Wholemeal Baps

I baked some wholemeal baps today.

They came out so soft and tasty. I followed the recipe properly this time (think I was a bit lazy last time), and when it said knead for 5 minutes, I set a timer and did as I was told!! It's a really good recipe, have a go...........

I put the photos on my Flickr page.

Here is the 'BEFORE BAKING' photo.



Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons (7g) dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup (125ml) warm water
- 1/2 cup (125ml) warm milk
- (200g) wholemeal flour
- (135g) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 40g butter

Cooking Method
1- Combine yeast, sugar, water and milk in a small bowl, whisk until yeast is dissolved. Cover bowl, stand in warm place about 10 mins or until mixture is frothy.
2- Sift flour and salt into a large bowl, rub in butter. Stir in yeast mixture, mix to a soft dough. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead about 5 mins or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in a large greased bowl, cover, stand in warm place about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.
3- Turn dough onto a floured surface, knead until smooth, divide dough into 6 equal portions, knead into balls. Place balls about 5cm apart on floured oven tray. Dust lightly with a little extra flour, cover with a cloth. Stand in a warm place about 10 mins.
4- Dust balls again with a little more flour. Bake in hot oven (210C) for about 15 minutes.




Can a snack be any more English? :o)
Bread with strawberry jam and a cup of tea ... perfect!

I cooked this Greek recipe today for dinner.
It was supposed to be Spicy Aromatic Chicken, but I only had turkey in the freezer so I improvised a little :o)

The spices give this dish a true Balkan flavour. It is thought to have been invented by nomadic tribes who once wondered all over the Balkans and Greece. Serve with rice, pasta or potatoes. I chose to serve it with Roast Potatoes.



Ingredients:
- turkey pieces
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- garlic paste
- tomato paste
- 400g canned chopped tomatoes in juice
- pinch of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground all spice
- salt and pepper
- can of peas

Cooking Method:
1- Cover the turkey pieces with the lemon juice. Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole or large lidded pan. Add the onion and fry for 5 mins until soft. Add the turkey pieces and fry for 5-10 mins until browned on all sides.
2- Poor in a little more lemon juice and add the tomatoes with their juice, the sugar, cinnamon, allspice, garlic paste, tomato paste, salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 45 minutes, until the turkey is tender.
3- Add the peas 10 mins before the end of cooking, and continue to simmer until heated through. Serve hot with a little feta cheese sprinkled on top if desired. Enjoy :o)

Grilled Vegetables and Chicken

Courgettes and Aubergines are my favourite vegetables so I cooked a meal of grilled veg tonight, with chicken, feta cheese and green olives.

You can also find details of this recipe on my Flickr page



Method
- Either using a grill, a BBQ or a griddle pan, grill courgettes (zucchini), aubergines (egg plants) and mushrooms with a little olive oil.
- Stir fry some chicken pieces
- Arrange the vegetables neatly on your plate with the chicken in the middle.
- Decorate with feta cheese, green olives and carrot slices.

ONION Week + Rice Bolognese

I took this photo specially for Friday Food Fiesta ONION Week, while I was making Bolognese.



Taken specially for the Friday Food Fiesta Group - ONION Week.

Rob has made me a mini studio to take my food photos. It's great. He made it using white foam boards and lamps etc. Rob took the 2 photos above using my new setup :o)
I can't wait to take more food shots yay :)

I created the collage of the 2 pictures using Picasa.

Here is the Rice Bolognese I made:



Method
- Fry onions and mince beef in a little olive oil until browned
- add salt, pepper, basil, corriander and parsley
- add a little beef stock for taste.
- add some tomato paste and a little garlic paste and mix well.
- add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and bring to the boil then cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly
- cook the rice while waiting.
- serve with vegetables or salad of your choice :o)

Pineapple Collage

Playing around using picasa.

I bought a pineapple a few days ago, and decided to cut it up for dessert last night. It was perfectly ripe and so juicy.

Fresh pineapple is so much nicer than canned pineapple... but more effort hehe.

No Cooking Tonight

I didn't have time to cook a full meal last night, so I stopped at the supermarket and bought some fresh salads and meals and put them together.

The weather was nice last night, so I took the food outside :o)



I've copied the ingredients off the packets so I can try making them myself next time: Here you go:

Rice, Lentil & Roast Aubergine with Garlic Dressing
Ingredients:
- Cooked green lentils
- Cooked rice
- Cooked wild rice
- Red peppers
- Roasted Aubergines
- Garlic dressing (made from lemon juice, rice vinegar, salt, garlic puree & black pepper)
- Sunflower oil
- Celery (ewww)
- Spring onions

New Potato Salad
Ingredients:
- New potatoes
- Mayonnaise
- Salad onions
- Salt
- Pepper

Cheese & Onion Rolls
Creamy Taw Valley Cheddar & juicy onions, wrapped in butter enriched puff pastry (that's all it said on the packet)

Garlic and Herb Mini Chicken Fillets
Ingredients:
erm garlic, herb and chicken? hehe.

Try making them and let me know how you get on :o)

Colourful Treat

I took this photo for Friday Food Fiesta JELLY week on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanan/127518396/in/photostream/

Griddle to Colour

Rob and I had fishcakes for dinner on Sunday. I griddled some courgettes and mushrroms to serve with the fishcakes and some pasta.



I topped the griddled veg with some feta cheese too mmm :o)

I did take a photo of the whole meal but it's not a very good one as I was in a rush, so I will leave you to enjoy these yummy veg instead :o)

Mustard & Honey Chicken Casserole

I did a bit of multi-tasking tonight after work.
I put 3 chicken breasts in a casserole dish, and added salt, pepper, basil, parsley and corriander.
Then I topped the chicken breasts with 'Honey & Mustard Sauce' (not home-made unfortunately, however I intend to make it from scartch next time).
I covered the dish with foil, then put it in a pre-heated oven at 180C for ONE hour.

Then I quickly changed into my running clothes and went for a 45 minute run while it was cooking.

I had a quick shower then cooked some rice to go with it and cut up some salad.



It was really really yummy, which has made me want to make it from scratch next time.
The ingredients of the sauce include:
- Water
- Carrots
- Mustard
- Onion
- Honey
- Vinegar
- Cream
- Sunflower oil
- Garlic
- Salt
- Parsley

When I find a complete recipe I'll give it a shot :o)

Easter Bunny and Treats

Rather than buying a huge Easter egg, I decided to buy a few mini treats for me and Rob. Mmmmmm I'm looking forward to the Lindt "Gold Bunny" the most :o)
Lindt rules!

Birthday Coffee Cake

Rob's mum made this lovely coffee cake for his birthday.
It was really tasty and the coffee icing on top was soo good :o)



Here is the recipe:
It was a coffee flavoured victoria sponge ie
150g butter or margarine
150g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of coffee granules

Grease and line two 8" sandwich tins and heat oven to 180C or gas mark 4
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Dissolve the coffee granules in tiny drop of hot water and add to the creamed mixture. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, into creamed mixture adding a little of the sieved flour with each. Carefully fold in the remaining sieved flour.(sometimes I add a teaspoon of baking powder to the flour before sieving).Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for about 25mins in the preheated oven.
When cool sandwich together with butter icing again flavoured with a teaspoon of coffee granules dissolved in a tiny amount of hot water. It was topped with coffee glace icing -Hope you enjoy it from Rob's Mum

Musli Snack

18 March 2006

Rob and I went for a run this morning. After a nice looong shower, I fancied a nice healthy snack rather than a big lunch. So I made a random sanck of musli, topped with strawberry yoghurt, nuts, dried fruit and sliced peaches.
I also added some fresh strawberries after I took this photo, but was too hungry to take another photo hehe :o)

Kick Start Your Friday

I had Special K cereal this morning with strawberries and a banana.
I bought the flowers from a flower lady on Tottenham Court Road in London, I didn't have much cash on me so could only buy 2. I'll go back to her again (with more cash :o) next time I am in London.



Have a lovely Friday everyone... and a great weekend :o)