Baked Goods

I did some baking for my brother again last week following his request for Oatmeal & Raisin cookies 

Whilst I was in the kitchen I also made Marbled Brownies from Gizzi's Kitchen Magic

I sometimes find brownies too dry but these were moist and delicious

I will be using them later this week in an ice cream recipe too

What have you been baking lately?

The Weekends Finds!

I made some great finds at the weekend, the first being these beautiful blue handled knives

I have one or two sets with the cream handles but finding these in such a gorgeous colour made my day!

Fur is probably the last thing anyone is thinking about at the moment but when I spotted this cream fur coat I couldn't resist! It looked fabulous I just wish I could wear it now without fear of fainting!

And the sparkly bag was discovered in a charity shop open when popping to Morrisons on Sunday!

The bag I can use right away!

What a Bargain

Wasn't I pleased I popped into Tesco this evening to pick up some diet coke!

Book Review | Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor

This week I am reading Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor 

Synopsis

From the prestigious dormitories of Westfield to the irresistible socialite scene of present-day London: everywhere Allegra McCorquodale goes, scandal follows her. And in Allegra's shadow are her closest friends since school, the Midnight Girls. Romily de Lisle: super rich, brilliant and bored. She's as blessed as Allegra when it comes to looks, but she's a force to be reckoned with. And Imogen Heath: pretty, timid and hopelessly drawn to Allegra's reckless charm. She longs to be a part of the glitzy high-society world where her friends move with such ease. Once free of the cloistered worlds of school and university, the Midnight Girls face new and different challenges, but they are for ever bonded by a terrible secret they've sworn never to break. Bitter rivalries arise as their professional lives soon cross paths. Greed, tragedy and sinister passions threaten their allegiance and each of them stand to lose what they love most...

I really enjoyed Lulu Taylors first book Heiresses and so far Midnight Girls doesn't disappoint. I enjoy books that have two different story lines running that are building up to meet.

As for last weeks read, Tease was great. Yes ok you guess a few things along the way... ok it might have been somewhat predictable but I liked it!

My Weekend

Hello everyone have you had a good weekend? 

Mine has been filled with friends, family and food!

Friday evening whilst the football game which we won't discuss was on I cooked Southern Fried Chicken for the first time. I was pleased with the results although it was a lot of effort for a meal for myselfSaturday it was off to every Essex girls favourite shopping centre for every girls favourite escapade - shoe shopping! As you know Kelly has announced the exciting news that she will be getting married next month and I'm pleased to say I will be her bridesmaid along with James' sister Samantha who I met yesterday. Samantha had the eagle eyes to spot a fabulous pair of shoes for us to wear and then we had great fun trying on fascinators before deciding on the right ones

Of course I can't possibly show you what we chose but the good news is you only have a couple of weeks to wait. After an exhausting day's shopping it was back to Kelly's where James cooked us dinner and I made ridiculous suggestions for their little bundle from their baby names book

I took along a dessert I'd made; White Chocolate & Honeycomb cheesecake

(from Gizzi's Kitchen Magic, as was the chicken)

Today was our towns local show and I was pleased to see the addition of a fresh bread stall

Brody loved the birds

(here you go Rob a photo of one of you on my blog this week!)

I came home and laid out my bread and cheese goodies from the show and some other treats and have happily grazed  all day

Now it's time to have a tidy up and get ready for another week of work ahead but before I go of course I have to wish my dad "Happy Father's Day"

Soup Kitchen

I picked up a copy of Gizzi’s Kitchen Magic from the library at the weekend which was well timed for my brace to be tightened as amongst the many recipes I planned to try a couple would suit the delicate nature of my teeth the days after

Over the years I’ve never been much of a soup fan but getting older my tastes are changing and I’m becoming more daring – and of course there is the added bonus of soups being low in WW points!

Mexican Chicken soup sounded as good a place to start as any and I wasn’t disappointed

Easy to make, filling and most importantly tasty!

The whole recipe was 9 points although admittedly 5 of those came from tortillas fried in olive oil. Delicious non-traditional croutons they were but next time 1 not 2 tortillas would be sufficient fried by healthier methods. Alternatively a packet of WW tortilla chips would do the job just as well

Whilst on a roll last night I made Chinese Chicken & Mushroom Soup for a friend and I

I wasn't too keen on this one although my friend said they enjoyed it (and I hope they weren't just being polite!). The soup itself was a low 5 points and instead of the prawn toasts suggested I served with vegetable spring rolls and some prawn crackers which bumped the points up a little

I enjoyed my first dabble in soup making and would love to hear your favourite soup recipes

1 Girl 1 Chicken

I couldn't stop thinking about roast chicken after watching Barefoot Contessa cooking the "Perfect Chicken" on her tv show so I dug out my cookbook and visited the supermarket with a list of ingredients to make my own. And it did indeed turn out perfectly!

 

The carrots sitting on the bottom were the best I've tasted! After eating the chicken breasts over 2 nights I didn't want to waste the legs so it was time to try a Weight Watcher recipe; Sticky Honey and Soy Chicken (adds approx 1 point to chicken)

 

Despite hating the smell when making chicken stock I was brave and determined to use all the chicken I could and a stock was made and is now freezing in ice cube racks to used on some soups this week

What do you do with your leftover chicken?

 

Nigella Lawson Breakfast Bars

One of the things I was looking forward to doing when I moved out of home was finally cooking my way through my extensive collection of cookbooks deciding to start with Nigella Express

I start most days with a Kelloggs Special K bar so I thought I'd give Nigella's Breakfast Bars at try. Once armed with my ingredients I sat with my Weight Watchers calculator and was horrified that the recipe amounted to a whooping 81 points with each bar containing 5 points - compared to the 1.5 points in a Special K barSo what is a weight watching girl to do?

She makes them as a treat for her brother of course!

He was extremely happy (but still requested his favourite Oatmeal & Raisin cookies next time!) 

Book Review | Tease by Immodesty Blaize

I get through a lot of books during my commute to work so each week I thought I'd share with you what I'm reading, this week is Tease by Immodesty Blaize

Synopsis

Tiger Starr has risen from nothing to become burlesque’s most sensational showgirl…

She’s bewitched an adoring public and media with her old school Hollywood glamour, hourglass curves and wickedly, sexy stage shows.

Tiger’s life is a whirlwind of glamour, diamonds, celebrity parties and more than her fair share of suitors. She seems to finally have it all. But though she may have the talents to bring any man – or woman – to their knees, Tiger never lets her friends or lovers get too close. Only now, she’s finally ready to take a chance on love...

But beneath all the glitz and the feathers, she’s hiding more than her modesty. As she prepares for the most important show of her life, it seems somebody is intent on exposing the dark secrets of her carefully guarded past.

Unfortunately, there’s more than one likely candidate. Is it one of Tiger’s discarded lovers? A rival showgirl? Or even her jealous sister? As her world starts to unravel, Tiger will have to fight for survival, by delivering the performance of her life…

Typical chick-lit which is just the escapism I love on my journey to and from work based in the Burlesque world my current subject of interest!

My Weekend

Visiting my brother and his family for the weekend now accompanies the additional bonus of visiting the local vintage shop where I brought two lovely pictures last month

I think it's safe to say every visit to this shop will cause a dent in my bank balance as I could quite happily buy anything on offer. This weekends purchases were a gorgeous pink chair and another picture

Then like many other Brits we brought a supply of burgers and sausages for a BBQ before THE football match

A disappointing result maybe but looking on the bright side like many of the tabloids we did draw our first game in 1966 so fingers crossed it's a good sign!

I hope you all had fabulous weekends too

Good Enough to Eat Swap

One of the swaps I signed up for recently was the Good Enough to Eat swap hosted by the lovely Em and Claire. My partner was Liz at Rose & Bird. My swap goodies were even wrapped in Good Enough to Eat jelly bean paper

Wasn't I lucky! You can see what I sent Liz here (I can't take credit for the cupcake Liz received, this was donated by Kelly!)

Smelling Good

When I saw that Yankee Doodle was offering 3 large Yankee Candle jars for £40 I couldn't resist - especially when it included USA exclusives

Somehow a 4th candle also jumped in my basket, here's what I brought

They smell GORGEOUS


Are you a Yankee Candle fan?

Lotto Fun

I don't often buy lottery tickets - which is madness really as a psychic once told me I would win the lottery! - but whilst picking up a magazine this afternoon I treated myself to lucky dips for the Friday and Saturday draws

So let's have a little fun this weekend and pretend that my magic numbers have come up and being the generous soul that I am will be buying you a gift with my winnings....

What would you ask for?