I'm an ASOS Insider!

I got a lovely surprise this week when I found out I have been selected to be an Asos Insider! The little parcel you receive with some goodies and a handwritten note actually made my week.

This news was perfect timing with it being the Asos sale at the moment. One of the many things I love about Asos are their amazing sales - I put all the lovely clothes I want in my saved items and then literally wait until they have a sale on so I can splurge (I waited for the sale right so I don't have to feel guilty!) So when I was invited to make a wish list of the sale items I'm after to be in with a chance of winning a voucher how could I say no!

Asos Dip Dye Beach Short

Sister Jane Shirt in Tropical Print

Asos Leather Hip Flask Cross Body Bag

Asos Boudoir Ditsy Floral Lace Triangle Bra

What are your best Asos Sale steals?

Recipe 52/19 - Mac 'n' Cheese

I spotted this recipe on one of my favourite blogs (http://www.whatoliviadid.com) and although I told myself that Mac n Cheese is a meal that should be enjoyed on a cold, dark winter's evening (not in the first signs of spring..) my cheese craving was just too strong!

Its a meal that had kind of slipped off my radar since childhood, maybe because if it's just the macaroni and a cheese sauce it can be a bit bland... but with the bacon and tomatoes thrown in it just adds that extra yumminess and makes it a bit more grown up somehow. I really forgot quite how good Mac n Cheese is - basic good old comfort food at its best!

Low in cost but high in cheesiness = perfection!

Here's the how to http://www.whatoliviadid.com/2013/09/what-olivia-cooked-mama-ps-mac-n-cheese.html

Recipe 52/18 - Five Minute Chocolate Pot

Last weeks recipe was my Valentine's burgers... this week its my Valentine's pudding!

I found this recipe in a Green & Black's Chocolate Tasting Collection (where all the best recipes come from surely?)  - among all the amazingly good chocolate there were several chocolate recipe cards. It was the five minute bit on this one that caught my eye! If you want a super quick, seriously simple yet still deliciously indulgent pudding this is perfect. 

The recipe suggests using expresso cups but I had a cute heart shaped ceramic dish that I wanted to use and it seemed fitting (the chocolate just took a lot longer to set!)

I personally love dark chocolate but if you aren't a fan I'm sure this recipe would work equally well with milk chocolate - I actually compromised with half milk and half dark chocolate as my boyfriend Tom is not a fan! 

You will need:

200g Green & Black's organic dark 85% chocolate (any cooking chocolate will do but I'm sure using G&B's chocolate would have amazing results!)
100ml boiling water
1 tsp vanilla extract
300ml whipping cream

1. Melt the chocolate bars in a microwave or bain-marie, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the water gradually and then the vanilla.

3. Add half the cream and stir until fully blended.

4. Pour into six expresso cups (or similar) and leave in a cool place for at least 45 minutes to set.

5. Just before serving whip the remaining cream and spoon on top of each pot.

6. Grab two spoons and dig in!

The chocolate was heavenly - I wish I had doubled the recipe! Next time I make this I won't bother with the whipped cream on top  though - it was just a distraction from the yummy chocolate which I would have preferred on its own.

Recipe 52/17 - Homemade Burgers

So with it being Valentine's Day last week, my boyfriend and I decided that instead of going out for some expensive meal it would be much more fun to stay in and cook our favourite thing - Burgers. It was a no brainer!

I worry that a meal you often eat out will be hard to make from scratch at home but these really weren't! They barely take any time at all, in fact they were so quick to make that we had a sudden rush to get all the buns and extras ready before the burgers went cold. And if you want chips with them make sure you get those in the oven early too - oops!

We didn't have an actual recipe for these, just things we'd picked up from other people and instinct really.

You will need:

rump steak (300-400g makes about 4 burgers depending on how thick you like them) 
seasoning
buns
mayonnaise, onions, cheese, bacon etc.

1. Mince the steak in a food processor (don't over mince it).
2. Season and shape into burgers (I borrowed a burger press off my dad - who knew these existed!)

3. Get a small amount of oil hot in a frying pan and fry burgers for a few minutes each side depending on how rare you like them. Or use a grill if you have one.

4. Prepare buns and toppings.
5. Pop in your burger and voila!


There were a few things that could have been perfected - maybe the burgers were a little over cooked and could have been less thick but hey, practice makes perfect and I am definitely looking forward to making many more of these. The only downside for doing them at home...all that washing up (oh how I dream for a dishwasher!)

Heart Sugar Shapes

I am a fan of any Kirstie Allsopp crafting program on TV but I'm pretty rubbish at actually trying out any of the things I love on the show (as well as DIY crafts I've pinned on Pinterest!) As someone who spends their days making jewellery and gifts to sell it can be hard to just make something for fun (although everything I make for my business is fun!) and not to try and work out how I'm going to sell it. 

But with Valentines Day last week it seemed like the perfect excuse to make these adorable little sugar cubes. 

These are quick, seriously easy and they look so cute popped into tea and coffee or even just looking pretty in your kitchen. 

You will need:

chocolate mould
250g granulated sugar
1 tsp water
food colouring

1. Measure the sugar into a bowl and add the water.
2. Stir until all the sugar is moistened.
3. Add a tiny bit of colouring onto your finger and dab into the sugar, then stir in. If the colour is not dark enough continue to add small amounts until you are happy with the colour.
4. Heap the sugar into the mould and firmly press it down into the mould.
5. Make sure that the sugar is compact and remove excess sugar from the top of the moulds.
6. Leave it at room temperature overnight in a dry place.
7. Remove from the moulds by either carefully popping them out or placing a plate on top and turning over.

Recipe 52/16 - Raspberry Blancmange

I don't think this can count as an actual recipe, but I bought a lovely vintage jelly mould last week and I wanted to see something made in it! The obvious choice would be jelly... I did look at some proper jelly making recipes but none of them were what I was looking for and I did think buying jelly cubes and adding boiling water really couldn't be counted as a recipe. 

So what else can you make in a jelly mould? A classic old fashioned Blancmange - even the box looks like it hasn't changed since the 1950s which goes perfectly with my vintage mould. The recipe is extremely basic but as you had to actually measure out a couple of ingredients, and mix and simmer in a saucepan I did feel like I was making something properly.

You will need:

1 pint of milk

2-3 tbsp sugar (I only added 2 and it definitely could have done with 3)

1 sachet of blancmange powder (chocolate, strawberry, raspberry or vanilla)

1. Empty the contents of one sachet into a basin.

2. Add the sugar plus 3 tablespoons of the milk.

3. Mix to a smooth paste.

4. Take the remaining milk and heat in a saucepan until warm.

5. Add a little of the warm milk to the paste, mix, then add the rest and stir well.

6. Return it to the saucepan.

7. Bring to the boil, then stirring continuously, simmer gently for at least a minute.

8. Rinse your mould with cold water (I just put mine in the fridge) and pour in the liquid.

9. Allow to cool to room temperature and pop in the fridge for at least three hours until set (I left it overnight)

10. Serve chilled and eat within two days.

I wasn't sure how, or even if, it would come out of the mould in one piece so I did it very slowly... and it came out beautifully! Then I was too busy admiring it and wobbling the plate to notice that the other side had a little crack in it (maybe I wobbled it a bit too much but it was so cute) that got bigger and bigger until the whole thing collapsed into a big pink mess! Sadly I didn't get a photo of it before it collapsed.

Apparently whole milk gives the best results as semi skimmed milk is too watery to hold it together. It didn't taste too good either but I don't think the appearance made it look too appetising. Oh dear, maybe next time!

Recipe 52/15 - Chicken and Spinach

I found this recipe in a fictional book (of all places) - Jane Green's 'The Love Verb' (great book!) had a different recipe every chapter. Mostly vegetarian recipes (nearly all involving spinach) and while a lot of them looked a bit healthy for me some still looked interesting enough to have a go at! Although the one I chose in the end was probably the only one with meat in...

I wasn't too sure about the mix of cream, mayonnaise, curry powder and... greek yoghurt (surely only for breakfast?) but it looked quick and easy to try without much time or effort wasted if it wasn't for me! Plus I needed to have a healthy meal for a change and you can't get much healthier than two packets of spinach right?

I found it best to do the sauce by taste as I didn't want it to taste too yoghurty. Also the more breadcrumbs and curry powder the better - if you've got stale bread to make the breadcrumbs use it! 

You will need:

1 packets frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and liquid squeezed out (I used fresh)
2 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)

seasoning: (I wouldn't take the measurements too seriously here)

1/2 medium jar mayonnaise
1/2 medium carton greek yoghurt
1/2 small carton single cream
1 tablespoon curry powder
3/4 cup breadcrumbs 

1. Preheat the oven to 175C.
2. Cover the base of a large rectangular dish with the spinach.
3. Season.
4. Place the chicken breasts on top of the spinach and add seasoning.
5. Mix together the mayonnaise, yoghurt and single cream.
6. Add more or less curry powder, according to taste.

7. Spread the mixture liberally on top of the chicken breasts and spinach until all is covered.
8. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and cook for 45 minutes.

Serve with rice or potatoes!

The mayonnaise, curry powder, cream and yoghurt mixture turned out to be delicious (who knew!) and combined with the breadcrumbs, chicken and spinach it made a great meal. Definitely one I will be doing again. 

Recipe 52/14 - Victoria Sponge Cake with White Chocolate Icing... and Marshmallows

It has become a tradition every year that I make my boyfriend a birthday cake which he takes into work (after I've sneaked a slice for myself of course!)

The first year I made a chocolate on chocolate cake with fudge chunks, second year was the same but it didn't quite live up to the first year! This year I went for something a bit different, vanilla sponge with white chocolate icing and... marshmallows (not my idea, I wish I could take the credit!) Yes, marshmallows in the icing. I can't say they were planned, after making the sponge it just looked like the cake was going to be missing something, and I had to beat my first cake (I appear to be in competition with myself!) Cue a late night visit to the supermarket to look for something as good as fudge chunks, after staring at the cake section for a few minutes without much inspiration I let my boyfriend choose something. He chose mini marshmallows! 

I've never seen marshmallows on a cake before and combined with the sugary sweet white chocolate I was a bit worried about causing some kind of sugar overload in the office. But it was seriously yummy, if I say so myself, and I'm not even a big fan of white chocolate. There was just something about the freshly baked soft sponge combined with the fluffy marshmallows that you couldn't beat!

The victoria sponge recipe is something my mum taught me when I was younger (she used to make it every week - minus the white chocolate and marshmallows) - it's the usual recipe with a few bits that have been added and tweaked over the years.

You will need:

6oz (150g) margarine - make sure its room temperature or warm
6oz (150g) castor sugar
3 eggs
6oz (150g) self raising flour (says sieved but I didn't and it was fine)
1 tsp baking powder (optional)
few drops of vanilla essence 

For the butter icing: 4oz (100g) butter - make sure its room                                                       
                      temperature or warm
                      8oz (200g) icing sugar (again sieved)
                      100g white chocolate (any quantity would be 
                      fine here - I experimented with 30p cooking                  
                      white chocolate instead of the £1.85 
                      belgian chocolate option)
                      few drops of vanilla essence 
                      tub of mini marshmallows

1. Mix the margarine and sugar with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy (it takes a while by hand)
2. Add the eggs one at a time beating to a smooth consistency between each addition (add a tablespoon of flour with the last egg)
3. Add the remaining flour, baking powder and vanilla essence - just long enough to incorporate the flour.

4. Bake in 2x7" sandwich tins, greased and lined, for 20-30 minutes at 190C.
5. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

6. Beat all the ingredients for the icing together until it is soft and fluffy.
7. Add the marshmallows and lightly mix in until they are incorporated into the icing.

8. Ice the cake - the way I've done it did make a lot of icing (it was quite hard to squeeze it all in the middle), you can halve the ingredients for the icing.
9. Sandwich the sponges together.

Any ideas for next year? 

Maybe I'll be brave enough to try making real white cake, Django style!

Recipe 52/13 - Mini Cheese and Chive Cakes

Its the time of year where party food is everywhere (and expensive) so I wanted to have a go at making my own! After flicking through a few recipe books for inspiration and only finding complicated extravagant looking options (I'd rather spend the time/ingredient money on making a whole meal or a pudding) I settled for some mini cheese and chive cakes in my go to book - '200 Cupcakes'. They looked quick, easy and all the ingredients needed where things I already had - perfect!

You will need:

200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50g mature cheddar cheese (finely grated)
4 tbsp snipped chives
50g lightly salted butter melted)
7 tbsp milk
1 egg (beaten)

Makes 20 (I halved the recipe and found it made 6 - luckily as I only have a 6 section non-mini muffin tray!)

1. Line 20 sections of 2 x 12 section mini muffin trays with mini paper cake cases.
2. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. Stir in the cheese and chives until evenly melted.
4. Whisk together the melted butter, milk and egg with a fork in a jug and add to the bowl.
5. Stir well to form a thick paste.
6. Divide the mixture between the paper cases.
7. Bake in a preheated oven - 200C for 10-12 minutes or until risen and pale golden.
8. Transfer to a wire rack.
9. Serve warm or cold.

I don't think I would serve these as party food to anyone! Mainly because they were huge... I didn't have any mini muffin trays meaning the results are just big cheese muffins, basically worse versions of cheese scones! They were a bit on the bready side in the middle - again this could be due to their size, and definitely could have done with more cheese as they didn't have much flavour.

I would love to know if cakes made with a mini muffin tray would be any better...

Recipe 52/12 - Homemade Pizza

This week I made an actual pizza from scratch! Yes even the dough... I don't have a recipe to share as the dough recipe was in a bread making manual and unless you have the exact same bread maker its not going to be very helpful! 

Its all very easy apart from moulding the dough into the pizza base, the thinner the better. Kneading a ball of dough into a flat circle should be easy right? I couldn't get mine any bigger than a thick uneven rectangular shape (my boyfriend's one was an even thicker but much neater rectangle). Maybe I needed to throw it round in the air a bit like you see proper pizza makers do. Once you've got your pizza base its just a case of adding as many yummy toppings as possible (the best bit!)

You've got to be prepared time wise to make this though, after 40 minutes in the bread maker, 10 minutes struggling to make a pizza shape, 20 minutes rising, way too much time adding toppings and then 20 minutes baking you definitely have to plan ahead or get pretty hungry waiting (it was definitely worth the wait though!) It only actually requires 15-20 minutes of your actual time, the rest of the time its in the oven or bread maker. 

So yes you can buy a pre made pizza, take it out its packet and leave it cooking for 15 minutes but this is so much tastier. The dough tastes so fresh and you don't have to be stingy with the toppings like bought ones usually are. You can buy 'empty' pizza bases to make your own pizza but they end up being a lot more expensive and whilst I did used to think these tasted good I don't think I would now I've had fresh.

If the base still tasted great when it was too thick (I thought it would ruin it and be all doughy) I bet if you could make one with a really thin base I bet it would taste amazing! Maybe next time! I definitely won't be buying a pizza again for a while...

Recipe 52/11 - Salted Chocolate Tart

I thought I was one of those people who thinks savoury and sweet should never ever be mixed together (I still won't have Sweet and Sour chicken based on this principle!) Salt and chocolate - why oh why would you ever do that? I thought this until I was in Barcelona and I tried a Salted Caramel Chocolate pudding one night (at Lonja de Tapas - I became slightly obsessed with this Tapas restaurant) and it was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. Look I even have a photo of it - it was that good!

So when I stumbled across this recipe for Salted Chocolate Tart I was very happy (tart isn't quite the gooey pudding in the photo I know). The recipe even tells you to buy a ready made pastry case - not going to say no to that! It is super easy and quick to make, creates a tiny amount of washing up, you can make it in advance for something (it needs at least 4 hours in the fridge to set anyway) and it doesn't require any extravagant ingredients you will only use once. It was perfect for the week I had (I made it before I was trading at a four day Christmas Market and the thought of getting home for a slice definitely kept me going through the 10 hour days). But the best thing is for something that requires a small amount of work it was still one of the best things I have ever made! You can spend hours following some complicated baking recipe, spend another hour clearing up and the end result is quite good but probably better if you had just bought it - this seriously chocolatey tart tasted much better than some of those kind of recipes ever did.

You will need:

170ml double cream
2 tbsp whole milk (I just used normal semi-skimmed)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g caster sugar
150g dark chocolate with sea salt (Lindt does one but I just used dark chocolate with a pinch of salt)
35g unsalted butter (cubed)
205g sweet pastry case
pinch sea salt to scatter (just try it!)

1. Warm the cream, milk, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat, stir until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Bring to a simmer, take off the heat.
3. Stir in the chocolate and butter until melted.
4. Leave for 2 minutes.
5. Pour into the case.
6. Set in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
7. Scatter with sea salt just before serving with some creme fraiche on the side if liked.

It also says to try spreading the base with caramel before pouring over the chocolate (definitely trying this next time!)

Recipe 52/10 - Cheese and Potato Nests

I delved into my favourite recipe book this week - The Little Paris Kitchen - Rachel Khoo. I couldn't resist this winter staple, especially now the temperature seems to have dropped about 1000 degrees! Whenever I've tried recipes in this book before they've gone a bit wrong and never look anything like the pictures (when does that ever happen anyway though?) but I'm determined to keep trying, something about the beautiful pictures and French food always draws me back in. I loved the idea of little tartiflette nests in a muffin tin too much not to try it.

I didn't have any reblochon cheese so I used Cheddar (very French I know!) and Gruyere instead, I also didn't use a bay leaf. Good start eh? I couldn't find a 'julienne' blade anywhere so I had to slice by hand. After slicing the potatoes to about chip size I couldn't take anymore, it would have taken me all night to get to matchstick size! Even if the potatoes had been the right size there was way too much to fit in 6 muffin holes, I had to fill a dish with the rest. I also stopped at about 200g of cheese as there seemed to be way too much. Maybe this is why my recipes don't turn out right, I don't actually follow them!

 So as you can guess it didn't turn out like the picture. The potato slices were too big to form the compact nests and they needed a lot longer than 20 minutes to cook and at a higher temperature. The result was really yummy though, just more like a whole tartiflette, and if I can find a way to get the potatoes to matchstick size I will definitely try it again. Practice definitely makes perfect in this case!

You will need:

1 tbsp soft butter
500g waxy potatoes eg. Maris Peer or Charlotte
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 glove of garlic (finely chopped)
1 bay leaf
200g lardons or cubes of smoked bacon
100ml dry white wine
250g reblochon cheese (cubed)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Brush a 6-hole muffin tin with soft butter.
3. Peel the potatoes and use the julienne blade on a mandoline to make thin matchsticks (or slice by hand).
4. Put the onion, garlic, bay leaf and lardons into a large non stick frying pan.
5. Cook until the lardons are golden.
6. Add the wine and reduce until only a couple of tablespoons  of liquid remain.
7. Stir in the potato matchsticks and take off the heat.
8. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the Reblochon cubes.
9. Divide the potato mix between the 6 holes in the muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Recipe 52/9 - Fried Mozzarella Sandwich

I was looking for a quick recipe this week (I think there may be a few more of these coming up with all the Christmas fair madness at this time of year) and this looked perfect for an indulgent lunch - like french toast with cheese. I love french toast and adding the mozzarella brings it out of breakfast territory, like I need an excuse to have french toast for two meals (or eggy bread as I used to call it when I was younger)!

This is an Italian recipe though (Mozzarella in Carrozza) so it has a few differences such as dipping the bread in milk and flour. 

I think my hopes were too high for this as it wasn't as good as I was expecting, I guess mozzarella doesn't have much flavour. With cheddar instead and maybe some slices of tomato thrown in I think this would be better! 

You will need:

about 4tbsp milk
4 thick slices country bread
2 large slices mozzarella
plain flour (to dust)
salt
3 eggs beaten (I only needed 1!)
olive oil (for shallow frying)

Serves 2

1. Pour the milk into a bowl.
2. Dip the slices of bread into the milk for a few seconds, but do not soak them - they don't want to be too wet.
3. Place a slice of mozzarella on two of the bread slices.
4. Place the other two slices of bread on top of the cheese to make the sandwiches.
5. Dip both sandwiches first into some flour seasoned with salt, then into the beaten eggs and leave for the mixture to be absorbed on both sides.
6. Pour enough oil into a frying pan to cover the base generously and heat gently.
7. Shallow-fry the sandwiches in the hot olive oil until golden, about 5 minutes per side.
8. Serve immediately.