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 :)