SUSHI WRAP

Hi lovely readers

Now that we are slowly coming out of Winter here, I thought I'd stop a little bit with the heavy desserts and focus on more light snacks for Spring.

I was on Pinterest the other day when I saw someone has posted up a picture of a sushi burrito they had found from some amazing restaurant in the States. Sushi burrito?! Wow... that person must have died and gone to heaven!

One of my favourite things is sushi - preferrably out in the sunshine with a beer and some friends! So I decided to make my own little creation, which has turned into more of a wrap than a burrito but here we go anyway!

The best thing about this is that there is not that many calories in it. It's basically seaweed, rice, tons of veggies and a bit of fish. Of course you can chop and change whatever you would like to put into your own but the only really high calorie food here is the rice and even that is bearable! See the bottom of my post for nutritional values.

Enjoy! And please feel free to comment and let me know how it went or what you added to it! If all goes well tonight, J will like it and I can make it again differently next time!

Thanks, Tanya x

SUSHI WRAP

INGREDIENTS

170g Sushi Rice
2 sheets Sushi Nori
2 tbsp tuna, drained
1/2 carrot, peeled
1/4 cucumber, peeled
1/4 avocado, peeled
6 king prawns, cooked
ginger, peeled
sesame seeds
dark soy sauce
anything else you would like to add!

METHOD

 Before you start preparing the fish and vegetables, put on the rice as this usually takes the longest. Always follow the instructions on the packet for the rice. The Yukata brand I used, required the rice to be washed 3-4 times under cold water and then put on the stove to simmer for 10 minutes before being left for 20-25 minutes. Please make sure you check yours though as it may differ!

For the fish, I drained a can of tuna and measured out two spoonfuls. I also cooked some king prawns and then diced them up.

For the veggies, I used the vegetable peeler to slice the carrots and the ginger as I like these thin. The avocado and the cucumber, I peeled and sliced very finely.

ALL READY FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR WRAP

Put a sheet of your seaweed on a flat surface. Spoon your rice onto the sheet and spread to each corner until the whole sheet is covered. Then add your vegetables and fish as you wish. Finally, add a little ginger and then starting from the bottom, roll the sheet away from you.

Cut your wrap in half, sprinkle some sesame seeds on for extra flavour and get a small bowl for your soy sauce. Dip your wrap into the bowl of soy sauce and ENJOY :)

FINAL SAY

Okay so, this is all the amazing ingredients I wanted in my sushi wrap but you can add whatever you want! That's the beauty of this dish (and of course the calorie count!). I have also seen that you can use brown rice instead if you don't like the stickiness of the sushi rice.

Nutritional value: for 1 wrap with the ingredients as above: 420kcal - 1785.9mg sodium - 2.8g fat - 20.9g protein

THE "BAD BOY" CHOCOLATE CAKE

Hello my lovely readers

This chocolate cake can only be referred to as the "bad boy" in my house. This beauty is just under 600kcal per slice! Normally I wouldn't put such a monstrosity on my blog but this is by far the nicest cake I have ever tasted! Plus it's from my new magazine and about the only thing I can actually make until I get the rest of my stuff!

I did change a few things in the recipe, so I will include my 2p worth in the end :) You don't have to listen to it though but I would love your comments about the cake! :)

Enjoy my dears and thanks for reading! Thanks, Tanya x

THE "BAD BOY" CHOCOLATE CAKE
- from Cake Decorating magazine, 1st issue

INGREDIENTS

 CAKE MIX:
- 225g unsalted butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 175g self-raising flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp warm water, optional (if mixture is dry)

BUTTERCREAM ICING:
- 300g icing sugar
- 25g cocoa powder
- 175g butter, softened
- 2 tbsp milk, optional (if icing is a bit dry)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD (CAKE MIX)

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 / 180C / 350F

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them into the mixture. Sift half the flour and cocoa into the bowl and fold it in. Sift the rest of the flour and cocoa in well. Add water if the mixture is dry.

Pour the mixture into your greased cake tin and smooth it down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Do the usual test to check if the cake is ready by putting a toothpick through the centre and seeing if it comes out clean or not. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack while we make the icing.

METHOD (BUTTERCREAM ICING)

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and add the softened butter. Mix them together, then add the milk and vanilla extract. Mix all the ingredients together well until pale, soft and fluffy. If your icing is a bit too dry, then add some more milk.

Remember though that you can always add to the mixture but can't take out, so rather put in a splash of milk to begin with!

PUT THE ICING ON YOUR COOLED CAKE AND ENJOY!

FINAL SAY

 Ok so... As I said, I did change a few things slightly but nothing major.

Firstly, I added the cocoa powder into the buttercream icing to make it chocolate icing. This is why I mentioned the additional milk as it may make it a bit dry. If you keep adding a little milk each time, then it will go to good consistency. The recipe said water but I feel that water takes the taste away, milk, in my opinion, keeps it's creaminess.

Secondly, the time it took in the oven. The recipe was originally for 2 cakes which take 15-20 minutes in the oven. I am a terrible baker clearly as I don't own 2 cake tins that are the same size so I just made one. This obviously needs more time in the oven so it took me 25 minutes in a fan-assisted oven. So it may take longer in a normal oven. If you do want to do 2 cakes, then you will just make the same amount of icing and just put some in between the 2 cakes before placing one on top of each other!

And lastly, serve at room temperature with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on the side and enjoy!!

Nutritional info: 1/10th slice: 597 kcal - 35.2g fat - 258.4mg sodium - 65.4g carbs - 5.7g protein

CAKE DECORATING MAGAZINE + FREE GOODIES

Helloooo from a lovely and warm (for a change!) England :)

Today I'm super excited about my new Cake Decorating magazine! You may have seen them being advertised lately, my Gran bought me the first edition for 99p and now I have already signed up for the next 7 issues! You get all sorts of cool stuff with each issue like piping sets, silicone bakeware, cake caddys for carrying around your cakes (as if mine would ever leave my kitchen!), etc. It all looks amazing and I have been sucked in!

This edition is all about cakes and cookies as well as decorating them all. As I unfortunately have to wait a couple of weeks to get my piping kits and all the other stuff, I am unable to make half the amazing stuff in here just yet - that's always the case with these things! However I have managed to make a bad boy chocolate cake with buttercream icing - a whopping 600kcal per slice! I'll post the recipe up separately. I am super excited about this as I have never owned or even used a piping kit before and other than having a jelly mould in the shape of a bunny rabbit when I was small, I have never had anything remotely cool like butterfly biscuit cutters! I am hopefully going to learn a whole bunch of new things and work on my decorating skills!!

Here's the first edition: Isn't he gorgeous?!





























Free goodies in this week's issue:
Free Cupcake and Cake Stand
2 Butterfly Biscuit Cutters
Edible Pink Glitter for Decorating!

Check back each week please to see what new stuff I get and hopefully we can all learn together!

Tanya xx

STRAWBERRY BAKEWELL

Hi everyone

Sorry it's been a long time since my last post - we have had the dreaded lurgy and it's lasted longer than I would have wanted! I had to trade in my oven mits and measuring jug for tissues and Night Nurse but now I'm back to my usual self and ready as ever to get cookin'!

We had a family gathering on Sunday for UK Mother's Day. It was my first Mother's Day so I was super excited and wanted to make something special for the occasion. My Gran likes to keep recipes for me that she finds in newspapers and magazines so I usually come home after a visit with tons of new things to try. She gave me a recipe for a raspberry bakewell which looked amazing! I'm not a huge fan of raspberry to be honest, I find them a bit sour for a fruity dessert. My favourite is cherry however I can't find any! So strawberry it is.......

I have had to tweak the recipe slightly - not sure whether it was because I made it wrong or what but there wasn't enough cake mixture! I have put the recipe below for you with my added amounts as rather make too much than not enough and have to dirty your dishes again!

I hope you enjoy this. My family were under strict instructions to be brutally honest and they said it was delicious - I was not able to taste it myself as I had a blocked nose and literally couldn't taste anything :( I can say however, the texture was really nice! I wanted to get a nice picture of it sliced but there wasn't any time - sorry! As always, please feel free to comment and let me know how your baking went!

Tanya x

INGREDIENTS

220g butter, softened
220g golden caster sugar
220g self-raising flour
150g ground almonds
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 teaspoon strawberry jam
150g punnet strawberries, quartered
50g flaked almonds

METHOD

 Preheat the oven to 180 C / 160 C fan assisted / gas 4. Line a 22cm cake tin with baking parchment (or grease if you don't have baking parchment).

With a blender, or your hands, blend together the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, eggs and vanilla extract. This will make a thick cake mix (don't worry about it being too thick - I nearly had a heartattack when I saw mine!).

Spoon about 1/3 of the cake mix in the tin and spread to make the base. It doesn't have to be perfect, or thick, as long as the base is all covered. As the picture above, dot your teaspoons of jam all over the base of the cake - you can add as much as you want here but I found 8 teaspoons to be enough for us - then scatter your strawberries all over.

With the remaining cake mix, spoon it on top of your jam and strawberries. I found the best way was to drop dollops of the mixture on top of the jam and then use your fingers to spread it evenly across the top so it covers everything like the picture above. Don't worry about the cake not touching the very edges of the cake tin, once it is baked, it will take the cake tin shape.

Finally, spread some of your almonds on top on the mixture and then place in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown as the picture shows below.

FINAL SAY

I found it best (and cheaper!) to buy 200g of flaked almonds and then measure out 150g and grind them yourself. You can do this using a pestle and mortar, or if you don't one like I don't, you can put them in a bowl with a cloth over the top and use your handheld blender to crush them up. They don't have to be perfectly ground!

I didn't have the chance to experiment with how to serve it unfortunately, I served mine at room temperature with nothing added to it. You could however, serve it warm and maybe with a dollop of whipped cream. Please let me know how it goes!

Makes: 12 big slices / 24 thin slices

Nutritional info: 1 big slice: 399 kcal - 39.2g carbs - 24.7g fat - 6.6g protein - 195.5mg sodium

QUICK AND EASY FAIRY CAKES

J absolutely loves fairy cakes and I think Tesco make their annual sales targets just from us. Tonight J has the man-flu so to make him feel better, I decided to try and bake some for him. I had no idea how easy they actually were! Sorry Tesco but there won't be anymore fairy cakes in our trolley!

I have used vegetable oil in this recipe rather than butter as I find oil keeps cakes moist and makes the top slightly crispy. I picked this tip up from my big sis and now I replace butter with oil for all my baking.

INGREDIENTS

125g vegetable oil
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour
2 tablespoons milk

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 190C / 325F / gas mark 5. Grease 12 cupcake cases.

In a mixing bowl, sieve the sugar and add in the oil. Next add the eggs, milk and finally the flour before stirring well. Spoon the mixture into your cupcake cases and place in the oven for 12 minutes or until risen and slightly golden on top.

It really is that simple.

FINAL SAY

The great thing about fairy cakes is you can ice and decorate them how you want. I made a glaze by mixing 1 tablespoon of icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of cold water then I drizzled a 1/4 tablespoon over each one. You can also make chocolate or strawberry butter icing or leave plain, it really is up to you!

You can also make chocolate fairy cakes by adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the mixture before spooning it into your cases.

Makes: 12 cupcake cases

Nutritional information per cupcake: 175kcal - 18g carbs - 11g fat - 2g protein - 11g sugar - 54mg sodium

HOMEMADE CREAMY POTATO & LEEK SOUP

This is perhaps one of my all-time favourite soups. It's up there with tomato (which I haven't actually made before but my Dad has a great recipe which I'm hoping to inherit one day!). And seeing as it's been so cold lately, I thought a really wholesome hot soup would be a good idea as my first recipe.

The beauty of this dish (besides the taste!) is that you can make it in your slow cooker/crock pot in the morning and forget all about it until dinner time. The preparation is minimal and the ingredients are simple and cheap. I would gladly make this every night of the week if it was just me living at home!

NB! This dish is not great on the fat content due to the cream but you could always use low-fat instead. Alternatively, if you want to be daring, you could use double cream instead of the single I have used in my recipe, this will give the soup a much creamier and yummy taste!

I hope you enjoy this soup. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions, they are both very welcome!

Happy playing!
Tanya xx

INGREDIENTS

250g leeks, roughly sliced (about 2 leeks as shown in above picture)
500g potatoes, roughly chopped (about 5 small-medium potatoes  as shown in above picture)
2 vegetable OXO cubes
700ml hot water (or enough to cover the vegetables)
75ml single cream
1 sachet of vegetable soup

METHOD

Add your sliced leeks and chopped potatoes to your slow cooker. Crush 2 OXO cubes into a jug with a little hot water and add to the vegetables. Pour the rest of the hot water over your leeks and potatoes until they are just covered. Turn your slow cooker onto HIGH and leave for 5-6 hours. It is always a good idea to check on your soup, especially after about 4 hours or cooking, to ensure that the water hasn't all been absorbed as this could cause your vegetables to stick to the bottom. If it has, just add a little bit of water to cover the vegetables again.

When your vegetables are ready (I.e. they are soft), it's time for the next step of preparation. Now would be a good time to put your baguettes in the oven if you are going to have them with your soup. In a jug, mix your vegetable soup sachet with enough hot water to ensure all the powder is absorbed and there are no clumps. Add this to the soup.

This next step depends on how chunky you like your soup. Either use a blender to make it smooth or a masher to keep the chunkiness of the potatoes - it's entirely up to you! Once you have blended/mashed the vegetables, add the cream and give it all one final stir.

Serve with a hot baguette and some parsley sprinkled on top to make it look pretty.

FINAL SAY

If your soup is too thick, you can always add more water to it. I do this with J's soup as he believes all soup should be runny! I would recommend however adding a little bit of water at a time and then tasting it as you don't want to lose the flavour by pouring in too much!

You can also add salt and pepper to the soup but make sure you taste it before you add any seasoning as the leek and soup powder sachet contain their own salts.

Finally, you can also serve this dish chilled which is known as Vichyssoises

Makes: 2 servings (this soup is really filling and coupled with half a baguette, J and I have very rarely had any space for seconds)

Nutritional information: 411kcal - 54g carbs - 17g fat - 10g protein - 10g sugar - 275mg sodium

WANNABE SUPERMOM

Hi and thank you for reading my blog

My name is Tanya and I am a first time Mommy. I have a wonderful fiance J and a beautiful daughter T. I used to live in South Africa but my family and I have moved to England in 2007 to get a better quality of life. I miss South Africa every day and whilst England is much better for my family, I still sometimes wish I could go back.

I was never very domesticated; I spent too much time sunbathing in the hot South African sun and watching rugby at local pubs where the beer and food was just an order away. Now that I have my little girl, I have tried to turn my bad eating habits into good and healthy ones. As much as I love T and wouldn't change her for anything in this world, I do sometimes feel there is a lot of play-dates and changing nappies, and I tend to lose touch with myself and my hobbies.

So I have decided to start this blog to push myself to share my recipes and other bits that are passionate to me. I love all food. I wish I could say that I have a really fast metabolism and the weight doesn't catch to me but unfortunately I am not 18 anymore and food seems to love me just as much as I love it! So I'm hoping to provide a lot of different types of food for you all, complete with calorie counts and other nutritional info. I feel it's important to enjoy what you eat so you won't see many super-healthy dishes like lettuce leaves and low-fat cheese (and if you do, it'll more than likely be mixed with tons of salad dressing and a thick slice of bread with butter!) so I will strive to provide you with great tasting but not great fattening recipes!

I hope that you all enjoy reading it as much as I am going to enjoy writing it!

Keep well, Tanya xx