WCB- after breakfast nap time

Tina likes to get up at 5.30 for breakfast, with us watching her eat, then she likes to have a little nap while we're sitting in the living room.

So sundays are her favourite. Unfortunately for her, we dont like her plan, so we give her breakfast, then shut the door so we can have another couple of hours sleep, which is obviously just terrible, so we endure a good few minutes of talking to.

She's a very vocal cat, the vet thinks she's a british blue, I dont know if that has some siamese or burmese in, but she is jolly chatty.

Here she is post breakfast relaxing. Look at her little back rabbit foot sticking out. Oh bless! Her coat is looking nice and sleek for the summer now that she's done moulting.

Anzac Biscuits, nom nom nom

I wanted to treat my bike team tomorrow as we're climbing mount palomar again. The fun catch is that we're starting in Solana Beach(110 miles and 10,000+ ft climb!). Ha ha ha!! See my other blog to see if we made it!

These anzac biscuits seemed the perfect choice. I wanted to make them anyway, but I was really happy to find a recipe in cooking light, as I didnt want them to be too fatty as that is really not good for a cyclist!!

They are really delicious! The golden syrup is a must, and they really remind me of 'hob nobs'. The coconut isnt too prevalent, which is good as I'm not really a fan.

Anzac Biscuits- The complete Cooking Light Cookbook
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup regular oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup (Important, but I wont kill you if you use honey)

Preheat oven to 325f
Combine flour, oats, sugar, coconut and baking soda
Melt the butter, mix in water and golden syrup.
Mix the two and roll balls of dough in your hands and flatten them onto a silpat/greased cookie sheet.
Cook for around 12 minutes. They harden on sitting, so leave them on a sheet for a while to harden, then cool on a rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Its a friend's birthday coming up and I wanted to bake something for him. I'm told he likes a good chocolate chip cookies, and I wanted to try the alton brown recipe I'd been given by a friend.

They were wonderful! I ended up eating two of them as they were so delicious, especially straight out of the oven! This was a total winner recipe and definitely worked better with the flat cookie sheet. I scooped the flour, so decided to reduce the amount to two cups and I was worried they would be tough.

The Chewy Recipe courtesy Alton Brown Show: Good Eats Episode: Three Chips for Sister Marsha

2 sticks salted butter 2 1/4 cups bread flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/4 cups brown sugar 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 tablespoons milk 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips oven 375 degrees F. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Heat the oven to 375 f. Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Tina under Siege

Tina has found another cupboard to sit in. This is a bit tricky, she just has to launch herself in there and then she's in, but she cant stand up in there, so she has a bit of trouble getting comfy.

It always makes me laugh when my yoga teacher says 'like a cat' implying grace and smooth movements. Tina isnt really one of those types of cats!!

Anyway, unfortunately we have a new cat next door which is now called 'leopard cat' and is twice the size of tina (remember, she's 14 lb!) and is terrorizing her a little bit, so she's very needy at the moment. I hope she learns to stand up for herself a bit.

To see the other cats, and to find out what mischeif pumpkin and Laura have been in visit sher at what did you eat.

Gift baskets and Loquat Jelly

For Cinco De Mayo this year I became a waitress for the evening at the wonderful Big Kitchen in South Park. I'm told they do a great breakfast, so I'll be back! It was my last fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Many local restaurants were kind enough to offer raffle prizes, Better Half, Kous Kous, Wits End, and Khyber Pass were all very generous!

I donated a gift basket of home made goodies, including loquat chutney, blood orange marmalade, fleur de sel caramels, fudge, chocolate truffles, candied peanuts, amaretti cookies, world peace cookies and cocoa nib sables. They seemed to be very well received!!

I thought I'd also mention my loquat jelly that I made with the remainder of my loquats. I basically took the seeds out, halved them, covered with water and boiled them for an hour or so until they are a pulp. I then strained them and weighted them and added 3/4 of the weight in sugar. This was then boiled until I pushed my finger through a blob on a plate and it remained as two separate parts.

Its made a very solid jelly, I think this would be good with cheese. It reminds me of the very trendy quince jellies I've seen around.

For a more traditional jam, I think this fruit would be best paired with another fruit, it seems to have set quite solid, and could help a fruit lower in pectin to set.

PS. A loquat is a stone fruit that looks a little like an apricot. Another name for it is japanese medlar. It seems to be something many people have in california as it is a really pretty tree, but they just leave the fruits to rot. I've seen them in quite a few gardens. What a shame!

PPS I always wear rubber gloves when dealing with any stone fruit to save my poor nasty fingers from getting stained! Thanks for the reminder, anonymous!

Curried Quinoa Salad

This seemed like a perfect lunch today, its so hot you could probably fry eggs on the patio! Its a great salad to make a big bowl of, then have for lunch at work. The flavor only improves after a day or two, the delicious creaminess of the goat cheese, and the lovely curry with the crunch of the nuts, quinoa and chick peas. Mmmm.

It also seems like the perfect dish for the 'foods to combat cancer' with the curry, and all those tasty veggies, chickpeas and quinoa. Please visit mele cotte to see others!

I'm not sure where the recipe is from, I got the original recipe 'curried cous cous salad' from a friend, but this has been adapted quite a lot, I used quinoa instead of cous cous, just cos I like it more, and I didnt have broccoli so I just used the veggies I had. This goes nicely with my loquat chutney that I made the other day!

Curried Quinoa Salad
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
1 veg oxo cube (can sub a bouillion cube, but dissolve in the water)
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (I used penzeys sweet curry)
2 cups grated carrots
2/3 cup chopped peppers
1 cup snap peas
2/3 cup edamame
1/3 cup chopped scallions
1 can garbanzo beans
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup cashews, chopped
3 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Cook the quinoa in the water for about 10 mins, or until tender. Crumble the oxo cube over it, and mix with the curry, raisins and snap peas and cover.
Mix up the remaining ingredients, then add the quinoa and mix. If you can wait a little while for the flavors to develop it will taste better, but serve immediately if you're hungry!

Daring Baking! Cheesecake Pops

For some strange reason, I wasnt very inspired by this challenge. I find them a lot easier when I have a destination for my desserts. What was I thinking?!!! Cheesecake and chocolate -HELLO!!! When I started making them, I could see how fun they were, and absolutely delicious! This is why it is really cool when I get to make the challenge twice, first time as the recipe and then the second, I can get creative!

They are the perfect little bite of indulgence and everyone at work loved them! I saved a few in the freezer for a little treat!

I made a couple of substitutions, I have a friend who is eating kosher for passover, so I made the recipe without the flour, took a little bit out in a ramekin and then added flour at the end. I also took care to find chocolate without soy lecithin. I cannot bring myself to use shortening, so I substituted with coconut oil, which seemed to work really well to smooth out the chocolate.

I baked in a larger pan than recommended, and I think that helped to set the cheesecake a little quicker, and used a cookie scoop to scoop up the cheesecake. They were a good size, any bigger and it would have been just too much, cheesecake and chocolate are very rich!



The latter picture is the kosher one, not quite as exiting but I was assured they were very tasty!









Recipe

1.5 lb cream cheese
9.5 oz sugar
1.25 oz AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1.2 tsp vanilla
1.25 oz heavy cream (easier to weigh)

Baked in a pyrex 8 x 8 dish and it took around 45 mins.
Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

12oz melted chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Sprinkles/nuts

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease an 8 x 8, and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. I. melted it in a double boiler with the coconut oil

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Elle – Feeding My Enthusiasms
Deborah – Taste and Tell