Travel: Las Vegas - Photo Diary

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I packed my bags and headed out to sunny Las Vegas. The holiday blues have hit me hard this past week so I thought I'd share some photos of my trip with you guys and attempt to relive some of the fun times. I hope you don't mind.

Our holiday began with a trip to Las Vegas to see my best friend in the world marry the love of her life. I can tell you, Vegas is just the best city in the world to visit with a group of your nearest and dearest. Windowless casinos leaving you wondering if it's even night or day, drunken shopping in Sephora, visiting haunted museums, this trip had it all; and this was only the begining. 

Never in my life have I felt the need to do a round of jello shots before draining six bottles of champagne for breakfast (no joke, we actually did this) but in Vegas, it just felt like the norm.  If you ever find yourself in that part of the world I can wholeheartedly recommend the Wicked Spoon Breakfast Buffet, do yourself a favour and add on the unlimited booze option. It's $15 well spent!

The famous Flamingo Hotel was our base for the 3 days we spent in Vegas and  that pink flashing monolyth served us well.  The hotel had everything you need and more, fancy a diamante Elton John cap, they got that!  The rooms were spacious and functional, certainly not flashy but hey you're not in Vegas to spend time sitting alone in your room, am I right?!  Staying at The Flamingo? Get yourself down to the pool for an afternoon of sunning yourself surrounded by people that wouldn't be amiss in an episode of Jersey Shore, a real fun experience. Just make sure you don't buy the $30 margarita...

Stay tuned for my New Orleans and Memphis photo diaries. Have you been to Las Vegas? What was your opinion on the real city that never sleeps?

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Recipes: Cornflake Tart

When people talk about the 80's I still think it was only about 10 years ago, and don't even get me started on the 90's.  It seems like only yesterday I was whizzing around on a little skateboard, pretending to be Marty McFly. Where does the time go?  One of the memories I hold dearest was going to school, I went to primary school in Sunderland and boy was it a beautiful building. A huge red brick Victorian number which still had the segregated boys and girls entrances, though we didn't use them.  I'm not that old.  Sadly it was pulled down to make way for a new modern school, a travesty if you ask me.  

One of my favourite things about school was the school dinners, well the desserts more than the dinners. You can't really look back on liver and onions with much fondness.  The anticipation as we entered the dining hall was always high. Would there be any strawberry milk left, what sweet treats awaited our eager selves or would we be stuck with a crappy portion of spotted dick?  There was one pudding that we always crossed our fingers for, the magestic cornflake tart. Always served in squares cut from a huge silver tray and drenched in thick creamy custard, it was the king of the school dinner. 

I completely forgot about this childhood treat until a few weeks ago my bestie brought up the subject of school dinners at work. We started discussing our favourite meals with childish nostalgia, and the ones that left a bad taste in our mouth. There was one thing we both agreed on, cornflake tart was the best.  Somehow she convinced me to whip one up and bring it into work for us to enjoy over a cup of tea, I mean it didn't really take much persuarion if I'm honest. I went home and made it that very night. What a great friend I am!

If, like me, you look back on this tart with fondness, or if you've never had it. Maybe you were a packed lunch kid? I can highly recommend reliving a little bit of your childhood and spending an afternoon in the kitchen recreating a little bit of your school days. 

Cornflake Tart

Ingredients:

• For the pastry :
• 125g plain flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 100g butter, cold from the fridge and cut into cubes
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 small lemon, zested


• For the tart :
• 75g butter
• 150g golden syrup
• 50g caster sugar
• pinch salt
• 150g cornflakes
• 25g desicated coconut
• 100g good quality raspberry jam

Cooking Directions:

1. To make the pastry, put the flour, ground almonds and salt into the bowl of a food processor, sprinkle in the butter and pulse until you get a breadbrumb like consistency. Add in the sugar, lemon and the egg yolk and pulse again until the pastry comes together in a ball. If it isn't quite coming together add a tsp of cold water until you realy the right consistency.
2. Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured workbench and bring it together into a flat disc. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1hr minimum or up to 12hrs.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Roll out the chilled pastry on a lightly floured work surface to about 3mm thick. Line a 23cm tart tin with the pastry, trim any excess, prick the base with a fork and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Line your chilled pastry base with greasproof paper and fill with baking beans. Blind bake the case for 20 minutes, remove the paper and beans and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool.
5. For the filling combine the butter, syrup, sugar and salt in a saucepan set over a lowheat and melt, stirring slowly. Remove from the heat, then tip in the cornflakes and coconut and mix in gently ensuring to give everything a good coating of syrup.
6. Spread the raspberry jam over the bottom of the cooked pastry case and top with the cornflake mixture. Pop back into the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving warm with lashings of vanilla custard.

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Newcastle Eats - The Post Box Ponteland

The Post Box up in leafy Ponteland is a bit of a rainy Tuesday haunt for myself and Kris.  For some reason or another, whenever I wake up to pouring rain I always seem to suggest the drive up to the pretty little village near Newcastle. Maybe it's become ingrained in my mind as the first two times we visited it was a bit stormy, so when I opened my eyes to grey skies and the pitter patter of rain I knew there was only one place I wanted to go.

There's one big reason both myself and Kris are big fans of The Post Box, and that is their homemade veggie sausages. Oh my lord are they good!  Normally I would never dream of passing up a meaty sausage in favour of the veggie variety, but The Post Box have completely swayed me. Apparently the recipe is a well guarded secret and I can see why.  From what I can gather it seems to be a mixture of leek, onion, cheese and mashed potato rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. I mean, if that's not getting your mouth watering like a faucet then I dunno what will.

For the purposes of pictorial variety we decided only one of us could order the vegetarian breakfast, we flipped a coin and I lost. Woe is me. Still, I wasn't short of options.  Torn between The Post Box Eggs (their take on eggs Benedict with pesto, hollandaise and haloumi) and the hash bowl I decided on the latter, it was the chorizo that won me over here.

The bill came to just over £20 for two meals, two hot drinks and a large orange juice, which I think is pretty reasonable considering how delicious everything was. I left with a very full tummy and plans to return very soon.  Anyone with as much halloumi on the menu as The Post Box is always going to be in my good books.

The Post Box,
11 Main Street,
Ponteland,
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE20 9NH

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Blueberry and White Chocolate Cake

If there was ever a cake made for breakfast time, this is it.  Filled to bursting with white chocolate chips and juicy blueberries you'll be hard pressed to find a more decident breakfast treat.

The soured cream in this cake creates a moistness like no other. I ate this cake over the space of a week and it stayed so squishy and moist.  I have to admit, this is one of my very favorite loaf cakes I've ever made. I can't wait to try it out with forraged blackberries over the next few weeks.

I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did. In fact, I'm off to make another one for the weekend. Happy Baking.

Blueberry White Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 2 large, free range eggs
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 200g self raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 150ml soured cream
• 220g blueberries
• 150g white chocolate chips


• For the frosting :
• 180g full fat cream cheese
• 100g icing sugar

Cooking Directions:

1. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 175°C.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer down to low and add the eggs in one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3. Add half of the flour, the baking powder and half of the soured cream and beat to combine. Add the remaining flour and soured cream and mix again. Stir through half of the blueberries and all of the white chocolate chips, pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1hr - 1hr 15minutes.
4. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before transfering the cake to a wire rack to finish cooling.
5. When the cake is cooled, make the frosting. Whip the cream cheese and icing sugar together until creamy and then spread over the top of the cake. Scatter with the remaining blueberries and serve.

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Chickpea & Chili Veggie Burgers

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have noticed that I enjoy a good burger.  They're my biggest weakness. I can be on the biggest health kick ever, but I crumble like a cheap Christmas card the second someone mentions burger and fries . Despite being president of the burger fan club, I hardly ever make them at home, and I certainly never even attempted to make a veggie burger.  I always thought it was best left to the professionals,  I was wrong. These chickpea chili burgers are some of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. Kinda like a cross between falafel and a burger, you can style them up however you like. Smothered in mayo and ketchup or maybe slathered in houmous and tzatziki. You can't go wrong!

These burgers freeze perfectly, so depending on the size of your food processor you can double up on the mixture and pop some patties in the freezer for another time. I've got six more just sitting, waiting for a rainy day. 

So, why not celebrate national burger day by whipping up a batch of these delicious chickpea chili burgers? Even the most hardened carnivore won't miss the meat.  

I simply can't wait to start experimenting with different combinations.  What's your favourite burger? I'm always looking for inspiration.

Chickpea Chili Burgers

Ingredients:

• 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp hot paprika
• 1 red chili, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 1 small bunch coriander, chopped
• 1 large, free range egg
• 80g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• salt and pepper
• 4 brioche buns, toasted
• 1 tomato sliced
• 1 little gem lettuce
• 4tbsp houmous
• 4tbsp red coleslaw
• 4 slices of cheese
• Drizzle of chili sauce

Cooking Directions:

1. Place the chickpeas, cumin, paprika, chili, half the coriander, the egg and some seasoning into the bowl of a food processor and whizz up to a chunky paste. Scrape into a bowl and mix in the breadcrumbs and the diced onions. Form into four burger patties and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan until hot then turn the heat down to medium low. Fry the burgers for 5 minutes on each side. To serve, slather a tbsp of houmous on the bottom bun, top with a leaf of lettuce followed by the burger, slice of cheese, tbsp of coleslaw and a drizzle of chili sauce. Sprinkle with the left over coriander and sandwich with the top bun.

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