Long time no see

HELLO.
You may have noticed the lack of posts lately..I do still exist! However my access to internet doesn't..our flat is still waiting for our internet to kick start. We've been told its not far away, so when it does eventually arrive, I will be sure to get my little fingers typing hard. I've missed you all greatly. I especially can't wait to show you a wee package that I received from a friend in Korea.
Till then, happy baking, happy cooking and happy all round.
x

A bite for lunch

I am now in my second week of having entered the "real world". Up until now, I have been a student and have very much enjoyed the lifestyle that being a student entails (sleep-ins, ALOT of free time, student allowance..to name a few).

Life as an official 'worker' isn't all bad though. Infact I quite enjoy preparing lunches to take to work. I know- Im extremely sad.

You may have noticed that I haven't bloged about food for a wee while. I'm in between houses at the moment so its been a bit tricky. BUT I had the opportunity to do so tonight and decided to make some carrot muffins. A nice wee something to pop in the lunch box. Ha, I was actually so desperate for muffins I had to borrow muffin tins from work.

I didn't have a recipe on hand so made my own version. I added some oats, jam and a bit of apple juice to the mixture, they turned out to be rather yummy if I don't say so myself..

Ingredients:

2 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup jam
1 cup carrot, grated

How-to:

Sift flour, baking powder into a bowl. Add oats, spices and mix to combine. In a separate bowl combine the oil and sugar. Mix well, add egg and milk and apple juice. Combine the wet mixture with the dry and gradually add the carrot. Spoon mixture into greased muffin tins filling half way whilst adding a drop of jam before filling the rest 2/3 full. Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

It makes 36 mini muffins, I utlised the freezor.



After a week of sandwhiches I decided I needed a change so made a super easy salad that required little effort. It's super easy, I'm all about convenience now that I'm a working woman.



Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas
1 can corn kernals
1 can diced beetroot
1/2 cup diced feta
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 large bunch of rocket

How-to:

Comibine all ingredients. Mix and bob's your uncle.
It would be nice with a yummy dressing, maybe a vinaigrette?



Lunch for the week is done.

Nutbrown Icing Set

I was gifted this antique icing set from my sister, who found it at a recycling centre (thanks again Melissa!).


Isn't it cool?!


What amazes me is that all the pieces are still in the box and are all in great condition. I guarantee I am going to lose at least one...


I like to think I could create something delicate and sweet like the pictures below:


I am hoping hard this will work better than my last one.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

I was asked to bring a salad for bbq dinner last night, but I couldn't help but bake a little something for the occassion too. I used this recipe from Nigella Lawson.

I added a few frozen berries to mine, which added a tarty bite to the cake. But you could pop these wee tins in the oven at this stage here if you're not a berry fan.

The sour cream allows for a soft and light but smooth texture which melts in your mouth, mmm...

Fun with faces

Thought I'd test out my newly recieved cupcake decorator:

All was going well until it decided to stop working...so I reverted to my usual piping bag.

Although it was disappointing that the cupcake decorator didn't work, the wee cupcakes themselves tasted pretty good. See, there's always a silver linning :)

Maybe I'll have better luck next time?

Popping Delicious

For a while now I've had my eyes on these and finally decided to give them ago today. I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out just as they should. I think they would make the best wee treats for a little one's birthday party or any party for that matter. Once you get the imagination cranking I'm sure you could turn them into a range of different things. Check out Bakerella for ideas.

It was a bit fiddley and a little time consuming (thankfully I'm on holiday) but definitely worth it. To start off, you need a cake. I just made a simple chocolate cake and once cooked and cooled, I processed it in a food processor.

I then got my hands in there and mixed in some typically American "Aunt Betty's Fosting" -this stuff is seriously delicious by the way.

Once all mixed together, you roll the mixture into balls then place in the freezor for 10-15 minutes.

When firm, you take them out of freezor and using a wee flower shape cookie cutter, you press the cutter into the ball to form a 'cup cake' shape.

You then place the cupcake shapped mixture back into the freezor for another 10-15 minutes, get them out again and then dip their little bottoms into melted dark chocolate.


They will look a bit messy like above, but will look prettier as the chocolate dries. I also tried some plain round ones too. You could decorate these more if desired.

Dip their tops in a different colour (I used melted white chocolate with a bit of red food colouring), sprinkle hundreds of thousands on top and place an m & m on top to finish.

Cute huh? I will definitely be making these again at some stage. Maybe for my niece's 5th birthday which is coming up...

A few of my favourite things

I am liking my stay here at mum and dad's perhaps a little too much, there's really no place like home. Just two weeks left here then I'm back to Wellington, which I am very much looking foward to by the way, but I will miss a few of my favourite things here...

One is my mum's home made bread:


She has taken to making a fresh loaf every day. I can truthfully say that it is the best bread I have ever tasted. Toasted, or fresh with a good dollop of butter and nutella, or peanut butter, or jam, or marmite or avocado and blue vein cheese...it tastes pretty amazing with anything.

Mum's giant cups will also be greatly missed:


Those of you who know me, know that I am a bit of a tea-aholic and that I like to drink from a BIG cup. I have bought various cups and searched for the perfect sized cup but have never quite found one like this one. Maybe I should start sweet talking my mum..?

I will also miss the endless supply of Cluster Crisp

I LOVE this cereal. Particularly the Vanilla Almond flavour as this one usually has bigger clusters. Fortunately for me, my Dad also loves Cluster Crisp, and therefore one can always find a box of it in the cupboard. Unfortunately for him, I eat it constantly and he is forever buying more. Sorry dad.

For those of you who have not tried it, it is a breakfast cereal, filled with oat clusters and has either dried raspberries, strawberries and cranberries or a hint of vanilla and sliced almonds. It is super crunchy, but not too crunchy as to hurt your teeth, it's just right. Probably why I am so drawn to it.

While it is yummy for breakfast, it also makes for a good snack, even when you are in town and just happen to be in the supermarket and feel like something deliciously crunchy to eat whilst waiting for a friend in the car...do I sound a little obsessed to you?