As requested.. The lemon cake recipe to end all lemon cake recipes!!

I believe that food should be enjoyed, and while I do need to limit the quantity and ensure the quality is top-notch, I don't believe in avoiding treats! 

Food is not naughty.. it's delicious!!

So, in the interest of balance, I give you the ultimate lemon cake recipe!!

**warning- contains nuts**

Nigella's Lemon Cake (adapted from How to Eat)

400g lemons

250g caster sugar

250g ground almonds

6 eggs

1tsp baking powder

Place lemons in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and simmer for 1-1.5 hours or until the lemons are very tender (a spoon should easily break the skin). Top up with boiling water from the kettle if the water gets too low. Once cooked, remove from water and allow to cool.

Pre-heat oven to 190c degrees and grease and line an 8" round cake tin (or use patty pans like we did!)

Place the cooled lemons in a food processor and whiz them up until they are a fine puree. Pick out any pips that are left over. Add the rest of the ingredients and whiz again until it's all combined.

Pour into pan and bake for about an hour (or until a skewer comes out clean). Check it at the 40 minute mark and place some foil over the top to stop the cake from browning too much (we didn't do this and ended up with dark tops... it was a great excuse to blob some lemon cream on the top!).

Turn the cake out on a tray and allow to cool. As I said, pop some sweetened lemon cream on the top for an extra treat or make up some lemon cream cheese icing... yummy!!!

Enjoy with a cuppa and you've got the makings of a lovely morning or afternoon tea!

The bolognese that blew my freaking mind...

I made bolognese yesterday... big deal! I hear you say..

But it was a big deal you see.. because it was GILL'S bolognese.. Gill from River Cottage. And Gill from River Cottage, I now realise, has the best bolognese recipe in the whole world.. Think I'm exaggerating??!

You must CLICK HERE right now and get this recipe for yourself! Because it was the best freaking pasta sauce I have ever consumed! It has a whole lot of lovely, healthy ingredients but I think the thing that made it so wonderful was the cooking time. I let it simmer away for nearly two hours. Like a bolognese stew really! We left out the booze because we had none and swapped the pancetta for short cut bacon. Even with those changes it was amazeballicious!

I SO wish I had taken a better picture but alas, we ate it all before I managed to snap a classy food-bloggeresque image to share. The River Cottage crew have a lovely, much more appetising image on their page which I could've stolen (and given due credit of course) but in the interest of being an ethical blogger, this crappy picture will have to do!

We ate the whole batch last night. John and the kids had theirs with spaghetti and I had mine poured over some blanched broccoli and cauliflower. I would've had the spaghetti usually but yesterday was "accelerator day" on the 12wbt and it was just as delicious with veggies.

***Quick brag***
I have now dropped 9.8kg in the 9 weeks I have been following the 12wbt plan!! Feeling much healthier and my head is so much clearer!!

Home made bread... in 5 minutes a day!

Baking bread is one of those activities that, in years gone by has seemed like more effort than it's worth with all the kneading, rising, punching, rising again and then finally baking the darn thing! Surely popping down to our local supermarket is much easier!?

Easier, maybe... Cheaper?? No!... better?? Definitely not! Aside from the occasional expensive treat of a loaf of sourdough from the Warrandyte or Abbotsford Convent Bakery, the bread that our little family can afford is by no means up to the standard of a lovely home made loaf.

With frugality and flavour in mind I have been on the look-out for a decent EASY bread recipe and (praise the Lordy!) I have found one! This recipe makes a large portion of dough that can be used to make around 4 loaves and can be kept in the fridge in a lidded container for up to 14 days. We usually use the whole lot in a couple of days as we are greedy like that. One loaf is never enough!!

You can visit the original site (with extremely detailed instructions) at food.com HERE or you can stick with me while I give you my take on this beauty!

Picture from food.com (I would have included one of my own however we ate it all before I could photograph it... It looked a lot like this one)

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day


Ingredients
3 cups of luke-warm water (just warmer than body temperature)
1 1/2 tablespoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt (I have reduced this measurement as the original recipe was far too salty in my opinion)
6 1/2 cups unsifted flour (no need for bread flour, run-of-the-mill is fine. You could use wholemeal or mix some rye or spelt with plain flour if that kind of thing rocks your socks)

Method
Preparing the dough:
1. In a large bowl (lidded is good but not essential), add yeast to warm water and stir
2. Throw in the flour and salt and stir until uniformly moist
3. Allow to rest and rise for at least 2 hours before using a portion

Baking the bread
1. Grease a flat tray and pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees celsius (put a shallow tray of water on the bottom of the oven- this makes the crust extra crispy!)
2. The mixture will be sticky so dust the top with flour before slicing off a portion with a serrated knife. Place a quarter of the mixture (or more/less.. whatever you fancy really) on the tray and allow to rise a further 15-20 minutes
3. Dust the top of the loaf with flour and slash a couple of deep lines in the top (you don't have to.. it's just vanity) and bake until the loaf is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the  (about 20-30 minutes usually)

Repeat this process whenever you want to bake some of your dough. The "older" the dough is, the more it will take on sourdough qualities.

Variations
I discovered this when trying to salvage my very salty batch of dough. When mixing the flour and salt in, add 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup warm honey. This really lifted the bread to the next level.

Pay it forward... sure, why not!?

A friend of mine posted a Pay It Forward blog post, so I replied and I am posting the same.

Hers is here: http://earthymotherhood.blogspot.com

I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must repost this message, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011. Ready, set, GO!

I can knit, dye fabric and wool (now, thanks to Amber), bake delicious goodies, make jam and other yummy food.. So comment away to receive some lovely handmade goodness from yours truly! 

Some of my home made goodies...

Choc chip cookies... a (not so) secret family recipe

For SoFawned

Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

1 3/4 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

125g choc chips (I use milk, dark and white together)

60g chopped walnuts (optional but nice)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C. 

Cream together butter and sugars, add vanilla and lightly beaten egg. Mix in SR flour and salt until a soft dough forms. Stir in choc chips and walnuts. 

Roll into balls (teaspoonfuls) and place on a greased and lined biscuit tray making sure to leave space for spreading. 

Bake in moderte oven for 10-12 mins or until lightly golden. Allow to cool on the tray for approx 5 mins before transferring to wire racks. Makes approx 40 small biscuits. 

24 weeks (ish)

I am not sure how early I started feeling uncomfortable last time I was pregnant although I am pretty sure it wasn't until quite a bit later.

In the last few days I have started to feel really big and awkward. It's as if the baby has had a significant growth spurt and my centre of gravity and muscles have not been able to keep up!

I am going to get MUCH bigger between now and when this baby is born and I really hope there is some shift in how I feel. I have started taking liquid chlorophyll in the mornings to try and keep on top of my iron levels and to hopefully give me a little more get-up-and-go.

I have also set myself a challenge to dramatically reduce (I'm not saying cut-out as for me right now that is not practical) the amount of wheat and refined sugar in my diet in an attempt to ward off bloating and discomfort that tends to go along with me consuming a lot of wheat. I am two days in and am feeling less bloated already and enjoying looking for alternatives to my usual wheaty staples. Today, for example I started with muesli, extra seeds, skim milk and pear, then for morning tea I had a pear and some grapes. Lunch was half an avocado, some seeds and a few olives. For afternoon tea I munched on rice crackers with cheese and I am about to enjoy a chicken burrito and extra salad for dinner. The tortilla is the only wheat for the whole day so I am pretty pleased with my efforts.

I'd better go as the said burrito is ready and smelling great!!

:)

Feeling much better!

What a weird little bug I had.. This morning, it's as if I was never sick! :) So here I am at work again and once again, the place is dead!

I am going to try and convince one of my outreach clients to come with me to the Queen Victoria Market for some delicious food later on today.

I go quite often, however sfter reading THIS wonderful piece (shared by @shauna on twitter aka DietGirl) about the culinary delights at the market, I think I NEED to go today!!

I usually get a spinach and feta borek however I might expand my horizons today..

Mmm.. fooood!

I spent the first few months of my pregnancy feeling generally hung over most of the time. So sleepy and oh so nauseous! The smell of cooking eggs, freshly ground coffee, fat, bacon, meat, broccoli.. basically anything other than bland cereal and fruit, turned my stomach and sent me running for the bathroom. (I never did actually throw up, I just felt like I was going to all the time!)

It is quite a relief to be out the other side of it and feeling somewhat like my old self again. I can happily say that my eating is back on track and I am no longer restricted to my previously bland diet. I am now diving into salads, rice and veggie dishes, eggs for breakfast, curries, soups, delicious seasonal fruit and lots of vietnamese inspired foods (I have a thing for fish sauce, rice wine vinegar and sweet chilli sauce.. mmm).

In saying that, I am trying to keep to a basic structure with my food (variations of course happen);

Breakfast: Usually raw oats with cereal topper*, 1/2 a grated apple and some soy/rice/a2 milk or a sweet potato and herb omelette


Snack: A piece of fruit and often a weak skim latte, or some home made muesli slice


Lunch: 2 slices of bread (always good quality made with rye/spelt/sourdough/quinoa), ABC butter (almond, cashew, brazil nut), with fresh lettuce from the garden and other salad if we have any. Or leftovers from the night before


Snack: Fruit and a handful of raw nuts, or some salmon, some raw carrots with hommus


Dinner: As I have said above; curries, brown rice with veg & chicken, rice paper rolls, asian soups, spelt/rice/amaranth pasta with tomato based sauces and chicken or lean beef, salads with grilled chicken or fish... lots of variety with dinner!


After dinner: Sometimes a scoop or 2 of low fat ice cream, or fresh fruit (more often than not), or some home made muesli slice, or sometimes some dark chocolate.


* Cereal topper is made with flax, buckwheat, sesame seeds, almonds, pepitas and dried cranberries- I have about 2 tablespoons

Again, I was going to include a whole bunch of really gorgeous photos of all the delicious and healthy food I have been devouring, but alas, silly work computer has other ideas!!

Day 2/30- something I ate today

Apple cider vinegar and honey drink..

Porridge with banana and Mum's special home made cereal topper (buckwheat, ground flax seeds, sesame seeds, chopped almonds, goji berries and sultanas) 

And Molly just came in to report that she "ate too many berries from the freezer"...