Pumpkin and Pecan Cake

I cannot believe I have not shared a cake recipe on this blog yet!  I love my cakes, but do not love cakes that are bad for you.  I only cook cakes that are low-ish in butter/oil), low-ish in sugar and have at least some 'goodness' in them, i.e. some fruit/veg/nuts.  This one is just great and very yummy. I have 'tweaked' this recipe from a recipe I found on recipecommunity.com.au.  You can view the original recipe here.  I have cooked this cake before using wholemeal flour and it turned out great.  I would like to try cooking it using a different kind of flour (e.g. spelt) but have not done that as yet.  As it does not have much butter in it, it tends to be a bit crumbly and so I have found it works best in a ring cake tin rather than a rectangle cake tin.  My ring cake 'tin' is actually silicon and works perfectly.  Enjoy!


Ingredients:
250 g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
60g pecan pieces (I often add more that this coz I love nuts.  If you would like them to be chopped up a bit you can blitz them once on Turbo first, but I don't think it's necessary)
60g sultanas
60g butter
180g sugar
3 eggs
400g pumpkin cubed
600g water
¼ cup orange juice (you can use bottled juice or blitz up one peeled orange with some water)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  
Place cubed peeled pumpkin into rice basket, add 600g water to TM bowl.  Cook on Varoma, 15 mins speed 4.  When complete remove pumpkin and set aside, rinse TM bowl and towel dry. 

1. Place all dry ingredients except for sugar into TM bowl and stir for 10 seconds on reverse, speed 3.  Set aside.
2. Add butter and sugar to TM bowl, cream for 20 seconds on speed 5.
3. Add eggs, pumpkin, orange juice and vanilla to TM bowl and mix for 20 seconds on speed 5 till well combined.
4. Return the dry ingredients to the TIM bowl and mix for 20 seconds on speed 3 until thoroughly combined. 
5. Pour mixture into a greased ring tin.
6. Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 45-55 minutes until lightly browned.  
7. Ice cake with a simple icing and enjoy!

Chicken with Sauce and Veg

One thing that I have been trying to do lately with regard to cooking for my family is to cut down on the refined/simple carbohydrates that we eat.  Most specifically I am trying to reduce our consumption of white bread, white rice, pasta, sugar and potatoes.  I doubt we can cut these things out completely but where possible I am trying to make alternative choices.  Luckily my daughter and husband love good healthy food and are happy to eat things like brown rice and gluten free bread, and none of us have a huge sweet tooth.  I am also resisting the urge to serve potatoes with a meal - I think this is a habit I have developed over the years and I am realising that they are just not necessary.  Now I just add more vegetables.  This recipe is one that I made up myself and is pretty straightforward - it is just my version of chicken and veg.  But I do like it coz it doesn't rely on or require any simple carbs.  It is filling, easy and yummy.  

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts 
1 red onion
1 1/2 tablespoons capers
6 anchovies (yes I know it sounds like a lot but trust me they taste fantastic)
Small handful roughly chopped fresh parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
Grapeseed oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup cream
Green vegetables for steaming (beans, broccoli etc)


Method:
Preheat your oven to 220 degrees.  
Cut each of the chicken breasts into 3 equal pieces (or 2 pieces if you prefer bigger bits, but 3 pieces works well). If you cut them on an angle across-ways you can get 3 sort of medallions.  Place them in a bowl ready for marinade.  
Place the onion, capers, anchovies, parsley and lemon zest in the TM bowl.  Pulse twice quickly on turbo, then scrape down sides and pulse twice again.  The mixture should be finely chopped but not mush.  
Pour the contents of the TM bowl (including any liquid) over the chicken and stir to coat well.  If you can, allow to marinate for a short time (I never really have time for mine to marinate, so I usually just set it aside while I chop up my veggies - probably about 5 minutes!).
Heat a big frypan on your stovetop and add a splash of grapeseed oil (make sure that this is a frypan that can also go in your oven).  When the pan is nice and hot add the chicken pieces.  Smear the remainder of the marinade over the chicken pieces, making sure all the marinade is used up.  
Brown the chicken pieces for about 2-3 minutes on each side then place the frypan in the oven for 15 minutes, turning the pieces halfway through (if your chicken pieces are a bit thicker you may need to leave them in for 20 minutes).  
While the chicken is cooking steam your greens.  You could use the Varoma but since the TM is not actually heating up for this recipe I just steam my veg on the stovetop.  
Remove frypan from the oven (be careful it will be hot!) and place the chicken pieces on plates.  
Left in the frypan will be the remainder of the marinade - place the frypan back on the stove and turn to high heat.  Add chicken stock and deglaze the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Add the cream and stir to combine.  Bring the mixture to a boil and allow to boil for 2-3 minutes while the sauce reduces and thickens slightly.  You will need to taste it at this point, if the flavour is too strong add some more cream.  If the sauce is too thick add some more stock.  
Pour sauce over the chicken pieces and serve with steamed greens!  


This amount of chicken feeds our family (2 adults and 1 child) perfectly, but you could easily just make more sauce if you wanted to cook it using more chicken.  

Holy Tacos Batman!

Mexican food is a definite favourite of ours. I have always loved cooking tacos at home but have previously struggled making a good meat sauce. I know lots of people use those 'taco seasoning' sachets but I'm not a fan as they are just full of salt and flavourings and bad stuff. Instead, I use a recipe from Jo at Quirky Cooking (check out her blog here). She is fantastic and I will probably share many more of her recipes in the near future. This is a recipe adapted from her 'Quick Bean Chilli Sauce' that she originally shared on Facebook (unfortunately I don't have the link to it), and I have just added mince to it. It is quite an economical recipe and makes a huge batch - I always have left-overs and it freezes well.    


Ingredients:
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
30g olive oil
About 400g premium beef mince
1 can of chopped tomatoes
160g tomato paste
1 tablespoon raw sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon each of chilli powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, dried oregano, smoked paprika
Salt to taste
2 cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed


Method:
Chop onion and garlic for 2 seconds on speed 5.  Scrape down sides of bowl and add olive oil.  Add mince to bowl and cook for 3 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.  You may need to check that the mince is breaking up properly, if not remove lid and give it a quick stir/poke with the spatula.  
Add remaining ingredients and cook for 15 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse speed 1. Place the rice basket on top while cooking instead of the MC to reduce spitting and to allow to reduce. 


That's it!!  Serve with taco shells, shredded iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, grated cheese, sour cream and quacamole (find recipe in EDC or I just blitz up 1 clove garlic, then mix in 1 avocado, some tabasco, lemon juice and salt and pepper).

Sangria Sangria the Beautiful Drink

Two blog posts for today! I am on a roll! 


This recipe for Sangria is definitely a favourite.  I think it is a great celebration drink and heaps of fun to serve. I first made it for a BBQ to celebrate my husband's birthday, and it was a hit. I recently made it again for Christmas Day - I served it as a pre-lunch drink and it was just lovely. I have tweaked the original recipe that I found (you can check out the original recipe here if you want) but I definitely like my version. It is quite alcoholic so beware!!  


Ingredients:
'Most' of a can of sliced peaches, drained (probably around 3/4 of the peaches in the can)
1 peeled orange, keep peel for decoration
1 peeled lemon, keep peel for decoration
Couple of good handfuls of ice cubes
100g sugar
600g red wine (the cheap stuff is fine, save the good stuff for another time!)
50g brandy (or a splash more)
50g gin
Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
300g mineral water


Method:
First peel the orange and lemon.  I like to try to remove the 'zest' only of the fruit with a knife (i.e. try to leave the white stuff).  It doesn't really matter what shape the zest is, mine is usually in little circles/strips.  The zest can go in a nice big jug and then the white stuff can be removed and chucked in the bin.   Put the orange and lemon aside for now.  


Place canned peaches in TM bowl, chop for 3 seconds on speed 4.  Pour into the jug with the orange and lemon peel along with a couple of handfuls of ice.  


Place orange, lemon and sugar in the TM bowl.  Mix for 10 seconds on speed 9.  


Add rest of ingredients except for mineral water to TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.  Check flavour - should be quite strong and sweet (mineral water is yet to come).


Pour into jug and then add mineral water to jug (you can measure out the quantity of mineral water if you want, but if you aim to increase the mixture by about a third this works well).  Give the jug a good stir and serve in nice big wine glasses.


Sorry I don't have a photo to give you, but trust me - you won't regret making this!  

Celebrate the New Year with some Banana Ice Blocks

Welome to 2012!  I really do not know where 2011 went, but I am excited about 2012.  I am looking forward to watching my little girl grow up bigger and bigger and am excited about spending our first year in our new home.  I haven't been doing heaps of cooking in the last week or so, we have been sooo lazy over the break and we have indulged in  a few take-away meals and meals out.  Both my husband and I have been on holidays, and as my husband is a self-employed tradesman he is normally very busy - it has been lovely having him at home.  It has been mega hot here so we have literally just been lazing around the house and taking a few short trips out for coffees and shopping.  


I have been enjoying using my Thermomix for some 'quick' bits and pieces, and I have to say I am loving making ice blocks for my daughter.  They are absolutely nothing to make, and she thinks she is having a proper ice-cream!  I have tried a few combinations with different types of fruit, but I have to share how GOOD banana ice blocks are.  I have some fantastic ice block moulds which I bought from Tupperware, but apparently they are easy to find in shops and I'm pretty sure I have seen some at Ikea.  


This is how simple they are:


Add the following to the TM bowl:
 4 frozen bananas (mine were already frozen as they were going brown in the fruit bowl and this worked well.  I'm sure un-frozen bananas would work just as well).  
A good blob of natural yoghurt - probably around 2/3 of a cup (in my opinion BD Paris Creek is the only way to go).  
Around 1-2 tablespoons of honey.  


Blitz all ingredients on speed 10 for 20 seconds or till smooth.  It is important to check the taste at this point - too sweet, add more yoghurt.  Too bland, add more honey.  I usually add a bit more honey at this point.  Pour into ice block moulds and freeze.  My daughter absolutely devoured the one I gave her this morning and then asked for another one!  Definitely a good way to get some fruit and dairy into the kiddies.  


Here is a photo of mine frozen in their moulds - you can see that one is already missing!