Mango Smoothie

In my wonderful country town we are currently 'enjoying' a blend of 37C-40C. Thankfully our old house was built with this sort of weather in mind, and our house is staying at a slightly more reasonable temperature.

Whilst I am definitely not basking in the delightful heat, I am happy that I finally get to follow the lead of Miss Indie who has been making an array of smoothies. I have been very impressed by the ingredients she has used, but I'm going to try her Peanut Butter & Jelly recipe another day and stick to an old favourite of mine.

Mango Smoothie

I love mango's. I learnt pretty quickly that it's a hate or love situation, I'm yet to find an in-between-er....So if mango's aren't your thing, steer clear of this recipe because the mango flavour comes out prominently .

You will need:
A blender
Mango cut in chunks and frozen
1/4 cup of milk (I use slightly less)
Frozen berries
 A drizzle of honey/sugar

1.Blend your mango and milk together until smooth.
2. Add honey/sugar to taste
3. Pour into a tall glass and top off with some frozen berries.

Cold, scrummy and healthy!

Statement Collar

 
I love burda. I think it's the coolest fashion magazine for those who like to make their own stuff, rather then buy it.

Unfortunately the rest of the my family, the female side, feel the same way. This is when my Mum pulls rank, and gets to browse it first. Next is whoever happened to be on the scene when my little brother gets the mail.

"Mum! Mum!" (running into sewing room) "Can I read burda after you!" (Pokes tongue out at other sister).

Anyway, the most recent burda (1/2013) had a page on Peter Pan Collars. The brief tutorial shows how to remove a collar from a guy's shirt and make into a cute accessory.

I don't know about anyone else, but my Dad doesn't throw clothes out. He is horrified when Mum threatens to throw out his clothes because they have holes in them. "Throw it out? Are you kidding?That shirt had at least another 10 years in it. The hole isn't even visible from the front."

I didn't even bother asking Dad if he would donate a shirt to me, instead I made my own collar.

I made the collar out of a vintage fabric (donated by Grandma, she bought it 35 years ago) and added a cute bow which I hoarded from the top of a Birthday card. (I may have a compulsive'I could use that one day..." problem, but hey, every other crafty person I know has it too!). Then I coaxed (Tea, Chocolate Sundae and lots of compliments) my Mum into sewing a button loop on for me, and added a little button to the other end.

Cute huh?
To bad I forgot to take step by step instructions. I pinky promise that when I make another (eyeing cute grey fabric in fabric stash) I will do a detailed tutorial.

Sponge Cupcakes & Peppermint Cake Pops

Christmas is almost here, and its time to bring out the sugar.

This delightful Christmas cup is full of Candy Canes, Sponge Cupcakes and Peppermint Cake Pops. I claim no credit for the candy canes, I bought them at the shops. However the Cupcakes and Cake Pops are my unoriginal creations.

Sponge Cupcakes:

You will need:

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup flour

1-2 drops vanilla essence 

a cupcake tray filled with patties

1. Beat the eggs until thick and bright yellow. 

2. Beat in the sugar gradually, until well mixed. 

3. Sift the flour and fold into the mixture gently.

4. Add the vanilla essence, and pour into cupcake patties.

5. Cook at 180C until lightly brown on top.

I iced my cupcakes with pink butter cream using an "AVANTI" icing gun. You might like to try crushing candy canes and sprinkling them on top of the icing.

Peppermint Cake Pops:

You will need:

A bowl of crumbled cake  (I made a double batch of sponge cupcakes and crumbled half of them warm from the oven)

A large spoonful of jam

Melted dark chocolate (approximately half a  standard block of chocolate)

4 candy canes

Lollipop sticks or short marshmallow sticks.

1. Crush the candy canes roughly on a chopping board.

2. Stir the jam and cake together and roll into small balls.

3. Melt the chocolate over a low heat.

4. Dip each stick into the chocolate and insert a chocolate coated end into each ball. Freeze for 10 minutes.

5. Re-melt the chocolate and dip each cake ball in, making sure the chocolate is even. 

6. Whilst the chocolate is still soft, sprinkle the crushed candy cane over the cake pops and stand in a cup. 

7. Once all the cake pops are coated and sprinkled, freeze in the freezer.

 

Cinnamon Scrolls

I happened to come across a recipe for Cinnamon scrolls on the Internet. It didn't take long for my mouth to start watering, and with a few tweaks to the low-fat recipe they were delicious!

To make these sugary treats you will need:

1 1/3 tablespoons of yeast

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup of white sugar

3 cups plain flour

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

Sticky Jam cupcakes

My sister hates Sticky Date pudding. In her opinion, dates are not edible. I on the other hand, love the goey delicousness that makes sticky date pudding so wonderful. When the request for cupcakes came, I knew I had a challange:

Make sticky date cupcakes- without the dates.

I decided to adapt a chocolate cake recipe, as most chocolate cakes have jam in them. If I could subtract the coco and icing suger from the recipe, I should have a sticky cupcake recipe.

So I did,

I was a little worried over the mixture colour, as grey sludge does not look like an appealing cupcake mixture. However, once the cupcakes were cooked they turned a nice brown colour.

My adaptions weren't entirely perfect (Big surprise!) as the cupcakes were super sweet. I coated them in Dark chocolate gnash, and added frozen chocolate flowers on top: Perfect!

To make these cupcakes you will need:

1. 75g butter at room temperature

2.125g  caster sugar

3. 2 eggs

4. Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

5. 1/2 cup blackberry Jam (Or if blackberry isn't to your taste, another jam will work fine)

6. 1 and 1/4 sifted self-raising flour

7. 1 teaspoon sifted bicarbonate of soda

8. 2/3 cup of milk

Step 1. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Take 3 cupcake trays and fill them with patty pans.

Step 2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mix master/ or similar. Add the eggs gradually, and beat in the vanilla and jam. 

Step 3. Turn the speed down to low (1-3) and add the combined flour and bicarb soda alternatively with the milk.

Step 4. Pour the mixture into the cupcake trays and cook for 15 minutes or until brown.

Step 5. Turn the cupcakes onto a wire tray and allow to cool. Ice and eat!

  P.S.I left some of the cupcakes un-iced and they were deliciously sticky!

Rainbow Cupcakes

When I was little ~ 11 and under~ my favourite ice-cream was rainbow. As a kid I never bothered trying other flavours, I was firm in my understanding that there was No better flavour then rainbow.

I've moved on. Today I eat the delicious and mature flavours of macadamia and raspberry.
However every once in a while I have an urge to make cook something pretty, not because I'm craving cake (Although I was!) , but because pretty food makes me smile.

A faint trace of my early ice-cream choices still remains, so I made Rainbow Cupcakes.

I know right? Feel those cupcakes cravings consume you~ and go make your own.

You will need:

A cake/cupcake batter ( I used the plain cake recipe from The Common Sense Cookbook)

4 different food dyes

A cupcake tray

Cupcake cases

A lot of spoons (I used about 6)
 4 small bowls

1. Take the bowls and fill them almost to the top with cake batter.

2. Stir a different dye into each bowl, until the colour is evenly mixed.

 

3. Start with one colour and place a small spoonful of batter in each cupcake case. Repeat with all of the remaining colours.

4. Even out the top of the cupcake,and very gently shake the tray until the batter is in the cupcake case shape.

5. Bake for 20min or until a fork comes out clean when stuck in a cupcake.

Ice and eat!

Chickpea Fritters

These delicious fritters are healthy and nutritious. When I make them for my family we have them hot in bread rolls with salad and Greek Yogurt, or cold in lunches.

To make these chickpea delights you will need:

1 cup of Self-Raising flour

4tsp of coriander seeds

2tsp mild paprika

a pinch of salt

pepper (to your taste)

3tsp cumin seeds

1/3 cup of water

Olive oil

One small onion (diced)

2 eggs

600g can of chickpeas (drained)

1.Grind the coriander, pepper, paprika, salt and cumin into a fine dust. Take a food processor and mix the flour and spice mixture.

2.Whisk the eggs and water together in a separate bowl, and add to the dry mixture.

3. Process this mixture with the chickpeas and onion until it is blended to a smooth consistency.

4. Coat a non-stick frying pan with olive oil and place on a low heat. Drop heaped spoons of batter on the pan, and cook until golden. When both sides are evenly cooked transfer to a warm plate and serve.

Enjoy!