Hey all
As I am rather confined to home at the moment I have been passing a lot of the time watching the food network/ good food channel. I keep seeing loads of Christmas specials (although have not seen the comedy gold that is Fanny Craddock yet this year) and have been recreating a few recipes at home to add to our gift hampers. I saw a version of this recipe, but forgot to write it down/ record the programme/ and could not find it on the internet.
Anyway, on with the recipe:
Mix 3 cups raw almonds, 1 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup coconut in a bowl. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a tray with baking paper.
Then in a small pan gently heat 3 tbs butter (I used Pure spread so they are vegan also), 3 tbs light brown soft sugar, 3 tbs dark brown soft sugar and a squirt of maple syrup.
Let it bubble away for a few minutes, then add a drop of vanilla, a drop of orange extract, a tsp cinnamon and a tsp mixed spice.
Pour the mixture over the nuts and dried fruit, and mix mix mix. Mix until they are all coated in the mixture. It gets very sticky!
Pour it onto the baking tray and spread it out.
Bake for 15-20 mins until they have darkened slightly (but not burnt). Some of the sugars will have gone hard when you take it out. Then leave to cool on the tray for a little bit before breaking it up.
Bag it up ready for gifts, and of course keep some for yourself!
Yum! They smell like Christmas š
As well as giving gifts I was lucky enough to receive one this week- a few friends have popped over this week to keep me company, and one of them (who is the most amazing baker/ sweet maker) made me some salted caramels as a get well gift- in the prettiest bag too!
Seriously, how cute is this bag? Apparently it is for cupcakes but I think caramels are a much better filling!
I also ordered some rawr chocolate- they do Christmas chocolate with is flavoured with orange oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Again- amazing- tastes like Christmas. š
The only smell that tops it is a gingerbread house. I have made the pieces but not yet stuck it all together/ decorated it yet. I love it so much when we have one for decoration because the smell just drifts through the house the entire time. Mmmm.
What smells do you associate with Christmas? What are your favourite edible gifts to give/ receive?
Seedy toast with rainforest nut butter and blackcurrant spread.
Tomato soup (good old Heinz not home-made!) and some tomato and goats cheese flatbread. Ā Plus 2 clementines- so delicious.
Gingerbread spice tea! So yummy!
Pasta with red pesto, veggies and cheese (I did not manage all of this as I got so full though).
Baked apple with raisins and caramel alpro.
A black one that says “Just one more mile…” and a navy one with “Run <3 ” on it. Now they arrived while I was in hospital, so at the moment I have not tried either one out (and won’t get to in the near future either). So anyway I have decided that the winner will get to choose which band they like the most, and I will keep the other one to try out once I am better.
This was so delicious! It was from 
A card made by my class (how sweet- it is a stained glass style-they cut out the holes then covered in tissue paper- this is the style we did for the Christmas cards this year only they did a tree/star shape)- they all signed it too (made me quite tearful), and some lovely flowers from work.
I also feel rather strange as I keep on getting “Get Well Cards” through the post. I am not one used to being unwell, and I did not really feel like my situationĀ warrantedĀ the cards. Andy keeps telling me off- I suppose I was in hospital last week.
On went the marzipan (stuck down with warm apricot jam- I did the top as a circle and then the edges as a long sausage shape which I then moulded together). This had to be left to set/ harden overnight as then the icing would stick better to it.
Then on went the icing. This was rolled out into a huge circle, draped over, smoothed on top and then smoothed around the side. All the extra bits were cut off and used for the next cake.
Onions, peppers and courgettes are what I eat most of anyway, plus pears and clementines are perfect for this time of year. It was the leeks and kale that I was not sure what to do with. I got a lot of suggestions for how to eat the kale- thanks to everyone for those. 
I tried to make kale chips to go along with 
I cooked the leeks in a tsp pure spread.
Then I whizzed up a block of tofu, some natural yoghurt (because I had some left but you could easily leave it out), some red pesto, some sundried tomatoes and a few bits of goats cheese. Then I added in the leeks and a little caramelised onion chutney.
Then I put the mixture into muffin tins (was not sure whether to use cases- I didn’t but think in the future I would as they were hard to get out) and topped with a little more goats cheese.
Turned out pretty well for something made up!
I enjoyed one (for quality control of course) with sweet potato, rocket and hummus, and it was really tasty. The leeks had a nice mild flavour which went well with the sharper goats cheese and sweet caramelised onions. They had the texture of maybe anĀ omeletteĀ but without the eggy flavour (I don’t like eggy flavours!). I have frozen the other ones for a later date- I love a good freezer meal.