Friday 30 December 2011

New recipes...

This week I have loved getting back into lots of cooking :) And this week I found Pinterest!! Whoever told me it was additive was right! I have had to stop looking for so long!! But on the positive side I have found heaps of great recipes and crafts. So I am happy. And this is what has motivated me to begin menu planning again. But back to this week...here is what we have cooked.

Eggnog Banana Pancakes with Vanilla Yoghurt, maple syrup and icing sugar.



Ingredients:
9 large eggs
1 cup real maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups milk, divided
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream
For serving:
3/4 cup whipped cream
Freshly grated nutmeg
Instructions:
1. In a heavy 4 or 6-quart pan, briskly whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, and salt, until well-mixed. Whisk in 3 cups of the milk.
2. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture reaches 160-165 degrees F (use a candy or meat thermometer to monitor temperature).* It takes me about 10-15 minutes, and I do whisk near-constantly for this step! You will see a little steam rising from the pan, just as the egg nog reaches 160-165 degrees.
3. Remove from heat. Whisk in the vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Whisk in the remaining 3 cups of milk.
4. Cover pan and chill well (a few hours) before serving. Don't put a hot pan in your refrigerator though! If the weather is cold, I set the covered pan outside to cool, and then refrigerate. Otherwise, let cool to room temperature and refrigerate.
5. Whip the 1 cup of heavy cream until foamy, about half-way to "whipped cream". Stir into the chilled egg nog mixture (it will want to float, so stir as much as needed to mix most of it in).
6. To serve, ladle chilled egg nog into glasses, top with a tablespoon of whipped cream, and sprinkle with freshly-grated nutmeg. Enjoy!
This egg nog can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.


Eggnog banana Pancake Instructions:

Use this eggnog as your wet base for the pancakes and just add required amount of flour (thin mixture makes thin pancakes and thick mixture makes thick pancakes).

Slice up your banana.

When ready heat a frypan with a little butter and add your batter.

As the batter is cooking, add sliced banana to your pancake. When ready flip over and brown the other side. Serve with vanilla yoghurt, maple syrup and a sprinkle of icing sugar.


Our next recipe that we tried was Braided Spaghetti Bread from Rhodes Bake-N-Serv blog. My two year old has been a very fussy eater for the past few months especially at dinner time. But he surprised me this night as he ate this up! It was good :)


The only thing I altered from the Rhodes blog was that I made my own bread instead of using frozen bread dough. So I used the following recipe from Savory Reviews to make a garlic braided loaf.

Braided Garlic Bread

1 1/2 tsp quick-acting dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tbs Honey
8 tbs butter
6 cloves of garlic – This is not a good date night recipe

Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2 1/2 quart bowl. Stir in 1 cup of the flour, the oil, honey and 1 teaspoon salt. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, scraping dough from side of bowl, until soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Punch down the dough and then turn the dough onto generously floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour.

Next I began to follow the Rhodes recipe by rolling out the dough. Following is the recipe:

6 oz spaghetti, cooked
1 cup thick spaghetti sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 –inch cubes
1 egg white
Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and let cool slightly.

Remove wrap from dough. Place spaghetti lengthwise in a 4-inch strip down the center of dough. Tip with sauce and cheese cubes. (I mixed my spaghetti and sauce together and added a ½ pound of cooked Italian Sausage)



Make cuts 1 ½-inches apart on long sides of dough to within ½-inch of filling.

Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips toward filling. Then braid strips left over right, right over left. Finish by pulling last strip over and tucking under braid.



Lift braid with both hands and place on large sprayed baking sheet. (or transfer parchment paper to baking sheet). Brush with egg white and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley (I added garlic powder).


A couple of other changes I made was to follow the bread recipe for bread topping.


Next place the butter in a bowl. Then grate the garlic into the butter using a grater or microplane. Next heat melt the butter in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until fully melted. You can do this in a pan over the stove if you do not have a microwave.

Make sure to mix the garlic butter before using. Then brush the garlic butter over the entire braided loaf. Make sure to get into the braids.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and slice to serve.

http://siliconemoulds.blogspot.com/2011/11/banana-cornflake-crumble-breakfast.html
I tried this breakfast recipe this week that I thought would be delicious but was slightly disappointed! I would make it again but I would add more white chocolate and more banana. It just needed more taste :) And I would add more butter into the crumble topping.


300g plain (cake) flour
1.1/2tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
100g of white chocolate chips (optional)
400g of mashed bananas
1 beaten egg
100ml milk
100ml vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 180deg C fan / 200 deg C electric

Sift dry ingredients together. Add all wet ingredients and mix to combine. Do be careful not to overmix. Don't panic - it's going to be really lumpy, especially with the mashed banana.


Spoon mix into the cells in your mould. It will overflow the paper cases and partially into the rebated head area.


For the topping

50g salted butter
60g plain flour
50g granulated sugar
25g cornflakes

Rub the butter with your fingers into the flour and sugar. Lightly crush the cornflakes in your hand and add to the mix.

The mix should just hold together when clamped in your hand. If it is too crumbly, add a little more butter. You don't want a fine crumble. You want to clamp some in your hand and roughly crumble it in lumps over the muffin batter.

Bake for approx 25 mins until a cocktail stick comes out clean. The muffins should be well risen and golden.

Malted Milk Whopper Icecream from Annie's Eats


I bought an icecream machine from Aldi this week. I was very excited. So excited that I made the following icecream.

Malted Milk Whopper Ice Cream
Ingredients:

1 cup half-and-half
¾ cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup malt powder
6 large egg yolks
2 cups malted milk balls, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Warm the half-and-half, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. In a large howl, whisk together the heavy cream, vanilla and malt powder and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scarping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and whisk it into the malted milk mixture. Stir until cool over an ice bath.


Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. As you remove the ice cream from the machine, fold in the chopped malted milk balls.


On my next post I will explain about our menu plan for next week and how I organised it.

Monday 26 December 2011

Our Christmas Day in pictures....and a few words ;)

We started out our day very early, the kids were up and about and very excited!!! They started by exchanging homemade gifts to each other. They had made polystyrene ball decorations, cards, pictures and Adele created a counting book for Josef. And this was his book and no one was allowed to touch it. it was too special!



Next came breakfast...Eggnog Christmas tree french toast! I used the eggnog I had made the day before to dip the triangle cut bread into. I fried this until golden and set up as a tree on the plate. I cooked up some sausages for the trunk. I set MMM's and icing sugar in bowls on the table for decorations. They turned out great and the eggnog made it taste wonderful.





Next was present opening time....








And then off to church to celebrate Jesus's birth. Both of the girls wore their home made dresses. I made Avrils' but Adele made her own. We both are so thankful to our friend Beth for helping us make these :)


We returned home and the kids immediately wanted to take turns on the internet signing up their new Webkinz. They were very excited!And when looking at my photos I found the Webkinz helping with chores!! lol






But soon after this we headed outside so they could try out their new slip 'n' slide!!








Then it was lunch time..and what a lunch so yummy!! First we lighted a candle for Jesus, which we blew out at the end of lunch after singing Happy Birthday.




For lunch we had roast vegies, maple ham, sausages wrapped in bacon, yorkshire pudding and gravy. It was really yummy. I was really happy as this was the first time I made a ham and it worked out :)




We were too full to squeeze in dessert as well, so we headed off on the new bikes! Both the girls received a new bike for Christmas. Josef was pushed in his trike with a handle. And I was most impressed as my two older kids set off on a dirt bike track, something we had never done! There were ramps and other obstacles. They really gave it there best shot!






On returning home we were hot! It was the warmest day we have had in a while, as we have had lots of rain. So as the kids had another jump in the slip 'n' slide, I organised dessert accompanied by icecream.

For dessert we had Chocolate log with Baileys cream. Making this log which requires no icing, reminded me why I like icing on my logs....it hides the cracks!! lol! But overall it turned out fine, it tasted delicious and I will definately make it again.


By the end of the day, we were all tired, but had enjoyed spending our day together celebrating Jesus's birthday.

Saturday 24 December 2011

Friday Favourite Finds (on sat!!)

As it is Christmas I have been searching for delicious Christmas Recipes!!!

My first favourite find was:

Chocolate Roulade with baileys Liqueur cream!!! You can find this recipe at BBC Good Food




My second favourite find is....from Cook Lisa Cook

These Rolo brownie Bites look oh so yummy!!


My next favourite find is from Collie's Kitchen....Braided Spaghetti Bread.


My next find is from >Lynn's Kitchen Adventures...Chocolate Granola!!


My next find is from >Finding Joy in my Kitchen....Dark Chocolate Peppermint truffle cocoa!


My last favourite find is from Cathlolic icingb>....Edible Advent wreath.


I hope you enjoy all my Friday favourite finds.