Tomato Bruschetta

I really fell in love with this whilst I was in Zambia. Funny really as I am not keen on raw tomatoes but when you do them like this tastes so good. You forget they are raw tomatoes.

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes chopped roughly
1 clove of garlic crushed finely
Splash of olive oil
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Fresh basil chopped roughly
Red onion chopped finely ( if no red onion white onion is also fine but it is less sweet)
Baguette chopped into slices


Method:

1. Combine the chopped tomatoes,  garlic, basil red onion together. Then add the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You will need about a tablespoon. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Meanwhile pour a little olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped baguette pieces. Turn after a couple of minutes until golden brown. Scoop the tomato mix onto the bread and serve immediately! Enjoy. Alternatively if you have a griddle pan, you could chargrill the bread.

Chocolate Muffin Oranges

Chocolate Muffin Oranges Serves 11
Ingredients:
4 large oranges cut in half and fleshy parts removed
3 small oranges cut in half and fleshy parts removed
Chocolate Muffin ready mixture
Method
1. Cut oranges in half and remove the fleshy parts and put them into a separate bowl.
2. Follow instructions for chocolate muffin mixture according to their directions.
3. Spoon mixture into one half of the orange and place the orange back together to make a whole. Wrap tightly in tin foil. Repeat with the other orange halves.
4. Place oranges on the coals for about 30 minutes, or alternatively place in the oven. Check after 15 minutes to see if the mixture has cooked.
5. Serve immediately with custard or cream.

Lentil, mixed bean, potato and butternut squash curry with rice (serves 7 people plus)
Ingredients:
1 onion roughly chopped and diced
1 tin of mixed beans
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 small butternut squash peeled and roughly chopped
2 small packets or a jar of creamy curry sauce
400g lentils (can also be tinned)
7 small potatoes peeled and diced into small pieces
Handful of cashew nuts (optional)
Handful of green beans topped and tailed and cut in half
Tablespoon of olive oil
3 cups of rice washed thoroughly to take away the starch
Method:
1. Add a tablespoon of oil to the wok and make sure it is nice and hot. Add in the garlic and onion stirring occasionally till translucent.
2. Add the lentils stirring all the time. If not using tinned lentils make sure you soak lentils first ideally overnight and drain any remaining water away.
3. Meanwhile boil a pan of salted water and add the butternut squash and potato and wait for it to come to the boil. Once it has come to the boil, turn down the heat a little, and cook until vegetables are soft which you can check with a knife.
4. Add the drained mixed beans to the wok and stir occasionally, the heat can now be turned down quite low.
5. Once the potatoes and butternut squash are cooked drain into a colander and add to the wok. Stir this mix carefully into the lentils so as not to break up the potatoes and butternut. Toss in the beans and stir. Add water if needs be.
6. Add some more water to the potato pan and then add 3 cups of rice making sure first that the rice has been rinsed. Bring to the boil adding a pinch of salt. Once it has come to the boil, turn heat down, and continue to cook until all water has disappeared.
7. Add curry sauce and cashews about 5-10 minutes before rice has finished cooking. Stir through, to combine all the vegetables adding a little water, if you think the mixture is too dry and may stick. Serve immediately with bread if desired.

Homemade Meatloaf

Made this for tonight to have cold tomorrow so I will let you know what the verdict will be. I have added freshly chopped coriander, mince of course, onion, garlic, mixed herbs, paprika, an egg to bind, breadcrumbs (dried) as I couldn't be bothered to make fresh... and bacon to wrap over the top. It is also quite healthy! Planning to have it tomorrow with salad and jackets in the oven...

Wedding Anniversary Cupcakes

Sorry it has been such a while, forgive me! I am back now though. I just wanted to show you all some of the wedding cupcakes I made for my parent's wedding anniversary. Used a vanilla cupcake recipe, put buttercream on top then used fondant icing. My parent's were really pleased :)

Also am going to be starting to put up some slimmer world recipes as of next week and pictures as I want to get fit and healthy, some my own and some not, in which case I will just put pictures and where I got it from. Watch this space!

Homemade Cannolis

These are a very popular sweet dessert, which originate from Sicily and consist of deep fried batter essentially and sweetened ricotta cheese with chocolate chip cookies. However the fillings can vary much, and depend on your likeness, you can fill them with fruit or cream or even mascarpone if you so desire.


I first tried these when my sisters then boyfriend brought some down, and they were absolutely delicious. I decided to have a go myself, after purchasing some cannoli tubes from amazon at a reasonable price. However if you cannot be bothered to make the dough, there is always the alternative of buying pre made ones, from specialist italian shops.


I must admit that my first attempt did not go so well as the first, I had made the dough much too thick, and it was not as nice. Second time round though the dough was much thinner, so they tasted absolutely divine, although time consuming it was absolutely delicious. I filled mine with chocolate chips and the traditional ricotta. I found a recipe from the internet, two important things to note are that the ricotta you buy in supermarkets in UK so I read is very watery so it will need to be sieved ideally overnight to have good cannolis as you don't want them to go soggy, and also ensure the pan is piping hot. The other thing I have noticed is that when you wrap the pastry round the cannoli tubes make sure that when you secure the pastry round the tube loosely when you sea the edges it is important you do so properly, perhaps even with egg, otherwise when cooking they will open out slightly, no impact on the taste whatsoever, but more so on presentation as I discovered and will see from below, however third time lucky!!!

Try it yourself, slightly time consuming but well worth the effort I assure you!

Kinder Egg Cupcakes

So I had a bit of inspiration yesterday and decided to make kinder cupcakes, as I love Kinder chocolate, for the kid in you for sure, childhood memories filled with those yummy little chocolate bars, and the kinder kid on the front of the packet.

I put two kinder bars into a basic chocolate cupcake recipe, and put a square of kinder chocolate into each cupcake, was delicious!

I would recommend trying it, if you are a fan of kinder chocolate, worth the experimentation of wonders in the kitchen.