Yummies

Carrot Cake

Yummm, I love carrot cake. Especially with cream cheese icing, while making this I helped myself to too much of the icing prior to finishing the cake and couldn't eat a piece until a day later, it just tastes so good. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup sunflower oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple 
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrot
• 80g chopped walnuts and some extra for decoration
• 1 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/3 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 1/4 tsp. bicarb soda

Pre-heat oven to 160'. Line and grease a 20cm baking tin.

In a bowl add oil, eggs, pineapple, carrot, walnuts, sugar, and combine.  Sift in the flour, cinnamon, ginger and bicarb. Mix ingredients until they are all combined. Pour into baking tin and cook for around 55-65 minutes.

Once the cake has cooled you can ice it.

Icing:

• 250g cream cheese
• 1 1/2 tbsp. butter
• 1 something cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice

Make sure the cream cheese and butter is at room temperature, then beat for a minute or two. Add sifted icing sugar and lemon juice and beat for a further minute.

Spread over cake and decorate with your extra walnuts.
It took my husband and I no time at all to eat this entire cake, it's delicious and moist, you should definitely give this one a go.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup

Trying to organise dinner these last couple of weeks has been a real hassle. We have been eating a lot of take-out, pasta, prepackaged foods and food that friends and family have bought us. Mikey has been doing small trips the the market to get what we need, but now that my life is starting to show some signs of a routine (kind of) I am able to get organised and start making meals again. It's been a while and I'm really looking forward to cooking again. I can't drive at the moment, as I had the c-section (but only a week to go!) so this week I got my groceries delivered, I really wish I had thought to do this earlier. It's so simple and wasn't charged a delivery fee, I'll be doing all my grocery shopping on-line from now on I think.

So here's what's for dinner tonight

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large brown onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp grated ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup plain flour

2 cups water

4 cups veggie stock

400g canned chickpeas

800g canned tomatoes

1 lemon

1 Tbsp fresh coriander

Heat oil in a large saucepan; cook onion, garlic and ginger, stirring, until onion softens. Add spices; cook, stirring, until fragrant.

Add flour; cook for about a minute. Gradually stir in the water and stock; cook, stirring, until the mixture boils and thickens. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.

Add chickpeas and tomatoes; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until soup thickens. Add the juice of lemon and a few strips of the rind. Just before serving stir in coriander.

Serve with turkish bread.

Afternoon Tea

Vanilla slice would have to be my favourite of the slices I think. I've had a craving for it for a while, but have avoided the ones in cafes for fear of being disappointed, homemade treats are the best kind I believe.  I'm glad I waited as this tasted absolutely delicious. Made even better with a nice spot a tea.

Vanilla Slice with Passion Fruit Icing

2 Sheets puff pastry

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup custard powder

1 1/2 cups of thickened cream

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:

2 cups of icing sugar

3 teaspoon butter

2 passion fruit

hot water

Preheat oven to 220'. Place puff pastry on a tray and pierce with a fork. Bake for around 10-15 minutes. Put sugar, custard powder and cream in a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it starts to thicken.

Add milk 1/2 cup at a time and whisk continuously until thick. Set a side to cool slightly.

Place in a 23cm square tin, pastry, custard, then pastry.

Make icing by combining sugar, butter and passion fruit in a bowl, then add hot water a teaspoon at a time, until you get a smooth consistency.  Pour on top of slice.

This tastes the best after about a day in the fridge I think.

Pumpkin Soup with Dinner Rolls

Bread Rolls

1/2  tsp. dried yeast

about 2/3 cups warm water

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 cup plain flour

half tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. oil

Combine yeast, a few teaspoons of warm water, and the sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is frothy.

Whisk together flour and salt.

Add oil to yeast mixture, make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture.  Add half of the warm water and mix.  Add enough of the remaining water if required, to make a soft but non sticky dough.  Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until smooth.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm  place for one hour or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and divide into 4 balls and shape them on a floured board, then arrange them fairly close on a lightly oiled dish.

Allow the rolls to rise again for about 30 minutes.  Spray with water and bake in a 220' oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Eat straight from the oven.

Pumpkin Soup

500g of butternut pumpkin

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

1 onion, diced

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup veggie stock

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. flour

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup cream

Salt & pepper

Combine pumpkin, onion, carrot, water and stock in a pan and cook over a high heat until boiling.  Cover and cook until boiling.  Cover and cook until liquid is simmering and veggies are thoroughly cooked.

Drain, but keep liquid.

Puree veggies in a blender, set aside.  Melt butter in a pot, stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, stir in liquid and cook until boiling and thickened.

Add veggie puree, salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook until heated through.  Sir in cream.

Enjoy.

Banana & Raspberry Loaf Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups of plain flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup raspberries

Pre-heat your oven to 180'c and line a loaf tin with baking paper.  Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk bananas, oil, milk, and eggs.  Add to dry ingredients. Gently stir until combined.  Add raspberries and mix gently.

Pour mixture into the loaf tin. Bake for one hour, checking occasionally.  The loaf is cooked when a knife inserted comes out clean.

I don't really like bananas, I don't like them in smoothies or even the smell of them.  But I can eat them in cakes.  I really wish I did like them more as they are so good for you.

This cake was pretty tasty and healthy (as far as cakes go) , I served it with natural yogurt.  I actually made two cakes with this,  my loaf tin is on the smaller side and I only cooked it for about 45mins.  Next time I make this I'll halve the ingredients, but still add the cup of raspberries.  I think blueberries would also go nicely with the recipe.

I got this recipe from the Australian Healthy Food Guide.

Easy Peesey Chocholate Cake

This is so, so easy to make and only takes 1 and a half minutes to cook!

Ingredients:

• 4 Tblsp plain flour
• 5 Tblsp sugar
• 2 Tblsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 3 Tblsp milk
• 3 Tblsp oil (I used a blend)
• About 9 chocolate buttons, chopped
• splash of vanilla
• 2 mugs

You can either halve all the ingredients into the 2 mugs (less dishes to clean) or combine in a bowl then separated once it's all incorporated (I did it in a bowl as I thought it might be easier)

Mix all the dry ingredients together, add the milk, oil, chocolate buttons and vanilla together, whisk egg separately then add to mixture, mix well.  Divide into mugs and place glad wrap over the top.  Microwave separately for 1 minute on medium heat, then 30 secs on full heat.

Enjoy!

It tastes even better with ice-cream!

Profiteroles

I have been wanting to make profiteroles for so long now and today I finally did.  They took a long time to make, as there are quite a few steps, but were totally worth it as they are super yummy.

Ingredients

• 250ml (1 cup) water
• 80g butter, at room temperature, chopped
• 150g (1 cup) plain flour, sifted
• 3 eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked

• Creme patissiere

• 435ml (1 3/4 cups) milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds separated
• 3 egg yolks
• 70g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
• 50g (1/3 cup) plain flour, sifted
• 
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 200°C. 
• Place the water and butter in a saucepan. Bring just to the boil. Remove from heat and use a wooden spoon to beat in flour until combined.
• Cook, stirring, over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture forms a ball and comes away from side of pan. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.

• Gradually add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until the dough is thick and glossy, at first it seems like it won't come together, but keep beating and it will.
• Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Place heaped dessert spoonfuls of dough, about 3cm apart, on trays.
• Use wet hands to pat down any peaks of dough. Sprinkle trays with water to create steam. Bake for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden.
• Cool on a wire rack. Insert a knife into the side of each profiterole.

• For the creme patissiere, warm milk and the vanilla seeds in a saucepan. Whisk yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick. Whisk in flour, then milk mixture.
• Return to pan and cook, whisking, over low heat for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Cover surface with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to chill.
• Now this is where it got messy, you'll need to spoon creme patissiere in a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle, I made my own out of baking paper and it worked well for a while then came apart; I then made one out of a zip lock bag and got the creme patissiere everywhere, but was successful in getting the creme into the profiteroles.
• Push nozzle into the base of each profiterole and fill with creme patissiere.

I made about 24 profiteroles and will be definitely be making these again. Delicious!