These bruises make for better conversation

Just a quick post, since I've been talking to my Diva (His real name is David, But I started call him Diva D years ago and it stuck and spread) a lot lately and I miss hanging out with him, thought I'd share his favourite cookie, so he can make his own since clearly as a single girl, I'm no longer welcome in our social group... sigh oh well

Marshmallow Cookies

Basic Biscuits

125g butter soften
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Pre heat oven to 190C

Cream butter sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy
Sift in flour and baking powder and mix until just combined
Roll heaped spoonfuls into balls, place onto a baking tray, flatten slightly
Bake for 11 minutes or until golden
Allow to cool

Marshmallow Filling

1 bag marshmallows

Place all pink ( i only use the pink ones but use what ever colour you want) marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds, marshmallows will puff up, but keep their shape, stir, then working quickly while marshmallow is warm put spoonfuls on a cookie then sandwich another cookie on top, marshmallow will go chewy when it cools, and can be reheated as needed to fill all cookies

Ranting at supermarkets

I'm starting today's Jamie Blog with a rant, because I fail to see why our two top supermarket chains are competing to be number one when they barely stock any food let alone good quality food and I'm not even talking about out there requests, I simply wanted fish with skin on for today's Jamie recipe. See not a strange request but unless it's processed to within an inch of it's life meat, you can not get it in WA, In fact do me a favour go in to your local supermarket count the number of aisle then minus all the aisles that don't sell actual food, so your two aisles of baby, shampoo, and deroant, the aisle deciated to coke and it's followers, the aisle of chips and assorted cookies, the aisle of kitchen stuff, magazine and the aisle of chocolate and candy... leaves every little actual food, or things that turn into food, not expecting there to be a range of gourmet options but more than one choice of mango chutney would be nice... oh and I give up on finding pancetta... looks like I'm making friends with the butcher and fish monger and baker and fresh green grocer and avoiding the supermarkets all together


Phew ok rant over, As you may of guessed today's recipe was a fish recipe, which considering I don't eat fish is weird, Sea Bass with Panchetta, on kumara (sweet potato for all you non Kiwi's) mash served with Asain greens, which is suppose to look like this

 

 

Remember when I said rant over, well I lied, kind of, as I said I couldn't get fish with the skin on, I wasn't expecting to get bass but why must we be reduced to boring white lumps of flesh on top of our mash. Which is one of the reasons I have no photo's for you, the other the dish was eaten way too quickly for any of that photo stuff, even my mother who complained about there being dressing on the greens went back for seconds.

 

I'm going to stop ranting now and give you the recipe

 

SEA BASS

• 8 thin slices of pancetta or Prosciutto
• 4 x 150g (8½oz) fillets of Hake without skin because it was all I could get (de boned skin on sea bass is what the actual recipe calls for)
• 1tsp fennel seeds or a sprinkle of crushed fennel seeds from the jar
• 1 lemon

MASH

• 700g (1lb 9oz) sweet potatoes
• A small bunch of fresh coriander
• 2tbsp mango chutney
• Soy sauce
• 2 limes

GREENS

• 1 fresh red chilli
• 1 clove of garlic
• Soy sauce
• 1 lime
• Sesame oil
• 250g (9oz) asparagus
• 1 head of broccoli

SEASONINGS

• Olive oil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

BERRY ICE-CREAM

• 1 x 500g pack of mixed frozen berries
• 150g (5½oz) fresh blueberries
• 3-4tbsp runny honey
• 1 x 500g tub of natural yoghurt
• A few sprigs of fresh mint

LEMON GINGER DRINK

• Ice cubes
• 1 x 330ml can of fizzy lemonade
• A few sprigs of fresh mint
• A 2cm (¾in) piece of fresh ginger
• 1 bottle of sparkling water

As with all 30 minute meals, get everything you need out and make sure your bench is clear and free of clutter,

Mash: I found this part of the recipe kind of cool because other than the occasional re heat my microwave doesn't get used, so cooking the kumara mash in there was novel, place all the kumara in a microwave safe bowl, piece each on a couple of times add half a lime then cover in a double layer of glad wrap, then mircowave for 12 minutes, so easy

GREENS: De-seed and finely chop the chilli, we don't really use chilli in my house so I only used a quarter of a chilli so you get the flavour but no real heat, place it in a bowl. Crush the unpeeled clove of garlic into the bowl (I missed this ingredient out because I didn't read the recipe properly but hey it tasted good without) and add 2tbsp of soy sauce and 4-6tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime, as I'm hopeless with sticking to recipes, thats way to boring I also added the zest and add a splash of sesame oil, which I'd never used and am now in love with, make sure you taste the sauce I had to add more lime, so it was balanced flavours
Trim the asparagus stalks. Quarter the head of the broccoli lengthways from the head to the base of the stalk.

Hake: Put the pancetta  or prosciutto if that's all you can get into the frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil. cook until crispy then I took it out and drained it on some kitchen towel
DRINK: Fill a large jug halfway with ice. Add the lemonade and mint sprigs. Peel and finely grate in 2cm (¾in) of ginger. Top up with sparkling water, mix with a wooden spoon and take to the table.

SEA BASS(Hake):  Add the fish to the pan, (skin side down). Shake the pan and use a spatula to press the fillets flat for a few seconds. Spinkle with fennel, salt, pepper, and lemon zest, then squeeze the juice over just before the fish is ready
MASH: Finely chop the coriander on a large wooden chopping board, I would use less coriander next time. Mix in the mango chutney, soy sauce, extra virgin olive oil, and the juice from ½ a lime and the reserved chopped chilli. I forgot to add the soy sauce, olive oil and as I said we don't really like chilli so I omitted that too, Jamie as you can see mashes his on to a board, and it looks pretty but I mashed mine and put it on a plate then dumped the cooked fish on top, not so pretty, but the flavours worked
GREENS: Fill the large saucepan with boiling water and add a large pinch of salt. Add the broccoli and asparagus, making sure they are completely submerged. cook until aldente. drain and stir through the dressing

Then you eat, I hope you like the lay out for the recipe it's the way it is in the book with my add ons so enjoy

 

Oh and Jamie, maybe we need a food revolution here so I can stop ranting at the supermarkets

 

 



I just like hanging out with you...

What have I done in the last week, work, drive to work (seriously an hour or more each way... not fun) get petrol and hang out in cafes drinking coffee with friends (Not stalking a certain Tattoo Boy)
So I haven't done my next Jamie project recipe or baked anything, it feels like forever since I baked something, anything! I know I'm an addicted but I love baking so it's probably a good thing I found the Zombie's Run 5k training app, seriously the most fun way to run (I'm not sure how to tell you this but there is a small army of zombies to your left RUN!) I suggest you download it and run like there is a zombie on your ass. I just have one problem when I run my thoughts wonder, and a normally end up raging at whoever pissed me off last, so if you see the crazy girl ranting while she runs, it's just me...  ignore me, I'm not crazy, just working through issues like how come out of all the players in our story we are the only two who haven't grown in their romantic relationships, every ones lives are moving on, young families weddings and houses, yet our professional lives (well at least mine) and everything else have developed, yet romance wise we are still where we were 5 years ago and your fine with that, and I'm not... yea ranting through all that while I run, not crazy at all

I just got home from one such run to find Jamie's new series 15 minute meals (He's just showing off now) on the telly and this Ecard on my pinterest, yup life is good

 OH and new Text From Dog... told you life is good

I did make something today though, after all a girl's gotta eat right?? I made Creamy Mushroom and Pea Soup, it's pretty good, I just fried off some mushroom, garlic onion and mustard in a fry pan, until golden and tender, added one potato cubed and a cup of beef stock let it bubble away until the potatoes are soft then stir through a couple of tablespoons of sour cream let it bubble some more then take it off the heat pass it through a seive, not all the  mushroom will go through that's fine you mainly just want to break up the potato, then back into the pan with a little water and some more sour cream, a handful of peas and your done...



 

 



 

 

I'm gonna miss you like a Child misses their blanket (After all I'm glad I'm not your type)

I started my weekend, politely stating (screaming) this:

I'm going to explain this one last time, because it's clear neither you or the HIV whore get it, (Just to be clear she doesn't have HIV she got tested, the nickname however may stick) You DO NOT owe me an apology for choosing the HIV whore, you made that choice after I was gone, you owe me an apology for not treating me with respect or like my feelings matter, I do not and never have expected you ...

to announce your un dying love and introduce me as your girlfriend, I did however expect you to not lie about why we were together, You seem to lack the ability to stand up for yourself, your so called friends are allowed way too much influence in your life. I can honestly say if you had simply said I enjoy her company and like sleep with her, I would still be with you. However you treat girls like they are as disposable as condoms, which with your current "option" is true, and while this is clearly acceptable behaviour to your "friends" I have reached a point when I have out grown this behaviour and you... So if one day you wake up and realise just how hollow and empty your life is, my amazing faith in the good in you and my ability to be the better person means a well worded apology may gain you a friend, however I hold no hope of that ever happening, even if occassional lapses in memory and judgement see me appealling to the great man I used to see in you, I'm resigned to the fact he died a while ago and no amount of CPR will fix that..... So now if you BOTH don't mind FUCK OFF!!!

 

A full day of being abused by my ex's current thing because he sent me a booty call and I sent him a you've change and are no long worth me reply, pompted that outburst, so clearly my weekend was off to a great start, but then coffee with Miss Mary, (who is my friend despite the fact we share that ex) made me realise just how much all of us excluding him have grown up, it also made me realise I need something to keep me busy until the universe works out away for me and the Tattoo Boy to get together. I also got to start at a new cafe, the joys of working for a chain of cafes but at least it's busy and in the most gorgeous location by the beach, on a fishing wharf with sun and sparkling water.

 

But this blog is not about him, it's about my cooking and the project I want to start to expand my cooking skills , JCups is a fun little hobby wanna be business but it doesn't give me........ I dunno but I'm looking for something, and besides while my baking in wife worthy... my cooking is a little safe, so since I'm a huge fan of the Anti-fast food movement championed by Jamie Oliver, I'm starting a 30 minutes meal real life challenge.... I really want to add in a few food challenges that I've always wanted to try like making Pate, and making food related christmas gifts so... guess I better get started

 

I will post as many recipes as I can but all recipes can be found at Jamie's offical website JamieOliver.com

 

 

 

 So what recipe to start with, a quick search of the fridge, yeilded little more than some mince... which means I'm starting with a mince recipe, I choose the Meatball Sandwich, well it is sunday after all.

The best part of this book, it has complete meal recipes so you even get dessert. Included in the Meatball Sandwich is Pickled Cabbage, Chopped Salad and BANANA ICE CREAM, now I have a confession I did not use Jamie's Banana ice cream recipe, I used the one that is so popular on pinterest, it's my project and I can do what I want... plus Jamie's recipe called for the bananans to be completely frozen and I didn't have time for that

Bad news :Jamie uses all sorts of fancy kitchen blendery thingies that I don't have or know how to use... who the hell knows how to use a slicer attactment anyway, Good news: I hand sliced everything, and not only did it taste amazing it still only took 30minutes WIN

As stated at the start of the book the recipe is laid out in a timeline so that everything will be ready at same time, which means multi tasking and swapping between tasks and generally making life confusing, I did try following the recipe but found it easier to do one then the other with minial multi tasking and still done in 30 minutes told you WINNING

 

I started with the meatballs, basically you mix the mincemeat, seaded mustard and basil with some olive oil and a egg yolk, roll into balls and drop into a pan to brown add panchetta or if you live in WA and can't find any (grr!) prochitto works too, then place the whole thing in the oven with the bread , then after 10 or so minutes it will look like this

When the meatballs are in the pan, getting all brown and yummy, you can start on the pickled cabbage, again really easy, and the Chopped Salad... look at the cabbage aren't the colours pretty

Assembly time, I admit at this point I stopped reading the recipe which is why my Chopped salad was served on the side but who really cares

But it was sooo Good now for dessert

RECIPE, note: I halfed my recipe and still served 4 so the below will proably serve at least 6

Ingredients   

• 500g minced beef
• 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
• ½ a lemon
• 1 egg
• Handful fresh basil
• Olive oil
• 8 slices bacon
• 2 ciabatta loaves
• 4 slices Jarlsberg cheese
• ½ red cabbage
• 1 red onion
• Small bunch of mint
• ½ a lemon
• Salt & pepper
• 1 fresh red chili

Method

1. Stick the oven on 160°C/320°F, and get a large frying pan on a medium heat.
2. Roughly chop the basil and put into a bowl with the beef, mustard, zest of ½ lemon, 1 tbsp olive oil and the egg yolk. Season and mix.
3. Add a splash of olive oil to the pan, then scrunch the meatball mixture together with your hands.
4. Divide into 16 and roll into balls.
5. Cook the meatballs for about 12 minutes, until browned all over.
6. Slice the cabbage in a food processor, then add the red onion, chili and mint and chop all together.
7. Tip into a large bowl with some olive oil, the lemon juice and seasoning. Toss together.
8. Lay the bacon around the meatballs and pop into the oven, and on a different shelf put the loaves to warm through.
9. After about 5 minutes get the bread out. Cut them open and drizzle with olive oil.
10. Lay the cheese on. Scatter over some of the cabbage salad. Top with meatballs and the bacon.

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Number of servings (yield): 4

A project??

Ok probably not the most original idea can we say Julie and Julia but I need something to keep me distracted to make his choosing of the HIV whore ok, no make the end of 5 years and a thousand life lessons seem a little less scary

So I'm thinking either a Jamie Oliver around the world in 80 days project or a year long river cottage everyday project... What do you think

Maybe Not My Best Side

 

I have a confession, that maybe come as a surprise to some of you, I have a small tiny not at all huge competitiive streak. So when I heard about a Christmas Cook Book recipe competition, where the winning 20 recipes will be published and the 1st place recipe gets a $200 Kitchen Warehouse voucher

 

I want that voucher, which means winning, which means creating the best christmas recipe I can, which means test recipes, and forcing everyone I know to eat and vote on which is best

I tried making Christmas Biscotti, which is my basic biscotti mix with Glace Cherries and Almonds

 

 

 

But while it tastes great, it's not as pretty as I wanted. My other idea was Gingerbread Whoopie Pies, which is the recipe I submitted and the recipe can be found in my Making Whoopie blog post. Naturally once I'd sent it in I realised I should of submitted my Sister number 1's Bailey's Dip recipe that always gets made for every christmas tree decorating party....

Bailey's Dip

175mls Sour Cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, chill until firm, serve with fresh fruit

See quick simple, addictive.....


 Today is also another birthday, One of the girls at my current Cafe, work is bouncing me around a bit until the cafe I'm actually suppose to be running is built, is turning 18 today so I made her Caramel Nut Mud Cake Cupcakes , inspired by her love of the Caramel Nut Slice we sell... She's one of those horrid people who eats one every day and is as skinny as any model

Aren't they pretty in their girlie patty pans, the cross stitch behind them was done by my Mum for me years ago and it seemed to fit in with the cupcakes and it's not a teapot. I've notced that my food photography has been getting better but involves a lot of teapots...

 

Caramel Mud CakesFrom: The Australian Women’s Weekly Cupcakes & Cookies

125g butter, chopped
100g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsley
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
2/3 cup milk
1 cup plain flour
1/3 self-raising flour
1 egg
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (or 140 degrees Celsius fan forced)/320 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine butter, chocolate, sugar, syrup and milk in a saucepan; stir over low heat until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl, cool for 15 minutes.

Whisk sifted flours then egg into mixture.

Divide among cupcake tray and bake for 30 minutes for standard size cupcakes.

I really do love the Women's Weekly book, I use it all the time and I find their recipes adapt really well too, for when you want to create new flavours

The Icing of these cupcakes is really where I got my caramel nut genius on, I used a Brown Sugar Frosting and topped it with Mixed Nuts roasted in more brown sugar, butter and a little vanilla, then drizzled the whole thing with dark chocolate... The Staff verdict was an overwhelming YUM! but the best feedback I've had on all my christmas recipes was when one of my ex's and not even an important ex (unless your Rhys Bailey, you dont mean a damn thing) , his fiance wouldn't let him try my Whoopie pies, so I guess they really are the winning recipe, 

Carrot Cake,... And one very busy weekend

So for those who don't know I'm the youngest of four girls, (no, no brothers, yes my poor father always out numbered... ) which means there is nearly always a birthday or some form of family event going on, this weekend it was Sister Number 2 Birthday Party, which in my little universe means I got to make a birthday cake. Not sure when I took over from Mum as the birthday cake maker but it's a job I love and also means I don't have to get presents for the insanely hard to buy for sisters.

Sister 2, requested Carrot Cake at Sister 3's birthday last month so I jumped on pinterest (GOD how I love Pinterest) and looked up all the ways to decorate a carrot cake and found this amazing idea http://pinterest.com/pin/130393351682312016/ (the pin links to the orginal blog, which is really good, I recommend reading it) so once I had my inspiration, I had to find a recipe, there is one on the blog but for some reason I didn't use it ( I used an Australian Women's Weekly recipe, their recipes are always good)

This has to of been the most labour intensive cake I've ever made, it honestly took 6 hours start to finish and I had to grate 8! cups of carrot, as you can see I used heirloom and orange carrots

I did split that time over a couple of days because I had to work and sleep and find time to make my other sister, Sister Number 1, a Baby Cupcake gift box for her friends new daughter, The Perth Royal Show where I got to revisit my childhood and feed a baby goat and the Kelly Clarkson concert on friday night, that girl has the most amazing voice, and I even squeezed in Coffee with my Miss Mary and her two delightful boys, nothing is relaxing as having a baby fall asleep on your chest.... freaking adorable

 How cute is the goat and the baby clothes are just adorable, as are the cupcakes in the gift box , They are Gluten Free Milk and Cookie Cupcakes, I've never used gluten free flour before but it seemed to work pretty well, the batter did look a little odd but it tasted and cooked fine, must be a weekend for firsts because I'd never made carrot cake before either.

 Anyway I should probably stop babbling and get to the cake because I know that's why your here,

I'm going to be lazy and just give you a link, but I have been up since 6 after getting home from said birthday party at 11 last night and worked all day (the cafe was really busy) so forgive me, I altered the recipe silghtly, by adding dates and used mayple cream frosting in between the 3 layers, and cream cheese frosting on the top and onside with toffee macadamia's (they were really hard to make) and crushed pistachio's and extra walnuts on top

 

I apologise for the quality of the photo, I literally took it in the car on the way (Told you I was time poor this weekend) but as you can see totally worth the effort and the reviews on J Cups' facebook page say it tasted amazing

 

 

 

Carrot cupcakes

Adapted from AWW's Bake

Makes 12

1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 cups (225g) self raising flour
1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups (480g) firmly packed coarsely grated carrot
3/4 cup (90g) coarsely chopped walnuts (I also added chopped dates)

Preheat oven to 180°C.

In a bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sifted flour, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the carrot and chopped almonds. pour into cake tin

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until cooked. Let them stand for about 5 minutes, before placing on a wire rack to cool. then slice into layers and assemble with frosting between each layer, ice and decorate as desired

 

(Could not find a link to the recipe I used, guess no one else has para-phased the recipe from the book to the net, so there you go now it's there and it's actually a cupcake recipe so you can make carrot cupcakes if you wish, maybe frost with cream cheese frosting, then dust with crushed pistachios and top with a single toffee dipped macadamia, with spike...)

Cake after candles and first slice, yes that is my handbag in the background I have cupcake issues

Making Whoopie....... PIES

So last week I was super excited to have people to bake for again ( Yay for real friends) and I decided to show off a little at work, since people keep bringing in "home" baking ( I can tell it's box cake mix, and I will judge) so I made more biscotti and took in the left over whoopie pies from the weekend BBQ. Turns out people love cake in any form , and whoopies are extremely popular (Biscotti is hard to eat on the run, which at the cafe we always are) and according to my barista I make good whoopie!

And because I hate doing anything the easy way or on a small scale I actually made 3 flavours of Whoopie Pies, all using the same base recipe, divided into thirds then flavoured, baked and filled

To one third I added coaco and filled the pies with peanut butter frosting

 

 

To the next I added ginger and cinamon and filled with sweeten cream, a twist on the kiwi classic ginger kisses

 

 

The last of the mix I left plain, and filled the pies with Lemon Butter and Cream

 

 

 

 And Now that you've read all that, I'm gonna short change you and only provide one recipe (I will add the others at some point when I have more time so keep checking)

 

Gingerbread Whoopie Pies

125gms Butter

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Golden Syrup

2 Eggs

2 Cups Self Raising Flour

1/4 Baking Soda

2/3 Cup Buttermilk

1 TBS Ground Ginger

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

Pre Heat Oven to 175C

Beat Butter, Sugar, and Golden Syrup until light and fluffy

Add Eggs 1 at a time, beat well after each addition

Sift in Flour, Baking Soda and Spices into creamed mixture

Mix through Buttermilk

Drop level tablespoons onto lined baking tray 5cms apart, cook 10-15 mins until risen and golden

Allow to completely cool and fill with sweetened whipped cream, drizzle with dark chocolate if desired