Tanzania: Week One

I already don't want to come home and not just because of the EU referendum results...

In the last week I have experienced a wedding, a christening, climbed gangilonga rock, been to church and attended a festival of Tanzanian heritage culture. In my foundation training, I have watched fellow Tanzanian volunteers take up role play dressed head-to-toe (let your whole body talk) in drag WITH PADDING and learned the African Macarena. I have been immersed in a culture that despite a 50:50 Islam:Christianity split, their peacefulness makes Britain look like a 1930s Soviet Union.

My first week experiences have exceeded my expectations for the full 13 week placement and I have picked up more Swahili than German -which I was taught at school for 3 years (sorry Mrs Stoddart).

On the other hand, my luxuries have slowly declined -I started with two long-haul Etihad flights, stayed at a kind of luxurious hotel (see my last post), spent a week in a high standard hostel, and moved to my new home with a concrete floor in my bedroom, waking up with back pain and a long drop toilet that doesn't flush in Iringa. But despite the latter, Tanzania is home. 

12 days of Christmas: Day 12, The Healthy Recipe

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's day one of sticking to New Years Resolutions so here is a healthy juice recipe to keep up with my goal: 'Be More Healthy'. This one is full of antioxidants which boost your immune system... no I'm not lying, Google it. I'll keep this one brief as I'm sure you're all tired and/or hungover. And also I don't think I need to tell you how to slice fruit.

You can also substitute the water with milk (skimmed for a healthy option) or fresh orange juice - but in case you missed the post on Day 10, I can't have milk any-more - and we didn't have any fresh orange juice in the house - so I'm using water. Ingredient measurements will vary depending on the size of your cup. I used a small Nutri-bullet container and this is what I used:

Ingredients:
1 banana
1/2 reed grapefruit
1 satsuma
100ml water/milk/juice
Ice (optional)

Method:
1. Cut it up, throw it in, blend and drink.

I hope you've enjoyed 12 days of Christmas 2015. Should I do it again next year?

Merry Blogmas and a Happy New Year!

12 days of Christmas: Day 2, The Christmas Bake

Love Christmas but not a fan of the Christmas pud? No problem. These no-bake Oreo cake pops are just the thing you need to tingle those taste-buds! Because Christmas is a time where we all have the lowest bank balance, with just two ingredients, these scrummy cake pops won't break the bank either. AND because Christmas is also a busy time for all of us, these cake pops are one of my quickest 'bakes' yet - ruling out the chill time, they take less than 30 minutes.

ALTERNATIVES:
If you don't have the cake pop moulds, sticks, or holders, don't worry, you can leave them as they are for the perfect Christmas party finger food. There are other alternatives for this recipe too - I usually make them with cream cheese but as these were for dessert for my boyfriend and I - and as Adam doesn't like cheese (who doesn't like cheese?) - I substituted the cream cheese with double cream. Another alternative is that I separated the Oreo biscuit from the cream in an attempt to make it a little less messy - it's not totally necessary if you don't have the time. Finally - you can put the Oreos in a food processor or blender - but for me 'it was my moms in the eighties' and the noise it makes terrifies me.

Here are the photos from this weeks bake:

Separate the cookies from the cream (optional)

Bash the cookies into crumbs

Add the crumbs to the Oreo cream before adding the double cream or cream cheese

 Mix into a paste

WARNING: It gets MESSY

Tah-dah!

RECIPE:
Ingredients:
24 Oreos 
100ml of double cream (or about half a pack of cream cheese)

Icing sugar
Water

Method:
1. Separate the Oreo biscuit from the cream. Place the biscuit in a strong clear bag - like a freezer bag - and seal (or in the blender). Put the cream into a mixing bowl for later.
2. Using something solid - I used a rolling pin - bash the biscuits up into fine crumbs (or blend into fine crumbs).
3. Pour the crumbs into the mixing bowl with the Oreo cream and add the double cream or cream cheese.
4. Roll the mixture into small balls and place in the fridge to chill - if your balls are too big they will fall off the cake pop!. They should chill for a minimum of two hours but probably best to do this overnight.
5. Once they have cooled, use the icing to replicate a Christmas pudding - for the holly leaves I cheated and used Regal Icing - you can make your own or similar to my blood-filled Halloween cakes - use an inedible decoration.

Halloween Bake on a Budget: Blood-filled Cupcakes

Having a Halloween party tonight? Don't worry, there's still a little time for a last minute bake! Taking inspiration from Tanya Burr's chocolate cupcakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49WvunWX7mc) I decided to try my very own blood-filled bake and have written it down which will hopefully make it easy for you to follow. Having done pretty bank-breaking-bakes previously, I tried to make this as cheap as possible and have also added a few 'cheats' for a quicker process and less washing up...smiles all round! Disclaimer: The spider is not edible. 

Here are the photos from this weeks bake:

 The finished product! The spiders are from Hobby Craft and are £1 for 50.

 CHEAT! for less washing up, use an apple corer for your 'blood'.

 Oops... Maybe there was more washing up than I first thought!

Ingredients:
Cakes:
225 g butter (softened)
225 g brown caster sugar
225 g plain flour
4 eggs
2 caps vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Filling:
12 tsp Raspberry Jam

Icing:
200 g butter (softened)
400 g icing sugar
2 caps marshmallow flavouring
1 pea sized scoop of orange food colouring

Method: 
Cakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C (170 C fan oven). Place cupcake cases into tin.
2. Stir together the butter and sugar to create a soft mixture. Add the flour and the eggs.
3. Mix in the vanilla extract and milk and stir out any lumps leftover.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Leave to cool for about an hour.
6. (This is the cheaty bit) Following the pictures above, take an apple corer and 'de-core' your cake - be careful not to hit the bottom or the blood will fall out the other end! Spoon some blood (raspberry jam) into the hole and place the top back on to hide the spook-tacular surprise! Alternatively, if you don't have an apple corer, place the jam in a piping bag and pipe the jam inside the cakes.

Icing: 
1. Place the butter in a bowl and stir until smooth. 
2. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl and mix together. If you're adapting the recipe in any way, make sure you always have twice as much icing sugar than butter - this will keep the shape when it comes to piping!
3. Add the food colouring and stir until evenly covered and a smooth texture.
3. Pipe on your icing in a circular motion and top with spooky decoration!

Trying this recipe yourself? Don't forget to tag me in your photos! Happy Halloween.