Cranberry Walnut Bread

One of the coolest benefits of having a blog is meeting new people through your readership or by postal exchanges. Here is a recipe from my new blog friend Esme who I met through the latest round of Blogging by Mail (organised by Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness).

I used butter instead of margarine (I couldn't possibly work for a dairy company and have margarine in the house!) and I didn't put raisins in as I didn't have any. I halved rhe recipe to make one loaf and probably overcooked it just a little. It certainly didn't need an hour in my oven - 30 minutes would probably have done it. No harm done though - just an excuse to spread more buter on the sliced loaf. YUM. Next time I think I might put in some frozen cranberries in lieu of the raisins. You can find Esme's original recipe here.

Esme’s Cranberry Nut Bread

Ingredients
1 cube margarine (1 stick)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
3 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
2/3 cup raisin
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 can whole cranberry sauce

Method
In a large bowl cream margarine and sugar
Beat in eggs one at at time
Add dry ingredients
Add cranberry sauce, nuts and raisins
Turn into 2 greased and floured loaf pans
Bake 1 hr at 350 degrees (or until loaf tests done)
Cool 10 minutes
Turnout to wire racks to cool

Truffles and Treats

I like to give homemade treats and preserves as Christmas presents and this year was no exception. I made truffles (the cheat's kind with cookie crumbs rather than with chocolate and cream), rocky road and some date and rice bubble balls. I really think that making edible gifts like these should not be reserved for the holiday season. They are so easy, relatively inexpensive and make a great gift at any time of year.

Carla's Liquer Truffles

Ingredients
1 packet plain biscuits eg wine, Girl Guide - crushed
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
185 grams icing sugar
125 grams butter - melted
4 tablepoons (or more) liquer of your choice
Coconut

Method
Place biscuit crumbs, cocoa, and icing sugar in a bowl
Add melted butter and liquer
Form into balls and roll in coconut
Set in the fridge

For a nice variation you can roll the trufle mixture around a halved marshmallow.
I made Malibu rum truffles for my first batch and for my second batch I used Frangelico and added some hazlenut paste to the biscuit mix. I dusted the Frangelico truffles in cocoa powder rather than confusing the flavours and rolling them in coconut.

Rocky Road

Ingredients
Two king sized blocks of chocolate (400g- 500g) - I used Cadbury Dairy Milk
1 packet mini marshmallows
1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit - I used dried strawberries

Method
Line and 8" x 8" cake tin with baking paper
Melt chocolate
Add other ingrediets and stir well to combine
Spread into prepared tin and chill
Cut into desired size pieces when set

Note: You can vary the combination and quantities of nuts and fruit to suit your taste. Try some chopped turkish delight with pistachio nuts for a festive looking rocky road. You could even use white chocolate if you wanted.

Odd Balls
From the Foodlover's website - no other source given

Ingredients
1/c cup sugar
75 grams butter
1 cup dates
2 cups rice bubbles
Coconut

Method
Slowly heat the sugar and butter in a saucepan
Add dates
Stir and mash with a potato masher until soft and pulpy
Remove from the heat and add the rice bubbles
Roll into balls and then dip in coconut
Chill until firm

Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Frosting

Back in July I visited my dear friend Deb in Kentucky and was not at all surprised that she offered me a piece of cake with my afternoon cup of tea. It looked like one of my favourites (also a Deb recipe) - Lazy Daisy Cake, but it was somethink just a little bit different. Most Americans will probably have tried this cake before. From my investigations the recipe seems to have been around for about 50 years old and appears everywhere you google. I made the cake for some co-workers recently and it went down a treat. The cake is so moist and tender you'd never suspect there was something healthy like oatmeal in it.

Deb’s Oatmeal Cake

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup oats (regular or quick-cook, but NOT instant)
1 stick butter (4oz)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Method
Mix boiling water and oats in a bowl and let stand approx. 20 minutes
Meanwhile, cream butter and sugars
Add eggs and vanilla and beat well
Add oat mixture
Sift in dry ingredients and mix
Bake in a greased 9 x 13" pan at 350 F for 30 - 40 minutes (until
center tests done)
While still warm, spread topping (recipe below) on cake and return to oven to broil for around 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Topping
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (or a little less) (6oz)
1/2 cup cream
2 cups coconut

Sa Sa..... Salad

Spinach, avocado, strawberry and asparagus salad to be exact.

Doesn't this just shout summer? There are countless recipes for Spinach and Strawberry Salad with a poppyseed dressing but I've jazzed my salad up a bit with the addition of some asparagus and avocado. The creamy avocado and tender asparagus add a little textural something to the mix.



Spinach, Strawberry, Avocado and Asparagus Salad

Ingredients
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
1 punnet strawberries, sliced
1/2 a ripe avocado (or more if you want), chopped
1 bunch asparagus, blanched and sliced

Dressing
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespooon finely choppped red onion
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Method
Combine salad ingredients in a bowl
Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to combine
Dress salad just before serving

I made the salad a couple of weekends ago when we had a few guests at home for a barbeque. One of my friends was in charge of dessert and she brought this fantastic looking Black Bottom Pie which is a Ruth Pretty Recipe. You can't tell from the picture but the pie has a chocolate custard on the bottom and a silky vanilla topping. YUM.

Why I'm not putting up a tree this year....

If this is what happens with a table top tree can you imagine the havoc with a full sized tree?

Perhaps it was an act of revenge after I tried to put a little santa hat on Sticky.

The Easiest Lemon Curd Ever

Don't fall off your chair in awe over at the styliest photo ever on my blog!

This fantasticly easy recipe is courtesy of my blog friend Tammy. The great thing about it is that it's made in the microwave with no faffing about over a double boiler. My mixture looked a tad overcooked but a few seconds in the food processor and voila - velvety, unctuous, luciousness.

Tammy's Lemon Curd

Ingredients
200 grams butter
200 grams sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
120 mls lemon Juice
6 eggs, beaten and strained through a sieve

Method
Put the butter, sugar, zest and juice in a microwave bowl
Cover with gladwrap and microwave for 4 minutes on high
Stir then whisk in strained eggs
Microwave uncovered for 2 minutes
Stir with a whisk and then whizz in a food processor for about 30 seconds
Pour into sterilised jars
Store in the fridge

I have a new favourite way to use lemon curd - mix equal quantities of Greek yoghurt and lemon curd and serve with fresh summer berries.

There are some more lemon curd combinations I really want to try including a lemony tiramisu. I stumbled on this recipe after a reader left a comment and I thought hmmm why do I know that name? And then I realised it was a published food writer who was commenting on my lil ole blog. What a proud moment. Check out Sue Story's blog here. She is a contributing writer to one of my most used magazines and her Lamb Tagine recipe in Annabel Langbein's book The Best of Annabel Langbein is fantastic.

Meatless Monday - Mee Mamak

When we lived in Wellington one of our favourite restaurants was a cheap and cheerful Malaysian place called Satay Village. My husband’s favourite dish there was the vegetarian Mee Goreng, mine was the Chicken Rendang or the Chicken Sambal depending on my mood. In Palmerston North we have a plethora of Asian restaurants but they are mostly Thai so my husband has been missing his noodle fix and I’ve been trawling the net trying to find a recipe for Mee Goreng to make at home. The recipe I’ve settled on is absolutely nothing like the Mee Goreng from Satay Village but is a quick and easy dish that is healthy and delicious. It’s from Cuisine Magazine’s website and you can find the recipe here. I didn’t used to use the beansprouts that the recipe calls for but after talking to a Malaysian girl at work she persuaded me that they are an integral part of the dish and that they add texture. I have to admit she’s right. While the recipe calls for a mixture of prawns, chicken and tofu, I only ever make it with tofu. I used to buy a type of tofu from Japan that comes in a tetrapak but it's the soft kind and you end up with a dish that has a scrambled egg effect. It's much better with the firm tofu that you can stir fry to let it soak up some flavour before adding the noodles.