Breakfast Club has come home to Fuss Free Flavours this month and I am belatedly getting the announcement up.

World Fairtrade Day will be held this year on the 12th May, so what better theme for Breakfast Club than Fairtrade?

I am also delighted to have a prize of some Fairtrade coffee and teas donated by Steenbergs, who sell a vast range of organic and Fairtrade spices and teas and all manner of other ethical goods.

To take part, simply make a breakfast using one of more Fairtrade items!

• Mention Breakfast Club in your post and use the logo
• Add your entry to the linkie below
• Link to this post and the Breakfast Club page
• You are welcome to send in old recipes, but please add the information above and republish
• Entries can be sent to other events, but please respect their rules
• If you tweet please tweet using #blogbreakfastclub and mention me @fussfreeflavour
• Deadline 6th June 2012

Steenbergs will choose their favourite Fairtrade breakfast and send the prize out.

I am looking for hosts for August and beyond so please give me a shout if you would like to take part (helen at fussfreeflavours dot com)

Ruth tells me this is my 5th time hosting, and I apologise for being late, there is no excuse especially as it was a quiet week.

So with no further ado …

Firstly a dish of potato gnocchi, with asparagus and black trumpet mushrooms, from Stash at Spamwise Chronicles who dedicated his post to David, who was the first person he knew to die of an AIDS related cause, soon after Stash’s first NY Pride in 1992.    Asparagus was his favourite dish so this is dedicated to David’s memory.  “Spring is a season of rebirth — a light born out of shadow“.

Tandy, had a bad week, she lost her precious charm bracelet – I hope it will turn up eventually – I lost mine  and it was  found at the bottom of a friend’s children’s bathtoy net some three months later.   Then she dropped this delicious salmon pasta into the door of the oven, making a awkward mess to clean up.   It does look delicious Tandy.

Deb was reviewing the Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Food swaps and made this amazing looking noodle dish with seitan and peanuts.   It looks lovely.    I completely understand Deb’s food philosophy of “a plant-strong, meat, poultry and dairy free diet the majority of the time”, and I although I am never going to completely give meat and dairy up I feel far more lively on a mainly vegan diet.

I made a pasta bake with turkey, ham and cheese.  Delicious and I have another good two portions in the freezer!

Thanks to all who took part.   Ruth is hosting next week.  All details are here.

It can be a hotly debated matter, whether you spread the cream first and top with jam, or the other way round.  The Devonshire way is to put the jam on top of the cream, and the Cornish is to butter, jam, then cream.    I tend towards the Cornish way, but usually omit the butter.   After there is a fine line between greed and sheer gluttony surely?

With some measure of self restraint I adorned my scones with butter and homemade damson jelly.

To make a healthier scone I left out the sugar and added an equal volume of oats in its place.   Oats are pretty good for you, they contain soluble fibre in the form of beta-glucans which can help to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, decrease the GI of the oats, so they fill you up for longer, and keeps everything moving through your gut.    The Fuss Free kitchen gets through a fair quantity of oats; in porridge, cereal and when I remember, I add a handful when baking.   I also use them to thicken smoothies and use oat groats to make soy & oat milk.

With my blog comes a deluge of e-mails and samples, and one of the latest arrivals were some boxes of Mornflake Oats.   Mornflake should know a fair bit about oats, they have been milling in South Cheshire since 1675, making them the longest established miller in the UK.   Nearly 340 years, and 15 generations later, the company is still independent and is run by the descendants of the first miller, William Lea.   That is some impressive milling heritage.

Mornflake are also doing their bit for the planet, and have some top notch sustainable credentials.   Organic for more than 40 years the company has also built a modern wind turbine which powers their mill stones in Scotland and also provides electricity for up to 4,300 homes.   With this they are well on their way to becoming a carbon neutral business.  Hurrah – I love finding out about companies like this!

The Mornflake range also includes quick oats, cereal, granola & muesli, as well as oat bran, oatmeal and some rather attractive homewares.

Recipe: Oaty Scones

Makes 9

225g / 8oz plain flour
2 tbs rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
40g / 1.5oz butter
1 large egg
110ml / 4fl oz milk

Preheat the oven to 220C/GM 7 and grease a baking tray  (I usually put a sheet of Cookasheet on the tray).

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the oats, salt and baking powder and mix well.  Rub in the softened butter.

Crack the egg into a jug and make up to a generous 1/4 pt (150ml).  Pour it into the dry ingredients, reserving 1 tbs for glazing later.    Mix in well.   The dough should be sticky.

Turn out onto a floured surface handling as little as possible, either roll or pat out, until about 1 – 2 cm (1/2 – 3/4″) thick.   Cut with you choice of cutter and transfer to the prepared baking tray.

Brush with the reserved milk and egg mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 – 15 mins until risen and golden.

Many thanks to Mornflake for my samples.

Sending this to Karen and Kate’s Tea Time Treats where this month Karen is hosting and the theme is scones.

After the success of my green Pavlova for St Chad’s day earlier this month, I risked another green bake with these matcha muffins, flavoured with hazelnut and chocolate.

Instead of regular sugar I used my sample of Tate & Lyle’s Light at Heart, a blend of sugar and stevia, which is twice as sweet as sugar. Tate & Lyle say that therefore you can use half the quantity compared to regular sugar, and therefore have half the calories.    I was little dubious about this, as surely if you halve the sugar in a cake you then need to add some more flour or your solid to liquid ratio will be skewed?  I can see that you will get fewer calories when adding Light at Heart to drinks or on cereal, but surely in a cake, if you take half the sugar out you need to put more of something else in, or you just end up with less cake (which is bad) with the same calories by weight?  (This seems to be bourne out by Suelle in this post).

In the end I made my standard muffin recipe, halving the sugar, but replacing it with extra flour.  These were a great success, just the right amount of sweetness, and the texture was spot on.

If you need to cut down on sugar, or add it to cereal or hot drinks then the light at heart seems to be a good, but expensive (at £2.49 for 450g it is about 5 times the price of regular sugar) substitution.

My muffins were flavoured with matcha (from Teapigs), Cooks & Co hazelnut oil and my old baking favourite Hotel Chocolat’s Liquid Chocolate.   These were delicious with the flavours working really well together.  I am especially impressed with the hazelnut oil, which gave a delicious nutty taste, I am looking forward to using it some more!

Using a mix of plain and spelt flour makes the muffins more “cakey” and short.  I find that increasing the ratio of spelt anymore makes any baked goods too crumbly, although baking with eggs might help with this?   If you do not have soy milk then use normal milk.

Recipe: Vegan Chocolate, Hazelnut & Matcha Muffins

Makes 6

Dry ingredients

100g / 3.5oz plain flour*
100g / 3.5oz spelt flour*
30g / 1oz sugar – I used Tate & Lyle Light at Heart*
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp matcha
2 tbs Liquid Chocolate  – or finely grated plain chocolate.
Pinch salt

Wet Ingredients

60oz / 2oz hazelnut oil
180g / 6oz milk – soy or diary if you are not vegan

Method
Whisk the oil and milk with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).  Dollop the mixture into your usual muffin pan, sprinkle each muffin with a some chocolate flakes.   Bake at GM5/190C/375F  for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

* If using regular sugar then add 60g / 2oz of sugar and 90g / 3oz of each of the flours.

Thank you to Hotel Chocolat, Teapigs, Cooks & Co and Tate and Lyle for the samples to make these muffins.

And a huge thanks to my friend Judit for the beautiful plate in the photos, which belonged to her late mother, I am hugely enjoying using them!

Sending this to Chele and Choclette’s We Should Cocoa where this month the theme is green!

And another entry month’s Alphabakes where the letter is M.  Thanks to Baking Addict  and Caroline for hosting the challenge.

Don’t forget there are still a few days left to enter this month’s Breakfast Club, over at Makey Cakey, and Frugal Friday at Pigling Bland.

It always gives me great delight when I manage to use several things up in a dish, and this one is no exception.  Carrots, parsnips and half a dreaded swede.  Half a tin of coconut milk and the dregs of a jar of Thai curry paste.   Served with the last of my homemade butter spread onto the last slice of root vegetable bread, found at the back of the freezer. Things could have only been more satisfying had I finished the red lentils too.

This is a very adaptable soup, use that ingredients you have.  I find that the curry and spice tempers the natural sweetness of the parsnip.    If you are making this for vegetarians do check the jar of Thai curry paste – many of them contain shrimp, which often catches people out unless they are looking out for it.

Recipe: Root Veg & Lentil Thai Coconut Soup

Serves around 8

2 medium onions
2 tbs oil
4 carrots
2 parsnips
Wedge of swede (rutabaga)
2 tbs red or yellow Thai curry paste (add more or less to taste)
Mug full of red lentils
1/2 tin of coconut milk or 4 tbs coconut milk powder
Vegetable stock – 1 – 2 pints
Salt & Pepper to season

Peel and roughly chop the onions and fry in the oil until golden.  Meanwhile peel and chop the vegetables.   Add the root vegetables and curry paste, stir and fry for a few minutes.

Add the lentils,  coconut milk & stock – enough to cover everything – and bring to a gentle simmer.  Cover and cook for about 20 mins until vegetables are soft.

Blend, thinning with water if needed.

Tastes better having been cooled and reheated, and freezes well.

There seem to be a myriad of food bloggers events that I can send this to!

Firstly Susan’s My Legume Love Affair – hosted this month by Girlichef.

Secondly Lisa and Jac’s No Croutons Required – where this month the theme is a hint of spice.

Thirdly, Love Lock with Soups over at Sweet Karam Kapi.

And lastly my own event Frugal Food Fridays, hosted this month by Gill.

Food politics and choices is a complex issue, is it not?

My vegetable drawer was full of root vegetables, including the ever present swede which comes in my fruit and vegetable bag and languishes at the bottom of the fridge until I crack and put it in the bin.   I abhor food waste, but I have no love for the humble swede, so I tried grating some into my loaf, along with carrots and parsnip.     I’d made tofu the evening before – with my dislike of cow milk I drink soy, and have a soy milk machine which enables me to make fresh tofu in 30 minutes, I’d kept the whey to use in bread.

With a slow overnight rise the resulting loaf was moist, flavoursome with a dense firm crumb.  Delicious oven fresh or toasted the next day.   There was a hint of the vegetables, and the flecks of carrot were visible.    One to be repeated.

Recipe: Root Vegetable Loaf

Makes 1 small loaf

Ingredients

250ml soy milk whey – or water
2 tsp dried yeast
350g strong white bread flour
150g wholemeal bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbs rapeseed oil
200g grated root vegetables – I used a mix of carrot, parsnip and swede

Add the yeast to the whey or water and stir.  Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing to a dough.   Knead but had or with the dough hook of your stand mixer until smooth and elastic.    Place into a bowl and cover, place in the fridge for about 12 hours or until doubled in size.

Knock the bread back, shape and place into a oiled 1lb loaf tin.  Allow to rise again.  Bake at GM7 / 220C for about 40 – 50 minutes.

Freezes well.

Sending this to this month’s Frugal Food Fridays – hosted by Gill at Tales of Pigling Bland.

And Breakfast Club where the theme is dairy free – hosted by Ruth at Makey Cakey

And Girlichef’s Bake Your Own Bread

And lastly to Yeastspotting.

I love the little Chinese Gyoza dumplings.  Both sweet and savoury versions are a regular feature in  my kitchen.      You can make them yourself, but I buy packets of them in Chinatown and keep in the freezer for a quick supper.

Inspired by my homemade tortilla chips I gave the gyoza wrappers the same treatment.    Snappy, crunchy and spicy.  Perfect as they are, or for  dipping, they barely need a recipe.

My latest obsession is chocolate tea make from cocoa bean shavings from Hotel Chocolat, paired with cheese or spices it also makes an excellent gyoza topping.  I am loking forward to further experiments with the shavings.

Recipe: Spicy Chocolate Gyoza Crisps

Place a piece of baking parchment on a tray and lay your gyoza skins out.   Brush with a little olive oil and then sprinkle with your choice of cocoa bean flakes, spices, salt or finely grated Parmesan.

Lightly run your rolling pin over them so the spices stick.

Bake as GM5/ 190C for 5 to 6 minutes until bubbly and crispy.

I made one batch of chocolate, cumin and chilli flakes and another of chocolate and parmesan.

Sending these to this month’s We Should Cocoa where the theme is savoury vegetarian (I know Parmesan is not strictly vegetarian, but substitute with your choice of rennet free Italian hard cheese or just make spicy ones!)

Thanks to  Hotel Chocolat for the Cocoa Bean shavings sample.

I cannot belive how fast the year is galloping past, and we are at the end of January.

Month end also means Fresh From the Oven reveal date, where this month we were challenged by Silvia and Ivan from mushitz, to make bread using the Tangzhong method.

Tangzhong means water roux – and the method was popularised in the 1990s by Yvonne Chen’s book “The 65º C Bread Doctor”.    By making a roux you develop some of the gluten before the bread is baked, and the resulting loaf is very fluffy soft and tender.

The bread was indeed, fluffy, soft and tender and delicious, but was also the stickest dough I have ever worked with, not something that I would have liked to attempt without Fifi, my new and already very loved stand mixer with her trusty dough hook.

I will be making this one again, maybe stuffing the loaf next time.

Thanks to Silvia and Ivan for a fantastic challenge.

Recipe: Tangzhong Bread

Adapted from Christine’s Recipes

For the Tangzhong:

• 30 gr flour;
• 150 gr cold water.

For the Dough:

• 350 gr strong flour;
• 5 gr instant yeast (or 15 gr fresh yeast);
• 55 gr sugar;
• 5 gr salt;
• 1 egg;
• 125 gr milk (buttermilk works too);
• 120 gr tangzhong;
• 30 gr butter, melted and cooled.

For Glazing:

• the rest of the tangzhong – it adds gloss and nice golden colour to the crust during baking.

Prepare the tangzhong. Whisk together cold water and flour (there should be no lumps) and cook over low heat (stirring all the time) until the temperature reaches 65ºC.

If you don’t have a thermometer – no problem – cook until the spoon you’re stirring with leaves a trace. The mixture should have the consistency of something in the middle between crème anglaise and pastry cream.

Leave the tangzhong to cool down at room temperature before using it.

Prepare the dough. Dissolve yeast in the milk. Combine together flour, sugar and salt then add in milk with the yeast, tangzhong and egg. Use your hand or stand mixer equipped with the dough hooks to mix all the ingredients into a soft dough then add in the butter. Let the mixer do the kneading part for 15 – 20 minutes. You can say if the dough is ready by tearing a small piece of it and stretching it to a very thin membrane before it tears. Cover the bowl and leave it to become double in bulk.

Knock the dough down on a lightly floured counter top, give it a quick knead just to let the gas escape, then form it as desired – a loaf or small buns. Transfer to buttered loaf pan or lined with paper sheet pan if making buns. Cover with plastic wrap and let it double in bulk again.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Brush with the rest of the tangzhong and bake for around 30 – 35 minutes until nicely golden.

Another week, and another Friday so it Presto Pasta Night!    This is my 6th time of hosting, and PPN is one of my favourite food blogging events, so firstly a huge thanks to Ruth, and to everyone that takes part.

Firstly was chicken noodle soup from Tandy, Lavender and Lime, which I think is perfect for the winter colds and chills here in the UK.

Fabulous turnips, with leeks and ricotta, a use for turnips that  I had not thought of from Stash at the Spamwise Chronicles.

A living pasta salad using sprouted beans and seeds, mixed with veggies, tuna and pasta from Alisha at Polar Bee!  How good for you will this be?

Frugal, quick and delicious, Penne Arrabbiata ticks all my Fuss Free boxes – this week’s second dish from Stash.

Ruth is hankering for a pasta attachment for her stand mixer, and I am looking forward to seeing her homemade pasta soon.   This week she made Sacchettini with Salsa Verde with fresh pasta she had bought.

Fresh and simple, spaghetti al limone with a hefty chilli kick from Jamie at Cookin’ With Moxie.

Delicious healthy pasta with broccoli, olives and feta, perfect for your healthy new year eating plans, from Joanna at Eats Well with Others.

Roasted vegetables, with pasta and venison salami from PPN first timer Charlotte at Charlotte’s Kitchen Diary.  Looks lovely and hope to see lots more pasta from her.

Many thanks to all who took part this week, next week’s host is  Alisha of Cook, Craft, Enjoy.

The first cake of the year, from the Great British Bake Off How to Bake book, and a timely post as the celebrity Great Sport Relief Bake Off is on telly tonight.

A full review of the book is on its way, I am hoping it will have been better edited than the one from the first series which I did not have much success with.

I made the sticky orange cake, using homemade butter (recipe to come) made from greatly reduced double cream.

Recipe: Sticky Orange Marmalade Cake

Ingredients
175g unsalted butter – softened
175 caster sugar
3 large free range eggs – beaten
175g Self Raising flour
pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbs Seville Orange marmalade
2 tbs milk

To finish
3 tbs marmalade
100g icing sugar
2 tbs warm water

Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / GM4.

Beat the butter with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually beat in the sugar, continue beating until the mixture becomes pale and fluffy.

Gradually add the eggs, beating well all the time.  Add a tbs of flour with the last of the egg.  Sift in the remaining flour, salt and baking powder and gently fold in.   Add the marmalade and milk.

Spoon the mixture into the in and spread evenly.  Bake for about 50 – 55 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch.    Run a round blade knife round the inside of he tin and turn out onto a wire rack.   Warm the second portion of the marmalade and brush over the top of the warm cake.   Leave to cool completely.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the warm water and mix.  Spoon the mix over the cake, letting it run down the sides.  Leave to set before cutting.   Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

I added extra marmalade to the cake, and found that there was far too much icing – halve the quantity.

Recipe reproduced with permission of BBC Books

Sending this recipe to Dom’s random recipes – where this month the challenge is to cook something from your newest cookbook!

Just cook some pasta (or noodles), write a post, mention Presto Pasta Nights and Fuss Free Flavours (with links), and e-mail the link to your post to me (helen (at) fussfreeflavours (dot) com) and copy (ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com) by evening on Thursday 12th.

I love food blog events, it is a great chance to interact with other bloggers and not feel that you are out there blogging and posting by yourself.

If you are interested in hosting – this is my 5th time – do get in touch with Ruth. I am looking forward to seeing your pasta recipes this week. If you have not taken part before why not jump in and submit your recipe!

Come the cold bright light of New Year’s Day, I, perhaps like the majority of the population, consider some New Year’s Resolutions.  They usually last a week or so before being abandoned.

I think that New Year is possibly the wrong time to decide to make changes to your life.   In the Northern hemisphere it is winter, dark, damp and cold.  I struggle with the lack of daylight and find getting anything done a chore, setting high expectations is akin to donning a hairshirt and doomed to failure at the first hurdle, which serves to make me feel inadequate and miserable.    Instead I have set a few goals, and have resolved to look after and value myself more.   After all if I cannot do that for me, how can I expect others to?

Goals can be reviewed either when the clocks go forward, or at Easter, both times of spring, growth, rebirth and renewal, and longer lighter days which will put me into the right mind set to make changes, decisions and plans.

Similarly I am skeptical of the “January Detox” diet.   This month I have planned to try and eat better, and am thinking of it of giving my system a break.  I overdid it in both November and December and felt ghastly, also I have put on a few pounds, I want to lose them before it becomes a problem.   I’ll try to eat a diet that is predominately plant-based, with perhaps more raw food than usual.    I’ll try to drink a little less, and will certainly think before reaching for the bottle and corkscrew, but in the spirit of looking after me, if I think that having a glass of wine will bring me pleasure than I certainly am going to have one.    Moderation is key, and, perhaps the only resolution that any of us need?

On to the Bircher muesli.

I have mentioned before how I spent most of my adult life thinking that I did not like cereal, when in fact it was an aversion to cow milk.   It is one of the few breakfasts that keeps me going until lunchtime, which is always a bonus.     Made the night before it makes the perfect breakfast to grab from the fridge before work and eat at your desk, far healthier than a Danish or bacon sandwich!

I make my own muesli, using a 4 grain mix of equal quantities of oats, wheat, barley and rye flakes (the last 3 are available in Wholefoods bulk section for a bargainous 99p a kg),  then I add a mix of seeds, nuts and dried fruit.  80% flakes and 20% “bits” seems a good ratio.      If you buy packed muesli check the ingredients, added sugar, and boring “bits” are common, and packet mixes are far more expensive than making your own.

Ideas for the bits are seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, hemp – there is little point in linseed – grind a spoonful and sprinkle then on instead.    Nuts – raw cashews, almonds, walnuts, cob & hazelnuts.   Fruit – unsulphured apricots (makes such a difference to taste), dates, figs, cranberries, raisins, currants, sultanas etc.

Recipe: Bircher Muesli

Serves 2

Ingredients

125g / Scant cup muesli – preferably homemade
2 oranges – juiced
1 apple grated

To Serve

Fresh berries
Yogurt

Last thing at night grate the apple and stir into the muesli.   Pour the orange juice over, there should be some juice at the bottom of the bowl.   Give a good stir, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

Serve with fresh berries and yogurt.

Sending this to both this month’s Breakfast Club where the theme is detox and to this month’s Frugal Food Fridays.

Both events are blog hops, so please take part, grab the code and hop from blog to blog!

Frugal Food Fridays!

Breakfast Club

Now Christmas has past, and January seems a very long month, let’s let Frugal Food Fridays begin in ernest!

Some themes for money saving ideas that I have thought up are:

• Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian
• Meals using leftovers
• Meals using up the ends of packets
• Substitutions of cheaper ingredients
• Packed lunches
• Meals that use less energy to cook
• Pressure cooking
• Slow cooking
• Faster cooking – less oven time for example
• Batch cooking for the freezer
• Using Sustainable foods
• Food you have grown yourself
• Meals from reduced food in the supermarket

I expect that there are many many more. Let me know any more you think of and I’ll add them in.

Following a Twitter conversation just before Christmas I am also expanding the theme to include frugal “fotos” – good food styled simply.    No ribbons, no baubles, and napkins are only allowed if you use them anyway!

Frugal Food Fridays

To take part, simply blog about any money saving idea that is vaguely food related.

There are a few rules

• Please link to the Frugal Food Fridays page
• Please link to the current host (ME!)
• Please use the Frugal Food Fridays Badge
• Tweet using #frugalfoodfriday

But feel free to

• Send to as many other events as you like, let’s help everyone save money!
• Blog any day of the week! Not just Fridays!

Tell me about your money saving ideas on the linky below! I am also making this a blog hop, so feel free to grab the code and add to your post too. Let’s spread the money saving meme!

Let me know if you would like to host too!

Breakfast Club: Because breakfast should be more interesting
than tea & toast or coffee & cereal!

This month Breakfast Club is hosted by Food, Je t’Aimée.

And the theme is January Detox!

To take part, simply make a healthy breakfast and blog about it!

• Mention Breakfast Club in your post and use the logo
• Link to Aimée’s post and the Breakfast Club page
• You are welcome to send in old recipes, but please add the information above and republish
• Entries can be sent to other events, but please respect their rules
• If you tweet please tweet using #blogbreakfastclub and mention me @fussfreeflavour
• Add details of your breakfast onto the Linkie, and grab the code for your post too as this is a blog hop!
• Closing date is 31st January 2012

Let me know if you would like to host later in the year.

Let’s keep breakfast interesting!

I have a bit of a thing for silicone bakeware and I bought the most beautiful petit triskell silicone mould – as well as 4 others -  when on holiday in France in October, but had not quite got round to using any of them.   I had imagined little bite sized madeira cakes flavoured with orange, with white chocolate and pistachios would be the perfect in my new mould.  Sadly, despite copious use of cake release spray, the chocolate drops stuck and my little cakes are not quite as pretty as they could be.

Even so, I love the shape and am quite determined to find the perfect cake for the mould.  Currently I am leaning towards petit triskell madeleines.

They, were however delicious, Ed and I scoffed the entire lot whilst they were still warm.   A 1 egg mix was the perfect quantity for the tray!

Sadly stuck, but you can see how lovely the mould is

The pistachios were a sample from Wonderful Pistachios, as well as the unsalted ones I used, they also come in delicious and very moreish salted, salt & pepper and sweet chilli flavours.   They claim that a visible bowl of shells will make you realise just how many you are eating, which -  in theory at least – means that you do not eat too many.   I am fairly positive that this theory does not work for me.

Recipe: White Chocolate, Orange & Pistachio Petit Triskells

Makes 15 bite sized cakes

Ingredients
2oz / 50g soft butter
2oz / 5og caster sugar
1 egg – free range please
3oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (or use self raising flour)
1 dsp milk
finely grated zest of 1/4 orange
1 tbs white chocolate chips
1tbs roughly chopped pistachio nuts

Method

Preheat the oven to GM4 / 180C / 350F

Using an electric whisk cream together the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy.   Whisk in the egg and 1 tsp of the flour (this stops the mixture curdling).

Fold in the remaining ingredients.

When mixed spoon into well-greased moulds and bake for about 12 minutes, until risen and springy.

Apologies for the photos which are even worse than usual; I dropped my DSLR which is currently with the camera doctor, leaving me praying it will not be too expensive or even terminal.  I am left with using my ancient point and shoot.

Sending this to this month’s We Should Cocoa where the theme is orange.

Christmas is an expensive time of year, and with continued economic gloom we’d all like to save a little money to spend on the fun things in life.

Bring on Frugal Food Fridays from Fuss Free Flavours (what a lot of f’s!) – to bring you some inspiration and money saving ideas!

Some themes for money saving ideas that I have thought up are:

• Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian
• Meals using leftovers
• Meals using up the ends of packets
• Substitutions of cheaper ingredients
• Packed lunches
• Meals that use less energy to cook
• Pressure cooking
• Slow cooking
• Faster cooking – less oven time for example
• Batch cooking for the freezer
• Using Sustainable foods
• Food you have grown yourself
• Meals from reduced food in the supermarket

I expect that there are many many more. Let me know any more you think of and I’ll add them in.

Frugal Food Fridays

To take part, simply blog about any money saving idea that is vaguely food related.

There are a few rules

• Please link to the Frugal Food Fridays page
• Please link to the current host (ME!)
• Please use the Frugal Food Fridays Badge

But feel free to

• Send to as many other events as you like, let’s help everyone save money!
• Blog any day of the week! Not just Fridays!

Tell me about your money saving ideas on the linky below!   I am asoo making this a blog hop, so feel free to grab the code and add to your post too.   Let’s spread the money saving meme!

I am running this first Frugal Food Friday until the end of December, and will post a round up in early Jan – I am looking forward to lots of Christmas leftover ideas!

Let me know if you would like to host too!

I first made cranberry vodka as a result of desperation one Christmas day evening.

A few years back I somehow had not managed to pick any sloes and there was not a drop of sloe gin in the house at Christmas time.    I had the brainwave of adding the remains of the (homemade) cranberry sauce to half a bottle of gin and giving it a good  shake.   Very good it was too.

I think that most of foodblogsphere is aware of Vanessa”s Let’s Make Christmas Event, held a few weeks ago at Fortnum and Mason, where 50 bloggers gathered, talked, took photos and talked lots more.

My photos are woefully non existent.  Sarah, who has a super swanky new lens had a flat camera battery, so being a kindly soul, I lent her mine, her write-up is here.

My homemade gift was a Christmas vodka, using cranberries, oranges and warming winter spices of cinnamon, cloves and a hint of star anise.

So without further ado the recipe!

Recipe: Festive Spiced Cranberry & Orange Vodka

Makes 70cl.

200g cranberries
Zest of 1 orange – use a vegetable peeler to obtain wide strips
1” cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 segments of a star anise
4oz sugar

About 450ml vodka.

Place the solid ingredients into a clear bottle and top up with vodka. Shake daily until the sugar is dissolved.

Leave for a good few weeks before drinking, the longer the better as the drink will become smoother with time.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable recipe.

For a mammoth round up of all the recipes see here.

Once again it is the end of the month, and there is another Fresh From the Oven Challenge, this month panettone, chosen by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.   I am doubly proud of myself this month as I have both: -

• Made it on time
• Posted it on time

I am still suffering from the dreaded blog backlog, and despite never learning from my mistakes, already have much of my January content planned (it is a themed month which I am really looking forward to).

Christmas has come early in the Fuss Free kitchen, and I’d like to introduce you to Fifi La Firecracker, who arrived on Friday.

I am already smitten, and the very pretty Fifi (everyone does name their stand mixers surely?) has been put through her paces several times making dough, cupcakes and buttercream.   I am very very lucky, and very appreciative to Kenwood who gave me the mixer for review and extensive testing.

I have already realised that I need slightly relearn making bread, as I up until now I have done it by feel, not appearance.  Already I realise one of the major benefits of a stand mixer is that I can leave Fifi to do her stuff whilst I fill the dishwasher, wash up or put things back in the cupboards.

Back to the panettone, which was delicious, although mine was slightly heavy, caused either by out of date and thus sluggish yeast, or overzealous kneading in the mixer.     Sarah suggested using an Ikea cutlery drainer in place of a panettone tin, I have neither so baked in a standard loaf tin, not as pretty, but does the job perfectly.   I added raisins, chopped dried apricots, and chocolate drops (suggested by the GBBO book).  Usually I am a  fan of chocolate, but it did not quite do it for me here.  Next time I make panettone I think I’ll leave it out.  Sarah’s recipe, directly from the challenge is below.

Recipe: Panettone no.1

(based on involved version from “Great British Bake Off: How to Bake”)

Makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients:

7g sachet dried yeast

400g strong white bread flour

75g caster sugar

2 large free range eggs plus 2 egg yolks at room temperature

3 tablespoons lukewarm water

half teaspoon vanilla extract

finely grated zest of one unwaxed orange and one unwaxed lemon

half teaspoon salt

175g softened unsalted butter

75g sultanas (I made up the weight with raisins too)

50g candied orange, diced or finely chopped

50g dark chocolate chips (or more fruit)

40g unsalted butter to finish

Makes enough to fill a 15cm tall cake tin or panettone mould. Bear this in mind if improvising with smaller round tins.

Directions:

1. Mix 125g of the weighed flour with the yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer and make a well in the centre. Mix the two whole eggs with the water and pour into the well.

2. Using your hands or a dough hook, mix the flour into the liquid to make a smooth thick batter. Sprinkled a little of the remaining weighed flour over the top of the batter to prevent a skin forming then leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the batter is very bubbly. (Mine expanded but didn’t go bubbly. It was fine).

Missing bit: Stir in the egg yolks, vanilla and grated zest using your hand or dough hook. Gradually work in 175g flour plus the salt to make a soft sticky dough.

3. Next add the softened butter and work in with your fingers or the dough hook on a slow speed. Beat until the butter is incorporated with no streaks.

4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead thoroughly by hand for ten minutes  (or use the dough hook for 3-4 minutes) working in the remainder of the weighed flour to make a satiny soft pliable non-sticky dough. Depending on the flour, you may not need it all or you may need a little more. (Mine was fine).

5. Cover the bowl with cling film (I used a tea towel as well, mainly because it feels “rustic”) and leave to rise at room temperature until doubled in size, probably 2 to 2.5 hours. Don’t leave in a very warm place as the butter will melt.

6. Next uncover the dough and punch down to deflate. Cover again and let it double in size again (1 to 1.5 hours although I left mine 2 whilst we had Sunday lunch).

7. Meanwhile combine the sultanas with the chopped peel and chocolate chips. Stir in a teaspoon of flour to stop it clumping in the dough.

8. Prepare the tin by lining with parchment paper. The paper should extend 5cm higher than the height of the tin.

9. Punch down the risen dough again and turn onto a floured surface; sprinkle the fruit and chocolate mixture on top and work into the dough gently until evenly distributed.

10. Shape the dough into a ball and gently drop into the prepared tin. Cut a cross into the top. Lay a sheet of clingfilm loosely over the top of the tin and leave for another hour or so until doubled in size again.

11. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 200c / 400f / gas 6. When ready to bake, melt 15g of the butter for finishing and brush it over the risen dough. Put a knob of butter in the centre of the cross.

12. Bake for 10 minutes or until just starting to colour, then brush again with melted butter. Reduce the temperature to 180c / 350f / gas 4 and bake for a further 40 minutes until a good golden brown and a skewer inserted to the centre comes out clean. (My loaf was going very brown after 30 mins and I had to cover with foil to stop it burning).

13. Remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack. Allow to cool for a few minutes before teasing it out of the tin. If your crust is fragile allow to cool further before removing from tin.

14. Cool completely before slicing.

If you blog and are starting to think about next year, and new year’s resolutions then why not sign up to join Fresh From the Oven?

And once again, a huge thanks to Kenwood for my shiny stripy Fifi La Firecracker K-Mix!

It is as American as apple pie.  Although I find it nigh on impossible to look at an apple pie without sniggering or muttering “Band Camp” to myself.

Thanksgiving is held on the 4th Thursday of November, which this year is the 24th.   Similarly to harvest festivals held throughout Europe, the first American Thanksgiving was held to celebrate the harvest and a year in a new land by the European settlers who had arrived on the Mayflower a year before.

Traditions abound, the President pardons a turkey, then presumably will sit down for dinner usually consisting of the pardoned turkey’s less fortunate cousin.    Cranberry sauce accompanies the turkey and pumpkin pie is served for pudding.

The cranberries and pumpkin pie gave me the inspiration for these cupcakes, which are based on Sarah’s recipe.   Rather than use tinned pumpkin pie mix I roasted a pumpkin and blitzed it with milk with a stick blender, left over pumpkin is delicious in smoothies.

In an effort to get more done last night I switched off the phone and laptop and went cold (Thanksgiving) turkey on twitter, blogs and the internet in general.    I have to admit that I twitched just a little bit and tried to reach for my Blackberry more than once, but feel refreshed after 12 hours off grid.    I am fairly sure that our brains are not designed for such constant stimulation?

Cakes were baked last night.    Buttercream coloured and prepped and fondant stars cut.   All ready for assembly this morning.

The eagle eyed will see there are only 11 cakes. We had to test one of the 12 last night!

I had a big batch of buttercream in the fridge ready for colouring (Sarah’s idea) it keeps for ages.    I reckon that you need just over an ounce per cake.  I use gel colours, the liquid ones change the consistency too much, particularly when you are aiming for a darker colour.    Disposable piping bags are an essential, I try to live a green a life as possible, and I hate the use once aspect to them, but really life is too short to wash a piping bag!  Use disposable and be extra diligent on sorting your recycling to assuage any guilt.   Klippits (from Lakeland) are essential for sealing the buttercream into the bag until you are ready to use it.

Recipe: Spiced Pumpkin & Cranberry Cupcakes for Thanksgiving

For the cupcakes – makes 12 small

55g butter or baking marge – I use Stork
120g sugar – soft brown
1 egg – free range please
35g roasted pumpkin
55ml milk
1/2 tsp lemong juice
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Handful dried cranberries

Cream the butter and sugar together with a hand held mixer or in your stand mixer.   Put the pumpkin, milk and lemon into a container and whizz with a stick blender.    Add to the butter and sugar mixture together with an egg.  Mix well.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and spices and fold into the batter.   Fold in the cranberries.

Line a bun tin with fairy cake cases.   Fill each case 2/3 with batter and bake at 190C / GM 5 for about 12 minutes.

The buns are done when risen and springy.

For the buttercream

75g butter
250g icing sugar
Food colourings
1tsp vanilla extract
1  – 2 tbs milk

The secret to fluffy buttercream is to beat the butter really well before you add any sugar.     I have also recently learnt the hand trick of making butter cream in the food processor to prevent the kitchen being covered in clouds of icing sugar.     You can make it with a hand mixer, but will need to add the icing sugar slowly to the butter.

Put the butter in the food processor bowl and process for a minute or so, until soft and fluffy.   Pour in the icing sugar and milk, put the lid back on and cover with a damp tea towel, and process again.   Scrape the sides down, add your vanilla and colouring, and more milk or icing sugar if needed and process again.

Pipe red and blue roses onto each cake and sprinkle with white fondant stars.

If buttercream is too sweet for you make a crunchy lemon topping by mixing equal volumes of lemon juice and caster sugar, stirring well and spooning over the cakes.

Click for a printable recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As these contain ginger I am sending them to the inaugural Teatime Treats hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked, where the November theme is ginger and bonfires.

Similarly to Wendy Cope”s men, my entries for Presto Pasta Night are also like busses.

Bloody men are like bloody buses -
You wait for about a year
And as soon as one approaches your stop
Two or three others appear.

Wendy Cope – Bloody Men

Having has a good 4 months off this is my third submission to PPN in a row (and I have another one queued).  It must be something to do with the change in the season, dark cold evenings demand comfort food, and, judging from the plummeting quality of my photography, some decent lighting.

This recipe was developed for French’s Mustard, in conjunction with my current competition to win a £50 supermarket voucher.

Every autumn I become obsessed with slowly frying onions for 30 to 40 minutes to make them sweet, sticky and juicy.   They are then made into a sauce with a little cream (50ml for two people), chopped sausages and a generous dash of French’s smooth and spicy American mustard.   The mustard has just the right mix of sweetness and heat when paired with the sausage and onion, and thickens the sauce nicely.     If you have not done so before, do try adding a little pasta water to a creamy sauce.  It bulks it out and does not add the scary calories that cream contains.

I used a rather wonderful artisan pasta, from the Terracafe in London.    The Terracafe is a gem, situated in the wasteland between Victoria rail and coach stations.     They serve great Italian coffee and sell a range of delicious top notch products from Tuscany Corner.      With the price of rail travel rocketing we are travelling by coach more and more frequently, and the Terracafe will become a “must stop” for both provisions for the journey and presents when going to stay with people.

Recipe: Mustardy Sausage & Sticky Onion Pasta

Serves 2

1 tbs olive oil
1 large onion – finely sliced
2 cloves garlic – chopped
3 – 4 cooked chipolatas
150g pasta
50ml double cream
2 tbs grain mustard

Handful frozen peas and sweetcorn (optional)
Salt & Pepper to season

Gently fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil on the lowest heat on your hob, stir regularly, you may need to use a diffuser ring to stop it burning.

Meanwhile roast or fry the sausages.

When the onions are reduced (this will take about 30 mins) start cooking the pasta.

Finish the sauce by adding the chopped sausages & cream and season with salt and pepper.     Add a little pasta water to the sauce to thin and bulk it out.     Stir in the mustard to taste.

2 mins before the pasta is cooked add the peas and corn to the pan.

Drain the pasta, mix into the sauce and serve immediately.

Sending to this weeks Presto Pasta Nights hosted this week by HoneyB.

If you like sausages I am giving away 3 copies of the sausages cookbook!