So our first masterpiece: homemade crisps. We came up with some unique flavours and 2 hours later in asda we had our ingredients!

Homemade Crisps:

• 4 potatoes chopped very thinly
• Olive oil
• Flavours of choice – think spices, salt & pepper, onion etc
• Greaseproof baking paper
• Pastry brush

Wash and peel potatoes. Chop the potatoes into very thin slices so they become nice and crispy in the oven. Paint olive oil onto the potato slices. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Choose flavourings, in our case we chose four different taste infusions: mint and lime, sea salt and balsamic vinegar, paprika and chilli powder, onion and balsamic vinegar. Pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Make sure they’re nice and crispy and you’re done! Ready to eat.

adding the flavours

mint and lime

ready for the oven

the end result

To go with our crisps, Lucy thought Ploughman’s Lunch – the epitome of summer pub lunches:

A ploughman’s lunch is a cold snack or meal originating in the United Kingdom, composed of cheese (usually a thick piece of Cheddar; Stilton or other local cheese); pickle (called “relish” outside the UK), bread (especially crusty bread, which may be a chunk from a loaf or a bap); and butter.^[1] It is often accompanied by a green salad; other common additions are half an apple, celery, pickled onions, pâté, crisps, diced hard boiled eggbeetroot.

I have to admit I wasn’t too clued up on it, but once Lucy informed me of the ingredients I thought what a refreshing and simple meal we could make, and something we could contrast with our crisps. We wanted to create our own take on it and this is when we thought burgers. A rustic looking plate full of Ploughmans regulars but slightly unique.

Ploughman’s Twist – Rustic Burger Ingredients:

• Pork/beef mince enough to make 2-4 meat patties
• 1 small egg
• Handful of chopped onion
• Pepper
• Seasoning

And to put with the burger:

• Crusty bread
• Salad
• Coleslaw/raita dip

Pre-heat grill to 220 degrees. Chop up the mince so its easier to mould into shapes. Crack an egg and add it to the mince to bind it. Add seasoning such as pepper, onions and salt to add flavour to the meat. Divide the meat into portions and make into round shapes to serve 2-4 people. Pop in the grill for 20 minutes turning them over half way through. Done!

adding the egg to the mince

So to combine with our crisps and the Ploughman’s Lunch idea we wanted to create an interesting looking plate which looked healthy and simple. To keep with our rustic theme we placed the food onto a wooden chopping board to keep it very minimalist. We added the crisps, salad, homemade raita dip (onions, cucumber, mayonaise, mint seasoning) to our board and thought it looked amazing – I could eat it again now!

From watching Masterchef/Come Dine With Me I’ve noticed its not all about the taste but about the presentation too, its key!

Lucy showing off our plate. A farmhouse authentic meal I’m sure you’ll agree!

me about to tuck into the meal!

Okay so main meal done. Something to wash it down with? A gorgeous summer smoothie with rich exotic fruits. Perfect!

Our Summer Smoothies, #1:

• 3 Peeled lychees
• 2 handfuls of Blueberries
• 1 Banana
• A blender

Very simple this one! Add the fruits into your blender and blend until you have a puree. Serve in a glass and voila – smoothie done.

a very interesting lychee

Forest Fruits Smoothie #2

• 6 Blackberries
• Handful of blueberries
• 2 handfuls of raspberries
• 8 strawberries (basically all the berries!)
• 1 chopped Banana

fruits ready to blend

S is for Summer and Superdrug! To add our own take we include the star logo and S for Superdrug (sorry Phoebe we’d already done this before you did yours!). 2 very yummy smoothies!

For dessert we chose an ice cream sundae. We reminisced over pub knickerbocker glorys and mountains of ice cream we could never finish.We used leftover smoothie to create a coulis for our ice cream sauce. Coulis’ are easy to make – just blend some fruits together (I recommend Blackberries and Raspberries for a forest fruit taste!).

Superdrug Sundae

• Scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream
• Fruit Coulis
• Half a dozen Raspberries/Strawberries
• Mini Marshmallows
• 1 Glacier Cherry

Drizzle the coulis in the bottom of a nice glass. Add one scoop of the vanilla ice cream. Push the ice cream down to create twirling raspberry ripple effect. Chop some strawberries/raspberries in half and place  round the edge of the glass. Add some raspberries and more ice cream on top. Drizzle more coulis then create a small mound of ice cream on top. Add glacier cherry and sprinkle marshmallows. Your very own Superdrug Sundae!

Perfect Knickerbocker Glory!

I couldn’t let Lucy go without having her own little say on the task….

Lucy’s Summer Tips:

• Don’t be afraid to try new things, get creative in the kitchen!
• Smoothies are a great way introduce new flavours -  they can be all or part of your 5 a day. They’re also great as a breakfast alternative.
• Once you’ve got to grips with smoothies why not try soups!
• For the crisps, make sure they’re thin enough and make sure you soak them in the marinade long enough.
• Wash your hands after preparing every stage and be careful when using raw egg and meat – keep a clean work surface!
• Fruits are brilliant for skin and your hair will thrive from it. Shiny summer hair is a winner!

That concludes our summer menu!  This was my favourite task to date, me and Lucy had such a hilarious but stressful time cooking our dishes, lots of laughs but a lot of hard work put into it!  Thanks Superdrug for making our boring Sunday more exciting!

Hollie xo

]]> http://blog.superdrug.com/our-rustic-summer-cuisine-picture-post/feed/ 7 http://blog.superdrug.com/come-dine-with-stephy-scribble/ http://blog.superdrug.com/come-dine-with-stephy-scribble/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:33:12 +0000 StephyScribble http://superdrugloves.com/?p=6312 We all know and love the Channel 4 show Come Dine With Me.  Contestants take part in providing a dinner party for guests they have never met before and throughout the week each person has the chance to cook.  The contestants are scored from 1-10 on the overall night and they must pull out all the stops in making their dinner party a night to remember.

I wanted to re-create Come Dine With Me in my own home, getting marked on my culinary abilities.  I sat and thought for a while about how I was going to pull this off and came to the decision that it would be pretty difficult considering I have limited friends as I have recently moved.

Instead, I thought I would imitate the new show Dinner Date.  I would cook for my boyfriend in the hope my cooking and company would result in one happy partner.

The new ITV show Dinner Date sees 5 singletons prepare a menu that they believe will seduce the mystery contestant.  The contestant chooses 3 menus that he/she believes are the best and then the contestant goes to those 3 houses on separate nights to enjoy the cooking of the 3 chosen singletons.  The diner is then marked out of 3 for the quality of the date and at the end of the 3 evenings he/she decides which cook he would like to date.

My boyfriend works very hard and has long days at work.  I decided that I would prepare a summer inspired menu for him to indulge in when he gets home.  I had the full day to get everything prepared for the evening, so in theory everything should have gone smoothly.

I know you would think I had it easy, as what could go wrong, he’s already my boyfriend, but then again you may not be aware of the mistakes I can make in the kitchen.  Also, I think it is easy when life becomes busy; for quality special time to go out the window.  I know me and James have early nights and rarely get to enjoy the evenings.  I wanted to give him a nice surprise and hopefully charm the pants off him (excuse the pun :p) like when we first met.

I had everything bought and ready to go the day before.  Here is the menu I created for the evening; I hope you agree it’s a winner.

And I can’t forget the drinks

Once in the kitchen I made a mental check list:

• Hair tied back – Check
• Apron on- Check
• Hands washed- Check

Starters

I prepared the nibbles quite easily; they were not difficult to do.  I literally put out a selection of foods to pick on like nuts, a prawn ring, BBQ chicken wings and salmon and goats cheese on crackers.  I wanted to make something simple to start off just so I could spend time talking to James. I ensured the wine was flowing and I think it went really well.

TIP:

Don’t go all out with the starters.  Spend time with your date and get to know him a little better.  Slaving away in the kitchen can begin the night awkwardly which you definitely don’t want.

Recipe

Main Course – The skewers

Ingredients:

• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 Chicken Breast
• 1/4 Chorizo Ring
• Paprika
• Chilli Powder
• Honey
• 4 Skewers

Method:

• Put the skewers into warm water and let them soak whilst you prepare the food.  This helps the stick not burn.
• Cut the Pepper into large square pieces so that they can be threaded onto the skewer without breaking.
• Cut the chorizo into pieces that are approximately a centimetre in width and remove the skin from the outside by scoring the outside of the sausage and pulling the skin away from the meat.
• Cut the chicken into medium sized chunks that will not break when threaded onto the skewers.
• It is totally down to taste but I like to cover the chicken with paprika and chilli powder for a slight kick.
• Thread the chicken chorizo and pepper onto the skewers in any order you choose, just make it look pretty.

• Drizzle honey onto the skewers for a sweet taste that compliments the spicy and smoky flavours.
• Put the skewers on the grill at a medium heat until the chicken is cooked.
  

Make sure the chicken is white throughout.

Recipe

Spicy Rice

Ingredients

• 1 small glass tumbler of rice
• Any vegetables
• Paprika (I use enough to colour the rice fully orange but is dependent on taste)
• Chilli Powder ( I use 1 tsp but is dependent on taste)
• 1 chicken/vegetable stock cube
• Encona Hot Pepper sauce ( I use 1 tsp but is dependent on taste)
• Chorizo
• 1 small squeeze of garlic puree paste

Method

1. Put a splash of oil and the garlic puree into a pan on a medium heat.  Chop the vegetables and chorizo into small pieces and add them to the pan.  Begin the next two stages immediately.
   
2. Boil the kettle and add the recommended amount of water to the stock cube.  Mix well.
3. Measure out 1 small tumbler of rice and add to the pan.  Pour in enough of the stock the fully submerge the vegetables and rice (around 300ml)
4. Put the lid onto the pan and wait until the water begins to absorb into the rice.  Turn down to a low heat.
5. Stir the rice often so it does not stick to the pan.  If it sticks (likely), add more of the stock so that there is a layer of liquid at the bottom of the pan.
6. Add the spices and hot sauce so that the rice has an orange colour.
7. Keep testing the rice to see if it is cooked.  If slightly hard add a little more water.
8. Once the rice is soft and is flavoured to your taste; serve.
   

Salad TIP

When trying to make a simple salad look more attractive; why not decorate the cucumber.  Cut a chunk of cucumber and score the sides of the vegetable with a fork.  Repeat around the circumference and slice the cucumber as normal.

To be honest the meal was a slight disaster.  Let me list to you the problems I faced.

• I slightly burnt the chorizo as I placed the grill tray too high.
• I undercooked the chicken so plated it up and then had to return the skewers back to the oven, just so I didn’t poison James.
• The rice was cooked too soon, so was getting cold.

With all the stress in the kitchen I couldn’t hide my frustration from James in the other room.  The loud bangs and screams may have affected my score…oops!

James seemed to be happy with my efforts even though I created pure chaos.

One happy boyfriend- Check.

Recipe

Dessert:

Chocolate pots with chocolate sauce and glitzy gold topping

I have to confess I didn’t make this recipe, I stole it from Nigella.  James is her biggest fan (I wonder why), so I thought I would prove I was just as great.

Ingredients:

For the pots

• 50g plain chocolate
• 50g butter
• 100g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 25g plain flour
• 1/8 bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt

For the sauce

• 75g plain chocolate
• 21g butter

For the topping

• Crunchie chocolate bar

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°.
2. Break the chocolate and put into a bowl.  Add the butter and melt together.
3. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and sugar together then fold in the sieved flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
   
4. Add the chocolate and butter mixture to the other ingredients and mix.
   
5. Pour the mixture into the ramekins.
   
6. Put into the oven for 25 mins.
7. Just before the pots come out of the oven melt the butter and chocolate for the chocolate sauce.
8. Take the pots out of the oven and pour over the sauce.
9. Smash the Crunchie and pour the golden pieces over the pots.
   
10. Serve and enjoy.

I always think that a chocolate dessert is the best option when trying to impress someone.  I mean, who doesn’t like chocolate.

After the food…

Although there were many disasters throughout the night I think James enjoyed having the meals cooked for him and I know he loved having time to wind down and spend time with me (I hope).  We decided afterwards we would head out with a couple of his friends.

The night was amazing and after the gruelling task of preparing a 3 course meal I thought I scored quite well.

More importantly here’s what he thought…

5?

Whilst in my drunken state I was more than happy with a 5 but when I got in I started thinking he was being a little harsh, I saw the smile on his face when he tucked into my chocolate dessert.  Hmm conspiracy…

In bed he confirmed my suspicions.  The score wasn’t accurate at all, he explained it was the only number he could find on the tables at the bar, so that’s what I got.  Haha!

If you want to know what James really thought of my cooking and that all important score; click here.

StephyScribble

x

]]> http://blog.superdrug.com/come-dine-with-stephy-scribble/feed/ 0 http://blog.superdrug.com/family-feast/ http://blog.superdrug.com/family-feast/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:49:34 +0000 Rosanna http://superdrugloves.com/?p=6503 I have only been home from South Korea for one day, so Superdrug’s challenge to make some exciting food provided the perfect opportunity to spend some time with my Mum and Dad who I haven’t seen for a month!! However, today’s weather was not ideal for this summery task, and what I had planned to be a nice, sunny picnic ended up taking place indoors…in the dark, with rain battering on the windows….not very summery : ( But, the food was still summery! We had a Greek pie, Greek salad, Tzatziki and a mozarella, tomato and basil baguette with pink lemonade to drink. And for dessert a raspberry cheesecake brownie <3

I apologise for the big yellow dates on all the pictures, I had to borrow my Dad’s camera.

The food is so Greek themed because I have spent loads of brilliant Summer holidays in Greece with my family, and because Greek food is brilliant for vegetarians. Anyway! Here are the recipes and results:

Greek Pie

This pie is really simple to make and tastes delicious

Ingredients:

• Filo Pastry
• 2 eggs
• 200g of spinach
• 175g jar of sundried tomatoes in oil
• 100g of feta cheese

How to make:

• Wilt the spinach in pan with a few tablespoons of water. Once wilted, drain and squeeze out the excess water and then leave to cool.
• Crumble the cheese and roughly chop the tomatoes.
• Mix the cheese and tomatoes with the cooled spinach and both eggs. Mix well!
• Piece by piece brush each layer of filo pastry with the oil from the sundried tomatoes and drape over a cake-tin.
• When you have finished covering the cake-tin with pastry, fill with the cheese, tomato, spinach and egg mixture.
• Then take the edges of the pastry and bring them in to the middle, fixing it in place by squeezing it all together in the middle.
• Add a little more oil on the top, and then bake in the oven for about half an hour at about 180 degrees.

The pie before it is ...'closed' haha.

Just before putting it in the oven.

Tzatziki

Tzatziki is a Greek dip which is really easy to make and is very versatile. You can serve it with loads of  different dishes or use it as a filling for sandwiches/pita breads.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 350g Greek yoghurt
• 2tsp lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed or grated)
• Half a tablespoon of salt
• a handful of mint (chopped) – optional

How to make:

• Peel and grate the cucumber, then squeeze out the excess water. This is very cold to do so if you have some rubber gloves that would probably help!
• Put the yoghurt in a large bowl, add the lemon juice, garlic, salt, mint and grated cucumber and stir it all together.
• Serve!

Tzatziki!

Mozarella, Tomato and Basil Baguette

This isn’t technically Greek, but it goes well with the rest : ) It is a bit of a cheat recipe as you don’t actually make the bread…but make it look like you have!

Ingredients:

• 1 baguette.
• 125g mozarella cheese, diced.
• 1 large tomato chopped (or cherry tomatoes)
• A sprinkling of basil to taste

How to make:

• Take the baguette and make slices all a long. Be careful not to slice right through the bread like I nearly did!
• Sprinkle the mozarella with basil and mix with the tomatoes.
• Stuff the sliced bits of the baguette with the mozarella, tomatoes and basil.
• Put in the oven til the cheese has melted.

It looked nicer in real life!

Greek Salad

I don’t want to be patronising and tell you how to make a salad…but here are the ingredients I used. Greek salad is one of my favourite foods, and goes with nearly everything!

Ingredients:

• Any amount of the following: cucumber, tomatoes, olives, red onion and feta cheese.
• I topped mine with olive oil and oregano.

Greek salad

Pink Lemonade

Lemonade is the epitome of summery drinks, so here is how to make a very nice one!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of water
• 1 cup of lemon juice
• 1 cup of cranberry juice
• 1 cup of sugar
• some lemon slices to decorate

How to make:

• Put 1 cup of water and the cup of sugar in a pan and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. This creates a sugar syrup which is the base of the lemonade.
• Add the cranberry juice, lemon juice and remaining 3 cups of water and stir.
• Pour into a big jug or individual glasses and chill in the fridge.

Delicious pink lemonade!

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

I suspect these are absolutely terrible for you, but it is almost Autumn so there is no more need for your bikini body : )

This recipe comes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, which I highly recommend as it contains loads of amazing recipes. It would take me hours to type out the recipe, as it involves loads of ingredients and layers…so here is a link to the recipe (I couldn’t really write it out here anyway without violating copyright!)

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/433316/Hummingbird-Bakery-raspberry-cheesecake-brownie

Brownies and tea : )

Close up!

I really enjoyed this challenge as I love cooking (although I’m not too good at it) and it is my dream to one day run my own vegetarian café : ) I hope that you try out some of my recipes and enjoy them as much as my family and I did, and I hope you have a brilliant last few days of the summer!

My dog, Roger, and our food.

I’d also like to thank Superdrug for all the amazing things I received in the post today, I couldn’t believe how much there was. And for the £60 to spend at www.missguided.co.uk which was extremely generous. I love all the things that I bought and will blog about them shortly.

Lots of love,

Rosanna xxx

p.s. I apologise for this being after midnight, I have had so much to do since I got back!

I am going to get the dessert done first as it is something that will take a few minutes for you to prepare and you can pop it in the fridge to chill while you set about making your main. I took my  ’Superdrugloves Easy Shortcake’ idea from a fab website I lie, Great little Ideas. It has amazing recipes for lots of commonly used ingredients in your house that are all simple but tasty. I chose this for dessert as it is easily put together and you can customise it how you like. Here is how I made mine:

INGREDIENTS

• crushed biscuits eg digestives, shortbread etc
• Ambrosia custard
• washed berries of any kind
• chocolate, icecream sauces or anything else you want to top with.

METHOD

1. Place as many biscuits as you think you will need in a sandwich bag, remember to seal to stop the crumbs going everywhere.
2. Use a rolling pin, empty bowl or anything heavy to gently break up the biscuits into little crumbs.
3. Pour the broken up fine crumble into tall glasses or what ever you would like to serve your ‘Superdrugloves Shortcake’  in.
4. Pour your cold custard on top of the crumble layer, not too thick a layer as it will be difficult to set.
5. Be smug about how easy but tasty your pudding is!
6. Artistically (!) squirt a little sauce around the top of your pudding.
7. Place your berries/chocolates/ what ever you fancy on top for decoration.
8. Place into the fridge to set for at least half an hour.

Then whenever people are ready after your fahitas have gone down,  you have yourself a tasty, indulgent summer fruity pudding. YUM! I made mine into glasses that were a little big but these look so cute in little tumblers, bowls and with whole srawberries on top or with different layers of biscuits, fruit or chocolate inside!

Now time to make your Fahitas H2T (named simply because no matter what type of fahitas I have I get them all over me from head to toe!) These are a great summers dinner because you can make them out of pretty much any veg and or meat you have in the house. All it takes is some chopping and you can leave it to cook and season to taste. Served up in a huge wok means people can help themsevles to as much as they like, and people making up their own fahita means less work for you! So here are some I made earlier:

Ingredients

• a range of vegetable, peppers, onion, courgette, aubergine, spring onion, mushrooms
• chicken or beef if required,
• olive oil for cooking.
• a rangoe spices dependant on taste
• baked beans
• cheddar cheese
• garnishes such as guacamole, sour cream etc
• wraps

Method

1. Gather all your ingredients together, a good mix fo veg and or meat is great.
2. Organise the spices you want to make to season your mix.
3. Put in a small amount of each spice until you reach a taste to your liking ( you can of course just grab a pre made mix from the shops!) You can then pour any left over mix into an old spice tub and then you have a pre made fahita mix for next time!
4. Chop all your veg, use as uch as required depending on how many are eating.
5. Make sure you are still having fun!
6. Have someone else chop the onion if you don’t want your mascara to run!
7. Heat a small amount of olice oil in a pan on medium heat.
8. Fry your vegtables, stirring as you go.
9. Place your wraps on a microwave proof plate and heat for one minute.
10. Pour in your pre made spice mix.
11. Stir the mix thrugh your ingredients.
12. Grate cheese into a bowl and organise any sauces you want.
13. My secret ingredient- heat baked beans in the microwave
14. Set your table and your fahitas will be ready to serve!

Now you might scoff at the beans part but I was let into this secret a while ago and have not looked back. Honestly try it, it tastes amazing!

All the food took under half an hour to prepare and tasted delicous, we certainly enjoyed it I hope you enjoyed my turn at Come dine with me, Now off you go and score my work in the taxi on the way home ( or in this case in the voting stars above!!)

Happy summer cooking everyone, why not give some of the insiders recipes a try this weekend?

Bx

For my summertime recipe, I made a little something we at home like to call a Salad Tea.  I used to have this British family favourite a lot when I was younger so it’s almost a comfort food without the stodge!  It usually makes an appearance around May-time when we get the first sight of summer and is really easy to make.  A salad tea consists of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, hard boiled eggs and luncheon meats with room for your own additions / deductions.  Here’s what I did with mine…

First, I put the eggs on the boil then chopped my cucumber and tomatoes.   I took my ‘washed and ready to use’ lettuce and placed it on two large plates.  Next, I arranged the tomatoes and cucumber on top of the lettuce and rolled some slices of meat to add to the dish.  I love pickled onions so I put them in, as well as some beetroot, but just for me as Dave can’t stand the stuff – if he had his way, there would have been a porkpie in the mix but I couldn’t get any.  Penultimately, I took the eggs off the boil, put them in cold water and grated some cheddar. While they cooled I poured some Sauvingon Blanc and had a few sips.

Lastly, I de-shelled the eggs, chopped them and took a handful of the cheddar to place on the plate.  Et voilà, a salad tea for 2!

For desert we each had a yoghurt but thinking about it now, I probably should have made jelly to have with cream / ice cream – it’s like coming home from school… how nostalgic can you get?!

TTFN

Amy x

So when Superdrug asked us to share some exciting recipes, I was at a bit of a loss. I have cooked some more unusual stuff for my mum and my brother before (I really fancy myself as a chef, no matter how stressful it gets in the kitchen – I somehow enjoy it) but when it comes to eating it myself, I’ll stick with the usual thanks.
With that in mind, I’m going to share two of my favourite things with you. Not essentially summer based, but I never did stick to seasons anyway.

First up, for the main, is good old lasagna. For those of you recoiling, stifling your yawns, there are numerous ways to add a bit extra to this dish if you don’t fancy just bolognese and pasta. Add a bit of curry paste, some chili powder, even some more flavoursome vegetables if you like.
Here’s how I do mine – ingredients are done by eye, so I can’t give any specific measurements, if you haven’t made lasagne before (it’s pretty simple) then trial and error will have to be your method!

Heat the mince in a pan until it begins sizzling, at this point, add about a tablespoon of water and beef stock. Mix in, then add in blended vegetables. My fool proofs are carrots, onions, tomatoes & peppers – but this is a dish that you can chuck any left over veg in and it will still taste great! Granted that the veg is in date of course… carrots were left out of this particular edition because the entire bag was mouldy when I got to them… Yuck!
Stir together, and leave to simmer while you get on with something else.

While simmering, add a large knob of butter to a separate pan, and leave to melt. Once it begins to sizzle, add a spoonful of flour, so it’s sticky lumps, with a little bit of melted butter left, to create a roux. Immediately add milk – in stages, better to add too little than too much – and keep stirring/adding milk until you’re left with a creamy white sauce.

Now to form the lasagna! Get an oven proof dish, and begin layering. First, create a layer of the bolognese, making it smooth and even.

Next up, start layering the pasta sheets. I prefer the green ones, they have a slightly different taste and are apparently better for you, but that’s entirely personal preference. Try and get it to cover all the bolagnaise, so it’ll create an even tower when cooked.
Over the pasta, pour on the white sauce, this has to cover all the pasta, so it has some liquid substance to cook in (this is why we added water into the bolognese!).

Repeat the last steps until the dish is full, or until you run out of sauce/bolognese. I always have the top layer being white sauce.
The last, and optional step is to add cheese. You can also add cheese into the white sauce if you want. I add grated cheese over the top as well as it makes it a little crispy. I like to have a crispy edge to contrast with the soft pasta!

Then, stick it in the oven, covered with tin foil. It’ll need about 20 minutes, on 200degrees (I have a fan assisted oven & this works for me, obviously you might need to moderate it for your own oven!)
After 20 minutes, take off the foil and put it back in, foil less. Keep checking on it, it’s personal taste how much longer you want to leave it in, 5 – 10 minutes is generally enough for me, so it’s got a crispy edge, but isn’t burnt!

Then serve it up! I added peas (and a side of dough balls – yums), but a salad or garlic bread would be the perfect partner.

But what about dessert?!
Well, this is more of a great snack or party favour – but this is something I’ve been making since I was little, bringing out the oldest ‘cookie cutters’ I could find to throw some shapes in, I absolutely love these. I always double the amounts in the recipe book, and the two trays full of biscuits it makes, are generally gone by the end of the following day.

The recipe, taken from the vintage 1984 Sainbury’s Children’s Party Cooking
This makes about 15, but I double up these measurements, it depends how big you cut the biscuits as to how many you can get.

Sift 50g of flour into a bowl, and rub in 25g of butter in, until it resembles bread crumbs. Stir in 25g of caster sugar, then gradually add beaten egg, until it creates a firm dough. Do this in tiny amounts, and use your hands to create the dough.
Flour a surface, and a rolling pin, begin rolling out the pastry, remembering to keep turning/flipping so it doesn’t stick. Roll it quite thinly, but be careful as the thinner it gets the easier it is to burn when in the oven.
You can then have your imagination run wild with what kinds of shapes to create, I went for some topical shapes;

Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until golden at 180degrees, gas mark 4. Then leave to cool.

Then comes the icing (always my favourite bit). I took my time trying to make the perfect Superdrug pink;

I added a drop of Cochineal colouring to my icing sugar mix…

The before;

The finished product;

They tasted even better than they look

So, not all that exciting to most, but definitely something that will be missed when I make the move to University in September! At least I have mastered how to recreate it if I ever get homesick.

DOWNLOAD: Where? Donington When? 11th-13th June Line up? ACDC, Rage against the machine, Motorhead, Deftones

GLASTONBURY: Where? Somerset When? 23rd-27th June Line up? Dizzie Rascal, Snoop Dogg, Stevie Wonder, Mumford and Sons

GLOBAL GATHERING: Where? Long Marston When? 30th-31st July Line up? Faithless, Eric Prydz, Sasha

LEEDS: Where? Leeds When? 27th-29th August Line up? Klaxons, Guns n Roses, Blink 182, Paramore

We are all familiar with Glastonbury, V Festival, Leeds and Reading but with the attention on South Africa for the World Cup 2010, I can’t help but look back to last summer and remember the TOAST festival.

Held at Clapham Common, London, the TOAST festival comprises of 3 events; the South African festival, the New Zealand festival and the Australian festival.  Running over three days, one day for each country, the festival gives a taste of what it’s like to live in some of the most amazing places in the world.  With live music, dancers, food, drink and entertainment, TOAST is a festival not to be missed.

It stands out for me, as unlike other commercialised festivals, I felt like a VIP without the pricey VIP ticket, and at this one I remained clean and smelt fabulously fresh throughout.  TOAST to me is an upmarket festival, where you can experience the same atmosphere as your conventional festival, but with a touch of class.

This may not suit everyone but I think TOAST is quite unique, a word that I like to associate with myself

I went to the South African TOAST festival.  My boyfriend had just come back from Cape Town after visiting last summer, so I wanted to get a feel for where he was staying.

It was a beautifully sunny day so I was automatically in a good mood.  I was, like I am every single morning, unsure what to wear.  Unlike my usual daily debate this was far more important, with lots of factors to take into account.

1) MUD   2) RAIN    3) ALCOHOL SPILLAGE    4) THE CHANCE OF FALLING OVER     5) POSSIBLE NUDITY (jokes)

I know from other festivals that it can be a messy affair, but I’m glad I went with my gut instinct and dressed to impress.

My ideal festival outfit:

I hope you agree that both choices are perfect for each occasion.  Outfitnumber 1 is best for the usual muddy, crazy music festival, as it recognises the essentials to survive the outdoors.  Outfit 2 suits a festival like TOAST, as you can look nice but are prepared for any chance of rain, mud or spillages.  Both are great value for money and help you to achieve that festival chic look, which is very fashionable this season.

So.. what’s TOAST all about?

FOOD: There were BBQ’s alight throughout the day into the evening, where you can buy typical BBQ food like burgers and hotdogs.  For that South African twist, there was the opportunity to eat braai, which consisted of spicy boerewors sausage, sticky spare ribs and kalahari chicken sosaties. I’ve got to say thumbs up South Africa, could have got use to eating like that everyday.

If you ever get the chance to try Biltong, walk away.  I thought I would test out new things while I had the chance and try South African delicacies with open arms (or mouth in this case)and oh how I wish I hadn’t.  YUK YUK YUK… Biltong was the most disgusting thing to have ever met my lips.  I can’t help but think, why would anyone enjoy eating chewy dried meat?  Try if you dare Superdrug Blog readers.

DRINK:

Ok with lots of wine and beer on sale, within close vicinity, I was going to take full advantage of it.  On entry I was given a free plastic cup which was attached to string, to be put around my neck.  As the drinks kept flowing it soon became my most prized fashion possession, and I became very protective of it. Oh how I embarrass myself sometimes.  So, me and cup remained together throughout the day, as you can see below, our relationship grew stronger and stronger.

Confession… I still have the cup to this day.

There were lots of stalls around the Common to test and buy SA wine and beer and there was the opportunity to join a wine masterclass and learn how to taste wine.  I’m not sure I would have been very good at limiting myself to a small sip each time.  Looking back at it though, I would like to have a go at wine tasting, it intrigues me how the professionals taste flavours within each glass.   I can never tell the difference between pepper, cherry, oak or blackcurrant, to me the very cheapest red wine is the same as the top notch brand.

Entertainment:

With lots of SA dancers parading the common with native dancing, I couldn’t help but get into the South African spirit.  There was a polo match, UK vs SA, which made me feel as rich as royalty.  I mean who gets the chance to watch polo in the front row, certainly not me.  That day I became Lady Stephanie, and I didn’t let my boyfriend forget it.  I had never seen a Polo game before, I didn’t really know what to expect, but the pace was fast and it was much more exciting than I thought.  It was good fun being surrounded by a dominant South African crowd, cheering on the UK.  I did get a few unfriendly stares, but hey-ho, it made my day, especially when we won.

Music:

There was a stage set up for the acts and as soon as I knew when the first act was starting I made my way to the front, and lucky me I had the best spot.  The best place yes but without drinks and food.  I left my stuff with my boyfriend and pushed my way through the massive crowd behind me, all in the name of refreshments   After a long wait in the queue I was equipped with the goodies and ready to enjoy the music.  I had no clue who the first act was.  Turned out he was a indie soloist, very popular in SA.

The headline act, which I now can say are the best thing I’ve seen in ages, Goldfish, took the stage and the crowd went crazy.  The atmosphere was mad, Goldfish are a massive success in SA and now worldwide.  They have released songs such as Cruising Through and Fort Knox (Check them out).  They are South Africa’s electronica phenomenon, who incorporate lots of instruments into their songs, like the saxophone, upright bass and keyboard.  Goldfish have played all around the world  in some of the best clubs and have hit the dance scene by storm.

The band played until the evening until the crowds dispersed into London’s clubs and bars, where the South African vibe spread to local venues.  Clapham’s hottest clubs continued the night with South African themed entertainment.  Sadly the sun’s rays had the better of me and sunburn meant I needed to go home and get to bed.

I will definitely be returning to TOAST this year, equipped with my factor 50 this time.  I’m sure with the World Cup fever; Clapham’s South African vibe will be as immense as ever.

Below i’ve outlined the main trends for this year:

Happy festival season ,

StephyScribble x

Today was the day of my second to last exam EVER. Therefore today wasn’t the most interesting of days, but it was certainly very, very stressful. It began with me rushing in to the library, and desperately revising before my exam. You know the day isn’t going so well when its highlight so far is eating (albeit surprisingly delicious) soup in the library café.  I thought I had revised the best I could, but my exam went terribly! I even drew a sad face on my exam paper…

My terrible exam! : (

My exam was on Aristophanes, an Athenian comedy playwright from the 5th Century BC. This might seem really boring, but bear with me! In one of his plays he discusses what women in Ancient Athens used to do to make themselves seem beautiful- and I found it really interesting to find that it is more or less exactly the same as what we do today- wearing make-up, perfume and alluring dresses*

I, on the other hand, looked the opposite of alluring today. In a horrible stressed rush, I barely had time to apply my make up (but of course could not go without it all together for fear of people being distracted in their exams by my monstrous bare face!)

As if a third year final exam is not stressful enough- I also had to finalise moving out of my flat which unluckily fell on the same day! My boyfriend and I had to race back to our flat in time to take meter readings and phone all kinds of gas and electricity companies (boring!)

Me with millions of bills, phoning gas and electricity companies! Argh!

Then we had to WALK all the way to the Estate Agents to drop our keys off, as the buses to it stop running after about 5 o’clock! It was a long way, so we had to refuel on the journey by stopping off for a bit of chocolate!

I had a Twirl, mmm!!!

The day started to improve after that, we could breathe a sigh of relief, although we were both really sad to move out of our flat. We’ve been living their for the past 2 years and both loved it, but now we are about to become unemployed, moneyless ‘adults’ :’(

Outside our flat for the last time : (

To treat ourselves we went to the cinema, thank God for Orange Wednesdays! We watched Robin Hood, which was okay but Russell Crowe’s depiction of Robin Hood did not compare to Jonas Armstrong (BBC Robin Hood) or Cary Elwes (Robin Hood: Men in Tights.) We then went for a big, fat Pizza Hut. I got goats cheese and spinach on a deep pan mmmm!!! I wanted to take a photo of this but my camera kindly ran out of battery.

We're men, we're men in tight, tight tights!

Then we planned to get the train back to my house, which was quite sad as we’d normally just get the bus back to our flat! Of course, there were no trains for over an hour, so we had to sit and wait doing nothing- not even any of the shops were open in the train station!

I got home to find that a necklace I ordered ages ago off the internet had finally been delivered! I bought it with money from my birthday, and I am really pleased with it!

My new necklace!

I can’t wait to wear it when I finally stop doing exams and get to go out and enjoy myself! Just another week of university and then I will be a free ‘woman’ / ‘girl’ (I am unsure of what to call myself, a la Britney Spears.) I can’t wait, and I can’t wait to (hopefully) fill you in with details of my next few weeks job hunting, holidaying and general university recovery (probably most of which will be done through buying make-up, jewellery and clothes that I really shouldn’t be buying until I have a job!)

But for now, I look forward to a nice lie in in the morning, before facing another horrifying day of revision, in preparation for my LAST EXAM EVER!!!

Wish me luck!!!

I hope you’ve all had a nice day!

Lots of love from,

Rosanna (Rosie)  x

*One of his plays, Lysistrata is about women going on a sex strike to force their husbands to make peace with one another (he was writing at the time of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta- and their respective allies) stresses the importance of beauty for women, in fact being pretty may have been all they were thought of as good for! The play states “The women!- What could they ever do that was any use? Sitting at home putting flowers in their hair, putting on cosmetics and saffron gowns and Cimberian see-through shifts, with slippers on our feet?”… “But don’t you see, that’s exactly what I mean to use to save Greece. Those saffron gowns and slippers…our scent and rouge as well.”

Written by Rosie – one of our trial Insiders! Find out more about our Insider Challenge here

I do cleaning and ironing for a living so I usually set out to start my chores which involves me walking to my jobs and making peoples hectic lives easier by making their houses look lovely for when they come home and also clearing the ironing piles for them. My clients are all professional people to include London city workers and hospital staff.

Once all my jobs are done I walk home and take a long shower, clean and buff my nails, massage my cuticles and apply hand cream. I then style my hair and change into fresh clothes. Then its time to make dinner for myself and my husband which at this time of year is usually a bbq with salad.

We then sit in the garden either with the chimnea on or if we are lucky in the sunshine with a long cold drink and discuss what kind of day we have had and generally chill out.

On the weekends I usually catch up on my housework and ironing and then relax and pamper myself as much as possible!!

Written by SARAH1972 – one of our trial Insiders! Find out more about our Insider Challenge here

I set about the task of making my boyfriend an entire meal by scratch, by myself. There was no ‘occasion’ I just fancied cooking us something other than pasta. I planned well, and had all the ingredients ready, all the prep wrote down etc…
I’m not going to bore you with a step by step process of what was done, but i felt i had to blog about it because of how proud i am.
It turned out brilliantly, in fact, i don’t think there was one thing wrong with it – which is a rarity. I’m not a bad cook, and most things turn out… OK, but none are every really, really ok…
This has turned things around, and i’m on  a mission to try as many new things as i can! Have you any recommendations?

Anyway, the meal.
I made, sticky chicken drumsticks, including the sauce, paprika potato wedges and barbecue sauce. All from nothing. I’m sure if I’m writing to a load of kitchen fanatics this may seem pretty basic, but it was something very different to what i would normally conjure up – and i am overly proud of the finished product, so here it is, in all its glory.

The picture could have done with a bit more arrangement really… But, it was really yummy, and that’s really all that matters