Daring Bakers July Challenge - Strawberry Mirror Cake

My second Daring Bakers challenge has come around so quickly, and this time Peabody set us the challenge of making a Strawberry Mirror Cake. Yet again something new to me, in fact I had never even heard of a 'Mirror' cake until I read about our challenge for the month. My second thought, (after 'what the hell is a mirror cake?'), was 'Strawberries?... but it is Winter here and they cost a fortune!'. Despite these initial thoughts I ploughed on, and I'm glad I did because this cake was to die for. Beautiful, scrumptuous and just what I needed to help celebrate Leanne's birthday.

I'm going to jump right in to the recipe and talk about the issues I had along the way.

Strawberry Mirror Cake (Serves 6-8)

Preheat oven to 230C and grease and flour a 28 x 43cm baking tray, or 2 round cake tins (I used 2 x 23cm springform pans). Line the pans with baking paper to fit. Beat together 3 eggs, 3 egg yolks & 3/4C caster sugar using an electric mixer until thick and pale, add in 1tsp vanilla extract.

This was where I hit my first snag. You see, in a moment of genius I decided that I could beat this until 'thick and pale' without the help of my kitchenaid, because I only have one bowl and I couldn't be bothered washing and drying it before beating the eggwhites in the next step. Well, apparently my half assed go at beating them without the kitchenaid wasn't good enough. I ended up with a thick rubbery layer on the bottom of my sponge cakes - but they still tasted good! So, moral of the story - beat VERY well!!

Next, beat 3 egg whites until foamy, add 1/8tsp cream of tartar to stabilise the whites and continue to beat until peaks form. Add in 2Tbsp caster sugar and beat until stiff and glossy.

My kitchenaid did a good job of this part, thanks Kitchenaid!

Sift 2/3C cake flour over the egg yolk mixture and fold in. Stir in a quarter of the egg white mixture and carefully fold in the rest.

Well, I managed to overlook the word 'cake' before the word 'flour' when I was writing my shopping list and so when I got up to this part I started to panic. What the hell is cake flour anyway? Good old Google told me that it is a low gluten flour, and that I could make my own with a mixture of plain flour and cornflour (2Tbsp cornflour to 1C plain flour for those of you playing at home), so this is what I did.

Spread batter evenly into pan(s) and bake for 7-10 minutes, until light brown and springy. Cool for 5 minutes before cutting out 2 circles about 4cm smaller than your springform pan. Set aside.

OK, not bad for my first go at sponge cakes, even the rubbery bits taste good!!

Now for the soaking syrup combine 1/2C water & 1/3C caster sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil to dissolve sugar. Cool to room temperature and flavour with 2Tbsp strawberry liqueur. Set aside.

For the strawberry bavarian cream puree 375g hulled strawberries and strain to remove seeds. Sprinkle 2 1/2Tbsp unflavoured gelatin over the puree and set aside until spongy.

For those of you wondering how I overcame the costs of Winter strawberries, I will tell you a story. It is a little long, consider yourselves warned!

I was ready and willing to pay whatever price they wanted to charge me for fresh, real strawberries, but the night I went to buy my ingredients my supermarket didn't have any. It was too late at night to try the greengrocers and I was on a bit of a time limit since I wanted to have the cake ready for the next night when Leanne was coming over, so I bit the bullet and decided to look for some less than fresh alternatives.

No frozen strawberries left either, damn! But then I found some canned ones, yes canned. I have never seen them before, not that I have been looking I guess. I just don't trust canned things, I mean you can't see what they are like. The other thing is you don't really know how much you are getting, and the weights on these cans were a little more than dodgy. 'Total weight 420g' it says on the front - but that includes the syrup, and I am guessing there is more syrup than fruit in there. 'Nutritional Information - 4 serves of 110g' it says on the back. Hang on a second, correct me if I'm wrong, but 4 x 110 = 440g in my book, not 420 as it states on the front of the can.

So I know that they are dodgy, but knowing I have no other choice at that point in time, and trying to tell myself they are going inside the bavarian cream (it's not like they need to be pretty or anything if they are getting mushed up, right?) and that I can find some 'real' ones tomorrow to decorate the cake with. I leave with 3 cans (costing $2.99 each), thinking (or hoping?) that I will have enough for the bavarian cream and the mirror part of the cake.

When I get home and drain the first can the total amount of actual strawberries (ugly, discoloured, horrible strawberries) is just 175g. I come to the realisation that I won't have enough strawberries to make the mirror as well, and now I am less than pleased. But I soldier on...

Combine another 5 egg yolks with 2/3C caster sugar and beat until light. Bring 1 1/2C milk to the boil and pour over yolk mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until your finger leaves a clear trail when drawn across the back of the spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin mixture. Pour into a stainless steel bowl placed over a bowl of ice water and stir in 1Tbsp lemon juice & 2-3 drops red food colouring. Cool over the ice water, stirring until mixture thickens.

In the meantime whip 1 3/4C cream until it holds soft peaks and fold into gelatin mixture.

This was where my late night cake baking almost cost me the pleasure of a wonderful cake. I somehow managed to forget the cream altogether and started to assemble the cake with my bavarian custard (bavarian cream minus the cream). It was only when I didn't have enough mixture to cover both layers of cake that I realised my mistake and had to scoop out all of my bavarian custard to add the cream. This is why there are splatters of darker bavarian cream on the side of my cake. Not that I want to draw attention to the cakes imperfections or anything ;)

To assemble the cake spray your springform pan with oil and fit a cardboard circle covered in foil into the bottom of the pan. Centre one sponge cake layer in the bottom of the pan, brush with some soaking syrup to moisten the cake, pour over half of the bavarian cream. Centre the second sponge cake layer and cover with remaining bavarian cream. Smooth with a spatula and refrigerate until set, around 1-2 hours.

After my near catastrophe with the bavarian cream, I decided now was a good time for bed and left mine to set overnight.

The next morning I went in search of more strawberries to make the mirror part of the cake and for some decoration. The first greengrocer had them for $4.99 for a 250g punnet, the next for $3.99 a punnet. I bought 2 punnets and wished that I had of gone shopping for my ingredients during the day in the first place, so that I could have avoided the whole canned strawberries nightmare.

Back at home I wash and hull all of the strawberries. Saving 6 for the decoration, I add the rest of them to the remaining canned blobs to get 550g strawberries in total and chop them all up. These strawberries are put in a saucepan and crushed with a potato masher over low heat. Add 3/4C caster sugar & 3/4C water and simmer slowly for 10 minutes. Pour juice and pulp through a damp jelly bag and drain for 15 minutes, without pressing down on the fruit.

I used a clean, damp tea towel pegged to a large bowl. It worked quite well. I also used the strained strawberry pulp to make strawberry jam by putting it back in the saucepan, adding more sugar to it and simmering until I got a set. It is delicious!

Place 1tsp lemon juice, 1Tbsp strawberry liqueur & 1Tbsp water in a small bowl and sprinkle over 1Tbsp unflavoured gelatin. Set aside until spongy and soft. Measure out 1 1/2C strawberry juice and place in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and pour over gelatin mixture. Stir to dissolve gelatin and add 2-3 drops red food colouring. Place bowl over a bowl of ice water and stir until the mixture is syrupy. Pour syrupy mixture over the top of the cake and refrigerate until set.

I got quite a few bubbles in my mirror when I poured it over. I tried to pop them with a needle, but this didn't work very well. The best method I found for getting rid of the bubbles was to skim them off with a spoon. For the very stubborn ones I just pushed them to the side as I knew that my decorations would cover them up!

To serve, heat the sides of the pan up slightly. I used my hair dryer on the low setting, but you can wrap it in a warm tea towel if you like. Run a knife around the edge of the mirror, making sure to separate it from the edge all the way around. Unlatch the springform pan slowly. Decorate, slice into wedges and serve.

I decorated my cake around the edges so that the majority of the mirror was still visible. I framed the edges with the 6 reserved strawberries, which I halved. I made dark chocolate curls and white chocolate flakes and put these around the strawberries.

And the last straw in my Winter strawberry fiasco (pun intended)... A week after I made this cake and it was devoured in all its delicious glory, I went to the supermarket to find mega punnets (375g) on special for just $2.99. I almost cried!!

I love the way it turned out. Leanne was impressed, saying it looked like it came from a bakery. I'm glad, because it took a fair bit of work to pull it all off! As for the taste, it was divine.. and I am so glad that I managed to get some 'real' strawberries for the mirror part because you could really taste them. Apologies for the not so great photos, but this cake was made before I got my beautiful new camera, which I'm sure would have done a much better job at capturing the brilliance of this cake.

Thank-you so much to Peabody for this month's challenge. I really enjoyed it!! Make sure you click the link to the Daring Bakers blogroll in my sidebar to see more Strawberry Mirror Cake creations... there are some gorgeous ones out there.

Bring on the next challenge!!!

Why Should I Eat That?

Well I can't really pretend that this is something you should be eating everyday! But I thought some of you might be interested to know the nutritional information for this cake, I put this together using a program we are using at University at the moment. I used low fat milk and cream, so my nutritional analysis reflects this, even so - there is still a lot of fat in there!!

Nutritional Information (per 6 or 8 serves)

Energy 3623 or 2718kJ, Protein 25 or 19g, Fat (Total) 30 or 23g (Saturated) 16 or 12g, Carbohydrate (Total) 117 or 88g (Sugars) 105 or 79g, Dietary Fibre 1.9 or 1.4g, Sodium 181 or 136mg. 0.5 or 0.375 serves of fruit.

Printable Recipe

My First BBM Package

This is the Blogging By Mail package that I recieved at the end of last week from Mai & Kevin from Feed Your Vegetarian, who hail from Virginia. The theme was favourite things, so I got a nice mix of each of their favourite snacks.

Here is what I got:

Utz Sour Cream and Onion Chips (Mai's favourite) - How did you guys know that this is one of my favourite chip flavours? Delicious!

Bar-b-cuin' with my Honey Rap Snacks (both) - Oh my god, I love the whole idea behind these chips. They've got positive affirmations and stories of role models on the back, to try and appeal to inner city youths to succeed in life. LOVE the idea, I wonder how effective it is to the young people though? Haven't tried these yet, but I am already impressed.

Dark Chocolate M&Ms (Mai's favourite) - As most of you have probably picked up by now, I LOVE dark chocolate. YUM!! I want to make these into cookies, but there aren't enough of them... and, well... I've already finished off half the packet.

Reese's Pieces (Kevin's favourite) - I've had peanut butter cups before (I think they are Reese's??), Love peanut butter... you guys are like my perfect match! haha... you like everything that I do... or have you been stalking me?

Tapatio Hot Sauce (Kevin's favourite) - OK, except maybe for this... I am a scaredy cat when it comes to hot stuff, I will be passing this one on to my brother... I'll give it a little try of course ;)

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (both) - These were delicious, thanks so much guys! I still stand by my M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies being the best ever though, you should give them a go!!

The Onion Newspaper (both) - This was a good read, it's a cynics newspaper apparently. Very funny stuff.

Old Bay Seasoning (Mai's favourite) - Unfortunately the Australian customs people took this one away when they went through my box of goodies, sorry Mai. I suppose they felt they should have something for ripping open my box or something! Seriously though, it contains allspice as an ingredient, which they seem to think could bring pests into our little island country. Of all things, why allspice? I mean why can all the other spices come in but not the allspice? And what is so special about the allspice that I can actually buy at the grocery store? Because apparently they can't just put mine in quarantine for a while or anything, they have to destroy it (or I can opt to send it back for $42.50! - sorry guys but I'm going to get it destroyed...). I'm just a bit annoyed because I know how much thought Mai and Kevin put into everything trying to make sure this wouldn't happen... and then our notoriously strict customs took something anyway! Oh well, nothing can be done about it...

So thank-you soooo much to Mai & Kevin, I'm still getting through everything, but everything has been great. I'll be keeping an eye on your blog from now on.

Wondering where my package got sent? Mine went over to Dianne from A Gluten Free Journey and it was a bit of a challenge finding 'my favourite things' which were gluten free let me tell you! I now have a new appreciation for everyone living with this diet restriction, I would certainly find it very hard if I had to follow it as most of my favourite things actually contain gluten.

Thanks also to Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness for organising such a wonderful swap, you're a gem! Looking forward to the next swap...

We've Got Some Catching Up To Do!

It's been 10 days since my last post and a lot has been going on for me in the meantime. Photos are backing up and I have that many new recipes to post about that I will have a hard time catching up, but I will do my best! But for the moment it is time for a bit of catching up - I have a lot to tell you all about.

University

I'm back at university for semester 2 of my Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. For those of you following my angst from last semesters exams I managed to get 2 High Distinctions (Understanding Health & Understanding Families and Health) and 2 Distinctions, and Chemistry wasn't my worst subject!, Human Structure and Function (anatomy) was. But when my 'worst' mark is a Distinction I guess I can't really complain.

This semester is looking to be very interesting, I am formally starting the nutrition part of the degree with a subject aptly named Introduction to Food Science & Nutrition. The main assignment in this subject involves adapting a given recipe to be a healthier meal and actually cooking it, photographing it and writing about all the changes we have made - something right down my alley! Of course I have to continue doing Chemistry (and then biochemistry next year), which I am going to try and keep more on top of this semester. I'm delving into the world of psychology with a subject called Health Behaviour, which involves actively changing one of our own health behaviours (I've chosen physical activity) and keeping a journal about the process. I also have to do a completely online unit, Health Information & Data, which is fairly good as it cuts down on my hours at uni and means I only have to actually attend 3 short days of classes each week.



I can't believe how interesting I am actually finding my studies, I have always enjoyed learning new things, but I have never enjoyed going to classes this much. The only one I don't enjoy is the Chemistry because I can't keep up with all the lectures (3 a week!) and I end up getting stressed because I don't understand what they are talking about. Lucky I have some extra help ;)



Insulin Pump



I'm finally on my insulin pump, as of last Tuesday there are no more multiple daily insulin injections for me (unless something goes wrong with the pump, which of course I am hoping won't happen - touch wood). So now it is just one needle every 3-4 days to change my set. My sugar levels have evened out a lot more than I expected them to so quickly and I love just pushing buttons to have extra insulin rather than having to get needles out, especially in public. People just think it is a pager or something, I am getting much less intrusive questions than I was when I was using needles. The only real troubles I have been having are overnight lows, when I used to go high overnight (lows become dangerous much quicker than highs do), but they have lowered my rates overnight twice now to try and stop this, it seems to be at a good level now. And the last couple of days I have had trouble with going high in the afternoon and not being able to get rid of them until well into the night, hopefully when I call up on Monday (I have to call in every weekday for 2 weeks) they will get me to increase my rates in the afternoon.

I've named my pump Betty (yes that is actually her and I in the photo) and I can tell we are going to have a wonderful relationship. Already (in just 5 days) she has lowered the average sugar reading in my meter dramatically, I can't wait to get my first HbA1c result. It is a little bit ironic, but I feel free as a bird at the moment. I am attached to this thing 24 hours a day, but I feel Free-er than when I was on injections, which I could pack up in my bag. It's odd, I thought I would feel a bit weird being attached to it all the time - like it would remind me that I am different, but it doesn't. In fact most of the time I forget it is there until it beeps to remind me to test, or I sit down to eat and need to program stuff into it.

Camera

I went shopping with Leanne last week to buy myself a camera. Until I started this blog I never really felt the need to own one, but using my brothers camera was getting the better of me. Orange photos just aren't what I am looking for. I'm sure it is a great camera if you know how to use it, but it is also big and bulky and ugly, and did I say difficult to use?

This one on the other hand is just wonderful! It takes good photos really easily, I just point and shoot pretty much, but it also has the ability to be able to change all the settings manually, which I am hoping Leanne will teach me so I can know all the technical stuff. It came in well under budget (thanks to the salesman being a guy that Leanne went to uni with!) so I also bought some nice looking cutlery and crockery to help make the photos look better, a cute mini tripod to help me set up the shots... and then we went to the huge Myer lingerie sale just for good measure. Sorry, no photos of that!!

I also recieved my first Blogging By Mail parcel at the end of last week. So exciting! I will post more about that tomorrow, along with this month's Daring Bakers Challenge. So much going on, so little time, and now it's time for bed.

Birthday Wishes for Leanne... & A Pie Recipe

Leanne is one of my closest friends, we met when we shared a room at the Student Village that I moved into for my first univeristy course. I only lasted 6 months at that place, it was waaay overpriced for what it was - a falling down, ugly, ex-immigration barracks. Leanne managed to last a whole year, which was good because I needed a place to crash for the night when I had to go to uni! Seriously though, we have grown to be great friends and we lived together for a few years after that in various houses in different suburbs. We were gypsys together.

I really miss living with her, we always had an awesome time. We were always on the same page and I can't remember ever having a fight with her in the whole 3 years we lived together. That can't be said for some of the other people we have lived with. I'm glad I still get to work with her one day a week in the bakery (oh yeah, did I mention that we worked full time together and lived together and still managed not to bite each others heads off?) and that Chris and I introduced her to Chris's best friend, Leigh, so we are a cute little foursome! I get to see her quite a bit, but I still have Leanne withdrawals. It can't be helped, she is so infectious and addictive it makes it hard to wean yourself off her!

Happy Birthday Leanne, may your day be filled with lots of hugs and kisses and your night filled with good food and love. I miss you babe, even though I saw you on Tuesday at work, haha.

A couple of years ago, when Leanne & I were living on Lygon Street, Chris's mum gave me a cookbook called 'Secrets of the Beechworth Bakery'. Apparently this is a rather famous bakery, but at the time I hadn't heard of it. I was still thrilled to add another cookbook to my collection, but I think Leanne was more excited than I was. You see, her favourite pie was made at the Beechworth Bakery - Vegetable Medley Pie. Of course, she was begging me to make it from the second she found out I had the book. How could I refuse her big puppy dog eyes? I made it and it became one of my favourites as well.

I made this pie again for Pie Friday last week and managed to save a slice to take to Leanne when I went over to Chris's house later that night to 'watch soccer'. Ok, so Leanne and I played cards and the boys watched the soccer. What can I say? The soccer puts me to sleep everytime. If only my parents had of figured this out when I was a baby, they probably would have got me to sleep easier.

Vegetable Medley Pie (Serves 4-6)

You need to start with some Shortcrust pastry. Of course you can buy it, but making it yourself really isn't hard at all. So give it a go, this recipe should give you enough for 2 pie bases or one pie with a top and bottom crust. Although puff pastry is better on the top of a pie anyway.

In a large mixing bowl rub together 1 3/4C plain flour & 2/3C margarine. Add 1C milk and blend with a stick blender to form a smooth paste. In a seperate bowl mix together 2C plain flour & 2tsp salt, add to the large bowl and bring together to form a dough. Make sure you don't overwork it. Roll into a ball, cover in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes on the bench. Roll out to desired size and place in a greased pie dish. Freeze any leftover pastry for future use.

Preheat your oven to 200C.

For the filling, bring a large pot of water to the boil and boil 2 peeled potatoes until tender. Remove potatoes from water (keep boiling water in pot) and dry mash, measure out 2/3C for the pie and set aside. Meanwhile dice 1 small zucchini, 100g carrot, 100g pumpkin & 1 large potato. Blanch diced vegies along with 1C broccoli florets in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain vegies well and add to measured mashed potato along with 1Tbsp butter, 1/2 an onion diced, 1Tbsp mixed herbs, 1/2C frozen peas, 1/2C canned corn kernels, 1/4C cream, 1 egg & 2/3C grated tasty cheese. Season with salt and pepper and pour into prepared pie base.

Top with another 1/4C grated tasty cheese and bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked and golden.

Why Should I Eat That?

Nutrition Information: (per 4 or 6 serves)

Energy 2696.2 or 1797.5kJ, Protein 25.8 or 17.2g, Fat (Total) 26.2 or 17.5g (Saturated) 7.2 or 4.8g, Carbohydrates (Total) 71.8 or 47.8g (Sugars) 7.5 or 5g, Dietary Fibre 8.2 or 5.5g, Sodium 1154.6 or 769.7mg. 3.6 or 2.4 serves of Vegetables.

Printable Recipes:

Medley Pie

Shortcrust Pastry

RIP Dear Fishies

Please excuse the non-food related post. Since I don't have a diary and I needed somewhere to vent, I figured this was the best place.

I just came home from a day ice skating in the city to find my 4ft tropical fish tank full of cloudy water. On closer inspection I found all my fish except one were dead, the heater had malfunctioned and the water was close to double the temperature it was meant to be. You could feel the heat through the glass, I honestly feel sick at the thought of those poor fish cooking to death. It truly breaks my heart.

At first look it seemed like all of them were dead, but Bluey managed to move around a little - the little trooper. I have no idea how he has managed in that water when all the rest have long gone to the fishy heaven in the sky. It is bittersweet though, as much as I would love to say he is fine, I am pretty sure he won't be pulling through. He has bursts of energy but then sinks to the bottom and lies on his side - which really isn't a good sign. I have moved him to another empty tank and gradually decreased the temperature for him, but I'm sad to say that the damage is already done. I just hope he doesn't have to be in pain for much longer.

To my gorgeous fish who have given me so many hours of entertainment, calmed my stress, put a smile on my face and brightened my day: I will truly miss you and am deeply sorry for what has happened to you today. I hope that you didn't suffer too much. Bluey & Lemon - I will miss your attempts at mating and the way you chase each other around. Little ones - Your schooling was always great to watch and calming. Catfish - I will miss looking into your sucker mouths as you held onto the glass.


You will always have a special place in my heart and memory. I will miss you all greatly. May you rest in peace.

Parmesan & Polenta Chicken

This one has been sitting in my pile of recipes to post for a couple of weeks now. Mostly because I wasn't completely taken by it, although mum and Luke both loved it. As did Brooke & Katie, whose posts pushed this recipe to the top of my to-try list.

I take full responsibility for my lack of enjoyment of this dish. I have a feeling that taking out one of the main ingredients of the salad (the corn) wasn't such a good move, but the supermarket was sold out of corn when I tried this recipe and I figured it would be just as good served with steamed vegetables. I will be trying this one again in the summertime when corn is in season, juicy and fresh. The dish really needed the sweetness of the corn to add extra oomph to the dressing.

So don't let my lack of enthusiasm get in the way of a good salad, I'm sure you will enjoy it as it was written in Issue 31 of Donna Hay Magazine, which is the version I will post here.

Parmesan & Polenta Chicken (Serves 4)

Preheat your oven to 220C. Make the dressing by combining 2tsp dijon mustard, 2Tbsp lemon juice, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1Tbsp olive oil, 2tsp honey, salt & pepper in a screw top jar and shake to combine. Brush 2 corn cobs with a little olive oil, place in a baking dish and roast for 25 minutes or until golden. Slice the kernels of corn off the cob and set aside.

Slice 2 x 200g chicken breast fillets in half horizontally, dust with plain flour, dip into 2 lightly beaten eggs and press into combined 1/2C polenta & 1/3C grated parmesan cheese. Heat 2Tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and cook chicken for 2-3 minutes each side over medium heat, or until golden and cooked through.

Arrange chicken and corn along with 100g baby spinach leaves & 1/2C basil leaves on 4 plates and drizzle over dressing. Sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese if desired.

Why Should I Eat That?

This meal is low in kilojoules, saturated fat and sodium.I have compiled the following nutritional information myself using Calorie King.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 1988.8kJ, Protein 33.1g, Fat (Total) 22.1g (Saturated) 5.3g, Carbohydrates (Total) 37.4g (Sugars) 4.6g, Dietary Fibre 3.3g, Sodium 261mg. 1 serve of vegetables.

Printable Recipe

I'm still here!

It feels like forever since I have posted, fear not - I am still here. In fact, I am still cooking and eating and taking photos of what I am eating, I just haven't gotten around to posting about anything for about a week now.

Has the novelty worn off from this blogging thing? I sure hope not! I have been busy sleeping in until noon, lazy around all day in my pyjamas and all the other things that come with being a university student on holidays... oh how I missed this while working full-time last year.

Anyway, I promise to have a food related post tomorrow, today I am tackling the '8 things' meme that I have been tagged for by the lovely Brooke at Bear Necessities. Here are my instructions from Brooke (and for the 8 lucky bloggers that I have tagged!):

“I have been tagged to post 8 random facts. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts: Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves. Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random facts about themselves. At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged. Go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged."

Ok, so here is what I could come up with, hopefully there are some things in here that you didn't already know about me!

1. I am a bit of a gypsy, In the last 18 months I have lived in 5 different houses (8 in the last 3 years). It's really hard to keep up with updating all my subscriptions and address details with big companies! I really don't like moving around so much, but as I am renting I can't do much about it. It sounds worse than it is, I lived in a house for about 6 months that had a short lease because it was getting demolished. I moved back in with my mum (who is also renting) when I started University again as I can't afford to pay full rent anymore. The day when I have my own house and can paint, hang pictures and renovate as I please will never come too soon let me tell you! And to have an oven that I can call my own and learn it's 'personality' without having to relearn a new oven the next year - that will be bliss!!

2. My current university course (Health Sciences) is not my first. I completed 2 years of my 4 year course in Hospitality & Events Management from 2003-4. I loved food and organising, so I thought it was a logical choice for me, but boy was I wrong. Let's just say you don't need a degree to work in hospitality, and if you have one it isn't exactly going to help you get anywhere. Looking back I knew it wasn't for me after about a year of repetitiveness and common sense classes, but I didn't want to quit when I didn't know what else to study. It was only when I was diagnosed with diabetes that I realised the importance of nutrition and decided to become a dietitian. Hence starting my course when most of my friends are finishing theirs.

3. A light-hearted one for you all - I was a FAT baby. So fat that my family took great delight in nicknaming me the michelin baby, after the mascot for michelin tyres. Luckily, I grew into my many rolls.


4. For as long as I can remember I have had a deep love of the ocean and anything ocean related. I love the beach, the feeling of warm sand and watching the sun glimmer on the waters surface. I love all the ocean creatures, this is why I can't bring myself to eat seafood. I eat frozen fish on occasion (not as often as I should) as I know I need the Omega-3s. Some of you will know that I have a tropical fish tank from the last meme that I did, I love to watch them - it is so relaxing. Before I had the tropical fish, my 4ft tank housed hermit crabs - about 8 of them. They were great, but they all died within a year despite my best efforts. It was great to be able to display lots of seashells in the tank and to see them switch shells.

5. When I was in high school I had an awesome memory and a great mind for numbers. From Year 8 onwards I did advanced maths instead of normal maths, which basically meant that I did a year higher than my year level. This gave me the chance to do univeristy maths in my final year of high school, but I chose to do another year 12 subject instead. Unfortunately I can't remember any of the maths now, and doing chemistry at uni this year has frightened the hell out of me as I really struggle with the maths now. My memory has also gone to the dogs, I have to write down everything otherwise I forget - I have lists coming out of my ears.


6. I LOVE Betty Boop. She is gorgeous. I don't know what it is about her, but I just can't get enough. I have a statue of her next to my computer, a clock, drinking glasses, underwear... I even named my team for the JDRF Walk for a Cure after her - we are The DiaBettys! More about that in a couple of weeks time though, I have a blogging event planned.


7. I got a fairy floss maker for my 21st birthday... about 5 days before I got diagnosed as Diabetic! I had wanted one for ages, and I thank the wonderful people who gave it to me from the bottom of my heart. But unfortunately I have only used it twice - Once when my flatmate Leanne and I used it the day after I got it (yes I was already diabetic at that stage, but I didn't know) and the second time when Leanne had some wedding clients over (she is a photographer) and I had the joy of taking care of their daughter while they were looking at the photos. The poor girl couldn't believe that we had no toys in our house for when little girls came over, luckily I remembered the fairy floss machine and by the time her parents were finished we were both covered in pink strands of sugary goodness (as was the kitchen).


8. This last one is part of the reason why this blog has been a bit neglected this week. I am going on an insulin pump later this month and have been busy ordering bits and pieces for it and opening each package like an excited child on christmas morning as they arrive. Most of you won't have a clue what I am talking about or why I would be so excited about this - here is a little background information for you. An insulin pump is a machine that is going to be attached to me 24/7 (except for when I am in the shower), that constantly delivers insulin to my body. Instead of 5+ injections a day, I just push buttons on this machine to inject my insulin and move the needle every 2-3 days. So there is just 1 'injection' replacing about 10-15 injections. It gives me more flexibility and tighter control of my blood glucose levels. Mine is just like the one in the picture below, but it is purple instead of clear.





Needless to say, I am really looking forward to the big day when I go into hospital and get trained to use it - the 24th of July. I picked it up from the hospital a couple of days ago and have been practicing hiding it under my clothes, which is what I see as being the biggest issue with it. I don't want to wear it on my belt for all to see, so it will be interesting to find places under my clothes to hide it. I have heard that most women wear it in their bra, I was a bit skeptical but it actually fits in there quite well (even with my lack of 'extra padding') and is pretty comfortable.


That is enough about my pump for now, I am sure I will bore you all with more details once I am actually using it!


Now, time for me to tag 8 other bloggers for this meme. From what I can tell these people haven't been tagged yet, if you have please let me know and I will replace you with someone else...

Ellie @ Kitchen Wench
Kickpleat @ Everybody Likes Sandwiches
Gilly @ Humble Pie
Susan @ Farmgirl Fare
Neil @ At My Table
Haalo @ Cook (Almost) Anything
KJ @ A Cracking Good Egg
Deb @ Altered Plates

Not Just the Humble Tomato Soup

OK, so it was Soup Monday in my house this week, but since I was working on Sunday (by the way, please remind me never to say yes to that again! I need my weekend sleep ins), I figure Monday is an acceptable day for soup making. Especially when this soup is the result.

This one is from the June issue of Australian Good Taste Magazine and although it took me a while to get the seasoning right (its made with bottled roasted capsicums that I found over vinegary, next time I am going to make it with fresh capsicums that I will roast myself), now that I have balanced it out this soup has really grown on me. It is quite different to the regular canned tomato soup that I am used to, but very comforting nonetheless.

Not only is it comforting, but this soup is REALLY good for you. It contains around 4.3 serves of vegetables in just one serving. Plus this soup also contains lots of tomatoes and tomato paste, which are both high in Lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant, and not just any old antioxidant, but the most potent nutritional antioxidant that has been discovered.

Diets high in tomato intake (including canned tomatoes and tomato paste, as the heat treatment used to make these products actually makes the Lycopene more accessable to the body) have been linked to lower incidences of many types of cancer including prostate, bowel, mouth, cervical, rectal, stomach, pharynx, esophagus and colon. So get more tomatoes into your diet and you will live a healthier, longer life. This soup is a great way to start, you'll probably want to make a large batch so you can have quick, nutritious meals waiting for you in the freezer any time you need a veggie & antioxidant boost.

As this soup is so full of vegetable goodness and contains the antioxidant Lycopene, I am sending this soup over to Cate at Sweetnicks for the ARF/5A-Day round-up for this week. Be sure to check it out for more nutritious meal ideas.

Roasted Red Capsicum & Tomato Soup (Serves 8)

Heat 2Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook 2 large, chopped brown onions for 3 minutes or until soft. Add 4 crushed garlic cloves, 2tsp ground cumin & 1/2tsp paprika and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add 1kg chopped tomatoes, 1L vegetable stock, 2 x 340g bottles of roasted capsicums & 2 x 410g cans tomato puree and bring to the boil. Cook for around 8 minutes, until the tomatoes are tender.

Remove from the heat and puree with a stick blender. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Why Should I Eat That?

Apart from its 4.3 serves of vegetables and all that cancer preventative Lycopene, this soup is also low in fat, saturated fat and kilojoules, as well as being high in fibre.

I put together the following nutritional information, using Calorie King and packet information.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 626.3kJ, Protein 4.3g, Fat (Total) 4.9g (Saturated) 1g, Carbohydrates (Total) 23.5g (Sugars) 14.5g, Dietary Fibre 5.4g, Sodium 585.6mg. 4.3 serves of vegetables.

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My (Late) Entry for They Go Really Well Together #3 (TGRWT#3)

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been a very bad past host this month. My TGRWT#3 entry is late, but as the saying goes - better late than never. It's not that I wasn't excited about this round as much as the others, it's just that I have had a busy month, first with university exams and most recently with shopping for my friends wedding dress (it is stunning by the way! - I will have photos in 10 weeks, yes that is how close to the date we went shopping for the dress, crazy I know).

Although the strawberries in this pairing had me excited (they are after all on my list of 5 foods I would live on if I could only live on 5 foods for the rest of my life), the idea of coriander didn't have me quite so elated. You see, I am not a fan of coriander. At all. Not one teeny bit. I didn't let that one minor detail stop me though. The answer came in using a form of coriander I haven't used before. I have always used fresh coriander, which has a very potent flavour that almost seems to overtake anything you put it with. I chose to use coriander seeds, but came away from the supermarket with something called 'whole' coriander. They look like seeds, so I am pretty sure they are the same thing. Whatever they are called, they worked very well.

My entry, a Strawberry & Coriander Crumble, is roughly based on a recipe for Tropical Crumble in Dorie Greenspan's 'Baking: From my Home to Yours', my most recent cookbook purchase. I only had 150g of frozen strawberries left from some frozen in Summer, intended to be made in Strawberry Smoothies, so I added in some chopped apple to make it go a bit further. In the end I had to puree the strawberries because they were not even close to holding their shape or looking nice, but the crumble turned out very well.

I didn't get the potent coriander taste that I am used to (and despise), but the crushed seeds gave a lovely nutty flavour and aroma to the crumble and in all I think they added a different layer of flavour. It was delicious!

So here is my recipe, which I will be making again sometime this Winter, maybe with a little cinnamon or allspice in the topping mix as well.

Strawberry & Coriander Crumble (Serves 4)

Heat your oven to 180C and spray 4 ramekins or 1 large pudding dish with oil. Crush 8tsp whole coriander in a mortar and pestle until fine.

To make the streusel topping mush up 8Tbsp unsalted butter (or margarine) with a rubber spatula until it is smooth. Work in 1/2C tightly packed brown sugar, half of the coriander from the mortar and pestle & 1/4tsp salt. Then stir in 3Tbsp plain flour & 1C oats. All that we had was 'quick oats', which are chopped up oats, but they still worked well. Spread the mixture onto a piece of baking paper and place in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.

In the meantime, make the fruit filling. Melt 4Tbsp unsalted butter (or margarine) in a frying pan over high heat, sprinkle over 2 1/2Tbsp brown sugar and when it bubbles add in 2 peeled and diced apples & the other half of the coriander from the mortar and pestle. Cook for around 3 minutes and remove to a mixing bowl.

Put 300g frozen strawberries in a blender and blend until smooth. Place in the saucepan with 2Tbsp balsamic vinegar & 2Tbsp dried coriander leaves and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until it is bubbling. Pour strawberry sauce over apple pieces and stir gently to combine.

Divide fruit filling evenly between ramekins, or just put it all in one big pudding dish. Break off pieces of streusel topping and scatter them over the fruit. Make it rustic looking with varying sized pieces, don't be too pedantic about it being perfect. Place ramekins on a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, until bubbling and golden. A large pudding dish may take a little longer, around 35 minutes. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut and serve hot.

If you would like to see some more wonderful creations with Strawberry & Coriander, you can take a look at Evelin's wonderful round-up. Thank-you Evelin for being so kind as to agree to include my late entry in your round-up when you return from your training camp, my deepest thanks.

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A Childhood Favourite for Pie Friday (Make My Kid Eat Entry #2)

Alright, I am cutting it very close to the wire with this entry for Deborah's Make My Kids Eat event. My first entry was the Extreme Makeover Spaghetti & Meatballs, and you can see many more entries in the linkbacks to Deborah's post.

This weekend has been a bit hectic (good hectic, like going out for dinner on friday night and going shopping for a friends wedding dress yesterday), hence this pie being made last night (Pie Saturday doesn't really have the same ring to it, does it?) and the majority of it only being eaten tonight. Needless to say, Soup Sunday has been postponed to tomorrow night, but I am really looking forward to the twist on a classic soup that I am going to make. The other thing that has slipped through my fingers this weekend was a strawberry and coriander seed pudding that I was planning for TGRWT #3, what a bad past host I am to not be participating this month. Maybe I can find some time in the next few days and Evelin might add me to the round-up like nothing happened? I can only hope for the best.

Anyway, back to the task at hand - making Deborah's Kids Eat! This recipe was the cover image on the June issue of Super Food Ideas Magazine. It is in a feature put together by the Heart Foundation that shows how to make everday favourites into healthier versions. This recipe gets the Heart Foundation tick of approval, much like healthier versions of products can gain a heart foundation tick on their packaging (I don't know if this system is in place in other countries or if it is just in Australia, but I am sure there are probably equivalents overseas).

This pie is low in sodium, fat, saturated fat and kilojoules. It also contains almost 4 serves of vegetables in every serve, and the best bit? The kids are likely to be none the wiser of it's healthiness.

So here we go, the recipe.

Low-Fat Cottage Pie (Serves 6)

Preheat your oven to 180C. Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook 1kg peeled and chopped sebago or nicola potatoes for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Once cooked, drain potatoes and return to pan. Shake over low heat for 2 minutes to dry out potatoes. Add 1/2C skim milk and mash until smooth.

In the meantime, heat 2tsp olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and add 1 diced brown onion, 2 diced carrots & 2 diced stalks of celery. If you are really worried about the kids spotting the vegetables you could grate them instead of dicing them. Cook the vegetables for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Add 750g lean beef mince and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mince is browned. Add 1/2C beef stock (or red wine) and cook for 4 minutes before adding 1/4C reduced salt tomato sauce, 2tsp worcestershire sauce & a sprinkling of pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1C frozen peas.

Spoon mixture into a baking dish (around 10C capacity) and top with mashed potato. Brush with 1Tbsp olive oil spread & sprinkle over 1/2C grated low fat cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden & serve.

Why Should I Eat That?

Because the Heart Foundation gives it their tick of approval! It is low in sodium & fat and has lots of vegetables, and it is yummy to boot.

Here is the nutritional information from the magazine. The only additions I have made above were the cheese topping and doubling the carrot and celery because it didn't look like enough.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 1607kJ, Protein 31.9g, Fat (Total) 13.1g (Saturated) 4.5g, Carbohydrates (Total) 28.4g, Dietary Fibre 4.7g, Cholesterol 64mg, Sodium 154mg. 3.7 serves of vegetables.

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