Apple, Fig and Almond Cake

Apple, Fig and Almond Cake

This is my own take on a traditional apple cake recipe. I've included brown sugar and figs and a little extra ground almond. Cake might not be the best thing if you are on a diet but I'm still breast feeding so apparently you are allowed a few extra calories a day!

And here's one I made earlier!

Ingredients

100g figs

400g apples

225g light brown sugar

225g butter

200g self raising flour

50g ground almonds

3 large eggs

Method

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4

2. Grease and line a 10" loaf tin

3. Peel, core and chop up your apples, chop them quite finely so that your cake is easy to slice

4. Chop your figs

5. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

6. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little flour to stop the mixture curdling

7. Fold in the flour and ground almonds until the mixture is of a soft drooping consistency. Use a little milk if you feel your mixture is too stiff

8. Fold in the apples and figs and then place your mixture into your prepared cake tin

9. Cook for about 50 minutes. Use tin foil to cover if your cake looks like it is going too brown and check that it is cooked by inserting a skewer which should come out clean

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A Cunning Plan!

Caught red handed!

My cunning plan, to convince hubby that I am an indispensable domestic goddess and really shouldn't ever have to work again (in my dreams), was well and truly scuppered when he returned home yesterday to find me in the garden, on the sun lounger, reading my book! Whoops. He now thinks I have far too much time on my hands and that looking after the baby is easy street.

Today I shall be trying to convince him otherwise. First on my list when bubs is asleep, is to make a lovely fig, apple and almond cake - my own take on a recipe I found online, I'll let you know how it goes! Well they do say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

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Me Time

Ahh, baby asleep, jobs done, so a few minutes me time. Time to put my feet up for five and get blogging.

Captain Sensible is back at work after the school holidays so it is time to spend some money whilst he's not looking - well £1 on an ice cream! Finally the weather seems to have perked up and I can indulge in some well earned smugness as everyone else heads back to work and I can enjoy early morning strolls with my dog in the New Forest, without getting soaked, and leisurely afternoon jaunts to the ice cream parlour. Apparently it has been the wettest summer for 100 years, nicely timed to coincide with my maternity leave, so I think I'm quite justified in feeling particularly pleased about this late summer sunshine.

I've also been back on the case with the freebies and bargain deals - fear not hubby, I'm not spending all your money just yet.  I've been into to town to pick up my final Bounty pack and a baby pack courtesy of Emma's diary. They do tend to be full of fairly useless stuff but some of the money off coupons are quite useful and the little pots of Sudo creme are good too as they take up less room in your change bag and I refill them from my big pot when they run out.

I've also been out blackberry picking again and managed to procure a bumper bag of cooking apples that a neighbour was selling for the princely sum of £1.25. I can feel a surfeit of blackberry and apple crumbles coming on!

At this time of year it's amazing what people are selling from their gardens and being out and about with the buggy means that I often stumble upon these little honesty stalls that last year I would have driven right past. Last week I picked up a yummy bag of tomatoes and a huge marrow for under a pound, far cheaper than the supermarket.

Luckily for me I also have my own fruit trees in the garden, so if anyone has any good recipes that involve pears, crab apples or figs, let me know.

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Excuses Excuses

At what point do I have to stop blaming my failings on the very convenient 'baby brain' excuse and wake up to the fact I'm just highly disorganised?

Yesterday I waited in all afternoon for my Tesco delivery to arrive, only to discover I hadn't pressed the order button on my purchases the night before! So two hours, no food and a row with the hubby later I was feeling quite frustrated at my wasted afternoon.

Still, it is on its way today and should, at least, boast some food which is certainly an improvement on the first online order I made after having bubs which consisted of wine, chocolate and crisps. Healthy! Maybe I am getting somewhere after all.

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Feeding Fashion...If only I'd known!

The best advice I have been given since having my baby is that a happy mum = a happy baby.  So if something isn't working for you and your baby isn't doing exactly what all your well-meaning parents, friends, health visitors, baby books etc etc are telling you (do they ever?), don't worry about it and do what suits you and your family. Hardly rocket science I know,  but it is amazing how easy it is to lose sight of this when things aren't going according to plan as I found out early on when I had trouble with feeding. I'm so glad someone came to the rescue with this simple piece of wisdom when I was a not so happy mummy!


In contrast, the advice I wish I'd been given before having baby is to choose your maternity wear carefully so that you can use it afterwards if you are choosing to breast feed.

Let's face it, unlike the celebs I was talking about yesterday, most of us are still a bit wobbly after the arrival of our little bundles of joy. Those little dresses that looked fabulous stretched across our bumps don't work at all for breast feeding, unless, of course, you are happy to hoik them over your knickers and bare more than anybody really wants to see!

Perfect for showing off the bump, not so good for breast feeding!

And therein lies the next problem - with finances already feeling a little strapped, you don't really want to be spending lots of money on new clothes to breast feed in that hopefully you'll shrink out of eventually.

The items that served me best, both pre and post-pregnancy, were nursing tops - available at H&M, Mothercare and Dotty Ps and looser, floatier tops that, not only looked pretty but, were easy to pull up and didn't cling to the bits you wanted to hide. Primani has also been a must have, for some budget clothes to tide me over.

Websites such as:  www.milkchic.co.uk, were also good for finding clothes to feed in that were good value and didn't look like something your Gran would wear!

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The Dilemma - more muffin or more muffin top?

To run or not to run? That is the question. It's peeing it down with rain outside, just the right sort of weather for a steamy cup of tea and a yummy slice of cake and yet... the dog needs exercising, she's going mad, and the last stubborn vestiges of baby weight need to be addressed, ooh the dilemma. But with articles like this one: Celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson reveals how she lost her baby weight... in just six weeks, courtesy of the Daily Mail, there seems to be more pressure on us to spring back into shape as quickly as possible. Perhaps I should have that cup of tea and slice of cake after all, while I think about what to do, and shove the paper in the bin!

Why not try Nigella's recipe for blackberry and apple muffins?

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Simple Pleasures

Ten simple pleasures that make me smile...

1. Hearing my baby laugh
2. Walking the dog on a sunny day
3. Eating cake
4. Waking up before the alarm goes off and realising you still have an hour in bed
5. Clean bed sheets

6. Snow days
7. Finding money in your pocket when you do the washing
8. Spending time with family and friends
9. Laughing so much it hurts
10. Singing loudly to music in my car, when no one else can hear me

What simple pleasures make you smile?

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