Can I have a pink chocolate dolly cake?

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Fruit n nut cookies - with or without egg

Ingredients:

150g soft butter
1/2 cup soft dark brown sugar
1/2 cup soft light brown sugar
1 T dessicated coconut
2 T flaked almonds
2 T dried cherries
2 T chopped dried apricots
1 T pumpkin seeds
1 cup plain flour
1 t baking powder
2.5 cups oats
1 egg or 1/2 cup whipped double cream

Method:

• cream butter and sugars
• add egg or lightly whipped cream
• add flour
• add fruit n nuts n oats
• roll into balls and flatten
• cook at 160 deg C for 20 minutes
  

Simple Soya Pasta:

Just add tamari to taste!

Ayurvedic Sweets

Dry tickly cough-try this:

• Soak almonds in water overnight.
• Remove there skins
• Make a paste of the peeled almonds with a little butter and sugar

This is good for a dry cough. My daughter is very suspicious of any paste like food items, so I turned the paste into balls and coated them in sprinkles and chocolate flakes.
Now show me a child who can resist medicine which looks like sweets!

My best ever Spaghetti Bolognese

Quick, nutritious and very, very, very tasty!

The secret ingredient!

It was so good that I did not even need to add the can of kidney beans I had waiting in the aisles, but that's an option.

In hot oil add:

• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 small cinnamon stick(the rough barked  Indian type)
• 2 crushed black cardamons
• 1 t freshly ground(in PnM) coriander seeds
• 1t cumin seeds

Soon after add:

• 1 diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 T grated ginger
• 2 sticks diced celery
• 3/4 diced red pepper 
• 1 T frozen sweetcorn
• 4-5 chopped mushrooms
• 1 t salt
• 0.5 t garam masala
• 0.25 t turmeric
•  1 T chopped mild red jalapenos (see pic of jar above)
• 1 pk organic minced lamb (~400-500g)
• 1 tin tomatoes
• 1 T tomato ketchup

Cook covered for ~30mins in total, but stir at 8-10 min intervals.  Must be served with organic spelt spaghetti for maximum taste and nutrition.

Leek and Potato soup

I felt that this soup called for the herb 'tarragon', but not having any on hand I used fennel seeds which hit the spot.  Simple to make, using up the tired leeks and potatoes in the back of the fridge.  

Purple and Pink

Couldn't resist a picture of my daughter in her purple and pink top holding the beautiful purple and pink beans.  Nature knows the colours that contrast well.

Rasmalai

Simple recipe

MMMMMmmmmm Tastes as good as it looks.

I found this recipe on the www first but something about it was not working for me. I called my aunt for her recipe which I heard also uses ricotta cheese. It sounded the same but I asked her to send me the recipe. One simple stage made all the difference-Mix together by hand! Previously I had unwittingly used a whisk and the results were a close texture rather than a more crumbly open texture achieved by hand mixing. My addition to the recipe is the vanilla flavoured milk syrup and the ground cardamon.

You need:

• ricotta cheese 2 cartons
• sugar 1/4 to 1/2 cup, depending on how sweet toothed you are!
• ground cardamon 1 t
• 1 pint whole milk
• 1/2-1 large can evaporated milk (or use 2 pints of milk instead)
• vanilla dusting sugar
• flaked almonds or pistachios and rose petals to decorate

1. Mix the first 3 ingredients together by hand
2. Divide the mixture into a lined 12 cup muffin pan
3. Cook in oven for 40 mins fan oven 160 degrees C (lower if using more sugar)
4. Reduce the pint of milk to half by bringing to the boil and then simmering on a low heat.
5. Add the evaporated milk and a good dusting of the vanilla icing sugar(1t)
6. Place the cooked patties into the prepared milk syrup and chill.
7. Decorate-especially good with crushed pistachios!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1. The Little Miss decided to help herself to an ice-cream from the freezer!!!
2. The freezer was left open!!!
3. The Frozen chicken legs started thawing!!!
4. I did not want to start any heavy cooking having just cleared away lunch!!!
5. Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner!!!

The Simple Base:
celery,onion, carrot, sweetcorn and a big fat juicy bay leaf from the garden:)

• Saute for 6-8 minutes
• Season with Salt n Peppa
  
• Fill pan with water
• Throw in the frozen chicken
• Bring to the boil and forget about it...
• ...until the chicken is cooked
• Remove chicken and shred
  
• Throw back into stock base with addition of dried noodles
• I use my store cupboard iron fortified ones:

Vegetable Stir-fry Steps

The Veg:


The Sauces:

The Base:

Noodles and Spring Onion garnish:

The Egg:

Crushed Peanuts:

Mix it up and EAT!!!