Feeling hot hot hot!!

 We are  in the middle of a heatwave!!  Who'd have thought after all the bad weather we've had up till now.  I'm blooming loving it but I know it's too much for some people including my little man who's finding it hard to sleep (read - harder to sleep than usual!!).

It's been a quiet week catching up with friends and doing a spot of shopping and cleaning and cooking as usual .....but it would seem I've over done it as I've worn out one of my wooden spoons!

First up we made some cheese and marmite scones and some apple and oat muffins from the River Cottage Baby and Toddler book which used up some of the 21p Bramley Apples.

On Tuesday night we had a fish pie.  I'm dairy intolerant so fish pies are a bit of a no no for me but this one was very simple and seemed to work.  I cooked some potatoes and sweet potatoes and mashed them.  Added some poached fish that I had in the freezer and some boiled frozen peas.  Then cut up three boiled eggs and laid them on top and then covered half in cheese and melted that under the grill - that was the boys half!!!  It was a very cheap and easy dinner and the little man loved it.  

Also on Tuesday we made some ice lollies with the lolly moulds I had purchased the day before in Sainsburies. I'd seen a few receipes but didn't have all the ingredients so threw caution to the wind and had a go at my own - two mini tesco value strawberry fromage frais with the same amount of milk and then mixed in some strawberry puree.  As you can see they were a hit!!!  I've bought some vanilla yoghurt this morning to make another batch and might whizz in some bananas - quite exciting to try different flavours and although I can't eat them the little mans reaction is enough!!  

Oh and that reminds me I made some chocolate dairy free ice cream which is IMMENSE!!  I've not had ice cream for ages so it's been a real treat and was so easy I will be making it again. 

I've had a bit of craving for afternoon tea since the weather has turned nice and that means scones!  These are my first attempt at dairy free ones.  I used a recipe in this cook book but halved the recipe.  However I totally read the milk content wrong and used 250ml rather than 150ml!!  I added lots of extra flour until it was a workable dough and then cut out the scones and baked them and they came out as light as air - and had to be eaten once cooled with strawberries and jam....really think they would be fab with some of the chocolate ice cream too!

Scone recipe

The full recipe - you can half and add far too much milk if you like! 

500g Self Raising Flour

2tsp Baking Powder 

325g cold butter - I used Stork

25g caster sugar

200g sultanas 

300ml cold milk - I used Kato coconut milk to make it dairy free

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Mix flour and baking powder together
3. Rub in butter
4. Stir in fruit and sugar
5. Add milk and stir with spoon first and then use hands to work to a soft but not sticky dough
6. Roll out quickly on a floured surface and then cut out 
7. Place on greased baking tray and bake in oven for 12 minutes
8. Enjoy 

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Other updates.....

The sunflowers are peeping out! 

There may seem like a lack of crafting posts from me at the moment but that's because I'm working on my new project!  And here's a sneak preview....more another time ;)