Taste of Kiwi

I have a terrible sweet tooth. I blame my father. He’s always liked anything sweet ranging from dessert to cakes and sweets. It would be much easier if I hadn’t inherited this gene, but I try to control myself as much as possible.

My father is a farmer. He’s worked hard all his life and has never had a weight problem. My sister thinks, and I agree, he should be allowed to indulge his sweet tooth. He can’t hurt his teeth since he has false ones.

He has a lolly jar that my sister fills periodically. There used to be a running joke. My sister would fill the jar and before she knew it, the lolly jar would be empty again. My father always denied everything and said that Joe ate them. (Joe was my sister’s big foot cat. He was a real character but he died earlier this year) This is how the conversation would go:

“My lolly jar is empty.”

“But I filled it a few days ago,” my sister would say.

“Joe has been in the lolly jar again,” my father would say. “He’s a real fiend. I told him off but he keeps eating the lollies.”

After Joe died, my father forgot for a minute. He tried the lolly jar is empty and Joe ate them.

“Ah-ha!” said my sister. “You can’t blame Joe. He isn’t here.”

My father is still trying to come up with a good excuse.

Those of you with a sweet tooth will probably curse me in a moment. I found this recipe for Coconut Ice in my favorite food magazine – Taste. It’s incredibly easy and uses the microwave rather than a saucepan on the stove top. It would be great for those times when you need to make something for a fete or school fair.

1 kg icing sugar or 2.2 pounds(confectioner’s sugar in US)
1/2 cup milk
200 g butter or 1.76 sticks of butter
4 cups long coconut threads
2 – 3 drops red food coloring

Mix the icing sugar, milk and butter in a large microwaveable bowl and microwave for 2 minutes or until the butter has melted. Stir in the coconut.

Spread half the mixture into a baking paper-lined slice tin. Smooth until flat. Add a couple of drops of red food coloring to the remaining half and mix well. Spread on top of the white layer and carefully smooth until flat. Refrigerate the coconut ice until firm then cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

Notes: If I’m making it for myself I make half the recipe. I couldn’t purchase the long coconut threads and use normal dessicated coconut. I’ve given the conversions NZ to US.

This is really yummy stuff.

Do you have a sweet tooth? What is your biggest sugary indulgence?

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This recipe is taken from one of Jo Seagar’s cookbooks called Jo Seagar Cooks and as the title states, the quiche is very easy to make. It’s the perfect thing for a summer picnic, unexpected guests or a quick weekend dinner.

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated tasty cheese
1 small onion peeled and chopped
6 rashers of rindless bacon chopped
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups of your choice of vegetables (chopped mushrooms, peppers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, corn, peas, beans, grated pumpkin etc) – your imagination is the limit when it comes to vegetables.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Spray a medium – to large size lasagne dish with no stick baking spray. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into the prepared dish and bake for 40 – 45 minutes until set and golden brown. If your oven is a fan one reduce the cooking time accordingly. It takes around 30 -35 minutes in a fan oven. Serves 6 people.

Note – if you prefer a vegetarian option just leave out the bacon. That’s what I do.

What is your favorite food to take on a picnic?

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My husband made these little chocolate mousses last weekend. They were quick and easy to make and delicious! Here’s the recipe:

75 g dark chocolate, chopped and melted. (Use ordinary chocolate rather than chocolate with high cocoa content) (2.5 oz)
2 eggs, separated
25 g butter, melted (1/5 of a stick of butter)
2 Tablespoons caster sugar
1 Tablespoon Tia Maria (optional) We used Kahlua since that’s all we had in the pantry.

Mix the melted chocolate with the egg yolks and butter. Whisk the egg whites and then whisk in the sugar until the mixture is shiny and stiff. Fold the two mixtures together and add the Tia Maria. Divide into four glasses and chill until set. We used espresso cups and garnished the mousse with toasted slivers of almonds. They took 15 minutes to prepare.

Source: Taste Magazine – June 2010

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I’ve always wanted to make gingerbread men and finally got around to it this weekend. They were surprisingly easy to make and, once the dough is made, children of all ages would have fun rolling out the dough and cutting out the gingerbread men. The perfect activity for a spring break.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons golden syrup
75g caster sugar (about 3 oz)
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
75g butter (about 3/4 of a stick)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
225g plain flour (8 oz)

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) Gently melt syrups, sugar, water an spices in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring well. Remove from heat, add butter and baking soda. Add enough sifted flour to make a firm dough. Sit aside to cool. Roll out dough and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Decorate with currants or chocolate bits as desired and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden and crisp

Source: www.foodlovers.co.nz

Shelley’s notes: The recipe made nine gingerbread men, although if I hadn’t kept nibbling at the dough, it would have probably made ten. I cooked mine for ten minutes, but if I made them again I think I’d cook them for eight minutes because my oven cooks fast. The final result was yummy, but I need more practice with my piping. Use raisins, currants, M & Ms or plain icing for decoration. You could even use something like dried cranberries. Your imagination is the only limit!

Have you made gingerbread men before?

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One of author Jenyfer Matthews’ resolutions for 2010 is to try a new recipe each month. I thought it was a great idea, so I’m doing the same thing. This is my recipe for January—easy and healthy ice cream.

Easy Ice Cream

Ingredients: One banana per person (not over ripe), berries (blueberries, raspberries, boysenberries, red currants etc), yoghurt or a little milk.

Peel and chop the bananas into pieces, place in a container with a lid or a ziplock bag and place in the freezer. I leave them overnight but around three hours in the freezer should do the trick.

Take bananas out of the freezer and place in a food processor. Add berries. I’ve used frozen blueberries and with this batch I used frozen mixed berries. You can also use fresh berries.

Blitz the bananas and berries in the food processor. It will be noisy for a little while. At this stage I use one to two tablespoons of plain yoghurt to help the ingredients bind together. I think you could actually use milk or soy milk at this stage, but I haven’t experimented with this.

The final product will be like thick soft freeze ice cream. Serve and eat straight away. You can actually freeze it, but you need to give it another blitz through the food processor so it isn’t hard and icy to eat. It really is better to eat the ice cream straightaway.

Do you like to experiment with new recipes or do you stick with the tried and true family favorites?

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I have a special guest today–Alisha Rai who is celebrating the release of her new book Cabin Fever. Like many writers Alisha is an avid reader and this started her journey to published author. Today she’s talking about weather, seasons and yummy treats. I definitely want to try this recipe!

I recently moved to the Midwest from Florida, where one of my chief complaints was the utter lack of seasons. Yeah, sunshine is awesome, but after a few years of nonstop heat and humidity (and sometimes hurricanes, but for the sake of my remaining property value, I’m not going to bring that up again), I found myself starting to long for some cool weather.

Let’s not get crazy. As fond as I am of the time I lived in Buffalo, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to experience that kind of a winter again. But right now, the weather’s going through that lovely shift from summer to fall. There are too many wonderful things that make this time perfect for me: the cool mornings, the colors of the changing leaves, the slight smell of smoke in the air…and the flavors.

Heck, yes. The flavors of fall. It’s a full section in my recipe box. September’s here, people! It’s socially acceptable to eat pumpkin pie! Not to mention a whole bunch of other tasty things which just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, even as the weather turns chillier.

So what’s cozier than a good cup of hot cocoa? To keep my hero and heroine warm—not that they really needed help—I featured the following drink in my new release, Cabin Fever.

By the way, the name of the drink is, you guessed it: Cabin Fever. Because I’m just that big of a nerd. I can’t help it, I must sprinkle corny, obscure inside jokes into my stories. Forgive me.

Ingredients:
One shot of Baileys
One shot of crème de menthe
Whipped cream
Cup of hot chocolate (or to taste)

Mix the Bailey’s and crème de menthe, pour in the hot chocolate and stir. Garnish with whipped cream, shaved chocolate and a cherry. Enjoy and stay warm!

Alisha Rai
www.alisharai.com
alisharai.wordpress.com
Cabin Fever Now Available!

Do you have any questions for Alisha? Do you like to have different seasons? Do you like the change of seasons? Do you like a kick to your hot chocolate?

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Pumpkin is a member of the Cucurbita family, which includes squash and cucumbers. Pumpkins are grown in most parts of the world. It’s rich in potassium and Vitamin A and contains 90% water. In the USA 80% of the pumpkin supply is available in October.

This is a shot of a small pumpkin market Mr. Munro and I discovered during our visit to Maine a few years ago. (The photo was scanned, hence the black surrounding).
We were fascinated because we don’t have anything like this in New Zealand. We don’t carve pumpkins or eat pumpkin pie (as a rule). As a child, we ate pumpkin whenever we had a roast dinner or sometimes we’d have mashed pumpkin. These days our favorite way to eat pumpkin is in a salad.

Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 2-3cm pieces
2 tsp oil
300g can of Chickpeas, well drained
250g round green beans, blanched
1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
8 black olives (optional)
1/4 cup of your favorite vinaigrette dressing (we like a balsamic dressing)
150g feta cheese, diced
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley

Method

1. Combine prepared pumpkin and oil, toss well until lightly coated, season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking paper lined oven tray.
2. Cook at 200°C for 25-30 minutes or until golden and tender.
3. Combine the chickpeas, cooked green beans, slices red onion, olives, add warm roasted pumpkin and vinaigrette dressing. Toss gently until well combined.
4. Arrange salad on a platter, scatter with feta and parsley leaves. Serve immediately.

My husband and I like this salad hot but it’s equally good cold, after the pumpkin and green beans have cooled. To vary the salad we sometimes use a can of mixed beans (with kidney beans, chickpeas etc) rather than straight chickpeas.

Do you like pumpkin? What’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin? If you’re in the US, have you carved a pumpkin this year?

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You might have seen this recipe on the loops recently.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that’s plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

I decided to try the cake and hubby and I both enjoyed it for our dessert, served with yoghurt.
It’s quite a dense cake because there’s no baking powder, but it definitely rises. A little too well. If you make it, put a plate under your mug when it’s cooking in the microwave to save on cleanup. Also make sure you clean your plate and mugs straightaway because the mixture adheres rather well! I mixed the egg, oil and milk in a separate mug and added to the flour mix. Hubby and I also decided that one mug cake was enough for two.

I decided I’d try a variation:

Leave out the cocoa and chocolate chips. Grate in the rhind of half a lemon and add a handful of berries. I added raspberries because I like them but blueberries would work. Mix in the same way with all the other ingredients. Once your mug cake is cooked – squeeze half a lemon into a cup and mix in two teaspoons of sugar. Stir and spoon over your cake before eating. Serve with cream, ice cream or yoghurt. This was yummy!!

A third variation would be replacing the chocolate and chocolate chips with instant coffee and a few chopped walnuts.

Enjoy!!

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After a solid week of edits, I’ve decided to have a lazy weekend. I’ve just made a batch of one of my favorite muffins and thought I’d share the recipe with you. It’s taken from New Zealander Alison Holst’s Marvellous Muffins recipe book, and it’s one I make often.

2 cups self-raising flour (I didn’t have any so I used 2 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder)
3/4 cup of sugar

75 grams butter
1 cup milk
1 egg
grated rind of 1 large or 2 small lemons

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Measure the flour and sugar into a bowl and toss to mix. Melt the butter, add the milk, egg and lemon rind and beat well with a fork to combine. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and combine only until the dry ingredients have been lightly dampened but not overly mixed. Divide the mixture evenly between 12 medium-sized muffin pans. (I used paper muffin cases since I hate both greasing the tin and cleaning it afterward!)

Bake at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes. (I find the time depends on the oven. I cooked mine for 10 minutes and found they needed a couple minutes more)

Stir together the lemon juice and sugar without dissolving the sugar and drizzle this over the hot muffins as soon as they come out of the oven. Leave to stand in the pan for only a few minutes after this since the syrup hardens and sticks to the pan when it cools.

Notes: As always I improvise. I use mainly white flour but add a little wholemeal as well. These are also good served with a little fresh fruit and Greek yoghurt. Yum!

I really like muffins. Blueberry are my favorite. I like these lemons ones and also another recipe I make with raspberry jam in the middle and a sugary cinnamon topping. I’ll save that recipe for another time. Strangely, chocolate comes down the list for me, that’s unless it has lots of chocolate chips inside!

Do you like muffins and if so, what is your favorite kind?

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