Food challenge - Peanut Butter Popcorn

This is actually take two for this post as the first one I type yesterday got deleted approximately 30 seconds before posting *angry face*

This all came about when a friend said to me one day “Do you think there's such a thing as peanut butter popcorn?” she is a person who absolutely loves peanut butter and will have it on everything so she said (I think she was actually joking)  “You could make some for your food blog!”

….Challenge accepted!

So for days I was wondering how was I going to get the peanut butter to coat the popcorn without it being thick and lumpy? I searched the Internet for a good couple of hours to see if I could find some sort of peanut butter sauce and I did.

This took about 3 attempts to make with some tweaking along the way, It tastes so good i'm wondering why I've never done this before and its and easy to do. so here it is!

Ingredients

¼ cup popcorn kernels

Vegetable oil

Fine salt

½ cup honey

½ cup sugar

½ cup peanut butter (free from added sugar)

½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions

• Heat a large pan over medium heat and film the bottom with vegetable oil. Add the popcorn, then put a lid on the pan. Leave a small crack for the steam to escape. When the popcorn starts popping, shake vigorously to make sure the kennels pop evenly. When the popping slows, take pan off the heat.

• Pour the popcorn into a bowl to cool, be careful not to let the unpopped kernels fall in. lightly salt the popcorn to taste.

• Mix the honey and sugar and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and add the peanut butter. Stir vigorously until all the peanut butter is melted, then mix in the vanilla.

• Immediately pour the peanut butter caramel over the popcorn and stir well until completely coated. Transfer to baking try and spread evenly, carefully using your hands break apart the popcorn. This way they are individual. Let stand for 5 minutes and its done!

banana loaf

Cynan is back in childminders after a few weeks off. The house is very quiet and as i'm sat on the sofa wondering whether to clean or watch the newly released 5th season of Dexter I decide to watch an episode clean for 20 minutes and then watch another episode and so on. that way I have best of both, I feed my Dexter craving and get my house back to normal!


During my 20 mins of cleaning I realise its that time of the week where the fridge and cupboard are getting very empty. I glanced over to the fruit bowl and see a couple of bananas looking sorry for themselves, now I only like bananas when they are green and Cynan wont eat them if they are over ripe. So, what did I do? I made a banana loaf which Cynan and I love!


We make this all the time when we have left over bananas and it is so easy to make!

Ingredients -


2 cups self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
90g butter
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg 
2 large or 3 small ripe bananas, mashed


Directions -


• Preheat oven to 180c/375f/gas 5


• Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl, stir in the sugar.


• Rub butter into flour with fingertips until well combined.


• Dissolve bicarbonate of soda in milk and add to the flour mixture with lightly beaten egg and mashed bananas.


• Stir until thoroughly blended and spread in a loaf tin lined with baking paper (Tip! - Measure out how much baking paper you need, run under cold water and scrunch up squeezing out the excess water. This makes it easier to shape into the tin.... thank you Jamie Oliver!)


• Place on middle shelf of oven for 50 - 60 minutes until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.


• Turn onto a wire rack to cool. Serve sliced with butter.

Marshmallow and Reese's brownies

Right so I wanted to make some brownies but was bored of the ones I normally make.


Lately I've been having cravings for peanut butter and chocolate so I thought I would add that into my usual brownie recipe! 


My normal brownie recipe is found here - http://kazatreats.blogspot.com/2011/09/unbeatable-chocolate-browniesdouble.html


Don't add the icing or chocolate pieces....... unless you really want to! :)


Extra ingredients


6 Reese's chocolate and peanut butter cups (these are american and the only place I have found them in the UK is in tesco, they come in packs of 3) chopped. 
1 bag of mini marshmallows.


Directions


• Follow the brownie recipe (found on the link above) until you get to pouring it into the square baking tin. 


• Pore a thin layer of the brownie mixture into the tin, making sure it covers all corners. Add a layer of marshmallows.

• Pour the rest of the mixture over the top of the marshmallows making sure they are all covered. Put in the oven for about 25 minute then take out and add the chopped Reese's to the top. By this point the marshmallows will have melted and will be all gooey.

• Place back in the oven for about 5 minutes, when taken out insert a tooth pick 2 inches from the outside. If its gooey place back in the oven for a few more minutes repeating with the tooth pick until it comes out almost clear.

• Remember to not over cook as it will firm up as it cools. Wait until completely cool before cutting.

unbeatable chocolate brownies/double chocolate/ fudge icing

A simple and effective brownie recipe for everyone to have a look at! 

ingredients

185g/(6 1/2oz) unsalted butter

185g (6 1/2oz) good quality dark chocolate, broken into squares

3 large eggs

276g (9oz) golden caster sugar

40g (1 1/4oz) cocoa powder

85g (3oz) plain flour

directions

• Pre heat oven to 180c/350f/gas 4

• Line a 20cm (8in) square baking tin. (Tip- When using baking paper it can be tricky to keep in place, just run under cold water scrunch up and squeeze excess water out and place in tin! its so much easier!) Cut the butter into pieces and place in a heat proof bowl together with the dark chocolate.

• Sit the bowl on top of a pan of simmering water (the base of the bowl should not be touching the water) and stir until the butter and chocolate are melted. set aside to cool.

• Break the eggs into a large bowl, add the sugar and whisk for about 3-5 minutes until pale and creamy and roughly double in original volume.

• Gently fold in the cooled chocolate mixture, then sift the cocoa and flour into the chocolate/egg mixture and fold in. When folding in, take care not to over-mix or the brownie will become heavy. 

• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes. If the mixture is still liquid in the middle when you remove it from the oven, cook for a few minutes longer until when poked with a tooth pick 2 inches from the outside it comes out almost clean. 

• Take care not to over cook as the mixture will firm up as it cools.

• Leave until completely cool before cutting into squares.

 This is with a chocolate fudge icing.

Chocolate fudge icing

50g (2oz) butter

1 tablespoon milk

100g (4oz) icing sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions

• Melt the butter and add the milk. Remove from the heat, then beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. 

• Spread icing over the cooled brownies, cut into squares when topping is firm.

Also to make this into stunning double chocolate brownies -

Add

50g (1 3/4oz) white chocolate chopped

50g (1 3/4oz) milk chocolate chopped

• Add both the milk and white chocolate when folding the flour and cocoa powder in.

kids just love a good smoothie

While my little one was playing out in the garden I decided to knock him up a lovely fruit smoothie, it may have been cloudy but it was very warm outside! 


I thought i'd share this with everyone as it's easy, healthy and so refreshing!


Ingredients 


One ripe banana
One cup of pineapple chunks (and the juice)
One cup orange juice
One cup of ice


directions


• Chuck it all in a blender, whizz until smooth and your done!

(not my image)

puff pizza

Today was food shopping day so with a fridge full of fresh veg and a sheet of pastry left from last week and had to be used today I wondered what to do with it! I decided to do a pizza but with puff pastry... a puff pizza if you will.


This is the easiest food you could ever make, you just throw what ever you have in the fridge onto it!


Ingredients


one sheet of ready made puff pastry or make your own if you have the time
3 tablespoons tomato puree 
4 mushrooms
3 salad tomatoes
3 slices of sandwich ham diced
basil
handful of spinach
grated cheese of your choice 


Direction


• Take the pastry out of the fridge 20 minutes before your about to use it.


• Preheat oven to 200c/400f/gas 6


• Roll out the pastry onto baking paper on a baking tray.


• Spread the tomato puree over the pastry leaving an inch around the edge.


• Chop the basil and place over the puree, can also use dried basil.


• Scatter the ham, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach over the pure and sprinkle the cheese over the top so all the other ingredients are covered remembering to leave that inch around the edge.


• Place on middle shelf of oven for 15 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Nutella cookies

So while laying on the sofa in total agony looking at my gorgeous little boy playing on the floor I felt so bad for just laying there not playing with him. I asked what he would like to do and he said he wanted a chocolate biscuit. It was half an hour before dinner and I didn't want him having chocolate before food so I though why don't we make some to eat after dinner? so this is what we did.


I got sent a link for a Nutella cookie recipe from my sister in-law, I've made it a couple of times and over this time i've added to it. It is so simple to make I thought i'd share it with you guys too. So here it is...

Ingredients


4 tablespoons of Nutella chocolate spread
50g caster sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
50g unsalted butter
1 egg 
125g self raising flour
handful of chocolate chips


directions


• Preheat oven to 190C/375F/gas 5


• Put the nutella, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix all together. 

• Add the egg and flour and mix until its firm(ish)


• Spoon onto baking paper on a baking tray making sure you keep them quite far apart as they do spread and are quite big. This is where I put the chocolate chips on but you can mix them in with the dough. 

• Bake for about 8 minutes if you still want them a little gooey in the middle or about 15 minutes if you want them a little firmer. 

and when your finished........

Kids do like to lick the bowl!

my first caving adventure....

I had a super time caving yesterday. It was in an amazing place by Worms head, the only way to get there was by climbing down a cliff face. while down there I was told that the cave was completely submerged in water for 9 months of the year and only the last couple of weeks they have been able to go down there. This scared the crap out of me! 

The entrance was a shock, I really did think "shit i'm going to get stuck in here!" I was reassured that they have had 'heavy people' come down this cave and that the first few metres were the hardest.... they lied through their arses I can tell you! the first few metres were the hardest but so was the next 6 hours! don't get me wrong I had an amazing time! I used muscles I never knew I had and managed to get myself in positions only a gymnast can do! Once I got through a few passages, chambers and got deeper into the cave I saw some amazing stalactite and stalagmite it was beautiful!


http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/stalactite_and_stalagmite.aspx

Once we got as far as we could they went through a bolder choke so they could start digging... that was my limit and refused to go through, it didn't look safe enough and thought we shouldn't all go through incase it fell.. yes I pussyed out! I stayed behind with another caver while the other two started digging. while in this beautiful chamber I was told what to do in emergencies and what would happen if the cave flooded while we were inside. this did not help my nervousness one little bit! I was told to turn my helmet light off and be quiet, so we both did... absolute silence and absolute darkness... have you ever seen the film 'the decent'? this immediately popped into my head and shat myself! 

I was asked to go into a hole that no one had beed down due to it being so small and that I was the only one who would be able to fit, what did I do? stuck my body in and thought 'screw this no one has ever been down here before! I might get eaten' crawled back out. 

It was time to make our way back out, by this point I was exhausted and had to crawl and drag my body back out by just my arms while carrying a bag of heavy drill batteries that I had to be careful with hmmm.... ok. I don't know if I thought getting back was harder than getting down there because I was absolutely shattered or because it just was! I got out and the first thing i did was take all my gear off and collapse on the rocky floor my knees and elbows were red raw. My shoulder killed and did not want to hike another 45 minutes up a cliff with a heavy backpack in the blistering heat! but i made it.

today I woke in total agony but it was totally worth it! 

The cave bottom left

Who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate?

So, I took my little boy to see his two cousins before going to his dads who live in the next town,  which is also about a 20 minute bus ride away. We were getting ready to leave the house it was at this point I decided to not take my sons buggy with us for the first time EVER... this could potentially end in disaster but being in a calming mood I decided to just do it.


 He got a little bored on the bus and started playing up so I thought we would play a little game which I will now name -


'what side is the...?'


Basically trying to teach my child his left and right.... which to my surprise he already knows! so I guess he was listening to me every time I put each shoe on and saying which foot it is. :) this was a happy moment for me.


  I decided to pop into Tesco's after the little ruffian had been picked up to get a few ingredients for this fantastic peanut butter cheese cake recipe I saw online.


This recipe will make 4 individual portions. I have converted each ingredient into grams instead of ounces as I discovered it was quite hard to shop for items in ounces when everything in the UK is in grams! resulting in having to work out everything in my head and what should have been a 5 minute shop turned into a 30 minute one! I also put my own little twist on it as some of the original ingredients were American and not available in the UK.... enjoy!


makes 4 individual servings, easily doubled. 


ingredients 


For the crust -
10 Oreo cookies
2 tablespoons unsalted butter


For the filling -
1/2 cup thick double cream
115g soft cheese
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
200g sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions.


. Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter and stir.


. Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.

. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the double cream until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to a small bowl and place it into the fridge while you prepare the rest of the filling.

. Place soft cheese and peanut butter into the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually add in the icing sugar until well combined. Add in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed until mixture is creamy and smooth.

. Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining whipped cream until well blended and no streaks remain.

. Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. If desired, garnish with whipped cream and some chocolate.

everyone loves pasties!

Well it was another rainy day and me and my son were stuck in the house. With the rarity of a full fridge and cupboard i decided to do some baking to keep him amused for at least half an hour! 


After searching through all my food i decided to make some vegetable and cheese pasties. My son got very excited and immediately put on his Thomas cooking apron (in which he took off half way though because it was annoying him!) and climbed up onto his booster seat. 

My little boy does love to cook! 


Ingredients 


375g of puff pastry
60g grated cheese
handful of spinich leaves
1/2 tin of Ratatouille or homemade if you have the time
1 beaten egg


Directions


- Sprinkle work top with plain flour and roll out pastry.


- use a round pastry cutter to cut out 10 circles. 


- tear the spinach up into a bowl and add most of the cheese then mix in the ratatouille with a little black pepper.


- Prick all the pastry circles with a fork and place on some baking paper on a baking tray, Spoon on the mixture in the centre of five of the pastry circles.  


- Use a pastry brush to brush the egg around the edges of the filled pastry circles like an island, and stick the remaining five pastry circles onto the top of each. brush a little egg on top and add the remaining grated cheese. 


- Place in a pre-heated oven at 200ºC fan/ 220ºC/Gas 7 for around 15 minutes, or until puffed up and golden.


These can be frozen for up to one month.