Simple Scrambled Egg

I wasn't sure if this post would be condescending but if it does anything at all, it will hopefully inspire you to fill yourself up with some delicious scrambled egg in the morning! And since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it seems only fitting to add my favourite fresh herb to it to make it taste even better.

Serves two

- 4 eggs

- splash of milk

- pinch of salt

- black pepper

- handful of fresh parsley, chopped

- butter

1. In a jug, beat the 4 eggs until smooth.

2. Whisk in some milk, salt, pepper and parsley.

3. Heat a saucepan, and melt the butter. Pour in the egg mixture and stir intermittently over a low-medium heat, making sure the egg doesn't stick to the pan and turn into an omelette, but scrambles.

(don't forget to prepare the other parts of your breakfast!)

4. When scrambled (varies from person to person - I like my eggs fairly solid but still a bit soft and moist), serve with some hot, buttered toast, or a full English!

Enjoy :)

Spaghetti Carbonara

I was craving creamy pasta so bad the other week that I had to whip up a classic carbonara. It was so delicious it didn't stay on my plate for very long. This dish is right at the top of my favourite comfort foods, and is great for a special occasion if you don't have much time but want something that will impress. Perfect served with some oozing garlic bread.

Serves 2
- 100g pancetta, cubed
- 150g mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 200g spaghetti
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 150ml double cream
- pepper
- fresh parmesan, grated

1. Fry the pancetta in olive oil or butter until it starts to crisp, then add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until softened.
2. Meanwhile, in salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions (about 10 mins).
3. Mix together the beaten egg and cream in a jug and add as much black pepper as you like. Stir in a generous amount of grated parmesan.
4. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain and add to the pan with the pancetta and mushrooms.
5. Pour in the egg and cream to the pasta and stir until combined over a low heat for a few minutes.
6. Serve immediately and grate a generous amount of parmesan on top and some more pepper, et voila!

Be sure to follow me on instagram if you like to look at pictures of food and see what I've been eating! 'lottierainbow'

Enjoy :)

Smoked salmon breakfast

For a special occasion, or just a weekend treat, try smoked salmon with scrambled egg on English muffins for breakfast. It is really delicious - the rich smoked salmon compliments the soft, creamy eggs perfectly, and isn't too unhealthy either! Lots of protein and 'good' fats on wholemeal muffins that will leave you utterly stuffed and satisfied. The perfect brunch.

Serves 2

- 4 wholemeal English muffins, sliced
- butter or margarine, for spreading
- good quality smoked salmon
- 4 eggs
- dash of milk
- salt & pepper
- dried mixed herbs
- knob of butter

1. To make the scrambled eggs for two people, beat 4 eggs in a measuring jug and add a dash of milk, and season well with salt, pepper and dried herbs.
2. Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan and add the egg mixture, cooking on a low-medium heat and stirring often.
3. Meanwhile, toast the English muffins and butter them when done.
4. Keep stirring the eggs until scrambled to your liking.
5. To serve, add a few slices of smoked salmon to each English muffin, then top with a generous amount of scrambled egg. Top with some black pepper and voila!

Another special breakfast/brunch idea that is on the less healthy side of the spectrum, is smoked bacon and brie croissants - mmm.

Enjoy :)

Coffee and mascarpone cupcakes

I made these for my mum's birthday since she loves coffee cake, like this tiramisu cake which I made for mother's day here! I usually always just stick to buttercream to ice cupcakes (I would've done coffee buttercream for these), but I thought a cream cheese frosting would be a nice change. It does mean you should probably keep them in the fridge though, as the mascarpone might go off otherwise, but I found that if anything it made the sponge more moist so keeping them cold worked great! You can decorate these with anything you like - walnuts would look really good placed on top and are the perfect match for coffee, but none of us really like walnuts so that's why I didn't do that. We tried to find chocolate coffee beans but couldn't which is a shame because they would have looked perfect. In the end I used these chocolate hearts which are really cute - they came from Sainsbury's, I think they were the Silver Spoon brand. These decorations will be particularly perfect for Valentine's day. The cupcake cases are from Ikea last year so they probably don't do them anymore. I love the colours and designs but always get annoyed because they're tall, slim cupcake cases, and I don't have a suitable cupcake tin to bake them in, so they lose their shape and it means the sponge doesn't go higher then the case. This really annoys me because I don't think the cupcakes look as good aha. Sorry for the long introduction! In short, these cupcakes make a really nice change and are super moist and flavoursome so definitely give them a try if you like coffee flavoured cakes.

Makes about 12
- 100g butter, softened
- 100g soft brown sugar
- 100g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2tsp coffee mixed with 100ml water
- pinch of salt
- dash of milk

For the mascarpone frosting
- 200ml mascarpone
- 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- the remaining coffee

1. re-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees, and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and fold in the flour and baking powder.
3. Stir in the coffee, a pinch of salt and a dash of milk until creamy.
4. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden.
5. Leave to cool on a wired rack.
6. Meanwhile, to make the frosting, whisk together the mascarpone, sugars and coffee. Once the cakes are cool, spread on top.

 7. Decorate the cupcakes with anything you like - chocolate hearts, coffee beans, walnuts, grated chocolate etc etc. Don't forget to store in the fridge!

Enjoy :)

The best victoria sponge

All I'm going to say is that this looks good, but it tastes even better!

For the sponges

- 175g margarine

- 50g butter

- 225g caster sugar

- 4 eggs, beaten

- dash of vanilla essence

- 225g self-raising flour

- dash of milk 

For the buttercream

- 150g unsalted butter

- 225g icing sugar, sifted

- 2 tbsp hot milk

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- raspberry jam

- strawberries

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees and grease and line two cake tins.

2. Cream the butter/marg and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually whisk in the eggs and vanilla essence, then sieve in the flour and stir in the milk to create a creamy mixture.
4. Pour the mixture evenly into the two cake tins and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool.

5. Meanwhile, to make the buttercream, simply whisk all the ingredients together until light and smooth.
6. Once cool, turn the sponges upside down and spread the jam on one side, and some of the buttercream on the other.

7. Sandwich together and leave for around 10 minutes.

8. Spread the remaining icing on the top of the cake (generous amount!) and top with some strawberries in a decoration of your choice!

Enjoy :)

Banana loaf cake

I had never tried banana cake until someone home-made it for a BBQ dessert last summer, and I absolutely loved it. I like bananas but don't usually like banana flavoured things, the exception being this cake of course. I used the recipe in Lisa Faulkner's cookbook, which worked really well. The good thing about it is that it requires very ripe bananas, so you don't have to waste those black bananas in your fruit bowl anymore! It's quite a dense cake but super moist and full of sweet flavour which is what I love most about it, and the end pieces taste particularly good, I don't really know why, it must be the change in texture? I grated some dark chocolate on top before baking, and next time I will probably put dark chocolate chips in to improve the texture and balance the sweetness with a more bitter taste - who doesn't love chocolate chunks in a cake!? If you like bananas, I would definitely recommend trying this recipe, don't be sceptical - it can be just as yummy as a victoria sponge or chocolate cake, it has lots of potential! I also always think of this as quite a British cake so would be the perfect treat to whip up for the jubilee weekend if you are having a party or spending time with family.

For a 1kg cake - serves 8-10 (I halved it)

- 125g butter or margarine, softened

- 75g soft brown sugar

- 75g caster sugar

- 2 eggs, beaten

- 3 ripe bananas, mashed

- 250g self-raising flour, sieved

- 2 heaped teaspoons honey

- dark chocolate, grated

(How cute is this egg box!? I'm sure they're just normal eggs - I don't think the fact that they're called 'baking eggs' changes anything, but they were really large eggs and the best value at around £1.20 for 6! I got them in Tesco)

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees. Grease a loaf tin.

2. Cream together the butter and the sugar until soft and fluffy. Whisk in the beaten eggs and the mashed banana until fully combined.

3. Fold in the flour, then stir in the honey.

4. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and grate the dark chocolate on top.

5. Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes, or until golden on top, and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

6. Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wired rack and leave to cool. Serve on its own or with some crème fraiche, mm mm.

Enjoy :)

Blueberry pancakes

These American-style pancakes are a perfect breakfast treat, or make a great brunch. I had never even eaten blueberry pancakes before today, so I was a little weary about making them, but everything went fine and they were delicious. The blueberries poking out of the batter in the pan makes it harder for the pancake to cook through, but if you squash them down it isn't a problem and the blueberries go warm and jam-like mmm. This recipe made about 10-12 pancakes so I heated the oven to keep them warm as the stack got higher and higher. I am ashamed to say that my boyfriend and I ate all of these between us with no struggles (food blogging is stretching my stomach!) I served them with a drizzle of honey and topped with some extra blueberries. We also had blueberry jam and crème-fraiche - the cold cream went perfectly with these warm fluffy pancakes, and it was the Sainsbury's 'be good to yourself' version yay. I definitely recommend making these! 

 Makes 10-12 pancakes
- 250g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 250ml milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 50g butter/margerine, melted - plus extra for frying
- 100g blueberries

To serve:
- honey or maple syrup
- blueberry jam
- blueberries
- crème fraiche

1. Sift the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

2. Combine the milk, eggs and melted butter in a jug. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together. Stir in the blueberries.

3. Heat a frying pan and add a small knob of butter. Ladle some batter into the pan and flip when the underside starts to go golden brown. 

4. Repeat until all the pancakes are done; keeping them warm on a plate in the oven until you have a huge stack of them.

5. Drizzle with honey or syrup, top with blueberries, and serve with crème fraiche.

Enjoy :)

Toad in the hole

As much as I love Italian food, nothing beats some of the classic British dishes like toad in the hole, shepherds pie, and beef wellington! This recipe worked really well for me, I had never made my own toad in the hole before so was worried the batter wouldn't rise or wouldn't be cooked in the middle, but it was perfect. I used Tesco light choices sausages because they're way less fat and taste exactly the same to me - if not better!? It would be best served with creamy mash, vegetables and onion gravy. I used meat gravy granules and added fried onion - it's not the same as freshly made but was still delicious.

(Warning: this is a really filling meal, so maybe not a good idea as part of a 3-course!)

Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs
- 125g plain flour
- 150ml milk
- 150ml cold water
- salt & pepper
- 4 sausages
- 2 tbsp oil or butter

1. Fry the sausages until browned all over (don't prick the skins), and allow to cool
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the milk and water, mixing well - set aside
3. Sift the flour into a large bowl and season. Make a well in the centre and gradually whisk in the liquid mixture until you have a smooth batter with no lumps - rest for 15 mins
4. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6. Put the oil/butter in a deep baking tin and place in the oven
5. When the fat is sizzling, remove from the oven and pour in the batter mixture
6. Add the sausages parallel to each other and place back in the oven - bake for 30 minutes or until the batter has puffed up and is golden brown and crispy
7. Serve with potatoes of your choice (buttery, parsley mash would be best!), vegetables and onion gravy.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate creme oreo brownies

I very rarely bake brownies because I can never seem to get them the right texture or consistency. I baked some for a friends birthday and was adamant that they weren't cooked so I kept putting them back in the oven. Once cooled we were practically eating rocks - delicious rocks but still, the texture clearly wasn't right! Another time, I made some chocolate and raspberry brownies with my friends, which again, were delicious, but were far too gooey.

So anyway I decided to try and give it another go, but again, I struggled a lot with the consistency/texture of the brownies. I did turn the oven down but still I was left with sponge round the edges and goo in the middle. However, this is how most people like brownies and it is brilliant for a dessert hot out the oven with ice cream. But, it isn't the sort of brownie that can be easily cut up into squares and eaten over 2 or 3 days! Maybe I should stick to cupcakes...

**okay just realised the oven had broken halfway through cooking and I didn't even realise - long story! - these will cook fine in that case... oh student kitchens...**

Here is the recipe I used:
- 100g chocolate (I used cadburys milk chocolate giant buttons)
- 100g unsalted butter
- 200g caster sugar (soft brown sugar would have probably been better)
- 3 eggs
- 200g self-raising flour
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 pack of chocolate creme oreos, crushed

1. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a pan over a low heat.
2. Take off the heat and stir in the sugar and beaten egg.
3. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and crushed oreos.
4. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin.
5. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes - mine took so much longer so maybe turn the oven temperature down and adjust cooking time accordingly.
6. Leave to cool in the baking tin.

If you use soft brown sugar instead of caster, maybe some dark chocolate instead of milk, and your oven doesn't break halfway through then these would be perfect!

Enjoy!

Mocha cupcakes

I made these today for my dad's birthday celebration, but I think they would be more fitting for Valentine's day!

They taste absolutely delicious; moist sponge, creamy frosting and strong chocolatey coffee flavour, what more could you want from a cupcake!?

I am aware some of my decorations look a bit naff - I was going for the chocolate lattice effect but I didn't have a piping bag, so had to make do with a teaspoon and a cocktail stick haha...

They would look amazing with the frosting piped through a nozel and a cocoa or coffee bean placed on top - simple and sophisticated! Or for Valentine's day a chocolate heart placed on top, as suggested in the recipe.


I got the recipe from my Hummingbird Bakery book 'Cake Days', which I would highly recommend.

I can't wait to make the apple crumble cupcakes and their famous whoopie pies so watch this space!

- 240ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
-15g hot chocolate powder
- 5g instant espresso powder (or coffee granules)
- 80g butter
- 280g caster sugar
- 240g plain flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs

Heat oven to gas 5 (190c) and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.
Warm the milk and mix in the hot chocolate powder and coffee powder until dissolved.

Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients, apart from the eggs, together by hand or using an electric whisk.

Whisk the eggs into the mocha flavoured milk and combine with the other mixture, until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 18-20 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch.

<--- they should look something like this (cupcake cases from Ikea)

 - 50ml milk
- 30g hot-chocolate powder
- 500g icing sugar (Only used about 400g)
- 160g butter (It only needed about 120g)
- anything you want to decorate (I used milk and white chocolate)

Mix the warm milk and powder together until dissolved. Cream together the icing sugar and butter, then stir in the chocolate milk until smooth. Simply spread on top of the cakes or pipe.

 <--- This was just about the only successful chocolate lattice I managed to make!

This is what the cupcakes looked like - they look even better when bitten in to!

Hope you enjoy :)
(all of these pictures were taken by me apart from the cookbook)

Nutritious breakfast

One thing you need to know is that i LOVE eggs! I will usually have them soft boiled on wholemeal and/or seeded toast, but they're amazing on english muffins for a treat. The reason I usually choose soft-boiled is because i love how they can taste so creamy and rich, particularly from the yolk, without anything extra - no oil, no butter; just good old eggs boiled in water! It can be, however, difficult to time them to the right amount of boiled that you like, and difficult to peel them when they're soft.

Scrambled egg also make a nutritious breakfast - combine with skimmed milk, some margarine and some herbs mmm.

I try to alternate between having eggs one morning and cereal the next, as the yolk is fairly fatty and contains cholesterol, although i'm sure eggs have more health benefits than drawbacks so i don't worry too much about this.

I stay away from sugary cereal and try to stick to filling whole wheat or bran ones like branflakes or shredded wheat. I have noticed recently, however, than branflakes are quite high in sugar. I therefore bought cornflakes the other day which are low in sugar but have noticed that they don't fill me up nearly as much (i guess cause they're corn and not bran?) I also love special k but can get a bit addicted to it!
I have my cereal with skimmed milk because to me it tastes the same as semi with cereal, and it's less fat so win win! In the case of shredded wheat though, for some reason i only like that heated up in the microwave with milk and honey mm.

I really want to get into porridge in the near future as it is so filling, and warming especially in winter. I would probably vary making it with water or skimmed milk depending on what flavours i was adding, if any.

I love cinnamon sprinkled on things, and in porridge it would be delicious - maybe even with chunks of warm apple in as well.

I am a huge fan of honey which would work perfectly with porridge but i get a bit carried away with it (i love it with everything...) and would have to be careful not to make it too sugary, as it defeats the point of the healthy, nutritious breakfast.

I would definitely recommend buying plain porridge oats rather than the ready flavoured ones - like Quakers cinnamon or golden syrup etc. It would work out far cheaper to buy plain and add your own flavours, and that way you can mix it up daily instead of having to use up a dozen of the same flavours.

Other flavours I would want to try would be slicing bananas with it, adding blueberries, or sweetened dried fruits like cranberries or raisins.

If you are on a healthy diet I would recommend putting as much effort into breakfast as possible as it really should be the most nutritious and filling meal of the day - it starts off your metabolism for the day which is key for tackling any weight loss.


Just having fruit would not be enough for breakfast, but if you really want to block out carbs (which isn't the best idea...) then i would suggest teaming the fruit with some low fat natural yogurt, which is delicious and you can add so many flavours! Likewise if you want to make a smoothie make sure it consists of fruit like berries and a more satisfying fruit like banana to thicken, as well as low fat yogurt or milk, maybe some fruit juice, and adding oats in to keep you full for longer is also a good idea!

Anyway, i will definitely be doing more specific posts on natural yogurt and smoothies in the future because yogurt is one of my favourite healthy night time snacks, especially with blueberries and cinnamon.


Hope you start your day in a satisfying, healthy and delicious way :)