The idea of making scones came as an afterthought to making cherry jam and was suggested by both of my telepathic parents. These didn't quite come out like the picture, but were just so soft yet crunchy, buttery yet light (Only 2 ounces of butter in the whole recipe!? No way...:O).
We made them quickly and enjoyed a nice little English Tea. My mum and I had ours with my fresh cherry jam and my sister had hers with a dollop of nutella. I'm waiting for my dad to get home to try them and give his verdict too. 
My sister, inspired by Masterchef (as we were watching it at the time) got creative and made her own little 'Plating Squiggle'. <3 

I really didn't know what to make today.
I asked my mum and she suggested cherry jam, since we had half a huge box of cherries still sitting in our fridge. I thought of cherries, but I could only think of tarts and cakes, which I am (trying to) steer clear of since our indulgent sleepover on Tuesday (thanks a lot Anya. ;) )
This is more of a stewed fruit sort of method. If you want a more gelatinous texture, you need fruit pectin. But Jamie Oliver and David Lebovitz make it this way, so it's fine :)
In itself, it was quick and easy. Except for the fact that I manually de-seeded all the cherries...
Not a huge deal. I mean, it only took about 10-15 minutes, but if you have a cherry pitter it's super fast.
I was happy with the result, but I think I added too much lemon (AGAIN). I reduced the sugar quantity because the recipe I was using called for tart cherries but I was using sweet. But I can always throw the jam back in the pan and add some more sugar, and my mum liked it as it is. 
Both my mum and dad thought of scones when I said I was making jam (as they say: "Great minds think alike" :P) so my mum and I made a batch in time for tea. English Tea.

This recipe is so stupid I questioned even putting it up. But here it is and I hope it will inspire some interesting variations or soften up a meal.
The recipe? Whip up some mayonnaise with herbs or spices! I used fresh black pepper and oregano powder to go with the burgers, fries and tomatoes. 

Fast, simple and perfect if you're looking for a side-dish to fill out your meal. Experiment with your herbs and cheeses too! 
Wash and halve your tomatoes; sprinkle grated parmesan cheese; season with salt, pepper and any other fresh or dry herbs (I used basil powder and oregano powder); bake in the oven until the cheese is melty and the tomatoes have softened. Enjoy warm!

These are a fun side-dish to make and you can use the same technique to make different flavoured fries. We had ours with burgers and parmesan tomatoes, but these were a favourite. They should have been left in a little longer to become ore crispy, but we were hungry and the crispy parts mixed with the softer parts were fun to eat.

Yes, it's a veggie burger. Meat lovers: Don't Turn Away...
A burger is a burger: fried, crispy, changeable, customizable and always surprising.
It's so full of flavour, texture and you can do so much with it.
I browsed loads of recipes and decided to have a go at making my own.
I made them!! You must be thinking, 'Yeah...So?' The last time I made burgers, I used a lentil recipe and we stupidly made 2 cups of cooked lentils instead of dry (BIG difference). So no matter how much seasoning I added, they were just bland! To top it off, we ended up with at least 10 of the huge, fat, plain burgers...
This time I threw a bunch of stuff together, so I'm going to try my best to write down the quantities for the recipe! We had them with some sides (Parmesan Tomatoes, Herby Oven Fries and Herbed Mayonnaise), but they will work great in buns or pita. One thing I would change: purée the chickpeas a little, because some were too hard. 
I miss using our barbecue, so those of you who have one, those of you who don't: get up and grill a chilled-out meal of burgers. 

This is a super flexible dish and so easy to make. I had seen loads of similar recipes on blogs such as 'What Should I Eat For Breakfast Today?' and I love yoghurt, fruit and granola.
My version: I soaked some plain yoghurt, a teaspoon each of maple syrup and sugar, a handful of Weetabix Crunchy Bran cereal and some 4-fruit St. Dalfour jam (there a whole blackberries and cherries in it!) for a couple of hours in the fridge. (You don't need to do this. It can all be made fresh) When I was about to eat I added a generous handful of Swiss muesli, a crumbled fruit biscuit and a chopped baby banana.
There are so many variations: different types of granola, different yoghurts, honey, different fruits, cookies & biscuits, chocolate, nuts, cinnamon... 
Have fun experimenting, make your own, and post a picture on our Facebook page! 

Dutch people and Holland dwellers are the luckiest people in the world.
Why? 
Because they've had Poffertjes. (Yes, it deserves to begin with a capital.)
For those of you poor, unfortunate souls who haven't had the delight of tasting these, just look at them!
I'm not going to even attempt to describe how they taste. 
You'll just have to make them yourself ;)
In Holland, cafés, hotels, bed and breakfasts and each and every home serves Poffertjes. 
Of course, as with everything nowadays you can get frozen Poffertjes. But NOTHING beats them fresh and homemade.
I stumbled upon my blog-soulmate 'What Should I Eat For Breakfast Today?' and gasped when I saw that they had a recipe for Poffertjes. My dad knows how to make them and he has his mum's recipe... in Dutch. 
I remember asking him to translate it for me years ago, but he was cooking at the same time and he got distracted after the first couple of lines...
So after seeing this recipe I planned that the next Sunday, instead of having our usual Dutch pancake day, I would make Poffertjes. 
My dad and I had just gotten back from a bike ride, which was unusually grueling due to really strong winds. I was tired and ravishing, especially after daydreaming about my Poffertjes all throughout the ride.
These were perfect. Warm... Crispy on the outside... Soft on the inside... Buttery... Sugary... Perfect.
So Poffertje-coinnoisseurs and newbies alike, read the recipe, cook and bask in their glory.

For the first week of my Pass The Plate project, I made vanilla cupcakes from the recipe book "Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery."
London dwellers: do you know the bakery? It looks spectacular!
Making the cupcake mixture was easy and I had my sister's help in laying out all the little cupcake holders on the baking tray. ;)

The batter looks lovely, doesn't it?
Well, no cooking endeavour is complete without a disaster.
I stupidly separated any liners that accidentally had 2 or 3 of them stacked. I always use single-layer liners and they're always put in a muffin tray. This time, we didn't use the tray because we needed to fit more cupcakes. 
The combination of the flimsy liners and no support caused them all to run and collapse minutes after being put in the oven. I was devastated.
Thankfully my mum noticed, so we pulled out the tray she began to scoop up the liquidy cups and we placed them in double-layered liners. 
Whatever we couldn't salvage we scraped into a baking dish to make a little cake. 
We watched the cupcakes like hawks until we were sure they weren't running. The result was a little messy, due to the multiple liners and the sides splattered with crispy batter.
But when sprinkled with powdered sugar, they didn't look too bad, and my family reassured me that the children we give the cupcakes to won't mind if they don't look 5-star-- they'd just be happy to eat them. 

I've seen poached fruit on loads of cooking shows so I wanted to attempt it. We had loads of pears and peaches sitting in our fridge, so that worked out nicely.
I looked up multiple recipes and then just improvised based on them.
It worked out well, even though I kind of forgot to check on the fruits while they were boiling. 
I served it for tea the next day with the little vanilla cake we made from the vanilla cupcake mess. It was a wonderful pick-me-up: sweet, yet so light and fresh. You can still taste the original flavour of the fruits-- they're not doused in sugar. The cake and fruits each taste wonderful on their own, but even better when eaten together: warm and cool, simple and airy.