Alphabakes Roundup April 2016 - T

    We didn’t have many entries for this month’s Alphabakes, but I’m certainly not complaining as wedding planning hasn’t left me much time! I have been baking a bit this month though as several people have had birthdays (myself included!). The letter we were using this month was T.   I took part in a chocolate truffle-making workshop with Farfetch a few weeks ago which was good fun (and the cocktails they made us were to die for),...

Read More

Sugar-Free Coconut Milk Pancakes

My last-ditch attempt to lose weight before my wedding involves cutting out as much sugar as possible. A friend who has done this, and seen great results, recommended a book called I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson.  Sarah cut sugar out of her diet and says she has seen improvements in her weight, energy, skin and so on, and has published a book that is part explanation, part cookbook. I liked the sound of these 'coconut fluff' coconut milk...

Read More

Review: Afternoon tea at Claridge's

   I was very lucky recently to be treated to afternoon tea at Claridge’s as a pre-wedding family get-together: along with the Ritz, perhaps the most quintessential London hotel afternoon tea. It was a surprise organised by my future mother-in-law: I knew we were going for afternoon tea, but not where. My parents were staying over the Easter weekend so my mum came while my fiancé entertained my dad; my sister came up by train for the...

Read More

Meal Planning Monday Week 18 2016

            Monday - day off as we have a meeting at our wedding venue (a few hours from home) Lunch: pub lunch near wedding venue Dinner: not sure what time we will be back and will depend what we had for lunch!   Tuesday Dinner: probably working late so will have to grab something on the way home   Wednesday Dinner: pasta with broccoli pesto for me (using spiralized vegetables instead of pasta) and...

Read More

Restaurant review: Peanut Butter Burger at Hache, Shoreditch

If someone offers you peanut butter on a burger…. Just say no. Peanut butter on its own I can take or leave. Peanut butter with chocolate is one of the best pairings since the two Ronnies (RIP Corbett). But peanut butter on a burger is just a bit wrong. Strong words indeed from someone who has put bacon on cupcakes, made pizza from sweet potato and stuck a can of ginger ale up a chicken’s nether regions (a dead one, of course). It was my fiance’s...

Read More

Bacon and Cheddar Scrolls

I've started doing my shopping in Sainsbury's a lot more - there's a large store only a few minutes' drive from my house, but as I'm still a relative novice when it comes to driving, I only go first thing or I struggle to get into the spaces in their car park! I recently picked up a copy of Sainsbury's magazine at the till and found lots of recipes inside that I wanted to make. As my fiancé loves bacon and would eat a bacon sandwich for lunch every...

Read More

Coconut Dacquoise with Chocolate Ganache Filling

I attempted to make my own mayonnaise recently and it was a disaster - I tried once before and both times I haven't been able to get the mixture to thicken. Does anyone have any advice? Since I'd used egg yolks for this recipe - three, as the recipe said two and it wouldn't thicken so I added another, which helped a little but not enough - I also had three egg whites to use up. I thought about making meringue but didn't want anything that...

Read More

Flower Stamped Birthday Card

I went a bit crazy with the rubber stamping on this card! I had a flower stamp that reminded me a bit of a geometric shape at the same time, and decided to stamp it all over a pink card to create a background. I used black ink, letting the pink of the card show through, and deliberately stamped in a fairly haphazard fashion. I had a pre-cut circle of pink card in my craft stash and stamped the flower again onto that, and secured the circle...

Read More

Restaurant Review: The Montagu at the Hyatt Regency London

Bakingaddict is really good at finding places for dinner that offer set menus for pretty reasonable prices, allowing us to eat in some very nice restaurants. I'm also really good at getting lost on the way (yes, despite a print out from Streetmap in my hand and Google Maps on my phone) so invariably keep her waiting! We recently ate at the Montagu at the Hyatt Regency. The Hyatt Regency is a 5-star hotel on Portman Square in London hosting...

Read More

Review: Keep Me Strong Cereal

Last year I reviewed a new cereal called Keep Me Going; the makers, Freedom Cereals, have now sent me their second product, Keep Me Strong. This is a far cry from the sugary cereals I used to like as a child and I think is more likely to be eaten by a health-conscious adult. This product is a high-protein, low fat multi-grain cereal which is also low in salt and has 'reduced' sugar (overall it's 10% sugar - many cereals contain three times...

Read More

Meal Planning Monday Week 17

Monday butternut squash quinoa risotto Tuesday Out at a work quiz Wednesday Out at a Waitrose event Thursday fish and vegetables for me, chicken and mashed potatoes for him Friday pasta with broccoli pesto for me (using spiralized vegetables instead of pasta) and pasta carbonara for him Saturday Lunch: quinoa cheese tartlets from this recipe Dinner: Slimming World buffalo chicken from this recipe with homemade potato wedges Sunday at my parents'...

Read More