How do i get it to look like THAT?

Today started off with some baking. This is becoming a habit. I didn't have the cherries to do the muffins so we made cookies followed by a carrot cake mixture that i purchased from Morrisons. You could say it's the lazy option and maybe it is but i have three kids and 101 jobs to do and yet still i do my best to find time to bake with them on weekends.

How they get the carrot cake to look like the box cover i will never know. There is no way enough icing included and we had to use Betty Crocker buttercream icing for the top of the cake. The icing is not that colour either. Well not if you follow the directions given. It's more of a yellow colour and looks like 80's school custard.

Looking back we should of kept the cake as it looked like above as it looked ok if not a bit sloppy in the middle, but no... daughters one and two wanted it iced on the top too.

As you can see it looked rather odd when completed. Luckily it tasted rather good otherwise i may have marched myself into Morrisons and asked someone to show me how they get it to look like the cake pictured on the cover. I would still like to see it done. So if anyone ever purchases this pack and you can make it resemble the cake shown with the ingredients they provide, well i will take my hat off to you and even do a little dance.

The cookies were a quick and easy recipe but darling daughter made only six. This really won't do as it means i will have to eat the extra one.

Aside from the baking, washing clothes and mountains of housework i was browsing clothes for half hour or so today. I found a fun website where i can go into a virtual dressing room and select clothes and put them together as an outfit to see if you like them when combined. It reminded me of those paper dolls you could get as a child but much more enjoyable as you can really buy these outfits and you actually put them on when they arrive and you don't need to stick them to yourself with little paper tabs. To check them out visit the link.

BooHoo Wardrobe

Here are a couple of outfits i made for fun. The prices are very reasonable and i will be using the wardrobe in the future to purchase outfits.

Song for today is Bruno Mars- The Lazy Song. I caught myself singing AND dancing to this in the local co-op. Oh the shame.

Anyway it's off to bed for me as i have a terrible sore throat that has got worse all day. Hoping a few throat sweets, a good book and maybe a few episodes of My family will get me feeling slightly better for tomorrow.

Food Glorious Food

Have you ever watched My Family? If you have then you will know how famous the character Susan Harper is for making up rather bizzare recipes and forcing her family to eat them. Like Kipper balls, some beetroot slop or when they had tuna surprise which from what i remember was just Tuna.  Anyway every episode seems to centre around at least one attempt of her cooking something "different" apart from the odd occasions when the lucky family get to have a chinese takeway.

I don't liken myself to her, i am pretty sure my cooking isn't THAT bad but i suppose i do like to "play" about with food.

A few of my favourite ingredients would be peppers, i love the colours and they can brighten up so many dishes.Courgettes, Balsamic Vinegar, Aubergines,Mushrooms, Honey, and olive oil are also top of my list.

There is some glory to be had when you make a meal from scratch and everyone enjoys it. I will admit i cheat with pastry. I'm just no good at getting it right and the ready made pastry is so convenient.

The ingredients above are what i used to make a puff pastry dish. I made two different ones. The kids opted for chilli cheese meatball pastry open parcels (can't think of what to call them other than that) and we opted with the milder honey chicken and veg parcels. Both might i add tasted lovely and everyone finished every last bit. Ok so it might not look that fantastic but it did taste very nice. Since then i have experimented with gammon parcels and they were by far the best. Especially when you drizzle honey over them before placing into the oven.

I love making fun food for the kids too and mine loved these bagel snakes which were really easy to make, just slice up a bagel and chuck whatever topping on you would like and then add something for eyes and make pattens on the body with tomato, cucumber, cheese or whatever you can think of. I went a bit mad and added a sun and grass but it was all in good fun.

I might start adding my weird and amusing food creations on a regular basis, they will either make you want to try them for yourself or grab a sick bucket but it could be quite fun as i do love to cook.

One of my daughters has the aim of being a chef one day and her cooking is amazing. At 5ft 7 and still not a teenager she seems to show an extreme talent with food. Her favourite things to make are devilled eggs,  cakes, soups in fact anything she spots in a recipe book of which she has a bigger collection than i do.

This is her Potato and Leek soup which she got spot on with her first attempt.

 

Here are some of her JLS cakes that she made and decorated. She made about 26 but they didn't last very long at all!

Anyway that's it from me for now as a strong cup of coffee is needed. I am so glad it's almost the weekend. 

Hopefully the sunshine will come back to us soon.