Banana and white chocolate brownies

White chocolate brownies are no where near as common as they should be! They are soooo nice, quite sweet but lovely non the less. When making these recently I also had a banana that was fairly brown, which had been bothering me, I hate having a browning banana lying around looking sorry for itself, so I decided to make banana and white chocolate brownies, lets see what that turns out like...

This is the recipe I used:

• 100g butter or margarine
• 100g white chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1 mashed overripe banana
• 150g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g self raising flour

I heated the electric fan oven to 160c and greased a small to medium baking tin.
In a medium saucepan melt the butter completely, once melted remove from hob and immediately add choc chips, stir until melted, leave this to one side to cool.
In the meantime in a mixing bowl, beat an egg, then stir in the mashed banana, vanilla and sugar.
Once butter mixture has cooled for 5-10min stir into the banana mixture, mix well. To this mixture add the flour and mix until all the flour is mixed in. Spread out evenly in the baking tray and cook for about 15-20min until 98% cooked then turn off oven and leave in hot oven for a further 10min to finish off. It should be light golden brown on top.
It won't rise very much, don't worry they are not meant to!
Leave to cool completely before cutting. I would imagine these wound be quite nice with some sort of frosting, I've not tried it so can't say either way really.
They are not gooey and chewy like some brownies, they are more cakey and fluffy, maybe because I used self raising flour? I will try plain next time and report back!

The crazies certainly liked the smell of them that's for sure! And Mr picky likes them so they must be ok.

My favourite soup ever.

Nothing beats a thick tasty soup on a cold winter Sunday, this recipe was given to me by my mom and its easily my favourite soup ever, even better than Heinz tomato!! Not only that but it's really simple and quick to make! It's healthy too, so eating the lot won't ruin your waistline!

Butternut squash and red pepper soup:

• 2 medium butternut squashes
• 1 red pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 2 vegetable stock cubes (we always use knorr)
• salt and pepper to taste
• blob of vitalite

Using a sharp knife, chop and de-seed the pepper and butternut squash, chop into cubes and add to a large pan, chop onion and add to pan, cover veg with cold water until its just covered.
Add a fair amount of salt and pepper (to taste really) then crumble in the two sock cubes.
Put lid on and bring up to the boil, once boiling remove the lid and boil until veg is soft (around 20min)
Once cooked let cool slightly, then add a dollop of butter/marg and blend until smooth with a hand blender.

Serve with some warm crusty bread and there you have it! There's many ways you can add to this depending on your mood, a little paprika and chilli flakes for a spicy version. I sometimes add garlic and mixed herbs too.
Although I will always prefer the original...

The pooches approve too!

It begins...

Hello and welcome!
I'm a bit of an experimental cook, I tend to make it up as I go along! But it usually ends up all well and good, and I'm often asked "how did you make that then?" So I figured I'd share what I do, hopefully it works as well for you as it does for me!
First and foremost it always tends to be simple, why over complicate things when it can taste just as good with a few simple ingredients? You won't find me sending you off looking for weird and wonderful ingredients from random places, mainly because I can't be bothered to go get them either!
There will be a good selection of vegetarian and dairy free recipes also, as my family are a living dietary requirement! Not only that but my better half is a picky bugger to!
I intend to update with a recipe each week, fingers crossed, so be sure to check back often to see the latest experiment...

Oh and everything I cook is done so over the watchful eye of my two lunatic dogs, crazy the pair of them...