Pinoy Hubby

Have you ever made a cake in a microwave? I knew of a girl at university who made them a few times as we didn't have ovens in our student halls, but I had never tried it myself. Until recently when my boyfriend wanted dessert after dinner, I hadn't made anything and didn't particularly want to spend long making a pudding, but I didn't want him to just get a bar of chocolate from the cupboard. So I had a look online for some microwave chocolate cake recipes and as usual put my own spin on it by adding some pieces of a Terry's chocolate orange that I happened to have in the cupboard. Microwave Chocolate Orange Cake- an original recipe by Caroline Makes Serves one but can easily be scaled up 4 tbsp self-raising flour 2 tbsp caster sugar 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1 egg 2 tbsp vegetable oil 2 tbsp milk 2 Terry's chocolate orange segments You need a large, sturdy microwave-safe mug (i.e. with no gold trim!) to make this. You can mix the ingredients in the mug; it is easie...

I found some cute stickers in Paperchase recently that had butterflies and a few sequins inside a clear rigid square so the butterflies move around if you shake the card. I decided to make them the focus of this card and covered a white square blank with patterned paper then placed three butterfly stickers along the top third line of the card (if you imagine the card divided into three with a line across each third). I used several round shiny stickers from another sticker pack to make three rows along the bottom of the card, graduating the colours from purple to pink. Finally I added a happy birthday outline sticker.

It wouldn't be Easter without the Easter bunny! This is a carrot cake I actually made last year but hadn't gotten around to blogging about yet. It is decorated with a fondant rabbit and carrots, which I will explain how to make below. You need: 2 cups soft brown sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla flavouring 2.5 cups plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 cup walnuts, chopped 1 pound of carrots, grated 1/2 cup pineapple, chopped For the icing: 1 cup soft cheese 1/2 cup butter, sofened 2 cups icing sugar, sifted I made a rabbit from fondant to decorate but you can also decorate with extra walnuts. Preheat oven to 180C. Mix the sugar and flour in a large bowl. Weighing the carrots - then grate them Mix the eggs, oil and grated carrot and add the vanilla flavouring Mix in to the dry ingredients and add the baking powder and cinnamon Stir in the chopped walnuts Then stir in the chopped pineapple Spoon the mixture into a cake tin an...

This is a variation on a roast chicken recipe that you could try over Easter. The recipe comes from Franglais Kitchen, though she says to use a whole can of chickpeas and I could only get half a tin into the cavity. So once you have the chicken that you plan to roast, you need: half a can of chickpeas half a lemon 1/4 tsp cumin 1/4 tsp garam masala pinch of chilli flakes salt and pepper Mix the chickpeas with the seasoning in a bowl Spoon inside the cavity of the chicken and block the gap with half a lemon Roast the chicken as normal, remembering to add on the cooking time for the extra weight of the stuffing Carve the chicken and serve with the spicy chickpeas I'm sending this to Bookmarked Recipes, hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes.

This dessert was inspired by one from the Slimming World Love Desserts recipe book but adapted to fit the ingredients I had in the house. I made it for a food tasting at my Slimming World group and was meant to use sliced mango for the base. I thought I had a tin of mango in the cupboard but the night before found it was mango puree, and I didn't have time to go shopping again, so I decided to use apples instead! It worked fine and while it isn't my favourite dessert I have ever made, it is pretty healthy and is a nice light alternative. The recipe I used was for individual desserts but I made this in one large dish as it is easier to share at food tasting. Serves 4 3 apples, peeled and sliced 300g fat free Greek-style yogurt 4 tbsp sweetener a few drops of vanilla flavouring 4 tbsp caster sugar Each serving is 3 syns on all choices Slice the apples and layer in the bottom of a dessert serving bowl. Mix the yogurt, sweetener and vanilla and spoon over the apple. Spri...

Restaurant name : The Grapes Location : High Street, Sutton Description : Wetherspoons pub with a modern, brightly lit bar but the seating areas with the patterned carpets and heavy curtains looks a bit dark and old fashioned. Reason for visit : Lunch with my parents while we were shopping in Sutton I ate : Jacket potato with BBQ pulled pork which came with a small side salad My companions ate : My mum had the cheese and tomato toastie as she only wanted a snack, whereas my dad had a hot dog will pulled pork, chips and onion rings The food was : My jacket potato was quite disappointing as it was small and a bit dry, though the pulled pork filling was nice. My parents enjoyed their food; the hot dog looked particularly good though it was very calorific. That's one thing I like actually - Wetherspoons now puts calorie counts next to every item on the menu and there is also a section of the menu for meals of under 500 calories. The atmosphere/service was: I felt like the pub had a ...

Back to a more normal week but as we will be moving house at some point (just waiting for the completion date) I need to start using up the food in the freezer. I'm actually a bit in the dark about how far in advance you have to switch the freezer off before you move, and how long you wait before you turn it back in again. It doesn't help that I have a combined fridge freezer so could be without a fridge for several days as well! I've gone through the freezer and made a list of everything in there (and, ahem, threw away a couple of things I couldn't identify) so meals for the next few weeks will be built around using things up. I haven't done very well at losing weight over the last month or so (i.e. I haven't) so this week I am trying to follow a Slimming World 7-day meal plan as much as I can bearing in mind I usually don't like half their suggestions and that I am trying to use up food in the freezer. Monday Breakfast mango puree, plain yogurt, musel...

This birthday card was made for a male friend who is very stylish and a snazzy dresser; I thought he would like the pattern and the colours. I simply used stickers from a pack I bought in Paperchase, which had circles of different sizes and different colours and a few swirls, and arranged them on the card in what I thought was a nice design. I then added a 'happy birthday' silver outline sticker at the bottom.

This recipe was inspired by one in a Weightwatchers cookery book though now that they've changed the way the Points are calculated I couldn't tell you how many it works out as.... but it's not specifically intended as 'diet food'. Instead, this is a quick and filling brunch recipe that is easy to make but just a little bit different. You need one crusty bread roll per person- you could make your own, but I bought these fresh from the local bakery. Using a knife, cut a circle in the top then use a teaspoon to scoop out a little of the middle. Preheat oven to 180C. You can spread a little butter or onion chutney in the hole or leave it plain, then fill with ready-to-eat cooked cocktail sausages. You could also cook a couple of sausages and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Crack an egg carefully into the top and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the white of the egg has cooked. Serve and enjoy - the yolk of the egg is still runny and the egg sof...