LIGHT AT HEART PANCAKES AND BLUEBERRY SAUCE

As a family we do not use large quantities of refined sugar. The only time I ever use it is in my baking and that is usually for a treat rather than the norm. Over the years I have tried several artificial sweeteners in my baking but have never been converted and always revert back to the normal household brands of sugar. While I was out shopping last week I came across a new product by Tate & Lyle called Light at Heart. This is a combination of Brown Sugar and a Stevia Blend and has 50% less calories. I shook the container and could tell that the sugar was granulated (I hate the powdery substance of artificial sweeteners) so in the trolley it went.

Since buying the product I have done a bit of research into Stevia and I think it would be fair to say that there is a divided camp when it comes to the safety of consuming Stevia products. The plant has been used for centuries in South America as a natural sweetener, it has almost zero calories and studies have shown that it significantly inhibits the development of dental plaque. On the flip side it has negligible nutritive benefits (but then neither does refined sugar) and there is this small camp who maintains that more research needs to be done before allowing Stevia to be used in food products. For me the positives outweighed the negatives and I know we will not be consuming large quantities so I was keen to try it out.

I decided to try it out on something simple first so went for these easy pancakes and a blueberry sauce. Now what I didn't notice on the packaging was something it said on the back *as it's twice as sweet, only use half as much* My blueberry sauce was very, very sweet so I would definitely have been able to use half the quantity. By the time I made the pancakes I was a bit wiser and only used half my usual quantity of sugar and this time the taste was perfect. More to the point - there was no artificial taste normally associated with low calorie sugars/sweeteners.

The next step now is to try baking one of my tried and tested cakes to see how it compares. I will let you know how I get on.

  

 

 For the printable version - click here
 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

 

Yield: 2 - 4

 

 

Ingredients

• Juice and zest from 1 large orange
• 70 g sugar or 35g Light at Heart sugar
• 125 ml water
• 2 tsps cornflour mixed with a small quantity of water to form a paste
• 350 g fresh blueberries
• 115 g self rising flour
• 30 g butter
• 50 g sugar or 25 g Light at Heart sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 80 ml milk

 

Cooking Directions

1. Add the orange juice, zest, 70g (35g) sugar and water to a pan and heat until simmering.
2. Stir in the cornflour paste and continue to stir until mixture thickens slightly.
3. Add the blueberries and stir gently to combine.
4. Leave to simmer for approximately 5 minutes.  The blueberries should still be whole.
5. Remove from  heat and leave to one side.

        To make the pancakes

1. Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
2. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.        
3. Add the sugar.
4. Add the egg and stir lightly to mix.
5. Add enough milk at this stage to make a thick pouring batter.
6. Lightly grease a heavy bottomed frying pan with butter.
7. Using a tablespoon, pour a spoonful of the mixture into your heated pan.
8. When the surface of the pancake begins to bubble turn it over to cook on the second side.          
9. Serve with natural yoghurt (or a dollop of cream) and blueberry sauce.

 

Written by : Angela Darroch       

CARROT & COCONUT MUFFINS WITH CHOCOLATE TOPPING

I can hardly contain my excitement whilst writing this post. Why? you may ask. It looks like just any other muffin topped with the usual artery clogging butter and sugar frosting. Well guess what - there is no butter, no refined sugar and it is grain free. I have most definitely not turned over a new leaf and gone super-duper healthy but I have been following the progress of a lady over in New Zealand who is trying to alleviate some of her health issues by changing her diet. Suzanne's blog is over at Strands of My Life and is full of interesting information about using alternative products to change the way we eat. Suzanne is adamant that going gluten, dairy and refined sugar free should not mean that she cannot have her sweet treats and this gorgeous treat below and many others are as a result of her hard work to achieve this.

 

The muffin itself is made with coconut oil, coconut flour, honey, carrots, raisins, shredded coconut, eggs, bicarb and cinnamon. I found the first two products at Holland & Barrett and they are not cheap. £14.00 for the two products is a lot to pay but if you are plagued with food intolerances then you may have these items already. I was just curious and wanted to try them out for myself. The baked muffin is quite heavy and dense but not unpleasant. It is sweet and tasty and very moist. But the piece de resistance is the fabulous chocolate frosting. This is made from avocado, cocoa and honey. It is unbelievably thick and creamy and has absolutely no taste of avocado. Suzanne explains about the benefits of avocados so I will not repeat it here. If like me, you have children then you will know that it is usually the frosting on a cupcake that they go for, leaving the cupcake for someone else to finish off (me). Every time I watch my children devour all this butter and sugar I feel guilty but this would be so different. Yes, avocados contain fat but it is good fat and honey is so much better for you than all that refined sugar that makes up icing sugar.

 

I have just returned from picking my 6 y/o up from school and couldn't wait for him to try one of these muffins. I had placed the muffin so that he would see it as soon as he came into the kitchen and of course he begged to have it there and then. I was trying to act as normal as possible so as not to alert him to the fact that is was different. He took his first lick of icing, looked at me and said "did you make this?" Oh here we go, he's sussed me out, I thought. "Yes," I said, "why?" He walked over to me and gave me a big hug and said "this is so yummy, thanks." He didn't eat the muffin but that is not unusual.

Result!!

 

The next time I make chocolate cupcakes for the kids I will definitely use this frosting.  It is just so much healthier than the buttercream frosting I normally use.

For this fabulous recipe and more information on going grain, dairy and refined sugar free pop over to

 Strands of my Life - Carrot & Coconut Muffins with Chocolate Topping

 

 

 

Because these muffins are sugar free I am going to submit them to the We Should Cocoa challenge which is hosted by

Chocolate Log Blog and Chocolate Teapot

 

 

 

 

and to the Calendar Cakes challenge which is hosted by

Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes

 

 

Written by : Angela Darroch

CHOCOLATE AND APPLE CAKE

For my next January challenge I decided to enter Random Recipes over at Belleau Kitchen. Dom, who is the guy behind Belleau Kitchen, asked if we could choose a recipe from someone else's kitchen for this challenge. My initial thought was to ask my Mum but as most of our cook books are the same I knew I was unlikely to get something new. My second thought was to ask my friend Sam. I have known Sam for a few years and we meet up once or twice a month for coffee and a catch up. We have many similar interests but one thing we don't share is my love for food and cooking. Sam eats to live, I live to eat. For this reason I have never told her that I have a food blog, conscious of not wanting to be a food bore and to witness the slight glazing over of eyes that I see from my husband when I start to talk about food. I sent her an email along the lines of "Hi Sam, would you mind choosing a recipe from one of your books and sending it over to me. It can be anything you want. Tks." Now Sam has been in my kitchen and knows I have 100's of books so I kind of anticipated her answer. The replay back was "What do you mean? Why are you asking me when you have so many recipe books?” I knew this was going to be hard to explain but I went with it anyway. I replied back, "I know it sounds weird but I am cooking something random for a guy called Dom.” The reply back was quick, "Who is Dom?” I was now having fun and decided to go with the flow. "Well he is a guy on the Internet.” Another quick reply, "You're talking to a guy on the Internet and cooking for him? What's going on?”  "Don't worry about it," I said. "Nothing untoward is going on. Just send me a recipe and I'll tell you all about it next time I see you.”  Not long after I received an email back with a recipe from The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook for a Chocolate Apple Cake. She closed the email with "Can we meet for coffee this week?”

  I feel slightly mean for keeping her in suspense and I know she won't fully understand why I'm cooking something completely random for a guy I've never met but that's blogging for you.

 I made the cake a couple of days ago and loved it. I still had a couple of apples from our apple tree lurking in the back of my fridge and so made my own apple puree. There is something oddly satisfying about using home grown produce. I even had Fairtrade cocoa and Fairtrade chocolate so felt I was doing the recipe justice. The raw cake mixture was thick and fudgy and quite different to any other chocolate cake mixtures I've made before. Once cooked, the cake was beautifully moist and had the slightest hint of apple to taste. I was running out of time to finish it off, so wrapped it up in tinfoil and only took it out to ice today (2 days later). It was still moist and fudgy. I topped it off with the chocolate topping which I have to say set really quickly and had a nice crispness to it. If anything the topping slightly overpowered the taste of apple in the cake but it is still good. This is not a showstopper of a cake but more a family favourite and so much better for having some fresh apple in it. 

Now I really must get back to Sam about that coffee date.

 

 

 

 

For the printable version - click here

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Total time: 1 hr 5 minutes

 

Yield: 16 squares

 

 

Ingredients

• 120 ml vegetable oil
• 225g Fairtrade sugar
• 1 large egg
• 175 g plain flour
• 40g Fairtrade cocoa
• 1.5 tsp Fairtrade ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 225g apple puree (from 2 med apples and 125 ml apple juice or water)
• 75g Fairtrade plain chocolate
• 25g butter, softened

 

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F). Grease and flour a 20 cm square baking tin.
2. Peel, core and chop the apple up into small chunks.
3. Place the apple juice and apple in a saucepan and simmer gently until the apple breaks up easily.
4. Puree the apples, measure out 225g and set aside to cool.
5. Beat the oil, sugar and egg in a large bowl until pale in colour and fluffy and set aside.
6. Sift the flour with the cocoa powder, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda in another bowl.
7. Stir alternate spoonfuls of the flour mixture and the apple puree into the egg mixture.
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place in the oven.
9. Bake for 35 mintutes, or until a fine skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
10. Turn onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
11. Melt the chocolate for the icing in a bowl set above hot water in a saucepan over a low heat. Remove it from the heat and stir in the butter making sure there are no lumps left.
12. Spread over the top of the cake to decorate.

    Recipe from The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook

 

 

 

Written by : Angela Darroch

SAUSAGE, LEEK AND PASTA BAKE

 

On Sunday nights my children get to choose what we eat for dinner and yesterday we had a unanimous show of hands for this sausage, leek and pasta bake. For some reason neither of them will eat onions, managing to find the smallest piece in any dish and leaving them dotted round the edge of their plates.  Leeks on the other hand do not seem to bother them.  Of course leeks have a much milder flavour than onions and tend to be a bit softer if cooked well.  Leeks are also a good source of Vitamins A, C and K so I am more than happy that they eat them.  I like to have a nice crisp, green salad with this meal to lighten it a bit but haven't yet managed to get the kids to agree to that one. 

 

 For the printable version - click here

 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

 

Yield: 4 - 6

 

 

Ingredients

• 250 g Penne pasta tubes
• 50 g butter
• 50 g flour
• 600 ml milk
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• salt and pepper
• 400g Cumberland sausages
• 1 leek washed and sliced thinly
• 0.5 tsp smoked paprika
• 60 g cheddar cheese, grated
• 25 g fresh breadcrumbs

 

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C.
2. Boil pasta in plenty of salted water according to manufacturers instructions.
3. Drain and toss with a little oil. Set to one side.
4. To make the sauce - Melt the butter and stir in the flour.
5. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk.
6. Return to the heat and stir continuously until thickened. Whisk in the mustard and season to taste.
7. For the meat and leek mixture - Heat the olive oil and lightly fry the sliced leeks until soft.
8. Remove the skins from the sausages and break up each sausage into small chunks.
9. Add to the leeks and fry until cooked with some nice colour.
10. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine or water.
11. Add the sausage mixture to the pasta and mix well.
12. Place into a baking dish.
13. Pour the white sauce over the pasta and sausage mixture, mixing well.
14. Mix breadcrumbs,  grated cheese and paprika together and sprinkle over the top of the pasta.
15. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

 

Written by : Angela Darroch       

PEAR SOUFFLE

When I first discovered the Classic French challenge over on Blue Kitchen Bakes I was more than happy to participate. I have strong ties to France and love everything about their whole way of life. When January's theme was announced I knew it would be a good chance for me to try out the classic souffle - something I haven't made since my early days of cooking. My last attempt was a bit of a disaster. I can remember we had some friends over for dinner and I had prepared everything for the souffle up until the addition of egg whites. We had our first and second course along with copious amounts of wine. The time came to finish off my souffles. Disaster - they were as flat as a pancake. The taste was still good and everyone very kindly finished them off. It was only when we went to tidy up and I found the bowl of egg whites that I realised my mistake. A souffle with no egg whites does not a souffle make.

 

 So fast forward to 2013 and with lessons learnt I'm ready to master the souffle. My Mum had been raving about these pear souffles so I knew what I would make. When she sent me the recipe she put a little note at the bottom telling me that I had about 2 minutes to photograph them before they would collapse. 2 minutes - are you serious? I have only just progressed from taking my camera off its Auto setting. Exposure, Aperture, ISO etc. are all new terms to me and do not come naturally. We also have absolutely no decent natural light at the moment which makes things even harder. I thought I would give it a try and with everything set up close at hand I made my first batch. One click, two clicks, three clicks, flat souffles and of course no decent images. Next batch in the oven, one click, two clicks, three clicks, flat souffles, lighting has changed and exposure settings wrong. Next batch in the oven, perfect souffles, lighting much the same, this time it's going to work, trip over my tripod, flat souffles. Next batch in the oven (yes I really do have that much patience), souffles even better than the last, manage to avoid the tripod, lighting as good as it's going to get, press the button, nothing happens, press again in desperation, nothing happens, check the camera, battery flat.

 Accept defeat.

 

 So after all that - were the souffles good?

Yes, they were.

 

They had much more flavour than I ever imagined they would. As expected, they were light and airy and this is my only problem with them.  I don't often get to eat desserts so when I do I want something with a bit of substance, something that I can savour over time. These souffles were delicious but gone in a flash, leaving me wanting more. 

 

So here we have my shaky, rather dull photo of what is a delicious pear souffle.

  

For the printable version - click here

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

 

Yield: 4

 

Ingredients

• 6 large ripe pears
• 50 ml granulated sugar
• 125 ml pear juice (I used Copella Apple & Pear juice )
• 3 eggs separated
• 1 tsp cornflour
• small amount of butter and caster sugar for the ramekins

 

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 190 deg C

1. To prepare your ramekins, brush with melted butter and coat thoroughly with caster sugar.
2. Peel, core and chop the pears.
3. Poach with the sugar and pear juice until liquid is reduced by half.
4. Puree.
5. Add cornflour and egg yolks to the puree and warm through to thicken, stirring constantly.
6. Beat egg whites to medium peak stage.
7. Add a 1/4 of the egg white mixture to the pear custard and mix in well.
8. Fold the remaining egg white mixture into the egg custard.
9. Fill your ramekins with your mixture and smooth over the top with a pallet knife.
10. Run your finger round the edges to make a small indent.
11. Bake for 9 - 10 minutes.
12. Sift over some icing sugar and serve immediately.     

 

I am going to enter this into the Classic French challenge run by Jen over at Blue Kitchen Bakes.

 

      

 

Written by : Angela Darroch

POTATO CAKES WITH PIQUANTE PEPPER SALSA

Today's post is not so much about a recipe but more about one of my favourite food products, the Peppadew pepper.

    

I'll start by saying that I was not paid to write about these little beauties, nor do I work for the company - I just love them.  The combination of the wonderfully sweet brine which they are preserved in together with the heat from the peppers is a marriage made in heaven.  I'm not sure about you but I have succumbed to buying those stuffed peppers that they sell on the High Street on market day and I'm disappointed every time.  They generally tend to be a bit squidgy and break down into nothing when you try to pick one up.  Well, the answer is to buy  a jar of these little lovelies and fill them yourself with some cream cheese. You won't be disappointed, the crispness of the peppers together with the smooth, creaminess of the cream cheese.  Delicious.

 

Now I may be accused of being slightly biased towards this product because they originate from South Africa but try them for yourself. 

 

It will be love at first bite. 

 

If not, I will send you my postal address and you can send me the remainder of your jar. 

 

 

 

Enough said about the peppers. The meal below is my idea of comfort food. If you have left over mashed potato then make up a batch of these potato cakes . You don't need to be too precise with the ingredients. A bit of this and bit of that is normally what goes on. You can't really go wrong with hot, fried mashed potato and of course topped with the Peppadew salsa it is heaven.

 

 

Because I've used leftover mashed potato I am going to submit this to Turquoise Lemons - No Waste Food Challenge which is being hosted over at Elizabeth's Kitchen for this month.

For the printable version - click here


Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

 

Yield: 1 serving

 

 

Ingredients

 

SALSA

• 1/2 tblsp olive oil
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 150 g Peppadew mild piquante peppers, sliced in half
• 1 tblsp balsamic vinegar
• small handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

 

POTATO CAKES

• 1 cup mashed potato
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tblsp flour
• 1 tblsp red onion, finely chopped
• small handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Cooking Directions

To make the salsa

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sliced onions and peppers and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened.
2. Add the balsamic vinegar and basil, season and warm through for 2 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

To make the potato cakes

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the potato, cheese, flour, chopped onion and parsley.
2. On a separate plate, have some flour ready for dredging the potato cakes.
3. Measure out equal parts of the potato mixture and shape each one into a pattie using your hands. Dredge in the flour.
4. Add some sunflower oil to a non stick frying pan and lightly saute each pattie for a couple of minutes on each side until golden brown and crisp on the outside.

To serve

1. Stack the potato cakes on your serving plate, spooning your warm salsa over and around them.
2. Add some fresh basil leaves on top.   

 

Written by : Angela Darroch           

LEMON MERINGUE CUPCAKES

I had a tiny bit of lemon curd left over from whoopie pies which I had made last week.  Normally I would treat myself to some hot buttery toast with the lemon curd but as I have decided to try and enter some challenges this year I decided to be a bit more creative.   As I didn't have very much lemon curd I only baked half the quantity and ended up with 3 gorgeous little cupcakes for today's treat. 

I used a meringue cuite mixture only because the kids would eat one and I wanted to make sure the eggs were cooked.  It is a little more work than normal because you have to whisk over a hot stove for 10 minutes but if you ever need meringues to hold their shape whilst cooking then this is the perfect solution. 

 You can also keep this meringue mixture in the fridge for up to a week and it will still pipe beautifully.

 

 

 

 

For the printable version - click here

 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

 

Yield: 6 large cupcakes

 

 

Ingredients

• 110 g butter
• 110 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110 g self raising flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp custard powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 50 ml lemon curd
• 2 egg whites
• 115 g icing sugar

 

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C (160 for fan oven). Place 6 large paper cases in a cupcake tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and stir in the vanilla.
3. Sift in the flour, salt and custard powder and lightly fold into the mixture alternately with the eggs until well blended.
4. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch.
5. When the cakes have completely cooled, cut out a hole the size of a 2p coin from the centre of each cake. Fill with lemon curd.

         To make the meringue cuite           

1. Sieve the icing sugar into a heat resistant bowl with the egg white.
2. Place your bowl over a half-full pan of simmering - not boiling - water, whisk with an electric mixer until the mixture is thick and glossy, approximately 10 minutes.
3. Place the meringue mixture into a piping bag and pipe on top of the cupcakes.
4. Increase the oven temperature to 230 deg C and bake the cupcakes for a further 5 minutes or use a cooks blowtorch to brown the tops.

 

I am submitting this for Tea Time Treats hosted by Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked     

 

 

 

Written by : Angela Darroch

SAVOURY LAMB STEW

 

Today is a duvet day. 

 

It is cold, it is miserable and it is grey, grey, grey. 

 

What do you do on a day like this?  Well, in my house the boys decided to go for an 8km run around a cold, stark lake.  Madness in my mind.  I, on the other hand head for the kitchen.  I decided to make this simple, homely casserole from one of my favourite South African recipe books by Lynn Bedford Hall.  The boys came back from their run to the smell of this lamb stew cooking away in the oven and I had to threaten them with everything under the sun just to keep them from sneaking a piece of lamb before dinner time.

 

My favourite way to eat this stew is with a dollop of mashed potato to soak up all the lovely gravy but we are trying to watch the calories so plain boiled potatoes it had to be. 

 

For the printable version - click here 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 90 minutes

Total time: 1hr 50 minutes

Yield: 4

 

Ingredients

• 4 (700g) large lamb leg chops
• 2 ml paprika
• 2 ml dried thyme
• 2 ml dried oregano
• 2 ml curry powder
• 35 ml flour
• 2 ml salt
• olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 375 ml lamb (or beef) stock
• 1 tin (390g) chopped tomatoes
• 5 ml brown sugar
• 10 ml Worcester sauce

 

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Cut chops in half to make 8 neat pieces and remove any excess fat.
3. Mix together the paprika, herbs, curry powder, flour and salt and coat meat on both sides.
4. Add olive oil to your pan and brown the chops lightly on both sides until nicely coloured.
5. Transfer to a baking dish to fit closely.
6. Add a little more oil to your pan, and fry your onions and garlic.
7. Add any of the remaining flour mixture to the onions and garlic, then add the stock.
8. Stir well, making sure all the residue from the pan is stirred into the stock.
9. Add the tomatoes, sugar and Worcester sauce, mixing well.
10. Remove from the heat and pour over the chops.
11. Bake, covered for 1 hour 30 minutes.

 

Written by : Angela Darroch       

RED LENTIL SOUP

Well that's it for another year.  Christmas decorations have been packed away, the fridge cleared out and hubby sent back to work.  As much as I love Christmas, I do enjoy the process of sorting out and cleaning up afterwards.  It makes me feel calm - everything in its right place again. 

 

On the food side it feels good to be back to healthy eating again.  I made a big pot of this lentil soup today.  Warm, comforting with just a hint of chilli and best of all it's low fat.

 

It is also perfect for freezing.

 

For the printable version - click here

 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

 

Yield: 6

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 4 carrots, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 0.5 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tins (800g) chopped tomatoes
• 200g red lentils
• 2500ml vegetable stock
• salt and pepper

 

 

Cooking Directions

1. Heat the oil and cook the onion, thyme & carrots for about 4 minutes until just soft.
2. Add the garlic, chilli and mustard seeds and cook for a further couple of minutes.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils and stock and bring to the boil.
4. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Blend until smooth or leave chunky.

 

TIP - Store your fresh thyme in the freezer.  When you need to use it just give it a shake and the leaves will drop off the stems.

      
Written by : Angela Darroch