The Best Banana Bread

I made this from an article in the Guardian by someone who had tried out all the different ingredients and techniques in banana bread recipes to come up with the perfect banana bread. It was actually quite interesting to read.

I absolutely love banana bread so I had to try this recipe out and I wasn't disappointed. It is the best banana bread I have ever made. It is still lovely and squidgy but at the same time it is much lighter and fluffier than any other banana bread that I have made. My housemates thought so to! It's really nice plain but you should definitely try it with chunks of chocolate in - white chocolate goes really well - or with nuts in. If you want to add something you can just put about 50g in and then use 50g less of flour to keep the texture right.

Banana bread is amazing because you can eat it at any time of the day. I think this is because it is called banana bread and not banana cake so it feels ok to eat it for breakfast. Not that I'm saying you can't eat cake for breakfast it just seems to be a little bit frowned upon. I still haven't worked out why it is called banana bread and not banana cake.

You will need:

• 3 bananas
• 230g plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 160g of sugar - use any sugar you have, I like banana bread with brown sugar best
• 2 eggs beaten
• 4 tbsp of  butter

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Cut up the bananas and then mash them up with a spoon or a fork.

Put the butter in a big bowl and melt it in the microwave, add the sugar and eggs and mix with an electric mixer.

Fold in the rest of the ingredients with a spoon.

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin and bake for about an hour util you can stick a fork and it will come out clean with no mixture stuck to it.

Serve it warm from the oven. It is also really nice lightly grilled with a bit of butter on, if you don't eat it all straight out of the oven.

Leek and Potato Soup

It was snowing again today so I needed something warm and comforting when I got in. This soup is filling enough to eat as lunch on its own or as dinner with a nice hunk of bread. The university looks beautiful in the snow but it is absolutely freezing.

This is another really easy recipe (apart from all the chopping). You basically just put everything into one saucepan and wait for it to go all soft and flavoursome.

It’s nice and chunky left as it is or blended with a bit of milk or cream to make it smooth. Take your pick. Or if you’re like me don’t ! I ate it unblended and then I blended it and ate it again for dinner.

Leeks are a really good vegetable to eat in the winter because they are always around and are availably cheaply on market stalls.

This recipe makes about 6 portions.

You will need:

• 2 leeks
• 2 onions
• 5 potatoes
• 2 stock cubes
• 2 litres of water

Fry the Leaks and Onions in butter or oil or whatever takes your fancy in a LARGE saucepan.

Once they are nice and brown and caramelised, boil 2 litres of water, stir in two stock cubes and then pour the stock into the saucepan.

Chop the potatoes up into small cubes and add them to the saucepan, there is really no need to peel them; you can wash them if you must. The smaller you cut them the quicker they will cook.

Season the soup with salt and pepper and leave to boil for an hour or until the potatoes are soft enough to eat.

The EMERGENCY Brownie

Hello Everyone,

The first post is going to be about the EMERGENCY brownie. It has probably definitely saved my life at least three times. In just one minute you can whip up as many brownies as you want by changing the quantities and getting a bigger mug/ bowl.

This is an essential recipe for when a chocolate craving strikes.

It's a similar idea to the 5 minute chocolate mug cake except that it tastes much better. It turns out really well and has a lovely gooeeey middle. The problem with other chocolate mug cakes is that they just aren't chocolatey enough and they always manage to come out sort of rubbery.

It is really ever so easy.

The best part is that you don't even have to pop to the shop for eggs or milk.

You will need:

•  4 Tablespoons Self Raising Flour
• 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder ( you can use hot chocolate powder instead it will just be a little less chocolatey)
•  2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Water

Stir all of the ingredients together in a mug and microwave for 1 minute.

If you're feeling really decadent pour some melted chocolate on top or drop in chocolate chips.

This recipe is so easy to customise just throw in any ingredients you can find in your cupboard it is delicious with dried fruit, nuts, vanilla, chocolate or a dash of whatever alcohol is in your kitchen.