Meal Planning Monday

Hello, I'm back to normal at home this week and looking forward to what will hopefully be less dramatic weather wise and far superior food wise.

The cold weather has meant that it truly is porridge time for breakfasts - with apple butter at the moment. More on this in another post though.

Lunches are the leftover rice I was talking about here

Suppers - well we're having roast with M's parents on Saturday, so it's a one chicken many ways week. Much to M's disappointment I'm not going to do pie, but risotto on Monday night. I'm going to do stock in the slow cooker overnight on Sunday and use that to make a squash soup for the freezer.

Monday: Risotto

Tuesday: Leftover risotto

Wednesday: Lentil ragu

Thursday: Sausages and roasted veggies

Friday: Point and pray

Saturday: is the Guide sleepover, so probably something bolognaise esque

Sunday: I should be home early afternoon so I think lasagne

Cake this week is a chocolate beetroot cake as it's a quick and easy one for me to knock up.

That's eat for us this week - don't forget to hop on over to At home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to

What are you doing on the 9th November? Coffee and cake anyone?

If you've read this post - you'll know I'm in the midst of trying to raise a lot of money for our local campsite. We need £25,000 for a new roof, and I'm determined to help out (not least as I want to use the venue for the wedding)

On the 9th November 4th Friern Barnet Guides will be having a coffee morning to raise money - they've been set a target of £10 per head - and at their estimated costs, that'll be 10 slices of cake each.

I'm opening our doors to all bloggers, cake makers, crafters (guiders or not) who would be willing to make and donate a cake, raffle prize, preserves, or anything else we can sell or otherwise raise money from.

If you can't do any of those things and are in or around the North London area that day, why not pop along, say hello and have your morning tea or coffee and cake with us.



Venue: Guide and Scout HQ, Stanford Road, Friern Barnet, N11 3HX

Time: 11am to 2pm

Date: Saturday 9th November

You'd better come on down

And meet, the nicest kids in town (not that I'm biased at all)

Also, there actually is cake in this post. Quite a lot of cake

I was trying to work out what order these next few posts should go in. Should we go with the most recent camp backwards to the fundraising, or the other way around? Does anyone else really care? In the end my need to be ordered won out and we're starting with the fundraising. This year's cafe was to raise funds for the girls centenary adventures, and whilst we raised less money than previously, the cafe was buzzing, the girls had an amazing time and there was a lot of cake.

See, a lot of cake. And you can't even see the cream teas that we were serving from the kitchen as the scones were being baked freshly.

The Rocky Road that I had trialed previously went down a storm - although it's a family cafe, something based in chocolate is obviously going to be popular! As well as the rocky road, I made a victoria sandwich using Nigella's recipe and cupcakes to the Magnolia Bakery recipe that I've posted about previously. I used blue vanilla buttercream to frost them, and in honour of our centenary sprinkled them with white chocolate stars. Sadly the photograph doesn't do them justice - let's just say this, lots of little hands got them out of their box and put them in the stand.

Victoria Sponge

Since my food processor went to the big, dusty cupboard under the stairs in the sky, I did this old school style - something I haven't done for a while. It takes more elbow grease than I remember! When using the procesor I add extra baking powder.


This is from Nigella's How to Eat, a book that I use more than I think going by the mucky pages strewn throughout. It was actually the first cookbook I read from cover to cover before actually using it as a cookbook.

Ingredients (as always, my notes are in italics)

200g self-raising flour Nigella doesn't sift hers, but I do - old habits and that. I have visions of my formidable Home Economics teacher turning up in my kitchen, peering over my shoulder and demanding that I redo it

25g cornflour
225g caster sugar
225g very soft unsalted butter - so soft that should you want to you would be able to squish your finger in it. Try this with a knife, not your finger though
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2-4 tablespoons milk - Nigella specifies full fat milk, but as I never have this in the house I use skimmed

Method


Preheat the oven to gas makr 4/ 180
Butter and flour 2 sandwich tins (I only have one - I'm sure at some point I had two, but alas, no longer)
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add the eggs, beating in one at a time, alternating with a spoonful of the sifted flour
Add the vanilla extract
Fold in the rest of the flour gently (add the baking powder and cornflour to the rest of the flour when I'm weighing out my ingredients)
Stir in the milk

Divide between your cake tins and bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes. Mine take slightly less time as we have a fan oven, but test with a skewer to be sure. Cool on a wire rack and sandwich together with jam. I used an apricot and amaretto jam that I had bought from Kavey of Kavey Eats when she had a stall at Covent Garden, it was amazing and I did think I could have added some almond extract or (if I had the processor) some marzipan to take that amaretto-ey flavour further through the cake. I would have used that in place of the vanilla extract.
Dusted with icing sugar, taken to the Guide hut and sold for 75p a slice I think.


No pictures of my cake I'm afraid as by this time the camera had been donated to an older Guide and I was to be found in a corner inhaling a cream tea and a coffee (a contradiction there I'm sure, but hopefully you know what I mean?)

Marshmallow treats


Rice Krispie cakes

And finally... a small story for you as an aside. One of my Brownies came to help her sister who is one of my Guides out at the cafe. It's always great to have an extra pair of hands on board and Georgie has sales skills that Alan Sugar would envy. Faced with customers she would point to the cake below and explain that "this is my Nonna's cake. It's Italian. You're lucky to be allowed to eat it. That's one pound please" (it was supposed to be 50p a slice, but who am I to complain) Genius. I think everyone bought pieces of Nonna's cake. I am also holding out for the recipe, it was that good. Also note the chocolate cupcake that had managed to become unpeeled during her sales pitches... clever girl that Georgie!