Pretty in pink - homemade skirt and traybake

I love a splash of pink in summer - it makes me think of pink hydrangeas, falling blossom and pink lemonade! Wearing and baking flashes of pink today, my home-spun ways were exposed this afternoon when colleagues found out that not only did I make a strawberry traybake last night but my full circle skirt was home sewn. #Twee #dork.

The pattern used for the skirt was Vogue's V8602. It was as the name suggests, it was very easy. The only tricky bit was inserting the zip, I also adjusted the pattern and shortened the length for mine. The fabric was found on Ebay from the same seller who sold the paisley cotton I used for my robe. 

The traybake was adapted from two recipes on bbcgoodfood.com - here's how I did it:

Heat oven to 180 degrees c. Butter a medium sized tray.

Put the following in your food blender and mix until it forms a rough crumble.

150g self-raising flour

100g porridge oats

200g butter, diced

280g golden granulated sugar

50g ground almonds

Put 85 grams of this aside before you add 2 medium eggs and pulse until roughly mixed. Remove blade and finish mixing with a wooden spoon, don't worry about making it smooth. Line the baking tray with the mixture.

Clean the blender and load with a punnet of strawberries. Once blended pour over mix in tray.

Take the 85g mix that was put to one side earlier and add 100g porridge. Melt butter with 1 tablespoon of runny honey in a saucepan and add the dry mixture to the pan. Mix together over a gentle heat, then remove and spread over the traybake.

Put in the oven for 45 minutes. And voila! Delicious with a cup of English Breakfast tea.

M xo

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Spelt and Jam

After being spectacularly drenched this week on my cycle home from work, I have decided to stage a sit-in this weekend in protest at all this bloody rain we keep getting. I know, I know - it's great for the grass, so for gardening reasons I'm grateful. But that doesn't mean I need to be outside in it.

So, after a bit of proper work, I helped the boy out with his first loaf of Spelt bread. Last week while visiting my best friend Mari at her family's new home in Bath she made delicious bacon and egg sandwiches using a Spelt loaf from the local bakery and I was desperate for us to try it at home.

We're supporters of the real bread campaign and haven't bought a packaged loaf since December, with the River Cottage Bread book becoming one of R's most treasured tomes. I couldn't recommend this book enough if you're interested in becoming a regular bread baker, not only does it cover a wide variety of recipes but thoroughly explains the science behind being a good baker somehow making all the kneading better justified.

To accompany my sliced spelt, I decided to whip out the Rhubarb and Vanilla jam I made last week. One of the girls at my work had harvested her garden rhubarb and brought in a load so I decided to make my first ever jam! From the kilo of Rhubarb and a spare vanilla pod I had in the cupboard I managed to fill 5 jars which were duly delivered as gifts to various friends and family.

Rhubarb and Vanilla jam
** Whatever you do, don't scoop off the scum as directed in the recipe. Simply place a knob of butter in the finished jam before pouring into your sterilised jars and the stir. This means all the lovely vanilla won't disappear with the scum.

Oh and I almost forgot. Listening to this and wanted to share:

Thanks for reading,
Megan xo

Happy Mother's Day - banana brunch muffins

After calling my mum, to wish her a lovely mother's day and check she had received her presents (a pair of sheepskin slippers and jewellery starter kit), in honour of all mums out there I decided to make banana brunch muffins. These are great if you have a bunch of over-ripened bananas to use up and are delicious with a nice cup of English Breakfast tea.

(Adapted from the BBC Good Food Breakfast muffins)

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C and prepare your muffin tin, I made cases using greaseproof paper, but muffin cases will work fine. Sift 125g wholemeal flour, 125g plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder together and add 100g fairtrade dark muscovado sugar. Throw in a handful of currants and a couple of pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Next in a separate bowl pour in 100ml sunflower oil, 2 beaten free range eggs and 2 tablespoons of milk. Mash in 4 bananas and mix together until all the large pieces of banana have disappeared and you have a lumpy liquid.

Pour the dry ingredients into the liquid and use a large wooden spoon to bring both mixtures together. Mix until you have one lumpy mix, don't worry about it being smooth - over-mix and your muffins might be too heavy.

Put two large tablespoons of mix into each muffin case, then put in the oven for exactly 20 minutes. When ready, remove the muffins from the oven and leave them to set in the tin for a few minutes. Remove from the tin and place on a rack to cool down. To serve, we like to slice them in half and smooth on crunchy peanut butter. Enjoy!