Celebrating a Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
That was quite a year , sorry it’s been pretty quiet on the blogging front but Em really has been taking up a lot of time. If I sit down to try and type when she is around she wants to help.

In the evenings I just try to get us all fed and restore some semblance of order to the house, try and remember to say hello to my lovely partner, who knows maybe a bit more than hello.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wrote months ago now to say Em had started sleeping through. Well I am never typing that again .

Parenthood 101 : Never talk about your child doing something good, because they will immediately stop.  with an additional

With an additional Part B :Never listen to anyone describe some horrendous thing their child has got up to and think, “Oh God , please don’t let my child do that.” or worse “Well my child will never do that.”

Because they will and the correct response is always. “How did you get them to stop?”, listen hard and file it away for future reference.

To celebrate her first year I did make not one but two cakes , the first incorporating two of her favourite foods cheese and strawberries.

Food continues to be a fun challenge  now  refusing spoons, watching her eat her cheesecake dantily plucking chunks from the lump held in her tight little fist was something to behold.

Strawberry Cheescake (No Bake)

Ingredients

250g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter , melted
1 vanilla pod (seeds scraped), 1tsp of vanilla paste
600g soft cheese
300ml greek yogurt

400g punnet strawberries , halved
50g of caster sugar

1. Line the edge of of a 23cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper
2. Take 1/3 of the strawberries and roughly chopped
3. Place in a saucepan with a dash of water and the caster sugar
4. Warm to a very gentle simmer and cook until the strawberries have begun to break down.
5. Meanwhile warm the butter until melted either in a pan or the microwave
6. Place the biscuits into a plastic bag and bash the bag with a rolling pin until fine ( you can use a food processor) but Em definitely preffered watching the manual approach.
7. Mix together the biscuit crumbs and the butter and press into the bottom of the cake tin.
8. Place in fridge for at least an hour.
9. Beat the soft cheese until smooth with the vanilla seeds, Stir in the greek yogurt
10. after the digestive biscuits have set , layer over half the cream cheese/yogurt mix , pour over the strawberry puree, then add the other half of the cream cheese , allowing the puree to mix in.
11. Refridgerate overnight.
12. Before serving top with the halfed strawberries , and slip from the sprung tin.

    
    
    Victora Sandwich

    I used double the quantity of my standard 175 cake recipe with just a dash of vanilla paste
    350g of self raising flour
    350g of unsalted butter
    350g of golden caster sugar
    6 eggs
    1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
    1 tsp of vanilla paste

    1. Blend together the butter , sugar and vanilla
    2. Mix in the eggs
    3. Mix the flour with the bicardbonate of soda add to the mix
    4. Pour into a round 25cm cake tin (lined with baking paper)
    5. Bake at 175degC for 40 minutes until golden and firm to touch
    6. Meanwhile make some strawberry purree

    400g of strawberries sliced
    50g of caster sugar

    200ml of double cream whipped until stiff

    1. Warm 100g of strawberry halves with a dash of water, puree with a stick blenderuntil some chunks remanin, you can do this by mashing chuinks with a spoon , it will take a bit longer
    2. Add the caster sugar , stir until dissolved and leave to cool
    3. Whip the double cream until stiff
    4. Once the cake is cooked , put half the cream onto the firt half of the cake , pour over the strawberry puree, sandwich with the second hal which shuld then be topped with the remaining cream and sliced strawberries