{mally powell}

Practically health food: cheaty cheesecakes

I made these last night, expecting them to turn out like little baked custards. The taste and texture is actually closer to a baked cheesecake which, once my tastebuds adjusted to the idea, is a very good thing. They are very easy and virtually 'guilt free', but they taste like a proper pudding. H'rah!

To make around 10 small cheesecakes:

350g vanilla yogurt (I used one of the newish £1 mid-size pots of fat free yeo valley organic)
Pinch of vanilla powder or teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional - I'm a big vanilla fan)
4 eggs, beaten.

Mix all ingredients together and divide between silicone fairy (cup-) cake cases arranged in a roasting pan. I put them in a cake tin first then made a Bain Marie by filling the roasting tin with boiling water to about half way up the cake tin, but now I realise they aren't custard-ey I'm pretty sure this isn't necessary.

Bake in a medium oven (190/350 degrees) for around 30 minutes until just set.

Cool in the cases or refrigerate over night.

Enjoy with fruit of your choice.

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100 days healthier

Planning a no fuss feast

I am currently wrestling with a bit of a quandry. Next weekend we have a house full of guests and a family celebration on Sunday for which I want to cook something suitably celebratory - it's Mothers Day here in the UK and Ginger has a Big Birthday following (very) close behind.

But... we have a house full of family all weekend, so I don't want to be doing anything that demands too much time or attention. The more I can do up front or throw together quickly at the last minute, the better.

So: what to cook? Easy, low faff, high impact. And preparable well (as in DAYS) in advance.

I'm thinking roasted marinated meat - chicken? lamb? both? - with lots of dressed green leaves and a huge platter of jewelled couscous so people can dip in and share.

Some good bread. Some unctuous dips...

For pudding maybe big blousy meringues with whipped cream or (as we all seem to be trying to loose a few pounds ahead of various family weddings) more likely greek yogurt with vanilla paste stirred through and a big bowl of decadent out-of-season berries.

And cake. Obviously. Which is another question in itself. I'm itching to try a Pinata cake, but low faff? Easy and effective they may be, but low faff they aint!
The Blueberry and almond cake (pictured) I made last year was pretty simple and popular (not to mention yummy). A classic sponge is always pleasing, but best made on the day... or apple cake. Which I've been itching to make all winter and which has the enormous benefit of actually improving for a few days 'sitting'. So maybe apple cake, stacked, with lightly spiced cinnamon-vanilla butter icing and some sparkly golden cake dust (oh yes, I know all the technical terms) to make it look a bit more special...

t-22

Ah.

You see what happened there? Not the plan at all! In fairness, though, after some hard core festive feasting (and even more hard core post-festive 'eating up' of the leftover treats) it could be a lot, lot worse.

So. No more cheese binges, no more almond slices (so unprepossessing in the packet, so very moist and delicious in the mouth), all gone Christmas cake (I tried Dan Lepard's caramel one this year and it was delicious, but boy did it last!). I also tried Nigel Slater's stollen recipe (ticking one of my 101 things, yeay!) which was delicious but I didn't compensate for my turbo oven so they were a bit dry... enter Stollen bread and butter pudding: yum!

This afternoon I have my first session with the lovely Kate who is going to size me up and give me a programme to trim me down. Then I just need to make the time to work out three or four times a week...

wish list: sexy storage

This ticks just about every box for me: hand made from sustainable materials in the UK? (tick) Slightly scandi feel? (tick) Funky retro styling whereby I could pretend to be in an old-style grocery store (a la our local, rarely resistible, Jones Dairy)? (tick) Lush north-european colours? (tick) Kitchen storage to give my baking gubbins, under contant threat of eviction from precious cupboard space, a happy home? (tick)...

Now if only I had a few hundred pounds to spare right now. Pesky Project Nifty Thrifty!

I'll just have to keep playing Dorset Cereals Spin the bottle game this week and hope extra hard that I get (very, very) lucky!

Image copyright Ellas Kitchen Company

 

comfort food

I know I said I need to loose a stone by Christmas. I know. I do. Partly because I know how much better I feel when I'm 14 (or so) pounds lighter but mainly because I apparently have high cholesterol and loosing a chunk of weight is the best way to start to get it down.

But its been One Of Those Weeks: cold damp winter weather is setting in, titch is teething and full of cold, I'm full of cold, the lack of a good nights sleep for upwards of a year is starting to catch up with me and all these things have added up to a less than productive work week, meanwhile the to-do list around the house grows ever longer... you get the idea. We all have them.

And do you know what makes One Of Those Weeks better (magical cures, bumper sleeps, miraculous hour-generators, home-helps etc aside)? Cheese and Marmite scones. That's what.

Yum.

salad days

 
This was the first harvest of the summer, all the way back in June. Those first shoots of fresh green salad from a few little grow bags on our shared terrace made me so happy! Now the last few golden cherry tomatoes are waiting to be harvested. I'm finding myself reluctant to pick them and admit that the summer - our first with Titch - is almost over. The weather seems similarly reluctant, treating us to the most glorious autumn sunshine this weekend.

Which reminds me, I really need to plant some winter salad leaves...

genius

I'm sure I'm very late to the party (as usual) but I've just been catching up on my post-holiday blogrolls and come across Not Martha's post on the genius twist on book clubs - a cook book club. From what I gather a group of pals cook a selection of recipes from the book then meet up to compare notes and share the feast - perfect!

If only my girlfriends lived a little closer and were a little less insanely busy, though maybe we could do a very intermittent version of seasonal feasts once a quarter... I'll see what they think and keep you posted!