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:

Chocolate Fudge

A couple of weeks ago I made some chocolate fudge. I wanted to get some condensed milk when I was at the supermarket and then I saw a recipe for the fudge on the back of the Carnation tin, so I thought I'd have  go at making some.

"Fudge" to me always seems like the traditional type with sugar, butter and milk but you can also make it with condensed milk, chocolate, butter and icing sugar which was the type I made. I did previously make some white chocolate fudge for Christmas (see below).

You can also add different ingredients to the traditional recipe. When I was a child I used to go the Roundstone Garden Centre (this was long before its makeover when it became Haskins Roundstone) and they did lovely fudge. They had flavours like strawberry and cream and mint. Their machine broke so they couldn't make any more, which was such a shame!

The fudge I made was Easy Chocolate Fudge and you can find the recipe on the Carnation website: https://www.carnation.co.uk/Recipes/64/Easy-Chocolate-Fudge

I wasn't bothered about the nuts, so I left them out. If you're from America, I think icing sugar is what you call powdered sugar. :) This is simple to make. It doesn't require any actual baking; you just put it in the fridge once you've made it. (I've categorised it under "baking" though because it's a sweet, baking type item).

It came out quite nice. Here's a pic:

Litha 2016

I meant to post this earlier but had computer problems. I've got my computer back now and thought I would do this post today rather than on my usual days (Sunday or Monday) because that's another week away. :)

On Monday 20th June I celebrated Litha/Midsummer by making some lemonade. In the past I've made what I call "Hello Kitty lemonade" but this year I used a recipe from The Real Witches' Kitchen book by Kate West. I didn't like it as much because it was more bitter. It's made by boiling the lemon rind with water and sugar first, then adding the lemon juice rather than just mixing lemon juice with cold water and sugar which I normally do. Never mind, it was good to try a different one. :)  I had the lemonade with some vanilla ice cream with crushed double chocolate digestives on top.

I also made a tomato and onion salad from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya and had it with my lunch.

Here's a picture of the salad:

                                        

More No-Bake Recipes

I'm feeling into "No-bake" recipes at the moment. A couple of weeks ago I made some Peanut Butter Energy Bites and added some Nutella. You can see them here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2016/05/peanut-butter-and-nutella-energy-bites.html

This reminded me that I'd had an actual recipe for Nutella Energy Bites saved on my Pinterest Recipes To Make board (for about a year! lol), so I had a go at making them. I used this recipe: http://www.thegunnysack.com/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe/

They came out really nice, tasted kind of like Ferrero Rocher. Probably because of the cereal which made them crunchy. (I used Rice Krispies). I think they were the nicest ones I've made so far. Here's a pic:

Peanut Butter and Nutella Energy Bites

Last weekend I wanted to bake something but since I'm having still oven problems as I mentioned in my Easter post, I can't do any proper baking at the moment. So I decided to make energy bites. I used the recipe for these Energy Bites from the site i should be mopping the floor but I added Nutella. (Just put it in along with the peanut butter).

They came out quite nice. Some were more Nutellary than others, lol. Energy bites are a healthier snack to have too, although the Nutella probably made them a bit less healthy! Here's a pic:

I've made the Energy Bites a few times and like them but I got a bit bored of them in the past, lol. Once I dipped them in Nutella, so I thought this time I'd put the Nutella in! I've come across Nutella energy bites recipes on Pinterest and saved them on my Recipes To Make board and I plan to have a go at different ones in the future.

Beltane 2016

For Beltane yesterday I made some guacamole like I did last year (recipe is from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya) and had it with some salad, chicken, ham, egg, pitta bread, shop bought dips (hummus and onion and garlic), sea salt and cider vinegar crisps and beetroot, parsnip and carrot vegetable crisps. (It was the first time I'd tried the vegetable crisps and I found them a bit strange to be honest! lol). I had it with Bottlegreen elderflower sparkling presse.

Here's a picture of the food:

Easter Chocolate Fridge Cake/Squares

As I mentioned in my Oestara post I was planning to make something for Easter but since my oven is broken at the moment, it had to be something "No-bake". I ended up making chocolate fridge cake (or squares, since you cut it into squares) for Easter Sunday yesterday. It's actually similar to the Birdies Perch Malteser slice I made for Oestara (click the link above to see it). They tend to be known as "fridge cakes", at least in the UK.

Here's the recipe for the chocolate fridge squares: http://www.ultimatefoodies.com/recipe/default.aspx?artefactID=51

Update 14/4/25: The recipe is now gone but here are a couple of similat ones:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolatefridgecake_74814

https://cooksimply.co.uk/chocolate-fridge-cake/ 

It's quite an easy recipe, made with chocolate, butter and condensed milk then you add the crushed digestive biscuits (the Birdies Perch Malteser slice has golden syrup and no condensed milk). I put Cadbury's Mini Eggs on the top, since I couldn't get any in time for Oestara. Here's a pic: