I Told You I Couldn't Wait! (DB Challenge #1)

OK, so I have the worst patience in the world, but I couldn't wait until this Friday to find out the set challenge for the Daring Baker's for next month, and although I can't force Quellia to spill the beans on what she has chosen for us, I can keep myself busy by setting my own challenges.

I may be a glutton for punishment, but I really to enjoy a challenge, especially when it comes to cooking. So I have decided that I am going to make each of the recipes that have been attempted by the Daring Bakers so far. In order to catch up I am going to make pretzels, biscotti, croissants, flourless chocolate cake, red velvet cake, Martha Stewart's infamous chocolate crepe cake and Gateau Saint Honore. I'll be making one each month, on top of the set challenge for the month, which will take me over half a year to get up to speed. Oh boy, I really have gone insane!!

First up, the recipe that started the whole DB group. Back in November last year Ivonne and Lisa decided they would both tackle Pretzels and post about them on the same day. They got very different results for their efforts even though they used the same recipe. Check out Lisa & Ivonne's posts to see what I mean.

Pretzels aren't very big here in Australia, when I think of them I think of the little crunchy, overly salty ones out of a packet, which I am not a fan of at all - Waaay too salty for me. In fact, it was only once I looked over the recipe and realised it was for soft pretzels that I actually got excited. You see, when I was in high school (2000), Pretzel World opened up at my local shopping centre. Mum and I used to get them when we went shopping, I haven't seen them around for ages but my favourite flavours were French Onion & Sour Cream and Cin City (covered in cinnamon and a sticky white glaze).

Making these pretzels was just the thing to keep my mind busy, and not straying to the fact that my car is in at the mechanic, with quite a few problems (last phone call had the quote at a minimum of $800 and rising!). I am a uni student. I can't afford this! Breathe Tara, breathe...

Here is the recipe, that I got from Ivonne's post. Since the DB's were very small back then, in fact they weren't even called the Daring Baker's yet, there were obviously no DB rules yet. I have taken the liberty of assuming that if this was set as a challenge following the current rules, the 'creative' part of the challenge would be the topping or flavouring on the pretzels, therefore I made 3 variations.

Soft Pretzels (Makes 8)

Sift together 2 1/2C plain flour, 1/2tsp salt & 1tsp sugar. Add 1pkt (2 1/4tsp) instant dry yeast & 1C warm water and work together with your hands. Once you can form a ball with the dough (You may need to add a little more water if it is dry or flour if it is sticky) remove from the bowl and knead on a lightly floured bench for 8-10 minutes, until smooth. I used my Kitchenaid with the dough hook attachment to do this work for me, it took around 5 minutes. Lightly dust the dough ball with flour and place in an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place to rest for 30 minutes to an hour. The dough will rise dramatically.

Preheat your oven to 250C and line 2 trays with baking paper. Once the dough has risen, divide it into 8 equal portions. One at a time, roll each portion out into a long rope (around 35cm long), cross the rope over itself to form a circle with around 1/5 of the rope sticking out at each end. Twist the ends over themselves and secure each on either side of the pretzel. Ok, those instructions may sound complicated, basically just play with the rope until it looks like a pretzel! You'll realise how easy it is when you do it.

Dip each pretzel in sugar-water mix made up with 1/2C warm water & 1tsp sugar and place on the prepared baking trays. After they have rested for 15 minutes put them in the oven to bake for 5 minutes, switch the trays around and bake for a further 5 minutes. While the pretzels are in the oven for the last 5 minutes, melt 3Tbsp butter and use it to brush the pretzels as soon as they come out of the oven. Use all of the butter, they will keep soaking it up.

Toppings:

I made 3 different topping variations for my pretzels: Garlic & Herb, Cinnamon sugar and Chocolate glaze. They were all so yummy, please don't make me choose between them!

Garlic & Herb (left in photo) - This was the closest thing that I had in the house to French Onion & Sour Cream. The ones at Pretzel World had a powdered flavouring on top that tasted like the chip version. I am sure I could recreate it pretty well with dried french onion soup mix, but all I had was garlic & herb seasoning. It was still very good, strangely it tasted a little like sour cream, so when I do attempt the french onion soup mix I will be adding a little of this to give the sour cream flavour. I just sprinkled it over the top while the butter was still melty.

Cinnamon Sugar (right in photo) - Very nice. I added some honey to the butter that I brushed them with and then dipped them in the Cinnamon Sugar mix I had left in the cupboard from making Cinnamon & Jam Donut Muffins.

Chocolate Glaze (Sorry, camera died on me - no photo) - So decadent. I wanted to recreate the white sticky glaze from Pretzel World, but had no idea where to start as I don't even remember exactly what it tastes like, so I opted for a chocolate glaze I found online that was used for cakes. I scribbled it down hastily and didn't write down where I got it from, but in the end it wasn't runny enough so I ended up just adding things until it got to the right consistency. Roughly: Mix together 2 1/2Tbsp cocoa, 2Tbsp water, 1Tbsp oil, 1Tbsp cornflour & 1C icing sugar. It is quite runny to start with, but the cornflour helps it to set to a very nice glaze.

Stay tuned for the June challenge (& possibly Biscotti before then if I can't hold out any longer!)

Printable Recipes:
Chocolate Glaze
Soft Pretzels

I'm A Daring Baker!!

I am so very, very excited! I have officially been inducted into the Daring Baker's and am eagerly awaiting my first challenge, in June. Don't know what it is yet (and even if I did, I couldn't tell you), but after this month's challenge, Gateau Saint Honore, I am both scared out of my wits and shivering with excitement at what I am going to be asked to make.

OK, for those of you who have been living under a rock, the Daring Baker's are a group of everyday people who challenge themselves with a different recipe each month. They were founded by Ivonne & Lisa who challenged each other to make Pretzels in November last year. Since then they have been joined by more and more bakers, with 66 at last count, and have made more daring things each month - biscotti, croissants, flourless chocolate cake, red velvet cake, chocolate crepe cake and gateau saint honore. With the challenges getting bigger (it seems they are growing harder with each new member) I am quite scared by what may face me in months to come, but I can't wait for the challenge and the chance to step outside my comfort zone.

Feel free to browse through the many links to beautiful posts about the previous challenges in my sidebar (If I have mistyped anyone's name or URL could you please let me know and I will fix it, I did it quite late at night!), while you and I both wait with baited breath for the next challenge. You will see my first Daring Baker's challenge post towards the end of June.

To Ivonne & Lisa, thank-you so much for accepting me into the Daring Baker's! And to my fellow DB's, I am looking forward to sharing the next challenge with you and seeing you all on the DB blog :)

A Summery Drink for a Not-So-Summery Day

As I have mentioned before, it is quite cold here at the moment as we are heading into Winter 'down under', but when I saw that the theme for this round of Weekend Breakfast Blogging was 'Summer Fruits' I had to turn up the heating to trick myself into thinking it was summer, just so I could participate!

I made one of my favourite smoothies for lunch today, OK so it isn't the weekend, and I had it at lunchtime. But really, this is one of the best breakfasts during Summer when your appetite isn't so big and all you want for breakfast is something cool, fresh & fruity.

Another good thing about this smoothie is that it is low in fat and provides almost half of the average adults recommended daily intake of calcium. So drink up!

Strawberry Smoothie (Serves 1)

Blend together 1/2C skim milk, 1/2C low-fat natural yoghurt, 1Tbsp honey, 1/4tsp vanilla extract & 150g hulled, quartered strawberries with a stick blender until smooth. Pour into a glass and top with a couple of halved strawberries, if desired.

I hull and quarter strawberries that are getting close to their use by and freeze them in 150g serves in freezer bags for making smoothies at a later date. Using frozen fruits makes them even more refreshing for a hot summer's day.

You can obviously substitute different fruits for the strawberries, another of my favourites is banana (1-2 per smoothie is good).

Why Should I Eat That?

I am currently under orders of my dietician to keep a detailed food diary for the next month, so you may notice more nutritional information on my posts, as I need to keep track of what I am eating. The following nutritional information was collated from information on the Calorie King Australia website. The information is based on me using 'Pura Light Start' milk and 'Jalna' low fat natural yoghurt.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)
Total fat 1.9g (Saturated Fat 0.9g), Sodium 181.0mg, Total carbohydrates 44.7g (Sugars 38.0g), Dietary fibre 3.0g, Protein 12.7g, Calcium 483.6mg, Potassium 491.0mg

This smoothie contains 1 of your 2 required serves of fruit for the day, your body needs 2 serves of fruit & 5 serves of vegetables everyday!

RDI of Calcium:
The recommended daily intake of calcium for adult men and women 1000mg. Older men (over 70 years) and post menopausal women (around 50 years and older), as well as teenagers (12-18 years) need around 1300mg to maintain and build bone strength. For more information on the roles of calcium in the body, and more detailed RDI's for calcium across different ages, visit the Better Health Channel website, a government health information source.

Only 10 days left for TGRWT#2 Banana & Parsley

Just a reminder that your creative entries for TGRWT#2 need to get to me by June 1st. Email me a link to your Banana & Parsley inspired dish to shouldyoueatthat(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)au . I've recieved some very interesting posts so far, and have seen some others floating around out there that haven't got to me yet, please remember to email them to me or they might not find their way into the round-up.

I have had a couple of attempts at this food pairing, with mixed reactions from my guinea pig (mum), but overall I would say that the pairing works.

Bananas with Butterscotch Parsley Sauce (Serves 4)

First I tried a simple dessert. I made the butterscotch sauce by heating 3Tbsp custard, 20g butter, 2/3C brown sugar, 3Tbsp curly parsley & 2tsp lime juice in a saucepan and mixing until combined and bubbling. I then used this to top 4 sliced bananas. I thought it was very tasty and fresh, but mum couldn't get past the 'furryness' of the sauce. Could have been the curly parsley, but I don't think she would be game enough to try it again with flat leaf parsley.

Parsley Crumbed Bananas (Serves 4)

Next, I went with the same kind of idea, but tried to get rid of the 'furryness' by adding the parsley to some breadcrumbs, which I then used to coat the bananas. This got a much better reaction from mum, but I found that I could no longer taste the parsley - it just tasted like crumbed bananas. Maybe if there were more parsley in there... To make: Whiz 2 slices of bread & a handful of parsley together in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Peel 4 bananas and cut in half, dip in 1/4C flour, then 1 lightly beaten egg and finally into the breadcrumb mix. Cook in oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden (or you could deep fry them). Serve with butterscotch sauce, as above, minus the parsley.

Banana & Parsley Bread

Finally, I made a TGRWT version of Banana Bread. I got Ruth's recipe for 'Best Ever Banana Bread' from Deborah's blog at the Humble Housewife. Of course the recipe had no parsley in it, but called for 1C of extras such as nuts or chocolate chips, so I substituted in some flat leaf parsley along with some chopped walnuts.

I ended up making this bread twice, as the first one dropped badly in the middle. It only took 3 baking sessions to realise that maybe my bicarbonate of soda wasn't so fresh, first my crumpet making attempts were foiled, then Mum's birthday cake turned into a ring version as I had to cut out the sunken middle, but when this bread dropped it was the last straw. I laughed when I got home with the new box because the bicarb in my cupboard had a different design to the one from the supermarket - that is how old it is! I don't know how old though as it seems to be missing the best before date stamp.

Apart from using new bicarb, I also cut back the sugar on the second loaf as the first one was a bit over sweet, and adjusted the parsley as it wasn't quite strong enough in the first. So without further ado, here is my entry for TGRWT #2.

Banana & Parsley Bread Recipe:

Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 23 x 10cm loaf tin. In a medium sized bowl sift together 1 1/2C plain flour, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda & 3/4C caster sugar. Add 2Tbsp melted butter, 3 mashed bananas, 3/4C roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley & 1/2C chopped walnuts and mix gently until just combined. Decorate top of mixture with some extra parsley leaves and bake in oven for 50-55 minutes. Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely. Serve toasted and spread with butter.

As for the sequence of the flavours, it tastes strongly of bananas, with the parsley adding a fresh aftertaste. I am usually not a big fan of parsley, but in this bread it isn't overpowering, and hidden inside the bread there is none of the 'furry' factor that mum didn't like about the butterscotch parsley sauce. Definately give it a try, I will also be trying the original recipe with chocolate chips!

Printable Recipes:
Banana & Parsley Bread
Butterscotch Sauce
Crumbed Bananas

Mini Cheesecakes with Strawberries & Cream (SHF#31)

Just a quick post tonight as I am trying to work on a uni assignment. I made these mini cheesecakes tonight using the remaining icing from the hummingbird cake as a starting mixture. My usual recipe asks for a ricotta and cream cheese mix, but these were only made with cream cheese. I found them to be a little too moist and flat, so I am posting the recipe that I usually use which is half ricotta and half cream cheese.

These beautiful white creations are for Sugar High Friday #31 - Neutral Territory, hosted by Tara (she must be very talented with a name like that!) over at Seven Spoons.

Enough of the chit chat, I really should be putting together a powerpoint presentation now... Enjoy!

Mini Cheesecakes with Strawberries & Cream (Makes 12)

Preheat oven to 160C and grease a mini muffin pan. Place 125g plain sweet biscuits (such as Marie) in a food processor and process until finely ground. Mix with 90g melted butter, spoon evenly into 12 mini muffin holes and press down firmly with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

To make strawberries and cream, hull and quarter 1/2 punnet of strawberries and sprinkle with 2tsp caster sugar, mix gently and refrigerate until needed to allow strawberries to sweeten and soften. Whip together 250ml thickened cream and 2Tbsp icing sugar until soft peaks form.

Meanwhile, mix together 250g ricotta cheese, 250g cream cheese, 3 eggs, 1/2C caster sugar & 1/2tsp vanilla extract. Spoon evenly into muffin holes and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pan, before running a knife around the edge of each mini cheesecake and carefully unmoulding.

To serve, top each mini cheesecake with whipped cream and strawberries.

Printable Recipe

Caesar Salad Transformed for Winter (HHDD#12)

When Katie over at Other People's Food announced the theme for Hay Hay It's Donna Day #12 was Caesar Salad, I automatically thought of a pasta dish using caesar salad ingredients that I had made about a year ago. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced the recipe! This always seems to happen to me, I find a really good recipe, but by the time I want to make it again I can't figure out where I put the recipe. If only I had this blog a year ago I wouldn't have had this problem, I could just look in my Recipe Index.

But I didn't let this minor setback stop me from participating, I took my favourite Caesar Salad recipe and transformed it into a warm pasta dish, a comforting dinner for the cooler months, which we are heading into here in Australia at the moment, especially in Melbourne. The original salad recipe comes from the September 2003 issue of Super Food Ideas and is also available here. I obviously had to tweak it a little to make it more pasta friendly, so my recipe is below.

Chicken Caesar Salad Pasta (Serves 6)

Preheat oven to 180C. Hard boil 4 eggs and set them aside, once cooled cut into wedges. Cut 6 short cut bacon rashers into large pieces and fry until crisp. Cut 2 skinless chicken breast fillets into strips, toss in a bowl with 2Tbsp salt & 2Tbsp pepper and fry in 1Tbsp olive oil until browned and cooked through. Cut 4 pieces of bread into 9 squares each. Spray a baking tray with oil spray, add bread squares and spray them lightly with oil spray as well. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

To make dressing combine 3/4C 97% fat free mayonnaise, 3/4C light sour cream, 2Tbsp lemon juice (I used lime juice as this is all I had), 4Tbsp grated parmesan cheese, 2tsp worcestershire sauce, 2tsp dijon mustard & 1-2 minced garlic cloves in a food processor until smooth.

Cook 500g penne pasta in boiling water, according to packet directions, drain and put back in pot. Add 3C baby spinach leaves to warm pasta, once wilted add bacon and chicken pieces and stir through 3/4 of dressing. Once heated through, spoon into bowls and top with egg wedges, croutons, extra parmesan cheese and reserved dressing.

Printable Recipe

Birthday Cake for Mum & Meeta (Monthly Mingle #11)

It was my mum's birthday on Wednesday. She has been a bit spoilt this week with mother's day last weekend and now her birthday, but she is worth it. For her birthday cake I decided to make Hummingbird cake. I read about it a while ago when the name caught my eye, I remember thinking 'what a weird name for a cake!', maybe somebody could tell me the origins of the name? Mum loves hummingbirds, almost as much as butterflies and dragonflies, she even has tattoos of them (I'll try to convince her to let me post a photo of her tattoos, they are beautiful), so I have always wanted to make this cake for her.

I'm also making this cake for Meeta at What's For Lunch Honey? for her Big Birthday Bash for Monthly Mingle #11. I hope you have a lovely birthday in June and I am sending you this cake (virtually) to help you celebrate!

The cake recipe is originally from the June 2005 issue of Super Food Ideas. I changed the original cream cheese icing recipe as I found their version WAY too sweet, like burn-the-back-of-your-mouth sweet, not pleasant at all. The cake itself has a bit of an eclectic mix of ingredients, from bananas to coconut to nuts and even a can of crushed pineapple, but trust me - they work together! I'm still stumped on the 'hummingbird' name though. Anyone?

Hummingbird Cake (Serves 8)

Preheat oven to 180C and line the base of a 6cm deep, 22cm springform pan. Drain a 440g can crushed pineapple well. Sift 2C self-raising flour, 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1/2tsp ground cinnamon & 1C brown sugar and mix lightly. Add 1/2C desiccated coconut & 1/2C chopped nuts (I used Walnuts, Pecans were suggested) and stir to combine.

In a small jug lightly beat 2 eggs, then add 1C mashed banana (you will need around 2 large or 3 medium sized bananas) & 3/4C canola oil (or sunflower oil). Mix well, then add to flour mixture along with drained pineapple. Stir very gently with a large metal spoon to combine.

Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make icing beat 60g softened butter, 250g light cream cheese, 1tsp vanilla extract & 1C sifted pure icing sugar until smooth. Once cool, cover whole cake in icing and top with chopped nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut.

Printable Recipe

My Favourite Burgers (Big Burger Ballyhoo)

As I've talked about previously, I'm not much of a meat person. So when I was thinking of what to make for the Big Burger Ballyhoo hosted by Paul (& Freya) over at Writing At The Kitchen Table it couldn't be your regular red meat burger. These Curried Lentil Burgers are what mum used to make for me when the rest of the family were having hamburgers, and now I make them regularly as they are very simple to make and quite tasty.

They are also very healthy - containing iron, magnesium, folate, B vitamins and cholesterol lowering dietary fibre. These burgers are a good low-fat source of protein and the lentils make them low GI, meaning they don't cause drastic changes to blood sugar levels. This makes them good for diabetics especially, but for everyone else too, as they give a more sustainable source of energy. With Paul trying out every burger entry for this event in only a couple of weeks in order to crown a winner, I thought I would do his body (& those of his guinea pigs) a favour with this healthier version of a family favourite.

Unfortunately, someone ate the 2 spare burgers I had set aside to take photos of before I had a chance to do so. I will try to make these again and take photos of them in the next week or so, before the extended deadline of May 25th.

Curried Lentil Burgers (Makes 8)

Rinse 1C dried red lentils and place in a saucepan with 2C water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Mix together 1tsp curry powder, 1pkt (65g) vegetable based soup mix, 1Tbsp chopped parsley, 1Tbsp ground cumin & 2Tbsp wholemeal plain flour in a bowl and add lentils. Refrigerate the mixture overnight (or for at least an hour).

Shape into 8 patties and roll in some more wholemeal plain flour. Return to fridge for half an hour before frying for 4-5 minutes on each side. Serve in grainy bread rolls (or at least low GI white bread rolls) with lettuce/baby spinach, tomato & cheese, or your favourite burger accompaniments.

We had these burgers last night for dinner with the Balsamic Beetroot & Carrot Salad that I posted about earlier. The original recipe is from Cookery The Australian Way, but of course I have added my own flair.

*EDIT*

I have made these again and managed to get a photo this time before they all got eaten, although it isn't a very good one, it is better than nothing! This time I used brown lentils (you will need to cook them for longer, at least half an hour) and added 1/2C corn kernels & 1 diced, softened onion as well. Very nice.

Printable Recipe

My first 'Farmer's Market'

Mum and I have been wanting to go to a Farmer's Market for sometime now, after hearing about them on cooking shows like Jamie Oliver, in magazines, from friends and family and most recently online in other people's blogs. Thanks to Haalo at Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once who has put together a list of Victorian Farmer's Markets and to a flyer in my local fish and chip shop, I took my mum down to Whitehorse Farmer's Market on Mother's Day.

Off we went with our green bags ready to sample some fresh produce and meet some Victorian growers. The weather was beautiful and we had a lovely time, coming home with very full bags and a much emptier wallet (I think we went a little overboard!). We bought fresh vegetables (corn, baby carrots, beetroot, silverbeet, brocolli), gorgeous strawberries, homemade fruit chutney & tomato sauce, gourmet truffles, biscuits, humbugs, a massive 1.1kg loaf of bread, pastries, eggs, herbs to make a cat garden for my beautiful cat Ruby (catnip, cat thyme & cat mint), herb seedlings and even a mushroom farm. It was a great day and we are going back next month, this time with a little more restraint and our little dog Lulu.

I may be showing my 'countryness' as my boyfriend Chris would say (he thinks where I grew up on the mornington peninsula is country, I don't see it like that at all), but I didn't find this market all that different from the many local markets that mum and I went to when I was younger. I mean, there was predominantly less crafts (although there was a lady selling soap), but the other stalls were pretty standard everyday market fare, with only about 6 stalls selling raw, fresh-out-of-the-ground produce, and 3 others selling seedlings and plants. I would have expected a Farmer's Market to have more of these kinds of stalls, but I suppose they can only showcase whoever comes forward to sell their wares. The other stalls were still of good quality though and there was a broad selection of food vendors for lunch.

After struggling to the car with our very full bags (note to self: park closer next time), we came home and realised that we had a lot more stuff than we thought. I have planted the cat seedlings into a little pot, but I am leaving it outside for now to let them grow a little stronger before Ruby attacks them (she is an indoor cat - we live on a pretty major road). I've also planted the herbs we bought and started off the mushroom farm, which should be producing within 3 weeks according to the lovely man we got it off. I'll let you know how it goes.

This is Ruby, she isn't allowed on my desk because she kicks the papers everywhere, sits on my textbooks while I am trying to read them and generally distracts me. Lately when I tell her to get down she jumps up onto my computer screen and looks at me as if to say 'I'm not in the way up here am I?'. She flicks her tail across my screen and taps the i-dog in attempt to get my attention, and then proceeds to fall asleep when I ignore her - even standing up.

Very cute, but back to the food! We have a LOT of vegetables in our fridge now. So I decided to make a salad with some of them to go with the Lentil burgers I made for dinner last night. I used the beetroot, baby carrots and silverbeet from the Farmer's Market to make a lovely warm, roasted beetroot salad. I must apologise for the photos, they are a bit orange as my camera decided it didn't want to cooperate with me right when I was serving dinner and just wanted to eat.

Balsamic Beetroot & Baby Carrot Salad (Serves 4)

Preheat oven to 180C. Wash and trim stalks off 4 fresh beetroot and halve 2 brown onions, leaving skin on both. Add to a baking dish, onions cut side down, and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, peel 1/2 bunch baby carrots and trim stalks. Heat 1/2C vegetable stock, 1tsp caster sugar & 10g butter in a small saucepan, add carrots and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until tender.

Remove beetroot and onions from oven, drizzle with balsamic vinegar & 1Tbsp thyme leaves, cover with foil and return to oven for 10 minutes or until tender. Wash beetroot leaves along with 3 stalks of silverbeet and roughly chop. Wilt in carrot stock for around 1 minute. Peel roasted beetroot & onions and cut into large chunks or wedges.

To assemble, place wilted leaves on a plate and top with beetroot, onions and baby carrots. Combine 3Tbsp balsamic vinegar, beetroot juice from roasting pan & 2tsp brown sugar and pour over salad. Season with salt & pepper and serve warm.

This salad is my entry for this weeks ARF/5-a-day #70 hosted by Cate over at Sweetnicks. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Mothers Day Breakfast

Today being Mothers Day, I cooked my mum the traditional breakfast in bed. While at the supermarket the other day I saw crumpets on special, but me being me decided that I didn't need to buy them - I could make them from scratch myself! I enjoy a cooking challenge, and anyway, how hard could it be?

Pretty hard apparently. I've been through 2 lots of batter and got about 8 edible crumpets all together. Maybe it is the recipe? maybe the cook (a yeast novice)? old bicarb? the frying pan perhaps? But I just can't seem to get them consistently bubbly and golden brown like the ones in the packet at the supermarket, which would have cost me $4 for more than the 8 crumpets I managed to conquer. Granted, they wouldn't have been heart shaped, but nonetheless they wouldn't have been as stressful.

I found a recipe in the September 2005 issue of Australian Good Taste magazine (Also available online at Taste), but after the first batter produced rather flat, bubble-less pancake-y crumpets, I tweeked the recipe a little. I added more bicarb to give the bubbles more oomph and also increased the heat as this seemed to create more bubbles. After the batter went prematurely bubble-less before I had a chance to use it all, I have decreased the resting time in the final recipe as it seems the longer the batter sits, the flatter it gets. I also suggest making them ahead of time, as they are better if they are left to dry out a little before you toast them. With these little tips, I am confident that you will be able to make crumpets with considerably less stress than I went through.

Crumpets with Honey Ricotta (Makes 12)

Before you start, make sure that you have enough time to complete the recipe through all of the resting/proving steps and cooking (around 2hrs all up - only around 30 minutes of hands on work, the rest is just leaving it alone to do its thing), as leaving the batter for too long at any step will affect the amount of bubbles in the finished crumpets.

When you are ready, combine 1 sachet (7g) dried yeast & 1tsp caster sugar in a small bowl and pour in 1/2C warm skim milk & 1/2C warm water and stir until yeast dissolves. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draught free place for 10 minutes or until frothy. Combine 1 1/2C plain flour & 1/2tsp salt, make a well in the centre and add yeast mixture, stirring until combined. Cover with plastic wrap again and set aside in a warm, draught-free place to prove for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Combine 1/2C warm water & 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda. Use a whisk to beat crumpet mixture until it deflates, gradually add water mixture, beating well between additions, until combined and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a for 20 minutes to rest.

Brush a large frying pan and egg rings with oil to grease. The original recipe calls for 7.5cm diameter egg rings, I used some of these, but found them to be a little bit small. I also used some heart and flower shaped egg rings (not that they are really rings, what would they be called?) which were a little bit bigger and turned out just as well. Make sure they are greased well or you will squish and ruin the crumpets trying to get them out.

Place egg rings in frying pan over medium-high heat and fill with batter 3/4 full. Don't be tempted to fill them any higher to make them bigger because as the bubbles rise the batter will end up seeping over the sides of the rings if you do - 3/4 full is full enough. Cook on medium-high for 5-6 minutes, until there are lots of bubbles in the batter and the base is getting brown, and then reduce the heat to medium for a further 3-4 minutes or until the tops are set. Reheat the pan to medium-high and re-grease the egg rings before cooking another batch. Repeat until all mixture is used.

The next day (or up to 3 days later) toast crumpets until golden, spread with butter and top with a dollop of combined 150g smooth reduced-fat ricotta & 2Tbsp honey, drizzle with a little more honey to serve.

I love crumpets, the way the butter melts deep into the holes and simply spread with honey that penetrates deep and flavours the whole thing - beautiful! The crumpets that worked tasted just like the ones from the store, they just take a bit of practice to be able to make them properly.

Printable Recipe

Cherry Ripe Slice for Mum

My mum absolutely loves cherries, so when I saw this recipe in the April issue of Super Food Ideas I quickly added it to my (long) list of recipes to try. With Mother's Day today (more recipes to come) I thought it was a good chance to make this slice, although when I made it yesterday I wasn't quite sure if there would be any left for today at the rate it was disappearing!

The magazine called it Chocolate Cherry Coconut Slice, but I think that name is a little lengthy, so I have changed its name to something a little simpler. Is that against copyright?


Cherry Ripe Slice (Makes 24 pieces)

Heat your oven to 180C, grease and line the base and sides of a 3cm deep (the deeper the better! My slice almost didn't fit into my 3cm deep tin), 16.5cm x 26cm slab pan. Combine 150g unsalted butter & 1/2C brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Sift over 1 1/2C plain flour & 1tsp baking powder and stir to combine. Firmly press mixture into the base of pan with the back of a metal spoon and bake for 15 minutes or until light golden.

Combine 3C desiccated coconut, 395g can sweetened condensed milk & 2 lightly beaten eggs and mix well. Add 250g chopped red glace cherries and stir through gently. Spoon mixture over warm base and bake for 18 minutes or until light golden brown and firm to touch. Allow to cool completely.

Microwave 250g chopped dark chocolate & 75g unsalted butter in 1 minute bursts until completely melted and smooth. Pour over slice and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until set. Slice into squares and serve.

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Spiced Lentils

Most of you won't know this, but for the majority of my life thus far, I was a vegetarian. From when I was very young until my mid teens I didn't eat any meat, but still ate animal products such as cheese, eggs & milk.

As the story goes, Mum was cooking a roast chicken one night and little 3-year-old animal-loving Tara asked her why this was called a chicken when chickens were the things running around on the farm. Mum told me they were the same thing and that we actually ate the chickens. Not quite content with that answer, and maybe not convinced they were in fact the same things, my ever inquisitive younger self asked her where its head was and if this was really the same thing, why didn't it have feathers? After the truthful answers to these questions, mini me screamed, ran out of the room crying and swore not to eat anything that resembled my furry friends. For some time mum could trick me with mince meat, but of course I got old enough to realise where this came from fairly quickly.

My mum is great, she managed to make vegetarian meals for me while making 'normal' meals for the rest of the family. I feel kind of bad for putting her through that as I know now how hard it must have been to keep everyone happy, and she seemed to be able to make seperate meals effortlessly. When I'd go to friends houses for dinner they'd always ask me what I eat, which was such a hard question to answer, as I didn't feel like I ate anything drastically different to anyone else - because mum never made a big deal about it.

Anyway, on to the recipe for this post! (I'll leave the story about how I became a non-vego for another day) In my 14 years of being vegetarian, I grew a taste for things like tofu, lentils and chickpeas. I loved the stuff, in fact I still do. Now I eat a fair bit of chicken, but I can still only stomach red meat in its minced up mushy form, and if I eat too much chicken all at once it makes me feel quite ill also. My body just isn't used to meat proteins, but bring on legumes anyday - I love them!!

This is a dish that mum made a few nights ago from the May issue of Healthy Food Guide. We had it with chicken schnitzels and roast potatoes for dinner, and I had it in a tortilla with spinach leaves and an egg for lunch the next day - Both were absolutely delicious.

Spiced Lentils (Serves 4 as a side)

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and spray with vegetable oil spray. Add 1 sliced brown onion and cook for 2-3 minutes before adding 1tsp garam masala and cooking for a further minute. Add 1 diced carrot, 1/2C water & 1Tbsp tomato paste, stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes. Add a 400g can brown lentils (drained & rinsed), reduce heat to low and cook for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Stir through juice of 1 lemon & 3/4C chopped flat leaf parsley. Serve.

Hot Tip:

Don't do what my mum did and assume that the carrot needs to be soft, it being slightly crunchy gives another texture to the dish, I think mum cooked it slightly too long as the lentils were slightly mushy (sorry mum!)

Why Should I Eat That?

Nutritional information as stated in the magazine (although I think they were including the lamb cutlets they served with it):
1154kJ, 25.4g protein, 10.3g fat (4.3g saturated), 17.8g carbohydrates (5.5g sugars), 4g fibre, 295mg sodium.

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Announcing TGRWT #2

I am so excited, after my effort with the Mocha Tofu Mousse with Garlic in the last round of They Go Really Well Together, Martin has invited me to host the next round. Such an honour, with this blog being not even a month old and all!

So, TGRWT is all about flavour pairing, that is combining ingredients and flavours that wouldn't usually be put together and seeing how it turns out. The flavours for this event aren't just picked at random though, they are chosen based on the likeness of one ingredients volatile aroma compounds to the other. The theory goes that ingredients with similar volatile aroma compounds go well together, and Martin has set up this event to test this. You can read more about molecular gastronomy and flavour pairing on his blog.

The round-up for TGRWT #1 was quite small, but we are hoping that this event will grow. It is a great opportunity to experiment with flavours that you haven't tried before and be creative - It can be a bit boring making the same things and cooking with the same flavours all the time. I was a bit apprehensive about the chocolate, coffee and garlic theme last time let me tell you! I didn't (and still don't) completely understand the science behind it all, but the mousse was lovely and I would never have even thought to try it if it wasn't for this event. You really don't know how something is going to turn out until you give it a try,

So don't be shy, let your creative juices flow and see what you can create with...

drum roll please...

BANANA & PARSLEY!

The great thing about this combination is that you can use it in both savoury (think curries, casseroles, stews, salads) or sweet (think cakes, puddings, muffins, biscuits) dishes.

I especially like this challenge for two reasons: Firstly the ingredients are Yellow and Green - Aussie colours!! And secondly because bananas have recently come back down to a reasonable price here in Australia after the crisis of late last year when there was a huge banana shortage and banana prices skyrocketed, up to 7 times their original price!!

I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you wonderfully creative people can come up with!

This is how you can participate in TGRWT #2:

1. Prepare a dish that combines banana and parsley. You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own.

2. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by June 1st with TGRWT #2 in the title. Readers will be particularily interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the succession of taste and aroma and whether you liked it or not.

3. A round-up will be posted here (with pictures) by June 4th. Please send me an email to shouldyoueatthat (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au with the following details: Your name, URL of blog, URL of the TGRWT #2 post and a picture for your entry in the round-up.

If you don't have a blog, email me your name, location, recipe and a brief description of how it worked out and I'll be glad to include it in the final round-up.

Good luck everyone! I'm off to think of some more ideas for my entry...

Quick Curried Leek & Corn Soup (A Taste of Yellow)

When I saw that Barbara over at Winos and Foodies was hosting A Taste of Yellow to raise awareness for cancer, I couldn't help but participate. As many of you are probably aware, the event is part of Livestrong Day, which is May 16th, an initiative of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. You can donate to the foundation or learn more about events here.

But what to make? Originally I was going to make something with some beautiful free range eggs that my mum brings home every now and then from a lady at her work - but they kept disappearing faster than I could think of something special to make with them! With my time running out (I'm cutting it very fine with the deadline being tonight), I had to think of something to make, and forget about the gorgeous free range eggs that have the brightest, tastiest yolks you have ever seen or tasted.

The last couple of weeks have been a little rainy here and I have been hungering for the comfort foods of winter already - casseroles, roasts, stews, and SOUPS! Corn soup, maybe? I did have a can of creamed corn lurking in the back of my cupboard, but what else to go with it? I did a search on the internet to find some foods with cancer fighting properties, to give my soup a little more meaning for the event.

In my searching I found that foods high in Vitamin A, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin C & Fibre were good for preventing cancer or for those recovering from it. Corn is high in fibre and Vitamin C, so I just needed something with Vitamin A & Beta-Carotene. Looking through the list I saw one of my favourite foods - Leeks - had these properties, as well as being high in Vitamin C. So I was well on my way to making a yummy cancer fighting soup! Just a little turmeric to make it more yellow and here is my yellow soup for the Taste of Yellow event to raise awareness for cancer, and help to prevent cancer with all its nutrient-y goodness...

Quick Curried Leek & Corn Soup (Serves 4-6)

Thinly slice the white parts of 2 leeks, wash thoroughly to remove all traces of dirt. Heat 2Tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add sliced leeks, 1 1/2Tbsp ground turmeric & 2 crushed garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until leeks are softened.

Add 1L vegetable stock, 400g can corn kernels & 440g can creamed corn, increase heat to high and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until leeks and corn are cooked through. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Serve topped with spring onions.

As I am typing this an Autumn leafed tree is looking at me through the window, a good omen perhaps?

The good thing is I had enough to freeze for another day as I made this for myself for lunch today. So make yourself some cancer fighting soup for lunch or dinner, your body will thank you for it!

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