May Update

May's update! :) Read previous monthly updates here:

Jan: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/january-update.html

Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-update.html

March: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/march-update.html

April (+ Beltane Inspiration): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/april-update-beltane-inspiration.html


May began with Beltane on the 1st. (Although some people celebrate it on 30th April). You can read my Beltane post here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/05/beltane-2019.html

It was also my mum's birthday this month and I made a Birdies Perch Malteser slice (one of my favourite things to "no-bake") since she likes Maltesers. I didn't take a picture but you can see what it looks like here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/09/birdies-perch-malteser-slice.html

I made it for Oestara 2016 (with McVitie's Disgestive Nibbles in as well. I also like similar chocolate fridge square recipes and for this year's Oestara (Spring Equinox) I made a Malteser slice.

I also did some baking this month, red velvet cupcakes. I've baked red velvet cake several times before and had trouble with it. The first time I made it, it tasted horrible! (Maybe I put too much oil in?). And it's hard to get it to actually come out red. This time I used a recipe for cupcakes which you can find here: https://insideoutsideandbeyond.com/the-perfect-red-velvet-cupcake/

I couldn't get them red again, but I realised it was because I should have used gel food colouring as well. The recipe uses both but I didn't have a lot of money at the time, so only got liquid.  I'll remember that for next time! Apparently unless you use gel colouring, baking the cake makes it go a darker brown instead of red. I also made my own buttermilk but that shouldn't make a difference since I've done it before and it usually works fine. If you can't get buttermilk or would rather make your own, here's the recipe (at the bottom of this recipe for One Bowl Chocolate Cake which I made in 2017): https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/one-bowl-chocolate-cake-made-from-scratch/

The cakes were nice though! And I liked the cream cheese buttercream. Sometimes it takes me ages to mix it right and stop it tasting too "buttery" but this time it blended easily. So I was happy with the cupcakes apart from the colour! lol. Here's a pic:

Beltane 2019

Last Wednesday (1st May) was Beltane. (Or Tuesday 30th April if you celebrate then). As I mentioned in the April Update + Beltane Inspiration post, I normally celebrate by making food and drink. The past few years I've made guacamole using a recipe from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya. This Beltane I thought I'd try a different recipe from Don't Waste the Crumbs. Here's the link: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2018/03/simple-guacamole-recipe/

It was quite nice.  It's a bit different to The Kitchen Witch one which uses cream cheese and juice from a lemon. This one has no cream cheese and uses juice from a lime, cumin and garlic (I didn't add any cumin though). It's good to try new recipes and I like them both. :)

I also made Kachumbari, a Kenyan tomato and onion salad. The recipe is from the website Precious Core: https://www.preciouscore.com/kachumbari/

When I first found the site I was excited because Precious is originally from Cameroon and my dad was Cameroonian, so I thought I'd have a go at making some of the recipes. This is actually the first recipe I've made from there! lol. Never mind, I will try some Cameroonian ones in future. :)

The salad was nice too. I usually make tomato and onion salad (another Kitchen Witch recipe) for Litha, so it made a change to have some at Beltane instead. And it was cool to add an African twist to it. Precious says that Kachumbari is mainly made with tomatoes and onion but she added cucumber and avocado to hers. I did too and they went well together. The recipe contains red onion but you could use brown (also called yellow) or white if you prefer. :) I had both salads with a chicken leg and potato salad (from Tesco) for lunch. Here's a pic: