Day 5 - Trust me you wish you were there!!

So today has been a wonderful freaking day! We spent part of the afternoon with my Mom and Dad and my brother and his family. My sis-in-law M made the most DIVINE Cape Malay food to celebrate our South African Heritage and of course the end of the year! Trust me when I say to you that YOU WISH YOU WERE THERE!! Nothing hits the spot quite like a good curry (Tomato Bredie) and then a delish dessert (Koeksusters with coconut) to round it all off.

I don't have an in-depth recipe to share with you today - after our yummy lunch we needed something light for supper. I ended up making tuna sandwiches and cut up veggies. My one "cooking" tip today (if you like curry) is to add a dash or two of curry to your tuna and mayo. I think it's freaking yummers!

I cannot believe that 2011 is winding down all I keep thinking to myself is "Where did the year go??" But then I retrace the last few months and realize that there were many, many things that filled our days. There were highs and lows, happy times and sad times, milestones that were reached and many, many amazing fun, family and friend filled days! There were way less doctor visits for the little Diva and for this I am truly grateful. She is growing so well and learning new things every day!

I can't believe how blessed I am with my wonderful family and friends. Thank you so much to all of you - the ones I see often, those I hear from via email or phone call and those on Facebook - even those of you who read my blog :D I'm not sure there are too many of you but I'm having fun so I will keep it up.

I hope that you all had a wonderful 2011 and I hope that 2012 brings only good things your way!

Day 4 - Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

 So today has been quite the busy one. The poor Little Diva is growing molars and they turn her into quite the grump-a-lump! She took two naps today which she hasn't done in AGES and then she was a wee bit of a handful to get to sleep after her bath. Here's hoping she's a happy camper tomorrow! I did end up making two pots of soup today - but it's already late and one of them still needs to be pureed - so I may blog about those later in the week. For now I figured I'd share a recipe I discovered and edited a few months ago. My sis-in-law was having a get together. The conversation went as follows:

Me - So do you want me to bring anything?

Sis - yes that would be great could you make a dessert?

Me - sure thing any requests?

Sis - how about a coffee cake?

Me - do you mean a coffee flavoured cake or a cake you eat with coffee?

Sis - a cake you eat with coffee..

Me - ok I haven't made one of those before but I will find a recipe!

 

We will skip over the part where sis-in-law was surprised at my lack of coffee cake experience. Trust me - I was equally horrified :D I guess I tend to make cakes with icing of some sort. Anywho to get to the point - I found a recipe and substituted buttermilk for sour cream, walnuts for peacans and the rest is history! This cake tends to get finished when taken to functions. Here it is - enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup Margerine
• 5 ml vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 5 ml Baking Powder
• 2.5 ml baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup chopped peanuts or walnuts 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to sugar mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition.
2. Mix walnuts or pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spoon half of the pecan mixture into greased donut shaped cake tin and top with a third of the cake batter. Repeat the layers.
3. Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Loosen cake from side of pan with spatula or knife. Invert cake onto wire rack; gently remove pan. Cool completely. 

DAY 3 - My "not quite tartar sauce but it's yummy" sauce!

 

Okey dokey - so we in this household do love our tartar sauce with out fish! One fine "fish for dinner" evening we had run out of our condiment of choice and after perusing some tartar sauce recipes on the internet I came up with the following recipe. It's not exactly the same as tartar sauce but we enjoy it!

Put the following ingredients in a bowl:
1/4 cup Mayo
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped pickles (sweet)
1 clove garlic chopped
1 heaped table spoon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

 What to do with the ingredients:
Give them a good mix and put the bowl in the fridge until you're ready to eat it!

This recipe makes enough for 2-4 people. I served it with crumbed pink salmon, brown rice and beans and carrots.

Day 2 - Indian Style Tofu

 Ok so lets make something savory today. The hubby and I have been on a health kick for the last couple of months (damn you high cholesterol!!) and I try to cook meat-free dishes every couple of days. The diet has done wonders and it really has changed the way I cook and the way we eat! This recipe is one of our favourite meatless alternates.

some of the ingredients required

 Ingredients:
1 packages of Tofu (prefer the xtra firm silken)
1 large tomato
1medium onion
1 pepper (any colour)
30ml (or to taste) Clubhouse Indian Masala curry*
15 ml lemon juice
15ml olive oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

The tofu is now ready to go into the oven

What you do:
Set the oven to 425F/220C and line a baking tray with lightly oiled foil. Open the tofu and pour off the water. Cut the tofu into squares and put it into a dish with a lid. Cut up the onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes into smallish pieces and add to the dish. Now add the lemon juice, olive oil, spices, salt and pepper. Close the lid and gently move/shake the container around to mix the contents. If you have time to waste you can place the container in the fridge for an hour or two to marinade - but if like me you need dinner ready then just go ahead and dump this onto your oiled baking tray.

Cook for 30minutes on the middle rack.


 How to serve it?

Indian style Tofu with couscous and mixed steamed veggies

 I tend to serve the tofu with rice, couscous or quinoa and an assortment of steamed veggies. This evening I used couscous and a mix of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and lima beans.


* If you don't have the premixed clubhouse spice these work just as well:

15ml Curry powder
2.5ml Tumeric
Red Chilli powder to taste

If there are any recipes that you would like me to share or to try please feel free to leave me a comment and I will see what I can do!!

Day 1 - Spiced Chocolate Crackles

Ok so here we go with the first tried and tested recipe! I have made these cookies several times over the holiday season. They are gluten and dairy free and are richly decadent!

The recipe comes from The Toronto Star's Advent Cookie Calendar. Here is a link: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1097718

I followed the recipe for the most part but left out the chilli spice. I doubt that they spice actually makes the cookies "hot" but they were going to be consumed by children so I didn't want to take the risk! As it turns out the cookies are soft and rich like Chocolate brownies and the little Diva throws a fit if she even catches a glance of them and isn't offered at least one bite!! The hubby wasn't the biggest fan of these but the majority of the other family members who tried them (3 of them Gluten intollerant) LOVED them!

I plan to make my Indian Style Tofu tonight so stay tuned for the recipe and pictures tomorrow.

For those of you not wanting to click the cookie link here is the text recipe:

Spiced Chocolate Crackles
 
225 g semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp (30 mL) unsalted butter
1-1/4 cup (310 mL) ground almonds
1 tsp (5 mL) ancho chili powder
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each: ground cinnamon, ground cloves, table salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
1/2 cup (125 mL) icing sugar, sifted

In double boiler or heatproof bowl fitted over a gently simmering pan of water, melt chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. (I just did mine on low heat in a pot) Remove from heat. Stir in almonds, ancho, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla until pale and thick, 2 minutes. Fold in chocolate mixture until combined. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. (I left mine in the fridge over night and they worked perfectly)

Form dough into 1-inch (2.5-cm) balls. Roll balls in icing sugar. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets 2-inches (5-cm) apart.

Bake on middle rack of preheated 350F (180C) oven until puffed, cracked and dry at edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely. Store in airtight container up to 1 week.

365 Project!

Ok so here's the deal - I am going to attempt to complete a 365 project. This endeavor (whether or not I succeed) is my little sister's fault. And I say "fault" with all kinds of sisterly love. It is also her fault that I have an almost complete first draft of a novel on my laptop - and I love her for that. I'm not sure that I've ever been terribly disappointed by one of her suggested adventures :D

Sooo in a nutshell the point of a 365 project is to do something each day for 365 days and to blog about it. Here are a few examples:

http://astrangeraday.tumblr.com/page/2 - this person spoke to a stranger a day using tattoos as a conversation starter

http://365jars.com/ - this person hid "art jars" each day for a year with her contact info on them and collected info about the finders!

Anywho there are lots and lots of examples out there on the big old internet if you have a search engine and some time to blow. I personally would LOVE to do a "hiding" project because covert hiding operations and hearing about who found your objects sounds like WAY too much fun. There are however logistical issues that have convinced me that this is a bad idea. Firstly and really this one is pretty much the reason I don't want to do it - the idea of strangers figuring out who I am or where I live freaks me out no end. Also I know Id be convinced that everyone was following me or looking at me suspiciously as I tried to hide whatever it was I was hiding. Let's just say that I wouldn't be a prime candidate to replace either Santa or the Easter Bunny. :D

Plus and this is a biggie - I'd be exposing the Little Diva to the same scary, creepy, stranger fearing experience and I cannot do that!! Picture me screaming and running hysterically through a park - pushing the Little Diva's stroller at a ridiculous speed while non stalking strangers eyes us suspiciously as we pass. It is not a pretty picture - hilarious - but not pretty.

So I thought to myself - What the heck can I realistically expect to do on a daily basis that I can blog about? I considered doing a photo blog - but that didn't really include much writing and as a person who fully intends to get published (and  to rake in some movie deals) I thought it may be a wee bit important to practice my art.

So yes I was at the questioning stage. I concluded that I spend the vast majority of my time running after the Little Diva - and I also I tend to prepare at least 2 or more meals a day (WAY more if you consider all the things I offer the Little Diva throughout the day). Cooking and Baking was the clear winner. I decided not to exploit my kid (much) - although you can bet she will get several mentions throughout this blog (as will the hubby) because lets face it - they are generally the people being exposed to my baking and cooking. So yes this will be a 365 recipe sharing adventure.

Welcome to 365 days of Eating - let the adventure BEGIN!!!

Adventures in Gluten-free baking (and cooking)!!

A number of my family members have (in the last year or two) discovered that they have various "intolerances". NO I'm not talking about intolerances to stupid people, waiting in line, snow, calories and fungus-infested-unidentifiable fridge leftovers. I'm taking about gluten and dairy intolerance. I love baking so it has been entertaining to try various gluten-free recipes to feed to these family members. I find that many recipes are little disappointing and that it does take some time to find things that work. The hardest part is making things that don't taste "gluten-free (GF)". Many of the GF flours have strong tastes to them and they can alter the taste of a cookie quite dramatically.

My little sister who is Gluten and Dairy intolerant (also SEVERELY allergic to stupid people) is currently visiting from South Africa and spent a week with us. We tried several recipes while she was here and most cooking escapades started with me handing the sister several ingredients and saying, "Check can you eat these?" If she said "no" to any items I invariably handed her a different option and this continued until we had amassed enough "safe" ingredients with which to construct something edible!

I have a family "dateball" recipe that I often used to make when I was a student as a study snack. The original recipe calls for crushed marie biscuits but when my sister and I recently shopped for ingredients we couldn't find a suitable GF biscuit and the store we were at. It was late - the little Diva was getting cranky and so we settled on a box of GF brown rice crispies. The plan was to make these together after The Little Diva went to sleep.... buut thanks to teething she didn't go to bed until after her aunty. I ended up making these myself before bed because I needed to unwind. The resulting snacks were - if I may say so myself - freaking awesome!! I might even go so far as to say they were better than the originals.

Here is the recipe I used in its modified form:

Ingredients:
175g butter (I used Earth Balance buttery flavoured spread - you can get this at Metro, Superstore etc)
 200g palm sugar (Bulkbarn)
100g white sugar (you can use palm sugar here too I just didn't have enough! :))
250g dates finely chopped
1tsp vanilla essence
approximately 3 cups of brown rice crispies (Metro, Bulkbarn or Superstore)
Coconut

Method:
Melt the butter in a large pan on the stove (medium heat) and add the sugar. Stir until it has dissolved. Add the dates and cook until they feel soft.You should continue to stir the mix to keep it from burning (I like to up the heat a little if I'm actively stirring). I tend to cook the dates for 5 or so minutes after they soften because I like the date balls to be firmer. Remove the pot from the hot stove plate and stir in the vanilla essence and the rice crispies. Stir in enough of the rice so that the mixture isn't too sticky. You need to be able to roll it into balls. Be warned that the mixture is going to be VERY VERY hot. Using a spoon grab a nice heaped teaspoon and drop it into the coconut - dip it and then roll into a ball. I find that it's easier to do it this way until the mixture has cooled enough. Perhaps it is all on my head but the coconut seems to act as a bit of an insulator! When it is cooler you can go ahead and roll the balls before dropping them in the coconut. Leave them to cool and enjoy :)

There you have it - the first of hopefully many tried and tested GF recipes!