One year

It's a whole year since my first post on this blog, and I have enjoyed every minute of baking and blogging. I will no longer be blogging but I hope you continue to enjoy the recipes on here. Happy baking and thanks for reading.

bakes-a-lot-lady

Lemon Birthday Cake

My mum's very favourite cake is lemon drizzle, and so for her birthday I cooked up a Mary Berry special! I love making lemon drizzle cakes, the lemony smell coming from the oven always makes my mouth water.

Ingredients
4oz butter
4oz sugar
2 eggs
4oz self-raising, gluten-free flour
1oz ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
2 tablespoons milk
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
for the crunchy topping
3oz demerera sugar
juice of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Butterscotch Cookies

These cookies are just the right combination of sweetness and crunchiness. The butterscotch chips can be replaced with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or raisins if you prefer.

Ingredients (to make approx. 16)
100g butter
100g light brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
150g gluten-free plain flour, plus extra for dusting (or you can use regular wheat flour)
50g butterscotch chips

N is for... Naughty Chocolate Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I turned the grand old age of 25, no longer can I claim to be 'early-twenties'...that being said I don't feel any different - I still love cake for starters! Many people might find it sad to make their own birthday cake, however not me. The treat of having a day off work meant I had time to bake - a nice leisurely bake (unlike the high pressure Great British Bake-off - I could not cope there!)

Although it's a special day, I'm afraid the low-carb diet stops for nothing and no one. I found a recipe in GoodFood 101 Cakes & Bakes for 'Seriously Rich Chocolate Cake' and I low-carbed it up while keeping it delicious, hence the naughty - it's full of full-fat butter and chocolate!

You don't have to be 25 to enjoy this cake

They didn't have any '1's left

Ingredients
50g butter
75g good quality, very dark chocolate (I used 85% cocoa solids)
3 eggs, separated
70g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
40g xylitol

M is for... Macaroons

My Baking the Alphabet challenge continues. These little coconut macaroons went perfectly with the stewed rhubarb I made for my Sunday roast dessert, and could be cooked at the same temperature as the lamb. I've made regular macaroons before – here. This time I went for a low-carb version, they are simple to make, sugar-free and tasty!

Ingredients

2 egg whites

a pinch of salt

55g (2oz) ground almonds

55g (2oz) unsweetened desiccated coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract (optional)

½ sachet stevia

Sunday Roast - The Desserts

The final post in my Sunday Roast special. I made two desserts for 'afters'. I chose quick and easy desserts so that I could concentrate on the roasts.

Firstly, Stewed Rhubarb with Cream, which I served with coconut macaroons

And the second, my mum's one-pan cake. The quickest and easiest chocolate cake you can make!

Sunday Roast - The Vegetarian Option

My previous post took you through a traditional Sunday roast, with lamb and roast vegetables. Now for the vegetarian option - and for a fussy vegetarian at that...

Veggie 'roast', cheese sauce and roasted pepper and courgette

I found a fake 'chicken roast' made from soya mince that I cooked as my main. It was very easy to make. You stir hot water with the mix and leave for 15 minutes. Then transfer to a greased ovenproof dish before baking for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure if I did something wrong with mine as it came out very crumbly (it didn't stick together at all), I think it was because I only made a portion of the mixture rather than cooking the whole thing.

Sunday Roast - Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb

I headed back to Kent at the weekend, and as usual I was in a cooking mood. I decided to challenge myself and cook a roast. My mum bought a shoulder of lamb (big enough for Sunday roast and a few days in the week). I cooked the lamb with roast vegetables underneath and did a separate lot of roast potatoes, alongside a vegetarian option for me. I have been a vegetarian for as long as I can remember and I don’t mind cooking meat just as long as I don’t have to actually touch it!

I looked through my Jamie Oliver books for inspiration (despite the collection taking up an entire bookshelf I rarely cook from them). There are recipes for roast lamb in most of them so I narrowed it down to a few and got my mum to choose the best one. I didn’t use the exact ingredients that he used, but it was close enough and I followed the technique. The recipe is from Jamie's Dinners.

Ingredients

1 shoulder of lamb

olive oil

freshly ground salt and black pepper
a handful of fresh rosemary

6 cloves of garlic

3 medium white onions, peeled and quartered

4 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into rough chunks

2 medium leeks, washed and cut into rough chunks

2 bay leaves
a handful of fresh thyme

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

500ml stock

L is for... Lemon Scones

Challenge time! This week's letter is 'L'. I wanted to make something lemony and settled on scones as they aren't very sweet usually so I thought omitting the sugar wouldn't matter too much. I based my lemon scones on a recipe from 'Be-Ro Home Recipes' a recipe guide from the 1920s! Scroll down to the end of the blog to see the original recipe book.

Lemon Scones
4oz plain gluten-free flour
4oz wholemeal rye flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
1½oz butter
1 packet Stevia (equivalent to 2 teaspoons of sugar)
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons of milk

Roxanne's Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Lasagne is one of my fall back dishes that I make time and time again. It is great to serve for friends or make in advance of a busy week to stock the fridge. I don't always roast the vegetables beforehand but it really does enhance the flavour.

Roxanne's Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Ingredients (to serve 6)
200g carrot, peeled and chopped
250g beetroot, peeled and chopped
250g winter squash, peeled, seeds scooped out and chopped
200g parsnip, peeled and chopped
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
200g white onion (2 medium), peeled and roughly sliced
100g celery (2 stalks), chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cans chopped tomatoes
15g butter
15g plain flour
300ml milk
50g Cheddar cheese, plus extra to grate on top
1 box of lasagne sheets

K is for... Kale, Olive and Gruyère Tart

It's K time in my Baking the Alphabet challenge. Kale is a lovely green vegetable, if you're not a fan of spinach I would definitely recommend giving kale a go. The texture isn't as slimy as spinach and the taste isn't as strong, it makes a great addition to tarts - and works especially well here with the Gruyère cheese. Please excuse the dodgy looking photo, I couldn't find my phone.

Ingredients
500g shortcrust pastry
1 onion, thinly sliced
knob of butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
200g kale, roughly chopped
10 green olives, halved
150g Gruyère cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten

Sugar-free Brownies

My quest to make delicious chocolate brownies without refined sugar continues. However, this recipe leaves me wanting to admit defeat. They seemed to work fine, but any resemblance to a brownie ended at the chocolate colour. As they came out quite dry they work well as a dessert with custard. I found the recipe here.

Ingredients
6 packets stevia

¼ cup natural yogurt 

1 tablespoon egg whites (this works out as about ½ an egg white, reserve the rest for the custard)  

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

½ cup gluten-free flour (or regular)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder 

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons mixed chopped nuts (optional)

Apple Spiced Nut Cookies

My mum discovered this recipe when she was searching for sugar-free recipes she could bake for me. The original recipe uses dates which I can't eat, although recommends using stevia in its place. The recipe comes from a blog called Kat's Health Corner, it's a great blog full of alternative recipes - and so perfect for me! I based my recipe on the one here.

Ingredients (makes 7)
¼ cup walnuts
¼ cup mixed nuts (use almonds, pecans or even more walnuts)
⅓ cup porridge oats
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 packets stevia (equivalent to 4 teaspoons sugar)
1 eating apple
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sunflower spread

Apple Crumble

I was at home for a few days this last week, which gave me a great opportunity to do some baking. I got the little sisters involved and we knocked up a couple of apple crumbles. Apple crumble is one of those desserts that is relatively simple to make, yet proves popular time and time again. With August coming to a close, Autumn feels nearer and crumble season officially begins!

We made two crumbles, one is a child-friendly (making and eating) 'normal' crumble using cooking apples sweetened with regular sugar, and the other is 'sugar-free' using eating apples sweetened with Stevia.

Ingredients
(regular crumble)
500g (1lb) cooking apples
4 tablespoons sugar
100g (4oz) plain spelt flour (or you can use normal wheat)
100g (4oz) rye flour (or use normal wholemeal)
100g butter
75g sugar

(sugar-free crumble)
1 eating apple (115g)
20g spelt flour
20g rye flour
30g butter
20g porridge oats
3g Stevia (equivalent to 6 teaspoons regular sugar)

Little Nutty Cupcakes

These little cupcakes have complimenting textures of the nut butter and the ground almonds with cocoa and dark chocolate pieces to add flavour. If you want a crunchier texture use chunky peanut butter instead of the smoother almond nut butter. They are quick to prepare and brilliant for satisfying a sweet craving. They don't have much fat (in my book fat from nuts is good for you and so doesn't count!), they are sugar-free and low carb so you can eat away without feeling guilty.

Ingredients
¾oz butter
1½ tablespoons almond nut butter
1 egg, beaten
½ teaspoon baking powder
2oz ground almonds
2 teaspoons cocoa
1½ teaspoons stevia or other sweetener
2 tablespoons whole milk
¾oz dark, sugar-free chocolate (Sainsbury's do one which is good for baking with)

Asparagus Quiche

I watched the Great British Bake Off on Tuesday and their quiche making inspired me. My quiche is slightly unusual as I had puff pastry that needed using (quiches are normally made with shortcrust pastry). As I didn't make the pastry it's a bit of a cheat - but it still tastes good! I can't eat cheese, but if you can try mixing some grated Parmesan with the eggs or sprinkle some grated Cheddar cheese over the top.

Ingredients
100g puff pastry
2 large eggs, beaten
asparagus tops, steamed

J is for... Jumbles

Jumble time! I'd never heard of these biscuits but I really struggled to find any recipes beginning with J! So here you go - Jumbles - the Mary Berry way (sort of). The traditional shape is an 's' but I made them for my family so I used their initials.

Ingredients
75g butter, softened
75g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small egg, beaten
175g plain gluten-free flour
clear honey, for glazing
demerera sugar, for dusting

Almond and Lemon Cupcakes

These low-carb cupcakes have a lovely texture, as the ground almonds makes them light and moist. Even though they don't contain sugar they have a great cakey texture. The best fake cakes yet I think! Plus they are very quick and easy to make, you can easily whip up a batch if you have a sweet craving.

Ingredients (to make 6)
1oz butter, softened
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 egg
finely grated rind of ½ lemon
2¼oz ground almonds
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Stevia or other sweetener

Chocolate Courgette Cupcakes

Courgette is a great vegetable to put into cakes as it is bland in taste but moist in texture and helps make cakes light and airy. I made my cupcakes dairy-free, gluten-free and sugar-free. This may sound like all you're left with is an egg but read on...

Ingredients
3 tablespoons sunflower spread
¾ cup courgette, peeled and grated
½ banana mashed
6g Stevia (if you can't get hold of Stevia use a different sweetener such as xylitol) 1g of Stevia is equivalent to 2 teaspoons of regular sugar 
1 egg, beaten
1 cup ground almonds
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅓ cup mixed chopped nuts

Chocolate Fakes

Nope it's not a typo...these are fake cakes. They could be called cakes, but they aren't full of sugar or fat (and don't taste as good) so I have decided to call them Fakes...

To make about 8 Chocolate Fakes you will need:
1oz butter, softened
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon fruit puree (I used the pots for babies, Apple and Blueberry)
3oz ground almonds
2 teaspoons cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
1½ teaspoons stevia or xylitol (or sugar to taste if you can have it)
½oz mixed chopped nuts

Rhubarb Cobbler

This is a Rose Elliot crumble recipe, however it doesn't have the same consistency as crumble, and is much more like a cobbler.

Crumbles are far from an exact science, they aren't like cakes where measurements are crucial (as they don't have eggs) and can be changed according to taste. Try adding rolled oats to your topping, or mix some cooking apples (chopped into small pieces), with the simmering rhubarb.

Ingredients

350g rhubarb, sweetened to taste

85g ground almonds

25g butter

pinch of cinnamon

I is for... Iced Lemon Biscuits

It's week 9 in Baking the Alphabet, and did you know there aren't many recipes beginning with 'I'? Tiny, little confession: I have made iced lemon biscuits before, and blogged about them here. BUT I have never put soft cheese in biscuits and I was intrigued to see how they would taste. Plus I wanted to try out a recipe from this brand new book Great British Bake Off: How to Bake, it is published by Ebury (where I work) and is beautiful! I didn't quite follow the recipe to the letter so you'd better go and buy the book if you want to...

Iced Lemon Biscuits

Ingredients (to make 20)
80g unsalted butter, softened
50g caster sugar
finely grated zest of ½ lemon (save the juice)
40g light soft cheese
150g gluten-free flour
pinch of salt
pinch baking powder
50g icing sugar

Biggest Potato Ever?

Creamy Vegetable Pie

Savoury Sunday time...here is a recipe for a creamy vegetable pie. Change the flavour to suit your taste by adding a stronger chilli, more garlic or chopped basil. Don't worry about the specific measurements, it's intended just as a guide, and feel free to substitute with your favourite vegetables!

Ingredients (to serve 2)
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
½ green chilli pepper (15g), finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 small carrot (20g), diced
1 small green pepper (50g), deseeded and chopped
½ medium courgette (80g), chopped
1 large tomato (100g), diced
50g black beans
¼ vegetable stock cube
2 tablespoons (30ml) double cream
50g baby spinach
60g puff pastry
1 egg yolk (optional)

Jazzy Biscuits

I called these biscuits 'Jazzy Biscuits' because they remind me of those white chocolate jazzies off of pick 'n' mix.I used half rye flour for these which gives them a wholemeal look (and slightly digestive-like taste, ironically they taste more like Digestive Biscuits than the ones I made here).

You will need (to make 30):
125g rye flour
125g plain white gluten-free flour (plus extra for rolling)
85g sugar
175g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g Milkybar (or white chocolate)
small bar Dairy Milk (or milk chocolate)
assorted sprinkles

Cheese Scones

I would say these are more 'alternative' cheese scones as they don't have the same ingredients, however they do tasty sconey. The original recipe makes a loaf of bread so I was expecting bread rolls, but these are tasty!

Ingredients (to serve 4)
100g ground almonds
⅓ teaspoon baking powder
20g butter, softened
1 egg
50g Cheddar cheese, grated

Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

I love Victoria Sponge, sweet light cake with a generous layer of strawberry jam and cream in the middle. I saw a picture of mini victoria sponges a while ago (I can't remember where) so I gave them a go myself. I made them for my sisters who aren't fans of cream so I just put jam in the middle of mine. If you do like cream, whip up a couple of tablespoons until it holds its shape and spread it on after the jam.

Ingredients
4oz (125g) butter, softened
4oz (125g) sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4oz (125g) plain gluten-free flour, sifted
1 level teaspoon baking powder
approx. 2 tablespoons strawberry jam

Chocolate and Coconut Brownies

Happy Saturday! Today is the perfect day for baking, I have plenty of time, it's a bit rainy outside and I just spent £20 on ingredients (whoops...).

If you regularly read my blog you might have noticed that I often omit certain ingredients for a little while, I've done sugar-free, low-fibre, wheat-free, gluten- free, dairy-free, egg-free, even apple-free! This constant changing is as a result of long-term health problems which I won't bore you with. My current situation is low-carb (i.e. no sugar or flour), this also rules out most fruits as they are high in natural sugar.  However, I must bake!

I have been looking to Rose Elliot for help, and she had a great recipe for low-carb brownies. But they needed sweeter (artificial or Stevia), which I didn't have. So after doing a bit of research and some imaginative thinking I came up with these brownies. The 'sweetness' comes from coconut virgin oil (available from health-food shops), dark chocolate and double cream.

H is for... Halloumi and Vegetable Herbed Kebabs

I'm well aware that barbecued food doesn't really fall into the 'baked' genre. BUT it's hot outside and I don't feel like baking. So, my slightly cheating, 'H' in Baking the Alphabet is halloumi and vegetable herbed kebabs. The perfect barbecue vegetarian alternative to burgers or sausages. My friend tells me that a barbecue is called a Braai in South Africa, and they have them a lot, although apparently they are full of meat so I'm not sure where my kebabs would fit in...

Ingredients
1 pack light halloumi (225g)
1 green pepper, deseeded
½ aubergine
10 cherry tomatoes
3 mushrooms, sliced in half

for the herbed marinade

juice of ½ lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

a handful of chopped herbs, I used thyme, rosemary, coriander and mint (use whatever you have to hand)

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon olive paste (optional)

Blueberry and Lemon Baked Cheesecake

The Great British/American Bake Off: Part 2
It's been a while since my last bake-off with Jess from Baking in Brooklyn, and so here we are back with part 2. The theme this time is...JAM. You can find Jess's rival Jam post HERE.

Now I was all set to roll out some jam tarts or a jam rolly-polly, when Jess let slip that she's going to make the jam first. As my friends will vouch I am a teeny bit competitive (I did nearly break my arm in a tense game of rounders when my competitive streak won out...) So I decided to rise to the challenge! I made Blueberry Jam, check out the recipe HERE.

Today the second part of the bake-off commenced. What to make with the jam? I opted for cheesecake, which I adapted from a Rose Eliot recipe for Baked Lemon Cheesecake.

Blueberry and Lemon Baked Cheesecake

Ingredients
100g ground almonds
15g butter, softened
400g soft cheese (2 tubs)
2 eggs
150ml double cream
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tbsp Roxanne's Blueberry Jam

Blueberry Jam

My homemade blueberry jam

I'm not a fan of excessive sugar in cooking and the idea of putting the same amount of sugar as fruit in jam is just ridiculous! After a lot of internet research and a look through my cookbooks I turned to my new favourite book The SuperJam Cookbook. I adapted my recipe from one in there, where it advised using white grape juice in place of sugar.

Roxanne's Blueberry Jam

Ingredients

1 litre purple grape juice

400g blueberries

2 tbsp lemon juice

Courgette 'Lasagne'

This is a recipe that I made up. It is similar to a parmigiana but uses courgette slices instead of aubergine, and is like a lasagne, but instead of making a cheese sauce I topped it with Mozzarella slices. It's a brand new thing!

Ingredients
1 large courgette, sliced into 1cm thick pieces
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
1 large stick celery, chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
50g Quorn mince
a small handful of watercress
10g basil, finely chopped
1 Mozzarella ball, sliced
1 tablespoon single cream

Low-Carb Bread Rolls

These are great for a light breakfast and take hardly anytime to make or bake!

Ingredients
75g ground almonds
pinch of salt
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten.

G is for... Gingerbread

I've baked from the beautiful Peyton and Byrne book before and when I was looking for a gingerbread recipe I found their 'Ginger and Black Treacle Bread' which didn't have loads of sugar or lots of butter so I thought I would give it a try. I've changed the recipe a bit and made it gluten-free.

Ingredients
125ml sunflower oil
100g soft brown sugar
175ml black treacle
50g fresh ginger, peeled and very finely chopped
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g gluten-flour plain flour (or normal if you can)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten

Treacle Tarts

And for my 100th post...Treacle Tarts! Surely everyone loves a treacle tart, crumbly pastry with a sweet, textured centred. Perfect with a cup of tea or for an after dinner treat.

Ingredients

200g shortcrust pastry (see below for recipe or cheat with shop-bought)
125g golden syrup
grated rind of ½ lemon

2 tsp lemon juice
40g breadcrumbs (1 small slice)

Banana Pudding Cake

I was all set to make a plum cake for dessert yesterday when I remembered I can't eat plums. Or apples, or pears, or any of the fruit in the fruit bowl (it's a long story). I did have a banana though so decided to experiment with that. I made a plum cake for everyone else, it had halved plums cut side down on the bottom and sponge mixture on top. I'm told it tasted nice...

For myself, meanwhile, I made a kind-of upside-down banana cake/pudding thing!

F is for...Flapjack Cookies

I heart flapjack in a big way. I went to a music festival called Lounge on the Farm the weekend before last and a stall there had the best flapjack ever (and it only cost £1!), I think I had eaten about 5kg of the stuff before the weekend was out.
But there is one thing I don't like about flapjack, and that is the waiting for it to cool before you can cut it up and tuck in. What inevitably happens is I try and cut it too soon and it falls to pieces and I have a tantrum. Therefore, flapjack cookies are perfect, you can eat one fresh from the oven without jeopardizing the rest. Result.

Ingredients (makes about 40)
160g butter, softened
160g caster sugar
8 tbsp golden syrup
200g porridge oats
120g gluten-free self-raising flour
80g chocolate chips/peanut butter chips/butterscotch chips/raisins (optional)

New Challenge - World Baking

I have decided to focus my baking with another challenge; I am going to bake recipes from around the world. After all, who says you can't have more than one challenge on the go, I make the rules here...

I am going to make a recipe from 25 countries (one for each letter of the alphabet except 'x'). I'll be working my way through Europe, Asia, Australasia, Africa, South America and North America. I would really appreciate any ideas, particularly for some of the more obscure countries.

Look out for my first 'World Baking' post coming soon!

Here are the countries I have chosen:

Australia

Brazil

Canada

Denmark

Ecuador

Finland

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Jamaica

Korea

Latvia

Morocco

New Zealand

Oman

Peru

Qatar

Romania

South Africa

Tunisia

United States

Vietnam

Wales

Yemen

Zimbabwe

E is for... Eggplant Parmigiana

There aren't many recipes beginning with 'E', not that I want to make anyway. Eggplant, or aubergine parmigiana is yummy, I've eaten it lots but never actually got round to making it. So here it is in week 5 of my Baking the Alphabet. Eggplant Parmigiana is a great vegetarian main course, serve it with a green salad and some fresh, crusty bread.

Ingredients (for 2 portions)
1 medium eggplant (about 250g)
700g passata or chopped tomatoes
10g fresh basil, shredded
1 ball mozzarella (125g), thinly sliced
20g Parmsesan, finely grated
50g gluten-free bread(crumbs)

Seeded Drop Rolls

This is bread-making as you've never seen before, in a matter of minutes these little rolls are ready. Now, they might look slightly odd, but who says it'll all about looks, it's what's inside that counts, right...

These are perfect if you need to bake something for a picnic and don't have time to make bread properly. They are good served with a little butter or cheese, or even on their own. 

Ingredients

225g gluten-free plain flour (or normal if you can)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt and pepper

50g butter

1½ tbsp sunflower oil

185ml skimmed milk with a squeeze lemon juice (or 185ml buttermilk if you have it)

60g sunflower seeds

D is for... Digestive Biscuits

Week 4 of my 'Baking the Alphabet' was a tricky one. I was distinctively uninspired by the letter 'D'. I made Digestives as I'd not done them before and I wanted to see if I could be the next McVitie. Turns out probably not, the biscuits were nice, and could be eaten sweet or savoury as normal digestives, but they lacked a certain something...I'm inclined to blame the lack of wholemeal flour (I didn't have a gluten-free version), so if anyone makes them with wholemeal flour let me know how they taste!

Ingredients (makes 14)
100g gluten-free flour (if you can use 75g wholemeal flour/25g plain)
25g porridge oats
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp caster sugar
50g butter
2 tbsp milk

Noodle Omelette

 I know this is not strictly baked at all...but you have to be controversial occasionally. Plus I didn't get chance to bake last night so I thought I'd share this quick and easy recipe. It's pretty yummy too!

Ingredients
1 tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp garlic-infused oil (or 1 garlic clove and an extra tsp sunflower oil)
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped
1 small courgette, finely sliced
1 tbsp curly parsley, finely chopped
1 packet rice noodles (150g)
3 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
50g Cheddar cheese, grated

Banana Bread

I wanted to make a high-energy snack and settled on banana bread which I haven't made in ages. I found an old recipe, reduced the sugar quantity, used gluten-free flour and added some nuts. Banana bread is a great mid-morning snack, it has all the sweetness of a cake but with fruit and nuts for maximum health benefits.

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
125g soft brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
250g gluten-free, plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125ml milk
3 bananas, mashed
50g Brazil nuts, chopped

C is for... Custard Tarts

Regular readers (and my friends) will know how much I LOVE custard. Egg custard tarts from Marks & Spencer are one of my favourite treats. So, I chose Custard Tarts for my 'C' in Baking the Alphabet. I found a recipe in The Great British Book of Baking for a 'Nutmeg Custard Tart'. I had bought some gluten-free pastry so I used that and just made the filling from the recipe. I altered it further by using crème fraîche instead of cream. BAD idea. It doesn't make a good filling, it goes lumpy and doesn't sieve well. Therefore, I'm giving you the original ingredients list from the book.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

175g plain flour

2 tbsp caster sugar

110g unsalted butter, chilled and diced

1 egg yolk, mixed with 2 tbsp ice-cold water

For the filling:

400ml single cream

200ml milk

ground nutmeg

2 eggs, plus 2 yolks

75g caster sugar

Spinach and Potato Mascarpone Gratin

It's savoury Sunday time, this recipe is a perfect vegetarian Sunday lunch alternative. I picked up the Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Vegetarian Cookbook for a mere £2 at the weekend and this recipe sounded pretty tasty!

Ingredients (to serve 2)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
225g spinach, rinsed
knob of butter
125g mascarpone
75ml single cream
large pinch nutmeg
40g Cheddar cheese, grated

Rice Pudding

I'm staying with my gran this weekend, and after a discussion about what to have for dessert we both agreed a proper, baked rice pudding would do the trick. I found a recipe on BBC GoodFood and we popped to the shop for some pudding rice.

Ingredients (to serve 2)

50g pudding rice

25g sugar
350ml whole milk

ground nutmeg

Mixed Berry Crumble Pudding

I had a friend coming round for dinner and I ummed and ahhed about what to make for dessert, basically key ingredients that needed eating were gooseberries, raspberries and an egg white. I'm quite proud of having made this dessert up ALL BY MYSELF, I didn't even glance at a recipe book.

Ingredients (to serve 4)
for the fruit:
250g gooseberries
1 tbsp light brown sugar
100g raspberries
for the topping:
50g butter
50g caster sugar
20g ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
20g porridge oats
1 tbsp creme fraiche
20g rice flour
1 egg white