Tea party nibbles: courgette and goat cheese mini cakes

On Saturday, my friend Lucy from In Norfolk was hosting a Christmas tea party with a homemade theme. She had baked many wonderful cupcakes and biscuits, one of her friends had crafted exquisite truffles, another had brought a delicious carrot, parsnips and chili soup accompanied with cheese scones. I didn't have time to do anything complicated as I had been away from home or working late most of the week, so the two courgettes and goat cheese I had in the frige were the perfect base to whip up something tasty in a couple of hours.

To make 18 mini courgette and goat cheese cakes, I used:

• 2 cougettes
• 3/4 of a goat cheese bûche
• 2 eggs
• 130g self raising flour
• approximately 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
• about 100 ml of milk

Start by slicing the courgettes and sauté them in a pan with a bit of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and a few coriander seeds, and leave aside to cool once they're nicely golden, but still have some texture to them.

In a bowl, mix the flour with the eggs and sunflower oil, and add a bit of milk so the mixture is similar to an American pancakes' preparation. I probably added around 100ml. Add the goat cheese cut in rough pieces, season with a bit of salt and pepper, and mix well. Finally add the courgettes in, making sure the consistency is even.

Pour the mix into individual tins that you have oiled in advance, and stick an extra little piece of goat cheese in the middle of each cake. Bake for 25 minutes in an oven pre-heated at thermostat 5.

The preparation will be cooked but the goat cheese melted, so I found it best to let them cool on a wire rack before placing them in a pretty basket for serving.

We were only a few people at the party, and there was tons of food, but I didn't bring many of these back home, so I take it they weren't too bad!

What to do with over-ripped bananas? Banana bread!

As I tend not to buy green bananas, I often end up with bananas left in the fruit basket for too long, skin rather brown and flesh not so firm. Banana bread is a great way to use over-ripped bananas, it makes your house smell lovely whilst it bakes, and it is delicious for breakfast with natural yogurt, or as an afternoon treat with a nice cup of tea.

You will need:

• 175g butter
• 175g brown caster sugar
• 175g self-rising flour
• 3 eggs
• 3 ripped bananas
• vanilla essence
• lemon juice

Start by preheating your oven to 190°C/thermostat 5.

In a bowl, mash the bananas with a fork and add a squeeze of lemon juice.

In another bowl, beat the soften butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one by one and fold in the flour. Add a few drops of vanilla essence, and gradually fold in the mashed bananas.

Spoon into a buttered loaf tin and bake for about an hour, until a skewer comes out of it dry.

Leave standing for 5 minutes, and then place the loaf to cool on a wire rack, and enjoy the first slice with a nice cuppa!

I think this would work really well as cupcakes, which a chocolate and coconut icing. I'll let you know how it goes next time I have bananas to use.

Christmas!

The end of November and December is a time of a year I really like. Gearing up to Christmas, finding the perfect presents for the people I love, preparing party food, turning my home into a cosy festive pad, the list is endless.

And what a better way to build up the excitement than having an advent calendar? My parents stopped giving me one when I left for uni - which was a bit of a heartbreak - and I never had one since, so this year, I decided to make my own to use for the years to come.

I scrolled the internet for inspiration, rummaged through my sewing box to see what I could use, went down to my favourite shop in Norwich - the Anglian Fashion Fabrics shop on Magdalen Street - and are is the result:

I have filled it with lovely chocolates carefully hand-picked, and can't wait to open the first one before going to bed tonight!