Time travel, courtesy of some strawberries

I went back in time today. Approximately twenty years back as it happens, transported there by row upon row of warm, dusty red berries, nesting in straw. Who would have thought that a pick-your-own garden centre could have such a visceral effect, but there I was again, not much bigger than Ruby, with strawberry juice dripping down my chin and the sun on my back. I couldn't stop picking them.

And the peas, my other favourite things. Just to push me a little further down memory lane, Ruby and I spent a happy half hour shelling them into a sieve, eating half of them raw along the way. From field to plate in under an hour. Beat that, Captain Birdseye. It doesn't get much better.

In other news, the makeup bags have been at it again, breeding like rabbits. Honestly, they wouldn't be out of place on the Jeremy Kyle show.

Carrot and nutmeg cupcakes

Sorry. I know, I know, I've been really lame lately. I have been busy though, honest. I've done loads, it's just that the sewing I've been doing has either been (a) very utilitarian and dull; (b) part of a bigger project – aka the Grand Transformation of Ruby's room – that I don't want to put up until it's done; or (c) completely buggered up and thrown away in a rage.

There are, I promise, one or two posts lined up ready to go. Lined up in my brain, you understand, not anywhere useful like on the computer.

There's an upcycled cardie that theorically is brilliant, but will probably end up being given away because with my characteristic lack of planning and forethought I made it in the same colours as my school uniform, and I can't actually bear to look at it. More of that to come. There is also the playdough recipe to end all playdough recipes, tried, refined, retried and thoroughly crash-tested by the small one.

If further excuses for skiving are still required, I should like to draw your attention to my completed and submitted self-assessment tax return for 09/10. I'm feeling a bit smug about that, not to mention crazy excited about what I'm going to spend my £1.00 rebate on.

For today though, I shall stop wittering and attempt to placate and appease you, my lovely readers, with a recipe. It is yummy, lovely and light and not too sweet, and because it contains vegetables, and because I used the low-fat cream cheese, I can kid myself that it is good for me. So, for your epicurean pleasure, I give you carrot and nutmeg muffins with lemon cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients: (makes 24 fairy cake-sized, um, cakes)

150 g soft light brown sugar

175 ml vegetable/sunflower oil

3 large eggs

4 medium carrots, grated

juice of half an orange

200g wholemeal self-raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp of good vanilla essence

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

For the frosting:

250 g low fat cream cheese

30 g butter, softened

zest of one lemon (or 1 tsp lemon oil)

250 g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Line 2 twelve-hole mini-muffin or cupcake trays with paper cases, or use silicone cupcake cases.

For the cakes:

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat sugar, eggs and oil until smooth.

Stir in grated carrot, vanilla essence and orange juice.

Sift in flour mixture, bit by bit, and mix until the dry ingredients are combined. The misture will be fairly runny.

Spoon into cake cases, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch.

For the frosting:

Beat together cream cheese, butter and lemon oil/zest until smooth and light.

Gradually beat in sifted icing sugar, until consistency and sweetness is to your taste.

Leave frosting to chill in the fridge until the cakes are completely cool, then dollop on top and finish with a little grated orange rind if you are so inclined. Try very hard not to eat the whole batch (or at least be prepared to do as I did and pretend that you only made twelve, rather than twenty-four).

Seared tuna with basil guacamole

This is vaguely inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe, but because I didn't have most of the ingredients and I did have an avocado about to be past its best, I improvised and came up with this. The basil guacamole was also a consequence of not having the right ingredients (are you sensing a trend here?), and of my having once been to a fab Tuscan-Mexican fusion restaurant near where we used to live in New York, called Matilda. This is really, really easy to make. Like, you could do it in under five minutes if you set your mind to it easy.

Ingredients:

2 fresh tuna steaks

250g baby spinach

250g cherry tomatoes, halved

a few good handfuls of fresh basil

1 avocado

1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped (optional)

juice of 1 lime

olive oil

salt and pepper

Serves 2.

Peel the avocado, and put it together with the chili (if you are using it), the lime juice and two thirds of the basil in a bowl. I was going to mash it all up but decided to whizz it in the blender instead. Up to you really.

Rub both sides of your steaks with salt, pepper and olive oil, then sear in a hot dry frying pan for one minute on each side. Bear in mind that they will continue cooking after they are off the heat, and don't overdo it – you want the tuna to be pink in the middle.

Arrange the spinach, tomatoes and the rest of the basil on plates, and drizzle with olive oil. 'Arrange' is a bit of a misleading description for what I did really. 'Throw hastily together while the tuna is cooking' would be more accurate. Top with a steak and a good dollop of guacamole. Garnish with a final sprig of basil if you are feeling aesthetically motivated. Season with salt and pepper, and devour.

Chicken and lentil soup

One word: yum.

A few more? Easy, simple, marvelously healthy and hearty. Sorry for being so immodest, but it's good. Honest.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

2 red onions

2 cloves of garlic

tin of chopped tomatoes

tin of lentils

a pint of chicken or vegetable stock

a couple of handfuls of spinach

salt and pepper

Serves 2 adults and a little 'un.

Chop up your onions and garlic, fairly fine, and cut the chicken into thin strips, sort of as close to 'shredded' as you can get with raw chicken. Sauté the lot in some butter or olive oil until the chicken is cooked and the onions are soft. Transfer to a big saucepan and add your tomatoes, stock, and salt and pepper if you are using it. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 mins, or until it has reduced to a nice thick consistency, then drain your lentils and stir them in, along with the spinach. Let the whole lot come back to the boil, and simmer for another 3-4 minutes until the spinach is good and wilted. Serve with some irish soda bread for double-yum factor, and enjoy.

Fairy Godmother Rice

I got an email the other day, in response to my 10 things post, or, more specifically, to my admission that I cannot cook rice properly. It was from my godmother, Bad Betty Bell, who I am hoping has solved my rice issues, and I thought I would share it with you, in case there were any other rice-ophobics out there.

Now, there are clearly a lot of things that you can do that I can't. But one thing I can do is cook rice! And here's how.....................

Follow this to the letter and you will not go wrong - I promise!

I usually use white basmati rice if cooking white and short grain brown rice if cooking brown. However seems to work for all types, the only thing is that brown needs cooking longer.

One average size mug of rice will be generous amount for two people.

Measure the rice precisely (in a cup, glass, mug, whatever), put it in a sieve and rinse at length under a running tap until the water is running practically clear. (Takes much longer to rinse the starch off white rice than brown). Drain well.

Measure exactly the same amount of cold water and put it with the rice in a pan which is the right size ie. one that when the rice is cooked it pretty much fills it.

Put in a good pinch of sea salt, bring it to the boil, stir it once with a fork and then either cover with a tight fitting lid (or tin foil and then lid as well for a good seal).

Turn the heat down to absolute minimum, - one of those heat diffuser things is ideal - and DO NOT TOUCH IT until it is ready precisely 12 minutes later.

Turn off the heat, fluff it with a fork - et voila.

Brown rice need cooking for about 30 - 35 mins.

The great thing is that when it is ready you can leave it sitting there for up to an hour or so before you are ready to use it. Just DON'T TOUCH IT!

So there you are - let me know how you get on.

X

I am optimistically hoping that this is the key to my domestic success. Thank you BBB! x

Playing the Glad Game

This week (well, the last seven days, since this week is only two days old) has been trying. Ruby's selective deafness has increased, her apparent need/desire for sleep has decreased. The sleep deprivation has had a negative effect on my tolerance levels for the selective deafness, and that combined with a notable lack of interaction with adult humans has left me feeling a more than a little irritable.

In light of these circumstances I have decided to be Pollyanna this evening and play the Glad Game, so, rather than dwelling on the things that are not so great, these are the things that I am glad about....

I am glad that spring is here.

I am glad that it's warm enough for Ruby to

play outside with bare legs.

I am glad for paper and paint and blu tack and a great

big wall of the small girl's art.

I am glad for good food (and a little proud of the fact that I have survived for five months with no bigger pans than this one).

I am glad for the small girl who can always make me smile

even when I am decidedly annoyed with her.

I am glad for the strange wall of brightly coloured religious art of

which I have finally become quite fond.

I am glad that the aforementioned small girl is finally, angelically asleep.

I am glad for wine and chocolate.

And I do feel better after that. Maybe Pollyanna was onto something.

Spinach and goat's cheese muffins

I first made these a while back when I was rooting around in an empty-looking fridge trying to produce a meal. They are really, really good, though I shouldn't say so myself. I made them for our lunch today, so I figured I may as well take a few pictures and stick the recipe up here, because they have gone down really well with a few people I gave the recipe to. They are a great option for baby-led weaning, but just as popular with grown-ups.

Ingredients

3 eggs

2 oz (1/4 cup) of butter, melted

6 oz (3/4 cup) wholemeal flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 bag spinach, chopped

4oz (1/2 cup) goat's cheese

Cheddar, grated, for sprinkling

EDIT: I made these again the other day, but didn't have any spinach or butter, so instead I used a 1/4 cup of olive oil and a grated courgette (zucchini, for those of you in the US of A, or anywhere else that isn't trying to pretend to be french) and they came out just as good. I may consider working on some more adaptations...

Preheat the oven to 190ºC (350ºF)

Beat together the eggs and melted butter.

Roughly mix in flour and baking powder (it will be lumpy - don't panic, and don't overmix!)

Add goat's cheese and spinach and stir until just mixed.

I also add a dash of milk at this stage. When I remember.

Spoon into the muffin cases or whatever you are using – I used these little silicone loaf tins that I got for christmas that are the best thing to be made of silicone since Pamela Anderson took boob jobs too far – and sprinkle with cheese. Stick 'em in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until they are golden and firmish to the touch, and a skewer comes out clean. You know the drill.

Now, this is where the illusion is shattered, and you realise that this is not Blue Peter. Not only did I forget to sprinkle the cheese on top and to add the dash of milk, but in my enthusiasm I must have overmixed it all because they really didn't rise very impressively. They still tasted okay, but not up to the usual standard. So, take heed of my mistakes – this is why we beat until just combined.

Happy baking x