Cooked some macaroons today… I should have bought moist shredded coconut instead of desiccated. Would have made for a prettier looking result I think.
I have 34 to eat.
A Human Equivalent
Cooked some macaroons today… I should have bought moist shredded coconut instead of desiccated. Would have made for a prettier looking result I think.
I have 34 to eat.
It’s strawberry season here in Bacchus Marsh in Victoria, Australia. Positively one of the best times of the year. Once you taste the local strawberries you’ll wonder what those things you can find in the supermarket are. The freshly picked strawberries are divine. They taste so sweet. So I’ve gone a little crazy with the cooking this season, having just last week made the Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie. I didn’t have enough strawberries or any rhubarb to make another pie so I made a strawberry cake. Certainly not “good for you”, but scrumptiously delicious.
Ingredients
Method
Note: You can store this at room temperature for several days wrapped or in a container.
We have a new king, well a new Premier at least, Daniel Andrews. Long live the new regime, if you consider 4 years a long time. For the first time in Victorian history the Liberal Party has only served 1 term before we ousted them from state government leadership. The federal government will tell you their politics had nothing to do with the Victorian defeat, but they’re stupid like that.
Sure it’s not just federal politics that had a hand in their demise, but they are the same party, they operate with the same values and on they have pretty much shown throughout their rule that just like their federal counterparts, our state government was more interested in the favours they could do their friends in business than operating the state for the people.
We do need more of a focus on public transport and less on big roads, we need more focus on the people and less on established big business.
So we now have a Labor lead state, let’s hope the win doesn’t go to their head, they have a lot of work to do and really 4 years isn’t a lot of time to do it. They will be supported by at least 1 Greens seat, perhaps more as the votes continue to be counted.
Breakfast
I’ve been looking for something to have for breakfast that is quick and easy and doesn’t involve bread or sugar-laced cereal. I think I’ve found it.
Last Thursday we attended a Thermomix cooking night. They call it a class, but really it’s more of a demonstration of the machine while they prepare and cook recipes readily found in the cookbooks that come with your machine. I admit, I’m not a big user of our machine, David uses it mostly, but when the presenters showed us CADA I knew I was on a winner for breakfast.
CADA is Coconut, Almonds, Dates and Apple. Topped with yoghurt it makes a delicious healthy breakfast. The recipe is pretty easy: A handful of each of the coconut, almonds and dates, put them in the Thermomix with a quartered apple and pulse until it’s at your preferred consistency. Top with yoghurt and Bob’s your uncle, as they say.
The photos below are my first attempt, and I was making it for two, next time I’ll do two things differently. First of all I’ll pulse the dates and almonds alone before adding the apple and coconut. And if making for two, I’ll add another half an apple.
David asked me to make some rice while he was at work so he could make some fried rice for dinner. Turns out I made way too much rice. With all this leftover rice I decided I wanted to make some rice pudding.
I checked out Cooks Illustrated and found the following recipe.
I didn’t do step of the instructions as I’d already cooked the rice earlier. It didn’t seem to matter, but for conversion I used 3 cups of cooked rice.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup medium-grain rice (white) or long grain white rice
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups half-and-half
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted until golden and fragrant
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
INSTRUCTIONS
Serves 6-8.
As you may recall, my previous attempt at the Peanut Butter Cupcakes, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, didn’t work out too well cause I buggered them up.
You can check the earlier post to get the recipe for the Peanut Butter Cupcakes. I’m much happier with the way these turned out. It helps I didn’t open the oven during the cooking process this time.
Didn’t go with the Chocolate Ganache this time, opting for a frosting. I still need to get a piping bag so I can make them look prettier.
Was going to take them to work to share around, but left them at home, argh.
After making Peanut Butter Cupcakes I sent the blog post to the big boss at work to prove to him I could indeed cook. He said he couldn’t stand the idea of a cupcake made with peanut butter, but liked the effort.
Later he sent me a recipe he thought I’d like, “Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars“, probably in jest, but I took it as a challenge of course.
So here it is, Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars.
Still working on my photos of food, I got a ways to go with styling I know. I completely ripped off (duplicated the style not using her photo) the pretzel shot from the original post by Jessica at her blog “How Sweet It Is” more as a tongue-in-cheek reference than trying to pass it off as my own.
I’ll probably try some more styling photos while on my lunch break today, and will update the post accordingly.
I didn’t have any ground linseed, but as you can see below, as long as you have the raw product and a Thermomix you’ll be right.
Can you say “YUM!”, You’ll need to be able to if you’re going to eat these vegan peanut butter cupcakes.
I really should stop being surprised when something vegan tastes so good. I mean there are a lot of vegans in the world and they have this reputation of being lettuce, legume and lentil eaters but really they are laughing behind our backs as they munch on wonderfully delicious food.
I still didn’t get to make the carrot cupcakes, David doesn’t like walnuts and while I could leave them out, I do like them, so next time I’ll have to make two lots of cakes.
Now I know these don’t look so hot, they have sunken a little in the middle and that’s 100% my own fault. I’ve watched too many cooking shows where you’re told to spin what you’re cooking so it cooks evenly and in doing that I buggered it up and let all the air out of my cupcakes that were rising so nicely. I now know not to do this with cupcakes and also that it’s not really required as we have a fan-forced oven, so in theory we don’t have hotspots in the oven, rather our oven is basked it even heat.
If by chance you go ahead and make them, I know you’ll agree they are amazing. Oh and I’d probably apply a better ganache or a frosting that complements the peanut buttery taste. Then again maybe leave them plain. I used an organic 70% cocoa dark chocolate that made the ganache a little too bitter for my liking, so I’m going to leave it out of this record of the day. Half the fun of baking is learning new things.
Oh yeah, and this is what everyone’s kitchen looks like when they cook right?
You can find the cheapest price for the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World on book.com.au or check out the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World Blog.
I recently bought the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, inspired by a friend Pamela who’s vegan and fuelled by curiosity of how can a vegan cupcake taste good enough to warrant and entire book about them.
The plan was to makes some carrot cake cupcakes, but then Nikki, Ben and the kids were coming over so I changed my mind and wanted to make some cupcakes that Elliot could enjoy as he’s not eating gluten or diary at the moment. The book happens to have a recipe for Vanilla Gluten Freedom Cupcakes that fit the bill, so that’s what I made.
Notes about substitutions are in the ingredients lists below. I couldn’t find quinoa anywhere, apparently it’s in short supply at the moment. I was and I’m sure you will be, amazed at how good these taste. Having had gluten free chocolate cake in the past I was expecting a heavy dry cake but was pleasantly surprised when they came out moist and delicious.
Of course its name is a little disingenuous cause there isn’t actually any butter or cream in the mix. And it is very important to make sure you cupcakes are completely cooled before adding the frosting; else the frosting may melt.
You can find the cheapest price for the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World on book.com.au or check out the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World Blog.