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Just a girl in her 30's who likes to cook, and loves her sausage dog, who is a bit of a Princess.

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Parma-Hammy Breadstick Munchies

These are a tasty little treatfest, GREAT with a nice lil cold drinky to hand, can be served as a starter, a canape type thing or as part of a little tapas spread (I'm v fond of a tapas spread!)
And the best thing is they are totes simple to make, but look really impressive! Ta-daa!

The 'Recipe':

Breadsticks (whichever variety you like,fancypants or plain)
Parma ham
blue cheese-spread, or Boursin, or plain old Philly

Make 'em:

Lay out a slice of ham, and spread thinly with desired creamy cheese. Place one breadstick onto one end of the ham, and then roll up. Repeat this with all the breadsticks and ham.
Lay them out on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in the oven at 180' for 10-15 mins.
Remove from oven and serve immediately if you want them warm, or serve them at room temp if you prefer. Enjoy!
Oh, and if you do wanna look a bit fancypants about it, serve them on a platter lightly drizzled with a bit of bazamic glaze!

Donuts, for dunking

I discovered a recipe recently for donuts that are baked in the oven, rather than fried, and I'll admit I did a merry little dance of joy. I was slightly doubtful at first as normally these things that promise to be a low cal version of something yummy are normally a complete let down, but I have to say they are scrum, and have had great nods of approval from all who've tried them so far!

The original recipe I got from a vegan blog I follow on twitter @ohsheglows, www.ohsheglows.com but I'm not vegan so I substituted a few of her ingredients,as She suggests,  to come up with a very easy batter mix which makes a divine little munch.

You do need a doughnut pan to make these, but I picked up my 6 mini donut silicon pan for about £4 a few years ago so they are not pricey! Finally, I had found a use for this mould!!

ok, the recipe is:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 medium egg
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp Flora Cuisine (or 3 tablespoons melted butter/marge)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl to make a batter, and rest for 5 minutes. Grease your donut tray (I use a light oil mister for this) and spoon batter into each ring until level with the little mound in the middle (see pic above).
Bake for approx 12 mins in an oven at 160'c until springy to touch but not browning, and tip out onto a cooling rack (carefully) to cool.Then you can ice and add sprinkles of your choice:



I have also made chocolate ones by adding 2 tbsp cocoa powder, and omitting the cinnamon, and then I iced them with Nutella and sprinkles! Also yum scrum!

Thursday 14 April 2011

Oh hello....

Hello there.....

I've finally got round to doing this thing. Not sure what it'll actually be, or how much I'll do with it but we'll see....

I am no writer, but I do enjoy a good yarn, and can always talk about food, which is what I'll mostly do.  I also like shoes, and glitter. These things will probs get some attention too.

So, about me - I'm Charley (nice to meet you and all that!), I'm 30, engaged, and live in a 2 bed semi with the Man , the Dog (miniature sausage), and a festival of fish. I work full time, but in an ideal world I'd be a lady what lunches, and go about my daily chores of baking and darning whilst wearing a frilly pinny, between having manicures and cocktails. And that's that!