Delightful Recipe

One of my friends celebrated their Birthday recently and so I made Turkish Delight (my third time) as it is one of their favorites...
and it was the best yet, so soft and lovely!!

this is the recipe according to the little book from my Mother...

Ingredients
500g sugar
150ml water
30-60g gelatine
food colouring
flavouring
icing sugar
cornflour

Method
Heat sugar and water, until dissolved. Boil to soft-ball stage.
Dissolve gelatine in water, bring to boil, add to syrup.
Colour and flavour as you wish!
Pour into square tin that has been rinsed with cold water, leave to set.
Dip tin in hot water and turn out on paper thickly spread with icing sugar and cornflour.
Cut and store in an airtight tin lined with paper.

E n j o y !

Delightful

I am an absolute lover of Turkish delight!!! And so for Easter this year I decided instead of making chocolates I would attempt to make some Turkish delight. This is one thing I have always wanted to make. I fished a recipe out of a cute little old book my Mother had, looked through my cupboard to discover I had all the needed ingredients and set about to make this delightful sweet!

My first attempt was ok, but the second was much more delightful!! I was really pleased with the results, as were my family...
But I am still keen to make some more for myself as I have discovered that it goes most wonderful with some of the berry teas that I enjoy!

Here are some wonderful little pics

It is my friend's birthday and they are a favorite, so I will be making some more...

Quick Food After a Long Day

So after a long, productive and most enjoyable day the last thing I felt like was cooking dinner (as much as I love cooking), I just felt like something quick and simple.... And of course not compromising my health
I decided to whip together a little oven baked egg treat.

M e t h o d :

In a small ramekin dish crack a few eggs, pour in some milk, stick in some greens (left over salad leaves) and crack another egg on top, or grate some cheese (I left the cheese off this time)
Stick in oven till cooked and browned on top
Remove from oven and let it sit slightly (allowing edge to come away from dish)
Run knife around edge and tip onto plate

Buon Appetito 

(good appetite or enjoy your meal)

Here's Mine...

Nice with a sprig of fresh oregano

I am also practicing food photography for a book I am hoping to produce for a Uni assignment
What works? What doesn't?

You're comments are most welcome...

Excess Basil

Basil is probably my favorite herb, so naturally I would want to grow some of this in order to use it whenever I want.
One thing I especially loved when I moved to the coast is the ability to grow basil and plants all year round!
No more frosts.... the life I had known for 18 years suddenly changed - I planted basil seeds they grew, I used the basil, it went to seed, I would collect the seed and sprinkle in the pot and the cycle started again...
I had basil at every stage

A m a z i n g  I was never without Basil!!

So after 2 years of this I now have quite an excess even after giving many friends basil plants.

 

I invited my cousin and a friend round the other night to have P i z z a with fresca basilico (fresh basil)

and these were the results...

Tomato base, basil, sun dried tomatoes, cheese

Tomato base, olives, garlic, basil, cheese

Tomato base, garlic, basil, sun dried tomatoes, olives, cheese

Have a go at growing your own herbs, that way they will be fresh every time!

Productive Days

I absolutely love when it when I have a whole day at home with no plans except to do those little jobs that need doing... Productive Days, how good do they make you feel...
So this morning I rose early, cleaned the shower, did a load of washing, grocery shopping, visited medicare, a little op shopping, payed some bills, cooked some biscuits...
and now...
I get to sit down at my desk and do some organising, emailing, blogging, reading, study

accompanied by a pot of Armeretto Tea from the Tea Centre

 and the squisito (delicious) biscuits that I made

Fig Bruschetta

Whilst at my brother's house the other day, I was voicing my dreams of book writing and recipes and all things yummy... We were browsing through this one recipe book and happened upon something called Fig Bruschetta. We had spend part of that morning picking figs off a tree in his backyard.

Figs are one of my favorite fruits and I am always exploring new ways to serve them!

With a few ingredients filed in my memory, & a bag of my brother's figs, I ducked to the grocery store for some...

INGREDIENTS

Bread, Mascapone & Cream     (to combine with what I had)
Honey, Icing sugar & Figs

So for breakfast this morning I was treated to Fig Bruschetta 

SO THIS IS HOW ITS DONE

Toast bread, cook figs in honey, whip cream adding mascapone and icing sugar, serve (too easy really)

Homemade Everything

When I grew up my mother would cook absolutely everything! Oven baked bread and buns, slices, cakes, dinner, dessert, all in a fuel stove!
These days sadly it is cheaper, quicker and easier to just duck down to the shops and grab a loaf of bread, a bought cake etc. But I feel something is lost... The Love in Cooking!!
There is something so special and delicious about fresh banana bread straight out of the oven cooked by my little sister! Or a fresh loaf of bread with crispy edges that the butter melts into.
So I have decided to try my hand at perfecting pasta making!
Pasta made with LOVE
Here is the recipe I tried...
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/fresh-semolina-and-egg-pasta/Detail.aspx

I was so happy with the results as you can see from the pics below.

 

I hope you feel inspired to have a go at making your own pasta, it really isn't as hard as it seems and the results are amazing!! Maybe even for a special occasion...