Baking With Kids - Messy Me Apron Review

I've always loved to try new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. In fact that's originally how I started my blog many years ago. I'd bake something, photograph it and share with family and friends what I'd made and the recipe. But since having children I've found it so hard to find the time or energy for it. So although I have all these recipes I'd love to try, maybe I need (for now) to change how I'm doing things.

Family Meal: Risotto Recipe

This is such an easy recipe to throw together (and throw together is pretty much how I make it), as well as being healthy and one that we often make in our house. I first started making this as a simple mushroom risotto with sliced mushrooms and peas. It's quick and easy and apart from the mushrooms we often have all the ingredients available to hand. Now that we have kids we are always looking for ways of getting them to eat vegetables. Our now 2 year old was so good at eating just about anything, including my mushroom risotto, but like a lot of kids, has become more selective the older he's got. So I've changed the way I make the risotto so we can still keep it on our list of meals he'll eat that include vegetables (which isn't many).

Black Forest Cherry Trifle - Recipe

If you're looking for a super easy dessert that is sure to wow your friends and family, this is the recipe for you. Below is the basic recipe I make, but you can try different variations and add in other layers. You could add in chocolate mousse, chocolate digestive biscuits. You could add fresh cherries on top for decorations. Have a play and see what you can come up with.

Easy No Bake Malteser Cheese Cake

I was looking for a dessert recipe as I was making dinner for my sister Ruth and her husband as a belated birthday treat for Ruth and remembered her saying she liked cheese cake and it didn't need to be a baked one. I have a full book for recipes dedicated to philadelphia recipes. There was bound to be a cheese cake I liked the sound of in there. But as normal I headed to the internet in search for a recipe I liked the sound of. I found one on the BBC website that looked easy enough to make and even better I had most of the ingredients in already.

Banana Bread Recipe

We had some banana's that were VERY ripe and if they weren't used within the next day I'd have to throw them out. Of course I could have popped them in the freezer for a smoothie at some point, so there is no need for banana's to ever go to waste. Anyway I decided to make banana bread. I love it and it's so easy to make. The recipe I use says to add walnuts, which I never do. I don't like them, so why would I add something I don't like.

Jelly Mousse - Slimming World

This has become our favourite Slimming World sweet treat. It's so quick and easy to make and you can make a few potions that sit in the fridge. Making it a quick dessert after dinner to just grab and eat.

Rice Pudding - Slimming World Syn Free

This was a really easy recipe to make and tasted great. Often when you're trying to find alternatives for recipes you have the memory of what you know something should taste like. So then get disappointed when the alternative doesn't quite match up. 

Slimming World Roulade

I made this Roulade recently which is only 1/2 a syn on Slimming World for the whole cake. I had a quarter serving, which is only 0.125 of a syn. I thought it tasted lovely and it was so easy to make. I had a spare 15 - 20 mins while my baby slept, then finished it off with the fruit later once it had cooled down. I added strawberries and blueberries, but you could add any combo of fruit.

Chocolate Devils Food Cake

Chocolate Devils Food Cake - made by my wonderful husband! He wanted to make a cake for a family gathering and this is a recipe I've made a number of times before and it's always enjoyed by everyone.

Cake ingredients (double ingredients for a 2 layer cake):
2 cups of plain flour
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cups of veg oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs

Frosting
200g butter
1 pack of Philadelphia cheese
1 pack of icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 - 3 tsp vanilla essence

Raw Vegan Chocolate Caramel & Pecan Cake

If there's one downfall I have in life, it's my love of desserts. I love making them and love to eat them!! It doesn't help when I'm trying to eat healthy and still want more than a bowl of fruit and yoghurt. Don't get me wrong I love fruit and yoghurt, but sometimes it doesn't cut it.

Then on Sunday I had a friend over for dinner who has a million and one food allergies. I needed to avoid dairy and raising agents, whilst trying to make something that was healthy, so I didn't feel guilty eating it.

I came across a website with a variety of raw & vegan no bake cakes. I already had pecans in the cupboard, so decided to give the chocolate caramel and pecan cake a go.

I didn't have a right sized spring pan suggested in the recipe so used individual tartlet tins. The ingredients below was enough to make 3 cakes, so I made an extra portion of the recipe to make a 4th cake. I served with vanilla vegan ice-cream. The true test of how good the recipe was, was from my husband and he liked it (with the ice-cream).

Meringue Shell Recipe

I found myself with some left over egg whites and needed to find something to make to use them up. I have always made Pavlova, but wanted to try making individual meringue shells this time. I found the below recipe on the BBC website at this website - How to make meringues

The recipe says to use dessert spoons to scoop the meringue onto the tray. I wanted them to be more unified so I piped the mixture.

These were very straightforward to make and very similar to making pavlova. The key when making pavlova or meringue, is to whisk the egg whites on high speed until stiff, then slowly add in the sugar. It's important not to add the sugar in too quickly, you want each spoonful to dissolve before the next spoonful is added.

You could add fruit to these, or change the way you pipe the egg whites to make them into a nest like a mini pavlova. I definitely will make these again, especially if I'm having a dinner party and want to make individual portions.

Marshmallow Cake Pops

Cake Pops are all the rage at the moment. There are so many fancy designs you can do to suit your party theme. They can make great centre pieces to a table and can really impress. If you're new to making cake pops like I am and want to give something a go, these marshmallow pops are a good place to start. OK, technically they're not cakes, but they are on a lolly stick.

Ingredients:

Marshmallows (normal sized)

Sprinkles

Chocolate to melt

Lollipop sticks

Directions:

Place a lollipop stick into the bottom of each marshmallow

Melt the chocolate according to the directions on the bag. Flavour with extract if you like.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe makes the most yummy, moist carrot cake ever. People who have eaten it have told me its the best carrot cake they have ever tasted. I don't add walnuts into my carrot cake, but you can add them in if you like.

I find the cake best eaten a day or 2 after you make this cake. Great if you want to prepare for a party in advance. Make the cake and store it in a cake tin, then you can frost it on the day.

Easy Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

This is probably my favourite soup to make and eat, I particularly love to eat it on a cold Autumn evening. Growing up I never was a big fan of soups. Now that I'm an adult I realise that the reason was probably because I either like a stew with big chunks of meat and veg or a soup which has been blended. So this is the perfect soup for me and I've had others who aren't a fan of soup tell me they love this recipe and even go back for a second helping.

This recipe was passed to me from a friend who lives in Australia, she makes the soup with pumpkin instead of butternut squash. You can make it with either, but it is harder to get pumpkin in the UK unless it's Halloween time, so I always make it with the squash. This is such a simple recipe, you could make a big batch and freeze portions.

Rice Krispie Chocolate Treats

I've made these rice krispie treats as part of a dessert bar for a wedding, click to see Wedding Sweets and Treats.

I wanted to try making some cake pops and these looked fairly simple to make. However when it came to putting the rice krispie treats onto the sticks, it proved a little more difficult than I first thought. But these still turned out really well and everyone loved them. With a little more time I'm sure I could turn these into Cake Pops, however on this occasion I was pushed for time, so decided that I would leave them as heart shaped rice krispie treats. Or as I've done on the photo above you can slice into squares. This way you don't have any waste.

English pancakes

Happy Pancake Day!!

Pancake day, other wise known as Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) or Jif lemon day.

I've had the below recipe pinned on Pinterest for almost a year, so today seemed like the perfect day to try it out.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Recipe sourced from the Nigella Lawson website.

Everyone who knows me, knows I love desserts, particularly if fruit is involved. I've been wanting to make a pineapple upside down cake for a while, so I set out to find a recipe that looked good.

The recipe I found on Nigella's website had some good reviews and it didn't disappoint. Nigella suggests you can make a warm sauce from the pineapple juice to serve with the cake, however I made custard to go with mine.

This is such an easy and quick cake to make with very little effort. Its a lovely nice treat for Sunday dessert or afternoon tea.

If using tinned pineapple, try using the one in its own juice rather than in syrup. I added some of the juice to the sponge, too.

Cinnamon Swirl with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cinnamon swirls are to die for when warm with a good helping of cream cheese frosting. When you make them, make sure there are plenty of people to share them round. I make around 20 swirls from 1 batch. I kept eating them for breakfast for the next 2 or 3 days. They do taste good, but my waist line won't thank me for it afterwards.

Ingredients

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

Pear and Chocolate Crumble

I love to eat dessert, particularly fruity desserts and you can't beat a good crumble. This dessert is so easy to make and tastes so good, particularly with the added chocolate and nuts. I made this for a dinner party a few years ago and really impressed my guests. It's a nice touch to make them in small individual ramekins, so you can give each guest their own dish. I sourced this recipe from the Waitrose website.


Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Cherry Garcia Brownies Recipe

I love Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice-cream, so this recipe screamed out at me to get in the kitchen and bake. I had to adjust the recipe as I couldn't find maraschino cherries, but it seems to work just as good.