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Chocolate and salted caramel squares | Hello! Hooray!

Chocolate and salted caramel squares

By Clare Albans / 23 Jan 2015

I’ve had a few recipes saved up for the time when we don’t have a kitchen, and this recipe for chocolate and salted caramel squares is one of them.

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Ginger and dark chocolate flapjack

By Clare Albans / 13 Nov 2014

This ginger and dark chocolate flapjack recipe is a variation on our tried-and-tested squidgy flapjack recipe – ginger and dark chocolate is a classic combination and it works really well here. The chocolate melts into the flapjack and you get little hints of ginger throughout…heaven on a plate! 

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Roasted tomato and mascarpone soup | Hello! Hooray!

Roasted tomato and mascarpone soup

By Clare Albans / 29 Oct 2014

A couple of weeks ago, me and my friend Daria had a little catch up in town – we were meant to be doing LGMC errands but ended up spending most of our time having lunch…and then cake! We both had some really yummy roasted tomato and mascarpone soup for lunch, and I decided to…

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Cholesterol busting chicken curry

By Clare Albans / 22 Oct 2014

If you’re looking for a healthy but really super delicious curry recipe, then look no further! This curry is amazingly good and is taken from The Medicinal Chef: Healthy Every Day by Dale Pinnock. It has become one of our go-to recipes because it’s also pretty quick to make, so we often make it during the week.…

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Steak and ale cobbler

By Clare Albans / 04 Oct 2014

Autumn is definitely here, which means the days are getting shorter and I just crave comfort food! As is traditional in our house, I made a Parkin to mark the start of the new season, and I made a yummy Guinness Parkin (click here for the recipe) which doesn’t use a whole can of Guinness.…

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Slow roast tomato salad

By Clare Albans / 01 Oct 2014

I work with a great team of people in my day job, and one of the things we do quite regularly is swap recipe ideas. This one is a recipe from my friend Donna – she brought this in for her lunch one day and we all did that thing where we no longer wanted…

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Chocolate mousse with fiery ginger shortbread and candied orange peel

By Clare Albans / 18 Sep 2014

[vc_row][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1411071182930{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column_text]***This post is a reposting of a recipe that got lost in my blog transfer – sorry!***   If you follow me on Instagram (or you’ve seen the photos in my feed on my blog) then you may already know that yesterday our new Kitchen Aid mixer was delivered! I can’t believe…

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Blackberry curd | Hello! Hooray!

Blackberry curd

By Clare Albans / 07 Sep 2014

Many of you will already know that I am a huge fan of making curds, and this blackberry curd is fab.

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Bakewell cake with raspberry curd filling

By Clare Albans / 06 Sep 2014

I’ve been invited to take part in Vertbaudet’s Summer Baking challenge, and was asked to make any summery cake and share it on my blog. So this is my entry – a combination of recipes that I love to make! The cake is a Bakewell cake, which usually only consists of one layer but I…

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Project Life

By Clare Albans / 01 Aug 2014

I’m so SO excited to be starting Project Life this month – today, in fact! 🙂 Project Life has taken the scrapbooking world by storm (just in case you’ve never heard of it) and having admired the kits and bits and bobs that you can get for so long, I’m taking the plunge and starting…

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Top to skirt alteration

By Clare Albans / 29 Jul 2014

I bought this top a few years ago – I immediately fell in love with the gorgeous floral pattern! I know it looks like a dress, but it really is far too short for that…! Anyway, more recently it hasn’t fit on the top half, but I was convinced that if I had the courage…

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Pyjama trousers

By Clare Albans / 14 Jul 2014

I’ve got completely hooked on sewing clothes recently, and have done so much sewing! I feel like I’m really getting to know my machine better and I absolutely love it. I got this super fabric a little while ago to make some pyjama trousers, but I got a bit distracted by other projects before getting…

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World Cup Cake Off: The results

By Clare Albans / 28 Jun 2014

  So, in case you missed it earlier in the week, me and Tom had a World Cup Cake Off! We took our cakes to work on Monday (thankfully, they made it in one piece) and shared them out around the office. And the unanimous result is…

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Aubergine and chilli tagliolini

By Clare Albans / 26 Jun 2014

  I tried out this recipe this evening and it’s really easy, really tasty and low fat – brilliant! I halved the quantities here for the two of us, except for the 400g tin of chopped tomatoes. I think next time I’d put a whole chilli in for 2 people, but that’s just personal preference!…

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World Cup Cake Off

By Clare Albans / 22 Jun 2014

  In 2006, we were very lucky to get tickets to go to some of the World Cup matches in Germany – I’m not a huge football fan, but I must admit that going to matches is far more exciting than watching it on TV! As the 2010 games were in South Africa (and going…

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Warm raspberry and orange cupcakes with an orange sugar drizzle

By Clare Albans / 01 Jun 2014

I haven’t done any baking for such a long time because we’ve been trying to eat more healthily recently, but we had a couple of days off this week and I just fancied doing a bit! I decided to look for a new recipe with fresh raspberries and came across this one – these cupcakes…

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Lemon posset

By Clare Albans / 25 May 2014

Lemon posset is one of those things that I’ve seen on loads of cookery shows, but have never got around to making – until now! It’s surprisingly easy to make and tastes delicious, so if you’re looking for something to make for friends I’d highly recommend it. The amounts here serve 2 people, but you…

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DIY Filofax inserts

By Clare Albans / 17 May 2014

  I seem to have been working on loads of things that I can’t quite share with you at the moment, so I’m really pleased to be able to share this project with you at last! I had been meaning to revamp my Filofax inserts for ages but didn’t get around to it for the…

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Tutorial: how to make a floral bouquet

By Clare Albans / 16 May 2014

The School of Thrift has had a wedding theme for the last couple of weeks, and it has been really inspiring to see lots of ideas on the Festival of Thrift Google+ page! [Edit: Google+ now no longer exists, so you’ll have to believe me!). I’ve already written a tutorial post about how to make…

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Ukulele baby bodysuit

By Clare Albans / 09 May 2014

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This cute baby project was inspired by something that I saw on Pinterest a long time ago – unfortunately I can’t find out where the original link came from before it was posted on a tumblr account. If anyone can help me out with that, let me know! The original is actually a guitar bodysuit,…

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Eastern-spiced shepherd’s pie with Bombay potato topping

By Clare Albans / 03 May 2014

We made this dish using leftovers from the roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey, and both dishes are truly delicious. I must apologise for the photo of this one – I was so hungry when I took it so it’s a bit blurry, oops! But I promise you it is worth making!

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Roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey served with roast red onions and basil

By Clare Albans / 02 May 2014

It’s a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK this weekend – hooray! No Sunday night feeling this weekend 🙂 If you’re planning to cook something a little special, then look no further – we made this amazing lamb dish at Easter and it is my new favourite. It serves 4 people but we served 2 people with…

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Instagram gallery: April 2014

By Clare Albans / 30 Apr 2014

Here’s my Instagram gallery for April – a month when lots of cake was eaten!

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Hello! Hooray! stitched logo

Pasta with tomatoes, ricotta, parma ham and sage

By Clare Albans / 23 Apr 2014

  This recipe takes hardly any time at all to make, so it’s a delicious meal for a weeknight. The combination of flavours is really good (although the first time we made it we were missing the sage because I couldn’t find any at the supermarket!). You could easily make a bigger batch for family…

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