Sweet But Savoury, Perfect Parsnip Soup

Well, I've found my new favourite thing and it's soup-a parsnip-y. Sorry, christ, that was terrible. But funny. There's definitely a time and a place for a soup-d up pun (wow, another...really?) rarely, granted. But there's a time and place nonetheless.

This soup is a little sweet, but mainly savoury and very, very consumable. Perfect with a little seedy bagel, smothered in a lashing of Dairylea. Just yum-all-over-everything.

Here's how it's done. Do it. It needs to be done, etc etc etc.

This recipe makes enough for 6 good-sized servings.

Ingredients:

1500g parsnips, chopped
2272ml semi-skimmed milk
5 tbsp of clear honey
2 large knobs (mwa-ha-ha) of butter

Method:

1.) Put your butter and honey into a large pan and melt. Once melted place your chopped parsnips into the pan (they don't need to be peeled, huzzah, peeling veg is the bane of my life and I love for it to be avoided wherever possible.)
2.) Leave cooking on a relatively low heat, stirring every five minutes, for approximately 30 minutes. Perhaps slightly less if you use less parsnips, but cook until your parsnips have softened to touch.
3.) Entirely cover your parsnips with the milk and stir until butter, honey and milk are well combined with the parsnips.
4.) Leave to cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 40 minutes, until the parsnips have almost perished.
5.) Blend all ingredients together (I used my treasured NutriBullet) before putting the liquid back into the pan and adding more milk, until it has reached that desired soupy consistency.
6.) Add salt and pepper and perhaps more honey, to taste. Serve and enjoy.

Healthy Choccy Muffins

I don't know about you, but my week's been a super busy one and, generally when that happens, I begin to look forward to the simple pleasures offered by the weekend and, for me, the main one of those simple pleasures is a'baking an' a'blogging and here I am, having now done both, with an easily recognisable combination of happiness/smugness lashed about ALL over my face. And breathe. Happy Sunday.

I hope when you read my blog I feel like a friend as well as a happy-to-help-recipe-offerer and, for that reason, I offer you these show-stopping chocolate gooey yummy-o muffins that are also one of your five a day (or very nearly anyway) because, hey, that's what friends do.
Sorry about all those hyphenated mashed up phrases in my opening gambit, there's just so many words I want to squeeze in about these casually luxurious muffins and clumsy nouns/superlative adjectives seem to be the only tools at my disposal that nail it.

These gooey muffins, packed full of sweet blueberries and even sweeter white chocolate chips will seriously perk you up during the great sugar crashes of 2015…you know, those ones that ordinarily strike at around 15:00 each day.

They're just perfect with a little unsweetened tea or indeed a fruit tea would no doubt be just yummy too.

Without further a-do, or whatever cliché best expressed that we're moving on from my jibber jabber, here's the yummy recipe. I hope it makes you happy and healthy-ish and feel productive. Feeling productive is the best thing ever isn't it…? I remember this one time…NO. Woman, quit yo jibber jabber, we've been through this.

Recipe (makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
200g caster sugar
130g plain flour
50g white hot chocolate powder (Whittards do a delightful one of these, however, if you can't get your hands on it straight away, a little more vanilla essence into the mix in it's absence will work wonderfully too!)
2 tsp baking powder
160ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
160g salted butter
140g white chocolate chips
150g fresh blueberries

Method:

1.) Heat your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan assisted oven) and lay out 12 muffins cases on a 12 hole muffin tray.
2.) Beat together to eggs, sugar, flour, white hot chocolate powder, baking powder, semi-skimmed milk, vanilla extract and butter until well beaten and light.
3.) Use a wood spoon to fold in the blueberries and white chocolate chips until well combined. This will look like rather a lot of the good stuff…it is…and you're welcome. I haven't mistyped any amounts, theses muffins are just full of stuff you like rather than just sponge. Life's too short to not have a lot of what you fancy.
4.) Evenly place the mixture in the cases (this should work out just perfectly - happiness) and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes skewer to check if they are cooked. If any mixture comes out on the skewer, they may need to be cooked for longer.
5.) Once cooked remove from the oven and leave too cool. A little. Not completely because there's a large amount of fun in eating something you've made, fresh from the oven, when it's still warm.
6.) Make tea, put on an episode of your favourite programme or blow the dust off your favourite book…sit back, feet, up relax…don't move until another muffin is needed. You're welcome.