King prawn tagliatelle

This is my sister Joanna's recipie, easy to cook and tastes fantastic 

Ingredients: 

Tagliatelle  

Pre cooked King prawns (a couple of packets) 

1 large red or white onion 

1 pepper red or yellow 

1 jar of red pesto 

1 lemon 

1 packet of cherry tomatoes 

Rocket 

Method:

Chop the onion and pepper, fry for about 10-15 minutes allowing the peppers to soften. Add the tomatoes about half way through. Then add the zest of the lemon and about half a jar of the red pesto. Cook for a further 10 minutes. Meanwhile put the tagliatelle on the boil and cook for about 8 minutes. Lastly add the prawns and cook for about 3 mins. Mix the sauce into three drained tagliatelle and serve with a slice of lemon and handful of rocket 

Fruit foraging

Every year I like to try and make my own Christmas presents, this usually takes a lot of preparation way before christmas. This year I have decided to make different jams. On my way into town I found lots of blackberries which is great as they make fantastic jam and even better their free! so came back with Tupperware boxes which I filled full of blackberries. I haven't got time this week to make the jam and may not have quite enough so I am going to freeze them to use later.

Football cake

My lovely friend Jackie asked if I could make a football cake for her husbands birthday. He supports Ipswich town so thought I would incorporate blue and white (Ipswich town colours) into the cake buy making the lettering blue and white and adding a blue and white scarf on top of the cake. 

To make the inside of the cake stripey I made 2 sponges, one blue, one normal sponge and cut them in half and sandwiched the alternate colours together with white chocolate buttercream 

Barbecue pulled pork

I got this recipie from my friend Chantels husband. It's perfect for having friends over in the evening as it's cooked in a slow cooker so you can just put it on first thing in the morning and pretty much forget about it most of the day. It's really easy too and tastes fantastic! 

Ingredients: 

1 tbsp of dark brown sugar 

1 tbsp of salt 

1 tbsp of chilly powder 

1/2 tsp of cumin 

1/4 tsp of cinamon 

2kg pork shoulder 

1 onion 

4 garlic cloves 

1/2 chicken stock cube 

1 jar of bbq cooking sauce 

3 tbsp bbq sauce 

Method: 

24 hours before pat pork dry and rub the sugar, salt, cumin, cinamon and chilly powder into the pork. Place in a covered dish in the fridge. 

Finely chop onions and garlic and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a cup of chicken stock and place the pork on top. Put the lid on and set the temperature to high.

After around 4 hours the fat from the pork can be peeled off. 

After another 2 hours shred the pork with forks and add the bbq sauces. 

Cook for a further 2 hours or untill cooked and not too sloppy 😃

Chocolate and raspberry pavlova

I made this chocolate pavlova for a BBQ last night it was so easy and tasted incredible!! I did slightly tweak the recipie, I used raspberries instead of strawberries and added vanilla extract to the cream and drizzled melted white chocolate over the top layer. YUM! chocolate pavlova

DIY mosaic garden table

My glass garden table unfortunately died a horrible death after we left the parasol up over a windy night waking up to the glass top being completely smashed all over the patio. Instead of binning the table we decided to make a new top. My husband created the wooden base and my parents had recently changed their bathroom so had the previous bathroom tiles to smash up for the mosaic. I had never done a mosaic before, it was quite time consuming and the grouting was difficult as the tile levels were not all the same but I am pleased with the result and it's nice to know I have a one of a kind table that no one else will have. 

Goats cheese and caramelised onion tart

Today I had my gorgeous friends coming for lunch and they requested my homemade goats cheese and caramelised onion tart. It's really easy to make and goes down a treat!

Ingredients:

3 large red onions 

1 tsp of Tyme 

3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp of brown sugar

175g of plain flour 

75g of butter or margarine 

Pinch of salt

2 eggs 

50ml of milk 

150g of goats cheese

Method:

I made the onion filling the day before -Chop onions and cook in a pan with a lid on for 20 mins. Then add balsamic vinagar, sugar and Tyme and cook for 15-20 minutes with the lid off untill the onions are soft and all the liquid has gone. 

For the pastry - rub the flour and butter and salt together with your hands untill like bread crumbs. Then add water a little at a time untill the mixture comes together in a ball. Place in fridge for 30 mins. Greese a tart tin then Roll out pastry onto a floured surface and place into the tin ensuring there are no holes. Cut of the excess pastry. Cover the pastry with baking paper and fill it with baking beans. Place in the oven at 190 degrees for 20 mins then remove baking beans and paper and put back in the oven for 5 mins. Then put the onion mixture straight into the case. Mix the eggs with the milk in a jug and season with salt and pepper. Crumble the goats cheese evenly over the onions then pour on the egg mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-45 mins. 

Banana Loaf cake

I have friends coming for tea tomorrow so thought I would bake a cake for them and had some VERY ripe bananas to use up so thought perfect banana loaf cake it is 😊 

Ingredients:

140g of butter 

140g of caster sugar 

140g of self raising flour 

1 tsp of baking powder 

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

2 mashed bananas 

3 medium eggs 

Icing sugar 

Dried banana or sliced fresh banana 

Method:

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees and greese and line a loaf tin. 

Cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time, then add all the dry ingredients and last but not least mix in the bananas. Pour mixture into tin and put in the oven for 30-40 mins. Once cooked turn cake out onto a cooling rack. Once completely cooled mix some icing sugar in a bowel with some water then drizzle over the cake. I topped my cake with slices of banana that I baked in the oven for 20 mins alternatively you could put already dried banana chips on top.  

Free from gluten, eggs & lactose cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a friends son who is allergic to well pretty much everything. I got the recipie for the cake online from food.com and just used stork margarine and icing sugar for the butter cream frosting. I was quite nervous about the taste of the cakes as they are made from very few ingredients but they actually tasted really nice so I would highly recommend giving them a try😊

18th Birthday cake

I made this cake as a favour to a friend for a 18th birthday party. The brief she gave me was yellow, lemon and glitter lol. Hopefully this is what she had in mind. I made a lemon sponge with lemon butter cream and lemon curd. The cake was covered in white sugar paste. I made the ribbons and lettering by colouring the left over white sugar paste with melon colouring gel (I covered some of the lettering in gold edible glitter). The bows were made from floral paste using the same colour. I made the daisies with a daisie sugar craft cutter purchased from ebay. 

DIY shabby chic furniture

Having one of a kind beautiful furniture doesn't have to be expensive. These are just a few of the pieces of furniture I have dotted around my house that I have picked up for an absolute bargain and painted myself using either Annie Sloan chalk paint or Farrow & Ball paint (I find Annie sloans easier to work with) You can buy pieces of furniture like this already painted but the will cost you triple the amount, if not more. So I suggest DIY 😊 

Grow your own

I'm not normally one for gardening but this year Iv decided to put in the effort and have even been growing my own strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. I never thought I would enjoy it but I actually love being out in the garden and being able to eat the produce I have grown I feel like it's a real achievement :) 

Meatball pasta

This was so easy to make and super scrummy!! All the ingridients were bought from Aldi so it was cheap too! 

All you need is some pasta, an onion, 1 clove of garlic, a green pepper, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a oxo cube and some meatballs. 

First you chop and fry the onions and garlic together untill the onions are slightly golden and see through. Then chop the pepper and add the the pan, then the meatballs and fry until the outside of them is all brown. Then add the tin of the tomatoes and the oxo cube and stir and put in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees. When there is 15 minutes to go cook the pasta and drain and add to the meatball mix, stir and serve with some grated cheddar cheese on top.....yum! 

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Here's one I made earlier

This is a wedding cake I made with my friend Gema for our friend Gina's wedding at the start of June. The bottom tier was fruit cake made by Gema and I made the middle tier which was chocolate guiness cake with a white chocolate frosting and the top was made by me and that was lemon cake with lemon butter cream. 

Vegiterian shepherds pie

I had my mother in law who is a vegetarian staying this weekend. I always like to cook her something nice for dinner so she feels welcome. This went down a treat with everyone including my husband who doesn't normally like anything healthy lol. The recipe was from BBCgoodfood.com

About me

My name is Jen 

I live in a victorian house in the centre of Ipswich 

I do work full time but really enjoy aspiring to be a 

Domestic Goddess 

I love making my home look nice and really enjoy making 

yummy meals and cakes!!