Last Autumn I made loads of and loads of blackberry jam from frozen blackberries I picked at the end of the summer.

I still had a random amount of leftover blackberries that I've been steadily using up in pies and crumbles throughout the winter. Now that it's getting warmer though I don't really fancy heavy, stodgy puddings and want something lighter and fresher. 

So I've been trying to think of something to make that would use up the rest of the frozen blackberries and clear some much needed space in my freezer. 

Blackberry frozen yoghurt seemed like the perfect solution. Not too much making involved and relatively kind on the waistline. 

I've never made something like this before and all the recipes seemed to need an ice cream maker (which I don't have).

I eventually found this recipe but I didn't like the idea of whole pieces of fruit and lots of seeds in the mixture. So I've adapted it to suit myself and what I happened to have to hand.I think the result turned out brilliantly!

Ingredients

350g blackberries (can be fresh or frozen)

100g caster sugar

300g full fat greek yoghurt

100ml semi skimmed milk 

50g runny honey

Method

1. If you are using frozen blackberries remove them from the freezer to defrost for an hour or two.

2. Once defrosted mix with the caster sugar and leave for about 20-30 min to macerate. 

3. When the fruit has begun to break down mash up with a fork to release the juices.

4. Combine the milk, honey and yoghurt and mix gently with a whisk to remove any lumps.

5. Pour the sugar and berry mixture into a sieve suspended over the yoghurt mixture. Use the back of a spoon to press as much juice as you can from the fruit. 

6. Combine the fruit juice and the yoghurt mixture using the whisk and discard the blackberry pulp.Taste the mixture and add a little more honey if it is too tart for you.

7. Pour into a freezable container and place in the freezer.

8. After two hours remove from the freezer and stir. Return to the freezer and leave overnight. 

9. Remove from the freezer ten minutes before serving to allow it to soften slightly. 

10. Serve in waffle ice cream cones with a little extra drizzle of honey. 

This is honestly one of the easiest things I've ever made and it tastes amazingly fresh and light. 

Bonfire Night Party

So last Sunday was Bonfire Night, which is personally one of my favourite things about the nights drawing in.

My family live on the outskirts of our village so we don’t have close neighbours so we had our own Bonfire Party.

My Dad built the bonfire and one of my sisters made our Guy Fawkes (complete with very historical curly wig and baseball cap).

One of my other sisters made us homemade hot chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate flakes and hot salted caramel. This was quite possibly one of the best things I’ve ever had and it doesn’t matter what Costa or Starbucks have got on their Christmas menu, they won’t be able to make something as good as that.

Standing around in the freezing cold, wrapped up in warm hats and gloves while sipping a cup of this magical hot chocolate is what Bonfire Night is all about.

We lit the bonfire at 6pm and watched our Guy Fawkes go up in flames before having some fireworks.

Mum, Jared and I had been hard at work preparing Bonfire Party food to warm us up. We had baked potatoes with mango chutney curry, butternut squash and chorizo pizza, vegetable crisps, honey mustard sausage rolls and cheese straws. We made mulled cider to drink along with plenty of wine and beer. For pudding we made toffee apple crumble with salted caramel sauce and chocolate and marshmallow roasted bananas. 

I sadly didn't get a chance to take any pictures of the food as everyone was too busy scoffing it, but I'm sure you can imagine it.  

Some of the recipes we just made up, such as the crumble which I never use a recipe for and just do it by eye (and taste). However I've linked any recipes that I did use, or was inspired by in case you fancy making some of them yourself.

Everything was quick, easy and filling and crucially we prepped almost all of it the day before to make life easier.

It was a great evening spent with family, enjoying each others company and tasty food.

Did you celebrate Bonfire Night? Or make yourself some seasonal treats? Let me know!

Things that have made me happy

So its been a while since I've posted and been even longer since I've done one of these posts. My bad. Its been a busy few weeks and I've been up to lots of stuff.

1. I finally booked my holiday! I'm off to Crete in July for 10 days in the sun with Jared. I've worked hard to save for this trip and it feels so good to finally have it all booked and sorted. I've just got the car hire left to organise and then all that's left to do is get excited! I've already bought a new bikini and I'm constantly thinking about new outfits I want to take with me. I can't wait!

2. My sister Ellie got me this adorably cute gift just because. Firstly isn't that just the nicest thing? A surprise present for no reason at all? And its from Paperchase which is where the stationary gods place their gifts for me to drool over. A big thank you to her, the notebook lives in my bag so I can jot down random things I need to remember. So not only is it pretty but its also useful.

3. During the Easter holidays I pretty much just worked (in order to pay for uni next year and for Crete) but I did manage a weekend back in Southampton to see Jared. We wanted to go to the beach but it was raining so went off to explore Winchester. Its such a cute little place and as I've previously mentioned on this blog reminds me so much of Salisbury. The main thing we had come to see was the cathedral which is stunning and I had no idea it was *quite* that old. After a cheeky McDonalds we spent most of the afternoon in a second hand book shop which sorta made me feel like we were in a Match.com advert or something. I got a book on watercolour painting as a gift for Ellie, to say thank you for my notebook.

4. As we are now in the start of the new tax year I got some holiday pay. I wasn't expecting to receive this and it made an excellent contribution towards paying for my trip. Nice to get a little unexpected something extra.

5. Last weekend was a special occasion so Jared and I went away for the weekend to Exmouth in Devon. Although the weather was rubbish we had a lovely few days and watched a lot of films and ate huge amounts of food. We made an excellent playlist so the drive down was pretty fun as well.  After a stressful week full of deadlines it was really nice to escape to some fresh sea air.

6. As mentioned above I had a big essay due to last week and I am relieved to see the back of it!

7. A quick shopping trip turned into damn I need more lipsticks. I got these on a 3 for 2 offer and I am just loving the purple shades for Spring!

Things that have made me happy this week

 

I've got so behind on doing these posts I've ended up posting two back to back. Never mind, life gets busy sometimes. Its been a great week all in all and I've been pretty busy.

1. My sisters Ellie and Kiera came to stay (Sorry Tigs but you're too young) and we went out for a gorgeous dinner at Turtle Bay. This was then followed by sharing a sundae in Sprinkles which was just pure chocolate heaven.

2. Valentines Day. I had such a blissful day preparing a roast dinner from scratch with my boyfriend, playing music and getting drunker throughout the day. The recipes included honey roast carrots, lemon, thyme and garlic chicken, homemade meat stuffing and garlic and rosemary potatoes roasted in butter. So indulgent! I had then had a long shower and got myself ready just before the meal was ready. My boyfriend got some family recipes off his parents (thank you for that) and made us a very boozy trifle which was great. We followed this with yet more wine and a cheese board. Feeling so full I couldn't move we settled down with more wine to watch Harry Potter. It was literally the perfect day, thank you so much Jared <3

3. Taylor Swifts new album. I know I'm about 48659754 years late with the Taylor hype but my flatmate has been playing 1989 all week and I just had to get it too. Its making me so happy! If like me you were a sceptic then swallow your pride and just get on iTunes.

4. Painting my nails. I bloody love painting my nails and have done several times this week. Theres something so relaxing about it as you need to be zen else you will end up painting your whole hand.

5. Dior J'Adore perfume. I got bought this for Christmas by my extremely glamorous Nanny and it just smells like paradise. Until I found out how much it cost! Seriously Nan! So now I am using it very sparingly. I decided that Valentines Day was a worthy use of this delight and I just feel so elegant when I wear it.

6. Diet coke. Seriously, how does anyone even get through the day without this? I've been using this as a coping mechanism for a shit weeks lectures. Is it bad for me? Probably. Don't even care.

7. Continuing on the food theme, I've discovered that Doritos do a sour cream dip that goes perfectly with Sensations Chilli crisps. So effing good! It took me three films to get me through the whole lot and it enhanced the (shit) films I was watching immensely.

8. Watched 10 things I hate About You for the first time ever. One of those classics I've been meaning to watch and I was left alone with the boyfriends netflix... Such a great film! I absolutely loved it, my friends were right, I should have watched it sooner.

11 Actual Student Meals

I don’t know about the rest of you students out there but I have never made any of the meals out of this book. Not because the food doesn’t look yummy but because I do not have time to make a smoothie. Ever. Also cleaning the blender is such a boring task.

So I have compiled a list of actual student meals that can all be made in under 10 minutes, cost next to nothing and have little to no washing up. They will make your Mum want to force feed you veggies but if you are at uni this is what your diet is likely to look like, at least at some point.

Now don’t get me wrong, I actually like cooking and I can definitely create more elaborate meals than these. In fact most of the time I cook like a proper adult. But sometimes a girl just can’t be bothered so its essential to have a few emergency ideas up your culinary sleeve. I bet even Nigella Lawson has eaten a few of these bad boys in her time. All these carb filled meals will probably make you fat but hey, they’ll make you happy. 

      1.. Baked potato. This is the absolute student classic and can be jazzed up with all sorts of toppings. My personal fav is lots of butter and cheese. Grab a potato, stab it to death with a fork and microwave the living daylights out of it for like 10min. If you fancy being more Nigella like (and you can actually bear to wait for your food) then microwave it for like 7min and then chuck it in the oven for another 10 min so it goes all crispy and yummy. Rub a little sea salt into the skin beforehand for extra crispiness. No washing up either. 

2.       2. Uncle Bens rice and Blue Dragon individual sauce packets. This is a great standby meal and can be made in 2 minutes in the microwave. Add into it whatever the hell you like or be lazy like me and eat it as it is. Up to you. Also involves no washing up so it just gets better and better. 

3.       3. Pasta and something. Bulk buy yourself a big bag of pasta, bonus points if you can get your parents to buy this before term starts. Boil the kettle and pour it over your pasta rather than boiling a sauce pan of water, life is too short for that shit. When the pasta is cooked add to it whatever ingredients you happen to have lying around. Personal favourites are pesto, cream cheese, mayo and ketchup. All of these will make this into a perfectly edible meal that can be whipped up in a few minutes. Only 1 pan to wash up. 

4    4. Toasted sandwich. Grab some bread, butter it and slap cheese in it. Chuck it in the sandwich maker/George Foreman/under the grill. Voila, dinner is served. No washing up because let’s be honest you’re not going to clean whatever implement you used to cook this. You’ll leave it for your flatmate to deal with later.

5.       5. Toast. Similar to above but as far as I’m concerned toast can be eaten wherever, whenever. Slather it in something delicious such as honey, jam or chocolate spread. Eating it with crisps is optional. Zero washing up with this one because only mad people clean their toaster all the time.

6.        

       6. Soup. Warm and soothing this is ideal for when you’re freezing your ass off cos you can’t afford to turn the heating on. Be daring and add toast to this for extra carby happiness. Again no washing up, just microwave it and chuck the can you bought it in the bin. Unless you were actually pro enough to make your own soup. In which case, hats off to you but also you probably don’t need to be reading this list as you are clearly a competent human being.

7.       8. Lazy spag bol. Same as the pasta mentioned but buy yourself a few of those Dolmio pasta sauce things for one. Make the pasta, microwave the packet and then pour it into the pan with the pasta. If you can be bothered add extra veggies and cook some mince but Dolmio actually does a Bolognaise sauce version so I would advise purchasing that out of sheer laziness.  Another great emergency meal that can sit happily in your cupboard until needed. Only 1 pan to wash if you follow the recommended lazy instructions.

8    9. Pot noodle. Personally I hate these things but I have been at uni long enough to know they have fed many a hungry student. Buy it and follow the instructions. No washing up just chuck the pot in the bin. Or don’t cos you’re a student and having mould filled things in your room is just what happens.

9.      
      10. Bacon sandwich. Your fridge should never not contain bacon. This is a miracle hangover cure and great for mornings when you don’t have early lectures as a treat. Spend another £1 and treat yourself to Smoky streaky bacon and fry til crispy. Make some toast (yay more toast) and cover in ketchup. Just the one pan to wash. Plus you get to make all your flatmates jealous with the glorious bacon smell.

1    11. Tea and biscuits: Don’t care what anyone says if you can’t be bothered to cook then this can constitute a meal (depending on how many biscuits you eat, obvs). Zero washing up because the washing up fairies clean all cups left lying around the house. Also tea is just tummy warming happiness so that makes this acceptable.