Victoria Sandwich

My second recipe that I made from Mary Berry's Baking Bible was the Victoria Sandwich. This was another of the classic cakes from the first section of the cookbook. This one is called an all-in-one cake because you combine all the ingredients together at once. Also the recipe said it was a "large" Victoria Sandwich but then it calls for 8" round tins. I laughed at this because it is just another reason why Europeans are not obese like so many Americans.

Anyways, this cake was very easy to make. I did end up adding two extras to the recipe (because I really can't help myself...it's hard for me to not tweak a recipe). So I added another large egg - because the batter looked super thick and I was worried it would be pretty dry like the first cake was and I didn't want that. Then I thought hmmm...this doesn't have any flavoring, so I added a splash of vanilla as well.

With all of that being said, I did the rest like it said to. When I turned out my cakes I did flip them on their heads to cool on my racks and when I picked them up an hour later to put them together, I realized how silly this was. There were some pretty little lines on the tops of my cakes. But that didn't effect the taste at all and the cake was topped with sugar so you couldn't really see the top either.

This cake was a lot less dry than my first cake was and that was good. It also helps that there was delicious strawberry jam in between the layers as well! I don't know about you, but I love strawberry jam, so this was really yummy! I would definitely recommend this cake as it is super easy to make and tastes delicious. Plus it was really pretty as well, so if you need to take a dessert somewhere this would be a lovely one to bring!

The next recipe is for a Coffee Victoria Sandwich. I am going to be skipping this one because we don't like coffee and I'm going to wait until I have someone who actually likes coffee to make it for. :) 

Cooking Through Mary Berry's Baking Bible

Zach and I recently started watching the Great British Baking Show after a friend recommended it. We are almost through all that Netflix has on there and we started last week. So needless to say, we are hooked and if you haven't checked it out, then get on Netflix and watch the first three seasons! :) 

Every episode I think I like Mary just a little bit more. She is what I would imagine my British grandmother would be like. She is very sassy and always sure to speak her mind, but she does it in such a polite and posh way you almost don't notice the insult until she's moved onto something else. We have really enjoyed many of the show's elements, but something really nice is how clean it is. They play lovely music while working on challenges, the contestants help each other and seem to genuinely care about others. It is so refreshing compared the all of the other shows on TV lately. 

As we've been watching these seasons, I've been more and more excited to try to bake some of the recipes. I think we hadn't even finished the first episode when I impulsively went on Amazon and ordered her cookbook. Now, to be fair, I had been saving birthday money since the beginning of June, but that's how much I love this show!

This week, I was reading through the Baking Bible (yes reading, it's the international version so there's lots to learn) and I thought about the movie Julie and Julia. I know I'm recommending lots of things to watch, but this movie is so good if you haven't seen it. Anyways, I decided I would like to bake my way through Mary Berry's Baking Bible. Ambitious. I know. I am not setting some crazy time limit on myself though. Hopefully I will accomplish this task before I'm 30 like Julie did. Who knows. 

With that being said, this week I baked my first recipe and the first in the book. The beginning section is classic cakes. I made a lime Madeira cake. Several observations:

- When they baked these on the show they talked about how it needed a crack in the center, that was the signature look. In the cookbook, there's no mention of that. Mine didn't crack and I was very sad about that. 
- Also the cakes on the show were much fluffier than mine was in the end. So I might have done something wrong with the preparation - I didn't have Paul and Marry here to tell me. 
- Candying lime peel isn't as easy as you'd think. It's a labor of love for sure (took 2+ hours). Also don't leave your heat on high once you get it to simmer - let's just say it won't end well. 
- Overall, the cake was ok. It isn't a new favorite of mine. It was rather dense and close textured I thought. Also, like I mentioned it didn't rise like I thought it would. The flavor was scrummy (my new favorite word thanks to lovely Mary) though and it would be a nice accompaniment to a glass of coffee or tea (we drank milk with it and it was good). 

Meal Prepping for A Month: Crockpot Fajita Chicken

The next meal we made in our meal prepping for a month was crock pot fajitas. If you are anything like us, we love Mexican food. Zach especially loves it so he had no problem helping me get everything chopped and ready for this recipe.

What I love about this recipe is that you can put whatever you have in your pantry/refrigerator in it. You don't have to have a certain few items, you can spice it up with your own creation! We used pretty standard ingredients but that's because we had already purchased them. Plus this is a super easy meal to make and tastes GREAT!

Once we chopped up the chicken and the veggies, we just threw them in a freezer bag and in the freezer. Before we went to cook everything we let the bad defrost and then we tossed it all in the crockpot with taco seasoning sprinkled on top of it. 

The house smelled great and this was the final product. We put ours on some tortillas and added salsa and Rotel cheese dip. It was delicious! 

Meal Prepping for A Month: Spicy Pad Thai One Pot Dish

This is our second to last meal that we prepped for one month. This has been one of our favorites! For this meal, you can't prep as much because you have to have some of the items fresh. The nice thing is all of your cooking is done in one pot! 

You start with your sauce, by mixing it up. This was soy sauce, brown sugar and Sriracha. 

Then you scramble your eggs and put some red pepper flakes in it for some heat. (We like it really spicy!)

The chicken had been prepped but was cut into bit-sized pieces. 

You boil your linguini noodles first - you could probably make this with zucchini noodles too - if you didn't want the pasta. 

Once your noodles are cooked, you drain them and set them aside. Then you scramble your eggs. 

Once your eggs are finished you need to put in your pre-chopped veggies. Ours weren't defrosted all of the way. 

We just cooked them until they were soft with olive oil and garlic. Since ours were frozen some. The extra liquid was drained off. Then they were tossed in with the noodles on the side. 

Next came the chicken!

While waiting on the chicken, the fresh cilantro was chopped - the smell was heavenly! 

From there, you just mix everything together in the pot and serve with more Sriracha - if you like the spice! It is really tasty and hits the spot! 

Meal Prepping for A Month: Chicken Parmesan

The next meal we made for our meal prepping for a month was chicken parmesan. I would have never thought to make this but it is a freezer meal and was really easy and convenient to have. We had to take care of making the chicken first. Even Zach got in on the action with helping me! He set to work breading and cooking the chicken.

Then it went in the pan (from the Dollar Tree - I think there were three or four to the pack) with some sauce and cheese. We put four breasts in the pans layering it with sauce and mozzarella cheese. 

Then when we wanted to eat it we just grabbed it out of the freezer and put it in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes-1 hour or we defrosted it and cooked it for 30 minutes. It was delicious with pasta and salad!

Meal Prepping for a Month: Stuffed Shells

Our second meal for our Meal Prepping for a Month Series is stuffed shells. This one made up three different Dollar Tree tins and we froze them until we were ready to eat them. Then you can either thaw and bake or just bake frozen for a little longer.

They turned out to be a really nice thing to have on hand too. We had a friend who had surgery and we were able to take him and his wife one of these so they didn't have to worry about cooking as much during his recovery.

This meal was super easy to prep even - it took 5-10 minutes to prep all of the tins. 

Zach said this didn't look appetizing, but he sure did like how it tasted when he was eating it. 

I know there was already mozzarella and ricotta cheese in it, but what would a little parmesan hurt? 

We decided to have a salad - with fresh cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden. 

We also baked some zucchini in the oven as a side. Everything was delicious! 

Meal Prepping for a Month: Loaded Potato Crockpot Meal

If you know me, you know I love my crockpot so much! It is one of my favorite wedding gifts that we got. So for the third meal in our Meal Prepping for a Month Series we made a crockpot dish. This was a loaded potato meal. I wasn't sure how this one would turn out, but it seemed to be a hit with Zach and some of our friends!

We had never bought bacon in the over two years we have been married, but we found 4lbs of bacon at Sam's for $6 and knew we had to get some. Since then we have been having fun using it! 

This calls for 10lbs of potatoes, which is a lot of potatoes. 

Zach helped me wash, skin and chop them at 6am - the meal has to cook for 10 hours!

You layer the potatoes and the bacon, onion, mozzarella cheese mixture. 

Then you top it off with cream of chicken soup. 

We are loving salads this summer with fresh veggies. These cherry tomatoes were the sweetest ones I have ever tasted - it was almost like a candy. 

The final product goes well with BBQ sauce, or that's what we decided.