Creamy Broccoli Soup

Every time I go into a shop I make a beeline for the sales rack / reduced cabinet ~ as a single parent I like to make every penny count! So when I found my local shop selling off Broccoli heads for 7p I snapped them up and hurried home to whip up a nice healthy soup.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 potato
1 head of broccoli (approx. 350g)
900ml stock (2 x chicken + 1 x vegetable oxo)
approx. 100ml milk

Heat the oil in a pan. Dice the onion and sweat gently until soft, adding the garlic for the last minute or so. Chop the broccoli into small florets and chop the broccoli stalks into small dice. Peel and chop the potato into small chunks. Add the broccoli and potato to the pan with the stock and simmer for about 15 mins. Blend until smooth and add milk to reach the consistency you like.

This recipe makes 5 portions at 103 calories each, meaning you can easily afford to crumble a few salty Ritz crackers into it.

Divine!

Fabulous Fat-Free Fruit Loaf

I've not been doing very well on my diet. Admittedly I've not been trying particularly hard, but I have SUCH a sweet tooth I really struggle. I've been trying to up my exercise levels ~ mainly by walking more, but I also bought a mini-exercise bike for under my desk at work! I get some funny looks when I'm peddling away but hey, I'm used to that ;)

I still need my treats though. And although this cake isn't as low-cal as I would have liked it's packed with fruit and fibre, and absolutely fat-free!

100g dried apricots
100g dried dates / prunes
150g sultanas
60g all-bran cereal
1 cup cold tea (I used earl grey)
3 tbsp. carob syrup (or maple)
1 egg, lightly beaten
150g sr flour
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp mixed spice
110g dark brown soft sugar
1 apple, peeled and grated

 Chop apricots and dates to roughly the same size as the sultanas. Combine fruit, All-Bran, tea and syrup in a large bowl and set aside for about an hour. Preheat oven to 170C / 340F / Gas 4. Line a 21 X 11 cm loaf tin with greased baking paper. Mix the flour, spices & sugar together. Beat the egg lightly and stir into the fruit, then add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Add the apple and mix together. You should have a gloopy dropping consistency ~ if the mixture is too thick, add a splash of milk. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in tin for 20 mins or so before removing to a wire rack to cool.

 

 

This is lush as it is, but it's pretty darn good spread with butter too ~ although that kind of defeats the object of a fat-free cake! You can use different kinds of dried fruit if dates and apricots don't float your boat. You can also freeze slices which means there's always some handy for your lunch bag.

 

I've added this to My Fitness Pal for those of you who use it ~ if you cut the loaf into 12 slices there are 196 calories and less than a gram of fat per slice.  

 

Horton's Clover Cakes

Monday 2nd March was Dr Seuss day, and to celebrate we had a charity Bake sale at work. I had a bit of an ambitious idea but luckily it worked (they oh so often don't!) and so I get to share it with you.
These were inspired by my favourite Dr Seuss book ~ Horton Hears a Who.

Luckily there were no Whos living on my Clover Cakes, though they would have had to shout pretty damn loud to stop me from eating them lol!

Here's how you make them:

200g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
225g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
100g margarine
150ml milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

75g butter
150g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp green food colouring

12 wafer roll biscuits
candy floss

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

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa together then rub in the margarine until you have a texture like coarse sand. Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla in a jug then add to the dry ingredients and beat well. Divide into 12 cupcake cases and bake for approx. 25 mins. Allow to cool.

Beat the butter, vanilla and colouring together until softened then gradually add the sifted icing sugar and cream together. Ice your cakes, then add the clovers by gently moulding a chunk of candy floss onto a wafer biscuit and 'planting' it in the centre of your cupcake.

Voila! Easy to make but pretty impressive to look at, and darn tasty too.

Tip: You can make (and ice) these cakes the day before your party or event, but don't add the clovers until you're ready to serve ~ candy floss doesn't last too well in the open air, it will start to shrink and harden back into sugar.

Perfect Porridge

Can you believe I've made it to the ripe old age of (almost) 43 and I'm only just discovering the simple pleasures of homemade porridge?!
I've always loved Ready Brek, and in the last couple of years I was won over by the Oats So Simple flavoured sachets, but it's literally only this week that I've realised how quick, easy and deliciously filling simple porridge oats can be.

This is the image that got me started:

Earl Grey Porridge, from A Spoonful of Photography (click on the image to go to her beautiful blog)

Porridge appeals to my "bung it" method of cooking ~ you really don't need to measure anything at all! I'm still trying lots of different variants, but here are some of the yummiest so far:


Earl Grey Porridge

Make a small cup of Earl Grey tea. Put about 1/3 cup of oats in a bowl. Pour the cup of tea onto the oats and microwave for approx. 2 mins. Stir through as much milk as it takes to achieve the consistency you like, then sprinkle with Demerara sugar or honey.


Creamy Yoghurty Porridge

Put 1/3 cup of oats in a bowl and add about the same amount of water. Microwave for approx. 2 mins. Stir through a 120g pot of yoghurt and top with a few fresh berries.


Cham Porridge

Cham is a cosy bedtime drink we often make in our house ~ you basically add a dash of cinnamon and a teaspoon of honey to a mug of milk and warm it in the microwave. It's a lot healthier than hot chocolate while still being a tasty treat.
To make Cham porridge, put 1/3 cup of oats in a bowl, add a dash of cinnamon then the water. Microwave for approx. 2 mins. Stir through as much milk as it takes to achieve the consistency you like then drizzle with honey and sprinkle on a few juicy sultanas.


So there you have three delicious low-cal variants on a classic breakfast. What are your favourite toppings? I'd love some more suggestions!

One Last Gift

I've not made many gifts this year, moving house and extra hours at work have thrown me all out of kilter, but last night I took a little time to make a rather special something for which I will receive no thanks but the pleasure of doing a kind thing.
Just recently our house seems to be attracting ladybirds, I'm constantly finding them crawling about on the ceilings and walls! After doing a bit of research I discovered the sweeest thing - Ladybirds cuddle together to hibernate!

Cuuuute!

I found a great tutorial on the UK Safari website on how to make an insect hotel (for free!) and this is what I made:

It took less than half an hour. Naturally I tweaked mine a little (well it is Christmas!) by lining the inside of the bottle with some spare gift wrap. I hope it keeps them safe and warm all winter.

 

Wishing you All a Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Crafts

Oh dear, I've been neglecting you again haven't I?
I'm sorry. I've been very terribly awful at managing my time lately. I really must buck up! Life has got a bit kerfuffely again and I am just not managing to keep up with all my grand schemes and dreams.
I think I'm pretty much up on top of things again now (at least I hope I am!) and so after I've marzipanned the cakes tomorrow, I think I might curl up on the sofa with a Christmas movie and try some of these festive crafts I found on Pinterest:

Pom-pom wreath from Wipkits Blog.

 

Upcycled icicles from Cut Out and Keep

 

 

 

Twig Trees from Stow and Tell U

 

What do you think of them? I think they all look quick, easy and super-cute ~ I can't wait to try them!

 

You can follow any or all of my boards on Pinterest here.

 

Bread Pudding

I don't often have a lot of stale bread around the house, but this week I happened to be in the supermarket when they were reducing sell-by-date loaves to 12p to clear them! I'm not a huge fan of defrosted bread, and besides I don't have a lot of space in my freezer at the moment, but none of that matters, because my favourite way of using up stale bread is, of course, cake-related . . .

 

Bread Pudding 

 

450g stale bread
225g sultanas
100g Demerara sugar
2tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
milk
granulated sugar for topping

Tear the stale bread (crusts and all!) into roughly inch squared pieces, put them in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 170C / 325F / Gas3
Grease a 8" square tin

Drain the bread and squeeze the excess water out. Don't worry too much about getting every last drop out, just do your best ~ I tip the whole lot into a sieve and squeeze handfuls as I transfer the bread back into the bowl. Add the sultanas, sugar, spice and eggs and give it a good mix to ensure the ingredients are evenly distributed. Add just enough milk to make a soft dropping consistency, then turn into your tin and bake for about an hour to an hour and a half.
Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool. Sprinkle generously with granulated sugar and serve cut into thick slabs, either warm with custard or cold with a nice cup of tea.

You can use any kind of bread for this. If you never have much bread left when your loaf is going stale, simply save the slices you do have in the freezer until you get the amount you need.