in the juices where it was so tender it just fell off the bone - bones fell off too!

Anyway, seriously, if anyone reads anything on here and tries out something, let me know!!!

Teriyaki Salmon

I've been fancying salmon for absolutely ages! So last night i made teriyaki salmon. Can't honestly remember where the recipe is from, I've been doing it for years! So easy to make and always goes down well!

Teriyaki Salmon

Serves: 2

Cook time: about 30 mins

2 Salmon fillets

1 pepper

1 red onion

juice of one lemon

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 tsp ginger

lots of soy sauce

Rice to serve

1. Mix together the lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a bowl. Put the salmon into the mix to marinade.

2. Meanwhile put the rice on to cook and prepare the veg.

3. Fry the salmon until browned on all sides, then remove from the pan and put back into the soy sauce mix. 

4. Cook the veg and serve on top of the rice. Put the salmon and sauce back into the pan to finish cooking, and serve on top of the rice and veg.