What's so Comforting about Comfort Food? (Stephen John)

Comfort food is described as food that offers a sentimental or nostalgic feeling to the person eating it but is basically food that is easy-to-digest, soft in consistency and is either rich in nutrients or calories. Comfort food is easily prepared and flavorful, which is why most people tend to reach for these whenever they are feeling down in the dumps.

The term "comfort food" first came into being in 1977 when it was first used in Merriam-Webster. It was specifically defined as food eaten to pique emotions, relieve negative psychological effects and increase positive feelings. The feelings of nostalgia or sentiments evoked from eating such foods may be specific to the individual or dictated by culture. The most popular comfort food we reach for in times of sadness usually range from sweet to salty like chocolate, ice cream and a bag of chips.

Foods like these are not something people reach for out of whim. There are reasons why these types of food boost our mood and studies conducted reveal that it is due to the fatty acids contained in these foods that impact the parts of the brain that get activated or suppressed as a result of emotion. This in turn results in what we all know to be emotional eating, which is a coping mechanism to deal with intense feelings, stress or depressed moods. In short, our urge to eat is strongly driven by our moods and emotions.

Most people, however, prefer to think of comfort food as those that remind them of their childhood, of moments wherein they felt their happiest amidst friends and family. Comfort food evokes tasty memories of home cooking, something that is rarely tasted by those who lead hectic lives, those who just don't have the time to sit down to a proper meal. Whether your favorite comfort food is something sweet like apple pie, something savory like chicken noodle soup and something classic like tuna casserole, home is always something you'll remember when you partake of these foods.

One of the most popular comfort foods is chicken. When you search for chicken dish ideas online, you will discover that whether you eat it broiled, grilled, roasted or poached, combined with a variety of herbs and spices or just as plain chicken soup, chicken never fails to impress. Both kids and adults alike love the chicken not only due to its taste, but also because of its meaty properties and unequalled tenderness. Chicken also makes for a healthy and nutritious meal and is in fact, the world's best source of animal protein and the best alternative to red meat. There are also tons of chicken dish recipes that you can make for any occasion and at any time of the year and you can find some of the best recipes online on sites like Foodplus.tv.

You can check tasty chicken recipes in Foodplus. tv and discover just why they are considered a top and healthy comfort food choice. Chicken dishes also offer many health benefits particularly for those who want to lose weight or prevent bone loss and cancer. It is also a very good source of the trace mineral selenium which is an essential component of several major metabolic pathways in the body like thyroid hormone metabolism, antioxidant defense systems and the immune system. It also helps in the repair of blood cells as it eating chicken activates the Vitamin B6 components in chicken meat.

Also, when you watch the food and cooking videos on foodplus. tv that feature chicken recipes, you will find just how versatile chicken can be when you incorporate in as main ingredients for salads like Chicken Bacon Blue Salad or in exotic, spicy Caribbean dishes like Mango Chicken or Chicken Negril. Of course, you can also learn as you watch chicken recipes video in www.foodplus.tv about classic dishes like Chicken Pot Pie with Gravy that never fail to hit the spot. As far as these chicken recipes go, you'll be surprised at just how many dishes you can create with just chicken.

Another classic comfort food is Italian food. The Italians are renowned for making their food not just very flavorful but also one that makes your palates sing. With their ingenious blending of special herbs and spices, as well as organic produce and olive oil, it is no wonder many people search high and low, through friends or over the internet, trying their best to find recipes from Italy that can bring them to gastronomic heights.

Also, Italian food is noted as well for the health benefits it can provide like calcium from the cheese used in most of your favorite dishes to protect the bones and teeth, unsaturated fats from olive oil that keep your cholesterol levels normal and prevent your arteries from being clogged and complex carbohydrates from pasta to keep your metabolism and energy levels up. Of course, let's not forget those green and red bell peppers on your pizza that help reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. So let's go ahead and watch how your classic meatballs in tomato sauce are made so you can enjoy that melt-in-mouth tenderness that will not only keep you happy but your heart singing as well.

Whether you take your comfort foods as a main meal or a side dish, they will always raise your spirits and keep you in a good place. You can find more italian food recipes in www.foodplus.tv and be on your way to food heaven.

Stephen John is a food and wine enthusiast. He blogs about food, wine, and culture and writes wine reviews for a living. He loves to travel and try exotic cuisines of different countries. Tasty chicken dishes are some of the best kinds of comfort food there is. Watch chicken recipes video in www.foodplus.tv and whip up delicious dishes that won't only make you feel good but make you look good at your next dinner party or casual get together.

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Easter Baking Part 2 - Fruity Simnel Tray Bake

So along with the hot cross buns, I also made a tray bake heavily based on a recipe I found in April 2012's Good Food mag . Handily, it's on the website, so you can access the original recipe just there.

You see, along with Christmas and weddings, Easter represents another opportunity to embrace marzipan. Weddings don't come along very often these days - we've long passed the 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' stage when we seemed to be at a different wedding every weekend with the same crowd of people - and Easter, like Chirstmas, only comes along once a year, so the mazipan usage has to be maximised. There are other things I use marzipan for throughout the year - Nigella's easy almond cake is one of my all time favourites (although, come to think of it, I haven't made it recently. Better rectify that soon) - basically, butter and marzipan, 6 eggs and a little flour chucked in almost as an after thought. It is heavenly cake. I recommend it.

 

I liked the idea of this tray bake though, because we are out and about this weekend and having squares of cake to pack up in a picnic (I know, I shudder to use that word to describe what will in reality be us shivering in a huddle) appeals. Also, it uses a whole block of marzipan, some chunked in the batter, some grated on the top and some made into the 11 marzipan balls that represent the apostles (again) on top of the traditional simnel cake.




What you get is quite a squodgy, almondy fruit cake, topped with an almondy crumble, and finally drizzled with orange icing - and the marzipan balls. Not one, you'll have guessed, if you don't like almonds, but if you're a fan, this is one for you. 

I adapted the recipe quite a bit (unlike the Hot Cross Buns, which I followed slavishly). If you do use the Good Food original version, bear this in mind: they recommend a  20 by 30 cm tin. I used a slightly bigger tray bake tin - 23 by 30 - and it still made quite a deep thick cake. Also, by using 11 marzipan balls and dividing the cake into 12 with one piece without adornment, you get massive slabs of cake. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, I'm just saying. Also, it might seem like you end up with wasting the zest of a lemon and an orange - I made this at the same time as some hot cross buns and used the zests to flavour the milk for the dough.

Fruity Simnel Tray Bake

110g each of currants, raisins, dates and apricots, chopped quite small
zest of 2 oranges
juice of 2 oranges and a lemon
250g unsalted butter cut into chunks (at room temp)
250g soft light brown sugar
4 large eggs
200g self raising flour
80g ground almonds
1 heaped tsp each of all spice and ground cinammon
a good grating of nutmeg
500g marzipan - 200g cut into small chunks, 200g grated, 100g divided into 11 and made into balls
100g plain flour
100g flaked almonds
3 tbsp golden syrup
85g icing sugar
juice of another orange

30 by 23 cm tray bake tin, buttered and lined

Soak the chopped fruit in the juice of the 2 oranges and lemon for at least 2 hours - overnight if you are organised.

Pre-heat the oven to 160C/140C fan.

Beat together 200g of the butter and 200g of the sugar till light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Sift in the self raising flour, then mix in the ground almonds and spices, the orange zest, the soaked fruit (and any juice), and the marzipan. Stir it all in then pour into the tin, level and bake for 45 minutes.

Take the cake out and turn the oven up to 200C/180C fan. Make the topping by rubbing together the remaining 50g of butter and sugar along with the 100g plain flour (like a crumble topping). Add the grated marzipan, and stir in the golden syrup, taking care that the mixture doesn't clump - I found this nigh on impossible - I might just leave out the syrup next time. Sprinkle this over the cake and put it back in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Once the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven, add the marzipan balls to the top, then leave to cool in the tin. Mix together the icing sugar and orange juice and drizzle over the cake, leaving the icing to set a little before slicing.

Happy Easter!

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How to choose your wedding Catering Sydney Service? (Extra Virgin)

When it comes to a wedding reception, there is nothing that is more important than Catering Sydney. When the food is good and everyone is well fed, you'd be happy to guests left with some great memories. On the other hand, if the caterer does not know how much food to prepare, would you have guests that always would remember the event without concern about how good the food was.

An effective way to find the right caterer is to visit a number of weddings. Check the caterers respond when there is a larger audience without making any compromises on food quality. Then you can also get in touch with married friends and ask them to the modern kitchen, which they used for their wedding.

A wedding, with lots of professionals and this gives you the chance to question the perfect person for the best food Catering Sydney-supplier. An experienced professional wedding would easily recommend someone who can supply good quality food and are easy to work with; they have worked around in different settings and experienced how eventually things turned out to be.

The first thing you would ask a caterer is the number of years he has been in the business. Also ask about how the modern kitchen determines the amount of food needed to be served and how to determine the amount to be cooked. Chances are that the modern kitchen also give essential plates and other goods. This can help you save the trouble of finding another professional for the Extras.Some of the caterers can also clean up everything afterward. Ask if they can meet certain individual foods requirements if any of the guests make a demand. Other important things to find out include those out as deposit and their policies for cancellation.

At the same time, it is also important to check their references. It is not necessary for the modern kitchen feels that he/she has pleased no one. Chances are that you can get the real side of the story from a former customer and it may be different than what a caterer presents.When it comes to Catering Sydney, you don't want anything to go wrong on your wedding day. Be sure to fill out your wedding day with good memories for your guests and yourself. Be sure to start searching for the modern kitchen in good time. This would eliminate the need to settle for a post recently that might be perfect.

Check with your favorite restaurant, because chances are that they can provide catering services. If you are a loyal customer, they can even make an exception and provide services for your wedding.

Extra Virgin Fine Foods is an Australian author who writes about the Food Catering Sydney, Catering Sydney and Wedding Catering.

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Easter Baking Part 1 - Hot Splodge Buns

Quite often at the weekend, I get up early - well earlier than the Husband, later (usually) than the kids, and indulge in a bit of extra curricular baking. 

Baking that isn't particularly necessary to the smooth running of the RJ household (although it will often include a batch of bread, to justify the whole endeavour - "Well, the oven was on, so...). 

Baking to soothe my soul after the week that has been...

Actually, the baking might not be done before the Husband's up - but it's all been kicked off to the point of no return, so he often comes down to a kitchen that looks more like someone's had an accident in a flour factory (or added icing sugar to a food mixer while it's on full speed), tins, packets, knives, spoons and cracked eggshells and juiced lemon skins all over the place. Poor man.

Of course, this weekend it's Easter, so there was added purpose to my early baking session - hot cross buns and a rather tasty looking simnel tray bake thing, both of which I'd clocked in issues of April Good Food - the buns from 2013, the tray bake from April 2012's issue.

My record with hot cross buns is mixed. In the past, they have been like cannonballs on the heavier side, and I can never, NEVER get the cross in the middle right. Never one to shy away from a challenge, and armed with my new found bread confidence and a new recipe, I thought I'd give it a go - again.

I followed the recipe pretty much as is from the Good Food one (the link's up there) although I added in the zest of a lemon as well as an orange to the milk infusion.

You add a mixture of warm milk infused with orange and lemon zest and melted butter into the dry ingredients, along with an egg, so it's a very enriched dough, quite like a brioche.

It was also quite a wet dough, but where previously I would have panicked and chucked in more flour, I carried on kneading, and low, it came good.

Once it's risen, you divide it up and make your buns - 11 to represent the faithful Apostles (i.e. not Judas!), then put them in a circle on a floured baking sheet.

So far so good. Leave them again to plump up, before casually mixing up some flour and water paste and making crosses on each bun...

... or not. I never EVER manage this bit. Every year, I try. I use different methods suggested. Every year, I fail. This year may well be the last time...

But moving swiftly on, I'm sure you're not so shallow as to dismiss my buns for being more splodge than cross. And indeed, you really shouldn't because the buns themselves are a triumph. Really light - like iced bun texture, with a fruity, cinammony taste.  Not a rock in sight. They could have done with being a bit more spiced - if I make them again, I would add some all spice or something to give them a little more of those Easter scents

The recipe in Good Food recommends serving this ring of buns with some spiced honey butter (I expect if you did this, you'd get over the need for more spices in the buns themselves), but I chose to smother mine in passion fruit curd. Yum.

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Cooking Lasagna The Mexican Way (rajiv tiwari)

Lasagna is authentically an Italian dish, however with this recipe you can add a Mexican twist. Using tortillas as lasagne noodles, this blend creates a completely different experience. Lasagna allows you enough freedom to create completely new things using your imagination, this recipe is an excellent example. Cook it and see for yourself.

Ingredients:
* 1 pound of chicken mince
* ? grated yellow onion
* 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
* 1 teaspoon of cumin
* 1 tablespoon of chilli powder
* 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
* ? teaspoon of black pepper
* 1 can of diced tomatoes
* 1 can of rinsed black beans
* 1 ? cup of frozen sweet corn
* 1 can of diced and roasted green chillies
* 1 can of enchilada sauce
* 12 large flour tortillas
* 12 ounces of Mexican cheese blend
* 6 ounce can of sliced olives
* 2 chopped scallions
* 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425?F.

2. Drizzle the olive in a large pan over a medium flame. Add the chicken mince, onion, paprika, cumin, chilli powder, salt and pepper (to taste) to the pan. Cook the chicken for about 7 minutes.

3. Add and mix the tomatoes, beans and corn, stirring well. Allow it to cook while you set the baking dish.

4. Smooth a third of the enchilada sauce over the baking dish and put the lasagna substitute - tortillas on the bottom of the pan. The tortillas layer should be around 4 layers.

5. Add half of the chicken mix over top of the tortillas and spread it evenly.

6. Layer more of the lasagna - tortillas on top of the chicken mix. Put yet another third of the sauce over tortillas.

7. Sprinkle half of the cheese on top and add green chillies over the cheese. Add all the chicken mix again and spread properly.

8. Add more lasagna - tortillas over the chicken and sprinkle all the remaining cheese on top. Garnish with the olives and scallions.

9. Bake for around fifteen minutes till the lasagna - tortillas is hot throughout.

10. Remove from the oven and add the cilantro on top.

11. Serve the lasagna hot and enjoy!

One of the simplest ways to cook, this lasagna recipe will leave wanting more every time. Enjoy the unique blend of two different flavours with a dish that never gets boring.

Rajiv Tiwari is an out and out gourmet whose love of food has made him travel to all top food destinations. In this bouquet of articles Rajiv discusses some quick tips on food recipes, and shows us how you can make people enchanted with lipsmacking food recipes.lasagna

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Easy Diet snack ideas that work (submitter art)

Everyone must understand the dietary snack ideas you want by making an effort to do. intake 5-6 smaller meals and snacks each day is also the key to optimum energy throughout the day, says Dietitians-it's good news for those people whose days seem to run at warp speed. But watch what you take on the run, to once again make an attempt to stay with nice stuff: snacks we have a tendency to ponder healthy may very well be loaded with sugar or fat, and so kilojoules. Thus, the scan before biting into the health bar. ..

"Health bar" says the label at the time, being very conscious of health, you pop it in your hand basket, on board the vegetable chips and fatless yoghurt. But these so called "health" selections are also even so high in sugar and fat as various candies and snacks, thus not taken in by labelling.

Vegetable chips, such as boiled in oil and square meter so high in fat like regular potato chips.
Nutritionists say that a 100 g packets of jelly sweets are equivalent in carbs to about 5 slices of bread-but it will cause your blood sugar levels spike and plummet much faster, the effort you hungrier sooner. Thus what makes a?

Perfect snack ideas should:

* offers a long-lasting energy boost. an honest livelihood of macromolecule should write the premise of some snack ideas.

* Keep you feeling full for as long as you want. "crude" carbohydrates into your bloodstream (in the form of glucose) too quickly and you feel hungry again soon afterwards. Protein, fat and fiber delay this method, thus for a snack that lasts longer, just add a delivery of macromolecule as fruity, spread, cheese, cold meat or eggs to your macro molecule.

* Leave you feeling satisfied. Meet the food is pleasing to the senses; It is and tastes nice so we have a tendency to get pleasure from consuming the. associated} take a small extent time ready your snacks were potential-chopping up a handful of different fruits and taking them as a salad can be lots more appealing than just biting into an Apple.

Healthy snack ideas for kids

If you crave for healthy snack ideas, have you back into place. When you start fresh intake, you will assume that your only snack decisions square meters grease and specialized low-calorie bars. Nothing can be more than reality. the most effective snack square meters low cost, easy to organize, in all likelihood, you've already got in your icebox or pantry.

Fruits

Ultimate healthy snack is fruit. It is all natural. It is fat. You will realize it on any market. In addition, it is easy to move. Fruits square meters as nature's candy. They will satisfy your appetite while not all fat from a candy. In fact, the twin who changes if you do one thing sweet on top of your meal.

If you are tired of fruit, you will jazz it up. A in all my favorite mixtures can be a Granny Smith apple flap with dissemination. It meets all my needs-sensible, filling and may only be transported in a lunch bag.

Popcorn

Popcorn is another nice as a snack. Will be able to either pop yourself in associate degree air popper or you can get the low-calorie microwave version on the market. My favorite is Orville Redenbacher sensible Pop Kettle Corn version. It has spent 2 minutes and can be a nice mid-morning snack.

Nutty gritty

Someone keep in mind those public service commercials back in the 1980s? These things introduced Maine to nutty gritty who remains one of all my favorite snacks. It's really just peanuts and raisins in equal parts. That was all. Stick it in a bag and you're good to go.

So, there you have 3 healthy snack concepts-fruit, popcorn and nutty gritty. They are all easy to arrange, appetizing and can keep you on track for your weight loss or healthy living goals.

Many articles have been written by the author Submitterart. The article here about snack ideas is also one of the best article written by him.

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Forever Nigella - Easter: Lemon - no, Passionfruit - Meringue Cake

Feast is probably my favourite Nigella tome. I love How to be a Domestic Goddess (for the cinammon bun recipe alone), but there's something about Feast that really gets me. It's all about spending a little time creating really special food, and it has never disappointed. The curry feast has stood me in good stead on a couple of raucous dinner party occasions - particularly good for the cook ahead nature of the whole thing, but on its own, the Mughlai chicken recipe is one that the kids are very keen on. True, I have never been tempted to cook the sweet potato with marshmallow topping, but there's a whole section on chocolate cakes from the bog standard old fashioned chocolate cake to the more sophisticated Rococoa Cake - and of course a Chocolate Malteser cake long before later pretenders to the  Domestic Goddess throne.


I love that the book covers different food cultures and meals for different occasions in those cultures. If I refer to a book during Christmas preparations it is almost always to Feast that I turn, and she has revolutionised my Yorkshire pudding. 

And if I haven't convinced you enough that this would be the one Nigella volume to take to your desert island and torture yourself with while you survived on all that fish you would spear (just think sashimi, Dahling), and coconuts, let me tell you that you must have the sake steak at least once before you die. Honestly - it is divine.

So naturally, as the theme for the Forever Nigella challenge this month is Easter, Feast was the volume I turned to. We were going to a  lunch party on Palm Sunday, and I offered pudding (of course I did - Palm Sunday wasn't a fast day!). I dithered over what to make, but in the end, it had to be the Lemon Meringue Cake. Happily for everyone concerned, it's on her website, so you can find the recipe here if you want to have a go yourself.

It's classic Nigella, with lots of little asides and comment littered about the recipe. This is why I love Nigella so much: "Divide the mixture between the prepared tins. You will think you don't even have enough to cover the bottom of the tins but don't panic. Spread calmly with a rubber spatula until smooth."

calmly spread...

 

There was also a suggestion about swapping the lemon curd filling for passion fruit. Given that it was Palm Sunday and all that, I decided to go with it.

So the day before Palm Sunday we had friends for dinner which turned into a rather more riotous session than anticipated and our guests left at just after 2 in the morning. I can't remember the last time I was voluntarily up at 2 a.m. It was great fun but faced with operation clear up and then cake baking before lunch, I almost cracked. I think if I hadn't already made the curd, I might have done. In the end,  I managed to pull myself together, and actually it's a fairly straightforward recipe. You make a lemon sponge and smooth that into 2 tins (see above), then cover the sponge batter with meringue (one smoothed, one 'peaked' with the back of a spoon) before baking.

smoothed....                                peaked

I wasn't concentrating completely, and I slightly overcooked them so that the top of the peaked meringue caught slightly, but sandwiched together (flat meringue down, peaked meringue on top) with the passion fruit curd and some whipped cream, it was a reasonable offering to take along to our lunch,

Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes is hosting Forever Nigella this month for Sarah at Maison Cupcake .

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Pug Ryan-Dillon's best restaurants (Rock Byron)

Having a beer from Pug Ryan's brewery with some exotic variety of foods makes the entire experience of visiting Colorado hearty. Among the furnished brews is the morning wood wheat is considered to be favorites of everyone who has won many awards light beer with a unique recipe. Pug Ryan's Steakhouse and micro brewery is nestled in the beautiful town of Dillon and is the most popular single among Dillon restaurants. Pug Ryan's Steakhouse and microbrewery has won consecutively many awards for being among the superlative summit county restaurants. The best dining experience with exotic and finest food makes this place are different in the ranks of the restaurants nearby.

This beer can be grabbed with the preferred food such as fish, seafood and salads. Over rail Pale ale is another award-winning BREW that can be chosen together with spicy food stuffs. Scottish Ale is a three-wheel, Lager, medium strength integrated with nice malty flavor and a clean finish. Other award winning brews include Pallavicine Pilsner and vanilla Stout. Pug Ryan's is known for its outstanding taste and service among Dillon restaurants that make the site popular among local visitors and city visitors among summit county restaurants. There is an extensive selection of beers to choose from Pug Ryan's Brewery according to taste and mood of the visitor. Pug Ryan's was driven primarily by the Travis and Annie Holton since 1986. 1996 Was Mopss expansion to inculcate the award winning brewery. Dillon brewery moved a step forward in terms of expansion and is managed now by veteran managers and stakeholders.

Some specialty beers include the Belgian style blond ale Chardonnay barrel aged Saison, which is aged in a white oak Rombauer chardonnay fat 4 1/2 months. Brain Teaser barley wine, kicked up Kolsch and Crispi Cream Ale is second in the League by specialty beers. Pug Ryan's also offers happy hours to its customers every day from 3 to 6 pm daily take some exciting discounts and add to the pleasures from Pug Ryan's Brewery, which is super known among Dillon restaurants. Pug Ryan puts generally their produced beer in cans instead of bottling them up to keep it handy for the visitor. Exclusive children's menu includes chicken tenders, Fish and Chips, Kraft Macaroni and cheese. Prime Rib served with French fries and spaghetti and balls. Irresistible Pug desserts that include fresh fruit cobbler, mortal sin and Mopss Mud Pie is the main specialty. Near Lake Dillon in Dillon Colorado, our brewery & Steakhouse earned great steaks, seafood and BREW since 1975. See our menu for the day's specials. If you are interested to read more information about summit county and dillon restaurants then please visit our website pugryans.com

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Rose cupcakes for Rainbows

Don't for a minute think that I think you need another cupcake/fairycake recipe. Oh no. But after all the hype about cupcakes there's been over the last few years, all the flavours and frostings, glitter and sparkle, it's worth remembering that when the chips are down and you need to produce something sweet for whatever reason it might be, it takes less than 10 minutes to get a bog standard set of 12 cupcakes into the oven, plus another 10-15 minutes cooking (when you could do something else) plus icing. And when I say icing, I'm not talking beautifully primped and prettily piped, scattered with frosted rose petals or whatever else that  might take your fancy, I'm talking about butter and icing sugar, and may be a bit of food colouring if you have something appropriate to hand.

Today is Pink's last day at Rainbows. She's not 7 till May but they have asked her if she'd like to move up to Brownies after the Easter break and she was there like a shot.


And then she was sad. 

"I don't want to leave Rainbows" she wailed.

"I'll miss Bluebell*" she mourned

and then she turned her tear stained face to me, sobbed a bit more, and asked
"Can I take some cakes to my last one?"

Not that I am suggesting the waterworks and hystrionics were all aimed at getting me to make cakes, but she can be a minx sometimes. Not that she always gets her way - I'm as strict as they come when it's thing like how much TV or what they can watch. She could bleed out of her eyeballs and I still wouldn't let her watch whatever it was I'd decreed is unsuitable, but cake, of course, is an entirely different matter. Even so, I was up against it. I don't do anything particularly high powered with my time, but I work and I am busy.  Rainbows is at 4.45 so there wasn't even time for a jolly mother/daughter cake making session after school. Making cupcakes just wasn't on my list of priorities for today but I'd just have felt really, really bad...




I'd like to say that once the cakes were cooled, I set about preparing 3 different bowls of coloured icing and lovingly iced each cake in Rainbow colours. But I didn't. I set the Kenwood to full speed, softened the butter and then on a slower speed (believe me, I have added icing sugar without thinking at top speed. You should do it some time - but only once!) beat in the sifted icing sugar and some fairly lurid peachy pink buttercream icing. And some Hello Kitty sugar coated chocolate eggs that caught my eye as I passed through the Co-Op at speed - it is nearly Easter after all.

 
Makes 12 rose flavoured cupcakes

115g soft Stork margerine (or softened butter - I didn't have time to wait for softening and I don't have a microwave)
115g caster sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Essence of Rose Water (mine is from the English Provender Company)
175g self raising flour

Line a 12 hole cake tray & pre-heat your oven to 200C.

Beat together the sugar and marge till fluffy, then add the egg in bit by bit, beating well after each addition. Beat in the milk and flavourings, then fold in the flour. Divide the mixture between the cake cases - I start off with half a dessert spoon per case then top up with what's left.

Bake for 10-15 minutes till golden. If you do manage to turn them half way, so much the better but don't die in a ditch over it.

Leave the cakes to cool, then ice: beat 85g softened butter (I got mine out of the fridge when I made the cakes so it was soft by the time I got to this stage) till it's really soft then slowly add in 175g icing sugar (sifted if time permits). Add in a few drops of lurid pink icing, and a splash of milk if you think it needs softening up for spreading purposes - then spread over the cakes and top with whatever additional sugar products you might have to hand.



And time wise - well if you're interested, this is how it worked: got home from school and dog walking and made the cupcakes - literally ingredients to batter in case: 8 minutes. Into the oven while I hung the washing out (rock and roll) and logged on. Cakes out of the oven, and butter for the icing out of the fridge (good job I remembered). Finished work and spent 5 minutes making the icing before heading off the pick the kids up from school. 10 minutes back home to ice the cakes. There - see - it doesn't take much to be a Domestic Goddess...

___________________________________________________________________
* for the as yet uninitiated, the childfree or parents of boys, Bluebell is the official name for the Rainbow leader. Nice.

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Where to eat in Summit County (Rock Byron)

Pug Ryan's Steakhouse and micro brewery is nestled in the beautiful town of Dillon and is the most popular single among Dillon restaurants. Pug Ryan's Steakhouse and microbrewery has won consecutively many awards for being among the superlative summit county restaurants. The best dining experience with exotic and finest food makes this place are different in the ranks of the restaurants nearby.

There is a huge and an extensive menu to choose from the category of prepared by Pug Ryan's appetizers, soups and salads, Pasta, chicken and fish, steaks and ribs, burgers, sandwiches and an exclusive menu for kids. Appetizers include Ahi Tuna, Baked stuffed mushrooms, Crispy Chicken Wings, Mopss crab cakes, Thai Shrimp and stuffed potato skins. The salad features exotic fresh salads in this pioneer eating joint in Dillon's restaurant which is Sirloin Caesar Salad served with grilled sirloin, Oriental salad, which is a really healthy Bowl integrated with fresh broccoli, baby corn, carrots, rice noodles, almonds with an exotic Sesame Soy dressing. Apart from these include the usual menu salad Caesar salad and Greek Salad. Soups include classic French onion soup topped with homemade croutons with mozzarella and Swiss cheese mixture.

Highest pub menu is also exciting and huge to choose from a variety of delicious food. All pub food stuff is prepared with zero Tran fatty oils and served with French fries with the main course ordered during the pub menu. Pub menu contains Swedish swim Portabella mushroom sandwich, Mopss cheese steak, Mopss buffalo chicken sandwich, Reuben Sandwich, Crab cake sliders. To try the hands should some vegetarian food stuff to try the Mediterranean Veggie Wrap. Burger lovers can go downhill Deluxe hamburger, Uptown Dillon burger, Buffalo burger and the slider plate. Mopss special Burger that can be customized with the list of toppings and can be made according to the customer's choice. the classic pub menu includes Fish and Chips, Shepherd's Pie, flatbread Pizza.

Exclusive children's menu includes chicken tenders, Fish and Chips, Kraft Macaroni and cheese. Prime Rib served with French fries and spaghetti and balls. Irresistible Pug desserts that include fresh fruit cobbler, mortal sin and Mopss Mud Pie is the main specialty.
Pug Ryan's is known for its outstanding taste and service among Dillon restaurants that make the site popular among local visitors and city visitors among summit county restaurants.

Near Lake Dillon in Dillon Colorado, our brewery & Steakhouse earned great steaks, seafood and BREW since 1975. See our menu for the day's specials. If you are interested to read more information about summit county and dillon restaurants then please visit our website pugryans.com

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The great big enormous ... PARSNIP!

This could be a post about the hunger gap - that time of the year where we've all but run out of stored food and nothing's growing (I'm talking veg here, not baked beans) yet, or about using up leftovers. It could also be a Samantha Barnes Google Recipe Challenge, and all because of a parsnip.

Despite the hunger gap, the atrociously cold weather and all that, we still have parsnips in the garden. Whether they are actually growing any more is debateable, but when they come out this size, does it really matter?

Anyway, size isn't everything, it's what you do with it. Thanks to the fact that we had people for dinner on Saturday night, I had a fridge full of leftovers looking at me when I opened it up  this evening, Left over bad stuff, like cheese and cream. I may be on a mission to reduce the circumference of my thighs and ensure that the only muffin tops around here are of the double chocolate variety, but I absolutely cannot see food going to waste, so the challenge was on. What to do with the enormous parsnip - and the leftovers?

Pink's not a fan, so parsnips usually get turned into some sort of soup for the Husband and I, or roasted as a side dish, ideal for her to pick out and be sniffy about (she'd refuse the soup point blank). This evening, though, she was out at a friend's so Blue and I got stuck in to some proper parsnip action.

A quick Google based on what I had in the fridge turned up 2 possibles - both gratins - one from Abel & Cole and one from a website called Epicurious - so we combined the two, in doing so using up the left over cream and Cashel Blue cheese from Saturday night, and raiding the garden for the only other things that are growing with any enthusiasm at the moment - sage and rosemary. 

I'm pleased to report that Blue got properly stuck in to the whole thing. Much as he'd hate to admit it, he's a bit lost when his little sister isn't around for hi-jinking or fighting, depending on the mood they are both in (actually, if we're being strictly honest, usually it depends on the mood Pink is in) and so it was good to get him involved while she was off giggling with her friend.

Mezzaluna baby!

 

The result was a delicious creamy (of course) warming dish, full of flavour - great food for a chilly winter Spring evening.

Parsnip & Bacon Gratin with leeks, hazelnuts & blue cheese

Serves 3-4 depending on appetite

60g hazelnuts
700g (peeled weight) parsnips, thinly sliced lengthways
200g (ditto) carrots, also thinly sliced
1 large leek, thinly sliced and washed
200g pancetta/bacon cut into pieces
250ml or so double cream & creme fraiche, thinned with a little milk if necessary
1 good tsp dijon mustard
2-3 sprigs of rosemary, needles only & a handful of sage leaves, finely chopped
80g or so* blue cheese (we had Cashel blue in the fridge), grated
salt & pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 200C

Put the parsnips and carrot into a large pan of salted water. Bring to the boil and cook for 3-4 minutes, then drain and leave to steam dry-ish.

While the veg is cooking, lightly toast the hazelnuts in a small frying pan, then when cool enough to handle roughly chip them and set aside.

Fry the bacon/pancetta till mostly cooked; drain off most of the fat (if a lot has been produced) then add the leek and cook for a few more minutes till the leek is softened.

Whisk together the cream, creme fraiche, mustard and milk if you need it, and then add in the herbs and salt and pepper.

To assemble, first put a layer of parsnip and carrot into your gratin dish, drizzle over about a third of the cream mixture and sprinkle with half the hazelnuts. Spread the leeks and bacon over this, then layer on the rest of the parsnips. Pour over the rest of the cream then sprnkle over the rest of the hazelnuts and the grated cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes of so till the parsnips are cooked, the sauce is bubbling and there's a delicious crunchy topping on your gratin.

If I'd had any salad in the fridge, I think it would have been good with it - something like watercress - but as it was we didn't, so we just ate it as it was. Delicious**.

I'm linking up to this month's Herbs on Saturday hosted by London Busy Body this month for Karen at Lavender & Lovage

 I'm also linking up the March Simple and in Season hosted by Louisa at Chez Foti

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* The chunk started off at 80g but Blue is very fond of blue cheese and I didn't keep an eye on how much was being grated and how much was being gobbled...

** I was quite surprised by how much Blue enjoyed this, regardless of the amount of effort he put into making it - those who read this regularly will know that I'm usually gnashing my teeth about how he doesn't like anything 'crunchy' like this gratin topping or the top of a cottage pie, and my efforts to get him to eat less sophisticated things with a cheese sauce - macaroni/cauliflower cheese have met so far with dismal failure. May be his tastes are changing - or may be it was the cream and blue cheese combo. Watch this space.

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Fantastic Pasta: Why Everyone Loves these Oodles of Noodles (Stephen John)

Far from being just oodles of noodles swimming in tomato or cream sauce, pasta is one dish that you'll see served in every conceivable variation and preparation in almost every country around the world. If love is a universal concept, then pasta is a universal taste. While not everyone knows the difference between fettuccine and fusili, most have definitely heartily slurped a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese, tucked enthusiastically into a plate of lasagna or smacked their lips over creamy spaghetti carbonara. If you go online and check out best cooking videos, you'll see that majority of these videos feature both traditional and non-traditional pasta dishes.

Perhaps the fact that it can be eaten slowly or quickly, slurped or twirled around a fork and savored before finally being swallowed are only some of the reasons why pasta topped a global survey as everybody's most favorite food. If you can have fun eating a certain food and have your tummy filled at the same time, then it comes as no surprise why pasta came out on top, especially in countries like the Philippines, Guatemala, Brazil and South Africa. Venezuela turned out to be the second largest consumer of pasta after its country of origin Italy, to be followed by Tunisia, Chile and Peru.

This love affair that we have with pasta is also evident in its sales figures: in the UK alone, sales of dry and fresh pasta, including pasta-based ready meals have reached approximately ?800M while in the US, it is projected that they will reach approximately $19BN despite the rising cost of wheat.

Pasta dishes are popular not only because they are quick, easy and convenient to make but the sauce itself can be made from simple ingredients. Even the most clueless cook can create lots of dishes with it that taste good and fills up the tummy nicely. The noodles itself also have a long shelf life so you can keep it in the pantry until you need it. Businesses often find that pasta is easy to transport and easy to mass produce which is why it is also a favorite among food companies.

For parents of picky eaters, however, pasta is one dish that satisfies everyone across the board. Macaroni and cheese, in particular, is a traditional favorite among many families, loved by kids and adults alike. It can be prepared straight from the box or prepared using two traditional methods: b?chamel-based, which means the macaroni noodles are blanketed with a cheese-flavored white sauce, topped with crumbs and baked, and custard-based where a mixture of egg and milk is poured over layers of grated cheese and noodles where as the dish bakes, the egg, milk and cheese set into a custard. If you want to learn more about making the easiest mac and cheese as well as to learn about easy delicious pasta recipes, you can check out websites like Foodplus.tv and be on your way to becoming the next master pasta maker.

Even if you are someone who'd rather eat pasta than cook it, you will be able to scour the internet for delicious variations of classic pasta favorites that are easy to make and taste just as good as how your mother made it. Sites like foodplus.tv offer easy to follow tips on how to make the best mac and cheese or any other pasta variation via cooking videos that you can easily download to your computer and watch as you cook even without internet connection. It also offers you alternative ways to change up this classic recipe by using different cheeses or adding unusual ingredients like Worcestershire sauce, mustard or a dash of hot sauce. Foodplus.tv fast and easy pasta recipes are ones that even kids can make on their own and ones that they will truly be unable to resist.

Talking of kids, there is perhaps no one who loves pasta more than your little ones. While most kids are open to rice and meat possibilities, most cannot turn down a good serving of spaghetti with meatballs and yes, macaroni and cheese. Pasta is also good for kids in a totally non-food way because it can also be used in crafts like pasta jewels and pasta poses that keep them entertained for hours on end. More importantly, pasta is an ideal food for kids because not only is it low in fat, it is also a good source of folic acid and iron. When you want to make the best pasta dishes for your kids or find easy pasta recipes for kids, you can find them all on the foodplus.tv site along with helpful tips on how to get your kids involved in the kitchen to make for perfect bonding moments.

Pasta dishes are also considered to be the best date dish, if you consider the tons of recommended dishes for Valentine's Day you see online. Because pasta is almost fool-proof and goes well with any kind of sauce you care to make, it also brings out your inner creativity and inspires you to come up with unique and tasty variations you and your special someone can enjoy together, Valentine's Day or not. It is also quite an inexpensive dish to make, as well as a quick one to make from scratch so you don't have to spend hours slaving in the kitchen or traipsing the local market for ingredients. Anything and everything you need are right there in your pantry, ready to be used. Check out how to make easy pasta recipes for two in www.foodplus.tv and prove that the way to a man's heart is indeed through his stomach.

Stephen John is a food and wine enthusiast. He blogs about food, wine, and culture and writes food and wine reviews for a living and loves travelling and trying out exotic cuisines from different countries. Learning how to cook or make your favorite pasta dishes for you and especially your kids is as easy as 123 when you watch cooking videos online and follow the easy step-by-step instructions. Find easy pasta recipes for kids on Foodplus.tv for truly delicious and easy-to-make pasta dishes your little ones won't be able to resist.

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Use iPhone cocktail app to connect your friends and know how to mix drinks (Chris Schultz)

The newly developed app by iPhone will assist you to learn about spanking new cocktails, its exclusive kinks and also let know the stories associated to it.

An app for sharing cocktail recipes was launched by the collaboration between Peter Bodenheimer, who is a partner of a software company and Brandon Herring, who is a designer based in San Francisco. Bodenheimer and Herring together have created such a wonderful app for iPhone that has become a platform to share how to make a cocktail. This slick app has already attracted more than 1,500 users till now. The users have contributed a total number of nearly 451 recipes yet to entertain the cocktail lovers worldwide.

Most of the active users off this app are some cocktail fans and eminent bar-tenders from the entire world. The app is now easy to access for free from Apple's iTunes store. Through this app you can make the entire world know about the wonderful stories behind your cocktail drink.

This has in fact become the heart for people worldwide who love cocktails and who are in this amazing profession of making cocktails and expert in mixing cocktails. The app will help you to get access to a number of fascinating people worldwide and the different stories associated with the drinks.

The app doesn't require any lengthy process of filling up a form and then sign up to browse for different cocktails. The numbers of cocktail recipes are growing day-by-day with the immense popularity of the app and hence the app is never being static.

The new cocktail app by iPhone is the only social site where you can share your cocktail experience and drink recipe with your family and friends throughout the world. The users regulate the ranking of the cocktail in a category. You will be surprised to know that some people are really passionate on this and they use this app on a regular basis.

This new cocktail app has basically mingled between cocktail with technology where you can upload how to make a cocktail and the fascinating stories attached to the memory. You can share your experience via Facebook and Twitter also.

The app also encourages sharing the different techniques of the art and also the science of "mixology," that is the main factor to make the most interesting cocktail. The app helps the users to get connected with people who are making and drinking some succulent hard-drink creations.

The application by iPhone will help you to upload photographs of the varieties of drinks you or your friend or partner has prepared. You can also add a short note of 140-characters; you can also include a few notes on the special drink you have uploaded. You can also upload the pictures that will show the techniques and procedures that you followed and let your fellow cocktail-fans know about how to make a cocktail.

Annie is a professional writer. She writes articles and blogs for different app based websites. Recently she has used the new cocktail app on iPhone. She became a fan of this new app and wrote several articles and blogs on how to make a cocktail.

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Share your unique cocktail drink recipes with the new app by iPhone- Cheers! (Chris Schultz)

Most of the people love to have some drinks in a party. The memory of a party remains in our minds clear if we have had some wonderful moment in the party with some exceptional drinks. Sometimes we even ask the host to share the secrets of the sparkling cocktail drink recipes he has offered in his party. Not only in a party we may have some wonderful cocktail, but sometimes innovative ideas come in our mind also. After following that we come out with a spanking new cocktails drink.

Now, after tasting a wonderful cocktail anywhere, what is the first thing that comes in our mind in the generation of internet? The first thing we like to do is to share our experience in any social networking sites with our friends and any family member listed as a friend in any social networking site.

iPhone has recently developed such a wonderful app that will help you to share all the amazing cocktail recipes you have gathered from your friends, any party or have created it at your home. It is really a wonder app created by the expert developers.

You may learn about great and innovative cocktails and get connected with your cohort cocktail admirers and outstanding mixologists. You can share your inimitable twists of marvelous cocktail drink recipes and also the mind-blowing story about how you discovered the recipe and how much important these cocktails are to you. Even you can share your innovative mixing technology.

iPhone's new cocktail recipe app is not only about sharing your cocktail experience or simply about sharing its recipe. But in fact you can get connected with your friends, family members, load drinks and like any recipe or cocktail experience and comment. Drinking is an entertainment and so is the new iPhone app. You can get connected with all your friends through Twitter and Facebook.

You can start use this new apps by uploading an attractive snapshot of a drink that you enjoyed, or you are going to enjoy, or you love to enjoy the drink with your partner. You may also upload the makings in whatsoever point you would like to express and share. Communicate the remarkable story behind the cocktail, where you are enjoying the cocktail, the people you are with right now, the motivation for the cocktail or the chief mixologist who mixed the wonderful ingredients to prepare the cocktail for you.

In this new iPhone app, you can also learn about different type of cocktails and share the experience and passion you have for a good drink. You may also learn exceptional cocktail drink recipes for astonishing drinks from eminent bartenders from the entire world from the most famous bars that sell cocktails. The developers of this app have definitely done a wonderful job to connect the cocktail lovers worldwide. It is an amazing place to share your cocktail experience.

Annie is a professional writer. She used the new iPhone app in her mobile to share her best experiences with different cocktail drink recipes. She was overwhelmed with this app and happy to know many more unique cocktail recipes from worldwide through this app.

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Random Recipes & a poncy ingredient alert - Ottolenghi's Orange Polenta Cake

I was wondering how I was going to fit a Random Recipe in this month, but the blog challenge fairies were obviously smiling on me.

Dom's challenge from Belleau Kitchen this month was to get all those cut out snippets of recipe, those torn out pages, and clippings, throw them up in the air - or spread them out, or do something with them to enable you to randomly select one.

I thought I'd give it a go and see what it came up with. No obligation to complete the challenge if I couldn't fit it in or the recipe was one of the more obscure I'd cut out and kept. But as I say, no need to worry. The selection process turned up Yottam Ottolenghi's Orange Polenta Cake which I'd copied at Christmas from my brother's newly received copy of the Ottolenghi cook book. Fortuitous indeed because we had people coming for dinner, and there had to be dessert. Not that this is a hardship, you understand, but I'd already planned a moorish style chicken & chorizo casserole for the main course, so this fitted perfectly. Caramelised oranges, almonds, some orange blossom water (this is an Ottolenghi recipe after all - poncy ingredients are to be expected!).

First up, though, the challenge of sourcing the ingredients. I know there used to be a bag of polenta in the cupboard, but I must have used it up, because when I looked again, there was nothing. I couldn't get it in my online shop so sent the Husband off to do his hunter gatherer thing. The poor man went to 4 different supermarkets on 2 separate trips after work - he even went and worked at a different office on Friday in order to try different supermarkets, before ending up in Waitrose in Andover. Where, of course, they had at least 2 varieties. Anyway, he came home triumphant with an impressively artisan looking bag, plus some tahini paste and some unsalted pistachios which I also required.

While I've learned my lesson over the years that when people are coming for dinner it's wise to stick to the familiar and easy, there's always a certain amount of frisson to be gained cooking something with a little bit of fiddle factor when you have no idea how it's going to turn out and 10 people expecting to be fed. I have limited experience cooking Ottolenghi, and while it's always turned out brilliantly, I'm not in the same comfort zone with his stuff that I am cooking, say, Nigella. Add to this the opportunity for third degree burns that making caramel presents, and perhaps I should have stuck to something tried and tested, but I like a challenge.

 


The recipe was at least helpful in that it pointed out the need to thoroughly line the tin (if you're using springform, which I was) in order to prevent caramel leaking all over your oven, and as an extra precaution, I also put the cake tin on a baking sheet. A wise precaution as it turns out because even with what I thought was thorough tin lining, I did have a little bit of caramel leakage. But nothing serious.









Anyway, the recipe. I couldn't find it online to link to, but it's in the Ottolenghi cook book. Having lined your tin, you make some caramel which you use to cover the bottom of the tin.

 Next, there are oranges to zest and peel, and place on top of the caramel layer, 

before making a deliciously orangey scented batter using eggs, ground almonds, polenta along with the usual butter and eggs. The recipe also calls for orange blossom water, I forgot to put this on the Husband's foraging list, and having put him through supermarket hell in search of polenta, I didn't have the heart to fess up to needing orange blossom water, so in the end I just squeezed in a little extra orange juice. I think the random recipe rules state that you have to cook the recipe as it is, with little deviation. Well, I'm afraid that as well as missing the orange blossom water, I upped the recipe by a third to make a big enough cake to feed all of us. I hope I'm not disqualified.

 As a result of the increase in ingredients, it took quite a bit longer than the stated 40-45 minutes to bake, and I ended up covering the tin with foil to stop the top of the cake catching, but it all turned out fine. Once baked, the final nerve-wracking turnout passed without a hitch.

Ta daah!

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