4 Ingredient Brownies

Yes, I said 4 ingredients! Actually it was supposed to be 3 ingredients but that just didn’t work for me.

The original idea for this recipe came from another of those facebook-posted easy food ideas. The recipe said you could do this either as a slab or as individual muffins, so I decided to go for muffins.

It looked so great in theory, but my first attempt was a disaster. Even reducing my oven by 20 degrees, knowing how hot it is, I burnt the crap out the muffins! And not just a little burnt on the bottom, but super duper burnt all through the middle, burnt! Plus, the mixture only made 8, which isn’t really enough to take to work for morning tea.

I’m much happier with my second go. I changed the quantities, changed the type of flour from plain to self-raising, added a little milk to make the mixture a little runnier, and made it as a slab to cut up as a brownie slice.

Nutella is the pits to handle, I have to say – very thick and stiff, and a complete bugger to wash off the dishes – sticks like crazy and just doesn’t want to come off. So instead of mixing in a bowl by hand, which is a little too much arm power for my weak wrists to handle, I threw it all into the food processor. Well worth it, apart from the washing up.

This is not low-fat, not dairy-free, not nut-free and not gluten-free.  It does, however have great flavour – not too sweet – and a good texture. It was easy to cut up, too.

Nutella Brownies

400 gm jar Nutella

1 cup SR flour

2 tbsp milk

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients together in food processor. Pour in greased/lined slice tin (approx 20 x 10 cm) and bake at 180C (or 160C if your oven is as hot as mine) for 25-30 minutes until cooked and wrinkling on top.

Cool and cut into pieces to serve.

Makes 24 pieces.

Happy Fooding!

Zucchini Slice

I know there are a LOT of versions of this yummy quiche dish. It’s such a great standby recipe to whip up when zucchinis are plentiful – lovely cold or hot, cut into squares as an appetizer or in larger serves as a main course. I’ve made versions with carrot or pumpkin in as well, coriander instead of parsley, and I’ved used polenta instead of flour, for a gluten-free version.

This is my “basic” recipe, which comes from my aunt and is the one I’ve been making since Zucchini Slice became trendy about 20 years ago (or longer – don’t know where all those years went).

Zucchini Slice

2 cups grated zucchini

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 cup grated tasty cheese

1 cup SR flour

1/3 cup olive oil

4 eggs

cracked pepper, to taste

3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon into a 20 x 30cm dish lined with baking paper, and level the top. Bake in 200C (190C for fan forced) for 20-25 minutes, until a light golden colour on top and just firm to touch. Cool in the tin and cut into squares.

Makes 24 appetizer-sized squares.

Happy Fooding!

Balls That Once Were Burgers

I love to cook, but sometimes I am also pretty lazy. I also don’t eat “fried” food much – never deep-fried, and minimal oil in any other kind of frying. So when I saw this great looking Cashew & Lentil Patties recipe at Weekend Notes, I really wanted to make it. Loved the simplicity of it, ease of preparation, vegetarian-ness (I can’t quite do it fully, but I can’t cope with lots of meat either), health benefits (nuts! lentils!) and combination of flavours. But then I thought hmmm maybe I could bake this instead, then thought hmmmmmmmmm if I make it as a “burger” then I have to have a side, or make it into a proper burger…..so because I’m feeling lazy, what if I just roll it into balls instead and bake them?

So that’s what I did. I just scoffed myself stupid on these, for dinner, dipping them in sweet chilli sauce. So it was like a main course and I didn’t feel I needed to make any silly old side dishes to go with it!

It worked brilliantly – very impressed with this recipe. Chuck it all in the food processor and roll it into balls – what could be easier than that? And a lot of scope for experimentation – you could add grated zucchini, carrot, feta, haloumi, tahini…..the list goes on.

Makes 28-30 balls.

The only thing I changed was that I thought the mixture looked a bit dry so I added a splash of milk – which in fact made it very sticky – so I probabably didn’t need to do that.

Although I ate this as my dinner, of course it would be perfect finger food for an appetizer. Win-win all the way really.

Happy Fooding!

Healthy Little Goodies

These balls are adapted from a recipe in a food magazine from a couple of years ago – I adjusted the quantities to suit what I had in the cupboard and how fussed I could be on the day. These are great for a sweet but reasonably healthy snack – perfect for lunch boxes or after school munchies. Certainly they all disappeared at work!

Apricot Energy Balls

200 gms dried apricots (the soft kind)

120 gms walnuts OR macadamias (or a mixture of both)

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until finely chopped and sticky (add a little extra honey if necessary)

Using clean, damp hands, roll mixture into 3cm balls. Place on a dish lined with baking paper, and refrigerate for half an hour until firm.

Makes 18-20

Mixture can be doubled easily, and if you like you can roll the balls in either extra sesame seeds, coconut or cocoa.

Happy Healthy Snack Fooding!

Fruitilicious Muffin Break

I am amazed at how great these dairy-free Fruit Cocktail Muffins taste – this recipe is from the 4 Ingredients: Kids recipe book, and in fact only has 3 ingredients in it! I wasn’t expecting too much of this, but it turned out brilliantly. Mind you, the blurb in the book says “these are ideal for breakfast when in a hurry” …..well, considering the sugar content from the caster sugar and the fruit/liquid, I’m not sure I’d encourage children to eat this in place of other breakfast options – but certainly as a supremely easy morning tea or after school snack this is ideal.

Kids could easily make these themselves with very little assistance, and all you need is to have a can of fruit cocktail in the pantry and you can whip them up and have them in the oven in literally 2 minutes.

For a more decadent version, I might add some choc bits next time. And a bit of cinnamon in the mixture would be good. Or if you have any leftover tiny Easter eggs lying around (unlikely I know!), you could press one into the centre of each muffin before cooking – caramel-filled eggs would be even better.

I’ve frozen some to see how they taste when thawed – possibly they’ll be quite dry and might need butter or jam spread on them. And I’ve realised just how similar this recipe is to the Pineapple Cake I’ve made before – in fact, almost identical – so that means you could easily substitute a particular fruit in this (or the cake recipe), rather than the mixed fruit cocktail. Lots of scope!

Fruit Cocktail Muffins

2 cups SR flour

1 cup caster sugar

410 gm can fruit cocktail, undrained

Preheat oven to 150C (140C for fan forced). Grease or line a 12-capacity muffin pan.

Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl and stir well.

Add the undrained fruit cocktail an stir until just combined (if a little dry, add 1 tbsp milk).

Spoon into muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops of golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Makes 12.

Happy Sweet Fooding!

Pizza Perfection!

I thought I’d show you some examples of the pizzas I love to make. I use my bread machine (omg I love that thing SO much), on the pizza dough setting. Each batch makes 2 large pizzas – I divide the risen dough in half, roll it out on a floured board and place each on a pizza tray (sprayed with olive oil spray).

Next is the tomato paste spread over the bases, and then I top with whatever takes my fancy (I am very partial to prawns these days, whole cloves of garlic, and lots of vegetarian toppings – asparagus, broccoli, baby spinach, haloumi and part-cooked cubes of pumpkin).

On top I sprinkle a mixture of grated mozzarella and tasty cheeses, but I don’t like TOO much cheese – I like to taste the toppings properly, and if there’s too much cheese it just tastes of oil (not to mention being serious heart attack material, especially if you also have high-fat meats like salami, on the pizza). Fresh basil leaves are awesome sprinkled on top too 🙂

The oven must be hot, as the pizza needs to cook quickly and be hot enough for the dough to puff up and rise properly – I usually do 10 minutes at 220C and then turn the trays around and also switch them over from top to bottom, to ensure even cooking. With my current oven I do have to be very careful not to burn them though.

Making 2 in one batch is good as you can make one with meat and one without, hence suiting all eating styles. Leftovers are good for lunch (or cold, first thing in the morning, if you need a post-booze-carbs-hit….).

Happy Fooding!

Ham Dip

Super easy, this dip also makes a great filling for sandwiches.  I think you can get this particular meat paste at Aussie online food shops, but there are sure to be local equivalents in all countries anyway.

Ham Dip

250 gm tub low-fat cream cheese

~60 gms (1/2 a jar) Pecks Devilled Meat Spread

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp seedy mustard

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for a while to firm up, then serve with water crackers or other dipping style biscuits.

Happy Fooding!

Ginger Greatness

Another recipe not made by me, but….well….tasted by me and I did WATCH the process, does that count? As with the Beef, Cauliflower & Potato Curry, this is also from the Donna Hay Magazine latest issue (Jun/Jul Issue 63). These bikkies were not too sweet, despite the demerara coating, and had that gorgeous ginger flavour so more-ish when enjoying a nice hot cuppa…..

Ready to go into the oven

Gingernut Cookies

150 gms butter, softened

1 tsp pure vanilla essence

1 egg

1 1/4 cups (186 gm) plain flour, sifted

1 tbsp ground ginger, sifted

1/4 tsp bi-carbonate of soda, sifted

1 cup demerara sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 180C (for my extra hot oven, 160C would be sufficient, so use your judgement here). Place the butter, vanilla and sugar in an electric mixter and beat for 8-10 minutes or until combined.

Add the egg and beat for 2-3 minutes or until pale and fluffy.

Add the flour, ginger and bi-carb soda, and beat until a smooth dough forms.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and roll in the demerara sugar.

Place on baking trays lined with baking paper, leaving room to spread.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool on wire racks.

All ready to eat!

Makes 24 (or less if you make them bigger in size!).

Happy Gingery Fooding!

Choc Cherry Muffins

I burnt these! I’m still not used to just how hot my current oven is – I keep turning the temp down lower than every recipe says, but it is still too hot. Actually it has been great for cakes rising so far, much better than my previous oven, but I must remember to turn it down even more. Also the oven doesn’t have a window in the door – how archaic – which is a bit frustrating, as you can’t see how things are going, but you don’t want to open the oven too often to check, especially with cakes.

Despite their burnt bums, these muffins, which use yummy Cherry Ripe bars in them, were all eaten by the TAFE class that I took them to!

I’m sorry if you are not able to get Cherry Ripes where you live – you haven’t lived ’til you’ve tried one!

Choc Cherry Muffins

2 cups SR flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/3 cup castor sugar

60 gms butter, melted

3 x 55 gm Cherry Ripe bars, chopped

1/2 cup Nutella hazelnut spread

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl; stir in the remaining ingredients and mix (do not over-mix).

Spoon into a lightly greased muffin tray. Bake at 190C (unless your oven is super hot like mine in which case lower it a bit and keep an eye on them) for 25 minutes.

Makes 12

Happy Unburnt Fooding!

No Cooking, But Still Plenty of Food Around…

I’m not really cooking properly at the moment, as I’m moving house this week, so almost everything is sealed up in a box somewhere. And I’ve already taken all of my non-perishable foods to the new place, so my pantry consists of a bottle of soy sauce and some pepper, at the moment! I’m also trying to empty the freezer to minimise how much food I have to keep frozen during the actual move, so I’ve been using up leftovers a lot. I’ve been eating a lot of couscous, made into a kind of warm salad with whatever I can find to use up – a piece of salmon (poached in the microwave) or some grilled chicken.  I’m missing my bread machine – hope I can find the box it’s in, pretty quickly after moving.

Just because I haven’t been cooking much, doesn’t mean I haven’t been enjoying lovely food!  A new bar, The Classroom, has just opened in North Perth, and I went there for drinks with friends on Friday night.  The decor is great – old lockers, blackboards, vintage lunchboxes, old encyclopaedias etc all around the walls, and even a few sets of old-fashioned big headphones, plugged in to some kind of “lesson of the day” – how to speak Japanese, when I was there! In order to eat, you must fill out a school canteen menu by ticking the boxes (pencils and clipboards provided!) and handing it to your waiter. Cocktails are served in unusual shaped glasses, including specimen jars, droppers for adding colour to your drink, and screw top jars with handles on.  Lots of good fun.

The food is bar food so snack-y, tapas-style – small portions, but then the prices were also small, so you could order several things to share and it worked out okay, price-wise.

I chose the smoked salmon & scallop carpaccio (sorry the pic is a bit blurry) as one of the dishes (does that surprise you?!), which actually was a tad tasteless. Can you believe these tiny little blobs are scallops?? They were the size of a 5 cent piece – hmm I wonder at the sustainability issues of that, but we won’t go there….

I wouldn’t order the salmon again, but everything else was lovely. As well as the food in these pics, we also had big thick-cut crinkly chips (served in typical cardboard cups, just like at school – back in the days when they did serve unhealthy rubbish like that at school canteens!), and a serving of beef ribs, the meat from which just melted in your mouth (it was given a huge thumbs up by our Phil the butcher).  The szechuan squid (pictured at the top) was my favourite, it was totally yummy and pepper-y. Apparently the cubes of watermelon were “compressed” and taken through some long-winded process that the waitress explained to us, to make them gourmet blah blah blah – tasted just like a cube of watermelon to us!

I’m really missing all of my kitchen stuff, and looking forward to getting re-acquainted with it all when I start to unpack next weekend.

Happy Fooding!