Two Cakes

The Twins just turned 4!! How time is flying!! They requested two cakes this year: a truck, and Minnie Mouse! So, after much though, planning, and 3.5 hours work, here are the results!!

Truck and Minnie Mouse

Soup and Sorbet

This past weekend was a cooking weekend!

I made a special birthday dinner for Sean, involving Bobotie, raspberry-blackberry Crumble and a really really nice bottle of Groot Constantia's 2011 Constantia Rood red.... It was really really yummy!! The Bobotie worked well, despite some complications in cooking time. The crumble was really nice and the wine... Oh the wine was AMAZING!!!! No phone photos, so will upload camera photos later.

Other cooking involved a no-recipe scratch chicken soup: 

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Pre-blended... ends up bright pink!

And then we made Raspberry-Blackberry Sorbet!! It was super easy and delicious! We found the recipe in my new birthday present cookbook- awesome!

Fruit Sorbet

Ingredients:

1 lbs frozen berries

1/2 cup yoghurt

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water.

Method:
Blend in food processor just enough to breakdown the berries, but not too muh else they liquefy. We ate immediately, but could also put back in freezer...

Quinoa Salad

 For the same BBQ as the Raspberry Brie Bites, I also made a Zesty Quinoa Salad, again the recipe was found online.

 I'm new to quinoa, so this was an easy adventure into that world.

Zesty Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:
200g quinoia

2 cups of water

2 limes, juiced

1.5 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

1 can black beans, drained

salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

Cook the quinoia and water - same method as rice, 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Chop up the tomatoes, onions, cilantro etc.  Set aside.

Mix dressing: olive oil, lime juice, cumin, chili flakes, whisked together. 

Combine all ingredients, mix well. Chill, then serve.

I'm not entirely sold on it, but it's not terrible. I shall do further experiments.

Party Results:

Raspberry Brie Bites

Some good friends were hosting a rooftop BBQ downtown and asked me to bring some treats.  I'd been eyeing these on Pintrest, so decided to give them a go. I'm so glad I did, as they are delicious!! Rather labour intensive, so...

Raspberry Brie Bites

Ingredients:
Brie cheese - enough to cut 32 small bites.
Puff Pastry - a package with 2 rolls, or enough to make 32 squares.
Raspberries
Jam/fruit preserve

Method:
Pre-prepare the cheese by cutting the 32 pieces. Keep in fridge to maintain consistency.

Roll out half of the dough, using some flour on the rolling surface and rolling pin to avoid sticking.  Cut into 4, and then 4 again. Eventually you will have 32 squares.

Dollop jam into the center of the pastry. Then add a raspberry and a piece of brie.

Decide how you want to 'close' the pastries. I found bunching up all 4 corners, using some water, to be the most efficient. Another method would be to create mini turnovers.   Be sure to press the edges of pastry togther very tightly.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Watch carefully - the pastry edges will separate and the jam and cheese tends to run 'out' of the pastries. The firmer you press the pastry edges together, the better.

Cool for a few minutes, and then serve warm.

Observations:
I made these with boysenberry jam, my favourite. They were delicious warm. I had to serve them cold at the BBQ, but people still seemed to enjoy them.

Mulligatawny Soup

Curry Soup for the Win!

Another day, another craving. This time it was for some of my favourite soup: Mulligatawny. It's essentially a chicken and rice curry soup. Really enjoy it, so go eat some!

Original Recipe

Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
1/4 cup white rice
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch dried thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream, heated

Method:
Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour. Add apple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done. When serving, add hot cream.

Mini Raspberry Blackberry Crumble

One night I was suddenly craving crumble. Then I remembered I have little ramekins, and decided to experiment how many personalized crumbles I could make with the same recipe as a proper crumble... the answer is: 6! And they freeze quite well too! Horrah!

Raspberry Blackberry Crumbles:

See previous Apple Crumble post (also, super secret). 

Put in frozen raspberries and blackberries into little ramekin, cover with crumble, bake for 30min at 350 F,  let cool a few minutes, and enjoy!!

YUM!

Delicious!

Ducky Cake

Made this set of cakes for my nieces 2nd Birthday... and I think it is safe to say it was a hit!!

Quaaak!