Good Friday, good morning, great pancakes – white choc and cranberry……

Abbie wanted pancakes for breakfast this morning and as they are also my favourite, who was I to resist….. I had made white chocolate and cranberry cookies on Christmas morning – a huge success with all of our families, so I wondered whether I could repeat the triumph in pancake form!!

served up with raspberries on the side

 

White chocolate and cranberry pancakes – makes about 15
 (I freeze the leftovers and reheat in the microwave when needed)

150g plain flour
1 desertspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tablspn vanilla caster sugar (or caster sugar and a drop of vanilla extract)
1 egg
250ml milk
1/2 tblspn oil at most

White choc chips and dried cranberries

• Mix flour, baking powder, bicarb, sugar, egg and milk together – I do this in a mini-food processor
• Heat the oil in a frying pan or flat skillet – I brush the oil around my skillet
• Pour pancake sized blobs into the pan – beware they will spread – these are the American style of pancakes so about 10cm diameter at most
• Sprinkle the pancakes with white choc chips and cranberries as the first side cooks, when it looks bubbly on top, flip it for a short while on the other side (not too long or the chocolate will burn)
• Serve hot (you could also make this for a pudding and serve with vanilla ice cream…)

Happy Mother’s Day! A delicious breakfast, thousands of daffodils and a roast chicken on the timer!

What a lovely way to wake up……  my daughter pulling me out of bed, she more desperate than me for the present and cards to be opened!  Jon made us all my favourite breaskfast (smoked salmon and scrambled eggs). We all had ours the way we like them: Abbie; simply just with buttered bread, Jon; in warm tortilla (no salmon) with salsa and Me; with a hot cross bun, buttered and spread marmalade. A great start to our busy day!



My beautiful breakfast and my beautiful card

We had to make an early exit as Jon was helping out at Langley School’s ‘Daffodil Day’ (a huge school fete) in the best way he

knows; he was on the mic for 3 hours; interviewing, announcing and generally keeping up the patter…. how a career in radio has passed him by astounds me!  We had a fantastic day; bouncy castle, bouncy slide (never again!), petting the ponies, great children’s games, a treasure hunt, watching dancing and ‘Quidditch’; but the highlight for me had to be watching Abbie and a ‘new friend’ on the motorised go-carts – Abbie managed to take out the sides of the circuit many times, drove into the central reservation and her final flourish…. crashing full speed into the remainding parked carts!  A great day was had by all, accompanied by the compulsory lunch of bbq and ice cream with sprinkles (even if it was organic and artisanal – Abbie’s choice).Bouncy castle (after the bouncy slide – I was still shaking!)”] 

The compulsory sausage in a roll

On the daffodil walk...

I knew I wouldn’t have much time to cook (or the energy) so I prepared a chicken for roasting later. 

To prepare…  inside your chicken, few cloves of garlic, salt and pepper, few pinches of herbs de provence, and a much stabbed lemon – tie up the legs

I delayed the cooking on the timer – I add 10 minutes to cooking time to let the oven heat up and cooked mine at 180C/375F for 20mins per 500g and an extra 30 mins (only 20mins needed if putting into a hot oven).  I served this with mash, stuffing, sprouting broc and real gravy which can all then be knocked up in under half an hour… delicious and little effort – we had yeasterday’s jelly for pudding (more of that hilarious episode later!)

From this.....

..........to this!

Easter-time breakfast – it may be raining outside but we’re feeling springy inside!

Abbie made herself an interesting combination of hot cross buns topped with smoked salmon!

‘Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot cross buns!’ This was the song on repeat in our house this morning, sung beautifully by Abbie.  I have resisted buying these so far, but tiredness got the better of me last night and I bought 2 packs!  We’ll have a go at making them again this year during the Easter holidays…. watch this space… but just felt that I ‘needed’ their curranty comfort for breakfast. Jon added the scrambled eggs and smoked salmon to the mix, much to Abbie’s delight.  If you haven’t tried smoked salmon with your children, I really encourage you to…. it has to be one of the favourite treats in our house! I asked Abbie, ‘Which do you like best… chocolate or smoked salmon?’ She replied, ‘Chocolate AND smoked salmon!’ – a future Masterchef combination perhaps!