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Uh oh - just realised it’s Father’s Day on Sunday and I haven’t organised a present or anything else to celebrate the day on behalf on our toddler!!!  And to make matters worse, my hubby lost his job this week (company went into administration!) so I can’t even spend any money on buying a gift to cheer him up because we’re on a strict budget of spending on necessities only !  Will have to be creative instead (not one of my strong points ) - any suggestions for things to do/make would be appreciated!

xxx

Oh no, sorry to hear about his job!  Welcome to my world :-(

We’re not doing anything particular, or buying presents, but Matt and I are making a chocolate tray cake and cooking him lasagne (his favourite) for tea.  He’ll get a lie-in in the morning, and then we’ll do whatever he wants to do (as long as it doesn’t involve watching sport on TV!!).  A cheap day but one all about him.

xx

Thanks Jen.  Sounds like a good plan - know my hubby will appreciate a lie-in and I’ll ask him what he wants for dinner.  Mmm...choccie tray cake sounds delish - any chance you could part with your recipe?

xxx

Argh sorry Claire, didn’t realised you’d replied till this morning!  I use this recipe: 

Chocolate Drizzle Tray Bake

x

OMG I am salivating just reading the recipe!  Certainly not a WeightWatchers one, eh?  I don’t think my culinary skills are adequate enough for this recipe - it has ingredients in it I have never heard of (shows how often I bake), and we are on a (eternal!) diet so maybe I’ll try to find a ‘skinny’ version.  Hope your hubby’s enjoying his FD so far.  Mine slept in til 10am and I made him an omelette for brekkie and will do steaks for dinner! Mic made him a card (with a little help from me), which he loved.  Have a great day!

xxx

I have been told that you can make low fat cake by using just a packet mix of cake and a can of diet 7up!  I’ve never tried it but I keep meaning to.

Hmmm...might give that one a go!  Have done a quick search for low fat cakes and found this lovely website with some delish sounding recipes: http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/LowFatCakes.html, and here is a low fat white chocolate recipe: http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/297910/White-chocolate-cake. This chocolate one sounds good too: http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/2707.  Ok, off to Tesco now to buy some cake-making ingredients!!!

xxx

I know it might be a bit late but the main thing dads want on Father’s Day is big hugs!

Here’s one for all dads .......

But the cakes are definitely welcome too!

Jen, you inspired me to have a Father’s Day baking experience!  We went to Tesco this afternoon armed with the blueberry muffin and fat-free sponge recipes from the Cake Baker website (http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/LowFatCakes.html).  When we got home my hubby and Mic got to work with the baking - I was purely the washer-upper and ingredients assistant!  They had such a wonderful time and Mic was so excited to be able to get involved with the baking.  The muffins turned out pretty well (did half with blueberries and half with choc chips) but the bits all sank to the bottom of the mixture so the top half of the muffins were cake-only - but they tasted great.  The sponge didn’t fair as well - left it too long to spoon into the cake tin, cake tin was too big for the amount of mixture, and over-folded it so it was more of a hard flat chocolate (we added cocoa to the mixture) biscuit than a soft sponge, but I think we will know to follow the recipe a bit better next time (and get a smaller cake tin).  But for entertainment value the whole baking session was a huge success!!  Thanks for the idea!

xxx

P.S. Thanks Sisyphus - my hubby got more than his fair share of big hugs today! xxx

You sound as though you all had a really great family style Father’s Day that you all enjoyed, with dad and Mic being center piece, Claire!

Doesn’t compensate for the job loss (sorry about that) but it sure makes you all feel good, doesn’t it?