Thursday 31 July 2014

Coconut and lime cake with malibu meringue frosting and toasted coconut flakes :)

Mmmm Before i start my diet and work on some Low Calorie meals I thought it would be good to share something sweet - here we go!


Serves 12

Ingredients for cake:

200g butter
200g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
100g desiccated coconut
2 tsp Malibu

Ingredients for frosting:

200g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
80ml water
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tsp Malibu
3 British Lion Egg whites 
100g desiccated coconut

1. Preheat oven to 180 and grease 2 x 20cm round tins
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the mix down from the sides between additions.
3. In a seperate bowl add te baking powder to the flour and spoon into the butter mix until fully incorporated.
4. Stir in the coconut and Malibu, folding in gently.
5. Decant into prepared tins and smooth.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. While cakes are cooling, make frosting.  Put the sugar, cream of tartar, water, Malibu and lime juice and zest together in a pan and heat until clear and bubbling.
8. Allow to cool slightly then pour into ixer or bowl and beat on high for 10 minutes.



9. while waiting for the frosting to cool toast the coconut.
10. Assemble cakes and frosting and coat with the toasted coconut :)

Enjoy!

(This is page 46 of my book - Gifts from Your Kitchen) To get more delicious recipes stay tuned :)

TTFN
Debbie
x

The All Bran 5 Day Challenge!



Im not a cereal girl, give me a slice of toast on the run and a mug of coffee and im all set to go!  We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and since having Amelia I have felt the need to change my lifestyle and diet.  This challenge couldnt have come at a better time!

We were sent 3 boxes of All Bran to eat for 5 days and document how we felt about our tummy during and after this challenge.  To be honest, Ive always thought of All Bran as something my dad ate 'to keep him regular' so not a cereal ive gravitated towards at the supermarket.  

HOWEVER!  After 5 days of trying these new cereals I am excited to say that I am a true convert! 

The Chocolate Wheats were a firm favourite with all of the children as it genuinely did taste like chocolate - not that synthetic powdery taste you get with some cereals either!  

The Red Berry was my favourite and filled me up until lunch, no snacking - not only did I not feel hungry but it put food completely out of my mind - I didnt even realise until around 1pm that I was wanting to eat something!  (There arent many foods that make me do that!) lol  And for that I will eternally love Kelloggs All Bran! haha


What I loved about the cereal too is that it doesnt necessarily look like cereal either - no flakes or rabbit pellet type chunks, this was the kind of crunch you could add to natural yogurt and have as a dessert.  We have worked out way through all 3 boxes and have now added this to our regular weekly shop - knowing that I now feel less bloated and that we are all having something healthy and something that we all enjoy for breakfast is one less thing for me to stress about!

Do you know someone who can benefit from a little help in the tummy department??

Here is a quote from Kelloggs -  Did you know that 90 to 95 per cent of the ‘happy’ hormone serotonin is made in the gut? A study of 1,000 UK women found 52 per cent experience digestive complaints, such as bloating or gas, at least once a week. Eating fibre everyday is a simple remedy for happy tums!

Go tell them to try the All Bran 5 Day Challenge and let me know how they get on! 

TTFN
Debbie
x

I was sent 3 boxes of cereal to take part in this challenge.  This does not affect my opinions and all comments are my own, I was not paid for this post.

Sunday 20 July 2014

The Stone Earth Pan by Ozeri - review.

I was sent The Stone Earth Pan by Ozeri to review and having worked my way through numerous 'non stick' pans I was a little dubious as to how much 'non stickiness' it would have!

I received this 12 inch pan and set to work on omlettes for all the family.  Now generally when we make omlettes the first one will be fine, second a little brown round the edges and any more than 2 start to catch - especially round the top edges!  No such problem at all with the Stone Earth Pan!  All slid out of the pan with crust free sides WITHOUT the addition of extra oil spray between bakes!

So...I set about on a frying mission to make something 'stick'...

Pad Thai - no problem, 
pancakes - slid out without sticking, 
scrambled eggs - not a single burn, stick or overbaked morsel! 

Even Stuart can make his fried eggy bread without the need for oil and without the need for the smoke alarm! ;) 

  • Utilizes a stone-derived coating from Germany that achieves non-stick perfection while remaining 100% free of PFOA, a harmful chemical often found in traditional cookware.
  • Eco-friendly pan delivers unprecedented non-stick performance without the risk of exposure to controversial perfluorinated chemicals.
  • Features a hardened scratch-resistant coating that is super easy to clean.
  • Interior of pan made out of durable heavy-gauge die-cast aluminum, with a magnetized base for use with rapid heat transfer induction stoves.
  • Boasts a comfortable heat-resistant silicon coated handle that is reinforced to the pan via 3 solid rivets.

The Stone Earth Pan is currently on offer with Amazon for £34.99 (rrp: £49.99) and well worth the pennies in my opinion - you will never need to buy another frying pan again! 

TTFN
Debbie
x

I was sent this free of charge to review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Enjoying a little girl time!

Sorry ive been MIA for a while, we had a little girl time.  

Just me, Evie and Amelia.  

One week at mums in beautiful Berwick. 

The first morning when i woke to feed Amelia at 5 I stood at mums window and watched two families of ducks...a momma and 2 babies both following in line and a momma with 5 even smaller babies all darting in every direction! lol  

Every now and again the 5 little ones would come together and momma would look in control...then she would turn her back and they would all scatter!  It was so cute to watch! 

I also saw my first Hare!  

Actually i thought it was a biscuit coloured dog coming to decimate the ducks but nope, this whopping great hare bounded off mini kangaroo style and disappeared as quick as it arrived! 

Add that to the bunnies, badgers, chickens and horses and Evie was in her element too! 

We painted rocks...


We learned Amelia has a very judgemental glare... lol

...and also a cute little smile :)


...and scarily looks like Winston Churchill if she isnt happy! haha 


We got to trial and put our new Doona buggy through its paces properly (and mummy is well impressed with the adjustable Evie size handle!)


We played on the beach...



We fed the horses...


We danced with our shadows in the sun...


Evie was chased by chickens (too funny!)...


We ended up every night with 2 very sleepy little girls! (Amelia took a shine to mums supersoft teddy bear and slept on his leg in her moses basket during the day which freed up my arms to make some felt goodies...the pic of them both together was one morning after Amelias feed when we all snuggled in bed and the pair of them snoozed back off while i sat watched the cuteness realising just how lucky i am!



It was meant to rain but we were blessed with glorious sunshine all week - ive even come back with a little colour!

Definitely going to go on a little girly holiday again at some point - theres nothing like pure pink to help de stress! 

TTFN
Debbie
x