I love Sundays

My gorgeous niece and my husband Richie tiptoeing through the Bluebells

Sunday is a day of rest for me. And I know when I've had a good Sunday, it's when I forget I have work the next day! Today was a gorgeous Spring day and there's nothing I like better on a sunny day than to go for a walk across Fairlight Glen to see my little niece. It was so idyllic today. Bluebells peppered the landscape as orange tipped butterflies chased each other. As a pheasant called, a heron glided above, riding the thermal air currents. And moments later, a woodpecker knocked, tapping away purposefully. To have so much nature on my doorstep is invaluable. Perhaps the best things in life really are free?

Out & About in Hastings

I've been so busy lately I've not had a chance to enjoy what's on my doorstep. So this morning was spent weeding up at the allotment and enjoying the views from the West Hill. After a hard morning's work, we headed over the hill into the Old Town and stumbled across a scooter rally with the most gorgeous Vespas with their equally gorgeous owners. That's what I love about Hastings, there's always something going on. Which reminds me, to keep in the loop with what's on and the latest happenings in Hastings, check out thisishastings.com

The West Hill, Hastings

Heading into the Old Town

Stade Scooter Rally, Old Town Hastings

Beautiful garden door in the Old Town

Pringle's Carrot Cake

I hate it when we have nothing sweet in the house. And so here we have my easy carrot cake recipe - a perfect baked treat you can knock up in no time to ensure you have something sweet and tasty in supply when your craving kicks!



You will need:
200g sugar, 2 eggs, 180ml veg oil, 110g self raising flour, 2 carrots, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon.

This recipe takes no time.

• Peel and chop your carrots and chuck in a blender til your carrots are finely chopped. Set finely chopped carrots aside.

• Beat your sugar, oil and eggs together and add the flour, continuing to stir until you get a nice creamy consistency.

• Now add the chopped carrots, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and mix thoroughly. Preheat your oven to 180degrees and grease a loaf tin.

• Pop your mix in the tin and bake for 30 mins or until your cake skewer comes out clean. Take your cake out of the tin and leave on a wired rack to cool.

• For added tastiness you can chuck in walnuts and currants to the mix.
  

• Enjoy your scrummy carrot cake! Mmmm!
  

Making Do

Step into my kitchen and step back in time. With it's 70s tiles and mock wood cupboards it's kitsch to the nth degree. I would love to get the whole kitchen ripped out and a new glossy number installed but we're going to need to save for a couple of years before we can even consider such a project. But for now, a touch of pink has given my kitsch kitchen a new lease of life and brought a little sunshine into what was a dilapidated room.

Lighter evenings

I'm loving the lighter evenings...and so is the neighbour's cat.

We love homemade pizza

Chez Pringle, we can't get enough of homemade pizza.

It's so easy and so much tastier than shop bought. Plus, I always make enough dough to freeze so the next pizza is even easier to make!

The beauty of making your own pizza is you can literally chuck on whatever you fancy. So today I raided the fridge and added mascarpone, mushrooms, chorizo, mozzarella, basil and olives - mmmm!

To make the base, simply mix together 350g strong white plain flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 x 7g sachet of yeast, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 225 ml of warm water. Mix with a wooden spoon or in your super duper food processor and then knead for a couple of minutes on a floured surface. The dough should be nice and stretchy. Then place your dough in a lightly oiled bowl and leave with a teatowel over the top for about an hour. After an hour, your dough will have doubled in size. Knead for a minute and then roll out onto a floured surface to make your circular pizza base. For a pizza base with extra taste and crunch, I mix 200g of strong white plain flour with 150g Allinsons seed and grain bread flour.

Once the base is rolled out, I like to bake the base for 10 minutes. I find this stops the pizza getting soggy. Try and use a pizza baking tin for best results.

Then allow the base to cool and apply a nice coat of passata followed by your favourite toppings. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil over the top of your toppings and then put in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.

I like to serve my pizza with my mean chips which is basically maris pipers cut into wedges and parboiled for 10 minutes. Drizzle in vegetable oil and season generously. Roast for 1 hour. And most important of all, serve in newspaper!

Enjoy peeps. x

4 day weekends...

are made for chilling in the sunshine, as kindly demonstrated by Biggles.