I'd like to start on a positive note, rather than a whine:

Click the image below for the winning entry!

Technically it's not the winning entry, since I won the prize and the recipe didn't. It was just a prize draw, not a best recipe contest.

Now for the whine: I haven't actually received my prize yet *cry* I don't check my emails all that often, so it was 2 weeks after they sent it that I replied, but here's hoping. The strange thing is, I don't think they even posted up my recipe, so I updated the one here with the version I submitted (it was much better written!).

Anyway, I have been eating badly lately. I should be making more stuff like this:

I am sorry to say the recipe is from Tesco. Click the image to go to the recipe. What I really wanted to make was a potato and leek rosti, but couldn't find a vegan recipe and wasn't sure how egg replacer would work. Speaking of egg replacer, I only ever used it that one time I made the chocolate chip cookies. I'd better use it up before it goes off.

Anyway, as you know, sweetcorn makes everything better. I think I just chucked it in straight from frozen. Also, rather than frying, because they disintegrated when I tried, I just popped them in the oven at gas 6 for about half an hour or so. Yummy! The baby also loved it, but then again, he will eat almost anything. What I'm thinking is, I could add some sauteed carrots and pepper, then coat in breadcrumbs for a homemade veggie finger. Might give it a go one day. Maybe.

I also made some felafel a couple of months ago. I added a leaf of spearmint from my mum's plant. I should have added sweetcorn, but I wanted to try the recipe as-is first, before making changes. Then I ran out of chickpeas so I couldn't try again until I remembered to buy some 😉

I think 3 spring onions was too much, and also I was scared they would disintegrate when fried, so I ovened them at gas 6 or 7, I forget which. And they were nice, apart from too many spring onions. I wonder if the same amount of leek would taste better. I have some more chickpea tins, so as soon as I remember to buy some leek, I will try. No photos at the moment, but recipe is here:
http://mideastfood.about.com/od/quickandsimplemeals/r/easyfalafel.htm

When she said mint thins, I immediately thought of mint thins, which is something these biscuits aren't. What they are are thin chocolate biscuits. PROTIP: For this kind of recipe, don't waste money on expensive icing sugar. Just blitz some granulated sugar in a coffee grinder. Do a one second blitz for caster sugar, and longer for icing.

They were very nice, anyway. I had the same problem as with the choc chip cookies I made before, ie. they don't seem like they are cooked, even when they are. So they were a bit burnt on the edges, some of them. Delicious all the same, though.

PROTIP 2: Adding vegan milk to melted plain chocolate isn't quite the same as milk chocolate. You see, for the chocolate coating, I melted some of the plain chocolate (Tesco's value brands of plain choc are vegan, btw.Lidl's Fin Caré is vegan-friendly) and added just a couple of drops of milk. And it immediately turned back into a solid. I kid you not. Glossy liquid one second, fudgey mess the next. Rather than waste it, I just wrapped it in some greaseproof and put in in the fridge, and it tastes okay. The texture is a bit like Flake, but less flakey, if that makes sense. It's better than how it was straight from the pack though. I'm just wondering if I keep it on the heat while I add the milk, will that make a difference. Hmmm.