Raspberry Season

Summer is one of the busiest times of the year for me, and it all starts with Raspberry season. There is a fabulous farm near me that grows a variety of fruit and veg, and does Pick Your Own Strawberries and Raspberries!  

 

My local farm is in Titchfield in Hampshire, but if you're not lucky enough to live nearby try Googling to find out where your closest is. If you've never been before, I can highly recommend it. It's a lovely peaceful way to spend an hour in the countryside and have a delicious and healthy treat to take home with your afterwards. I picked almost 6lbs of fruit in less than an hour!

Fresh Raspberries don't keep for long in the fridge, but they freeze beautifully. I made some into jam, some into a zingy fresh Eton Mess, and froze the rest for jamming later in the year.

 

I also popped a couple of frozen berries into a frothy Limoncello Cocktail to enjoy with homemade scones. People say Wimbledon is all about Strawberries ~ for me it's Raspberries!

 

To make your own Limoncello Cocktail, simply add a shot of Limoncello to any sparkling white wine and finish off with a couple of frozen raspberries. I used Crème Di Limoncello here, but regular works just as well ~ delicious!

Strawberry Clouds

Ever since Christmas we've had storm after storm here in the UK ~ gales and rain and floods. I suppose we are luckier than our neighbours across the pond, with their record-breaking low temperatures and snowstorms. While I adore storms and wintery weather I realise that most people yearn for summer sunshine, so just for you I've crammed summer into a cake, so you can all have a little sunshine no matter how gloomy the day may be outside.

These cakes are so light and fluffy, and such a delicately creamy shade of pink ~ it's like taking a bite of a strawberry cloud, hence the name!

 

Strawberry Cloud Cupcakes

For the cake:

200g self raising flour

225g sugar

50g strawberry nesquik powder

1/2 tsp salt

100g margarine

2 eggs

150ml milk

few drops vanilla essence

few drops pink or red food colouring (optional)

For the icing:

75g cream cheese

25g butter

250g icing sugar

25g strawberry nesquik powder

 

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

 

Sieve the flour and mix together with the sugar, salt and nesquik. Rub in the margarine. Beat the eggs and milk together with vanilla essence and food colouring (if using). Stir the wet mixture into the dry and beat well until light and creamy.  Fill cupcake cases two thirds full and bake for approx. 25 mins until just golden brown. While they cool on a rack, make the icing.

Beat together the cream cheese and butter until well blended and creamy, then beat in the nesquik. Add the icing sugar about a third at a time and beat until thoroughly mixed. Ice your cakes.

 

This recipe will make approx. 12 large cupcakes, or 24 fairy cakes, or 6 large and 12 small! The icing should generously coat 12 large cupcakes, and was enough to top 6 large and 12 small with a little leftover for the cook ;)

 

Why not whip yourself up a batch, crank up the heating, and remind yourself what summer was like.

Ice-Pack Bed Coolers

The heat in the UK has been crazy lately! The humidity has been so high it feels like the air itself is sweating. Trying to sleep in weather like this is a real challenge, but I have a simple little tutorial here that can help. A simple pillowcase-style towelling cover turns an ice pack into a fabulous 'cold water bottle' to help you keep your cool between the sheets ;-)

All you need is an old towel, or piece of towelling approx. 18" x 6" (45cm x 15cm), and an ice pack like you would use in a cooler for a picnic.

 

 

First you need to cut your towel to size. 18" x 6" should be big enough for most picnic ice packs, but check you have enough room on each side for a seam allowance, and an inch or so overlap at the top. If you're cutting up an old towel try to make use of the neatly edged hem for one of your short edges, it will save on sewing later!

Next, turn over the unfinished short edge and hem it. I made this cover by hand but if I had bothered to get my machine out I would have zig-zagged it to strengthen it and help prevent fraying.

 

 

 

Now you need to pin the fold-over top in place. With the right side facing out, position your sewn hem almost level with the top of the ice pack, then fold the towel hem over and pin in place. Slip the ice pack out through the open side, turn the fabric wrong side out and stitch the seams.



 

And that's it ~ done! All you need to do is turn your cover right-side out, get your ice-pack from the freezer, and tuck it down under the sheets. The ice-pack will keep you nice and cool, while the towelling cover will soak up any condensation so you don't end up wetting the bed ;)

 

 Sweet Dreams!

Summertime, and the lollies are easy

Summer has arrived here in the UK in a BIG way ~ it feels like the first summer we've had in years! Bakingly blue skies, and heat that presses you down into your sun-lounger and makes even salad seem like too much hard work.
The kids are constantly wanting ice-creams and ice-pops, and it can get very expensive, not to mention unhealthy! But you don't have to keep on forking out for ice-creams every time Mr Whippy drives by, making your own has never been easier. There are all sorts of cute lolly moulds on the market these days. I got my set in a pound shop, but here are some fancier versions:

These cute bunnies are from the Treloar online charity shop

Silicone Kitchenware sells these lovely bumpy red moulds.

Or if rocket ships are more your thing, fly on over to Ethical Superstore

So now you've got your moulds, here are some quick and easy (and cheap!) ideas for making your own delicious ice lollies:

Fruit Juice ~ I prefer one of the thicker juices to make an ice pop. Try Guava, Lychee or Mango for a sweet fruity pop.

Milkshake ~ Shop bought or homemade, it's easy peasy to make your own mini milks at home.

Smoothie ~ Blend a banana or two with some strawberries (or blueberries, or blackberries, or kiwi, or . . . well, you get the idea!) and enough milk to make a nice creamy consistency.

Fro Yo ~ A large tub of fat-free yoghurt can cost as little as a pound and makes a delicious and creamy lolly. Or how about one of those yoghurty drinks?

Angel Delight ~ This fabulous 70's pudding makes a great iced treat too, just follow the directions on the packet but be sure to pour into the moulds quickly as it sets fast!


So which one will you start with? I put a batch of coconut yoghurt lollies in the freezer this morning, I wonder if they've set yet . . .