Tag: food

So, I was browsing the blogs over at GetCrafty the other day and stumbled across a recipe for Cranberry Muffins and my first thought was I need to make these!

One problem though, I live in Australia which equals no fresh Cranberries that I have seen, with some internet searching, I find out that Creative Gourmet sells Frozen Cranberries, SCORE! After work yesterday, I popped into Coles (the only chain that sells them) and picked up a box and I made the gorgeous things this morning.

Cranberry Muffins
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cranberries–chop in food processor

Measure flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into large bowl. Stir thoroughly. Make a well in center. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Mix in oil, milk and cranberries. Pour into well. Stir to moisten. Batter will be lumpy (may want to add a little more milk). Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake in 400 degree F. (200C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Makes 24 muffins (I don’t get that many!). Brush hot cooked muffin tops with melted butter. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Source – Knits4Fun’s blog

I got 12 full size muffins and 8 tiny muffins. I made a few changes to the recipe and will make some more when I make them again. I used 1/4 Buttermilk and 1/4 cup milk instead of 1/2 cup milk, I also needed to add some more milk (1/4 cup ish) when I mixed them up. Half way through baking, I pushed a cranberry into the top of each muffin and once cooked, I simply glazed with milk instead of butter and sugar.

When I make them again, I plan to use wholemeal flour and add some rolled oats for extra barefoot appeal, I also plan to reduce the milk and add some cranberry juice for a bit of colour. Maybe I will go have another one now….

Growing up I never had a taste for pumpkin probably because I had never tried it, however after a few Guide camps where you took what you could, I started to like pumpkin. Then when we were at the Casino for dinner one night after Sean had played netball down the coast I decided to try the pumpkin soup – so very very yummy. So when my friend Beth was telling us about this wonderful pumpkin soup recipe she had found on the net, I thought I have to try this and oh my kitchen, it was wonderful 🙂

Yesterday I made a double recipe, using a whole butternut so I could have some for lunch and the rest to freeze for later lunches. mmmm 🙂

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLE SOUP WITH BACON
Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

2 slices bacon
1/2 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
white and pale green parts of 1 large leek, chopped fine and washed well (about 1 cup)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 bay leaf
1 1/4 pounds butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
1 medium Granny Smith or other tart apple
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup water plus additional for thinning soup
2 tablespoons sour cream or crème fraîche

Accompaniments
Sour cream or crème fraîche
chopped unpeeled apple

In a skillet cook bacon until crisp and drain, reserving 1 1/2 tablespoons fat. Crumble bacon.

In a heavy saucepan cook onion, leek, garlic, and bay leaf with salt and pepper to taste in reserved fat over moderate heat, stirring, until softened.

Add squash, apple, peeled and chopped, broth, and 1/2 cup water. Simmer mixture, covered, until squash is very tender, about 15 minutes, and discard bay leaf.

In a blender purée mixture in batches, transferring as puréed to a clean saucepan, and add enough additional water to thin soup to desired consistency.

Whisk in sour cream or crème fraîche and salt and pepper to taste and heat soup over moderately low heat until hot (do not boil).

Serve soup topped with crumbled bacon and accompaniments.

Makes about 4 1/2 cups.
Gourmet
October 1994

From – Epicurious

Helen’s notes:
I have never added the Leek and just use chicken stock powder for the broth.
I use what ever apple is in the fridge and rarely thin it out with water, instead adding a bit more sour cream and blending it with sour cream in.
I always skip the salt and just add a few more bay leaves.

Since the parents are away, it gives Matthew and I more time to be creative with what we cook. Before we went shopping yesterday, we drew a list of who was cooking what night and what ideas they had, well last night was me and I decided I would try to re-create a prepared roast chicken I had bought from the shops a while ago – Olive Oil and Garlic Chicken – it was amazing.

I started off with a chicken, cut the slit connecting the skin to the meat so I was able to put stuff under the skin, crushed a few garlic cloves and slid them under as well as a few slices of lemon, hoping for a garlic taste with a hint of lemon (hoping). Then I prepared the stuffing, adding a couple of cloves of garlic and some lemon juice as well. Then I stuffed the chicken, placed another slice of lemon at the opening of the chicken and stuffed some more garlic cloves in round the lemon slices.

Basted the chicken with garlic infuesed olive oil that I had made in the morning with a couple of drops of lemon juice in it. Put in to roast and plaved the veggies in 30mins later all basted with the same olive oil.

Well the veggies were perfect, roasted golden, right texture and a wonderful hint of garlic and lemon. However I very much went overboard with the lemon in the chicken 🙂 couldn’t taste any of the garlic but sure could with the lemon.

Lesson for next time – cut back on the lemon 🙂

I can’t exactly remember where Mum brought home this recipe from it was either a Guide family camp or someone from an old staff room probably eight or so years ago and from then on, she has cooked it for many staff morning teas, birthdays etc. It is very rich and decadent and when I was younger I did find it too rich to eat, not now though 🙂

Ingredients:
250g cooking margarine
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 tblsp instant coffee (we use nescafe 43)
200g dark cooking chocolate broken into pieces
2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Method:
Melt butter in large saucepan. Add water with coffee dissolved in it, chocolate and sugar.
When well mixed, remove from heat and add SR flour, cocoa, eggs and vanilla.
Mix thoroughly and poor into deep, square, well-greased tin that has greased greaseproof paper lining it (do not use a spring form pan).
Bake for 1 1/2hrs at 150ºC
Remove from oven and turn out straight away.

Icing:
100mls thickened cream
200g dark chocolate broken into pieces.

Method:
Heat cream until it is just about to boil. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate. Leave to thicken and then pour and smooth over cake.

Serve with thickened, dollop or whipped cream or ice-cream or strawberries. mmmm so yummy

Yesterday Matthew was watching me type in some of my 101 in 1001 goals and started asking me about zinfandels and how I should start looking harder in the bottle shops as I might just find some. So Matthew and I went down to the liquor superstore and 7-11 yesterday to pick up whatever we found interesting and some slurpees.
Well after ohhing and ahhing over some of the spirits (most of the spirits and upper range wine is kept in glass cabinets with locks on) and Matthew debating what he wanted to get we had a browse in the wine section. All of a sudden Matthew asks me what was the type of wine I was after and I said Zinfandel, he goes is this one? Well imagine my surprise when he showed me a Beringer 2003 White Zinfandel and then I saw the price AU$8.95 (US$6.80) wow what a bargain price for an imported wine. I picked up a bottle and asked one of the workers if they had any red Zins and he said no 🙁 though they do get them from time to time.

Matthew bought a bottle of Jim Beam Rye and a bottle of Candian Club Classic 12 I also saw some spirits that I will try when I return from Iceland, one was an UK 5 Organic vodka, looks quite interesting.

Then slurpees – they had Mountain Dew in the machines – very nice slurpee 🙂