Summer Strawberry Roulade

Time is this amazing concept that we don't, and can't, get enough of. Like all great things it has an end (for us at least). 'Our time' is defined by the period of, perhaps infinite, number of seconds that our heart beats but to what rhythm your heart beats really is up to you.

It is strange that all I needed was time again to rediscover the things that I love to do. At uni, there is so much going on. Lectures, essays, work, reading, secondary reading, meeting up with friends, seeing family, sports, gym, extra curricular activities, going out. There's so much going on that your free time becomes a muddle. 

Every spare moment I had would be spent watching Tv. I just wanted to curl up in bed with some chocolate and watch films, or Sherlock. But that's not what I would normally do. I don't like to watch too much TV because, when I have those 'life evaluation' moments, I feel like I've wasted so much time, essentially looking at a screen and blinking. 

It took me having so much free time to understand how much I had missed baking. Now I've taken care of the extra bits I wanted to do with my blog, sorted some other things out, found time to visit some people, I've found that I now need my time to bake. That, and time to read. 

When I first arrived in Dubai this summer, mum pointed to the 'baking cupboard' and said: 

"We need to use that up." 

Most of the ingredients we use for baking, have been left dormant, waiting mainly for my return to be turned into some culinary delights. But every time I've been lazy and only now are they being showcased. 

So today, I rustled up a low fat favourite. This is also a super easy recipe and perfect for any tight students pocket. Naming no names *ahem*! Anyway, the recipe ... 

Strawberry Roulade

I was looking for something low in fat, something to use up the strawberries and something which I could put a twist on. 

So I've swapped the vanilla in this recipe for almonds and made the sponge using brown, instead of plain, flour. Feel free to swap my alterations for the original ingredients but I feel like you should give the almond essence a whirl!

PRE-HEAT OVEN TO 200 DEGREES C

1) Beat 3 eggs into 85g caster sugar with an electric whisk for about 5 mins.

What you want from this mixture is to lose the orange colouring in favour of a pale and 'bubbly' texture. The amount of mixture should almost double by whisking for this amount of time. 

From this ...

To this ...

2) Now, FOLD in 85g brown flour into the mixture with 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of almond essence. 

3) Line a Swiss roll tin (which is a shallow and flat tin) with grease proof paper and pour the batter onto it, spreading into an even layer but taking care not to remove the air. 

4) Bake for 15 minutes

5) When the cake is golden and springy to the touch, remove from the oven. 

6) Immediately roll out a length of great proof paper the same length as the cake itself. 

7) Dust with 1 tablespoon of caster sugar (N.B. I used 0 calorie sugar - if it was indeed 0 calories, which I doubt - to try to save on calories here.)

8) Put the cake face down onto the sugared paper and peel of the original grease proof paper. 

9) With a small knife, score the cake about 1cm from the edge of each side. (Explaining this is where English fails me. Basically what you want to do is drag your knife in a rectangle along the outside of the cake as though your drawing a frame - I hope I've explained that clearly enough!!) 

10) Now, carefully and tightly roll the cake over itself (so that you have a spiral shape at each end) wrapping the great proof paper inside the cake - this will prevent the cake walls from sticking to one another as they cool. 

11) Leave to cool. 

12) Prepare the filling by mixing 200g Greek yogurt with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and a splash of both vanilla and almond extract. Add 2 handfuls of chopped strawberries.

13) Once the cake is cool, unroll it and spread the filling inside. 

14) Now re-roll the cake into the spiral shape, but DON'T include the great proof paper when you roll. 

15) And you should now have what looks like a white "Christmas" log. You can now dust with icing sugar and decorate the lip with strawberries.

I know this just looks awful, but appearance never really was my forte. It couldn't even be fixed with photoshop! But I promise you, the proof is in the eating! I promise!

And you're done. 1 strawberry roulade coming up!! 

Helpful hints: 

Folding:

Folding is the process by which you incorporate the mixture without knocking air out of the mixture. Take a metal spoon and draw it around the circumference of 1/2 the mixing bowl. Once you reach what would be the 6 or 12 o'clock mark on a clock, draw the spoon through the middle. Turn the bowl and complete on the other side.

If you need more help, check out the video below, or send me a message by clicking on the "Contact" page. 

Barbie Girl

Surprisingly, we don't have barbecues nearly enough since Dubai has the most perfect weather for them. We, in fact, have them less than we used to in England - only about 3 times a year. Much of the barbecues we go to are ones that we are invited to by friends. And, off we went, yesterday.

To be honest, I don't know why we don't do barbecues more. They are just perfect for every occasion. You can eat as much or as little as you want and can pair every taste with a selection of spices, side dishes and salads. 

Yesterday was a 1st birthday party. A first for me and all! 

The food was kept simple, but there's nothing wrong with simple when the flavor is there! The burgers were chunky and homemade grilled on the barbecue and topped with jack cheese. I then added lettuce, tomato and avocado to a sesame seed bun. Then summer berries to finish. 

A dessert that was also on offer was an ice-cream straight from Texas: birthday cake ice-cream! It was, actually, delicious but it wasn't enough on the cake front with my eyes lingering over a Micky Mouse cupcake stand.  

Carrot Soup Recipe

Soup most probably isn't something that you want to be eating on a boiling hot summers day but, for me, it beats a salad. Personally, all that a few lettuce leaves, tomatoes and cucumber says to me is: "WHERE are my carbs?!?!" This usually ends with me going on a bread rampage afterwards which almost defeats the purpose of having not having a sandwich.

Soup, however, does it for me. There's something about a load of blended vegetables that makes refraining from a ham sandwich a good thing.

So I've decided to share with you my FAVOURITE carrot soup recipe. It's my favourite for a number of reasons but namely it's super-duper easy, tasty and makes for great snacking. 

"Slap-dash" Carrot Soup
To serve 4

1) Peel and slice 4 carrots

2) Boil 600ml of water and, once boiled, pour into a jug

3) Dissolve one vegetable stock cube in the boiled water

4) Then, place the carrots in a deep pan with the vegetable stock and boil on a medium heat until the carrots are soft (15-20 minutes)

5) With a hand blender (or a sieve should work just as well) purée the carrots until you have a smooth orange paste

6) Now, top this purée up with boiled water until you have the amount of soup that you want (perhaps another 300ml of water)

7) Add finely chopped coriander, a pinch of salt and pepper and blitz once more (or, if you don't have a hand blender, simply stir)

8) Then, serve!

Simples! And it tastes absolutely lovely.

*

So Good!

How many times have you said that?

"AAAHHH! Sooooo Gooood!"

I say it all the time. If not aloud, in my head. It's the phrase that sums up a good meal, a drink when I'm thirsty, a chair when my feet are killing me. But, when I hear that phrase, doing something morally good and beneficial to all doesn't spring to mind.

We all have those down days. For whatever reason they creep up on us. We can be feeling fine one minute and the next seriously doubting our purpose in life and how we are meant to go on.

Bizarrely, I get this sensation more in Dubai than I do anywhere else. It's strange because that is where my family are and it's nothing to do with them but living in the sand pit can sometimes make you feel trapped. In 40 degree heat, there is no way that I'm going out and doing anything! 

But maybe that's just my problem. Perhaps I ought to be doing something!

Whatever the answer, I can't deny that keeping busy is the key to keeping my mind healthy - so long as I don't continually overwork. It makes those lazy days and moments when you can just relax with a film even more special.

I first noticed this just after summer started at Uni. Before, I had quite an aversion to filling up my days for fear of not having my 'me-time'. I craved the weekends where I could do nothing and I would work so so hard throughout the week so I would have absolutely nothing to do on Saturday or Sunday. But once I had less and less work, I began to get bored. I didn't know what to fill my days with. And when work stopped completely, at first it was a relief, and later seemed like an abyss where I could fall into nothingness forever.

I didn't know what to do with myself.

That was part of the reason why I wrote my '50 Things To Do This Summer' so I didn't feel like a failure whilst I had more time to think about being exactly that. I got myself a little 2 day placement at uni, plowed into writing things for my blog and tried my hardest to fill my days up to the top.

That makes me feel so much better!

But sometimes, there is nothing better than doing something for somebody else to make you feel better. It's such a cliche but I'll bet my bottom dirham (it sounded better than pound) that it's a good one! :D

So I've decided to list my favourite campaigns that I've come across this week:

1. Israel-Palestine Conflict
   http://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Israel-and-Palestine

The big thing this week has been the developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict and the amount of people, mainly children, killed in it. The Amnesty International UK campaign urges the government to stop sending ammunition to people fighting in the area. 

  This is a long and complicated war on so many levels but targeting it from so many different levels should, with every pray and hope and donation, bring an end to the violence and a civil resolution. For this reason, the SaveTheChildren campaign to stop children being harmed is also something that you must fill out - and is listed below. 

*

    2.  Israel-Palestine Conflict (continued)
         http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/stop-killing-children-gaza-israel

SaveTheChildren campaign.

*

    3.  WaterAid - clean water by 2030
         http://www.wateraid.org/uk/get-involved/campaigns (and click on 'Everyone Everywhere 2030')

I love this petition because it depends on the power of belief and, unfortunately, it doesn't have nearly enough signatures. When you click the link, WaterAid congratulates you for believing that everyone, everywhere can have clean water by 2030. Is it so unrealistic? I think that if you believe in something hard enough, anything can be achieved. But, even if you don't agree, wouldn't getting the UN to discuss clean water for everyone as a high priority make a difference?

WaterAid have already helped 19.2 million people access clean and safe sources of water and there is no reason why that number shouldn't increase! 

*

So, this was a little different post for me but I've come to realise that there are quite a number of you who do come and read my blog on a regular basis and I feel that if we can do something good together, then that's worth my while to write and having you read! Thank you!!