Cloud Eggs are the latest big thing apparently. I am never sure of these fads. Sometimes they are great. Other times, they are just a waste of time. I have to admit that I had totally dismissed cauliflower rice until I saw a status by Mummy Mishaps saying how good it was. I then made some to go with our curry for dinner and loved it. If you haven't tried cauliflower rice yet, give it a go.



Unicorns were and still are a thing, but they are just pretty. I couldn't resist making some unicorn cupcakes?

So what about cloud eggs?

Well they are pretty. I mean these puffy clouds with a yolk middle are quite cute aren't they. I was concerned about the meringue texture on a savory dish, but this wasn't an issue. They are easy to make. OK they take well over twice as long as it does to fry an egg, but there is nothing hard about making them. Wisk the whites, bake and then add the yolk. Taste? Hmmmm. Well they tasted fine. Just fine. They tasted like a healthy fried egg. I guess if you are on a massive health kick then they are the healthy way to have something that tastes like a fried egg. But for me, I would just rather have the odd fried egg.

I guess the only way you will really know how you feel about them is to make them yourself. So here is how.

Cloud Eggs

• 2 eggs
• a small pinch of salt
• a small pinch of cream of tatar

The tips on the website helped me decide how to rearrange the patio. It suggested a number of areas to sit. So I moved our Bisto table down to this patio too. Simple tips like adding a few flowers from the garden to glass jars and tea lights dotted around in the evening are easy and inexpensive.

So just to show you, here is my before photo



And this is my after - helped by a bit of sunshine too!



What do you think? It is amazing what £100 and some elbow grease can do. I loved the ideas on the Homebase website as well as the prices. Now, I am hoping for some good weather so that we can invite our friends over and use our updated garden for some entertaining.

Have you got any good and inexpensive tips for updating a garden for entertaining?




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Every now and then there is a glimpse of sunshine and I am just itching to get outside and fire up the BBQ. As you may remember, we moved house a month ago and I am currently sprucing up our garden and getting it ready for entertaining family and friends. Of course, with all the decorating that needs doing on the house, we don't have an endless budget. So tips to clean up our existing garden furniture always come in handy.



Last year my husband sanded and varnished our rather shabby looking wooden table and it really did make the world of difference. I find that keeping on top of cleaning the BBQ is a must. One of the best things I learned is that if you put a metal tray with a little water on the grill after cooking then close the lid, you can gently steam off the grease whilst you are enjoying eating. Anything that means less work later sounds good to me!

So what about recipes? There are only so many burgers and sausages you can eat, and whilst they are lovely, I try to use some healthier recipes too. Mojito Chicken Skewers are a favourite and perfect with a Prosecco Moijto to drink!


And for a light evening meal, these garlic and chilli prawns are fantastic served with salad or in a pitta bread.

Garlic And Chilli Prawn Skewers

• 225g of defrosted King Prawns
• 2 cloves of garlic - chopped
• 1cm cubed of ginger chopped
• I small red chili chopped
• A glug of sesame oil
• 1 lime
• 1/2 lemon

They took it in turns to see use the net and see what they could find. Next time we are going to take a bigger tray!

Then it was time to pack away and climb a few trees before heading home.


The best thing though was that they loved pond dipping and have asked when they can go again. Finding an activity that all three boys and I like can be tricky, but pond dipping is now on my list of activities to get them outside in the school holidays.

Have you taken your children pond dipping? Did they enjoy it?






Thanks to Green Board Games for providing us with the pond dipping kit.

I have to hold my hands up and say that I am no expert in free from cooking and was actually quite surprised to learn that eggs can be used in dairy free recipes. It's all to do with eggs not being made from milk. Obviously there will be some people that need an egg free recipe too, but this could easily be adapted.

Now I have to say that the vital ingredient in this recipe is coconut oil. I use the Vita Coco extra virgin coconut oil and it gives the pancakes a subtle coconut flavour which works so well with the pineapple.

As the pancakes are topped with maple syrup and contain sweet tinned pineapple, I don't think there is any need to add any extra sugar to the recipe. This recipe is a real winner with my boys and they have already asked when they can have it again.

Dairy Free Pineapple Pancakes

• 175g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 200ml of Vita Coco Coconut Milk Alternative
• 1 small tin of pineapple rings in natural juice
• Vita Coco Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• maple syrup
• Fresh pineapple to top (optional)

As my Father in law loves growing his own vegetables in his garden, I decided that for his Birthday I would make him a surprise inside carrot cake. In that when you cut into the cake it looks like a carrot growing in the ground not that it is a cake made out of carrots. You could probably make the carrot part out of carrot cake but as this type of surprise inside cake is quite fiddle I wasn't going to risk it!

You may remember that a few weeks ago, I headed into London to have dinner cooked by Kimberley Wyatt. As the new ambassador for Quorn, she cooked up some fantastic and flavorsome dishes. I am still in amazement that my boys all gobbled up her Quorn Tacos. It seemed common consensus from the others at the event that the dish everyone liked most was the Quorn curry. OK, whilst this may not be one for my boys yet, I often cook a curry with more of a punch for me and my husband on a weekend.


Quorn have just released some research revealing that 70% of British adults claim to have revamped their typical weekly diet to become healthier. The research showed that health gains and well-being were being prioritised over weight loss with 64% of those polled citing it as their main reason for dietary change. Infact I felt put to shame with the results that 83% of British families have a meat free meal once a week. Hopefully trying out some more recipes with Quorn will help me achieve meatfree meals more often.

I have to confess that before the event I had no idea how easy chapatis were to make. These will be a new addition to my Friday night curries from now on.

I am happy to say that my husband enjoyed the curry and once again it will be a dish that I come back to, to make again and again.

One of Kimberley's top tips for making a curry was to cook the onions nice and slowly.

Kimberley Wyatt's Quorn Pieces In Tomato And Tumeric Curry With Chapatis

• 300g Quorn Pieces
• 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 3 cm of ginger grated

• 4 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 3 large tomatoes chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 50ml water
• handful of chopped coriander
• salt to taste

We have now been living in our new house for a whole month. There is still a lot to do, but with summer around the corner, I have turned my thoughts to the garden. One of the best things about having more space is that we can entertain more. Who doesn't love a summer BBQ with friends? Homebase have challenged me to create a space for entertaining by gifting me £100 voucher and using their online hints and tips.

We are lucky in that our garden was very well looked after by the previous owners. They enjoyed entertaining and there are a number of solar lights dotted around the garden, which look beautiful as dusk falls. The main patio is at the end of the garden as this is where the sun ends up late in the day.


The Homebase website is full of ideas on how to create a welcoming space for your guests. Some taking an hour, some much longer. Having the website there to give me ideas really helped with my planning. I am usually pretty rubbish at this. I will, on the spur of the moment, go shopping, get half the things I need and then take numerous trips back to get things that I have forgotten. Homebase have sorted this problem with their shopping lists. There are also ideas which don't cost a penny. Like using jam jars as candle holders and table decorations using wild flowers. The short video really is worth a watch.

So here is a before picture of the area of my garden I have decided to work on.


I have chosen 3 main tasks to focus on:

1. To dress my garden with solar fairy lights
2. Plant a container with herbs
3. Create a chill zone with fire pit/create the perfect patio

Before heading to the shop, I decided that I would purchase some fairy lights with the idea of putting them in the trellis behind the stone bench. I would create a planter of herbs to be placed by the BBQ ready for adding to dishes and cocktails. Lastly, I would paint the existing archway as much as I could (this will probably need more work in the autumn) and buy some cushions to go on the bench. If there was enough money left I would look at purchasing a fire pit.

Arriving at Homebase I was mainly shocked at the prices. I know I shouldn't have been as I had seen them online, but until last weekend I would have classed Homebase as somewhere pretty expensive to shop. It appears that a change of ownership has driven prices down and I ended up buying some pansies for our old hanging basket as an impulse buy. They were such a good deal!

Luckily with my list I was able to purchase everything I wanted. I had a bit of trouble finding the seat cushions but after I could check they were in stock (only 6 left) I found someone that located them on a high up shelf. We decided on a small fire basket at the amazing price of £15.91. We felt this was a good way of seeing how much we used one before forking out a large amount. The boys are excited at the thought of toasting marshmallows on it! So here is everything I purchased for just under £100.



But now comes the hard work! Will my haul transform my garden? Join me in a couple of weeks time where I will share my garden makeover with you. Fingers crossed that the weather brightens up a bit. Then it will be time to arrange some housewarming BBQ's.

How do you get your garden ready for entertaining? What are your garden goals?

Regular readers of my blog will know that I loved making anti gravity cakes. One of my most viewed posts is my easy chocolate pouring cake tutorial, and my Prosecco anti gravity cake is catching up fast! The reason I like making anti gravity cakes is that whilst looking impressive they are actually relatively simple to make.



So you would think that I know all to know about gravity cakes and wouldn't need a book on it. Well I am pleased to say that Gravity Cakes! is full of ideas and inspiration that even someone who knows how to make these cakes will benefit from it.

The book starts with the basics of baking a cake, leveling it and then covering it with a crumb coating followed by fondant. I have always used cake pop sticks in my cakes but they suggest hollow balloon sticks with wires. I can see that this would be much more stable in a larger structure and will give this a go in future bakes.

They start off with the simple chocolate anti gravity cakes and pick n mix style ones and then move into harder and more impressive ones. For example cornflakes in a bowl of milk, a waffle being poured with sauce and a deep dish pizza.


Some of the ideas are really clever and the hints and tips that you pick up can be used to personalise your own bakes. The use of clear mints to act as ice cubes in a cola cake is just fantastic.



For someone who loves baking celebration cakes, this is a great book for inspiration. A beginner will be able to see that gravity cakes are actually easier to make than they look.

You can purchase Gravity Cakes! from Amazon (affiliate link)


I am excited to be able to offer two of my readers the chance to win a copy for themselves. Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!

Gravity Cakes! If you love anti gravity cakes as much as I do, why not follow my Pinterest board which I often update with ideas.