Vegetarian Lasagna

Yes, today's post is a savory bake, my first savory bake. I've always felt more comfortable following a recipe when cooking, for many reasons such as fear of things not turning out right after spending time preparing/cooking and fear of wasting food because it hasn't turned right.However, I thought it was about time I attempted to make something of my own. So I took a deep breath and went for it.   

I love pasta so thought it was a good place to start. I have attempted making vegetarian lasagna before with quorn mince and it didn't turn out right with under-cooked lasagna sheets and burnt quorn. The recipe below is made up so you can adapt it to what you like.

Ingredients: 

10 -12 Lasagna sheets  I used Morrison's own brand

About 250g or 1 punnet of mushrooms

2 Courgettes

One halloumi cheese 

2 bell peppers I used red and orange

1 packed of grated mature cheddar cheese 

1 jar of tomato lasagna sauce

1 jar of white lasagna sauce 

2 tablespoons of garlic oil (or oil of your choice)

1 tablespoon of mixed dry herbs

Spinach (optional) 

Method:   

If you want to, peel your mushrooms, you can wash them however I find that the mushrooms soak up the water and they lose their flavour.  Once ready slice and place in a bowl for now. 

Slice your peppers and chop the slices in half, again put to one side.

Preheat the oven to 150* 

While the oven is preheating wash your courgettes and slice with a potato peeler. I used a Y shaped peeler. Place on a baking tray add pepper if you desire and place in the oven for 5 minuets.

Heat a pan with a table spoon of oil (I used garlic) and cook the mushrooms on a high heat for 2-3 minuets then turn the heat down add your dry mixed herbs and cook until tender. Place in a bowl and add another tablespoon of oil to the same pan and add in your peppers.Cook on a low heat until tender.

Once everything is ready you can boil the kettle and fill a pan with the water, once boiling place the lasagna sheets in the water. TIP I would out a bit of oil in the pan otherwise they will stick together! They should take 5-7 minuets.

You can use the lasagna sheets as they are but I boiled them as I wanted to make sure they would be cooked through. 

While the sheets are cooking preheat the oven to 200* once the sheets are softened (but not cooked all the way) drain the water out and start assembling your lasagna. 

You can do this in any order really but here's what I did:

Spread some tomato sauce on the bottom of a dish then place 2-3 sheets of lasagna on the bottom and push down on them a bit.

Spread some white sauce over that layer and add the sliced courgettes.

Tomato sauce.

Lasagna sheets.

White sauce.

Halloumi cheese.

Tomato sauce.

Lasagna sheets.

White sauce.

Mushrooms.

Tomato sauce.

Lasagna sheets.

White sauce.

Peppers.

Tomato sauce.

Lasagna sheets.

Spinach.

Grated cheese.

Black pepper.

Place int he oven for 20 minuets or until the cheese is bubbling. 

Eat and enjoy :)

 This was a labor of love but I was very happy with the results. I served with a spinach salad. I would say this would serve 6 people. I didn't ass salt as the halloumi is a bit salty but it's up to you. You can change what's in it to your own taste. I did this as a lot of vegetarian lasagna recipes use obergine which I'm not a fan of. You could also freeze this meal. Next time I will make my own sauces to go with it :) 

Why not have a go?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Creme egg brownies

I realise this is a late post, but hey better late than never! 
I have wanted to make these brownies for a while and Easter weekend came round so I gave it a go. 
The recipe I used was from The Broke Boy  I'd recommend checking out his blog or follow him on Twitter.

Now lets begin:

Ingredients:

185g unsalted butter 
185g best dark chocolate 
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder 
3 large eggs 
275g golden caster sugar 
6 Cadbury’s Crème eggs cut in half.

Method:

As always I measure out all my ingredients before I begin.

Pre-heat the oven to 160. The first step is to melt your chocolate, I used Morrison's M Signature 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate 100g  as it was on offer at £1 each. I got two of these which was enough for the recipe and a little bit to snack on. As long as the dark chocolate is &)% cocoa or more it should work.

I have shown you in previous posts the two ways to melt chocolate, I used the hot water in a pan and a bowl placed over method for this one. 

Place a heat proof bowl over a pan with boiling water, add the chocolate and the butter stir now and again until it's all melted. 

Place the sugar and eggs into a bowl. I took Broken Boy's advice to mix it a bit with a spoon before using the eclectic mixer. Mix until the mixer doubles in size (about 5 mins).

Fold the chocolate/butter mix into the egg and sugar mix.

 Add the dry ingredients and fold in.

Now these is were I think it all went wrong. I sadly don't own a brownie tin so instead I used a casserole dish and lined it with parchment paper.

Pop in the oven for 15 mins before tanking out and adding your half cut cream eggs. I managed to fit 9 halves on mine so I got to eat one, it wasn't planned that way honest ;)

This was the result and one of many puddings I had over Easter weekend.

My boy's Mum made home made apple pie (yum) and my favorite, lemon cake. 

I cut the brownies into individual pieces ready for our triple pudding feast.

There were very gooey in the middle, too gooey and I even tried putting them back int he oven for a while. The conclusion I came to was that I need to try these in a real brownie tin or  needed to mix the eggs and sugar for a bit longer. However, everyone still ate them even if they didn't turn out the way I planned. I will be trying out some brownies recipes again. 

Why not have a try and see how yours turn out.

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Victoria Sponge

You may have read my previous post A very Mary Berry afternoon were Laura Taylor and I made some lovely finger sandwiches. This post is the last installment from the day, so I thought I'd end with how to make a Victoria Sponge.
First of all a word for the lovely Laura Taylor:

"Spending an afternoon with Ms B baking a classic was fabulous. I have always wanted to bake a a double layer cake and never seen how, so where better to start other than a Victoria sponge. Ms B was full of tips and simple advice that anyone can understand and can take on in their own kitchens, even down to cracking that egg! Thank you for sharing your baking tips with me. Please come again."

I chose the recipe from Baking - 100 everyday recipes I got given this book as a present and I am ashamed to admit that this is the first time I've used it. After coming across this little simple book again I have promised myself to try out more recipes from it.

Ingredients:

175 g/6oz butter
175g/6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
175g/6oz self-raising flour
Pinch of salt 
Jam, double cream and icing sugar to serve

Method:

As all ways I measure out all the ingredients first and pre-heated the oven to 180 Making sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature. This was made much more fun with my baking companion.Laura was amazed at my measuring skills when I plonked the butter in the bowl then randomly cut off a bit and it came to the exact weight we wanted. 'Amazing!' Laura said, 'Pot luck' I replied. 

Fist we mixed the sugar and butter together with a spoon until light and fluffy.  We beat the eggs in a mug and even added a little vanilla extract. Laura was concerned about not getting this right but  told her that's why we were doing it in a mug first and if some shell does sneak in there you can get it out easily with the shell.

We then added in the flour and eggs bit by bit until all incorporated. 

We used an 8" sandwich tins and lined them with parchment paper and stuck them to the pan with butter. Laura liked using these tins as it saved the task of cutting the layers evenly. 

We tried our best to evenly distribute the mix between the tins and then we continued to shake the tins until the mix reached all the edges and looked even. You can use a spatula to do this but it isn't as fun :)

Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Once ready we took it out the oven to cool then started on our sandwiches.

It doesn't state in this recipe to add cream but we really wanted it :)

We used a small tube of double cream and used an electric hand mixer to thicken it up. Laura laughed when I told her that before I owned a hand mixer I used to use a blender to to this, it really works! 

Spread your thick cream over one half of the cake (you will have some cream left over).

    

The recipe states to use raspberry jam but we used a strawberry one so I guess it just depends one what you like.

We spread the jam o the second half before realizing it was much easier to blob jam over the cream and spread with a back of a spoon. 

Laura dusted the top of the cake with icing sugar to give the cake it's signature look.

Then we added our own touch :) 

Ta da! Laura's and mine first ever Victoria sponge.

It was a really fun day and a perfect way to catch up with a friend.

Why not have a go with your friends?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Finger sandwiches

You may have read my previous post 'A very Mary Berry afternoon' where my friend Laura and I made a Victoria Sponge and these lovely little sandwiches.

Finger sandwiches are brilliant for picnics, children's parties and of course afternoon tea.

We decided on brown bread as we are both trying to be a bit healthier in our food choices but white bread works too.  

As there were only two of us we choice two fillings, roasted sweet peppers with cream cheese and classic egg mayo.

Roast sweet peppers with cream cheese.

We had three to start but only used two in the end. 

• Preheat your oven to 200C. 
• Cut your peppers open so you can remove the seeds. 
• Leave whole and place on a baking tray.
• Once your oven is ready pop your peppers in for 10 minuets or until the skin blisters.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool. We put them in a bowl with cling film over while we measured out our ingredients for the cake.
• Once cool chop your peppers to your preference. We decided on dicing ours. 
• Spread a cream cheese of choice on your bread and spread your yummy pepper pieces on.

Egg Mayonnaise 

We used 3 medium eggs which was more than enough.

• Boil your eggs (free range if you can). Laura and I spoke about boiling the water in the kettle then bringing it to the boil or boiling on the hob. Different people have different preferences but as long as your water is boiling and your eggs are in for 5 minuets they should be hard boiled.
• Once you feel your eggs are hard boiled pour the boiling water out of the pan and fill with cold water to cool the eggs. I wouldn't advice holding the egg under cold running water as your fingers will get burnt wont they Laura ;)
• Once cooled peel your eggs. We had a bit of fun with this, cracking them or rolling them to see which worked best. It really depends on how messy you want to be or what works best for you. One thing we both did was break them on kitchen roll so you can just pick it up and throw it away. 

• Mash your eggs. We put them in a jug and used a fork to do this.
• Squirt a bit of mayonnaise over and mix.

• Spread on your bread, cut into 'fingers' and your ready :)

What filling would you go for?

Next time:

• We left the crusts on as we felt it was a waste however if you know you can use bread crumbs for something I would cut them off. 
• You could slice the egg and have the mayonnaise spread on the bread.
• You could add a bit of paprika in to the eggs
• You could add cress to the eggs.
• You could add salad to both.

Happy making,

Ms B

xx

A very Mary Berry afternoon

What's more fun than baking? Baking with a friend of course. This is exactly what I did this Saturday with my friend the lovely Laura Taylor.

Laura and I met at Glyndwr University back in 2008 (wow has it been that long already??) Laura studied media and media communications and I studied media and writing. We were in a few classes together and it's safe to say we hit it off straight away.

The last time we saw one another was about a year ago and things have rapidly changed for the good. We are both now in a jobs that relate to our degrees, Laura has moved in with her fiance and I'm moving in with my boy in the summer, so what better way to celebrate than to bake!

We both love Mary Berry so decided to dedicate the afternoon to her. Laura said she is new to baking and had some disasters along the way, (haven't we all?) "Lets start with something simple and easy" she said so we decided to make a Victoria Sponge and finger sandwiches.

For the fillings we decided on roasted sweet red peppers with cream cheese and the classic, egg mayo.

 Our Victoria Sponge -  A first for both of us :)

It's all in the tasting.

 As you can see Laura is a little bit more elegant than I am! 

It was a fun afternoon, filled with giggles and lovely home made food. Laura said she baked some mini scones the other week which were amazing so next time it's her turn to teach me a trick or two ;)

I will be posting how we made our lovely creations in the next post so you can have a go too. In the mean time have a think about your favorite classic cakes, I'd love to know your thoughts :)

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Viennese Biscuits

After spotting these in 'Something Sweet' magazine (issue 9) I just had to have a go. It's brilliant if you want to practice your piping.
I don't all ways buy this magazine however, this issue came with a free heart cutter which I just couldn't leave behind.
I'm not really biscuit person, I love cake and I once had an unhealthy obsession with cookies but this didn't stop me from having a go at something new.

Ingredients

225g butter (at room temperature)
50g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g cornflour
225g plain flour
100g dark chocolate

Method 

As all ways I measure out all my ingredients before I begin 

• Preheat your oven to 180 
• Mix together the butter and icing sugar with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla extract and mix.

• Sift the cornflour and plain flour into the bowl and mix until all incorporated and the mix becomes thick.
• Insert a french star nozzle into your piping bag, you can pick these up from the shop (some are cheaper than others) and it doesn't make a difference if it's metal or plastic.

• Fill a large piping bag with the mix (or a freezer bag with the corner cut off). You can place the piping bag in a jug to help.

•  Twist the top of the bag and hold it between your thumb and index finger. Squeeze until some of the mixture comes out.

  

• Pipe a zigzag of the mixture about 4X 8cm for each biscuit onto baking sheets, leave a space in between as they will spread a little. I don't own  a baking tray (yet) so I turned over a roasting tin and used that instead.

As you can see the first ones I did were rubbish, then it got slowly better.

• Bake for about 15 min until very pale golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Mine only took about 10 mins, this might have been because my oven has a fan.

•  The recipe shows you how to temper chocolate but as I don't own a chocolate thermometer I just melted it. I also had about 80% to 20% ratio of dark chocolate to milk chocolate but it seemed to work okay. I have talked about melting chocolate in my perverse post. 
• Once the biscuits are cool dip each tip of biscuit in.

 Be careful these little guys are delicate. 

• Place back on the parchment paper until ready. These can last for a week if kept in an air tight container.

It may sound odd but personal didn't like them. As I said int he beginning I am not really a biscuit person however, my work colleague and the boy loved them. 

'Light and crumbly just the way they should be' 

One thing I did like about these was I got to practice my piping, how much pressure is needed and at what speed I can go at with out worrying about my hand temperature making the mix stiff and unpipe-able.

So, if you are a biscuit person why not give it a go? Or let me know if you have found a recipe from 'Something Sweet' you like and have tried.

Happy baking

Ms B

xx

Decorating for a chocolate addict

We all know one and some of us are one. What a better way to feed someone's or your chocolate addiction then by making a treble chocolate cake.

In my previous posts I have shown you how to make a basic chocolate sponge  and the basic chocolate butter icing. 

Now for the decoration.

I have made this cake two different ways. The first one I made was for my boyfriend's Dad, a self confessed chocolate addict and someone who shares their birthday with Jesus Christ...and his name is Chris. As some people don't like to share their birthday I all ways make a fuss of Chris before exchanging presents with anyone else in the family. I tried to pack as much chocolate in this cake as possible I also made two layers of sponge, this was the result:

I have lots of ribbons and this one looked best on this cake. It was easy to do as you just had to press the chocolate to the butter icing for a while but I would recommend doing this as soon as you have applied the butter icing.

I have seen this type of cake going around the internet but what I like most about it is that you can change it to who you are giving it to.

Take Two

My brother in-law is also a chocolate addict and when he saw the cake above I believe he fell in love (just a little bit). He was also mortified that he couldn't have any but then promised him I would make one like it for his birthday.

I made this cake with only one sponge but it was a thick piece. I knew the amount of people eating it would be smaller so this didn't matter.

Here are a few photos of how I did it*:

As you can see I used different chocolates which shows that this cake can be versatile. He was also very pleased with the cake, if not with the number on the candles. What would you have on yours?

Happy Baking

Ms B 

xx

*apologies for the poor photo quality, I really need to start using my camera and not my phone.