Horses For Courses

I returned to Suffolk this weekend to eat something that wasn't a stir fry, get some doggy cuddles from Nellie and the spaniels, and also jump judge at the local team chase with mum.

The team chase is one of several (I think) and basically you get into teams of four riders, then you bomb around a cross country course as fast as you can, and you have to get to the finish with no less than 3 horses and riders.

Armed with a huge steaming flask of chai latte, plus tonnes of snacks, I settled down for what I thought would be a leisurely morning ticking boxes, eating, nattering on the radio, and doing some more eating.

As soon as the first team thundered past I knew I was wrong.

Mum had to walkie talkie to say the horses were over the jumps as they whizzed past,

 And I was left in charge of the ticking off of the teams, and of course, the most important job, whistling at spectators when a horse was coming.

Mum and I were rooting for team 30, RAW Botswana, especially as Lucy used to ride one of Ginny's ponies, Smartie!

 Kudos to Ollie to getting into the only good photos of Clifford!!!!

Smartie is on the left!

After a day in the wind and cold, I got home, popped some comfy clothes on and got down to cuddling my little pal.

Then we made a huge batch of sausage rolls to cheer some friends up.

Grab a packet of puff pastry, cut it in half and roll it out so its about 7 inches wide, and very long.
De-skin a packet of sausages and lie 1/3 in, drizzle a bit of mango chutney on top, and brush the extra 2/3 of pastry with a beaten egg.
Tightly roll it up, chop up, place on a baking tray with the seam at the bottom, and brush with the egg again.
Put in the oven for about 25 mins at 180 C

A little random, but that was my weekend!!!

Girl's Night

I haven't been up to anything very bloggable this week, let alone done any cooking, so I thought I'd show you some photos of our spontaneous girl's night that we had on Friday.

Hilary had a late lecture she couldn't get out of, so Hannah, Renuka and I had ages to get ready, resulting in lots of photos!

Best thing about living in a house full of girls??

Always an occasion to take photos

 
 Then things (meaning me) got a little silly..

There couldn't not be one of me eating..

Then we were finally reunited with Hilary, and we played a few games (and took more pictures), before going out.

It was such a good night, it goes to show that usually the best nights are the ones that weren't planned.

American Bacon Pancakes (D-F)

When I didn't have to avoid dairy, I made these every weekend, but when I had to stop eating dairy I thought it unlikely that I'd ever get to eat these again.

Last week, I whipped up these pancakes for my housemates and I, and who knew one could be full from three pancakes?

I made double the quantity which fed seven:

270g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp caster sugar

260ml soy or almond milk

2 large eggs

4 tbsp Pure spread

1 pack of bacon

 Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the milk and the eggs.

Then melt a lump of Pure in the microwave and measure out 4 tbsp, Hilary found this in ASDA and it's definatley the best butter replacement that I've found. She's made lots of cakes for me with it and they taste even better than usual.

Plus, it makes exceptionally good buttercream.

Mix that in and keep mixing until it's all smooth.

Whilst that's going on you can be cooking your bacon.

Welcome to my student kitchen..

Once the batter is ready, and the bacon is sizzled, heat up a pan.

Lay a strip of bacon in the pan and pour over a ladle of batter.

I know that bacon and pancakes might seem like a weird combination initially, but they're SO good.

Drizzle with honey or maple syrup and tuck in.