Churros

I would like you to take a moment to merely enjoy looking at the image and imagine the sheer joy of biting into a warm, crunchy, chewy dough gracefully wrapped in a thin coat of cinammon. Ahhhhh yes the glorious Churro! I don't need to do much talking around this as the taste and flavour of any churro will leave you breathless and wanting more... 

Ofcourse there are a couple different recipes and options out there. However, I decided to go with my gut and try an eggless churro. Previously I have made churros with eggs and they come out great, but I found the eggless one works just as well and to be perfectly honest with you, I just didn't have eggs in my fridge on the day. :) 

The trick with Churros though is getting the oil at the right temperature to fry. Ofcourse if you have an electric fryer you can manage the temperature quite well. Otherwise you can follow my method of dunking a piece of dough into the fryer and if it cooks perfectly through you have the right temperature. if it is too high you will see the outside turn brown super quickly and still doughy in the centre. If it is too low you might not have a crunchy Churro. So make sure you have got this down pat!

Let's get to it!!!

Ingredients: - 

2 cups of sunflower oil for frying

1 cup of boiled water

1 TBLS Olive Oil 

1 Tsp Baking powder

2/3 cups of organic all purpose flour 

1/4 cup of sugar or xylitol 

1/4 cup of cinnamon 

Piping bag

Star nozzle (8mm) 

I use nutella as my dunking sauce for the churro. All I do is take some out into a bowl and heat it up for 10 - 15 seconds and you have a perfect chocolate sauce to use to dunk your churro. :) If you would like to make a vegan version, my suggestion is to use cacao powder, cococnut milk and a sweetner of your choice. I would heat this over a water bath to get the correct texture. 

Method: - 

Mix all the above ingredients (except the sugar and sunflower oil) together in a bowl. You want to end up with a really sticky dough. Prepare your oil and make sure you have the right temperature. While the oil is heating up place the dough into the piping bag. In a seperate plate mix the cinnamon and sugar together. 

Now gently pipe your churro into the oil until you have your desired length and cut using a pair of cooking scissors or knief and fry until golden brown. Remove and roll immediately in the cinnamon and sugar. Serve warm with the nutella sauce. Enjoy! Much love as always CC :) 

A little bit of Indulgence

OK OK so I am only human and I do allow myself a cheat day every now and again... Apart from eating clean most days, particularly staying away from things like dairy and gluten, I sometimes do feel for indulging in things like pasta, with abit of cream ofcourse. :) 

You can cetainly use store bought spiral pasta or you can make your own at home. This recipe is literally put everything together and in 10 minutes and you have a fabulously plated meal ready for you and your loved ones. 

For this recipe you will need: -

(Serves 2) 

200g spiral pasta

1 TBLS olive oil

1 Brown onion finely chopped 

1 punnet of baby spinach 

1 punnet of button mushrooms finely sliced

1 cup of frozen baby peas

3 TBLS of double thick cream (I personally prefer using PURA as it uses vegetable gum instead of gelatine as a thickening agent) 

Crushed garlic (I used quite abit as I love garlic in pasta) 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Method: - 

Bring a pot of water with salt and a splash of olive oil to a boil, to cook the pasta. In a seperate pot (place over a medium heat) add olive oil, onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the spinach, mushrooms and frozen baby peas and let this cook until the peas are almost mushy. Season with salt and pepper and add the cream. Let this just start to simmer and then add the cooked pasta. The aroma that you experience while cooking this dish is unreal and you will liertally want to eat it straight out of the pot....Of course you can add more cream and make the dish more like an alfredo pasta but just remember to adjust with salt and pepper accordingly. You can also add some parmesan cheese when you serve up this dish, but I just wanted to throughly enjoy the cream for the moment..... :) Much love as always CC

 

Zucchini Pizza

I came across this idea the other day when I was trying to prepare a low carb meal for family members. I wanted to make pizza so I decided that a way to do this was through either using portabello mushrooms or zucchini as the "pizza base". I did make the "mushroom pizzas" on a seperate day however I completely forgot to take pics!!!! So apologies for that, but I will make it again soon as it was an absolute hit and really filling as well. 

For this recipe you will need: - 

(Serves 4) 

4 large zucchini (1 per person), cut length wise and the centre stems removed

Tomato paste 

Cherry tomato's 

Mozzarella cheese or cashew cheese (for the vegan option) 

Any veggies that you like, I used onion, olives, peppers 

2 cloves of garlic finely diced

Salt and pepper to taste

1 TBLS balsamic vinegar

2 TBLS olive oil

1 tsp Chilli flakes

Oregano to garnish 

Method: - 

Once you have cleaned your zucchini, place them into a ziploc bag. Add the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chilli flakes,1 garlic clove (finely chopped), salt and pepper just to season and marinade this for a couple hours. If you planning ahead let it marinade overnight, it tastes even better. :) 

After you have marinated the zucchini for a couple hours, my suggestion is cook it in a preheated oven (180 degree celsius) for approx 10-15 minutes just until they are slightly soft. You still want it to have the crunch as it still needs to hold whatever else you use as toppings. Remove the zucchini and then top with tomato paste, veggies, chopped garlic clove and cheese. Garnish with a bit of oregano and pop into the oven or on top of the Barbeque until the cheese has melted. Serve hot and enjoy, kids will love this and so will your vegetarian and vegan friends and family. Much love as always CC :) 

Spanish Rice

It is fasting month and sometimes people get alittle, if not entirely bored of the standard curry and rice or rotli that one consumes during the month of Shravan. The other thing I have noticed recently and also now that it is fasting month a lot of people have taken to follow diets like the banting, paleo or diets that are literally low carb and contain no sugar. 

I do agree with some parts of the diet, however I have always been a person who strongly believes in finding a balance and not following a diet but a lifestyle. One needs to find a balance in life and a balance when it comes to choosing food. I certainly do agree that white or refined, high sugar foods is simply a no no for anyone. But I do believe a balance of grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and proteins and ofcourse exercise is the fundamentals for achieving a healthy, balanced and complete life. 

SO apart from my preaching and going back onto the topic of Shravan, I decided to share a recipe that is so tasty, satisfying and complete that it is worth every single bite and ounce of energy that is required to make this dish. (Which is not a lot of energy by the way...) :) 

Ingredients: -

1 Cup of Tastic Rice (Brown Rice)

1 Onion Finely Sliced

1 Spring onion stalk finely sliced

1/2 Tomato roughly chopped

1 TBLS Olive Oil 

2 Clove of garlic Finely grated

1 Tsp of Paprika

A Pinch of Saffron 

Salt/pepper  to taste

You can use any veggies you like, I used  button mushrooms and spinach 

You could also add some cannellini beans, red beans or any other lentils to make it a balanced meal of carb, protein and veg 

Method: - 

Place the rice in a pot of boiling water and cook, strain the rice, you can rinse it if you want under cold water, or you could leave the rice starchy.

In a non stick pan place the olive oil, onions, garlic and tomato and cook until tender. Add the veggies, Paprika, salt, saffron and rice. At this point give it a taste and see whether you need to add more salt and pepper. Let it cook until the bottom starts to crisp. Once you see the rice starting to crisp remove it off the stove other wise it will burn really quickly. That is it!!!! You are done, you can generally serve this along side any vegetarian or meat dish. Purely, because it is fasting month I served mine with some roasted veggies. 

Guilt Free: Crunchy Oat Biscuits

I mentioned in my May post that I am on a mission to lose a couple kilos but also just try and improve my overall health. Thus far it has been good, however being me, I do have weak moments where I do feel for something a little sweet and something that still tastes atleast half decent!!!! So in my search for something that tastes like a biscuit, but has no butter, added sugar or flour (OH and it doesn't have egg either) I stumbled across these babies and wow do they pack a punch of flavour.

It literally just tastes five minutes to mix it all together and bake for 20 - 30 minutes. SO WORTH IT!!!!!! 

Ingredients: - 

1 & 1/2 cup organic rolled oats

1/2 cup of flaked coconut

1/2 cup of almonds

2 1/2 teaspoons of cold pressed organic coconut oil

1 TBLS organic agave nectar

1 TBLS organic manuka honey 

1 Tsp vanilla extract 

1 TBLS Water 

Method: - 

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees fan forced. 

Place the rolled oats, coconut and almonds into a kenwood or vitamix and Whizz until you have a mixture that feels similar to flour. Add the remaining ingredients and whizz again to end up with a thick textured dough. It will sort of be the consistency of biscuit dough however, you will not be able to roll this you will have to hand press the dough into cookies. Place onto a lined baking tray and bake the cookies until they are golden brown (20 - 30 minutes). You may think the cookie is underdone, but remove and let it cool to room temperature it will harden and you will end up with the perfect GUILT FREE Crunchy Oat Biscuits. Enjoy! Much love as always CC :) 

Prawn tomato bisque with zucchini & garlic mushrooms

Ok so I guess it is confession time from my end!!!! The reason I am doing it, is because if I share this with you I have to stick to it and I have to achieve it. :) Yes ofcourse I have packed  on a couple pounds, probably from all the food that I have been cooking but also partly from the condition I suffer from called Endometriosis. I am a complete foodie, I love food, I always have and I always will. I am probably at a point in my life where I have never been happier. I love my husband, my baby boy max (he is a beagle by the way), my family, the life that I have but more importantly I love myself more than I ever have before. I have been some what of a yoyo dieter in the past but that clearly never worked out. So cutting out food from my lifestyle at this point in time is simply not an option.

My philosophy at present is about balance, balance on what I put in my mouth and balance on what and how much exercise I do. No more excuses, no more complaining but more about being happy, content, healthy and achieving healthy weight loss goals. 

SO I have decided to challenge myself and put on healthy dinner ideas for the next two weeks. If you follow my instagram feed you will see I have started to put up daily pics. I am starting with 2 weeks as I would like to see what I can accomplish in a short space of time, (ofcourse this is extendable). If you would like to join me please feel free to do so, I always love company.... :) Join me on instagram, facebook or comment in the box below. 

Last night I decided to scratch through my fridge and freezer and see what is available for me to cook but also reduce my calorie intake at the same time. The picture above is what I came up with. Now this is ofcourse the healthier version of bisque but still gives you the texture of a typical bisque. Instead of using rice and cream to thicken the sauce I decided to use julienne zucchini, mushrooms and canned tomatoes to give it texture. You can blend all this together and keep it as a bisque with prawns. However, I decided not to blend and keep the dish as is to give it as much texture and contrast as possible. 

What you will need is the following: - 

500g prawns (deveined) you can use the heads to enhance the biqsue flavour if you like 

250g Mushrooms

3 - 4 Zucchini Julienne

250g canned tomatoes

1 TBLS Tomato paste

2 Garlic Cloves

2 Tsp black pepper

1 Tsp Chilli powder

Basil leaves

Salt to taste 

1/2 onion finely sliced

Olive oil for cooking

Method: - 

Place a pan onto a medium heat with olive oil. Add onions, garlic, basil and fry ingredients until onions are transparent. Add the Zucchini and mushrooms, together with salt and pepper. Allow this to cook slightly until the water has released from both ingredients. Now add the prawns and gently toss this together, let this cook until all the water has literally evaporated.  Add the chilli powder and canned tomatoes. Let this cook until you have somewhat of a thick sauce. Add the tomato paste and season with extra salt and pepper if required. 

The dish is meant to have a seafood flavour, that is what a bisque is about. If you have to have carbs, you can always use lower carb content breads or alternatively use something like brown basmati rice to serve with the bisque. I simply enjoyed it as is, as the zucchini acts as a "rice" substitute. Enjoy. Much love as always CC :) 

And don't forget to join me on the healthy dinner idea 2 week challenge on instagram, facebook, or comment in the box below.  

Pavlova Brownies Dessert

Oh my goodness it feels like forever since the last time I blogged. Well, brace yourself because I do have some special treats coming up for you and one of them being my Pavlova Brownies Dessert!!!!! Pavlova has been a staple dessert in many australian homes, purely because it is light, typically made with fruits and fresh cream and great for the warm weather that we constantly have. However, ofcourse I decided to take things one step further and build a decedant, indulgent dessert for a friends Bridal shower. 

Now sometimes in life, time seems to get the better of me and for the pic above I ended up getting a store bought pavlova base. Nothing wrong with doing this, but if you have the time bake it at home, it is so much fun and completely satisfying when you see the end result!!! :) I will share with you the recipe I tend to use for both my pavlova bases and meringue nests. 

For the Pavlova/meringue nests 

6 eggs seperated

270g castor sugar

Corn flour to sprinkle on foil 

Melted Butter to brush onto the foil 

1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract

1 Tsp White Vinegar 

For the Brownie

250g butter

2 cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder and alittle extra for dusting

1 1/2 Tsp vanilla essence

100g brown milk chocolate squares (baking chocolate)

100g white chocolate squares (baking chocolate) 

20x30cm baking pan (greased and lined with baking paper) 

500g of whipped cream 

For the chocolate sauce you could use nutella (warm slightly in the microwave to create a "sauce") or 200g of dark chocolate which you can melt over a water bath.

For the White chocolate noodles, use 200g of tempered white chocolate. Take a piping bag and pipe the tempered chocolate into a bowl filled with tap water and ice cubes. You will see the chocolate starting to form noodles straight away. (I will upload images and possibly a video of this demo shortly to show you how to correctly temper chocolate and pipe to create the noodles) 

Extra White chocolate 200g if you are going to make the dessert hours before guests arrive (see how to assemble (below) for more details) 

Method: - 

For the Pavlova 

Line a baking pan with foil, use a 9 or 10 inch pan to draw a circle as a guide for placing  the meringue. Brush the foil with melted butter and dust with cornflour, remove any excees corn flour. Preheat the oven to about 120 degrees. 

Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites till soft peaks are formed and gradually add the sugar. You basically have to whisk until you can feel a smooth texture, if you can feel sugar particles keep whisking. You will know you have the right consistency once you have a smooth glossy texture and if you can hold the bowl over your head and not have anything fall out, you have mastered the art of meringue making!!!! Becareful though because if you havent the mixture might be all over you. :) 

Once you have achieved the right texture, spoon the meringue this into your circle, smooth the sides and the top and place into the oven for approx 2 hours until the pavlova is dry to touch. When it is completely cold then move it to a serving tray and decorate. 

For the Brownies

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted remove from the heat and add the sugar. 

Make sure that your mixture has cooled somewhat before you add the eggs, as you really don't want your eggs to start to scramble in the mix. Add the eggs one at a time until you achieve a thick yet glossy mix. 

Add the vanilla, cocoa powder and plain flour to the egg mix. Add all the white chocolate squares and half of the brown milk chocolate squares and mix. Pour this into your baking pan which has been lined. 

Now, place the rest of the brown milk chocolate squares at random places on the brownie mix. This will start to partially melt when you bake your brownies. Place into the oven for approx 30 minutes. Test using a skewer. Once your brownies have cooked and cooled down you can cut them into squares. 

How to assemble: - 

Place the pavlova onto a serving platter. Place whipped cream onto the base of the pavlova (if you are making this hours before your function, you might want to melt chocolate and pour this over the top of the pavlova, let it set before adding the whipped cream, the reason being is you don't want to have a soggy and collapsed pavlova) The hard chocolate will prevent this from happening. Place the chopped brownies all over the top of the whipped cream, make sure you use the whipped cream as a "glue" to hold the brownies in place. Place the chocolate noodles and then the fun part, drizzle with the melted chocolate sauce. Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!!!! Your Guests will go completely nuts for this dessert!!!! Much love as always CC :) 

Endo Diet: Salmon Soup

This month is dedicated to creating awareness around endometriosis. There are millions of women in the world who suffer from this condition, I am one of them. Diet and lifestyle form an extremely important part in managing and trying to keep symptoms away. So since I have a food blog I thought what better way to help educate people around what an endo diet looks like. This month I am sharing some recipes that I use to help me manage my symptoms of inflammation and pain. 

The recipe that I am about to share is one that I use quite frequently because it is a blend of warming and healing spices and also contains a good amount of protein with the addition of the salmon. It is ofcourse optional and you can leave it out if you are vegetarian and you could substitute with lentils of your choice. 

The most important thing with following an endo diet is that you want to have as much as possible organic ingredients from the spices to the vegetables to the meats that you eat as well.

Here we go, what you will need is the following ingredients: - 

(Serves 4) 

All organic ingredients (most of which are available at a health food store):-

 

1 dry red chilli, soaked in hot water and roughly chopped

1/2 fresh red chilli finely chopped, (keep the other half for garnish) 

1 Garlic Clove finely chopped

1/2 inch of ginger finely chopped

1/2 onion finely sliced

1 medium sized zucchini finely sliced or use a julienne grater

1 handful of kale finely chopped stalks removed

1/2 punnet of button mushrooms finely chopped 

150g of salmon cut into chunks  (or you could use smoked salmon as well this takes it to a whole new level in terms of flavour) 

1 can of organic coconut milk

2-3 kaffir lime leaves

3 stalks of lemon grass, (1 finely crushed into a paste using a mortar and pestle) 

1 Tsp of chilli powder

1 Tsp of Tumeric 

1/2 Tsp of Shrimp paste (optional) 

Salt to taste 

The juice of one lime 

3 Tsp of Fish sauce (make sure the fish sauce is gluten free)  If you are veg you can use Soy Sauce preferably gluten free as well

Method: - 

Place a deep pot onto the stove over a medium heat. Place about a TBLS of olive oil and fry the onions, chillies, ginger, shrimp paste, and lemon grass paste. The combination of aromas will literally have you salivating... Once this has cooked for about 1-2mins add the chopped veggies and cover until the veggies start to release water. You want to add about half a cup of water to the veggies to start forming a stock. I usually add the chilli powder, tumeric and salt now to start cooking with the veggies and also add half a tin of coconut milk. What you want to do is simply bring it to a light boil and add the kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass stalks (whole) as you will remove this before serving. 

Turn the heat down and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Now add the salmon pieces and let them poach through. If you are using smoked salmon you want to add it only before you are ready to serve otherwise your salmon will become really tough and not as enjoyable. Now is the fun part of trying to balance the flavours, you have to do this with the fish sauce and the lime juice. You want to get a kind of tangy salty flavour happening. Once you have this remove the lemongrass stalks and kaffir lime leaves and serve warm with some chillies to garnish. Enjoy and be amazed at the flavours you will taste. Much Love CC :) 

My Ta Ta Thai Salad

This is not just an explosion of flavours and smells, but has heaps of ingredients that have many health benefits as well. For example lemongrass which is great for digestion and possess anti-cancer properties as well... Garlic which helps in fighting against the common cold and also helps reducing cholesterol levels. Thai Basil!!!! OMG my favourite ingredient, I could crush the leaves and smell them all day, that is how much I love them. :) Thai basil is a natural anti-imflammatory and also has anti bacterial properties. So this meal is a power packed meal with heaps of flavour and healthy stuff too. :) double bonus!!!! 

The reason I made this salad was because I was seriously craving thai food (and no I am not pregnant :) ) and I just didn't have the energy to make a normal thai curry but something interesting.... SO ofcourse I took to the internet in search of a really nice and simple thai salad so I came across this recipe which I have modified slightly, all credit to the author who created this as it is amazing!!!!!! 

What you will need is the following: - 

(Serves 3) 

For the Salad: - 

1 Cup of edamame boiled, shelled and crushed into a paste (almost looks like avocado in the pic above) 

1 handful of kale finely chopped

1/4 chinese cabbage finely chopped

1 Large carrot grated using a Julienne grater

1 Green Pepper finely sliced

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 stalk of green onion finely chopped

1 handful of thai basil finely chopped

As many as you like of the roasted sweet chilli cashews (purchase from any supermarket) I usually take a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them ever so slightly as you still want to have some sort of crunch and texture in the salad 

1 handful of coriander just picked of the stalk (To garnish) 

For the Dressing: - 

1 Garlic Clove 

1 1/2 TBLS Soy sauce preferably gluten free and salt reduced

1 TBLS Water

2 TBLS Sunflower Oil

1 TBLS Vinegar

1 TBLS Manuka Honey

1/2 TBLS Sesame Oil

1/2 TBLS Lemongrass paste (simply chop the lemongrass up really finely and crush using a mortar and pestle, this will require some elbow grease :) and also add alittle water to help crush and create a paste) or if you can buy a ready made paste feel free to do so 

Method: - 

EASY AS PIE!!!! Toss all the salad stuff together, I would leave the edamame and cashews for just before you want to serve otherwise the salad will become really soggy and cashews will end up being soft. To make the dressing simply puree all the ingredients together and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. When you are about to serve this to your guests mix the edamame and salad dressing together and toss through the salad so everything gets coated. Once you are satifised that everything is mixed through add the cashews and garnish with coriander. 

ENJOY and let me know what you think, I personally think you are all going to love this. Much love CC :) 

Treats to share with the Family

Hey guys, I haven't posted for a while and I know many of you are wondering what on earth am I doing!!!!! Seeing that I haven't posted since Christmas I will share some of the stuff that I have been creating and recreating up till today.  

This was something I ofcourse decided to give a go for Christmas, yes my amazing gingerbread house which I was extremely excited about, because it was the first time I made one and it tasted and looked like a million dollars. 

I simply used a template for a gingerbread house that I found online and followed a simple recipe I found online as well. If you would like more information and advice on the gingerbread house, please leave me a message in the box below and I would be more then happy to share this with you. :) 

Another treat that I made for the family was this dessert tower, which was the dessert for our Christmas Day lunch. 

All you need is :-  

Styrofoam cone

baking paper

Cake board

Glue, something like nutella or buttercream to stick the cone to the board. I used nutella for this recipe. 

Toothpicks

Any fruit that you like I used strawberries and cherries

Ferreo Rocher 

I made macarons from scratch, which are really tricky but you could also use Adriano Zumbo ready to bake macarons which tastes amazing and are really easy to make. 

Method: - 

Use the baking paper to cover the cone. You want to make sure that you stick the cone to your cake board before you start to add the fruit. Depending on what fruit and chocolate you are using start to skewer them using the toothpicks. What you want to do is start at the bottom of the cone and work your way up. As you start at the bottom you will see some gaps that form, but dont worry this is something you can fill in later with extra fruit. 

Once you have completed covering your cone, you can stick the extra chocolate you have around on the cake board. Also add the macarons or any other biscuits that you like to give more texture and structure to your amazing dessert tour. I served this with extra nutella as a dipping sauce for the fruit. All you have to do is just heat the nutella up slightly to make it more like a sauce. This really is what entertaining is about. Having everyone sit around and dunk into their own dipping bowls of nutella. Enjoy these special moments with family and friends. :) Ciao Ciao and much love CC :)