Sausage and Tomato Pasta

In our home we love pasta and it plays a weekly repertoire, it's one of those dishes that are the answer to a quick and easy meal or a big affair like a lasagne for entertaining friends or family. This recipe is one of many favorites in our home. I like using different shaped pasta and today I've used Festoni pasta which I bought at Waitrose. I also use the thinner sausages which I grill instead of frying, before cutting into bite sized pieces.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
4 thick pork sausages, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200ml/7fl oz medium white wine
1 tbsp tomato purée
400g can chopped tomatoes
500g pack rigatoni or penne
Handful of basil leaves, torn, (optional)
Parmesan, to serve

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based pan (preferably not non-stick) and add the sausages. Fry for about 8 mins until golden and cooked through. Tip in the garlic and fry for 1 min. Pour in the white wine and boil until it has reduced by half.

2. Stir in the tomato purée and tomatoes, and season to taste. Simmer for 15 mins until the sauce is rich and thick.

3. While the sauce cooks, boil the pasta according to pack instructions and drain. Stir in the basil if using, and cooked pasta into the sauce, then serve in bowls with grated or shaved parmesan.

Lime Drizzle Loaf~She put the lime in the coconut and baked up this yummy loaf..

I want to thank Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake for sharing this wonderful recipe, thank you so much sweetie! Yesterday while chatting on MSN she showed me this recipe and we both decided that we had to make this asap. It sounded so good and I was drooling reading the recipe, let alone viewing the picture. Well folks this cake IS drool-worthy and absolute tropical heaven. If you love citrussy cakes with the added flavour of coconut, then this is the cake for you! I will be making this cake again and it will be especially good served in the summer ;o)



For the cake
175g (6oz) self-raising flour, sifted with a pinch of salt
175g (6oz) butter, diced
175g (6oz) golden caster sugar
3 medium eggs, beaten
50g (2oz) sweetened and tenderised coconut (you can use dessicated coconut)
Zest and juice of 2 limes
1tsp baking powder

For the icing
1 lime
125g (4oz) golden icing sugar, sifted
1tbsp sweetened and tenderised coconut (or dessicated coconut) to decorate

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven) mark 4. Line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with a greaseproof loaf liner.

2 Put the flour, salt, butter, sugar, eggs, coconut, lime zest and juice and baking powder in the bowl of a freestanding mixer, fitted with a K beater. Mix together slowly, gradually increasing the speed and mixing for 2min.

3 Pour the mixture (it'll be quite runny) into the tin and bake in the oven for 45-55min or until golden, well risen and cooked through - a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Leave to cool for 10min then lift out the cake, keeping it in the liner.

4 To make the icing, finely grate the zest from the lime and cut away the white pith. Chop the lime flesh, then put in a mini processor with the zest and whiz for 1-2min until finely chopped. Add the icing sugar and blend until smooth. Pour over the cake then sprinkle the coconut on top to decorate.

Breakfast Bars

I bought Nigella Express last year and this was one of many recipes that I had book marked to make but I had completely forgotten about (that's what happens when you have so many cookbooks), that is until I was browsing the wonderful world of food blogs and came across this recipe on various blogs. So I decided that it was high time I also tried them after hearing great reviews. Well all I can say is I have been missing out big time; these are so good and yep addictive. They were so easy to make too, even if they do take an hour to bake but let me tell you they are worth that long baking time! I have a feeling that these babies won't be around to see the end of the weekend, especially considering my son has his friend staying over today!

Nice Matters Award x 2

I had the most wonderful surprise today when Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake awarded me the Nice Matters Award. I feel so touched and it really is a great feeling knowing you have friends that appreciate and admire what you bring to the foodie blog world. I would like to also dedicate this to all my fellow bloggers who are ALL deserving of this award!

Please feel free to attach this award to your blog ;o)

Thanks so much Rosie!

EDIT:
Dell from Cooking and the City has also kindly passed me the Nice Matters Award. Thanks so much sweetie, this really means a lot to me!

Blueberry and Lemon Muffins

A light and healthy treat for breakfast, lunch or snack time. These blueberry muffins have the added flavour of lemon, which really brings out all the flavours wonderfully.

Blueberry and Lemon Muffins

Ingredients:
175g plain flour
75g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
50g butter, melted
175ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon rind
150g blueberries

Preheat oven to 200oC/180oC fan/gas 6. Grease or line 12 muffin tins.

Sift the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Lightly whisk the egss in another bowl, then add the melted butter, milk, vanilla and lemon rind and stir until combined.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Using a large metal spoon, stir until the flour is moistened and incorporated but not until the mixture is smooth.

Gently fold the blueberries into the mixture with a metal spoon until they are evenly distributed.

Spoon the mixture into the tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Mincemeat Tealoaf

I was visiting Mrs B's Baking Blog and came across her delicious looking Sunshine Tealoaf and it gave me the idea to bake a tealoaf for the hubby (my hubby loves tealoaf) and at the same time use up some of my left over home-made mincemeat from xmas. This loaf is moist and full of flavour, perfect to accompany a cup of hot tea/coffee. I have a feeling this won't last long!

THE Best Carrot Cake

My in laws are coming over tomorrow for Sunday lunch and I was really tempted to make Dell's Buttermilk Lime Cake but as I've made a Lemon Tart for dessert I didn't want to over-do it with the citrus, so I went for what I can only describe as the best carrot cake recipe I've tried so far. I have made this carrot cake many times and it's always gone down a treat, with many compliments. The cream cheese frosting is divine and this is the perfect cake to serve with tea on a Sunday afternoon with the in laws!


Carrot Cake recipe:

4 eggs, lightly beaten
250g caster sugar
185ml sunflower oil
300g plain flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
400g carrots, peeled and grated
55g chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting:
180g butter, softened
250g icing sugar
180g cream cheese
3 drops vanilla extract
Walnut halves to decorate (optional)

Preheat oven to 180oC/350oF/Gas4. Grease and flour a 24 cm springform tin or bundt pan. Whisk eggs and sugar until creamy, then whisk in the oil. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon. Add this to the eggs and whisk. Add the carrots and nuts and mix together. Scrape into tin and bake for an hour. Once the cake has cooled; For the icing whip the butter and icing sugar together until its stiff. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla. Spread over the cake. And decorate with walnut halves.

The recipe is by Tessa Kiros and if you have never come across any of her books then you are missing out. Two of my favorite books by her are Apples for Jam and Falling Cloudberries, they are so beautifully illustrated and full of recipes inspired by her childhood and family.

Lemon Tart

This is my first attempt at Lemon Tart and I will confess that I've cheated and this recipe is from Delia's new cookbook, How to Cheat at Cooking. I'm not going to pretend to enjoy doing my own pastry all the time and I believe in an easy life and buying ready-made pastry is not a "bakers" crime. Pastry chefs train for years to perfect the art of making pastry and more celebrity chefs nowadays are using ready made. In this recipe you buy the M&S all-butter sweet pastry case and then make the filling, bake it, cool it and then chill it. And voila you have a gorgeous Lemon Tart!

I have my in laws over for Sunday lunch tomorrow and I have made this tart for dessert. I will be serving it with Crème fraîche and strawberries.



Lemon Tart

Ingredients
195g large all-butter sweet pastry case (M&S)
312g jar Tiptree lemon curd (or any good quality lemon curd)
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons half-fat crème fraîche
Unrefined icing sugar, for dusting

Pre-heat oven to 170oC/gas 3. In a large bowl, mix together the lemon curd, lemon zest, lemon juice, beaten egg and crème fraîche. Place the pastry case on a baking sheet, pour the lemon filling into the pastry case.

Bake the lemon tart for 20-25 minutes, until it is set and feels springy. Leave tart to cool, then chill in the fridge for 1 ½ hours. Lightly dust with icing sugar. Serve with crème fraîche.

Excellence Award :o)

I am happy to post my first ever blog award!! The lovely Dell from Cooking and the City has kindly passed on this award to me, and it's made my day. Thank you so much Dell, it really means a lot to me and it is so nice knowing you have friends all over the globe.

I am going to be a rebel here like my friend Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake and not award this to just 5 people but to everyone who has a blog and shares the same passion for cooking and baking. There are so many wonderful foodie blogs out there that are deserving of this award of Excellence, so feel free to attach this award to your blog.

Btw both Dell and Rosie have excellent blogs and worthwhile visiting, if you haven't already ;o)

Blackberry and Apple Loaf

I've wanted to make this loaf for some time after spotting it in my Good Food 101 Cakes and Bakes book and I bought the blackberries with the sole purpose of this recipe! I think blackberries and apple are the perfect marriage, whether in a crumble, pie or cake they bring out the best in each other. This loaf is the perfect example of that, with the added touch of cinnamon and orange zest, and the crumble topping finishes it off wonderfully. If you would like to re-create this yummy loaf I have added the link below.

Recipe for Blackberry and Apple Loaf

I've been MeMe'd

The gorgeous Pixie from A Sweetart has tagged me for this MeMe ;o)

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ok well to start off I was still in my 20's. My son was 5 and at Primary school (gosh and now his towering over me and taking his GCSE's in May). I was preparing to say a sad goodbye to my parents who decided it was time to sell up and move back to Spain and retire. I was living in London and in a flat.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Preparing to move the "beep" out of London flat and into a Surrey based house with a garden, garage and all the trimmings!

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) Fruit (who am I kidding)
2) Crisps
3) Home-made bread with butter
4) Chocolate
5) Ice Cream

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1) Buy a huge house in the country with a huge kitchen
2) Buy my hubby an Aston Martin DB9
3) Give my family money and see them right
4) Take a world cruise
5) Become the next Imelda Marcus (my hubby claims I'm already there)

Five bad habits:
OK were moving into dangerous grounds here..hehehe
1) I suck my thumb to relax ("blush")
2) I'm true to my star sign (Virgo), a perfectionist
3) Must be the spanish in me but I have a fiery quick temper
4) Impulsive shopper
5) Lose patience with people who walk slow in front of me (aarrgggggg)

Five things you like doing:
1) Shopping
2) Cooking and Baking
3) Listening to music
4) Did I mention shopping?? Ok, ok. Visiting National Trust places (yep were members)
5) Entertaining and eating out.

Five things you would never wear again:
1) Puff ball skirts, omg I think the 80's has to be the worse fashion era of my life-time.
2) The green manky school uniform, we couldn't wait to get to year 11 when it changed to black.
3) Bleached jeans and wait for it the ones with zips at the bottom!!!
4) White frilly ankle socks.
5) Anything neon, especially the tight lycra mini dresses, like the ones Whitney Houston wore in one of her music videos.

Five favorite toys:
1) Cupcake, my pink Kitchen Aid, I love her!
2) My computer
3) My ipod
4) My Treo PDA Phone
5) My Canon digital camera


The five people I am tagging are the following:

Indigo at Happy Loves Strawberry

Dell at Cooking and the City

Ruth at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments

Sandy at My Baking Blog

Janice at Farmer Girl Kitchen

Praline Cake

Whilst browsing the blog world, I came across this recipe via an amazing blog called Happy Loves Strawberry, by the very talented Indigo, who has a gift with words, and not to mention amazing pictures of her bakes. When I spotted this recipe I knew instantly that I had to make this asap. I showed my son and he said, "mum you have to make that", and I knew my instinct had been right. Come on who could pass up a slice of this cake? Certainly not an experienced or novice chocoholic. I would describe this cake as chocolate heaven and more-ish. Indigo I hope I have done your grandmother's recipe justice and thanks so much for sharing your family recipe ;o)

Recipe for Praline Cake

Cheese-Crusted Cottage Pie

A cottage pie oozes flavour and makes a simple but sensational family meal. It is the perfect winter warming food and a classic british dish. This is one of my family's favorite Cottage Pie recipes, with the added bonus of a cheese crust. I have included the link if you would like to re-create this winter warmer.

Cheese-Crusted Cottage Pie