a mixed bag.

amazing recipes alert!

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Love and Lemons

Yum. Healthy. Food. Blog.

Shani x 

birthday cupcakes

I was pretty stoked (and scared) when Ruby's mum said that I could take the reigns for her 8th birthday cupcakes - Ruby had opted for birthday cupcakes rather than one big mamma. The last time I put my hand up for birthday cake duty it was a distaster! I blamed (and still do) the humid weather, for the tiered cake toppling over completely when I slapped the cream cheese filling in and topped it with chocolate ganache. But cupcakes have quite rapidly become my 'thing' or rather, my obsession. I guess they're just trending all over the bloody shop, but way too expensive to buy and far too pretty to walk past.


So I make them. It's always trial and error with me in the kitchen. But a splash of neon pink glitter seems to make everything ok! Well, other than not being a completely melt-in-the-mouth dream (just a tad too long in the over I guess??) I was happy with them - and so was Ruby! (Unfortunately no birthday pics of the princess - It was far too chaotic with 18 kids! 

I used this recipe with an additional cup of cocoa (dissolved in a few Tbsp of water). Come to think of it, perhaps that was the reason for the not-so-perfectly moist outcome! And they are topped with a mountain of buttercream frosting (aka. icing sugar, butter and vanilla essense. I'm rubbish and go by consistency rather than actual measurements).

You wouldn't even realise it's been raining for two days straight looking at these right? Life is just better with cupcakes. Shani x

(Oh and another thing - I am literally gagging for the purchase of my new camera. Soon. Very. Soon.) 
 

it's pho good!

I am pretty sure I have eaten my way through most of South East Asia! Green curry in Thailand, lap laos in Laos, gado gado in Indonesia, roti canai in Malaysia and springs rolls in Vietnam. I absolutey live off the street vendor food when I am traveling. I don't give two shits about the 'germs' that are apparently wafting around... I bet that they are cleaner than your local curry house! Anyhow that's what your body builds up antibodies for. To watch your food be cooked right in front of you, with fresh and simple ingredients in just a matter of minutes is totally captivating (in my opinion).


Yesterday I was having a soup moment... an Asian-style soup moment. I have made endless Laksa's recently so wanted something a bit different... Lightbulb! Pho! I love Pho. (it's pho good). Thank-you Vietnam, you rock my world.


Traditional recipes called for some serious broth-brewing with weird things like marrow and knuckles! I mean, I love using real ingredients and making dishes from scratch... But. just. ew. So I simplyfied things, and result, freaking YUM! I was totally transported back to the bustling streets of Saigon just by the smell of it.


Ingredients for the stock: (serves 2)
- 1 litre of good quality beef stock
- 1 onion
- 1 cinnamon stick
- a tsp fennel seeds
- 5 cloves
- 5 star anisie
- 4 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger

The other yum ingredients:
- 400grm sirloin or rump steak (sliced thinly across the grain)
- noodles of your choice (udon or rice are good contenders. I used random japanese ones I had in the cupboard)
- a few handfulls of veges (mange tout or bok choy work)

Garnishing by the handfull for the table:
- beansprouts
- fresh basil, corriander & mint 
- chillies (finely sliced - NOT by the handfull!)
- lime wedges

Method:
- Add a few Tbsp of olive oil into a large pot, brown onions then throw all stock ingredients in, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20mins until it smells amazing!
- Strain all the bits out, then pour the strained stock back into your large pot
- Bring back to the boil
- Add your vege, then your noodles & boil for 2mins
- Turn heat off and pour your soup into deep bowls, add the finely sliced beef (which will cook perfectly med/rare just by sitting in the soup!)
- Bring to the table where you dress it up to your liking with all the fresh goodness! (ie. erbs, lime juice and beansprouts)

It's so easy even your boyfriend can make it - pho sho! Shani x

FYI Photos are taken during my wanderings in South East Asia in 2010...

dough a deer a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun!

Me a name I call myself - a really shit singer! Yip, baking bread has sent me to crazy town! I don't normally sing, it doesn't benefit anyone.

Baking bread (rolls) is quite simply put - ridiculously satisfying.

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start... (shit! I just couldn't resist). Throw stuff in a bowl knead and punch. And knead and punch some more - feeling totally de-stressed already! Take a break and let the magic happen. Voila your yeast actually has activated accordingly! Slip it out of the greasy bowl and knead and punch it some more. Way more relaxed now. Mess? Yes! Flour everwhere! Do I care? Nah. Just roll with it (haha mind the pun). X marks the spot and into the oven they go. Squatting by the oven door as to not forget they are in there (I am notorious for burning stuff) I gawk at the billowing smoke coming through a crack in the door. Panic! Phew. False alarm, excess flour on the tray is just crisping away. Tap tap with a knife to hear that hollow sound, and ready. Out of the oven to cool. As if - who in their right mind would wait for fresh, homemade bread rolls to cool? Not me. Tear one straight open and BOOM! Just passed out from the awesome aroma of fresh bread wafting in my face. Wake up and slap on a knob a butter (and a slice of ham) and.... This is The Don.

Ingredients (I chopped the ingredients in half as I had only half a bag of flour - it made six rolls)

1kg best quality bread flour
8 grams powdered dried yeast
a few generous pinches of salt
600ml warm water
a few Tbsp olive oil
2 handfuls of flour, for coating & dusting

• Throw all ingredients into a very large bowl and mix until combined
• Dust a surface with flour, and knead (and punch away) for about 5-15mins
• Well oil up your very large bowl, put your smooth, rounded dough into it, cover with a damp tea towel and put somewhere warm (I put it on top of the dishwasher that was on!)
• About an hour later check on your dough, hopefully it has at least doubled in size! 
• Pre-heat your oven, maximum temperature - 250 degrees
• Slip it out and knead, knocking out the air. Make your little rolls (or keep as one big loaf!) Cross your little balls of goodness with a serated knife, dust with flour.
• Place them on a well floured wooded board and cover again with the damp tea towel. Let them rise for another 20 mins
• Now onto a baking tray and into the oven they go! (Rolls about 10-15mins and loaf about 40mins)
• When crispy on the top, tap with a knife - if they sound hollow they're ready to go!
• EAT. 

They really are that easy and that good.



Yes. Yes that is a miraculous love heart roll. It's a funny world.




My trusty guinea pig. Josh had two. Shani x
 

vanilla cupcakes with blackberry (from the garden) buttercream frosting

Last Friday I noticed a ridiculous overflow of blackberries in our garden! Fin and I were playing basketball when we lost the ball into the depths of stinging nettle and blackberry bushes... While desperately trying to figure out how we could reach the ball we spotted hunderds of ripened blackberries! Effective of immediately - I forgot about the basketball and went on a blackberry foraging mission! A definite love for all things wild and free. Thanks Mother N. (oh and that sweet leafy stuff was our wild mint foraging find!)


First up were fresh blackberry smoothies, we added a few sprigs of the fresh mint, some greek yoghurt, skim milk and some runny honey. Yum. But that hardly touched the sides of our berry stash so I did a bit of research and found that I could make a natural colouring and flavouring frosting with them! Check. It. Out.

Ingredients (makes 12)

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/3 cups of plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

• Pre heat oven to 180 degrees, and line 2 cupcake trays with cases
• In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt
• In a small bowl whisk together milk & vanilla extract
• Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (for approx 3-5 mins
• Add the eggs, one at a time, continue to beat (don't stress is it starts to look curdled and gross)
• Put the mixer on a low speed and gradually and alternatley add the flour and milk mixures. Fold the last bits by spatula
• Now you can divide the cupcake mixure into the pre-lined trays, place into the middle of the oven for 20-25mins or until a knife comes out clean
  
  

Blackberry (from the garden) Buttercream Frosting 

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup fresh blackberries (pureed and strained - blender then sieve)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 cups icing sugar

• Using an electric mixer, cream the butter
• Gradually add the iciing sugar (don't fight the clouds of sugar, just go with it)
• Add the lemon juice
• Add the blackberry puree (it's oh so shiney right!?) and mix the shit out of it until you get the desired texture. Just keep beating! Oh and if you still can't seem to get the right texture, add more icing sugar.
• Now frost away kids!

Can you actually believe the colour of that frosting? No, me either. It's oh nat-u-ral, just crazyberries! Shani x

chewy chocolate, pistachio & sea salt cookies!

Does everyone agree with me when I say that a chewy cookie is far more satisfying than a crunchy one? Unless it is a gingernut being dunked in a cup of tea perhaps. Packed lunches were on the menu for Ruby this week, so I set off in the kitchen to bake a homemade treat for her! Joy The Baker is fool-proof. Her recipes are a little bit left side, her recipes are always reliable and are generally a quirky read. Here's the recipe I followed, and as you can see I just had to try out a cookie-stack photo too! 










Note to self: Ensure you don't over bake - disaster. You will end up with crunchy cookies. Not ideal.

I made these babies yesterday, and I have turned into the cookie nazi as the kids are wanting their cookie fix every five minutes (and Fin doesn't even like nuts!)

Oh and Joy is correct-o-mundo! Sea salt totally adds an extra layer of fanciness for the taste buds to go, mmmmm. Success! Shani x

Sunday brunch at home

 
Sunday brunch! Smoked salmon with cream cheese and fried mushys on a toasted french stick. Totally worked. Shani x

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

YUM. Is it OK to have one for breakfast? (Shhh today I did). I can't get enough of these babies... Although I think I say that about every successful cupcake attempt.


Ingredients...

• 1 and half cups of plain flour
• 1 and a half cups of grated carrot
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tspn baking powder
• 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 cup of (roughly halved) walnuts
• 3/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 tspn mixed spices
• 1 tspn vanilla essence
• 2 eggs

Frosting...

• 1-2 cups of icing sugar
• 1 packet of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tspn vanilla essence
• zest of one orange

 What Next... 

• Whack the oven on to 180 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with cases - I made my own using greaseproof paper (cut into 10cmx10cm approx squares) 
•  Put the eggs, sugar and oil into a whizz and beat for 3mins or until light and fluffy
• Gently fold the flour, bi carb, baking powder, mixed spices, chopped walnuts and grated carrot into the oringinal mixure. Add vanilla essence.
• Spoon the mixure into the pre-lined cases evenly, and put into the oven for around 25mins or until a fork comes out clean
• Remove from oven, place on a rack to cool

Fun Bit....

• Make the frosting by whizzing the butter and cream cheese, then gradually adding the icing sugar. Followed by the vanilla essence. Continue to add icing sugar until you have the desired consistency for your frosting (you want it to form little peaks when lifting the whizz away) Have fun with your piping bag, or create your own using a grease proof paper or a ziplock bag - or just plop it on with the back of a spoon... Spinkle some orange zest on the top to finish, and indulge!

Happy cupcake making! Shani x

(not so) summertime soup!

Today I had a craving for soup, but not the heavy kind of stuff. This green vege soup has a real freshness to it and makes it feel OK to be having soup even though it's not in the chilly depths of Winter! FYI. It's totally quick, easy and ridiculously low cal (approx 100cal/serving). 

Ingredients

• a bunch of spring onions
• 2 courgettes
• half a cup of fresh (or frozen) peas
• approx. 1 litre chicken stock
• a few handfuls of fresh pea shoots or watercress
• a handful of fresh mint
• a squeeze of fresh lime juice
  
  Roughly chop everything up.
  A a dollop of olive oil into a pan, add spring onions and courgettes - cover and cook for 3 minutes.
  Add peas and stock, return to boil, reduce to a simmer and cover for 5 minutes.
  When courgette is cooked through, add fresh pea shoots, fresh mint and lime juice. Season.
  Once pea shoots are wilted, turn off the heat and blast with a hand-held blender until smooth!
  
  
  
  
  
  PS. I love iPhone's Shakeit App. Makes things look pretty.
  
  Too easy! Shani x 

 

BECAUSE I CAN!

Wild cherry tomatoes, torn buffalo mozzarella, a bunch of fresh basil and doused in olive oil and balsamic oil! Perfectly indulgent and a little bit flash.

My dinner, because I can! Shani x