WHATEVER... IT'S THE WEEKEND!

Nana Mug

Time Taken: Ten mins or so

Ingredients: 4 tablespoons of plain flour, ½ a teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt, a good shake of cinnamon, a ripe banana, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of oil, a dash of vanilla extract & maybe a splash of milk. Optional: a handful of pecan nuts or raisins or choc chips, or anything you like really.

Hi readers,

It’s Fridayyyyyyyyyyyyyy! I have that Friday feeling already! Whoooooooo! Mexican wave! Everybody now! All together… FRIDAY! FRIDAY! FRIIIIIIIIIDAY!

Basically, I’ve got the weekend off work and this never happens. I’m ditching the dissertation and all my cares, bussing it home and it’s my lovely Father Bear’s birthday today. Most exciting.

I say to everybody, whether you’re working or studying or whatever you’re doing this weekend… ditch your cares. You don’t need them! Whatever anti-feminist messages there are in the Fifty Shades film… whatever rose prices are this year… whatever the weathers messing about doing… wherever we’re at with global warming… LAY IT DOWN, PEOPLE.

Just… let it all go. You’ll feel better. See if you can muster a proper smile. Have a go at a random act of kindness, maybe. Do something unexpected. Shake things up. Live a little.

And DEFINITELY eat cake. Because, why not? Always eat cake. This week, in the flat at uni, it’s been a tremendously good week for cake! Tiddy’s very lucky boyfriend turned 21 and so she baked him a 3-tier lemon and blueberry cake masterpiece. Then, Dr Davies took to Easter about 2 months early and baked us all a batch of Crème Egg brownies! How lucky are we?

I missed her brownies last year as I’d given up chocolate for Lent and so this was A BIG DEAL for me. So, so good. They were tremendous.

I haven’t had much time this week for any baking mastery myself. Althoughhhhh, I did come up with another wonderful cheat recipe for making cake in the microwave! I know… ANOTHER ONE. I definitely need to get it together and detach myself from the microwave. The Great British Bake Off is back this week and has DEFINITELY inspired me to stop cheating and get my proper bake on again. It has shamed me.

Howeverrrr, just for now, here’s one final way to cheat your way to CAKE using only a few ingredients from the cupboards. I won’t tell how you made it, if you don’t. This latest recipe is for a big favourite of mine, Banana Bread, and while it definitely doesn’t match the real deal… this recipe does taste magnificent. Really. And it saves you and actual hour of your life, compared with baking Banana Bread in the oven. An hour which you can spend carefree!

To get your cheat on and bake a Nana Mug in just ten moves, here’s wotcha do…

1. Take 2 mugs out of the cupboard.

2. In the first mug spoon in 4 tablespoons of plain flour, ½  a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Add a good shake of cinnamon.

3. If you’ve got ‘em, chop up a handful of pecan nuts and throw them in the mug, too. Stir it up!

ChefBeHere Top Tip: No nuts? How about a handful of raisins or choc chips? Go wild!

4. In your second mug, mash a banana.

5. Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of oil and a dash of vanilla extract. Stir it up!

6. Slide the contents of your mug of goo into your mug of flour. Stir it up!

7. Then, because there’s bound to be flour stuck in the bottom that you can’t reach, tip it all back into the other mug. Keep on stirring!

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you’re mix seems quite solid then maybe add a splash of milk to loosen it up. It depends on how big your banana was, and so on. Just use your good judgement, chef.

8. Pop your mug mix into the microwave to warm for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, stick the kettle on for a brew.

9. After 2 minutes, does it look like cake or cake mix in your mug? If it’s cake then you’re good to go! If it’s mix then probably give it another minute.

10. Then with your mug of tea and your mug of cake, go get comfy and enjoy your lovely treat.

Here’s my very own Nana Mug!

And that’s all there is to it. This recipe barely even requires ten moves. It’s seriously simple! Plus, no butter or eggs so, unless you’re adding milk, this recipe is entirely cupboard-based. Nothing fresh involved. You could have been a hermit in your home for like a fortnight or more (though I don’t advise this) and still be able to make a Nana Mug. It’s that good.

And it tastes like home! Be sure not to heat for too long in the microwave, or to start with a really thick mix, because then I think this recipe has the potential to be dry. Because there’s no jam or peanut butter or applesauce for moisture.

But mine went great! Tasted like heaven. Quick, easy, cheap, simple. Very student. Very me. And, I hope, very you! Go give a Nana Mug a try and go have a good weekend, everyone. Shoo.

Cheat safely,

Hayley

 

PERFECTION IN SIMPLICITY

Peach Muggler

 

Time taken: Quarter of an hour

Ingredients: 6 peach slices, 4 tablespoons of plain flour, 2 tablespoons of white sugar, 1 tablespoon of butter, half a teaspoon of baking powder, a splash of milk and a dash of cinnamon! (Optional: a handful of pecan nuts).

Hi readers,

I hope you’re all well on this wonderful, sunny start to our weekend. I came upon a quote yesterday on Instagram, which read:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. It is easy to forget that a perfect morning is only three ingredients away: coffee, pups and sunshine. Find perfection in simplicity.”
(groundsandhounds, Instagram).

 

I think this is so true!! At a time when everyone is stressed and rushed and overrun with work… I advocate just sacking it off at the weekend. Keep things simple! Take some time to yourself and be kinder to yourself than maybe you normally would be. That bath you considered? That magazine you almost bought? That new music album you really want to listen to?? Put the other things on hold and treat yourself!

 

Another way to treat yourself is, of course, with food! One of my friends this week, Ville, her life was changed while eating out at a restaurant this week by a Peach Cobbler. She got in touch specifically to tell me that I need to…

a) Eat Peach Cobbler, and

b) Figure out how to make it at home so she can eat it all the time.

 

And you can’t say no to a face like that! I’ve never eaten Peach Cobbler before so I was MOST intrigued, readers. Butttt I looked online and a lot of the recipes made big baking dishfuls of Cobbler that feed a family. I’m only one person. And I didn’t know whether I was going to like this dish. Also, I’m a person that HAS had a lot on her plate this week. So, when I happened upon a recipe for Peach Cobbler for one, a recipe that you can make in a mug using the microwave… I was sold.

 

Here readers, without further ado, is the secret to throwing together a cheat’s version of this pudding, Peach Muggler, in ten easy steps…

1. Arm yourself with 2 (yes… 2!) mugs.

2. In one mug spoon a decent table spoon of butter.

3. Pop this in the microwave for up to a minute until the butter melts.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of water and a splash of milk (optional) to this mug, and stir in with the butter.

5. In your second mug (preferably, a big one) spoon 4 tablespoons of plain flour.

6. Add 2 tablespoons of white sugar, half a teaspoon of baking powder and a dash of cinnamon.

7. Stir together all the dry ingredients that are in Mug 2. Then, add them to Mug 1 and stir it ALL into one mix.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you happen to have been MOST irresponsible with your money while you were in the supermarket and, as a result, you have pecan nuts in your cupboard (I’m guilty) then chop a handful of them up and add them to your batter. They add some crunch to your Muggler!

8. Take a tin of slices peaches and drain it. Tip most into a Tupperware and pop them in the fridge to eat another time.

9. Save about 6 peach slices. Lay these in a square of kitchen roll and try to dab them dry using the roll, so that they won’t soggy up your Muggler with peach juice.

10. Finally, add your peaches to the mug (either sit them on top of your cake or stir them in). Microwave for one minute. Leave to rest for maybe half a minute. Then, microwave for another minute. AND FEAST.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: The reason for the rest half way through microwaving is that, if the same thing happens to you as it did to me, your Muggler mix might froth a little in the microwave. Like a science experiment! I think maybe the peaches react with the batter?? Who knows! Anyway, the froth tastes amazingly sweet, but just watch for it overtopping the mug while your Muggler warms.

And you just made Peach Muggler :)

 

This makes for a VERY sweet, extreeemely indulgent mugful of cake to treat yourself to in an evening. I love it. This recipe is super easy to make, with cheap, simple and really basic ingredients. PLUS there’s fruit in Peach Muggler… so it scores points for health in my books.

 

 

And it just tastes wonderful! It’s frothy and sugary and cinammony. Everything you need in life! Please, please… be kind to yourself, readers, and go bring Peach Muggler into your life. Keep things simple this weekend.

Froth safely,

Hayley