Author: Scottish Mum

Posted on by — 10 Comments

Guest Recipe : The Best Carrot Cake in the World from Lindsey Cave

A lovely Guest Recipe from Lindsey, who you can find on Twitter as @MrsVanderCave, with her blog at backofbeyondbaking.blogspot.com.  That topping is perfection by the look of it.

——————————–

carrotcake

This recipe is actually for a carrot cake but it makes a big cake which can sometimes be a bit OTT, particularly if you like to watch your weight! So I came up with the idea of making individual cakes using half the recipe. This recipe has been named as the best carrot cake in the world ever after I used it in the school cookery book that I collated for my son’s school PTA fundraiser

The recipe below is gluten-free and for a full-sized cake but it is easily transformed back into a regular recipe by swapping the gluten-free flour for ordinary plain flour and excluding the Xantham gum. For 8 muffins just half the recipe and bake for around 18minutes.

The best Carrot cake in the world ever!

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Grease and line two 20cm cake tins. I use my cake tin liners from Lakeland.

Ingredients

250ml corn oil
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
175g gluten-free plain flour (I use Doves gluten-free flour mix)
2tsp Xantham gum (Doves Farm make this, you can get it in Tesco and Sainsburys)
1.5 tsp gluten free baking powder (check the label on your baking powder)
1.5tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/5tsp salt
1.5tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
115g chopped walnuts
225g carrots finely grated
5tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp soured cream
For the frosting
175g full fat cream cheese chilled
25g unsalted butter at room temperature
225g icing sugar sifted

Method

  • Place the corn oil and sugar in a bowl and beat well with an electric mixer until thickened.
  • Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. The mixture should now be pale and fluffy.
  • Sift the flour, Xantham gum, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt into the egg mixture and beat well.
  • Fold in the carrots, walnuts, vanilla extract, and soured cream.
  • Divide the mixture between the tins and bake in the oven for 1hr 5minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the tin comes out clean.
  • Once cooked, turn cakes out of the tins onto a wire rack to cool.
  • For the frosting place all the ingredients in a bowl and whip until light and fluffy.
  • Sandwich the two cakes together with a little of the frosting then cover the whole cake with the remains of the frosting. Swirl the frosting as you go to give the classic carrot cake look.

 

Posted on by — 9 Comments

More delicious foodiness. Turkey and Potato Soup made with Scotty Brand Potatoes

Making potato soup is a big Scottish thing I think.  It’s often so cold here that soups are ideal for little snacks and to warm us up when we’re cold.

 

One of Scottish Mum and no measuring recipes again, and I just judge how much goes in by the size of my pot.  I used a big pot for this, so I used a whole 2kg bag of gorgeous Scotty Brand Kestrel potatoes which I was sent to make meals with.

This served 6 people about 3 times, so if you have a smaller family, make half the recipe, or freeze for future meals.

Ingredients

  • 2 kg potatoes diced
  • 0.5 kg carrots chopped
  • half a small turnip – chopped
  • two small or one big onion
  • turkey leg
  • salt
  • pepper
  • stock cube x 3

Method

  1. Make stock from the Turkey leg.  I used it straight in the pot, and let it simmer for two hours with the stock cubes and enough water to cover the Turkey leg completely.
  2. Remove the Turkey leg.
  3. Make sure there are no Turkey bits in your stock by straining the liquid.
  4. Add potatoes, carrot and turnip and onions.
  5. Add water to cover.  I just fill with water from the kettle till all vegetables are covered by a good couple of inches, often  more.
  6. Simmer for 40 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked.
  7. Salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Serve with warm bread.

The one thing no foodie will say is that the soup should be spoiled by the addition of anything else, but one of my boys won’t eat home made soup unless it is a tin of Heinz Tomato Soup.  We compromised and he has his own little pot which is mixed with Heinz.  He still gets the goodness of the Turkey and Potato Soup so I’m  happy not to fight this battle.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Guest Recipe: Vodka and Tonic Battered Fish & Wedges

Todays Guest Post is from theperfectbadmummy.wordpress.com, who is @mrsaimeehorton on Twitter.  Her recipe for vodka and tonic battered fish & wedges is not something I would have ever thought to try, but it sounds very tempting to give a go.

——————–

Food for 2

I get a little bit excited when I learn a new kitchen “skill”. Probably more then is normal. Then, I love to make it a bit different, especially if it involves alcohol.

For the Fish:

2 chunky white fish fillets

4oz/110g Self Raising Flour

175ml of Tonic

Double shot of Vodka

Salt & Pepper

Extra Flour for dusting

1 pint of Vegetable Oil

For the Wedges

4 or 5 large potatoes – peeled and cut into wedge shapes

Cajun Spice

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C – pour the oil into a roasting dish and pop in the oven to heat

2. Sprinkle Cajun spice over the potatoes and put them into the hot oil and allow them to fry gently for about 10 minutes, until they are soft but still pale.

3. Lift out of the pan and leave to cool slightly on greaseproof paper.

4. Mix the Flour, Vodka, Tonic, Salt & Pepper in a bowl until it becomes a thick batter

5. Dip the cod in the batter until it is thickly coated

6. Place in the oil and cook for a few minutes until the batter is crispy and golden

7. Leave to drain on greaseproof paper

8. Add the potatoes back in the oil to finish off and crisp up

9. Serve with Mushy Peas or Salad and a vodka and tonic with a slice of lime.

YUM.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Personalised Gifts for Teenagers

This is a featured guest post.  Who couldn’t use a little extra advice these days about what to buy for their teens.  I had a look at their gifts and I am sorely tempted to get the birthday chocolate pizza for my eldest, mixing the two things that he loves would be fabulous instead of a cake.

———————————————————–

Have you ever had the pleasure of shopping for a teenager? If you have then you probably have learned it is no easy task. Teenagers are for the most part very difficult to please. Knowing this, gift givers often agonise over exactly what they should give them. One type of gift they may want to consider giving is a personalised gift. When giving this sort of gift to a teenager, they appreciate the additional thought that went into making it personal. When choosing personalised gifts for a teen, you want to consider their interests and hobbies to make sure the gift fits them.

For those teenagers who are into sports, a sport related personalised gift can be an option. It doesn’t matter if you are buying for a girl or a boy, if they are into a particular sport; this is always a safe bet. The specific item will vary depending upon their interests. Duffle bags and golf bags are a good personalised gift that any sport loving teen can use. Other sports items that can be personalised include water bottles, hoodies, t-shirts and more.

Today’s teens are very tech savvy as they definitely are more wired than previous generations. Often choosing an accessory to go with these electronics is a good idea. These accessories can often be personalised. All sorts of cases and covers are made today for Kindles, iPads, laptops and iPhones.

Teenagers all are very protective of their rooms as this is their space to escape from the rest of the world. A gift idea that any teen would love is some sort of personalised wall art or décor for their bedroom. When choosing this personalised gift, you can consider the interests of the team. You may also consider colours as some teams may have specific colour themes that were used in decorating their bedroom.

Posted on by — 9 Comments

Guest Recipe: Mutta Roast (Egg Roast) by Sheba Promod from Absolute Indian, Cooker School and Spice Boutique

The recipe attached is provided by Sheba Promod of the Absolute Indian, Cooker School and Spice Boutique.   The website has a lovely little shop for Indian spices and I was quite surprised to learn that Turmeric is actually known for it’s antiseptic properties.

——————————————————————–

Egg Roast (Mutta Roast)

Ingredients

(serves 2-3)

 3 hard-boiled eggs, halved

3-4 tbsp. vegetable oil

½ tsp. mustard seeds

2 medium onions, finely chopped

8-10 curry leaves

1 tsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

75 grams chopped tomatoes

¼ tsp. turmeric

½ tsp. chilli powder

½ tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. garam masala

This dish is normally served as a breakfast dish in Kerala alongside Appam (similar to a thick pancake and made from ground rice and coconut) However, it can also be served as an accompaniment to other Kerala curries. I must admit though, I find it truly heavenly just on its own or perhaps with some bread to help mop up the extra onions. It happens to be one of those meals that I craved when pregnant but wished my mum had been around to make then for me! She made them slightly differently, with luscious mounds of the onion masala served on top of the clean, cut eggs and then warmed through in the oven. Just as delicious!

 What makes the dish so mouth-watering is the abundance of onions. You may be rather alarmed with the quantity of sliced onions you have prepped for just 3 eggs but believe me, the sweetness of the slow cooked onions and the sharpness of the tomatoes (with of course, a kick of chilli) make this a delectable way to eat those simple little eggs. Perhaps try this as a variation to scrambled eggs one Sunday morning? You’ll want to make them again and again!

Heat the oil in a shallow non-stick pan. When hot, add the mustard seeds and fry for 2- seconds (they should sizzle immediately on contact with the oil). Reduce to a medium/low heat and fry the onions for 5 minutes to soften. (Bear in mind you do not want to brown them) Add the ginger, garlic and curry leaves and fry for a further 3-4 minutes.

Combine the tomatoes, turmeric, chilli and black pepper into the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes until the oil begins to separate from the masala. Season with salt and garam masala and then gently add the eggs. Mix well to warm through the eggs, being careful not to crush them.

Serve with fresh, warm pooris and pickle.

Notes

A simple way to split boiled eggs in half is to use a piece of thread lengthways across he egg – this gives you a clean cut without crumbling any part of the yolk or white.

 This dish can also be served as a starter or canapé. Simply top the warm, halved eggs with small mounds of the onion masala and serve. I promise you, totally mouth-watering. However, no more than 1 egg per person or you may find your guests stuffed before dinner!

 

 

 

Posted on by — 16 Comments

Making Stock Recipes for Slow Cookers Begins With Experimenting

How we make our stock is the difference between good and ok food from our slow cooker recipes.

It doesn’t matter if we are making soups or casseroles, the basis of good stock makes our meals perfect.  Cooking with a slow cooker is easy, but not satisfied with the results I was cajoled and encouraged by my mother on many occasions for the use of stock cubes in my recipes.  I still do use them for some recipes, for where speed is needed, or I haven’t got time to make or buy stock.

Using stock cubes works out where we are using herbs and spices to flavour meals, as they can often disguise the lack of real stock, but this post is to show you how to make stock that can also be frozen for the future.

Myth

All stock has to be meat based.

Types of Stock

The world is your oyster.  We can make stock out of almost anything ingredient wise.  When we are making slow cooker stock, we can put our ingredients in, and then just forget about them.

Bones, meat, poultry, vegetables and even fruits can be used to make our stocks with.

The key to good stock is to allow it to simmer slowly and absorb the aromas and flavours.   Don’t allow your stock to boil, or it will change colour.

Method

If you want lovely white stock, place bones, vegetables or fruits into slow cooker, add water to cover your ingredients and simply put on the lid and simmer on low for 8 hours.  Leave the stock alone to simmer, no stirring.

If you want brown stock, roast your ingredients first, or add some colouring.

Using Stock in Meals

Skim off the fat when it’s cool.  I put mine into the freezer for half an hour so that the fat rises to the top and is easy to skim off.  You could use a muslin or cheesecloth to strain it if you don’t have a handly sieve, or at a push, wait until the fat hardens into white lumps and just lift it out using a spoon.  You’ll find a way that works for you.

Freezing Stock

  • Remove as much of the fat as you can.
  • We don’t have to reduce the stock to freeze it, but if space is an issue, you might have to.
  • The best way to reduce stock is simply to put it onto the cooker, and let it boil away most of the water, but keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.

 

Posted on by — 11 Comments

Caravan Cooking with Scotty Brand Kestrel Potatoes – Slow Cooked Meatball Casserole

 

We received our package of potatoes from Scotty Brand just before we headed up to the top of Scotland with our caravan.  Sending a pack by way of my brother and his wife, I took 3 bags of their lovely potatoes with us.  We had a couple of baked potato meals, that I didn’t manage to get pictures of before my 3 strapping lads tucked into them.

On the days I made slow cooked soup and meatball casserole, I was much quicker off the mark.  For casseroles and soups, I rarely measure out ingredients unless it is to add spices and strong flavours.  At home, my slow cooker is a huge 6.5L pot, and there is always some left over to freeze for another day, but the pot for caravan cooking is 3L and makes just enough to feed the family for one meal.

For slow cooked meatball casserole done where space is limited.

Ingredients

  • 2kg potatoes, peeled and sliced
  • couple of carrots, sliced
  • onion, chopped
  • teaspoon of ginger paste
  • garlic clove
  • few cumin seeds
  • pinch salt
  • pinch pepper
  • meatballs
  • 2 x stock cubes
  • thickener

Method

I would usually pan fry the meatballs and onions, but being short of space in the van, I just threw them in the pot with the potatoes, carrots, ginger paste, cumin seeds and clove of garlic.   Sprinkle in the stock cubes with a dash of salt and pepper.

Add enough boiling water to read almost up to the top of your ingredients, turn the slow cooker on, 4 hours on high, or 8 hours on slow.

I had no cornflour with me, so some gravy granules it had to be for a thickener, a little more salt and pepper to taste, and then it was simply served up to hungry children.

Posted on by — 19 Comments

A visit to John O’Groats should be OFF the Bucket List. It’s not worth the effort.

Hyped up over the inflated egotistical corporate self promotional drivel, my family and I were taken in, and began a journey related to the appreciation of the Northern Territories of Scotland.  At the very top of Scotland, we began with a journey to see the topmost camping sites in Scotland, and visit John O Groats (or Jon o Groats depending on where you come from).

John O Groats is the place that end to enders from Lands End start and finish. The distance from Lands End to John O Groats is approximately 874 miles and is technically the furthest distance points for our little UK island

Dunnet Head is the actual furthest point, but John O Groats is the place that has turned commercial.

Pretty leaflets and alluring descriptions pulled us to striking an item from our family bucket list.  Come to think of it, we may have to rethink the drivel in our bucket if this is what we are reduced to.

Should’ve stayed at home……or should we?

“Are we nearly there yet  mum?” every five minutes in a three hour hour journey with 100 miles of driving, drives us a little into brain mush.  “I need a pee” seemed to resonate with any one of the three of them needing to stop off at the entry of every little village we passed along the way.

“Muuummm” a voice calls in panic from the loo.  Racing into the gents and expecting goodness knows what, a little boy pipes up that there’s no loo roll.  Running off for some leaves at the side of the road isn’t the most enjoyable way to spend five minutes on a car stop.

Visiting any toilet as a female is an effort of epic proportions as there is always the problem of what to do if there isn’t any toilet roll !!!   When the boys were smaller, pants were known to be disposed of in a toilet bin when loo roll was in short supply.

“There’s nothing to see,” eldest says in disgust as we roll up to the car park with the aura of excitement waning.  We see the signs for John O’Groats.  Expecting gorgeous views and unspoiled beachy areas, we parked up in silence as the exact nature of the place became clear and the heavens decided to rain on our parade in buckets and spaces, with cats and dogs to spare.

Disappointment abounded.  I know the season hasn’t officially started yet, but come on, there were dozens of cars there in the short half hour that we stayed for, so they should have been a bit more prepared for people this close to opening season than they were.

Grudging the 60p it cost for three boys to take a leak, I pushed them through a tatty turnstyle with skewed sign on it. With the amount of 20 pees they must take, surely they could afford a decent sign and a clean of the toilet floors now and again.

Promising littlest who is museum daft a browse of the “last house in scotland,” I finally admitted defeat in the tattyness and sheer pointlessness of the visit.  The “last house” was shrouded in scaffolding, as was the tearoom thing, the hotel, and it seemed like almost everything else there.

Harbour John O'Groats

 

Most of the shop units were empty and looked deserted.  The deco pieces looked skanky and dirty.

From its workshop, Caithness Candles looked like it does a roaring trade in what looked like penis shaped candles.  As a chandler myself, I gave their showroom a miss.

The caravan site looked nothing like website pics and I was pleased that we left the van behind to come up for a look.  Staying there would have been soul destroying.

Caravan Site John O'Groats - View 1
Caravan Site John O'Groats - The Lone Van

 

The only two places worth a small visit seemed to be the gift shop and the ice-cream shop but be prepared for extortionate prices for an ice-cream cone.

Craft Shop

 

“Horrible,” eldest summed up and he was quite right.  The harbour is skanky and miserable.

It’s a pointless visit if you want to see nice scenery and I’d advise going to either Dunnet Head or Duncansby Head.  We didn’t have time for Duncansby Head, but I’ll tell you about Dunnet Head in another post as it would spoil it to have it added here.

Posted on by — 7 Comments

A cake worth the calories……..the sweetie cake

It’s mums birthday today.  If you didn’t know, you do now.

I tend not to make too big a fuss when it’s my birthday and I actually never tell anyone in real life as I don’t want them to feel as if they “have” to buy me something, which they don’t.   I’ll have popped out this morning to buy myself a top and some cards for the kids to give me later, and then I’ll let them have the surprise.

A sweets cake is something that my boys have often longed to get, but I haven’t got round to making.

I spotted one on a Tweeters timeline last week and that gave me the idea to make one for my own birthday instead of getting the usual hurriedly bought birthday cake for mum that tends to be too sweet, too sickly and nobody can eat it.  I can’t remember who it was who had made something similar (but did look better than mine) and if you know, let me know so I can link up to her.

I know you really only want to know how to make a sweetie cake, don’t you?  I made a rather large cake, but you could make a smaller one.  I use a basic sponge mix, but we can add some variations if we want to.  Sorry, I work in ounces, but it’s easily changed to grammes by working at approx 28g per ounce.

Ingredients

  • 12 oz castor sugar
  • 12 oz butter
  • 2 oz chopped hazelnuts / almonds
  • 6 medium eggs
  • golden syrup or honey
  • food colouring
  • filling
  • icing
  • 12 oz self-raising flour
  • 1 x large bag of jelly babies & jelly beans (substitute for any sweets you like)

Method

I use a mixer, so it does take the hard work out of mixing for a cake, but it also produces a much lighter sponge than I have ever achieved by hand.

Cream the eggs and sugar together.  I microwave the butter to make it really soft so that it creams quickly and fully.

Break the eggs into a bowl.  I rarely do anything with them, but I know some people like to whisk eggs before they add them to a mix.  I don’t.  I just break, check there are no rotten ones, then simply add them in.  Once the mix with eggs added has mixed until it is a smooth paste, I then add my flour and three tablespoons of golden syrup.

Mix for a good three minutes in the mixer to make a uber smooth mix.  After that, I hand stirred in the hazelnuts and a couple of drops of food colouring.  I used red to give a nice pink sponge.

Pour into greased baking tray and bake at 140 degrees.  It takes about an hour to cook in my oven, and you will probably know your own oven well enough to be able to judge the heat to use.

When cooked, turn out on to wire rack to cool and allow you to shape it.  I cut the sponge to get two halves, then I slice the top off the uneven part and take the outside edge off the sponge, to leave the soft inner sponge.  I used to think that cakes which turned out of the oven like this were disasters.  I now know better and that some artwork with a knife can rescue some very unattractive looking sponges.

Adding a filling to the bottom part is simple, and for the benefit of the kids, I used a mix of chocolate and toffee icing with Nutella (their favourite).

I turn the topped sponge upside down to place on top of the filled bottom section and then cut around the crusts to make sure it looks even.

The next step is the easiest.  I cheated and bought pre-made icing which was ready to roll.   Spreading a little icing sugar on my counter, I rolled it out until it was large enough to cover the whole cake.   With a pastry brush, I painted a very thin layer of golden syrup on one side of the icing to help it to stick to the cake.  The syrup does make picking up the icing and putting it over the cake tricky, but if you roll the icing out to bigger than you need, it is doable.

I lifted the cake up and trimmed off the excess icing, wrapped a ribbon around the bottom of the cake and placed the sweeties on the top, aided by a drop of gelatine to make them stick.  Hey presto, the “sweety cake” my youngest asked for.

sweetiecake6

 

 

 

Posted on by — 9 Comments

What to do about head lice and nits.

You know the feeling when your child comes home from school, or club, with a nits and lice letter.

Your heart sinks as you know that you need to give their heads a good going over to make sure they don’t have headlice. At the same time, you smugly know that someone, somewhere in their life has a good head of lice and you instantly start to scratch at your own scalp, even though you know there’s nothing there.

Okay, it’s not a very nice subject to talk about, but I see parents looking horrified and holding their hands up in shock and disbelief if a child’s classmate ends up with any sort of head lice. I’m not sure what kind of prejudice that holds, but head lice like any head, so don’t feel awful because your child has ended up with lice or nits, as they have simply been a nice new head for them to live on.

A head louse is usually a small greyish insect that clings to hair and lives on blood from their host. The biting of the scalp and moving through the head tends to make the scalp itchy. An itchy scalp might be what makes you notice that there is something wrong.

I remember sitting in front of a girl at school and seeing her hair move on its own, which freaked me out as a ten year old, so I think it’s important for us to let our kids know that head lice are common, and it doesn’t mean the other kids is dirty.

Head lice can lay eggs that settle very close to the scalp and are difficult to remove. They can hatch about a week later and the leave a gluey shell (nit) that site along the hair.

Last year, Boots gave us one of their Electronic Head Lice combs for use in children of 3 years plus. We’ve not had the chance to try it out, but with a friends two children getting head lice, we actually had a chance to see if it worked. It did, – pretty well, although she did still use the shampoo, just to make sure.

More about head lice

Schools are common places to pick up head lice, as are buses, shops and anywhere that there are crowds and children might touch heads. Lice can’t jump or fly, so when kids huddle up close, lice can walk along the hair and transfer to a friend’s head. Lice will live on clean or dirty hair, so it doesn’t mean children are dirty.

How do we know a child has head lice?

The itching from bites is a tell-tale sign, but by the time that happens, the lice might have been there for quite a while.

It’s worth checking children’s heads frequently. I used to look regularly when my kids came over for a cuddle when they were smaller. The lice will hide away, but the little eggs might be noticeable if there are any.

I suspect my child has head lice so what do I do?

I remember when I had head lice as a child and my mother had me sit with my head over newspaper to catch any lice and nits as they fell off my head while she combed my hair. I was thankful that she took the time and made the effort to find them, and shampoo my hair as some friends who were infected had their hair cut off to get rid of them.

  • Brush hair to take out tangles.
  • Use lice comb to find and shake out any lice and nits onto the sheets of paper.
  • Start at the top of the scalp and work out and down from roots to tip of the hair.
  • Check the comb for nits and lice at every pass and clean them off.

Getting rid of head lice – What next?

Check everyone in the family to make sure they haven’t already got head lice and nits.  Let the school and clubs your child attends know, so that other children can be checked. If you don’t, your child could easily be infected again.

Shampoos and lotions

Chemical shampooing is recommended if there are live lice. There are prescription and chemist strengths. Make sure you use enough shampoo as a child with thick hair will need more. The instructions on the bottles are very good, with step by step methods.

If you only use chemical treatments, you will have to let the hair dry naturally and repeat the process at weekly intervals for a while to make sure that no lice survive.

Wet combing

Using conditioner on wet hair allows the nits to slide off the hair more easily. Using a fine toothed comb for about 30 minutes every few days for a few weeks will remove lice and eggs until they are all gone.

Electronic lice comb

The electric lice comb says it destroys lice without chemicals.

The principle is that it uses a small electrical charge to kill all head lice that come into contact with the comb teeth. It has to be used on dry hair and gives out a buzzy noise that lets you know the unit is working.

The comb gives a moment of silence when it has found a louse and destroyed it, which is slightly disconcerting, but also reassuring to know one has gone.

Results

From talking to parents and people who have suffered head lice, they prefer a mixed approach to getting rid of any infestations.

The electronic lice comb was indeed helpful, but to get kids back to school quickly, using it in combination with a chemical shampoo would be how I would move forward if my kids get lice.