Italian Stuffed Peppers

 

We had my boyfriend's family over for his birthday in April and he wanted a buffet meal that people could help themselves to and eat while standing up. His mum does great buffets on Boxing Day with the same dishes every year - quiche, cocktail sausages, pate etc - and so I wanted to do something a bit different. I had the idea of an Italian themed buffet which worked really well, as I could buy a lot of things ready made and could prepare some other things in advance. One thing I made was these Italian stuffed peppers.

They are very easy to make and don't take long; you can do them while you've got the oven on for something else and then serve them either hot or cold which makes them ideal for buffets. They are also a good substantial vegetarian option.

To begin, slice some red peppers in half and remove the seeds. Turn the peppers so the cut side is facing down and place on a piece of baking foil. Roast in the oven at about 180C for about 15-20 minutes until the skins are just starting to char.

I used Uncle Ben's microwave risotto rice which is brilliant - you add water to the pouch and microwave it for two minutes and have a lovely risotto. As these were for vegetarians I used the tomato and herb flavour, and added some chopped onion to the rice mixture.

 

Spoon the rice into the pepper halves, and dot with cubes of mozzarella.

Return to the oven or grill to heat through just before serving (though you could also serve these cold later) so that the cheese melts. I thought these were delicious!

I'm sharing these with the Family Foodies challenge, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers & Mash, as the theme this month is Italian food. These are fairly child-friendly to make (you could let your children add the filling to the peppers) and also to eat - it's a good way to introduce them to peppers.

I'm also entering this in the Extra Veg challenge, which is hosted this month by Kate at Veggie Desserts on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and  Michelle at Utterly Scrummy.

Australian Lamingtons

Formula 1 season is upon us with the first event in Australia this weekend. You may have seen the new blog challenge that I’ve launched, Formula 1 Foods – the idea being to bake or cook something from the country that is hosting each race. As well as celebrating the global popularity of F1 it’s also a good way of getting involved if you’re not an F1 fan but maybe live with people who are!

When I saw that the first destination was Australia I immediately thought of Lamingtons; I’ve never eaten or even seen any other than on blogs and in recipe books before but I know they are an Australian speciality. I recently took a baking class taught by an Australian who even referred to rectangular baking tins as Lamington tins!

There are various stories about the origins of the Lamington, which you can read here.

A Lamington is a pretty simple type of cake – a vanilla sponge cake baked as a single layer and sliced into squares. Each square is then dipped in a chocolate sauce and coated in dessicated coconut. Sometimes they are served sandwiched together with jam and cream which I think makes it more of a dessert.

  

I used a Jamie Oliver recipe which you can find online here:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/australia-homemade-lamingtons/

Cutting the cake into squares and ready to dip

Drying on a rack after dipping

They were very easy to make; a little messy with the dipping but I think these would be fun to make with children.

When you cut or bite into them you see how the chocolate sauce has soaked in, making the sponge nice and moist. I'm not keen on dessicated coconut normally but these were really nice!

I am sending this to my new blog challenge Formula 1 Foods as the first country is Australia.

I am also sending this to Treat Petite as the theme is Mother’s Day and mums; these would be good for children to make for Mother’s Day and particularly welcome if your mum is from Australia I think! The challenge is hosted by Stuart at Cakeyboi and Kat aka The Baking Explorer.

As these are child-friendly bakes I am also sending them to Family Foodies.

Beetroot Brownies - Low-Fat Chocolate Brownie Recipe

My grandparents are supposed to be on low-sugar diets but I wanted to bake my granddad something for his birthday recently. It had to be something I could make fairly quickly and transport easily so I decided to make him a nicely-packaged box of chocolate brownies. I had a look on the internet and found a recipe for low-sugar chocolate brownies on the Diabetes UK website, which use beetroot to make them moist. They tasted really good- chocolately enough that while you can detect a hint of beetroot I didn't really notice there was anything different (though my boyfriend did, but he doesn't eat beetroot and can smell something he doesn't like a mile off!).

You can find the full recipe here. The only change I made was to use agave nectar instead of maple syrup.

Putting the beetroot, coffee, eggs, vanilla and agave nectar into the blender:

The mixture is a lovely browny-red colour

Ready to go in the oven

And baked!

Sliced into squares. The brownies were moist and slightly fudgy and tasted really good.

I'm sending these to the new egg link-up hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen, called Simply Eggcellent.

This is a good way to get an extra portion of veg which is hidden from picky eaters, so I'm entering this in Extra Veg, hosted by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

These are so easy that children could make them (just watch the beetroot juice doesn't get all over their hands as it really stains!- adults should probably add the beetroot to the blender then let the kids take over) so I am sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Vanesther at Bangers and Mash.

Christmas Wreath Cake: Dairy-free Vegan Bundt with Hot Chocolate Sauce

This was the final part of my Thanksgiving dinner - you may have seen my earlier posts on the turkey meatloaf, vegan lentil loaf, sweet potato with marshmallows, vegan pumpkin cheesecake and now this.

It's vegan but tastes like any chocolate cake - that is, any moist and delicious chocolate cake! I decorated it with royal icing and though I did it for Thanksgiving I think it looks a bit like a Christmas wreath so is very festive.

I served this simply as a cake after the meal, but as we had quite a lot left afterwards, I made a hot chocolate sauce which really made this cake into something else.

I based it on a recipe in Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist but I used caster sugar instead of evaporated cane juice (I couldn't get any but didn't need it, as in the UK the main brands of caster sugar are vegan) and I didn't make the chocolate ganache to decorate. I also made it into a bundt rather than a layer cake.

You need:
230g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
75g cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
240ml strong coffee, cooled
120ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar mixed with 240ml soya milk
3 tsp egg replacer, mixed with 4 tbsp. warm water

Preheat oven to 180C and spray a bundt tin with Cake Release.
Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt with an electric mixer. In a separate jug, mix the cooled coffee, oil, soya milk and vinegar. Pour this gradually into the dry ingredients, folding in as you go. Add the prepared egg replacer and mix in until you have a smooth, fairly runny batter.

Pour into the bundt tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes, testing with a skewer to make sure it is cooked in the middle.

Allow to cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack.

Place on a serving plate

Decorate with royal icing, made up to pack instructions, and a sprig of holly or anything else seasonal, such as pomegranate seeds or cranberries.

I made a hot chocolate sauce to go with this. Melt 200g chocolate and 100g butter in a small pan then stir in 2 tbsp. golden syrup (you can use a vegan butter substitute if preferred). When the chocolate is melted and the sauce is smooth and glossy, pour over slices of the cake and enjoy.

I'm sharing this with Ness at Jibber Jabber UK for her Love Cake challenge as the theme this month is December treats and you can make this cake quite festive.

 I'm also sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash, and on alternate months Louisa at Eat Your Veg as the theme is festive food.

 

Less Sinful Mince Pies

I am sure I am in the minority when I say I have never eaten a mince pie - then again do Americans eat mince pies? I've never been keen on any of the ingredients of mincemeat (which for anyone who doesn't know, does not actually include meat) and so never wanted to try one. I've also been trying to lose weight for years and so it seemed pointless to try a mince pie in case I did like them and it gave me one more thing to overindulge in at Christmas!

When we had a pre-Christmas food tasting at Slimming World it seemed a good opportunity to make mince pies and try a less sinful recipe - they are not completely encased in pastry so would almost certainly be lower in calories than the shop-bought kind. In fact Slimming World says a basic standard mince pie from a supermarket is 12 syns going up to 21 syns to one from a coffee shop, whereas their own recipe for mince tarts - without full lids as shown above - are only three and a half syns each. The pastry is unsweetened which also cuts the calories but hopefully they will still taste good.

The Slimming World recipe just says to use mincemeat for the filling and I wanted to make my own. I decided that Mary Berry's recipe looked good - I trust her for something traditional like this, and I also liked the fact that this recipe didn't use suet as I knew if I bought a whole box I wouldn't use it for anything else.

I followed Mary's recipe but added some chopped French glace cherries and used cherry brandy as my liqueur as I thought that would go well together. It was really easy to make -basically just stir everything together in a pan.

To make the pastry, cut 110g butter or margarine into small cubes and work into 225g plain flour with your fingertips. Add a pinch of salt and gradually add cold water a little at a time until you have a pliable dough.

Wrap the dough in cling film and put in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 175C. Lightly spray some cupcake trays with Cake Release. Roll out the pastry and cut half of it into rounds with a cutter. Press into the indents in the cupcake tray. Spoon in about 1 heaped tsp of mincemeat per tart.

Use a festive cookie cutter to make a shape for the lids - I used Christmas trees.
Place the lids on top and bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

I took these to my Slimming World group but still didn't actually eat one, so I can still say I've never eaten a mince pie!

I'm hosting Alphabakes this month (it's Ros from the More Than Occasional Baker's turn again next month) and the letter is X. We are allowing Christmas recipes so I'm sending in these mince pies.

I'm also sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash, and on alternate months Louisa at Eat Your Veg as the theme is festive food.

 This month's Vegetable Palette challenge, hosted by Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen, has as its theme Christmas fruit and veg. My homemade mincemeat uses cranberries, dried fruits, sultanas and raisins, glace cherries - all quite festive!

I'm also sharing these mince tarts with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi, as they also have a Christmas theme this month.

Turkey Meatloaf With Apple and Celery

Christmas dinner is all about the roast turkey and I wouldn't do anything to the turkey other than roast it. However, I'm always looking for ways to use up leftover turkey after Christmas. I made this meatloaf with minced turkey for a Thanksgiving meal with friends and it worked really well as the main course, as it's easy to make in large quantities and you can make it ahead of time. But I think this would also work with finely chopped or even minced turkey if you have a mincer to use up the leftovers after Christmas. Or just make it for a regular meal!

I was inspired by this recipe on All Recipes.com though I made mine slightly differently. Here's what I did.

Serves 6

You need:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp. oil or Fry Light
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 apple, finely chopped
2 slices slightly stale bread, turned into breadrumbs - either by hand or in a food processor
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp. milk
large pinch of salt
pinch of dried sage
750g turkey mince

                                  

Preheat the oven to 175C. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, celery and apple until just starting to brown.

Transfer to a large bowl and add the breadcrumbs, cheese, milk, salt, sage and turkey mince.

Mix well, then press into a loaf tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes then slice into six to serve.

The meatloaf was really good and even my boyfriend who has never had meatloaf before, and doesn't like apple or celery, said he liked it. It had quite a soft texture and I think could have used a little more seasoning but otherwise was pretty good. I served it with green salad and sweet potatoes with marshmallow.

My Thanksgiving spread complete with Thanksgiving paper napkins

I'm sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash, and on alternate months Louisa at Eat Your Veg as the theme is festive food and you don't get much more festive than turkey!

 

I'm also sending this to Credit Crunch Munch, hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All, as meatloaf is a cheap way to feed a lot of people - you can either use leftovers or mince is generally cheaper than 'better' cuts of meat.

 

 

Dairy-free Vegan Frozen Cupcakes - Golden Syrup Flavour

I love Frozen - and I'm clearly not the only one! In my opinion it's the best Disney movie in years with a strong feminist message and a brilliant song from Idina Menzel. Judging by the amount of merchandise available in the shops, from fancy dress costumes to Frozen shampoo and showergel at Poundland, not to mention all the Frozen-inspired birthday cakes I've seen online, children everywhere are captivated consumers of all things Elsa, Anna and Olaf.

My friend has a lovely daughter who just turned 6 at the end of November and I wanted to make some cupcakes when they came to my house a week or so later. My friend is vegan so I wanted her to be able to eat the cakes but I also wanted to decorate them in the Frozen theme. I didn't have time to do anything massively elaborate so I bought some rice paper Frozen pictures to use as cupcake toppers from Amazon. I already had some snowflake sprinkles at home which I thought would be perfect to add on top. Icy blue is the colour most associated with Frozen - it's the colour of Elsa's dress for instance - so that had to be the colour of the icing.

For the cakes themselves, I used the golden syrup cupcake recipe from Ms Cupcake's The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town. I didn't alter the recipe in any way so can't really reprint it as it isn't my own. Suffice to say if you are interested to know what goes in to vegan cupcakes, you replace the butter with oil, and use a little white wine or cider vinegar mixed with soya milk as a sort of egg substitute. These cakes contain golden syrup and are also drizzled with a little golden syrup while still warm which is lovely.

I made some vegan buttercream by using Pure margarine substitute, icing sugar and a little Sugarflair gel colour paste in baby blue, which I piped on top of the cupcakes.

I then added the snowflake sprinkles and the Frozen cupcake toppers.

 

I'm sharing these with Ness at Jibber Jabber UK for her Love Cake challenge as the theme this month is December treats.

 

I'm sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash, and on alternate months Louisa at Eat Your Veg as the theme is festive food and these are pretty festive.

 

I'm also sharing these cupcakes with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi, as they also have a Christmas theme this month.

 

 

Finally I'm sending these to Tea Time Treats; hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Jane at the Hedgecombers, it has a lovely theme this month of glitter, sprinkles and shiny stuff.