I can’t really remember where this flapjack recipe came from, but we’ve been making it for years and have passed it on to so many people! I was actually very surprised to find that I haven’t blogged it before, so it’s good to finally post it. I’ve called it ‘squidgy flapjack’ because you get that gorgeous syrupy texture with this really easy recipe – no dry flapjacks here! It really is a lovely sugary treat.

You can make it plain, which is really tasty, or add cherries (as I did here) or chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries…the possibilities are endless, so just bake it for your own taste. We usually cut it into big slabs, but you could cut it into smaller pieces and it would go a long way.

Ingredients

300g butter (you could use margarine if you prefer)
240g soft brown sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
700g oats
2 pinches salt
100g glacé cherries, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Grease and line a 10 x 15 inch baking tray.

2. Melt the butter (or margarine), sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat until melted and combined.

3. Mix in the oats and salt, and then press into the tray. It’s worth spending a few minutes pressing the mixture in with the back of a spoon, just to make sure that the mixture sticks really well.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes and then leave to cool in the tray on a wire cooling rack. I usually let it cool for a little while and then cut it into pieces before it has completely cooled.

I really love making this squidgy flapjack, and it’s a real family favourite. You might also love this ginger and dark chocolate flapjack too!

The post Squidgy flapjack appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

So firstly, my new blog name…I must point out that despite my musical connections, it isn’t named after an Alice Cooper song of the same name! I actually didn’t even realise that there was a song called Hello Hooray until I was Googling potential blog names and it came up. I have since listened to the song, and it’s not the worst song I’ve ever heard but it isn’t really my cup of tea to be honest! So I just wanted to clear that up As I said in my original post, the main reason for changing my name was that when I started blogging a couple of years ago it was just for fun, and I came up with the name because that’s how I felt about crafting at that point – I had so many things that I wanted to make, but had no time at all to do any of them! But that’s all changed now since I’ve gone part time in my day job, so the name didn’t really make sense anymore. I also realised that a blogger in America had a blog of the same name, so it was important to me to have something unique. Thinking of a blog name is really tough though! You think you’ve come up with the perfect thing and then you find out it has been taken. Argh! I wanted something shorter, something that sounded friendly and welcoming, and something less specific so that I can take my blog in any direction I want to. So Hello! Hooray! was born!

The direction of my blog has changed a bit since I started blogging a couple of years ago, and it has become such a big part of my life. I could never have predicted that! I love being a part of the blogging community, and it’s great to connect with people all over the world. I enjoy blogging so much more than I thought I would, and would love to make the jump from being an English teacher to full time blogger. Whether that’s actually a realistic possibility I have no idea, but I’m determined to make a go of it! So that’s one of my main goals – a long-term one, obviously. In the meantime, I’d love to get involved with other blogs and have guest posts on my blog too, so get in touch if you’re interested! I’m also keen to try out new crafts and have lots of projects planned, so stay tuned…Another thing that I have considered is selling a few of my makes, but I don’t know if that will be possible/practical/worth it. It’s something that I would love to do at some point, so maybe I’ll add it to my list of long-term goals for Hello! Hooray! and focus on building up my site for now. Who knows where I’ll end up…

In order to start working towards my goals, there will be a few changes on my blog. I guess the main one is that I’m going to be signing up to Affiliate Links to be able to place some adverts on my site. I know, I know, adverts are everywhere – but I need to start somewhere if I’m going to build things up! I don’t want them to take over, so they will be in the sidebars only and I’ll be picking and choosing the content that I feel is relevant to what my blog is all about. I may have some affiliate links in my blog posts, but I’ll be pointing them out to you so you know where they are. I’m also going to be trying to post more frequently – I do this as often as I can at the moment, but I’d love to have some brand new content for you every day. This is one of my mid-term goals, because I don’t think I can do it straight away but I’ll get there one day!

Although I’ve been working super hard to update everything after the transfer, some of my old posts from my So Many Crafts, So Little Time! days still need updating. I have over 300 posts now, so it’s taking a little time to get through them all! Some of the formatting was lost in the transfer and the majority of my photos on older posts are watermarked with my old blog name (I would NEVER do that again, but you live and learn!). I’m trying to update things as I go along, but please bear with me as it’s going to take some time…There have been a few other teething problems, but I have been trying to fix those too and learning a lot along the way. My Twitter feed should now appear at the bottom of the page rather than just a blank box, and the follow by email widget is now up and running again too – yay! This still doesn’t look like the prettiest box, but that will be fixed at some point.

The community feel of my blog is also really important to me, so if there’s something you’d like me to make/feature then do let me know. I love hearing your comments so you can always leave me a message on a post (good or bad!) or get in touch via my social media (links on the left and in the footer). It took me a while to find it (despite it being in an obvious place!) but if you’ve enjoyed reading any post on my blog, you can also let me know by hitting the ‘like’ button. It’s underneath the title of each post, as shown here:

I think that I have finally covered everything that I wanted to say – hopefully I won’t think of another 10 things later on… It’s actually very strange for me to have written a post without loads of photos, so I hope I haven’t rambled on too much. The final thing that I’d like to say is a big ‘Thank you’ to everyone who reads my blog – I wouldn’t have got this far without you reading it and it’s wonderful to have your support! Have a super dooper Saturday, whatever you’re doing

The post A bit more about Hello! Hooray! appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The original recipe for the steak and ale filling is from the BBC food website (I have adapted here from this pie recipe) and the cobbler originally comes from this recipe.

Ingredients

For the filling

1 kg/2lb 4oz braising steak, cut into matchbox-sized pieces

3 tbsp plain flour

salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

300ml/ 1/2 pint brown ale (I used Guinness)

2 garlic cloves

2 onions

250g/ 9oz carrots

1 fresh or dried bay leaf

handful fresh thyme sprigs

300ml/ 1/2 pint good quality beef stock (I used a Knorr beef stock pot)

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

250g button mushrooms

For the cobbler

200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp mixed herbs
2 tsp oil
150ml plain, unsweetened yoghurt

Method

1. Mix the beef with the flour and some salt and pepper. An easy way to do this without making too much mess is to put everything into a large food bag, seal, then shake well.

2. Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large heatproof casserole up to a medium heat, then add half of the beef, shaking off the excess flour and keeping the chunks well-spaced so they fry rather than sweat. The original recipe says to brown for about 10 minutes, but it didn’t take that long so just cook until golden-brown all over.

3. Transfer the first batch of meat to a bowl, then add a splash of brown ale or water to the pan and scrape up any meaty bits. Tip the liquid into the bowl of meat. Wipe out the pan with some kitchen paper, then add a tablespoon of oil and brown the second batch of beef. When the beef is golden-brown transfer it to the bowl and set aside. Repeat until all the beef is cooked.

4. Chop the garlic, onion, and carrots into chunky pieces. Add the final spoon of oil to the pan and heat gently. Add the vegetables and herbs to the pan and fry to soften for a few minutes.

5. Put the beef back into the pan. Pour in the stock and brown ale, then add the tomato purée and balsamic vinegar. If necessary, add a little more stock or hot water to ensure the meat is covered in liquid (this will prevent the beef from drying out). Bring to the boil then cover and simmer the stew for 1-1½ hours until the beef is almost tender and the sauce has thickened. Chop the mushrooms in half and then add about half an hour in, stirring well.

6. The original recipe then says to set aside to cool, overnight if possible. But we wanted to have this for dinner (and I hadn’t started it early enough) so I just put some of it into an oven proof dish whilst making the cobbler. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6.

7. Make the cobbler dough by sifting plain flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the herbs. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and yoghurt, bringing it all together to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and cut into rounds, and then place them on top of the meat.

8. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cobbler is golden brown. Enjoy!

The post Steak and ale cobbler appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

We had a cup of tea and something to eat before we looked around – we wanted to make sure that we had the stamina! And also the showground was filling up, so we thought that this was a good plan before the queues got too big. Then we had a good potter around the stalls, and it was really difficult to know where to start! There were so many gorgeous things there, but one of my favourite stalls was Colouricious. They have the most beautiful hand carved wooden stamps, and they were doing some demonstrations of how you can stamp with paint and decolourant and used mixed media for different projects. I bought a set of blocks for printing and some decolourant too – can’t wait to have a go! My favourite stamp is this one – as you know, I just love owls!

Another lovely stall that we found was Farne Designs – they print beautiful textiles in Cornwall. We both bought a little selection of fabrics, and I got an embroidery kit for Mum for Christmas. Their stall was just so inviting – look at these fabrics!

One of the things that I was most excited about was meeting Stuart Hillard from the Great British Sewing Bee! For those of you who don’t know this programme, it has got so many people into sewing and making clothes and Stuart appeared on the first series. He was at the quilt show to sign his new book, and Mum has very kindly bought me it for Christmas so it will be fab to have a signed copy! Stuart was so lovely – he chatted to us like he had known us for years and was so welcoming. It really was a pleasure to meet him!

After we had spent up, we looked around the exhibition quilts. I can’t begin to tell you how inspiring they were – all the quilters are so incredibly talented, and the attention to detail is amazing. I love that people had incorporated different techniques into their quilts (including felting – look out for the planets quilt in my gallery below) and there were so many different styles. I went away with so many ideas, although I’m nowhere near good enough to create anything like these! The first quilt here won the ‘Best in Show’ and was by Liz Villalobos from Newcastle (quilted by Kay Bell) – simply stunning! I tried my best to take photos of all the labels so that I could credit all the quilters here, but I did miss one or tow (sorry). Click on the photos to see the quilter’s details.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” interval=”3″ images=”5720,5721,5722,5724,5723,5728,5725,5726,5733,5729,5738,5730,5731,5737″ img_size=”large” column_number=”2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1412354012241{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]Very inspiring, I’m sure you’ll agree! We left talking about all of the lovely things we’d like to be able to do with quilting one day… On the way home we met a lovely lady called Jennie at Harrogate station – she had also been to the show and had picked up some supplies for Christmas! Jennie has a Facebook page, so do pop over and say hello! Making a new friend was certainly a great end to the day! :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post The Great Northern Quilt Show 2014 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Sorry for the not-so-good photo – it was really difficult to get a good one! The box is 21 litres (not that I could really picture what size that would be from the photo online) and it came with two inserts. Each insert has 12 compartments, which is fine for the 3 x 4 cards, but the 4 x 6 ones don’t fit. I went and had a look at the manufacturer’s website and found that I could buy an insert with 6 larger compartments, so I ordered one and it came really quickly – yay!

So now that I had the inserts that I needed, I could get organising! I must admit that I LOVE to organise stuff – and I would be far more organised if I had a place to keep all my stuff in one place and easily accessible for crafting. Can you tell that I dream of having a craft room a lot?! Anyway, I started with the larger cards and realised that I needed to put some bits of sturdy card in the bottom of each one to prevent bending. I just cut up some card that was in the back of my Project Life paper packs to do this.

Next, I made some little dividers to separate each kind of card and kit in my box – I needed to do this because there aren’t enough compartments for all the kits I have now! So I used a 4 x 6 card as a guide, and made some little dividers with some spare white card I had.

The dividers have a tab in a slightly different place so that I can see what I’m looking for more easily, and I wrote the kit and card type on each one.

The 3 x 4 cards fit really well in the insert with 12 compartments – I didn’t bother making any dividers for them because a kit fits in three compartments, which is handy! So left to right, I have Blush, Kiwi, Strawberry and Honey.

It’s great being able to flick through all my cards more easily now! One thing that doesn’t fit in this box is my paper, so I got one of the scrapbooking boxes too. It has made my scrapbooking so much easier now that I have everything in one place – well, two boxes, but that’s manageable!

I also want to tell you about a really useful site that I found, where you can find out about all the Project Life kits and see what’s in each one. Check out Miss Magoo Scraps for the complete list of kits – it’s really useful if you’re wanting to get started or mix up your cards with some new ones! That’s how I realised that Kiwi and Honey would match Blush and Strawberry really nicely. You might also want to check out my Pinterest board if you’re looking for some inspiration! How do you store your Project Life kits? Has anyone gone digital with the app? I’d love to know what you think of it!

The post Project Life storage appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

Serves 8

900g of tomatoes, halved
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 sprigs thyme
75g fresh breadcrumbs
75g pine nuts
2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped chives
100g feta

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees Centigrade. Lay the tomatoes cut-side up on a roasting tray. Mix the garlic with 3 tbsp of the oil, brush over the tomatoes and season. Roughly tear the thyme over the top then transfer to the oven for 2 hours until very soft and slightly wrinkled.

2. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a large, non-stick frying pan and add the breadcrumbs. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden then add the pine nuts. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes then remove from the heat and stir through the herbs.

3. Spread two-thirds of the breadcrumb mixture over a serving plate and top with the tomatoes. Sprinkle over the remaining mixture then crumble over the feta.

We served this with some chicken, which was delicious! Yum

The post Slow roast tomato salad appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

March seems to have gone in a flash! Here are my favourite Instagram photos from this month

The post Instagram gallery: March 2014 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The original recipe includes a pickle made with gherkins , onion and parsley – but we are not gherkin or parsley fans so I left that out.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the rice
1 mug (300g) of 10-minute wholegrain or basmati rice
1/2 bunch fresh thyme
200g baby spinach

For the stroganoff

300g mixed mushrooms (I used chestnut and mini portobello)
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
2 x 200g sirloin steaks, fat removed
1 heaped tsp sweet paprika
Zest of 1 lemon
1 swig of brandy
4 heaped tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt
1 swig of semi-skimmed milk

Method

1. Put 1 mug of rice, 2 mugs of boiling water, the thyme leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper into a medium sized pan and put the lid on, stirring occasionally.

2. Tear or slice the mushrooms into a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of oil, then squash the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher and add to the pan.

3. Slice the steaks about 1cm thick and toss with salt, pepper, the paprika and lemon zest. Tip the mushrooms onto a plate and add two more tablespoons of oil to the pan along with the steak, turning when golden.

4. Add the spinach to the rice pan and replace the lid. Add the brandy to the steak (carefully light it with a match if you want to, letting the flames subside) and then return the mushrooms to the pan. Add the yoghurt and milk and bring to the boil.

5. Plate up the rice and spinach before adding the stroganoff on top. Enjoy!

The post Jamie Oliver’s Beef Stroganoff appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The post My 2013 in pictures appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Here’s my Instagram gallery for November – a month when my blog stats went mad thanks to my Cath Kidston travelling craft suitcase!

Follow me on Instagram – @somanyclare

The post Instagram gallery: November 2013 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

We’ve had these Pac Man cookie cutters since last Christmas and have been meaning to make them ever since then! This week there was a good reason to do it – our friend Kimberley had an 80s themed roller disco for her birthday, so this was perfect. They are really easy to make but the icing does take a bit of time because you have to let the layers dry. But I’m really pleased with the result!

Ingredients

100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
100g/3½oz caster sugar
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
275g/10oz plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
To decorate
400g/14oz icing sugar (this is probably slightly too much, but this is what the original recipe says!)
3-4 tbsp water
2-3 drops food colourings

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, a little at a time, until well combined.

3. Stir in the flour until the mixture comes together as a dough. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 1cm/½in.

4.Using biscuit cutters, cut biscuits out of the dough and carefully place onto the baking tray.

5. Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to harden for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

6. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir in enough water to create a smooth mixture. Stir in the food colouring. Carefully spread the icing onto the biscuits using a knife and set aside until the icing hardens.

7. For the pac man biscuits, you’ll need to let the icing dry and then ice the eyes later. It takes a bit more time to do this, but it is worth it!

Enjoy!

The post Pac Man iced biscuits appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

For the Parkin
110g butter, melted and cooled
250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
225g black treacle
125ml Guinness
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
200g caster sugar

For the frosting (optional)
100g white chocolate (the Green and Black’s white chocolate works really well!)
75ml double cream
60g whole fat cream cheese

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C for a fan oven) gas mark 4. Grease a 23 x 10cm loaf tin and line with baking parchment, leaving roughly a 5cm overhang so that you can remove the cake more easily later.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and cloves together in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Put the treacle and Guinness into a medium pan and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will bubble and foam; set aside until it settles down.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until thickened and pale. Drizzle in the butter and whisk to combine. Then whisk the Guinness mixture into the eggs.

5. Sift the flour mixture over the liquid ingredients and gently fold together until combined. Pour into the prepared tin (leave about 1.5cm at the top for the Parkin to rise!) and bake for 1 hour or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. For the frosting, break the white chocolate into a bowl. Heat the double cream in a pan, until very hot but not boiling and pour the hot cream over the white chocolate to melt it. Stir until melted and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

8. Then, spoon the cream cheese into a bowl then gradually add the white chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Set aside to cool a little, until thick enough to ice. When ready, spread the icing over the top of the cake – you could add some sprinkles too if you like.

Enjoy!

I originally used this frosting in a recipe for rich chocolate almond cake, which you may also enjoy!

The post Guinness Parkin appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

180g salted butter, at room temperature (I actually used unsalted)
200g light brown muscovado sugar
100g stem ginger balls in syrup, drained and finely chopped (I used 4 balls)
1 egg, beaten
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150g dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160/Gas mark 3.

2. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until well mixed, pale and fluffy.

3. Add the stem ginger and egg and beat until well incorporated. Finally, add the flour, baking powder and chocolate chips, and mix together to form a firm cookie dough. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (this makes it easier to work with).

4. Carve out heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough and roll them in your palms into little balls. Place space well apart on baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper. Put 8 balls on each sheet and cook in batches. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden in colour and a little darker around the edges. Allow to cool before enjoying with a cuppa

The post Dark chocolate and ginger cookies appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Last week we had a pre-birthday celebration for our lovely friend Hannah, and everyone brought something along to contribute to the meal. We were set the challenge of making a birthday cake – but what sort of cake do you make for the person who made you the most amazing wedding cake?! So we decided to go for a super-chocolatey cake, but found two recipes that we liked. Tom was in charge of cake making and went for a combination of the two recipes: the first was by Rachel Allen and the second was from The Cooking Ninja blog. I was in charge of the frosting, and this originally comes from a Mary Berry recipe that we also found on the BBC Food website. You’ll need to use a 21cm loose bottomed cake tin, lined on the bottom and buttered on the sides – best to get this ready before you start!

Ingredients

250g good quality dark chocolate (we used Green & Black’s 70%)
210g butter
250g caster sugar
5 eggs
75g ground almonds
50g flaked almonds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt

For the frosting
200g white chocolate (the Green and Black’s white chocolate works really well!)
150ml double cream
125g whole fat cream cheese

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Toast the flaked almonds a little in a pan.

2. Melt the dark chocolate and the butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Separate the eggs; beat the yolks together with the sugar and the cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. Beat the egg whites in another bowl, together with a pinch of salt, until you have stiff peaks.

4. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, add them to the yolks, sugar and cinnamon mixture, along with the ground and toasted flaked almonds. Mix well before folding in the egg whites.

5. Bake for around 45 minutes and then leave to cool in the tin.

6. For the icing, break the white chocolate into a bowl. Heat the double cream in a pan, until very hot but not boiling and pour the hot cream over the white chocolate to melt it. Stir until melted and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

7. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl then gradually add the white chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Set aside to cool a little, until thick enough to ice.

8. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake. I sprinkled some white chocolate stars over the top to make it look extra special.

This is a really rich and indulgent cake – if you’ve got a sweet tooth like me then you’ll love it! Enjoy!

The post Rich chocolate almond cake with white chocolate frosting appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients
170g/6oz clear honey
140g/5oz butter
85g/3oz light muscovado sugar
2 eggs, beaten
200g/7oz self raising flour, sieved
Water

For the icing
55g/2oz icing sugar
1 tbsp clear honey
Hot water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3 and butter and line the bottom of a 7in/18cm cake tin.

2. Measure the honey, butter and sugar into a large pan. Add a tablespoon of water and heat gently until melted.

3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs and flour.

4. Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.

5. Cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing by mixing the sugar and honey together with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water. Trickle over the cake in whatever design takes your fancy. Enjoy with a cuppa!

The post Honey Cake appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

2 large oranges
1 tsp butter
1 tsp plain flour
6 free-range eggs
250g/9oz ground almonds
250g/9oz caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder

Method

1. Wash the oranges thoroughly. Bring them to the boil in a large saucepan of water and gently cook for two hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 175C/325F/Gas 3 and butter and flour a 23cm/9in cake tin.

3. Leave the oranges to cool, before slicing in quarters and removing the pips. Pulp the oranges (including the peel) in a food processor.

4. Beat the eggs and gradually stir in all the remaining ingredients, including the orange pulp. Pour into the cake tin and cook for about an hour, until the cake is golden in colour and has risen.

5. Transfer to a wire cooling rack, keeping the cake in the tin. When the cake has cooled, carefully remove from the tin and serve cut into slices. Enjoy!

The post Orange and Almond Cake appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I’ve never made falafels before and was a bit surprised by the texture of these, but I think that’s because I was comparing them to shop-bought, solid ones. Whilst cooking them I was worried that they would be too squishy, but they were absolutely fine so don’t worry if you feel the same. I’ll never get them to look like Jamie’s, but they tasted great!

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the falafel:
1 x 400g tin of mixed beans
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
1 lemon
1 tbsp harissa paste
1 heaped tsp allspice
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
1 bunch of fresh coriander
Olive oil

Sides

2 mixed-colour peppers
4 spring onions
8 small tortillas (we used tortillas with herbs in for extra taste)
1 tbsp chilli sauce (or tobasco)
250g low-fat cottage cheese

Method

1. Drain the beans and chickpeas and put them into a food processor. Finely grate in the lemon zest, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, the harissa, allspice, flour and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves).

2. Blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed. Scrape out the mixture and then use clean, wet hands to quickly divide and shape it into 8 patties about 1.5cm thick.

3. Put 1 tbsp of oil into a frying pan and add the falafels, turning when golden and crisp.

4. Chop the peppers into bitesize chunks and put on a griddle pan with the trimmed spring onions (if you don’t have a griddle pan you can roast in the oven with some olive oil – you’ll need to do this before frying the falafels).

5. Heat up the tortillas in the microwave for 45 seconds, while you marble the chilli sauce into the cottage cheese. Remove the peppers and spring onions from the pan/oven and squeeze over half of the lemon juice.

6. Either take all of the elements to the table so that people can construct their own wraps, or stack the peppers and onions, cover with some cottage cheese and then top with the falafels. Enjoy for tea or as a yummy lunch!

The post Falafel Wraps with Grilled Veg appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

As many of you know, I’m always on the look-out for new recipes to try – especially if they are healthy and low-cost! We went to Edinburgh for my birthday earlier in the month and I spotted this recipe in the Observer Food Monthly magazine (click the link for the online version). Tom made it for dinner one night last week and it was so easy and really delicious! When he got home he realised that he had forgotten to buy yoghurt for the cobbler, so we improvised by using a splash of semi-skimmed milk and some grated cheddar cheese and they tasted really good. As I’m not a huge fan of mustard, we grated a little nutmeg into the cobbler mix.

The author of this recipe, Miss South, used leftover cooked chicken for this recipe – we just used 3 chicken breasts as we didn’t have any pre-cooked chicken. This recipe is so easy that it can be made on a weeknight, which is always a bonus! We had some leftover too so that was boxed up and packed away in the freezer for another day.

Ingredients

1 leek, chopped
1/2 brown onion, chopped
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
25g butter (plus 10g for sweating the vegetables)
25g plain flour
285ml milk
285ml stock
2 tsp oil
Cooked chicken (or 3-4 chicken breasts, cut into medium sized pieces)
Worcestershire sauce (or our alternative, Henderson’s Relish)
Salt and pepper
Tarragon (we used mixed herbs because the supermarket was all out of tarragon!)

For the cobbler

200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp oil
150ml plain, unsweetened yoghurt

Method

1. Sweat the chopped vegetables in about 10g of the butter until softened (this takes around 10 minutes).

2. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. While the vegetables are sweating, make your white sauce. Melt the butter in a pan, add in the flour and combine, cooking for 1-2 minutes until the roux looks glossy. Remove from the heat, whisking in the liquid gently to make sure there are no lumps. Return to the heat and bring just to the boil to help it thicken. Cook out on a low heat for about 8-10 minutes.

3. Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the chicken (if using pre-cooked chicken, flake and toss in the pan with the vegetables). Once browned, add the chicken and juices to the vegetables, adding Worcestershire sauce and seasoning. Add the white sauce and herbs, stir well and leave to simmer.

4. Make the cobbler dough by sifting plain flour, baking powder and mustard powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and yoghurt, bringing it all together to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and cut into rounds.

5. Put the chicken and vegetables into an oven-proof dish and place the cobbler rounds on top. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with some steamed green vegetables and enjoy!

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