Gone Banana's!!

Apologies for the distinct lack of blogging last month, I was super busy with work and stuff. I am hoping that September will fare a little better as I have looooads to share with you and can't wait to catch up on what you guys have been up to.

So for today's quandary...what to you do with some ripe banana's?

A sweet treat for elevenses of course...

 

Banoffee Cupcakes!

 

 

Preheat the oven...

 

 

Line a cupcake tray with paper cases...

 

 

Mash two ripe banana's...

 

 

In another bowl, beat 100g butter..
 

 

..2 eggs, 125g self raising flour, 100g castor sugar..

 

 

 

 ..and a tsp baking powder until light and fluffy.

 

 

Fold in the mashed banana's.

 

 

Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases and add a spoon of Caramel into each..

 

 

 

..top with the remaining cupcake mixture and bake for 20mins.

Remove and cool.

 

To make the caramel frosting..

 

 

..beat together 100g caramel, 85g butter and 300g icing sugar.

 

 

Simply spread it on the cupcakes, put the kettle on...

 

 

 And Enjoy!!!!!!!



Beets Me!!

Leaving work on Friday evening I was delighted to be given a bag of fantastic home-grown goodies from a fellow workmate which included these beauties straight out of the ground...

 

Well I can't say I have much experience cooking fresh beets so I had a look on the net for potential recipes. Recipes, I might add, that did not require a trip to the shop as the beautiful autumn weather we had been having turned sooooo wet over the weekend.

 

I came up with Roasted Beet and Feta Salad!

 

I peeled the beets, cut them into wedges and roasted them in the oven (1 hour at 180 degrees Celsius) with a little olive oil, sea salt and garlic. I thought they looked pretty appealing at this stage!

 

 

When cooled, I used the garlicky oil to make a dressing with some balsamic vinegar, toasted some walnuts and assembled...mixed leaved with balsamic dressing, peppered salami, roasted beets, crumbled feta, and toasted walnuts!

 

 

 I'm sure there are more sophisticated beet recipes out there (suggestions welcome should I get another food parcel!) but I have to say this was delicious!!

 

Irish Soda Bread!

I thought I'd make something a little traditional for lunch - for the weekend that's in it!

 

The baking of bread in its many different forms is one of the great Irish traditions.

Traditionally, Irish women would have made fresh bread every day; sometimes wheaten, sometimes soda, sometimes sweetened with treacle or fruit and sometimes even with a splash of the black stuff.

 

Irish Soda Bread

 

 

Grease a well-loved loaf tin with some butter and preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius...

 

 

Sift 450g or approx 3 cups of plain flour into a bowl...

 

 

Add a teaspoon of bread (bicarbonate) soda...

And a teaspoon of salt...

 

 

Stir in 450ml (approx) of buttermilk...

 

 

until you get a spongy dough (this is the knead free version)...

 

Tip the mixture into the loaf tin...

 

Bake for 40 minutes...

 Leave to cool on a wire rack, wrapped in a tea towel for a nice crust...

 

 

This was lunch today with some lovely Ballintubber Farmhouse mature cheddar cheese with chives...

 

Soda bread is best eaten on the day it's made but it's great fried the next day too, enjoy!!! 

Pancake Saturday!

As we were away for a few days, we sort of missed Shrove Tuesday. For those of you who don't know, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

 

Traditionally pancakes were eaten on this day (hence Pancake Tuesday!) as a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar before the Lenten fast.

 

So for brunch today I made some yummy pancakes...

1 Cup Flour, 1 Egg, 1 Cup(~ish) Milk

 

 

Whisk all together to make a smooth batter and fry a ladle of batter in a pan with a knob of butter... 



 

How do you like to serve yours? Maple Syrup? Nutella? Lemon & Sugar? I couldn't decide so I tried one with each topping!

 

 

All served with some lovely hot tea...