The proof is in the pudding!

Hey all! Did everyone have a great bank holiday!?

Shame the weather wasn't ideal. We had lots of rain in Oxfordshire and it was so miserable on one day that we even lit the fire. Though we did have two rays on sunshine... our lovely friends Mr and Mrs H from Cornwall came up to spend a few days with us.

Luckily they are real foodies too... and Mr H brought with him some lovely Polgoon Red and White wine to sample. As you could imagine, the weekend was spent eating, drinking and drooling in our local kitchen shop (spending lots of money!).

Le weekend menu included vegetarian enchiladas, home made pizza and tagine which were all very well received. On their last night Mrs H and I whipped up the most amazing easy peasy pudding courtesy of Mr Bill Granger (Simply Bill).

We made banana butterscotch pudding and it was amazing! Um, I would have liked to have shown you a "before" picture, but we never got that far... so this is all that I have to show you...

The proof is definitely in the pudding (or the lack of!)

Here's the recipe (and most of the ingredients are already in your store cupboard!)
Serves 4
Ingredients (For the pudding):
125g/4½ oz plain flour
3 level tsp baking powder
125g/4½ oz caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 banana, mashed
250ml/8fl oz milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
85g/3¼ oz butter, melted

For the topping:
100g/4oz soft brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
150ml/5fl oz boiling water
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
Sift the flour, salt, sugar, baking and powder into a bowl.
Add the mashed banana, milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined.
Pour into a greased 1.25 litre baking dish.

To make the topping, place the brown sugar, golden syrup and water in a small pot and bring to a boil.
Pour the boiling mixture carefully over the pudding, then bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Here are some sites for you to visit to see what it would have looked like!
Site 1
Site 2

It's definitely something to look forward to in the winter when it gets cold!

Cheers for now,

Nic xoxoxo

Caught Red Handed!

My oh my, it's been a while since my last blog post! I do apologise! I don't seem to have had much time to spend in the kitchen recently.

However, I did make up for it at the weekend. I had a bit of a Bill Granger day on Saturday. I've got several Bill Granger Books but I've never had much time to indulge in them. Over the past month I've been eyeing up some recipes for a "not so summery day". And the "not so summery day" arrived at the weekend...

So, on Saturday, whilst Mr P was watching the Rugby, I made a beetroot dip and a caramelised onion dip; the most amazing banana loaf (actually, the recipe made two loaves!) and a cheesy pasta gratin.... all from three different Granger books! And everything came out amazing!

Check out the colour...

Looks great, tastes great!

Dips for Mr P whilst watching the rugby!



Mmmm delicious banana loaf! Ideal cycling cake!



Cheesy Gratin... with a nice cold glass of white wine.

Then I carried on to make Chocolate Tiffin, a Walnut, Cardamon and Lemon Cake and a carrot cake! Not all for home though! Cakes for work! Lucky devils!

Ahhh, tiffin.... no bake cake!

Cardamon, walnut and lemon desert cake! Yummy!

Mr P came and gave me a hand to lift the mixing bowls as the ole wrist still isn't up to lifting heavy Mason and Cash bowls! And then I got caught red handed licking out the bowl...



I am the cook at the end of the day! Got to have some perks!

 Well, I'm off to watch the first episode of The Great British Bake Off... don't spoil it for me as it's a recording as I haven't watched it yet!

Food festival in Oxford on the Bank Holiday Weekend as well! Watch this space!

Cheers for now!

Nic xoxox