There are several ways to guarantee a successful christmas cake.

• The first being to always soak your fruit in brandy for at least a couple of hours before adding to your recipe.
• The second is to beat the eggs, sugar & butter until they are light and fluffy ( if this curdles at this stage the cake will be drier).
• Fold the remaining ingredients gently, too much stirring will make the cake tough or even rise unevenly.
• Always bake larger cakes at a low temperature as too high a temperature will dry the cake out.
• Also remember large heavy fruited cakes improve with maturing, so if you leave it late make sure you try another variation which doesn’t need maturing.

Here is my family christmas cake recipe:

125g glace cherries, 50g no-soak apricots, 225g each of currants, sultanas, seedless raisins, 50g chopped mixed peel, 100ml brandy, 50g blanched almonds, 50g brazil nuts, butter, 1 lemon, 225g soft dark brown sugar, 4 eggs (size 2 if you do not know your egg sizes then take a look at my previous blog called ‘eggciting eggcapades’ on 14/08/08), 225g white plain flour, 1 tsp ground mixed spice, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground mace, 30ml milk, ingredients to decorate.

• Cut cherries into quarters and roughly chop the apricots and place these together with the rest of the dried fruit in a bowl. Pour over 75ml brandy and stir well. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.
• Roughly chop the almonds and the brazil nuts and store covered tightly until ready to use.
• Cut 2 circle of grease proof paper to fit your cake tin. Cut a further peice which will go around the tin and make sure at least 20cms above the top of the tin. You should snip one edge of this sheet with sissors which will make this fold inside your tin better. Grease your tin place one disc inside the base of the tin and then fit the other strip snipped side downwards around the sides grease the base again and place the second disc and grease again.
• Using a electric whisk if you have one (or manual whisk if not) beat the 225g butter with the finely grated lemon rind until soft and pale. Gradually beat in the sugar. Then in a jug lightly whisk the eggs and then slowing beat into the creamed ingredients. This mixture should have a smooth consistency.
• Sift together the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and mace. Using a large metal spoon gently fold the flour into the creamed ingredients along with the soaked fruit, nuts (which you chopped earlier) and the milk.  Do not beat the ingredients.
• Spoon your mixture into your prepared tin and level the surface. Tie a double band of brown paper around the outside of the side of the cake tin and secure with string. Place a further double sheet of brown paper on the middle oven shelf and sit the cake tin on top.
• Bake at 150 c 300 f or gas mark 2 for about 3 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. (if necessary cover with greaseproof paper or foil to prevent the top of your cake overbrowning.
• Leave to cool in the tin.
• Skewer the surface and add the remaining brandy and leave to soak in. Turn your cake out of the tin and wrap in greaseproof paper & foil.
• Store your cake for up to 3 months and I add tablespoons of brandy once a week to my cake (but do not add if the surface is still wet and the brandy has not been absorbed from last time).
• You can decorate accordingly by glacing with jam (taking apricot jam 8 tablespoons & 15ml of water and heat them together in a saucepan. Sieve and glace your cake.) You can then simple add glaced fruits to the top and a ribbon around the side before serving, or marzipan and then ice after the mazipan has dried, the choice is yours.

What is your favourite christmas treat?  My mother loves mince pies made with my homemade mincemeat and topped with meringue and almonds. My favourite would have to be the rich fruit cakes and christmas puddings, along with rich port and cranberry sauce to serve with your choice of meat.

Let me know if there is something you would like me to cover for you before the big day so I can help, send me your topics!

I could hardly believe it when I looked at the news to read that ‘Grease’ the classic musical we all remember well, with the T birds and the pink ladies is 30 years old? My, where has the time gone?

We all know how fashion goes around in a circle and if you keep something long enough it will actually come back into fashion again.  Well its the same with home economics, we have gone full circle and returned to the 1940’s according to all the latest research.

There has been a massive increase in sales of cheaper cuts of meat, or we are buying a quality joint and using this to make several meals from. So you would have a roast meal, then a cottage pie and soup or stew all from the same joint for a number of days. One thing with the cheaper cuts of meat, you will need to cook them longer and slower and these cuts can be tremendously tasty cooked in such a way.

Along with a 15% increase in shoe repairs and the recycling of clothes. Seamstresses are reporting an increase of business as we are all having our clothes repaired and patched. Even the humble chimney sweep has seen a growth of 28% in business due to the credit crunch.  As all of us start using our open fire places and burning wood etc rather then putting the central heating on.

Even gym’s are experiencing a huge decline in memberships, as people cancel their membership to even train at home or start gardening to keep fit, by growing their own vegetables.  Root vegetables are actually experiencing a revival. However they are expensive in the supermarkets having recently seen a turnip on sale for over £1.  This seems astonishing to me, when you think that just a few pounds spent to buy potato seedlings for example, actually produces around 3 sacks.  My potatoes dug up fresh from our garden are delicious and melt in your mouth bursting with flavour.  At the moment we have swede, turnips, beetroot, onion and tomatoes in abundance.

I love this vegetable rack which really becomes a feature in your kitchen when filled with fresh colourful vegetables. This superb indoor kitchen vegetable rack looks fantastic with its black iron look frame and willow baskets. A round 3 tier vegetable rack in buff & green willow to  give you fruit and vegetable storage. 3 woven baskets each 32cm in diameter and 12 cm deep to hold your fresh vegetables and fruit.

 Have you grown sunflowers? my sunflower has been no way near the height of previous years although I have had alot of multiple heads upon each stem. The tallest sunflower grew to only 5 feet this year. What height has your grown too this year? Send in a picture? or tell me what you have been doing different because of the credit crunch in the kitchen?

I love pasta so I find making homemade pasta both satisfying and enjoyable. Once you have mastered the technique of mixing, kneading, rolling and cutting you can then experiment with a endless list of flavours using your favourite ingredients.

Before you attempt this you are going to need a good pasta machine so take a look at these available for you. But take my advise and go for a good sturdy machine that is built for the job, the imperia range of pasta machines which both colleagues and myself have used too have always risen to the task at hand.

Fresh pasta is easy to make and tastes wonderful! This traditional pasta machine  the imperia pasta machine is chrome plated with adjustable rollers and includes tagliatelle and fettucini cutters.
This Imperia Pasta Machine is the original way of producing fantastic homemade pasta. The machine consists of two rollers that can be gradually adjusted, rolling the pasta into thinner sheets as the handle is turned. Once the correct thickness has been achieved, simply feed the pasta through the spaghetti or tagliatelle cutter and that is it!
The set includes the machine and full instructions. Additional attachments are also available for making a variety of different pasta dishes.  I felt that the this pasta machine was sturdy, and the rollers were consistent which gave great results.

To try out your pasta machine lets make tagliatelle take:

100g semolina, 100g semolina durum wheat, 2 eggs, water(make up to 90g with eggs)

Using a food processer place the semolina & semolina durum wheat into the bowl and placing the processor on a low speed add the eggs & water and process until a dough is formed. After about 2 minutes the dough should be smooth and ready. Make into a ball and covering with a damp cloth allow to rest for about 5  minutes. Divide your dought into two and form two balls which should be flattened, putting your pasta machine on the widest setting roll the dough through the rollers of your machine. Fold over either end into the middle and roll through the pasta machines rollers again repeating this for 3 to 4 times until you have a nice retangular shape to your pasta dough. Change your pasta machine to the next setting and roll again, keep repeating this moving through the settings until you have a long scarf of pasta dough.  Using the tagliatele cutter, cut the pasta dough in your pasta machine. The ready cut tagliatelle piles up under the machine. You can leave your pasta to dry or use immediately. But remember fresh pasta is delicate and only need to boil for 2 minutes to reach ”al dente” stage.

So enjoy your home made pasta I tell you once you have tasted your own fresh pasta you will be hooked on making it.

Tell me which is your favourite pasta? My daughter found out very early on while making pasta for the first time how much room your need to roll out and my kitchen looked like she had had a food fight in it, but the end result was delicious!

Have you ever made your own pasta? Have you got a funny story, tell us all about it?

Dried fruit is sweet, cheap and available all year round. So while the credit crunch starts to hit our food budgets why not start by saving some money by cooking some quick and easy biscuit tray bakes for desserts, snacks and packed lunches. I guarantee the whole family will love them and better still you know whats in them and can make them as nutrious as you wish. Try my families favourites.

Simple chocolate raisin brownies:

Take 100g sunflower margarine, 175g dark chocolate, 225g light muscovado sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, 2 eggs (beaten), 175g wholemeal flour, 50g pecan nuts (chopped) and 100g raisins

Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Melt the margarine and chocolate in a large bowl, stir in the sugar and vanilla essence. Add the eggs, flour, nuts & raisins and mix together. Pour mixture into a greased and lined tin or tray and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

 Simple Fruit & nut bars:

Take 90g rolled oats, 100g dried apricots chopped, 75g self-raising flour, 50g light muscovado sugar, 50g roasted hazelnuts, 50g plain chocolate drops, 150g magarine and 5 tablespoons of honey

preheat your oven to 190C/gas 5. Mix oats, apricots, flour,sugar, hazelnuts and half of the chocolate drops. Melt the margarine & honey in a saucepan and then stir in the dry ingredients. Press this mixture into a greased and lined tin or tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden. Cool in the tin and then cut into bars. Melt remaining chocolate drops and drizzle over the bars.

Make sure you have the right equipment to make your biscuits take a look at the range of baking trays.

Send in your favourite biscuit recipe or let me know how you get on with making any of our favourites its always great to hear from you. What item of shopping have you had to strike off your shopping list to budget today?

What one kitchen gadget would top the charts of many no matter what the age of the person voting. I would have to say always up there in the top 5 would be the George Foreman Grill. We started with the George Foreman Health Grill with the bun warmer, which we used nearly ever other day. It was so easy to cook chicken, chops, steak, sausages you name it on this grill, with the minimum mess and a moist result and perfect cooking everytime.

My son would never be parted from one. He loves cooking a variety of meats on it and its cooked in no time at all.  It is so easy to use and always cooked to perfection. The ultimate in convenience for him, which means he eats heathly meals which he has cooked himself. This grill goes on and on and on, ours is years old and it is still as good as new.

I then went on to buy the George Foreman’s ‘Next Grilleration’ 12617 grill. This version has a triple coated nonstick grill plate and its great family size can cook up to 4 burgers at a time. What’s more, and what I personally felt was so good about this version of the grill was the fact that the plates can be easily removed and put in the dishwasher. Plus it has a floating hinge so any thickness can be catered for, so what more could you want? Supplied also with a drip tray to catch any fat, a spatula and the George Foreman cookbook.

One of my son’s favourites which he loves to cook is Rosemary Lamb Chops which he serves with new potatoes and fresh vegetables of his choice. Its so easy, all you do it take 4 lamb chops, black pepper and about 2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary.  Simply coat the lamb chops with the rosemary and black pepper, preheat your grilling machine for about 3 minutes and then place your lamb chops in the grilling machine. Close the lid and cook for about 5 minutes if you like a hint of pink in your meat and for 7 minutes to give you well done and then serve immediately.

I have to say that this is one of those kitchen gadgets which has filtered throughout the whole of our family. The younger members all have one in their homes and even my elderly mother too, who loves it.  Its easy to clean, easy to use and ideal when you are cooking for just one too.

What do you enjoy cooking on your george foreman grill? Tell me what you think of the foreman grill range?

Well I am still here and feeling fantastic! Yes thats means my fantastic children and I managed to complete our challenge and complete the marathon.

What a feeling. We were all on such a high at the start with thousands of other people the atmosphere was electric as we all limbered up together to warm up for the task at hand, fitting our timing devices to our ankles. Checking things like laces, drinks on our running belts etc we gathered at the start. A huge sea of people, such a colourful array of t-shirts and running tops. The road was not even visible, nor could you determine where the road ended and the path and public watching actually started.

I recall how Edward turned to me and said ‘do not look behind you’ and of course both Emma and I looked behind. Just a vision of heads with no end in sight.  The commentator started the count down to the start as the crowds cheered. By this time we all had butterflys in our tummies.  With a hugh cannon blast and sound of horns the marathon had started. We stood for what seemed ages as the commentator stated ‘and our first marathon runners have crossed the 1 mile marker’, panic set in as we had not even started and still had to cross the starting line with thousands of others as we started to move in one massive surge forward.

Some people seemed to run past in a panic thinking others were miles in front we paced ourselves and kept our nerve. The journey was fantastic with the encouragement of the crowds cheering and clapping you on as you passed streets full of spectators.  It was tough with a capital T, the burn and where you get the energy from I do not know. You passed runners and then miles later they passed you until you caught them up again.  Even between the runners we encouraged each other on talking to each other on the way.

The thing that struck me most was how everyone had a story. They even had been through a trauma, illness, accident etc or were running for a cause or family member so many stories to tell.

There is a point when you think ‘oh god i’m not going to make this?’, but by running together we kept each others spirits up and kept the pace for the slowest.  The home stretch was amazing. When we knew we were nearly there at the finish there were so many people shouting you on, some runners found a second surge of energy to go for a sprint finish which included my son. As we passed that finish line and you look at that big clock what a sense of achievement, I must of been one of the proudest mothers on the planet at that particular moment. It was such a memory I will cherish for ever to have ran with my children for a worthy cause who fought so hard to try to save my fathers life. We collected our medals and enjoyed the moment together it was very emotional before filling up on fluids and nutrients to revive our tired limbs.

We were ready and prepared with our favourite Papaya Smoothie: (Don’t forget to make sure you have your own smoothie maker to hand to make some delicious and nutrious smoothies for all the family).

Take 500g ripe papaya, 500ml Soya Milk, 2 medium bananas, 250ml orange juice, 1/2 squeezed lemon and 2 tablespoons of honey.

Prepare your fruit by peeling, deseeding and slicing or cutting into cubes. Combine the banana, papaya, soyamilk and mix in a blender until smooth. Then add the honey, fruit juice and mix again. Add the lemon juice to your taste and serve, delicious and one of our all time favourites.

It’s sunday morning, it’s early and most of you are lying in bed for the morning. It’s that one morning of the week which you can take it easy, read the paper from cover to cover. Well not in this house! Usually we would be up and off to watch my son bash his way through the opposition in his usual sunday morning rugby match. But this weekend is different. We are up at 5am and after weeks of training my son, daughter and myself are running a marathon in honour of my late father.

Mad! you need to be, commited definitely and will power is a must. We have done the lot the diet, the hours of running preparation and even pilates. We have eaten nothing but carbs pasta, cereals, rice, potatoes and bread now to build up lots of energy. Infact, I do not think pasta will be on next weeks menu after the amount we have eaten.

Its a fact that you burn more fat running than in any other sport. You can shift 1000 calories during a 40 minute running session.

So whats for breakfast on that rare occassion, we decided on porridge and fruit, nothing unusal, nothing new, just a good wholesome breakfast. Our discussion that morning went along the lines of what lucky charms we had on our persons for the challenge ahead. For my daughter her morning coffee had to be served in her special lucky mug. Its funny how we can find something special in such a innocent object as a mug. My daughters has a slogan on to inspire her. Check out the selection available here, mugs 

For my son its his lucky shirt and for me it is a bracelet which has great sentimental value.

What would be your lucky item when your attempting such a challenge? What would you have for breakfast? Check out my next blog and I will let you know how we get on. Have you ever undertaken a challenge for charity or in memory of someone special?

Pizza’s in all shapes and sizes and the best bit, you get to choose the topping. Basically pizzas’s can be so much fun to make and the children will love it if you involve them too. I have to say if you involve them in the cooking you will have no problem with them eating. There is something special about eating something you have made yourself. I am sure most of you will of had your children or a niece or nephew come home with their first cooking experiments from school; and then they stand there in front of you in anticipation, while they wait for you to taste their handy work. I know also that no matter how bad it tastes, you smile and eat it all up and congratulate them.

Well, lets get involved together and have fun with making homemade pizzas. There are lots of pizza gadgets available now. All to help you prepare pizza’s at home in your own kitchen, so take a look here, pizza cooking items

Pizza stones are a must to get the right texture on your pizza base so make sure you pick one of them up as you will use it over and over again.

My daughters favourite would have to be homemade sun blush tomatoes, mozzarella and parma ham pizza.

You will need:
200g self-raising flour
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
splash water
6 sun-blushed tomatoes
2 slices parma ham
4 slices buffalo mozzarella

To make:
For the pizza bases, place the flour into a large bowl with half of the olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and add enough water to form a dough.
Divide the dough into two balls then roll out on a floured surface to make two pizza bases.
Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan, add the pizza bases one at a time and fry for 8-10 minutes on both sides, or until lightly browned. Remove each base from the frying pan and place onto a baking sheet or pizza stone.
Preheat the grill to medium. Place the sun-blushed tomatoes, parma ham and mozzarella slices on top of the pizza bases. Place under the grill for 6-8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Then serve.

Have you got a favourite recipe for your homemade pizza’s? send them in and we will share our toppings?

Toast actually means scorch or burn from the latin word tostum. To toast bread was a means of preserving bread in the past. We owe this to the Romans who spread the idea of toast throughout Europe and eventually to Britain. 

 It was with the invention of electricity that the electric toaster as we know today first appeared as before this it would of simply been held over a fire as the earlier toaster was a wire frame which sat over the fireplace. The first toaster appeared in the early 1900’s with the first pop up toaster appearing in 1926.

Now every household has a toaster and we have developed toasters in all shapes and sizes with added gadgets to them aswell. 

I love the Bosch TAT6103GB Private Collection toaster variable width slots, variable browning control, reheat setting, cancel and defrost buttons, bun warming rack, cool touch exterior, crumb tray and high-lift mechanism .  So this toaster basically does it all. It dosen’t matter if you cut your own bread, as this toaster takes variable bread widths. So if you like your toast cut into doorsteps for instance, this is the toaster for you.  The other brilliant option that this toaster has is the defrost option. This allows you to defrost your bread too, so if you have forgotten to get it out of the freezer the night before its no problem with this toaster to hand in your kitchen.

Millions of us wake up in the morning to toast and coffee or tea. The variety of things we choose to do with our toast is enormous. Whats you favourite toast topping? Are you a marmalade addict? I love homemade marmalade, and whats more toast is a favourite snack, no matter what the time of day or night. When do you enjoy your toast?

My kids love the toaster bags they can invent their own toasted sandwich variety and then make it up in these fantastic toasting bags. You simply place them in your electric toaster and when it pops up you have instant toasted sandwiches and no mess, their brilliant and a must for any busy mum.

Send me your toasting tips and I’ll put them together for you all to read with your favourite recipes too.

It seems everyone you speak too recently seems to have the dreaded cold. So it got me thinking about immunity boosting foods. This month will see thousands of us start to get vacinated against flu as we start to get prepared for the colder months.

If your think of your immune system as a army, the stronger it is the better it fights off invaders such as cold germs. An amazing fact is that cold germs can live on the average hanky for hours. Another striking fact is that contrary to belief, we rarely catch colds through the air; instead we pick germs up on our hands and introduce them into our systems when we touch our nose’s or mouth’s. So one of the best ways to ward off colds is the wash your hands.

Zinc is vital for the formation of white blood cells which help fight infection. You can boost your intake with 2 to 3 serving of lean beef per week for example with just 75g of beef containing 30% of your daily intake of zinc. Satsumas are a great source of vitamin C the number one cold fighting nutrient, there are other fruits which are high in vitamin C too. All of these can assist us in finghting off the germs.

I read recently that the pleasure we get from eating chocolate or even smelling chocolate actually can boost our immune system well thats my excuse anyway!

One thing Grandmother would make for us when we were poorly was her fantastic traditional Steak & Kidney Pudding. Its a family favourite which has been passed down generations of our family. It is perfect for when your feeling poorly served with fluffy mash potatoes and rich gravy.

You will need -
350g self-raising flour
175gshredded beef suet
cold water to mix
salt and freshly milled black pepper
560g chuck steak
225g ox kidney after trimming (so buy 275g/10oz)
2 tbsp well-seasoned flour
1 medium onion, sliced
cold water
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and freshly milled black pepper

You will also need a well-buttered, 1.5 litre capacity pudding basin and a steamer. To make the suet pastry sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add some black pepper, then add the suet and mix. When  blended, add a few drops of cold water and start to mix with a knife to bring the dough together.  Keep adding drops of water until it becomes a smooth dough coming clean away from the bowl. 

Take a quarter of the dough for the lid, then roll the rest out thickly into a circle and line the bowl with the pastry, pressing it well all around. Chop your steak and kidney into small cubes which should be tossed in the seasoned flour, then add them to the pastry-lined basin with the slices of onion. Add enough cold water to reach almost the top of the meat and sprinkle in a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and another seasoning of salt and pepper.

Roll out the pastry lid with your rolling pin, dampen its edges and position on the pudding. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil, pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking. Now secure it with string. Place your pie in your steamer and steam for five hours. Make sure you top up with water if required in your steamer.

The result a delicious mouth watering pie, proper comfort food just when you need it and full of Zinc. My family love this pie and this recipe has now been  passed on to my children as my grandmother passed on to me. Tell me about a recipe you have passed on to your children or which has been passed down your family over the generations. I bet you have a secret Christmas Cake family recipe?