Twice-baked crispy potatoes with a cheesy paprika veg filling

Had a significantly delightful lunch today. Pretty much just made it up as I went. They take a bit of planning and time but are worth the wait - crispy cheesy deliciousness.

Twice-baked crispy potatoes
Serves 1
 
Ingredients
One large potato
Oil for brushing (I used olive)
1/8 C canned corn kernels
1/2 C steamed broccoli
+/- other veggies
Handful grated cheese (I used tasty)
1/2 tsp minced garlic
Smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper to taste

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Wash potato and prick a few times with a fork. Place on baking tray and bake for 45 mins - 1 hour. 

2. Remove potato from oven, cut in half and scoop out innards - leaving a 5mm rim of potato. Place innards into a small bowl. Brush insides and outsides of potato with oil.

3. Return potato to the oven for 10 minutes. Flip potatoes and bake for a further 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, mash the potato up a bit with a fork and mix in the garlic, seasonings and veggies.

5. Remove potato halves from the oven and fill with the potato mix. Turn oven up to about 220C. Top filled potato skins with grated cheese and return to oven for another 10 or so minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.

Gnarley healthy muffins and an Asian-style wholemeal pasta dish

Happy Valentine's day! No real valentine this year. Shame. My lovely mum did buy me some chocolate hearts though :P

Anyways: I've had these pretties bookmarked for aaages. Finally made them to have with my breakfasts for the next couple of weeks. Warmed up on top of yoghurt and fruit... mmmmm beautiful.

 

Gnarley Muffins
Adapted from the Joy the Baker recipe
Yield 14 medium muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 C all purpose flour (I used wholemeal)
3/4 C flaxseed meal
3/4 C oat bran (I was JUST short of this amount so topped it up with quick oats)
1 C brown sugar (I used a little less - about 3/4 C)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 C carrot, grated
2 apples, grated with excess moisture drained (I used Royal Gala)
1/2 C raisins (optional - I omitted)
1 C nuts, chocolate chips, shredded coconut etc (optional - I just sprinkled chopped macadamias on top)
demerara sugar, for sprinkling
3/4 C milk (I used buttermilk as had excess I was wanting to use up)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract


Method
 
1. Preheat oven to 170C (fan-forced). Grease and/or line a muffin tray or place cardboard muffin cases on a baking tray.

2. Mix together the flour, flaxseed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl.

3. Stir in carrot, apple and raisins, nuts (or other add-ins)

4. Combine milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.

5. Pour the liquid into the dry mixture in one go. Stir until ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix.

6. Fill muffin cases 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
 

Banana&honey yoghurt with red grapes, strawberries, blueberries and a warm gnarley muffin <3

Random lunch:  
Garlic-teriyaki pumpkin, spinach and shitaake mushrooms with wholemeal pasta
Roast pumpkin pieces
Shitaake mushrooms, chopped
Handful of baby spinach
Garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
Pepper, chilli flakes, salt - to taste
1/2 C wholemeal pasta

1. Cook pasta in boiling water for 14 minutes then drain.
2. Brown garlic in a medium saucepan. Add teriyaki sauce, mushrooms and spinach and stir until spinach wilts.
3. Add pumpkin and heat through.
4. Mix everything together and add toppings :)

Red Velvet cupcakes and balls and my keepcup

I should have tried another red velvet cupcake recipe but chickened out and just used Bakerella's again. Turned out nicely as expected - this made me enough cake for 40 balls, 10 mini cupcakes and 12 small-medium cupcakes. I used the same cream cheese recipe as below but added an extra 4-6 cups of icing sugar as I was wanting super firm icing for piping. I wanted to make icing roses but failed. I blame the icing for being too soft (I even had it in the fridge to firm up more) but it probably relates to lack of skill too - hah. Ended up piping most using a star tip. I'll try roses again next time I use buttercream frosting.

So cake balls/pops are pretty fun! There's a lot of room to be creative with these. I would have dipped them in coloured sprinkles after if I had some. Could put a nut or piece of chocolate in the centre of the cake. Could have another layer - I saw one recipe that coated it in a cheesecake mix and then crumbled biscuit THEN chocolate.

Red Velvet cake balls
Adapted from the Gonna Want Seconds recipe
Yields about 40 balls (tablespoon sized) 

Ingredients
1 red velvet cake (I used half of Bakerella's red velvet cake recipe)

225g cream cheese, softened (bring to room temperature or warm gently in microwave)
2 C icing sugar, sifted
115g butter, softened (bring to room temperature or warm gently in microwave)
1 tsp vanilla extract

375g white chocolate (I ran out so you might consider using more - next time I'd melt 500g)
1 tsp vegetable oil


Method
1. Crumble cooled cake into a large bowl (if the cake was overcooked on the outside at all don't include it in this - I did and regret it as you can detect a slight burnt flavour and crispy bits in the cake ball - not a disaster but not ideal).

2. Beat cream cheese and butter together in a separate bowl until pale and creamy - about 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Beat in vanilla extract. Add icing sugar in about 4 parts, beating after each addition.

3. Add icing mixture to the crumbled cake and beat together on a medium-high speed until fully blended (until you cannot see anymore white icing).

4. Roll tablespoons (or whatever amount you want) of this mixture into balls and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Insert a cake pop stick into balls at this point if you're making pops. Place these in the freezer until solid to touch - about 45 minutes.

5. Melt white chocolate with oil according to packet instructions (I popped it in the microwave for 1 minute at 50% power, stirred then another minute but checked and stirred at 20 second intervals until fully melted).

6. Dip cake balls into chocolate and lift out to allow the chocolate to drip from the ball until somewhat set. Place back on the lined baking tray. (I wasn't making pops so initially tried rolling them in the chocolate and taking them out with spoons - this proved to be quite difficult and messy so ended up using toothpicks to pull them out and removed the toothpicks once the chocolate set - it leaves a small hole (see pic) but could be covered with decorations or more melted chocolate later if desired). Place in refrigerator to set and chill completely. Suitable to freeze too.

I also made some mini cupcakes with a cheesecake filling earlier in the week. They turned out to be quite tasty. I used bakerella's red velvet recipe but just didn't add the red food dye.

Cheesecake filling
Adapted from Sugar Plum's recipe 
I made half of the original recipe which was more than enough to fill cupcakes made with 1/4 of bakerella's red velvet cake recipe.

Ingredients
112g cream cheese, softened
1/6 C caster sugar
1/2 a large egg (I lightly beat an egg and then separated it - using the other half for the cake)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C crushed digestive biscuits

Method
1. Beat cream cheese and sugar together on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes until pale and creamy.

2. Beat in egg and vanilla until fully combined.

3. Stir in crushed digestive biscuits.

Assembly - fill cupcake case 1/4 of the way with cupcake batter. Sprinkle some mini choc chips (as I did) or nuts next if desired. Add a dollop of cheesecake filling. Sprinkle more choc chips if desired, then fill the rest of the case with cupcake batter. Bake in the oven as per the cupcake recipe. I frosted these with cream cheese icing dyed pink.

Oh and I finally bought a keepcup after a long period of procrastination. Got a medium size after spending a long time in the store playing around with different colour combinations. Love it :)

Sticky Date Pudding slice

Absolutely looooove sticky date pudding. Warmed with vanilla ice-cream = sososo delicious. This recipe is just excellent. Very moist. The icing is lovely. I cut em up and served some for guests at lunch and then put the rest in cupcake liners to take to work. Very addictive.

Sticky Date Pudding slice
Adapted from The English Kitchen recipe

Ingredients
Cakey part

250g ( 1 1/3 C) pitted dates, chopped roughly
1 tsp baking soda
215g unsalted butter, divided (a scant cup, 9/10 to be exact)
185g ( 1 1/2 C) self raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
90 ml (1/3) cup milk, divided

Frosting:
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar, packed
90g (3/4 C) sifted icing sugar
90g (3/4 C) chopped toasted walnuts (I omitted these but I'm sure it would be a lovely addition)

1. Preheat oven to 160C (fan-forced). Line a 9 inch square (mine was 7x11 inch) baking pan with baking paper. ( make sure it hangs well over two sides so that you can just lift the bars out to cut when finished)

2. Place the dates into a saucepan with 200 ml of water. Bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, gently. Make sure the water doesn't completely evaporate (I had to add about 50ml). Add the baking soda, and set aside to cool.

3. Place 185g of the butter (NOT ALL), the flour, vanilla, baking powder, eggs, and 75 ml (NOT ALL) of the milk into the bowl of a food processor and mix together in short bursts for 1 minute or so, until well blended. Add the dates and pulse again to blend. Do not overprocess.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes (mine took about 30 mins), or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

5. To make the frosting combine the remaining butter, the brown sugar, and remaining milk into a small sauce pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar.

6. Add the icing sugar and mix together well. Spread over the cooled cake mixture and sprinkle with the toasted walnuts.

7. Cut into squares to serve. Store in an airtight container (I kept mine in the fridge).

Lamb Kofta Curry

A pretty darn good curry. Freezes fantastically for those back-up lazy-day meals.

Lamb Kofta Curry
Adapted from the Exclusively Food recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients
Kofta
500g lamb mince
1 medium (about 170g) onion
1 large (about 5g) garlic clove
10g piece fresh ginger (about 4cm long by 2cm diameter)
1 egg
1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp dried hot chilli flakes
1/2 tsp fine table salt

Curry Sauce
280g (about 2 medium) very ripe tomatoes
1 medium (about 170g) onion
1 large (about 5g) garlic clove
10g piece fresh ginger (about 4cm long by 2cm diameter)
1 (about 12g) long red chilli
40ml (2 tbsp) oil (I used canola, original used peanut)
5 cloves
5 cardamom pods, lightly crushed to release seeds
24g (1 tbsp) tomato paste
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp (4g) ground coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp (4g) ground cumin seeds
1 tsp (3g) mild paprika
1 tsp (2g) garam masala
Salt, to taste (we use 1/2 teaspoon fine table salt)
62ml (1/4 C) water
135g (1/2 C) natural yoghurt

Method
Kofta

1. Place mince in a large bowl.

2. Peel the onion and grate onto a plate or chopping board. Pick up the grated onion, leaving the excess juice behind (discard juice), and add onion to the mince.

3. Peel and crush garlic. Peel and grate ginger. Add garlic, ginger, egg, cumin, coriander, chilli flakes and salt to the bowl with the mince.

4. Using your hand, mix until well combined.

5. Wet your fingers with water and form mince into 20 even sized balls.

6. Place kofta on a plate or tray and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate while preparing the sauce.

Curry Sauce

1. Finely chop the tomatoes and set aside.

2. Peel and finely chop onion. Peel and crush garlic. Peel and finely grate ginger. Finely chop the chilli.

3. Add oil to a large heavy-based frying pan or large saucepan with a base diameter of at least 22cm (so the kofta will be in a single layer while cooking) and heat over medium-low heat.

4. Add onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, cloves and cardamom pods to the pan. Cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened (about 10 minutes).


5. Add the tomato paste, turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, garam masala and salt and cook, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds.


6. Add tomatoes and stir to combine. Stir in the water and yoghurt and bring to a simmer.

7. Place the kofta in a single layer in the sauce. Return sauce to a simmer and simmer uncovered. After about 15 minutes, gently turn kofta using two forks or a pair of tongs. Shake the pan (don't stir as this may break up the kofta) a couple of times during cooking to prevent the kofta sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 40 minutes, until the kofta are cooked through (if you are unsure, check by breaking one apart).

8. Remove the cloves and cardamom pods from the sauce. Serve the kofta curry with naan and rice (or whatever else you like eg steamed veggies).
 
9. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Suitable to freeze.    
 

Another typical breakfast: boysenberry yoghurt, mango, strawberries, blueberries, oats + oat bran :)

Chocolate Chunkers

I've discovered a great cookie recipe. Brownie-like in texture with ridiculously excessive mix-ins. I used up a lot of the boxes of chocolate I received over Christmas - lindt balls (dark, milk, white, hazelnut), hazelnut marble chocs + choc chips + macadamias. Yummmmmmmm. Only got to sneak a try of one as they were a gift so will have to make them again soon with different add-ins.

Chocolate Chunkers
Adapted from the recipe on Dorie Greenspan's blog
 
Ingredients
1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch process)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
170g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
30g unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 C sugar (I used caster)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
170g semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips or chunks
170g premium-quality milk or white chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips (or any chopped chocolates you like! filled choc bars, lindt balls etc etc)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped nuts, preferably salted peanuts or toasted pecans (I used macadamias)
1 cup moist, plump raisins or finely chopped moist, plump dried apricots (I omitted these)


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C (fan-forced). Line two baking sheets with baking paper or silicone mats.

2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.

3. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add the butter, bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate and heat, stirring occasionally, just until melted -- the chocolate and butter should be smooth and shiny but not so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it on the counter to cool.

4. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until they are pale and foamy.

5. Beat in the vanilla extract, then scrape down the bowl.

6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted butter and chocolate, mixing only until incorporated.

7. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl, then, on low speed, add the dry ingredients. Mix just until the dry ingredients disappear into the dough, which will be thick, smooth and shiny.

8. Scrape down the bowl and, using the rubber spatula, mix in the semisweet and milk (or white) chocolate chunks, nuts and raisins -- you'll have more crunchies than dough at this point.

9. Drop the dough by generously heaping tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch of space between the mounds of dough.

10. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will look a little dry but the interiors should still be soft. Let cool for about 5 minutes then, using a broad spatula, lift the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool to room temperature (or eat warm... mmmmmmmm)

11. Repeat with the remaining dough, baking only one sheet of cookies at a time and making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches.

12. Store in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge for a firmer cookie.

Chilli garlic soba noodles and fish green thai curry with quinoa

Back at home for 3 weeks - back to mum's dinners. Also MUST get some baking in while I can. Made some crazy good choc cookies the other weekend that I shall share here soon. For now:

Soba noodles - about 50g
Shitaake mushrooms, carrots, broccoli
Garlic, chilli, salt, pepper as desired
----- cook and mix ;) love shitaakes - got a huge packet of dried ones that should last a while.

Kan Tong inspirations packet of thai green curry sauce
Baked fish - I had a rockling fillet
Veggies - I had choy sum, broccolini, mushrooms
Quinoa
- cook individual ingredients. Allow the sauce to heat through with the cooked veggies.
This turned out a bit watery - probably due to the fact it's from a packet and that quinoa isn't as absorptive as rice. Still tasty :)