recipe Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Recipe – Mocha Brownies

March 1, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

Anyone who reads my blog often will know, that the majority of time I’m busy sewing and working on Closet Geek. However I do have a huge passion for cooking (especially baking) and it’s rare that I find an excuse to take time off work and do so. This half term, Lily and I have been doing a lot of baking because she’s currently doing a project called Scrumdiddlyumptious at school, which focuses on chocolate. We’re making an A-Z of Chocolate for her project and part of that involves making lots of yummy food! The basic concept of her project is for us to make a page for every letter of the alphabet. Some pages will be information and history about chocolate, while others will be recipes. I think in total we have about twelve dishes we’ll be making, but over half term we made about half that.

This recipe that I’m sharing today is for Mocha Brownies (chocolate and coffee flavour) and they were absolutely delicious! The finished product is very similar to the ones Megan made Minecraft Brownie Blocks with but these are sort of an adult version (I only say that, as some people don’t really like their kids eating/drinking coffee). I however, am addicted to coffee! My Instagram is a constant stream of ice coffee pictures, while my Amazon wishlist is littered with coffee machines, mugs and I even have a bean grinder on there! Anyway, the coffee brownies were a big hit so I decided to share the recipe here on my blog.

Ingredients
– 3 eggs
– 450g sugar (brown is best but white works too)
– 350g plain flour
– 200g cocoa
– 250g chocolate chips
– 1 tbsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 60ml boiling water (I personally used a coffee pod from
www.gourmesso.co.uk which worked brilliantly and gave a strong intense taste)
– 200ml oil
– ½ tsp salt
– ½ tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

To start off, it’s always best to preheat oven. This needs to be set at 180 oC (Gas Mark 4). After that you need to grease two square 8 inch tins (or at least that’s what the recipe said, ours was actually longer and rectangular).

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, coffee, sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla essence.

Once the mixture is smooth and combined, sift the cocoa and flour into the bowl slowly, stirring as you go.

Next you need to add the chocolate chips (or chopped up chocolate if you prefer chunks) and stir well to make sure they are spread throughout the mixture.

Finally you will need to divide the mixture equally between the two tins. Give them a tap on the counter to level them out and knock out any air bubbles.

Cook in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the centre is no longer runny. You may need to stick a knife or skewer into the mixture at various intervals, just to check if the brownie is setting. You’ll know it’s done once the knife or skewer can be stuck into the mixture and comes out pretty much clean of mixture.

Allow to cool and if possible place onto a cooling rack (this isn’t essential so long as you’ve greased the tins well or even used greaseproof paper). Once cool cut into squares and serve.

As I mentioned before, we made several other chocolate items including; chocolate ice cream, ganache, rocky road and even chocolate Yorkshire Pudding. Of course none of these things are vital to this particular recipe, but served together they were pretty amazing. We actually had some friends around on the same evening and we served everyone chocolate Yorkshire Pudding, with brownies, rocky road, ice cream and ganache. There was cream too. Everyone said how amazing it all was and I admit it really was. I’d love to experiment a bit more with the Yorkshire Pudding recipe however as it wasn’t as good as I think it could be. Otherwise though, it was all Scrumdiddlyumptious!

Recipe – Flapjack Squares

November 24, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Flapjack Squares

Though I’m currently trying to diet, there is nothing I like more than some sweet treats! Flapjack is a huge hit in our house and so I decided to share my recipe and method with my blog readers so you can make some yourself. This is a recipe passed down from when I used to cook with my Nanny as a child.

Ingredients
(Usually I prefer to cook in grams but this recipe was given to me in ounces)
– 16 oz porridge oats
– 12 oz butter or margerine
– 8 oz brown sugar
– 2 tbs golden syrup

Method

1. Weigh out the butter and sugar, adding to a pan on the stove. Add golden syrup and warm through till melted.

2. Weigh out the porridge oats and add to the pan. Stir through until the oats are all coated.

3. Grease a baking tray with marg/butter and then scrape contents of pan, into the tray. Flatten down, making sure mixture goes right to the edges of the tray.

4. Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4 and place the tray of flapjack into the oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until golden but not too much colour.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for around 10-15 minutes. Cut into squares and remove from tray onto a cooling rack. Eat warm or allow to cool and then munch away!

DW Fitness Festive Challenge – Third Update

November 9, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

It’s now been six weeks of trying and I have to admit I’ve gotten a little lazy this last week. Chris and I were celebrating our anniversary over the weekend and we went for Chinese buffet before the theatre on Saturday, then Pizza Hut with the kids on Sunday. However I’m feeling motivated to try harder this week, so fingers crossed.

As I mentioned, I have put a smidge on this time. It’s only just over a pound though so I’m going to try not to worry.

This week our topics is eating healthy, which is ironic given that’s been my downfall this week. However I thought I would share this recipe with you that I find is pretty healthy, despite having a little cheese.

Chicken, Bacon and Halloumi Salad

This is my favourite throw together recipe – ideal for warm weather but because it contains chicken and bacon, can be great in the cold weather too.

Ingredients
– Salad, this can basically be anything you like. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, spring onions, radish, peppers, bacon bits, etc. etc. It’s really all about what makes the best salad for you.
– Chicken
– Bacon
– Halloumi (low fat is available)

There are no specific amounts for this recipe as its all about what you want and how much of it you’d like. The recipe isn’t really even a recipe to be honest, as you just literally put it all together.

1. Make up the salad exactly how you want it. This is the base of your dish. I personally use lettuce (mixed leaf), cucumber, spring onion, peppers and bacon bits as these are the elements I most enjoy. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes so I skip those for sure.

2. As an optional extra, add a dressing. Of course you should consider if the dressing will work nicely with chicken and bacon, but for the most part dressings do. I tend to actually have a dribble of soy sauce on my salad as I don’t like dressing. It can be a little dry without anything.

3. Prepare the rest of the ingredients (I forgot to photo the bacon). Slice the halloumi, if you’re using chicken breast and cut the fat from the bacon (if you want to!).

4. Fry the chicken first as this will take the longest to cook. If you have a griddle pan, this gives a nice look to the chicken but if not don’t worry. When the chicken is nearly ready, cook the bacon too (grill or fry).

5. Place the chicken and bacon on top of your salad and add the halloumi slices to the pan you’ve just used. Only cook for about a minute on each side, as the cheese doesn’t take long to cook. It only needs to take a hint of brown, it wont change in any other way. Halloumi is not to everyone’s taste, its a sort of chewy cheese but I love it!

6. Add the Halloumi to your salad and you’re done! If you like, add a little more dressing, a sprinkle of dried onions or bacon bits, croutons etc.

Keep an eye out for my next DW Fitness post as I’ll be trying much harder these next couple of weeks!

Nutella Cheesecake Recipe

June 2, 2015 by Bel 3 Comments

Nutella cheesecake is not only the nicest thing I’ve ever made, but also one of the easiest. A few weeks back, Megan and I stumbled on this really simple recipe and since it was so amazing, I wanted to share it with you! I can tell you now, it won’t last long once you’ve made it. Ours was gone in less than 24 hours!

Ingredients

250g digestive biscuits
75g butter/marg
1 x 400g jar Nutella
100g chopped hazelnuts
500g cream cheese
60g icing sugar

Method

1. Break the digestive biscuits, into a processor. Blend until blitzed. Add 1tbs Nutella, the butter/marg (melted) and 3tbs hazelnuts, blitz again until mixed.

2. Place into the bottom of a lined/greased spring form tin. Press down to form a neat base. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Beat the cream cheese and sieved icing sugar until smooth and then add the remainder of the Nutella. Continue to mix until all combined.

4. Take the tin out of the fridge and smooth the Nutella mixture over the base. Scatter the nuts over the top and place back in the fridge. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge.

Recipe – No Bake Oreo Cheesecake

May 6, 2015 by Bel 6 Comments

Last week Megan decided that she wanted to make Oreo cheesecake. I’m not sure what sparked it exactly but since I haven’t had to make birthday cake in a while, I decided to humour her. I was heading out to Tesco anyway and so while I was there, I picked up the ingredients she’d text me (she found a recipe she wanted to do herself). The cheesecake was so easy to make and tasted great so I figured I’d share it with you.

250g chocolate digestive biscuits
150g butter/marg
2 tsp gelatine
60ml warm water
360g soft cream cheese
300ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
110g caster sugar
180g white chocolate
150g Oreo cookies
50g dark chocolate

1. Line base of a 23cm springform tin with baking parchment.

2. Break the chocolate digestive biscuits and blitz in a food processor till crumbs. Melt butter and add to biscuits, mixing again to combine.

3. Place the biscuit mixture into the tin and use your fingers to press down level. Using fingertips, press to create slight edge up the side of the tin. Place in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.

4. While the base is chilling, make up cheesecake filling. Using warm water (recently boiled kettle water is good), mix the gelatine powder. It’s usually better to sprinkle the gelatine powder onto the water, not the other way around. Do it in a heatproof bowl or jug. Stir until melted/combined. If you are having trouble melting the gelatine you can place the bowl/jug into a pan of hot water and heat on the cooker till melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

5. Beat the cheese, cream, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Once combined add the gelatine and stir again. Finally, melt the white chocolate and add to mixture. Make sure its all stirred in well.

6. Break up the Oreos making sure they are small bits, but not blitzed liked crumbs. Combine the Oreo bits with the rest of the mixture, stirring through.

7. Pour the mixture on top of the base, into the springform tin. Smooth out evenly and neaten. Place in the fridge and chill for 3 hours.

8. Decorate as you want, but using the dark chocolate you can melt and drizzle, or grate on top. Megan insisted on saving one Oreo to decorate the top with.

Mum’s Tiramisu Cake

August 16, 2014 by Bel 4 Comments

Do you know that I’ve been meaning to post about this cake since April, when Mum had her birthday? I guess I’ve just made so many cakes in between that I never got around to it. Anyway, with last week’s GBBO having the theme of cakes, its spurred me on to actually get this posted about.

My mum is not a fan of icing on cakes. She doesn’t want something decorated with a geeky theme or thousands of sweets. Instead when I asked her what kind of cake she would like, all she requested was fresh cream. However this was my mum and I wanted to make her something special. So the more and more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to make it something she would love. As her favourite dessert is Tiramisu, I had the brainwave to make a sort of Tiramisu Cake – and this is what I came up with.

Tiramisu Birthday Cake

Cake:
2 packets of sponge cake mix
1 tsp instant coffee powder/granules
60ml coffee
1 tbsp coffee liqueur
Filling:
1 container of mascarpone cheese (approx 250g)
120g icing sugar
2 tbsp coffee liqueur
Frosting:
500ml double cream
60g icing sugar
2 tbsp coffee liqueur
Decorate:
a Flake, cocoa powder, grated chocolate etc.

Now if you read the ingredients before you read the instructions, you might be gasping that my recipe features two packets of sponge cake mix. I don’t want to lie to you.. this is what I used. They were about 20p from Tesco and saved so much extra hassle! However if you really want to make the sponge mix yourself, there is nothing stopping you. You’d need enough mix for 3, 9 inch tins.

1. Make up the cake mix, according to the instructions. Divide the mixture into thirds, two of which can go straight into the cake tins (greased/lined, 9 inch tins) and the other should remain in a bowl. Add the instant coffee to the last lot of cake mixture. Stir and then add to the final cake tin. If you do not have a coffee to use, check this coffee that supports animal rescue.

2. Bake in a preheated oven (180°C ish, Gas Mark 4/5) for approximately 20 minutes – until the cakes are cooked. Leave to cool, turning out onto a cooling rack after 10 minutes or so.

3. While the cakes are cooling, you can do three things.
– In a small bowl or cup, mix the 60ml coffee (i.e. filter coffee, or coffee made up from instant powder) and 1 tbsp of coffee liqueur – set to one side.
– In a slightly larger bowl, mix the mascarpone, 120g icing sugar and 2 tbsp coffee liqueur. Whisk until smooth and slightly thicker (preferably with an electric whisk). Refrigerate once done. This is the filling.
– In another bowl, add the double cream, 60g icing sugar and 2 tbsp coffee liqueur. Whisk until stiff (preferably with an electric whisk). This is the topping. Take about 8 tbsp of this mixture and add to the filling mixture. Refrigerate once done.

4. When the sponges are cooled, you’re ready to assemble the cake. Place one plain sponge onto a serving plate, cake board etc. With a skewer or cocktail stick, poke holes at random intervals throughout the sponge. Carefully pour some of the coffee/liqueur mixture over the sponge, so that it soaks into the holes. Next, add a layer of filling mixture, then top with the coffee sponge layer. Add another layer of filling mixture and finally add the last plain sponge. Poke holes in the top sponge and pour the remaining coffee/liqueur mixture over the cake so it soaks into the holes.

It’s not pretty but you get the idea!

Your cake is basically made, so its now just a case of decorating it and making it look nice. Of course its pretty much up to you, what you do now, but this is what I did.

5. Taking the topping mixture, spread over the top of the cake and down the sides to smooth and neaten the look. While I had originally intended to completely cover the top and sides in the topping, I ended up deciding to leave some of the brown sponge showing as I thought it looked nice. Once you’re completely satisfied with the covering of your cake, sieve some cocoa powder over the top and/or sprinkle some grated chocolate or pieces of broken up Flake.

And that’s it, you’re done! An amazingly tasty, Tiramisu Cake.

Obviously if you’d prefer, you can make without the coffee liqueur and its just a fancier coffee cake. However as Tiramisu traditionally has alcohol in it, that’s why I went with the liqueur. At all stages, make sure you keep tasting. More icing sugar can be added for a sweeter taste or more coffee could be added for a stronger coffee flavour.

My mum loved it, as did everyone else who tried a piece. While its wickedly filled with calories, its great for a treat – especially a birthday. The recipe is so simple and can be easily adapted. Why not give it a try yourself?

Recipe – Spicy Chicken Pasta

January 28, 2013 by Bel Leave a Comment

This is my third and final recipe for today and you’ll be pleased to know I’m going out for dinner tonight, so there won’t be another for a while, lol. I cooked this one last night, again for 4 people, but since 3 of them were guys, I made plenty of pasta just to bulk it out. The last picture mind you, is of my dinner and my portion size, the guys had a bit more.

Spicy Chicken Pasta
Serves 4
Per Serving: 398 Calories, 3.3g Fat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Since I still wasn’t feeling too well yesterday, everyone offered to help cook dinner. I didn’t really need it but since I’m not a big fan of raw chicken, I did let my brother slice that up for me. Other people grabbed or passed the odd thing here or there, but for the most part I cooked this solo.

Ingredients:
225g (uncooked weight) tagliatelle
1 vegetable stock cube
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
4 x 100g skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
8-10 basil leaves, shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Begin by placing the pasta in a large saucepan, with boiling water and the vegetable stock cube. Fingers crossed it should be ready about the same time as sauce, but if you really don’t like overcooked pasta, hold off on the pasta for a while, making sure you’re well on your way with the rest first. Next get a large non-stick frying pan and dry-fry the onions for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and red pepper, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken strips and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is firm and changes colour. Turn during cooking so that the chicken strips cook on all sides. Add the tomatoes and chilli, bring to a gentle simmer.

Drain off the pasta and pour into a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over and sprinkle with shredded basil leaves (this I forgot, but don’t actually feel is necessary) and a little Parmesan. I personally served the pasta up into 4 bowls, then spooned out the sauce equally over the 4 portions.

I think this has probably been my least favourite out of all the dishes I’ve cooked these last three days, but as with the other ones, everyone polished them off fairly fast, as did I. Some of my issue with this is its tomato sauce base (as I’m not great with chopped tomatoes, though I like them once I’m eating them) and some of it is probably the cooked peppers (not a huge fan of those). However that said, it really did taste good and I will definitely cook it again.

Next time… Paprika Mince

Recipe – Turkey and Bacon Hotpot

January 28, 2013 by Bel 1 Comment

Saturday night was one of those evenings where comfort food was a must. It had been snowing, everyone in the house was under the weather, and to be honest, I didn’t even feel like cooking. But with a house full of people, including my partner, my brother, and a guest, I knew we needed something hearty to warm us up. I ended up making hotpot—just the main dish, without any salad or veggies to accompany it, as I often forget that part! As we all gathered around the table, it struck me how much easier it would be to enjoy this kind of meal if we could just go out to a franchise hot pot place. Having everything prepared and ready to enjoy would have been a real treat. But that night, our homemade hotpot did the trick, bringing warmth and comfort to an otherwise chilly evening.

Turkey and Bacon Hotpot
Serves 4
Per serving: 412 Calories, 6.4g Fat
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 red onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450g lean diced turkey
225g thick-cut lean bacon, diced
1 tbsp plain flour
450ml semi-skimmed milk
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
450g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper

When making this, I completely forgot to take pictures until the end. I’m clearly not capable of multi-tasking by cooking and photography at the same time, oops!

Begin by preheating the oven to 190 C (375 F, Gas Mark 5). Get a large non-stick frying pan, adding the onions and garlic and dry-frying till soft. Next add the turkey and bacon, continuing to cook, turning the meat to seal on all sides. Sprinkle the flour over and “cook out” for 1 minute, then gradually stir in the milk. Add the stock cube and allow to dissolve, stirring to distribute. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, to allow the sauce to thicken. Stir in the parsley (I used dried as I rarely have fresh in) and pour the mixture into an overproof dish. Top with sliced potatoes, drizzle with soy sauce and season with freshly ground black pepper. Finally bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked.

This is the only picture I remembered to take (and the kitchen lighting makes it look quite yellow, where it isn’t)! Both pictures show the portion size, this being a quarter of the full size dish. The only thing I would add to the recipe is to say that I season with salt and pepper even at frying stage, not just at the end. Also I have no idea what weight of potatoes I used, just enough to top about 2-3 layers deep. Having done more than this previously, I know the potato doesn’t always cook through well. That said, if you doing it with plenty of time to spare before dinner, you could cook at a lower heat and for longer, to ensure it was all cooked through, if you did want a deeper potato topping!

This recipe is another of my favourites, but ideally I definitely would have served it alongside some salad or vegetables.

Next time… Spicy Chicken Pasta

Recipe – Boozy Beef with Mushrooms

January 28, 2013 by Bel Leave a Comment

As I mentioned before, I’ve just started dieting again, using the Rosemary Conley diet books I had from a few years ago. I’m not following her low GI diet exactly, doing more of a calorie counting one, but I’m cooking fresh meals every night, using her recipes.

Boozy Beef with Mushrooms
Serves 4
Per Serving: 230 Calories, 7.1g Fat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes

In my opinion, these recipes only serve 4 if all of you are on a diet. However as I’m often cooking for my partner and/or friends, I feel like they provide 1 correct size portion and then 2 good potions, or 1 good portion and 2 correct size portion (especially given that the normal non diet people are usually guys). Also my logic is – they can always have extra food after, its more important that I just don’t eat more than the correct size portion.

Ingredients:
2 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450g lean braising steak, diced
1 beef stock cube, dissolved in 300ml (1/2 pint) boiling water
1 tbsp plain flour
225g mixed mushrooms, sliced
300ml (1/2 pint) beer or cider
2 tbsp chopped fresh mixed herbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To begin with you get a large, non-stick pan, add the red onions and dry-fry until brown. You then add the garlic and beef, continuing to cook and seal the beef, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add 2 tbsp of beef stock and sprinkle the flour over.

Mix well and “cook out” for 1 minute, before gradually stirring in the remaining stock. Stir in the sliced mushrooms and the herbs. I didn’t actually have fresh herbs in, or even mixed herbs for that matter, so I just added a tsp of every herb I had in the cupboard, from parsley to thyme, from rosemary to oregano.

Finally add the beer or cider, then stir. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 35-40 minutes, until the beer is tender. It looks a lot of liquid after you’ve added everything, but trust me it simmers down to nothing. In fact it can end up too thick so be sure to keep an eye on that, possibly add a little water.

I haven’t cooked any of the Rosemary Conley recipes in about 4 years and while I remember they are tasty, I had forgotten just how good they were. At the point of typing this up I have actually cooked three of her recipes, and so far this is my favourite. I shared it between 3 in this instance, but making sure my own portion was the smaller. Of course the other thing about Rosemary Conley’s recipes is that she just provides you with the main part of the meal, but not whatever you serve it with. I chose to serve this with basmati (microwave) rice. However I only had one plain and one egg fried version, so I ended up mixing them together before serving them up.

Anyway, it was delicious and both my partner and guest agreed! Its really easy to make, low calories and not really all that expensive (my cider was 99p and my beef was marked down as reduced).

Next time… Turkey and Bacon Hotpot