Banana Fudge Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Icing

I made these for a BBQ last weekend and they went down a treat. I had some leftover chocolate buttercream icing in the freezer which I used so have somewhat guesstimated quantities - you may end up with more buttercream than you need! However, this accounts for eating whilst making it, which will definitely happen because it's the most amazing buttercream of all time, ever.

One Pot Chipotle Bean and Potato Stew

This stew uses chipotle chillies to add smokiness, but they aren't necessary if you don't have any to hand. You can substitute for liquid smoke or extra smoked paprika. Make sure you cook the potatoes in the stock before you add the passata, as the acidity of the tomato sauce means the potatoes will take much longer to cook once it is added to the dish. We ate this dish by itself but if you wanted more carb you could serve with crusty bread.

Chickpea and Feta Tomato Pasta Sauce

I recently saw an interesting recipe for chicken and feta tomato pasta sauce and decided to modify it to be vegetarian. I'm not a fan of fake meat substitutes so I tend to substitute pulses for meat; I use chickpeas here, which I'm not normally in the habit of eating with pasta, and it worked really well.

Ginger and Soy Baked Tofu

A relatively simply dish of marinated baked tofu; I wrap the tofu in foil to retain the moisture but you could just lay the tofu out on a baking sheet. The only 'unusual' ingredient in this is the mirin, which is a type of rice wine easily found in any Asian supermarket. However, you could substitute for it with a dry white wine or leave it out entirely.

I rarely eat tofu, despite really enjoying it, because it is such a pain to prepare properly i.e. pressing it and dry frying it. However, you could probably skip the pressing of the tofu and dry frying in this recipe if you're short on time, and I expect it would turn out fine, although you would need to be careful not to break the tofu when stirring the marinade in.

Summery Courgette and Ricotta Pasta

A simple and quick pasta dish! I recommend slicing the courgettes thickly so they retain some bite and don't fall apart when mixing into the pasta dish.

(Bread maker) Red Berry Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter everyone! I have been slightly obsessed with some red berry hot cross buns sold in my local co-op, and decided to see if I could make them myself, by adapting a normal hot cross bun recipe. They turned out very well! I used a mix of dried cranberries which had some dried strawberries mixed in, but you could just use dried cranberries if you can't find strawberries. I lazily used my bread maker to make these, though I'm sure you could also make these the traditional way.

Sweet potato, beetroot, goats cheese puff pastry plait

One of my own 'throw some things together and hope it turns out OK' recipes which was a success! This pie is best eaten at room temperature or cold.

 

Pecan and Golden Syrup Muffins

First blog post of 2016! I have been a bit lax on the blogging front due to lack of time/energy/good photos, but hope to pick things up a bit this year.

This is a relatively quick, simple recipe that I found in various places online and modified slightly. I actually made these as cupcakes, but they are definitely more muffin in style - much denser than cupcakes. The addition of the layer of golden syrup in the middle of the mix gives a nice swirl of  sweetness. I used golden syrup as that was what I had in the house but actually any syrup would work well - I would imagine maple syrup would be a good combination with the pecans.