Brownies

Today is Sunday, the day for films, sweets, roast dinners- and baking. This week i'm making some tasty, moist brownies.





This the recipe i use:


115g of Chocolate. Cubed
115g of butter
140g of plain flour
1/4 tsp of vanilla essence
200g Sugar
3 eggs
Chocolate drops





Pre-heat the oven to 180


Melt the butter and chocolate together, over boiling water.


In the meantime, mix together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Once the chocolate mixture is all melted, then mix with the eggs.


Sift over the flour, and fold in


Mix in the chocolate drops


Spread over greaseproof paper, and bake for 30 minutes


Here's some i made earlier....





Enjoy xx

Not yet tried....

......But soon will be. I saw in a magazine (Delicious, March 2010) how to make your own scotch eggs. Not only do they look tasty, they look like some fun to make- My favourite part of the recipe "make sure they're not too hot, or they'll explode" Haha.

This is the recipe: (taken directly from Delicious, March 2010)

Ingredients
10 medium free-range eggs, at room temperature
550g good-quality pork sausages or sausagemeat
125g dried breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Place 8 of the eggs in the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Run cold water over them immediately to stop them cooking any further, then peel them whole and set aside.

2. Remove the skin from the sausages (if you’ve bought sausages), then dip your hands in cold water and divide the meat into 8 balls. With wet hands, press the centre of each ball to make a well. Place a cooked egg in each well and carefully close the meat around it. Chill on a large plate for 2 hours to firm up.

3. Crack the 2 uncooked eggs into a shallow bowl and whisk with a fork. Pour the breadcrumbs onto a plate. Dip each Scotch egg in the egg, then roll in the crumbs and chill for 30 minutes. Repeat until each egg has a double layer of crumbs.

4 If using a deep-fat fryer, heat the vegetable oil to 150°C – if it’s too hot the eggs will explode and the meat will not cook through. Alternatively, fill a deep, heavy-based frying pan with oil to a depth of 7cm, and use a thermometer to check it has reached the correct temperature. Carefully lower the Scotch eggs into the oil and cook for 5-7 minutes. Lift out with a spider or slotted spoon and drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

I'm going to attempt to make them in the next couple of days, so, I'll report back how I got on! And whether any of my eggs exploded!

Charlotte xXx

Cookies

You should try this recipe; its an easy way to look impressive at baking. And the good thing, you can add anything to the mixture to make them more exciting. I use chocolate and raspberries.

All you need to start is:

112g of butter, 112g Caster sugar, 85g of condensed milk, 15g of self raising flour and whatever you want to put in.

Preheat the oven to 190, Cream the butter and sugar until a light texture, then add the condensed milk. Sift in the flour until you have a dough. Add your chocolate, nuts etc. Take a small handful and press/flatten onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes until light and fluffy. Leave to cool, and hey presto, you have soft cookies!

This mixture should make about 12 decent sized cookies. Perfect with a nice hot cup of tea!

Charlotte xXx

Sweet chilli chicken and salad pitta's

Another healthy dinner today. It wasn't your normal "healthy", it was nom nom tasty. I'm thinking about making something like this for my lunch next week.

What you need:
2 Chicken breasts
2 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce
2tbsp of Soy sauce
1 Crushed garlic clove
Pinch of salt
Pitta breads
Choice of salad. I used, hot house lettuce, grated carrott, onion, sweetcorn, gherkins and coleslaw.
To make it even beastier, add some wedges

Marinade the diced chicken in the soy sauce, chilli sauce, garlic and salt for about 15 minutes.
Fry off the chicken, till brown and sticky.
Warm the pitta breads.
Fill the pitta's with salad and chicken. Serve with more chilli sauce or mayonnaise.

Easiest meal in the world to make.

Charlotte xXx

Teriyaki Beef and Vegetables- HEALTHY

Last night we had this. This is the simplest meal I've had in a while; but still full of taste and flavour.
All you need to make this is:

Rump steak
2 Red peppers
Teriyaki marinade
Onion
Garlic clove
Bunch of spring onions
Broccoli tips
Rice or noodles

Dice up the beef and marinade in the teriyaki sauce for 15 minutes.
Start cooking the rice/ noodles
Fry off the garlic and onion- then add the beef
Before serving, add the peppers, spring onions and broccoli to the frying pan.
Spoon a dollop of rice on the plate and top with the beef and Veg!

A nice healthy, simple meal for the midweek.

Charlotte xXx

Lent

Is anyone giving anything up in the spirit of Lent?! As I've previously mentioned, I will be giving up fizzy drinks (excluding sparkling water). It will be a struggle and a half, especially on the weekends- but it has to be done!

Not too long ago, we went to Morrisons on Saturday, bought a 2 litre bottle of pepsi- and by the time Sunday morning came round there was only a couple of drops left (and this weekend I was on my OWN).

I predict that I will succeed....and then fail around Good Friday. Haha. Ah well, roll on Easter!!

Charlotte xXx

Spicy Sausage Penne

Shrove Tuesday, and I didn't just eat pancakes! Haha. Tonights dinner was spicy sausage penne; a nice simple, straightforward midweek meal.
All you need is:

6 sausages
Tin of chopped tomatos
A red onion
2 Garlic cloves
1 red chilli
Glass of red wine
Pinch of caster sugar
Penne pasta

Cook the sausages in the oven for 20-25 minutes, remove and slice
Fry off the onion, chilli and garlic.
Add the sausages, red wine, tomatos and sugar, and cook for 20 minutes until the mixture has thickened
In the meantime, cook the penne pasta.
Serve a large dollop of sausage mix ontop of the pasta, and serve with parsley and parmesan.

This was perfect to sit and watch the BRITS to.

Charlotte xXx

Its finally....PANCAKE DAY

This is my favourite day of the year (excluding Easter Sunday).

I woke up this morning, slightly later than anticipated, and got the mixing bowl out. Today's breakfast was French pancakes. What a way to start the day....they sure kick the ass off weetabix!

Tonight, I'll be making American pancakes, with fruit. I'm sure they'll be the perfect dessert to follow my spicy sausage penne.

Better run really, dinner won't cook itself.

Laters
Charlotte xXx

Tropeiro- Brazilian Restaurant

Yesterday we went for our meal out. And i was not disappointed.

We went to Tropeiro in Chester; the basic idea is pay £19.95 and eat as much as you like.

We were given a plate, and shown the the vegetable area, where we loaded our plates up with spicy potato's, green beans, coleslaw, gherkins......the list goes on. Then every 5 minutes the chef comes round with a monster of a skewer loaded with meat. First up was sausages, then came the garlic coated lamb, then all the different beef cuts you could dream up. There was also chicken wrapped in bacon, pork cooked in blue cheese, hot 'n' spicy chicken wings. *Drool*


I personally think it is a mans dream. We were in there for well over an hour, eating constantly. By the time we went to get the bus home, we decided it was probably healthier to walk home- we didn't want death my overeating! ha

I would definitely recommend this place; its like a BBQ indoors! Amazing, and well worth the cash.

Charlotte xXx

Fettuccini with melting brie, cherry tomatoes and Basil

Wow, this was amazing- and simple to make. Everyone has some form of spaghetti in their cupboard, and tomato in their fridge. So all you really need to buy is the Brie.

Chop up the brie, and mix into a bowl with 2 chopped garlic cloves, basil, olive oil and halved cherry tomatoes (lemon juice to taste). Leave to infuse for about 15 mins. In the meantime, cook off enough fettuccini. Drain the fettuccini, and mix with the brie mixture. Within a couple of minutes the brie has melted!!

Season with black pepper and some salt!!

It only took about 30 mins in total to make.

Warning: You will stink of garlic for hours after eating it! haha

Charl xXx

Oh Dear...

Morning,
I have a confession, not only did i wake up wanting a glass of pepsi. I know, i'm disgusting! I also made pancakes AGAIN.
I've had the idea of pancakes in my head since Saturday; and i have already made them twice!! They're too tasty.


I had 2 for my dinner last night, and 2 more for my breakfast this morning!!


Think i may have to postpone lunch for a few hours, or just erase it completely.

Anywho, after this morning's revelations i have decided to give up fizzy drinks for lent

Charl xXx

Food this week

This week we have chosen the following for our dinners:

Sunday: Cherry tomato, brie and basil spaghetti
Monday: Out for dinner. Apparently we're going to a steak buffet! Yay
Tuesday: Spicy sausage penne
Wednesday: Sweet Chilli chicken pitta pockets and salad
Thursday: Teryaki coated steak, with rice, peppers and spring onions

This week we went to Tesco's for the food shop; David won some vouchers at work for there, so thought it made sense to shop there (Usually go to Morrisons).
All i can say is: I miss Morrisons! haha.

In terms of baking this week, i'll be making a nice batch of vanilla cupcakes- I'm only doing this so i can practice my icing skills! :-)

Think thats it this week, the most exciting thing will be our meal out on Monday

Charlotte xXx

Pancakes beat Valentines, anyday

Shrove Tuesday is nearly upon us. This is one of my favourite days of the year. You could be extremely lazy and buy the batter mix ready to pour in the pan, or you could put some love and fun into making them.

Since trying genuine American pancakes for breakfast in (where else, but) the USofA - i will never go back to plain boring English ones.
This is (in my opinion) the best way to make them:

130g Plain flour
1tsp of Baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp of caster sugar
130 Ml of full fat milk
1 Egg
2 dollops of butter
Maple syrup to serve

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg and butter together. Slowly combine the milk. Pour small thick dollops into a heat frying pan. And fry on each side for about 2 mins

Ooo, and if you want to make them and eat them later with some butter and jam on- then mix some saltanas- and hey presto, you have a lush treat!


Charlotte xXx

Twitter

Forgot to add.....add me on twitter www.twitter.com/mrscharlshearer

Thanks

Charl xXx

Saturday 13th: I'm back...again!

Hello (again)
I was on here before showing off my cupcakes; but since returning from holiday- they have disappeared! Hmmm, anywho- I'm back.
If you know me, then you'll be aware of my obession with food. But, if you don't- I love it.
I'll put up on here, my favourite recipes and dinners.

Charl xXx