My Three Favourite Easy Sweet Recipes

Let me start by saying these are NOT my recipes. I did not make them up myself. Although I'd love to say they are. If you read my previous blog you will know I am not skilled enough to start creating or experimenting with food.

God help my poor kids and boyfriend if I did.

I have three of my all time favourite recipes that I have made time and time again that always turn out delicious. All thanks to one, nothing short of a genius, woman. Her name is Gemma Stafford. She is a professional chef on YouTube. Her channel is called Bigger Bolder Baking. When I found her channel I cracked the art of cooking.

Everything I have attempted to make from her was a success. I get requests after requests to make them from my family. When I do they don't last a day in the house. Now that is saying something with a fussy eating toddler and weak stomached man. The baby will eat play dough and think its delicious so I don't take notes from him.

I have tried many different recipes from other chefs and Gemma is by FAR the best. The woman needs a medal! I follow her religiously on YouTube and I suggest you do to if you want to be the mum who makes the best cookies. I will always check to see if Gemma has a recipe for me before I cook something nowadays.

Her recipes are Jade proof!

Although I love to cook I'm a lazy cook. If there's a short cut I would have tried it. Also I don't always have the correct equipment. Cooking is expensive! I'm lucky though as my mother and grandmother are cooks, so I usually borrow (and never give back) their equipment. Here's a great tip for you if your starting off. Keep borrowing your mothers. She will get so fed up in the end she will buy you your own. 

So here are my three all time favourite sweet recipes. I will advise you on where to buy some of the items because I always food shop on a budget. I'm now a pro at food shopping (sad I know). If you'd like a blog post on meal planning, shopping lists, budgeting and healthy but nice easy food just leave me a comment below.  My independent know it all brother even seeks my help in this department. My food shopping lists and meal plans would give an OCD an orgasm.

1. Gronola

Breakfast. Worst meal of the day for me. The baby is like a wild zoo animal in the morning and my toddler seems to always be nursing a hangover. He cant move without moaning and needs a good two hours to come around. So I either skip it but then I'm like a raving lunatic by 11am. Or I eat cold toast...lovely and boring. I had to find a new easy quick breakfast that I will enjoy. No one wakes up thinking 'www I cant wait for my Weetabix.'

I wanted to find something that I look forward to eating and by god this is it. It tastes like crushed cookies. My Toddler snacks on it like a pack of crisps. Better yet its healthy but doesn't taste it. Put some on Greek Yoghurt, Fresh fruit and honey.

AMAZING! Its nothing like the stuff you can buy. Don't say you don't like granola until you have tried this one.

Ingredients:

2 cups of Rolled Oats porridge oats I use, Aldies

1/4 cup of brown sugar Aldies

200g Pecan nuts you will find these in the cooking isle, Morrison's are the cheapest

1/4 Maple Syrup Aldies is where it wint cost you and arm and a leg but also good quality or use GOOD quality honey which I have done before. Tastes amazing either way. Cheap honey is watery.

1/4 vegetable oil

2 tbsp warm water

Pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat Oven to gas mark 4/ 160

In a large bowl combine oats, nuts, and brown sugar.

She also added shredded coconut in hers, I didn't because I don't like it.

In a separate bowl combine maple syrup, oil and salt.


I have been lazy once and thrown everything in one bowl, saves dishes. No!
For some reason it doesn't taste the same. Stick to the two bowl method.

Combine both mixtures and pour onto a baking sheet on a baking tray.

Cook for around 45/55 mins. Turning every 20mins. Until brown all over.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool before placing in an air tight container.
Try it warm... It will last for 2months there. It doesn't last a day in mine so I always double up on the recipe.

Enjoy x

2. No Machine Ice Cream

Three Ingredients and no machine. Nothing short of a genius like I said. I challenge you to try this and try not to say it tastes like a Joes Ice Cream. So creamy. I can't make this enough for my family. My mother even bought me ice cream containers so id have no excuse but to make her some when I'm making some for us. You don't need a mixer machine, a  whisk will do. But be warned you will need some arm muscle.

Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened Condensed milk put in fridge over night, farmfoods or home bargins.  

2 Pots/ 450ml of double cream or whipping cream Farmfoods 2 for £1

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract (not essence) I  advise the one will the vanilla seeds in wroth the extra cost Tesco

Method:

In your mixer beat the cream on high until it forms stiff peaks.

Turn down speed, add cold condensed milk until combined.

Stir in vanilla extract
Place in a container suitable, I used an old ice cream container or you can use them plastic takeaway boxes. Put in freezer for at least 4 hours before you eat.
Pull out of freezer at least 10 minutes before you want to eat it. I have broken a spoon trying to dig it out. After 10 minutes it  will not only tastes likes a Joes but has the same texture.

Enjoy x









3. Short Bread Biscuits

I'm usually a chocolate covered biscuit kind of person. But I tried this recipe off Gemma when I wanted to make Sponge Bob Biscuits for Harry. They are unbelievably buttery, moist and oh no satisfying. You can't buy a nicer biscuit even a Fox Biscuit would be put to shame. It's no easy and simple to make...just try it! You wont regret it.
Before you start your butter needs to be room temperature. I forgot once and thought that it wont make much difference. Almost breaking my mothers precious expensive machine gave me a mini heart attack. I didn't mam. No damage!
You will need an electric mixer
You will need to place dough into fridge for an hour before cooking.

Ingredients:
3/4 pounds/ 1 1/12 cups butter Clover, Asda
1 cup of sugar Adlies
1 tsp. vanilla extract Tesco
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour Adlies
1/4 tsp. salt or a pinch

Method:
Preheat oven to gas mark 5/ 180

In the electric mixer fitted with a paddle, mix butter and sugar until light and pale.

Add the vanilla and stir.

In a bowl sift together the flour and salt. No sift, skip. I have before or use a food drainer.

Add them to the butter and sugar mixture.

Mix on a low speed until dough forms.

Flour the work top and roll into a disk shape No rolling pin? use a bottle of water.

Wrap in cling film and place in fridge for an hour. Or sandwhich bag.

Unwrap and roll out onto floured work top 1/2 inch thick take a guess

Cut out any shape with cookie cutters or use a knife.

Place onto baking sheet onto baking tray Must use baking sheet

Sprinkle with sugar

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Allow to cook down before transferring to cooking rack.

Decorate as you like.

Enjoy x

Please let me know if you try out any of these.

Thanks for reading.

Jade
xxx



Cooking for Beginners. A what not to do guide.

We all have to eat.


It's survival.


But in this 21st century we all have developed a relationship with food. Our emotions are involved. It's not just about survival anymore.

Guilt or pleasure.

 

 

Me personally I marvel in food. I enjoy it so much I've even dreamt about eating something.
So naturally when I moved out I had to learn how to cook. A ready made meal or a pizza from Asda doesn't quite  hit the spot. Emotionally.
But just like anything you start doing that you have never done before. Mistakes happen. Or in my case award winning FAILS.  

I don't know about you but a well captured picture of a piece of cake on Instagram is so satisfying. When I actually make something that turns out not too bad, of course I'm going to post it on social media, to show off my success. Hell Ive attempt the recipe for the 3rd time and FINALLY it doesn't taste of arse. 

 So before I start sharing with you my fool proof recipes.
You know just to show off.
Let me start by saying I'm no Gordon Ramsey. This is a post about my absolute favourite fails over the years in the kitchen.
In hopes beginner cooks won't make the same mistakes I did. Because as stupid as some of them may seem I just didn't know. You don't know something unless you learn it.
Common sense is something I lack in.
They are all very true unfortunately.
My family find my embarrassing mistakes hilarious. Maybe some of you who have attempt the art of cooking might too and can relate. 

Now you might be thinking why didn't she read a cook book?! 
From someone who had never turned an oven on, to go and read the language in a cook book is like reading a different language.
I would ring my mother and ask her
 "what the f**k does this mean?"
Most of the time I'd read it in my Welshy way as it is spelt. Completely pronounced wrong of course.
She had a good laugh at my expense.
Note, save yourself the embarrassment and use google search engine. Google is your best friend. Asking a customer service assistant in Tesco for a particular item you have completely miss read is too much blushing and burning cheeks for anyone involved. 


1.Try not to set fire to your boyfriends flat




My mother thought it would be a great idea if I cooked my boyfriend a meal in his flat by the time he gets home from work. 
You win the heart of a man through his stomach she said.
I had never chopped and onion in my life at this point.  
Chillie she said.  
Don't worry it will be easy she said. 
Aside from the fact my mother had to talk me through every single step on the phone and I dragged my brother there for moral support, it didn't turn out too bad. 
Except for the fact I set his grandmothers tea towel on fire.

Advise:
Never use a tea towel as an oven mitt on a gas stove. 
Buy the correct equipment. 




2. Try not to poison yourself or your boyfriend

Frozen meat. That's a tricky one for me. 
One day I was planning on cooking half a chicken for tea. Again my mothers idea. 
I forgot to defrost them though didn't I?! 
So I pulled them out about an hour before I was planning on cooking.
I thought it will be ok. 
Well half way through eating it I noticed it was still raw in the middle. 
So for the rest of the evening we just sat there convincing ourselves we were going to die. We didn't. 

Advise:
Allow meat to FULLY defrost. 
Follow cooking instruction don't just take a wild guess when it comes to meat. 




3. Be Careful what you buy. Packaging will fool you.

I saw an advertisement on the TV for this Devon Cream. It was that time of year with the tennis. Strawberries and cream...my favourite.
It was on offer in Asda.
I needed cream for a chicken recipe. So I bought two. One for the recipe and one for the strawberries. When I opened it, it was the colour yellow.
My first thought was NOT this is custard.
It was 'oh must be a new sort of expensive cream.' So I poured it all in the chicken. Only to then realise after a few minutes that it was custard.
No I didn't throw it away.
I was way to embarrass to even mention my stupidly to Tim. So naturally I served him it and said I didn't want any because I was feeling unwell.
POOR bastard!
I didn't tell him what I did until months later. He found the funny side eventually. Although he approaches everything I cook with precaution nowadays.  

4. Don't just think 'this will work' when you don't know. Google that shit.

Making my first Sunday dinner was going great until the gravy. It was a bit to watery for my liking.
How can I thicken it!?
Oh I know flour should do that.
NO!
None likes chewing on flour balls in their gravy. 
Advise: Cornflour added to a bit of water to create a paste. Add that to thicken any sauces. 

5. Please inform your boyfriend what is decoration and what is food

I can't say I didn't find this hysterical and thinking
'Karma for all the socks you left on the floor instead of the wash basket.'
Following a Gordon Ramsey recipe I cooked us some pork chops. He suggested to leave the whole garlic cloves on top on the pork chops as a decoration and flavour of some sort.
Tim thought it was a nut didn't he.
I can safely say he has gone off garlic.
Advise: Inform your eaters when you try to be all Gordan Ramsey.


6. Pasta?!
Easy for some. Now that's a tricky one for me. Undercook it and it feels like your eating sand. Overcook it and it tastes like slugs. DON'T use a slow cooker for cooking anything with pasta unless you like slug pasta or time it perfectly. Get your boyfriend to taste test to see if its ready or throw it at your wall. If it sticks its done.

Through all my fail attempts and disasters I can now cook with minimal mistakes.  I just didn't give up. I wanted to be the mother who makes homemade cookies and impressive lunch boxes.

If I can do it you certainly can. All the best.

Thanks for reading.

Jade


xxx

Starting a blog!

This is terrifying yet satisfying to my inner child.

Being a writer is my top secret far fetched dream. Top secret as in my own mother didn't know. Far fetched because I was in the BOTTOM set in secondary school for English. My grammar, spelling and reading was terrible. Still is! And I read books...I do try. Spell check was my life saver through University. How can I be a writer when I'm not good at English?!
Blogging didn't exist when I was in school, I'm talking about book authors. Until Carrie Bradshaw of course. So I followed a more realistic path. Well I say realistic...it was still a distant dream as you kind of need to be good at English to be a primary school teacher. Back then a pass was good enough. So I worked hard and went to university. I was never really good at a subject in school. I enjoyed art and sports until I hit puberty (the sick notes came in handy for my moody blushing hairy self). So fining a career from something I enjoy and was good at was difficult. But then my little sister was born when I was 13 years old. I adored her. I still do. I think that's why I landed on the teaching path. My passion for teaching came from my love for her. I was unaware that love could be so strong and can pull you into different paths. When I had my first son I soon gave up on my career. The thought of missing his first words, steps or sports days was unbearable. So I happily became a stay at home mum. But being skint is miserable. Money doesn't make you happy of course but it does make life easier. Now I don't need the finer things in life. I only need to eat. So I started my own business walking dogs for some extra cash after I had my second baby boy. I absolutely adore dogs and there are three in the family. This is perfect. Our dogs get walked. I earn some extra cash. I'm only away an hour or two a day from my sons.  Its a win win. Except for the dog shit. Just imagine...I walked up to five on a pack walk.

I've found the courage to start a blog that I've secretly wanted to do for over a year now just because of one single person. My friend Sophie who I met at University emailed me on facebook and basically said to start a blog. How did she know my deepest desire?! I read somewhere that it takes 3 positive comments to erase a negative one. I don't agree. For me personally it only took one person to erase a hundred negative thoughts in my head.
For about two years now I've found the world of blogging and vlogging. I was watching Loose Women and the guest was beauty vlogger/ blogger Zoella. I was instantly intrigued by her. I started to watch her videos and the rest is history. I'm hooked. I don't watch much TV anymore. I am either on youtube or reading blogs. So after a year my desire to join the blogger world kept creeping up. To a point I would pretend I had a blog and write posts in my notes on my phone while nursing the baby to sleep. THE NEXT DAY I would delete the whole page and tut at myself.

As much as I'd like to say I don't care what people think or say. I do. I human. I'm a cancer star sign we wear our hearts on our sleeves. So how am I going to deal with putting myself out there?!
One of my favourite YouTubers said that she doesn't take things personally from people that don't know her personally. So I will be trying to keep that in mind. The only thing ...even people who know you personally will judge you.
LET THEM!
There is nothing I can do about that. They will judge no matter what I do. I shouldn't do something I desperately want in fear of a negative reaction. This is my life its too short. The people that really matter to me are very supportive. That's all that matters.


What I love about blogs is that they inspire me. From cooking, make up and craft making with my kids. My absolute favourite blogs are from mums who say it how it is. They are hysterical and make me feel so much better about my ups and downs being a mother. So if I can inspire even just one person in return that will be like winning the lotto. I have no idea what I'm planning on writing but here it is. My first Blog post. My first piece of writing online.

This is just a hobby I'm starting up. I'm not trying to be a professional writer or anything. I just love Blogs. So while the kids are in bed and I'm waiting on the new episodes of The Walking Dead and PLL. I'll be here writing. Some people like a game of online bingo...I like blogging (shrug)

Thanks for reading and joining me on this journey xxx