Panettone French Toast Havoc

Ingredients 
• 1 x Paul Hollywood Panettone - sliced thickly
• 6 eggs
• splash of full cream milk (it is Christmas after all!)
• juice and zest of 1 orange

Method
Whisk the eggs, milk, zest and orange juice in a large bowl. Pre-heat the oven to 100-120 degrees. Put a frypan (or two if your cooking for your whole family) on to heat up, with a little oil brushed in the pan. Quickly dip the sliced Panettone into the egg mixture and pop straight into a hot frypan. Cook for approx 1-2 minutes, then flip carefully. Repeat with the remaining Panettone, and keep the cooked French toast in a low oven to keep warm.

Serve with lots of maple syrup and a strong coffee... or a glass of bubbly!

Panettone Havoc

L decided that he wanted to start a new tradition this Christmas and the recipe included Panettone. Normally I'd just pop out and buy one, but we had just watched The Great British Bakeoff Christmas Masterclass and Paul Hollywood had made one, so we carefully read the recipe and got baking!

You can find the recipe here - but just be sure to allow lots of time for resting and follow all of the instructions! We didn't have a panettone tin (which is a really tall cake tin) so we improvised and cooked it in a pudding bowl - i put paper up the sides so it could rise, but we had a little issue with the collapsing panettone. L rescued it by chopping the top off and cooking seperately - crisis averted! 

Here's how we got on...

Clockwise from top left: using dough hooks for the first time; stirring; cutting that first slice; fresh baked Panettone with jam and tea

Find out how our new Christmas breakfast tradition of Panettone French Toast went in my next post.

Sugar-free havoc

I completely fell off the wheat/dairy/sugar-free wagon this weekend... but we DID go to Paris, plus I wasn't sure how to say "wheat free" in French... not sure it would even translate!

I have to admit, while I miss sugar and bread SO much, I do feel better for not eating them. So, I'm back on it this week and I thought I'd share a few of my favourite sweet recipes I've made of late... that have kept me sane!

1. Coconut pancakes

• 1 cup wheat free flour or rye flour
• 1 cup coconut powder
• 2 eggs
• 1-2 cups almond milk
• 1tbsp coconut oil, melted

Whisk everything together in a large bowl. This is always a trial and error recipe, I find they are best to be more like crepes than thick pancakes - they seem to cook better and taste nicer. So get the mixture to the consistency you want, then cook in a frypan brushed with coconut oil. Serve with maple syrup and berries.

2. Chocolate "icecream"

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp dessicated coconut toasted

Blend everything together (except for the coconut) and either eat immediately, or freeze for later. This makes enough for two.

3. Chocolate "biscuits"

• half a cup of coconut powder*
• Handful each of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and oats
• 1 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 Tbsp flaxseed
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 big spoon of melted coconut oil
• 1 egg

Mix everything together, spoon onto a tray lined with baking paper and cook at 180 degrees for 20 mins. These aren't that sweet - so I think I'll try them again with a little more maple syrup.

So I know this post is not the norm... but there are changes coming. So watch this space... and my instagram... and my twitter...  

* I buy coconut powder from my local Turkish supermarket - corner of Lewisham High Street and Morley Road

Homegrown havoc

I've just picked my first figs! Although, have to admit, I haven't exactly looked after them... they just grew!

So before all the birds and squirrels feasted on them, I thought I'd pick some, find a Silver Spoon recipe and get cooking.

My tomatoes are almost ripe, so stay tuned for more recipes cooked with some fruit and vege I've actually tended to! 

And don't forget to follow me on instagram @hithergreenhavoc

Spiced figs: simmer ginger, cinnamon, corriander seeds, cloves, sugar, water for 10 minutes. Add the figs for 5 minutes then reduce the sauce and pour over the figs.

Upcycling havoc

A few weeks ago my lovely neighbour was having a spring clean. She was getting rid of a little pine side table and asked if I wanted it. I went to say no, cause (no offence lovely neighbour!) it was really nothing to look at. But then the arty part of my brain made me bring it home.

So I took a trip to a hardware store and purchased the brightest sample pot of pink paint  I could find (Little Greene, Leather 191 if you're interested), some black, and a glossy clear top coat. Check out the results below.

After this little project, I've discovered a few local second hand markets and shops, and with plenty of black paint leftover, stay tuned!

The pine table before and working out some decoration

 

 

 

 

My handywork after! The zig zags aren't exactly straight or even... shhh don't tell!

Snowboard havoc

Three years ago, we spent an incredible two months being snowboard bums in Canada (if you're interested, check out our pictures here, here, here, here and here). During that time, we became very attached to our Burton snowboards! Now, back in the big city, I wanted to remember that trip of a lifetime by having our personalised snowboards on display permanently.

So, after a bit of internet research, I finally purchased some specialty snowboard mounts from Hangtime USA. Next, I payed an extortionate amount of import duty (thanks Royal Mail!), and then our snowboards lay around for about a month in the hallway.

Today my handyman put them up - and they look amazing!

Check them out!

Whole lotta snowboard love

Vege patch havoc

I have the opposite of a green thumb, it's brown. Yet I strangely love being out in my garden pottering about.

This weekend after planting some bulbs and then weeding my mint patch I got carried away and moved onto the larger, raised, overgrown sandpit/garden bed. It was previously a covered sandpit (complete with discarded sand toys) but after years of neglect it was covered with weeds, debris and was a big eyesore.

So I cleared it all off, rescued some plastic cows and then took a trip to Homebase for a LOT of compost. I tried not to go too overboard on the plants, and asked my wise younger sister, who has a green thumb, what to grow. She suggested tomatoes, and told me to plant marigolds next to them and also basil. So I got all of that, plus two strawberry plants. I later read you can't plant strawberries and tomatoes together, so they've gone into two pots on the edge of the garden bed.

See my weekends efforts below... and I'll report back in a few weeks... but only if:
a) the fox hasn't eaten everything
and 
b) if the plants are still alive, and I'm eating gorgeous tomato and basil salads with strawberries for dessert!

a vast improvement from a weed covered sandpit!

Spring havoc

Spring has finally sprung in London. And it's about time too! Mum and dad were visiting from Oz and so I took advantage of their gardening knowledge and two extra sets of hands! Dad trimmed the ivy and the roses right back and mum rigged up a wire for the jasmine so hopefully I can train it when it starts to grow.

Check out the "before" shots here.

Finally... a long overdue "after" shot! And yes, our shed is wonky!

My jasmine... it's been inside for weeks in the heating cause it's been too cold to plant it!

Green grass, and I think these are violets?

Living room havoc

This is the one room that has been livable for the longest, yet I've left it til almost last to post about. 

Reason being, it's my favourite room in the flat and I wanted it to be near perfect. You see, this is the room that sold me on the whole flat... the minute I walked in I knew we had to have this place. Put simply - it's huge (well for a London flat it is!). It is also bright, airy and a lovely spot to be - and that was before we'd done any work to the place! 

Just when we were about to paint, we thought we'd just take off the picture rails and plug the small holes with filler... all went well til about 5cm into taking the picture rails off and big chunks of wall started to come out with the nails. So instead of just a quick paint, we ended up getting the whole room replastered. We also had to get the builder to re-align the fireplace cause when we took off the fake wooden fireplace surround we discovered that the fireplace was no where near square to the chimney breast!

So here you have it...

Clockwise from top: The empty space; the wall after we cleverly took off the picture rails; plastering during; fireplace remodelled; the wonky, off-centre fireplace; the fireplace surround and reason why we found out it was covered up

Left to right: Lounge room; my sewing nook; bookcase; the much agonised over light fittings; a new candle holder and precious red vase; new fireplace and artwork; my beloved chest and treasures on top of it; bookcase detail; a few of my favourite photos including my parents wedding day (top left), a fun day out at Hampstead (top right) and a picture from my wedding day of me and my mum (below); lounge room from doorway.

"These are a few of my favourite things"

• Lamp from made.com but looks like it's sold out
• My purple sewing machine - similar model from John Lewis  
• My much agonised over lights are from Rocket St George. I love the funky light bulbs and the industrial shades
• The artwork of the Star Wars haircuts is from Nelly Duff
• My black globe was a present for Christmas - have wanted one forever! It's also from Rocket St George

Kitchen havoc

The kitchen... the one room we've been putting off... and off... and off! To be honest, wasn't awful. We presume it had been renovated in the last 5 years or so. So we just wanted to freshen it up, we had grand plans to learn to tile and fix all the wall cracks ourselves, but we got lazy in the end and had someone come in (if you're in need of a great handyman for anything round the house - get in touch). Once that was done we had no excuse not to paint over the horrible yellowy walls - and also the random blue wall that went all the way down the stairs to the back garden.

What a difference a day makes! We woke up the next day to sunshine, and it was like a brand new kitchen. Why did we leave it so long?! 

Still a couple of things to do... like some gloss paint, and I'm on the look out for another clock to complete my wall (they are set to different times around the globe).

Check out the before and after pics here:

Clockwise from top left: The random blue wall; no splashback (besides the ugly blue tiles around the stove); shabby paint; and lots of clutter.

New splashback and our Seattle artwork; clutter free benchtops (and a new guitar shaped chopping board!); my incomplete clock wall that once was blue; a new window; tea corner; and bright white splashback that now stretches around the whole kitchen.

Just in case you're wondering, here's a few links to where the bits and pieces in my kitchen have come from. If I've missed any out, just get in touch.

Candle holders: H&M - find similar ones here 
Cookbook: Thomasina Miers - Mexican Food Made Simple (I'm cooking from this book all week!) 
Guitar chopping board: Bread Paul chopping board from Megachef
Cookbook: The Silver Spoon - classic Italian cookbook only translated a couple of years ago. Also check out my other blog here where I'm attempting to cook my way through the whole book!
Clocks: Large from Ikea, small from Rocket St George