Feeding the ducks - Day 14

The daily Joe Wicks' session had an added dose of cuteness when his little girl once again joined in the cool down:

My outfit of the day made use of my ex husband's old re-enactment padded jack and helmet:

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I decided to join in with the duck feeding by taking care of our own flock of ducks:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Cakes, Butterflies and Coming Last! #R2BC #BeMoreWitWitWoo

I am day late joining in with Michelle as we were out all day yesterday at Ambleside Sports! That will be a video and a blogpost so watch this space... Meanwhile here are this week's reasons:
1) Home Baking
Sometimes its the simplest things that make us happy. I love rustling up a simple batch of cupcakes using our tried and tested recipe. This time I used butter and they were so tasty they were gone in a day:

2) Butterflies

I am so pleased with my bee and butterfly friendly garden. Seeing these beautiful creatures flitting about is a delight to behold. There have been a few varieties too as I tracked for the Butterfly Count:

3) Guinea Pigs

As I am constantly putting the boys out on the grass I am enjoying spending more time with them. This time it was Splodge who posed beautifully:

4) Outdoor Theatre

I had a lovely evening just with my daughter at Williamson Park for the Duke's Theatre promenade production of The Three Musketeers. Plenty of laughs as well as sword fights with some stunning backdrops:

5) Being more Wit Wit Woo

I was blown away by the likes and comments when I joined with Swim Suit Saturday to celebrate the life of Kate Sutton:

In honour of Kate Sutton @witwitwoo who died this week at the age of 48 we are embracing her attitude and going out of our comfort zones! So a rare sight me in a swimsuit... #bemorewitwitwoo

A post shared by Becky Willoughby (@lakessinglemum) on Jul 21, 2018 at 1:45am PDT

I embraced this attitude by actually taking part in the mums' race yesterday. I knew I would be last but just went for it... and yes I was about a metre behind everyone else. My celebration was probably a prize winner though! And look I got this as an award for taking part:

Merry Christmas with Baileys Cheesecake Recipe

Before I sign off for Christmas here are a couple of festive things to share with my lovely readers! First up our Christmas parkrun at Fell Foot yesterday:

The photos can be seen here but here are a few of the best:

And as final festive gift here is how I made Bailey's Cheesecake:

Recipe Monday: Roasted Vegetable Soup

I know full well that I am not eating enough vegetables so I seized the chance today to remedy that as I had a colourful array of vegetables waiting to be eaten:

I chopped up some of each colour carrot, a few parsnips and the red onion and tossed them in olive oil with some of my flavoured salt:

Quick and Easy Cupcakes

Baking doesn't need to take ages or be complicated. In 30 minutes I rustled up a dozen cupcakes with a very simple recipe. All it needed was:

• 3 oz (85 grams) self raising flour
• 1 oz (29 grams)cocoa powder
• 4 oz (114 grams) caster sugar
• 4 oz (114 grams) margarine
• 2 eggs
• a large spoon of liquid coffee:

The flour and cocoa were sifted into the bowl then everything else was just chucked in:

Then they were whisked until creamy and they fall off the blades:

#HealthyRedMeat Burger and Ratatouille with @BritMums

Sponsored Post: This post is an entry for the BritMums #HealthyRedMeat, sponsored by the Meat Advisory Panel.

Brit Mums challenged a few of us to come up with some tasty recipes involving red meat. Many people are more wary of red meat and it has become less popular due to stories about its unhealthiness and environmental impacts. However there are still good reasons to include red meat in your diet. Red meat provides a range of important nutrients that are often low in toddlers and children – including iron, zinc, and B vitamins, selenium and potassium. Dr Emma Derbyshire, a public health nutritionist and mother, says: 

“Including a small portion of red meat in the diet a few times a week after weaning can help to bridge nutrient gaps and so help to maintain good health through childhood and beyond.”

As a family we have red meat once or twice a week and my son likes his food nice and simple! So when I was looking for something in the red meat section I chose this delicious looking burgers:

They came farm assured with the Red Tractor and the traffic lights were either green or amber. Of course this doesn't make for a recipe but I had been supplied with vegetables from my aunt's garden I set about doing the accompaniments.

Recipe: Hot Dogaghetti (Hot Dogs and Spaghetti)

Sometimes you see an idea on Pinterest and you think hmm I could do that. Sometimes it can go wrong (see here) but this time it went well so I thought I would show you my version. This is perfect for either lazy home cooking or for camping as you just need one saucepan to cook it in. So here are the instructions for Hot Dogaghetti:

1) Ingredients

Enough hot dogs and spaghetti for your diners (in this case my 10 year old on his own!):

2) Preparation

Put a big enough pan of water on to boil and then divide up the hot dogs to chunks and the spaghetti in half:

Careful insert 5 or 6 strands of spaghetti into each chunk of hot dog: 

Recipe: Cheats Jam Tarts

Here is my cheat's recipe for easy jam tarts! All you need is some Jus-Rol pastry (remember it needs 45 minutes out of the fridge):

and some jam:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C or gas mark 4 whilst you cut out the tarts:

Tasty Tuesday: Toad in the Hole

I posted a photo of Sunday's dinner on Facebook and it sparked a lively debate on the best ways to make toad in the hole. So I thought I would see what other folks think!

Being me I couldn't find the recipe I wanted to adapted the one I could find from a different book:

Ingredients

Batter

300 ml milk
2 eggs
4 1/2 serving spoons of plain flour (couldn't be bothered to weigh 4 1/2 ounces)

Toad

2 sausages per person
Oil for pan

Recipe Variations on a theme with Venison Meatballs and Pasta

Like many families with younger children not everyone likes exactly the same foods. Now I haven't got the time or money to cook everyone something completely different every night (and nor should I give in to food fads too much!). However there are some very simple adjustments I can make to the basic recipe to suit all 3 of our tastes. 

Tonight I managed this with venison meatballs and pasta (just don't tell my son it was deer!). Whilst the meatballs were baking in the oven (20 minutes at 180C) I cooked some tricolore fusilli (don't tell my son what the green flavour was!). It's a nice relaxed way of cooking as there was minimal intervention required...

Now for my son just those 2 ingredients with cheese grated on the top are his ideal. My daughter has picked up on having gravy with hers as this is what they serve at school, though I think its with mash not pasta. I have tried this combo and wasn't keen so I just made enough gravy for her. For myself I was wanting something a little bit healthier but not requiring loads of effort, so I put some passata and mixed herbs in a little pan to heat through. For all of us I also cooked some peas in the microwave so at least the children had some form of vegetable.

Each of us was very happy with our own variations on a theme:

How would you serve your meatballs and pasta?

Cheats Beef Pie

I am a bit of a lazy cook these days and often lack time to do things properly! This weekend I thought I would attempt something slightly more adventurous but still cutting corners: beef pie.

Ingredients

1. pack Schwartz slow cooker beef and ale stew mix
2. stewing steak
3. tin of chopped tomatoes
4. couple of carrots sliced
5. packet Jus Roll pastry
6. milk to glaze

Instructions for preparing stew

1. Brown off the meat in a pan
2. Mix the stew mix with water
3. Add stew mix and carrots to meat
4. Simmer for minimum 45 minutes (an hour would have been better!)

Getting the hang of Pinterest

Pinterest is one of those addictive social media sites that can inspire you and hopefully draw traffic to your site. I seem to have cracked this with a couple of styles of pin:

1) Something to do with Dr Who:

2) A recipe:

3) Mention Minecraft:

4) Cute animal photos:

Friday Recipe Swap: Variations on Cupcakes

Like many people I have a tried and tested cupcake recipe:

1. Heat oven to 190 C (fan 175 C)
2. Pop papercases into a 12 hole cake baking tray
3. Get a large mixing bowl
4. Sift in 4 oz of self raising flour
5. Add 4 oz caster sugar
6. Add 4 oz margarine or butter
7. Add 2 medium eggs
8. Add pinch bicarbonate of soda
9. Add few drops vanilla essence
10. Mix together until mix drops off a spoon
11. Share between the 12 cases
12. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven
13. Once cooled decorate if required

Sometimes I like to mix things up a bit and vary the recipe. First up chocolate chip I add 2 oz of chocolate chips to the mixture once it is blended:

The cakes are then just a little bit more interesting without too much effort:

My next variation was accidental but turned out delicious! Instead of vanilla essence I dissolved a teaspoon of coffee in boiling water and added to the cake mix:

This makes the cake mix a nice brown colour, you can adjust the amount of coffee powder to suit your taste:

It may have been an accident but it turned out great:

What I had meant to make were mocha cakes inspired by an Usborne children's cookery book! For this recipe you replace 1 oz of flour with 1 oz of cocoa and use the coffee mix instead of vanilla:

These come out a lovely dark brown and are very scrummy:

What are your favourite variations on a simple fairy cake?