Winter-Spring Update (2025) + Easter Baking

We've just passed the first quarter of the year, so it's time for my first update of 2025! Also, since Easter is coming up next weekend, I've added a section with some Easter recipes (scroll down for that). :)

Winter-Spring Update (2025)

For the past few years I've written quarterly updates (from "season to season"). I started out writing monthly updates in 2019 and then "two monthly" (two months at a time) ones in 2020, but found that quarterly was better for me. So I'm going to carry that on in 2025. :)

You can see my autumn-winter 2024 update here if you like: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/01/new-year-gingerbread-cookies-autumn.html

I didn't do much during January really. I had a bit of a stressful start to the year, due to personal circumstances. 

At the beginning of February I celebrated Imbolg. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/02/imbolg-2025.html

Also during February, I went to Popeyes and got some food. Similarly to Slim Chickens, I'd had milkshakes from there before but not a meal. I tried Slim Chickens' food for the first time in December. I like them both, but like Popeyes' chicken a bit more and  prefer Slim Chickens' milkshakes! 

At the beginning of March I celebrated my birthday. I got a few presents and had a red velvet cake from Marks & Spencer (a small one because they didn't have the bigger one I usually get) and some food at home. I also got takeaway from Nando's. 

In mid-late March it was Ostara/Ostara aka the Spring Equinox. You can read my post about my celebration here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2025/03/oestara-2025.html

Later in March I met up with my dance friends at a pub in Hangleton (Hove). It was nice to see them.

While I'm not currently going on regular park walks , I went to the park a few times during February and March. I had planned to go to Hove Park for Oestara but ended up going to a nearer one instead, because it was quite a busy day. However, I went to Hove a couple of weeks later, around sunset. I also went to Burger King and got a double bacon cheeseburger, a mocha latte and a Coke, then went and sat in the park for a bit.

Here are a couple of photos:

View from by Hove Park.

New Year Gingerbread Cookies + Autumn-Winter Update (2024)

As with previous years, I'm doing a double post about what I baked for Christmas/New Year and my last seasonal update (autumn-winter) of the year (2024). Scroll down if you just want to read the update. :)

New Year Gingerbread Cookies

I'd planned to bake something for Christmas but I was going through a bit of a stressful time and also had problems with my cooker. So, I ended up buying a Christmas fruitcake. However, I was able to bake for New Year. I made gingerbread cookies (or biscuits as we call them in the UK).  The recipe is from Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons: https://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.com/gingerbread-cookies/

They have a cream cheese frosting and sprinkles on top. I used rainbow sprinkles from Tesco. They were quite nice. Here's a pic: 

 

March/April Update + Baking Inspiration

Time for the March/April update! This year I decided to do updates every couple of months rather than monthly ones like last year, because I sometimes found it hard fitting them in with the sabbat posts.

I'm a bit later writing this because I did the Beltane 2020 post last weekend. This will be quite a long post because it's covering two months. Also at the end I've included a baking inspiration section because lots of people are baking right now! So if you're here for the baking, just scroll down. :)

Read Jan/Feb's update here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/januaryfebruary-update.html

These past couple of months have been hard worldwide with so many cases of the coronavirus and lots of countries introducing lockdowns/quarantines. Late Feb/early March was like the last "normal" time here in the UK (before lockdown).

March started with my birthday. I had a good day, I got some nice presents and had a red velvet cake again, like last year. Then a few days later I went to Nando's with my mum, the Brighton one this time rather than the one in Hove. I had my "usual" (although I only go about once a year! lol), chicken butterfly (plain-ish), chips and Coke. Then for a change I had frozen yoghurt for pudding (dessert) and bought some carrot cake to take home. Here's a pic of my food:

Christmas Vanilla Roll Cake + New Year Gingerbread

This Christmas (or rather Christmas 2018 now since we're in a new year!) I baked a Christmas vanilla roll cake, which I first made in 2013. The recipe is from a trEATS affair (formerly Roxana's Home Baking). You can find the recipe here: http://atreatsaffair.com/christmas-vanilla-roll-cake-recipe/

You roll it up like with a  chocolate Yule log or Swiss roll. (Roll cake is just another name for Swiss roll, really). I don't think the cake itself came out as nice this time, but never mind! The buttercream was nice. This time I used multicoloured sprinkles. And I ate it with Nestle Carnation topping (evaporated milk) again because it can be a bit dry. I made the roll on Christmas Eve and the topping on Christmas Day. Here's a pic:

White Chocolate Christmas Cake + New Year Biscuits

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but since this year those days were New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, I'm posting today instead. :)

For Christmas I made a white chocolate Wonderland cake. The recipe is from British blogger and YouTuber Tanya Burr's book Tanya's Christmas. The recipe was featured in OK! magazine. I can't actually find the recipe online but here are a couple of other white chocolate cake ones:

http://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/easiest-ever-white-chocolate-fudge-cake/

 http://www.bakewithstork.com/recipes/white-chocolate-cake-with-strawberries

The Wonderland cake has white chocolate in the sponge but not in the icing itself, that's just buttercream. I think the second recipe is a bit more similar to it than the first one. The recipe has white chocolate stars on top but I just grated some on top and added hundreds and thousands. It was quite nice, although I think it got better a couple of days later. I baked it on Christmas Eve and did the icing on Christmas Day. Here's a picture:

Hallowe'en/Samhain 2017

For Hallowe'en/Samhain last Tuesday (31st Oct) I celebrated by making some food and drink. I did my usual Demon's Blood drink and the potato salad I've made the past two years (the recipe is from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya but I did it with chives and spring onion instead of rosemary). I also made a Mexican milk drink called horchata, the recipe is from my Llewellyn Sabbats Almanac book.

I had a pumpkin, some pumpkin candles, the pumpkin container/lantern with a tealight in from other years and knitted ghost decorations. There were also orange and green candles and I lit a white one for my girl cat who died in January. (A Samhain tradition you can do is light a candle for any relatives, friends or pets that have passed away in the past year). :) Here's a picture of the pumpkin:

This year's pumpkin.

Beltane 2017

Last Monday I celebrated Beltane. As I mentioned in my Beltane Celebration Ideas post I made guacamole. The recipe is from Soraya's book The Kitchen Witch. I had it with a chicken drumstick, sea salt crisps and carrots. While other years I've had elderflower to drink, this year I had lemonade (Fever Tree Sicilian lemonade). Here are a couple of pictures:

Baking- Cookies + Cake

I've been doing some baking recently so thought I would do a baking post. :)


Oatmeal Cookies

The other week I made oatmeal cookies. The recipe is from my new book Magical Housekeeping by Tess Whitehurst. It's actually an oatmeal cookie ritual for abundance and luck but you can make them without doing the ritual. :)

The recipe is adapted from a book called The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I'm not vegan, so I made some substitutions. I can't actually copy the recipe on here but here are a couple of other vegan cookie recipes:

http://minimalistbaker.com/5-ingredient-vegan-gluten-free-cookies/

http://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/2016/09/08/vegan-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/


The cookies have tofu in them. I'd never cooked with tofu before. I used the Toofoo brands which I bought from Tesco. I used white flour and ordinary white sugar and vegetable oil instead of canola oil. The recipe has agave nectar or maple syrup in it but I decided to use golden syrup with a bit of maple.

I wasn't sure what they would be like but they came out quite nice. The only thing was I think they could have done with being baked a bit longer, because some of them were a bit soft in the middle and the tofu was a bit chewy. But I was worried about burning them! They taste different to ordinary cookies but still yummy. Here's a pic:

Cornflake Choc Chip Cookies

Yesterday I made some cornflake choc chip cookies. It's a recipe from vlogger/blogger Tanya Burr's cookbook Tanya Bakes, which was featured in New magazine.You can find the recipe here: http://www.instyle.co.uk/fitness-wellbeing/tanya-burr-recipes

Update 18/4/20: Recipe links are now gone unfortunately and I don't the New mag link works anymore, I got a "Potential security risk" warning when clicking on it. :( But you can find the cornflake cookies recipe here: http://louloves01.blogspot.com/2016/07/tanya-burrs-cornflake-chocolate-chip.html

I've made crispy and cornflakes cakes (with chocolate and Rice Krispies or cornflakes) before but I've never put cornflakes in cookies, so I thought it would be good to try the recipe. I used two baking trays because I couldn't fit them all on the same one and good job I did because I burnt the first lot! lol. I kept watching the second lot but they still got a bit burnt.  :( (I'm not completely used to the new oven/cooker yet). I had enough dough left to make two smaller cookies so I had one more go. I kept watching them and kept the oven lower and this time they came out golden, lol.

They did taste quite nice in the end. I didn't have sea salt so used a pinch of table salt and I didn't have golden caster sugar either, so mixed ordinary caster sugar and light brown sugar. I also didn't have a lot of chocolate chips left (I bought them recently to use for No-bake energy balls) so I just used what I had. Not all of the cookies got chocolate chips in but they taste fine without, lol. Sometimes you feel like making something but can't afford to buy all the extra ingredients right now, so it was good that I had most of the ingredients on hand and that this recipe is adaptable.

Here is a picture of the last two cookies which came out the best:

 I'd like to bake some more cookies in the future (I don't make them that often). I might have a go at Tanya's chocolate cookies sometime.

 Hope you enjoy these ones if you make them. :)

Lammas 2016

Last Monday (1st August) I celebrated Lammas. This year I made gingerbread again, using my favourite recipe from the brown sugar packet. I've finally got the new cooker installed now; I wanted it done in time for Lammas because I knew I wanted to make gingerbread!

I see that last year I put sprinkles on top. I didn't this time but I iced them as usual (I just make up some icing with icing sugar and water). The dough was a bit dry again but I added more milk. I made gingerbread men and a couple of round biscuits with the leftover dough. It was a bit trial and error getting used to the new oven but the gingerbread came out quite nice in the end. It wasn't so gingery as other times but I'd rather have less ginger than too much! lol. I added a bit of mixed spice too.

Here's a pic:

Oestara 2016

On Sunday (20th March) it was Oestara/the Spring Equinox. I like to celebrate the sabbats by making some food and/or drinks and in previous years I baked fairy cakes (click on the Oestara link to see them) and sugar cookie bars. My oven is broken at the moment though, so I had a look for a No-bake recipe). In the end I decided to go for Birdies Perch Malteser slice which is a favourite of mine. You can read more about Birdies Perch here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/09/birdies-perch-malteser-slice.html

I wanted to make the Malteser slice a bit different so I used some new McVities Digestive Nibbles as well as Maltesers. It came out quite nice. Here's a pic:

Lammas 2015

Last weekend it was Lammas (Saturday 1st August). Last year I made a Cornish pasty for lunch and gingerbread later. This year I just decided to go with the gingerbread. Maybe I'll make a Cornish pasty  again next year or a loaf (a traditional way of celebrating). To see last year's Cornish pasty (or Cornish style pasty technically!) and gingerbread click on the Lammas link. :)

Here is a picture of the gingerbread. I put icing and sprinkles on the top and the icing got a bit messy around the edges! lol. I made traditional gingerbread men and also two round circles with what was left of the dough. It was too dry and kept crumbling, so I lost some of it but never mind!

 Hope that everyone had a good Lammas and that you're enjoying the rest of summer. :)

Oestara 2015

I celebrated Oestara on Friday (20th March) by making sugar cookie bars. The recipe was from this site: https://www.highheelsandgrills.com/sugar-cookie-bars/

I'd had the recipe on my Recipes To Make board for a year or so! I pin so much stuff and don't get round to making it, so this was an opportunity to use one of the recipes I'd had on there for ages.

I'd never made sugar cookies or sugar cookie bars before, so had no idea how thick they were supposed to be. I think mine came out too thick and could have done with being cooked longer but never mind! I liked them; I just think they could have come out a bit better. The ones in the recipe have pink frosting and I planned to make mine green because that's a spring colour and I still had some green food colouring left from Hallowe'en/Samhain, but I couldn't find the food colouring after all, so the icing ended up being plain. But still tasted nice, lol.

I put Cadbury Mini Eggs on top like I did for the fairy cakes last year. (See Oestara link for last year's post). And then I also added sprinkles. Here's a picture:

These would be good to make for Easter as well. I'm not sure yet what I'm making for Easter, maybe some kind of brownies or chocolate cake and I could put more Mini Eggs on top.

Lammas

On Friday (1st August) I celebrated Lammas/ Lughnasadh (pronounced something like Loo-nass-a) which is another of the Wiccan/pagan sabbats. Lammas takes place around 1st August and is about marking and celebrating the first of the harvest. In the old days, this is the time when villagers would harvest their crops and then celebrate.

Lammas/Lughnasadh is the festival of the Celtic Sun God Lugh (pronounced Loo), who died and was resurrected (which sounds similar to Jesus). A central theme is sacrifice and people would make a Corn King out of corn and then slay him. If you prefer not to do that, a gingerbread man can also represent the Corn King! Also the Goddess has taken on her Mother aspect now and is pregnant with the next Sun God.

Lammas is also known as Loaf-mass and many people make a loaf to celebrate. The colours of Lammas are gold, yellow and orange (for the God) and red (for the Mother/Goddess) .

I made a loaf when I first started celebrating the sabbats in 2010 but I haven't for the past few years. I didn't this year but may have another go next Lammas. I've made Cornish pasties before and I made one again this year for my lunch. I've also made gingerbread the past couple of years and decided to do it this year as well. Cider is a popular drink now. I have had it at Lammas before but didn't this time.

Here's my Cornish pasty:

Update 20/7/20: This is actually a Cornish style pasty since I'm not from Cornwall! :)

The recipe is from The Real Witches' Kitchen book by Kate West.


Cornish-Style Pasties

12oz finely cut steak
4oz peeled diced potato
1 finely chopped onion
Pinch salt
Black pepper
12oz shortcrust pastry

That's all I can copy out of the recipe but here are some links to more pasty recipes:

https://www.goodto.com/recipes/hairy-bikers-the-people-s-cornish-pasty

https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-cornish-pasty-recipe-435042 (Link updated, formerly BritishFood.About.com)


These recipes are for making the pastry as well but I used ready made (Jus' Roll). I also had carrot in mine and used salt and paprika.

Easter Biscuits

Hope everyone had a great Easter! :) I celebrated on Easter Sunday (20th April) by making some biscuits and I got 3 eggs, Quality Street, Cadbury Buttons and Hello Kitty, lol. In my post  on Oestara I mentioned that I wanted to make something for Easter and was thinking of a cake but then I've had quite a lot of cakes lately, so I thought I might make something else for a change, like biscuits.  In the end I went for the biscuits and they were nice. :)

I based them on a recipe from The Co-Op magazine. I can't find the exact recipe online but it was similar to this one: http://www.co-operativefood.co.uk/food-and-drink/recipes/Easter-biscuits-recipe/

Update 15/4/19: That page is now gone but you can find a similar recipe here: https://www.centralengland.coop/food/recipes/desserts/easter-biscuits

The biscuits were bunny shaped but I just used round cutters, lol. Then I decorated some of them with icing that I made up and the others with left over buttercream frosting from Moshi Monster cakes that my mum used to make a trifle. I also put sugar strands on top of some and more of the red, green and white sprinkles I used for the vanilla roll cake at Christmas on the rest, varying the combinations. I used the recipe on the back of the icing sugar packet for the normal icing (white in the pic).

They were a bit thicker than other biscuits I've had but I liked them. :) I've got a few biscuit/cookie recipes saved on my Pinterest board, so I plan to make more in the future. I pin way too many recipes though and there's not enough time to make them all! lol.