"I don't believe it"

How can I not have blogged here in nearly a year!!!

I have several cooked Christmas gifts planned so mental note to self to get those projects up on line.

** Kate **

Chocolate Muffins

Most 'chefs' have a signature dish. Mine has turned out to be muffins! (although I'm not too bad a sauces either).

This is so quick. Don't be precious about it, don't sieve anything, just bung it all together following the instructions below.

6oz Plain flour

1oz Cocoa powder

3tsp Baking powder

Half tsp Bicarbonate of soda

3oz Demerara sugar

2 and a half oz Butter

1 Large egg

150ml Milk

Pre-heat the oven to 200c and prepare a muffin tin with 12 cases.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set to one side.

Melt the butter.

Measure out the milk and then beat the egg into it, then beat in the melted butter.

Stir the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, lumps are OK, lumps are good.

Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. (If you have proper muffin cases from somewhere like Lakeland the mixture probably won't rise over the top. If you want 'muffin tops' use cake cases or try greasing and baking directly in the tray).

Cook for approx 20 minutes, if you press the cake top lightly it should be springy.

Turn out onto a cooling tray and enjoy.

Makes a great loaf cake too. Same mixture into a 1lb lined loaf tin. Cook for about 30-35 minutes.

I must end by giving credit to Nigella Lawson who started me off on muffin baking with her Christmas Morning Cranberry Muffins. That was a few years ago now and have changed her recipe around and made many variations - enough for a book!!

** Kate **

About time too

Food list update :

• Organic cheddar
• Home made olive oil bread
• Runner beans
• Broad beans
• Nectarine
• Cocoa powder
• Peas
• Pineapple
• Kiwi
• Plums
• Satsuma
• Clementines

He really seems to be thriving so we have decided to stick with the 'pure foods' diet at least until the holiday season is over, if not longer. Not sure what other choice we have, choose a product with Sodium Benzoate in it, feed it to him and see if it makes him ill??

** Kate **

Pastry - U

Small-N-Grubby announced that he wanted an apple pie, now that apples have been added to his diet. I haven't made pastry since I was a child but nothing ventured nothing gained. Turned to Delia for the basics. She recommended 4oz of plain flour to 2oz of fat. So I made up the minimum using butter for the fat.

Sieve the flour well to add air. Gently rub in the room temperature fat until you have a bread crumb consistency. Bring together into a dough using water which has been cooled in the fridge. Add the water a little at a time. Bring the dough together with a knife initially, then get your hands in! Form into a ball which should pick up any loose mixture from around the bowl. If it won't pick up it needs a tiny bit more water. Wrap the ball of pastry in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes.

The pastry is now ready to use. Roll it out and cut rounds for small pies. The 4oz portion will make six pies with tops or about 9 with a little pastry left to decorate on top.

Now you can add what ever filling your diet allows. I cored and peeled 3 eating apples and cooked them on the hob with 2 tablespoons of water and 1oz of sugar for about 10 minutes.

I mashed them up a bit to reduce the size of the chunks and drained off any excess water before filling the pies and adding the top decoration. I used milk to stick the lids on but water can be used instead. Cooked at 200c for about 20 minutes.

The results weren't too pretty but the pastry was good and they disappeared fast!

** Kate **

New Foods Added

Small-N-Grubby had a huge temperature in the night. Kept looking for spots to appear and arguing about what he had been fed! He is much better this morning and no spots, so far so good. Here's the list of items we have added to his diet since I last updated.

• orange juice
• fresh tomatoes
• apple
• raisins (without any glazing)
• grapes
• green beans
• raspberries

Its going really well but I don't know what to move forward with next. We haven't added anything for a few days, its all been so hectic with end of term things. He asked for pancakes today, but I can make them using things he already eats. Hopefully, lots more fresh fruits will be coming into season soon and we can crack on.

** Kate **

Pancakes

Not been very active on the cooking front at the moment. Its getting near the end of term and with both children starting new schools in Sept my schedule is full of end of term/leaving events and new school visits/taster sessions. I expect to get a lot more experimental cooking done in the holidays. I've been gluten free for a couple of weeks now and it's definately suiting me. Though I do have cravings for a large jam doughnut.

Over on Anso's blog she's been experimenting with gluten, dairy and egg free pancakes and scrapping the results of course! Have a look here.

** Kate **

1 Month Hospital Check

Just a quick note to confirm all was well and there had been no need to worry. Test levels were normal and we are on the emergency only list. Which means no more appointments with very long waits (see the rant on my Craft Life blog).

Just continuing with the diet, heading up to hospital if there is a major problem or for allergy testing if any foods give a slight response.

Feels like that should be it now, but reintroducing foods is going to take forever!

** Kate **