We had alot of bananas in the house which were very ripe and also my mum gave me a batch of her bananas that was too ripe for her to eat! I must admit, that I am quite sick of bananas at the moment as probably for the past 3 weeks, I have made approx 5 x banana loaf cakes and a batch of banana cupcakes!!!
This is my favourite banana cake recipe and it is so simple, it is from BBC Good Food website – Brilliant banana loaf. You can not go wrong with this recipe, it works perfectly every time and the cake is very moist and will keep good for several days.
I have made some slight tweak to the recipe – 140g self raising flour, 1 x tsp baking power, 2 x eggs, 140g butter, 100g caster sugar, 2 x ripe bananas and 1 vanilla extract. I used to make the icing at the top and then add some chocolate sprinkles to make it look pretty! But, you can just have the cake without the icing as it is sweet enough already! Enjoy! 🙂
I was trying to find cous cous but i couldn’t see it in the shops, really strange as i have been trying to buy it for a couple of weeks. So, i saw this packet -tri colour quinoa. Never cooked it before but have seen it in restaurant menus etc. It has got many health benefits which i didn’t know about so I will definitely will be eating more of this! 🙂
Quinoa health benefits – sited from Holland & Barrett’s website Quinoa is a rich source of nutrients, including the following:
Calcium – a mineral essential for healthy bones, blood and muscle tissue Magnesium – vital mineral which helps turn the food we eat into energy Manganese – a trace mineral which helps make and activate enzymes in the body, which aid chemical reactions such as breaking down food Protein – essential for tissue and muscle growth and repair Fibre – helps keep you regular and essential for good digestive health Iron – a mineral important in making red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body
To me, it looks like lentils and i am not a great fan of it and thought it would be a long process to cook. I read the instructions from Cookie and Kate’s blog and it was like the method of cooking of couscous but simmering for longer – very simple to follow and she includes a video you can watch! I can’t wait to get her book as my husband is buying this for my birthday next week!
I, then looked at her recipes and decided to make her ‘favourite quinoa salad’ with cucumber, red pepper, red onion, chickpeas and fresh parsley with a garlicky olive oil and lemon dressing. My version didn’t have chickpeas as i didn’t have any and i only had a orange pepper and i brought some olives. Gosh, it was so delicious, really tasty and flavoursome! The best salad that i have ever made! I wasn’t sure how it was going to taste because i don’t remember eating quinoa or what it looks like!
Once cooked, I realised now what it is and have eaten it in a restaurant called Ottimmo Bao Bao in Uxbridge as they served quinoa salad with their baos. I will write this up later as my little one loves ‘bao bao’! I made this salad with pan fried salmon and then the next day, we just had it for it lunch and i added more olive oil to the salad. I think this will become my favourite salad as well! 🙂
COVID-19 lockdown began for us in mid March and pubs and restaurants were only allowed to open on the 4th July. Since then, we are able to order take aways that is if they are still opened for business! I think we have ordered Chinese food, pizza and Fish and Chips!
It was only in August, that we ordered our very 1st McDonald’s and when u haven’t had it for such a long time, our family quickly devoured it within 15 minutes including the boys!! Lol! 🙂
Our 1st sitting down meal was in Oxford Westgate shopping centre, in the Social Street Food area. It is like a food hall and we had a look at it before going in and the tables were spaced out and there was alot of room. It wasn’t busy so we managed to find a table away from other people. We had a mix matched of everything, me and Dee had mac and cheese, Gray had boiled rice and noodles and Dan had a taco bowl!
Also, we had our 1st fry up breakfast and Sunday Roast!! Gosh when u haven’t had it for such a long time, it taste so delicious for something so simple. It is always a different taste when eat them at a restaurant than when you cook yourself!
Now with our 2nd tier restrictions coming into force this weekend, I am going to enjoy my bday food celebrations whilst we still can!!!
I love buying snacks and biscuits, my hubby calls me a snack hoarder! My snack cupboard is so full as I love buying but not eating or nor do I let the boys go in there!! I do empty it out once in a while because I forget what I have brought!
I found some chocolate digestives that was close to expiring and the boys didn’t want to eat them so I looked online to see what I can make. I found a recipe that uses the chocolate digestive biscuits in the brownies from Food Magazine – Alia Faisal. Normally, when I make brownies, I add white chocolate drops so I thought it would be interesting to add the biscuits in the mixture.
The brownies was delicious as it had a crunchy texture but also very chocolately!
Ingredients:
Unsalted butter – 175g
Dark chocolate – 100g
Milk chocolate – 100g
Chocolate digestive biscuits – 150g, crushed
Plain flour – 130g
Caster sugar – 300g – I only added 150g because i think the chocolate is sweet enough!
Large free range eggs x 3
Method:
Preheat the oven to 150°c/gas 2 and prepare a standard 23×33 cm brownie tray.
In a heat proof bowl, melt the butter and chocolate over a pan of simmering water making sure that the base of the bowl is not touching the water.
Once the chocolate and butter have completely melted and slightly cool add the flour and sugar and mix well. Now add the eggs and beat till it forms a smooth mixture.
Add crushed digestive biscuits and give it a quick mix by hand before pouring it into the baking tray. Bake for 35 minutes for the perfect brownie that has a nice crust but squidgy and moist from the inside.
Aunty G's Kitchen 