Canadian National Park

I have been to Canada once many years ago. I always dreamt to go back again. The Canadian National Parks are absolutely beautiful with spectacular  high mountain scenery and stunning lakes views. I  love to follow the mountain trails and explore the alpine and woodland area. In the evening I will retired back into my hotel and enjoy an relaxing spar treatments and a hearty meal. 



Boating on the crystal clear blue lakes would be wonderful.

I am Dreaming of a holiday in Nice

I have always dream about a nice long holiday in  Nice in he South of France.  I love the sunny warm weather, the clean beach, and the luxurious life style in the South of France.

The food was fantastic. People are friendly. Plenty of shops and museums to visit. If I can go any where in the world, Nice has to be at the top of my priority.

 It is just wonderful to walk by the sea to admire some of the luxurious yachts and the life style of others.

The Panoramic view of the French Riviera

The delicious French Cuisine. 

The beautiful Regency style buildings

The beautiful, clean and warm sunny promenade 

This post is an entry for the #Flying100 Family Holiday Challenge, celebrating how flying allows us to make memories and ‘be there’, in association with #Flying100. Find out more at http://bit.ly/flying100

Chocolate Afternoon Tea Extravaganza

Afternoon tea does not have to be narrow down to just sandwiches and scones. I made this selection of chocolate treat because, like everybody else I love chocolate. I used this recipe for afternoon tea, after dinner coffee or for party display. It is very simple to make but it always look impressive. It consists of a selection of homemade chocolate truffles, white chocolate ganache, butter shortbread and sticks of chocolate lollies.

This is my blog post entry to the Denby cake off competition  http://www.denby.co.uk/page/the-great-denby-cake-off

Chocolate sponge cake for the chocolate truffles

( make the sponge cake 2-3 days before needed)

100g caster sugar

100g soften butter

2 large eggs

75g SR flour

25g cocoa powder

1. Heat oven 200C/Gas Mark 6. Grease and line 2 sandwich tins.

2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in egg one at a time.

3. Sieve flour with cocoa power. Mix the flour into the egg mixture with a metal spoon.

4. Divide the mixture between the 2 sandwich tins. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20 minutes until the cake spring back when press. Leave to cool. Store in an air tight tin.

chocolate Rum truffles

·         125g plain chocolate

·          50g unsalted butter

·          125g chocolate sponge cakes, crumbled

·           50g icing sugar

·           25ml dark rum,

·           50g cocoa powder, icing sugar or desiccated coconut

1. Melt the chocolate with the butter. Stir in the cake crumbs, icing sugar and rum.

Cover and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is firm.

2. Dust your hand with icing sugar and roll the truffle mixture into 8 small balls. Roll 4 all in the dark chocolate and the other in the desiccated coconut.

For the truffle lolly:

Divide the rest of the truffle mixture into 4 portions. Roll each portion on a lolly stick. Leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes. Melt some milk chocolate in a bowl. Dip the truffle lolly into the chocolate, leave to set in the fridge.

For the nutty choc Stick:

Dip some lolly sticks in melted milk chocolate. Leave to cool slightly and dip again. Roll in toasted chopped almonds. Leave to set.

For the dark choc crisp stick:Dip lolly stick in melted dark chocolate. Roll in the chopped chocolate crisps. 

Butter short bread:

120g plain flour

60g cornflour

125g soften butter

55g caster sugar

Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add in flour to form a dough. Roll our half of the mixture and cut into round biscuits and the other half into small square block. Bake in a preheated oven Gas Mark 5/190C for 15 minutes. Leave to cool.

For the chocolate shortbread, use 60g of cocoa powder instead of cornflour. Roll out and cut them into any shape you like.

To decorate the short bread, dip biscuits into melted chocolate and leave to set. Drizzle with caramel.

White Chocolate Ganache

200ml double cream
420g white chocolate, finely chopped.

1.       Melt the chopped white chocolate over a bowl of warm water Set aside.

2.        Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.

3.       Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave to stand for two minutes.

4.       Stir the ganache until smooth.

5.      Leave the white chocolate ganache to cool to a thick cream.   

To assemble:

Fill a piping bag with white chocolate ganache. Pipe 4 beads of ganache to form a rectangle  on a large plate or a piece of slate.

Fill the centre of the rectangle with chocolate sand.

(For the chocolate sand, place some chocolate cake and dark brown sugar in a food processor.  Blitz for a few seconds till the mixture resemble find sand.)

Arrange the shortbread biscuits and the truffles on the chocolate sand pit. Garnish with some Kalanchoe leaves or mint. Decorate the white chocolate ganache with blue berries.

My Perfect Halloween Dinner Party

I love Halloween  fancy dress dinner party. It so much fun and very scary. The food is so exotic.

http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/
I have just entered the Atlantic Shopping Halloween Dinner Party competition to win the jackpot prize of £500

Guest List For My  Halloween dinner Party:

Dracula Christopher Lee
Vampire Tom Cruise
Psycho Anthony Perkins
Sweeney Todd Johnny Depp
Hannibal Lecter Anthony Hopkins

My dinner menu:

 Starter:
Vampire Blood Red Pumpkin Tomato Soup
Serve with:
Scary face garlic bread
Follow by:
Monster eye balls in Slimy Sauce
Blood Red Beef pot
Vampire Bat Wings Tomato Spicy Rice
Sweeney Todd's Meat Pies
Finish:
Sticky Chocolate Coffin Cake

Sweeney Todd's Meat Pies

My Halloween Dinner is on the table waiting for my Guests to arrived

Vampire Blood Red Pumpkin Tomato Soup with Scary  face garlic bread

Green Eyes Monster Balls in Slimy Sauce                                  

 

Blood Red Beef pot

Vampire Bat Wings Spicy Rice

Sticky Chocolate Coffin Cake

Chocolate Carrot Apricot Nutty Cake

Chocolate Carrot Apricot Nutty Cake

3 eggs

200ml Sunflower oil

200g dark chocolate (melted)

80g dark brown sugar

200g dark chocolate (melted)

200g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon mixed spice

200g grated carrot

50g Dried apricot (shredded)

70g cashew nuts, pecan nuts, hazelnuts (toasted and chopped)

Decoration on the cake:

200g Mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoon lemon juice

70g icing sugar

2 tablespoon grated carrots

150g dark chocolate (melted and make into shapes)

Roast mixed whole nuts

Icing sugar for dusting

Method:

1.      Grease and line a 15cm.(6 inch)round cake tin or two sandwich tins

2.      Whisk egg and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add in oil and melted chocolate. Mix well.

3.      Mix in carrots and all the dried ingredients. Mix well.

4.      Transfer the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180C/350F/ Gas mark4. Cool on a wire rack.

5.      To decorate: cream the cream cheese, lemon juice and icing sugar together. Spread the cream on top of the cool down cake. Decorate with roast mixed nuts, chocolate shapes and grated carrots and apricots. Dust with icing sugar.

To make the chocolate shapes: Spread ½ of the melted chocolate on a greaseproof paper. Leave to cool. Cut in shape using a knife or pastry cutter shapes.

 Place the other ½ of the chocolate in a paper cone. Draw shapes using a template on a greaseproof paper. Pipe round the shapes with the chocolate ( in the paper cone). Leave to cool.  When cool, peel off the paper and decorate the cake.

* Omit nuts if you have a nut allergy *

Home Made Trebuchet Games

We built this Trebuchet from scrap pieces of wood from the skip. We were lucky because our next door neighbour was building an extension at that time. We collected all the off cuts of wood, skirting boards and bricks that they throw away.  We then cut them to size and screwed them together. The sling for the golf ball was make out of a piece of leather cut from an old handbag tie with two pieces of strings. The weight is made of pieces of recycle broken bricks.

The finished project was amazing. The whole family had lots of fun building and playing with it. We take turn to see who can fire most number of golf balls into the bucket.

In the Summer the children take the Trebuchet to our local park and have competitions. We certainly had lots of fun using recycled scraps pieces of wood and bricks to build this toy.

 The frame is made out of scrap pieces of wood that we can find from the skip. We cut them to size and screwed together.

 The sling is a piece of leather cut out from my old handbag with two pieces of strings tie on to it.

 The wooden box for the weight is made of 4 pieces of planks screwed together.

 The runway for the golf ball we made it with some skirting boards. 

 We filled the box with pieces of broken bricks.

Healthy Turkey Upside Down Pie

Healthy Turkey Upside Down  Pie

This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more at bit.ly/18rWnaB

250g turkey mince                  

1 small onion (chopped)                   

1 clove garlic   (chopped)                   

1 large carrot  ( diced)                     

100g  swede (diced)                           

15g plain flour                                      

100g Savoy cabbage (shredded)          

2 teaspoon cornflour                                       

1 drop gravy browning                         

500g Maris Piper potatoes (cut into pieces)        

50ml milk                                              

30g butter

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 pinch of chilli powder

¼ teaspoon mixed herbs

Salt and pepper

Mix turkey with onion, garlic, chilli powder, herbs, plain flour ,salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix well. Divide turkey into 12 portions. Make each portion into a small ball.

Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Fry the meat ball gently for 2-3 minutes. Add in swede and carrot and cook for 5 minutes. Add a cup of water into the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes till the meat balls are cooked. Blend cornflour with a tablespoon of cold water and the gravy browning. Add to the meat balls to thicken the sauce.

Put potatoes in a large pan of boiling water. Cook the potatoes for 20 minutes till soft. Drain. Add in butter and milk. Mash the potatoes till light and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the potatoes into a piping bag.Pipe the potato around the edge of the dish. Put the dish in a preheated oven Gas Mark 6/ 200C for 20 minutes till the potato is golden brown on top.

Cook savoy cabbage in a pan of salt water for 10 minutes. Drain. 

Remove the dish from the oven. Place the cooked cabbage in the centre of the dish. Place the cooked turkey ball and vegetables on top. Pour over the gravy. Serve and enjoy.

Potato Dauphinoise

Potato Dauphinoise

500g Maris Piper potatoes( peeled and sliced)

200ml double cream

200ml whole milk

1 clove garlic (chopped)

75g Emmental cheese(grated)

1 pinch nutmeg (freshly grated)

Salt and pepper

Heat the milk and cream in a sauce pan. Bring to the boil. Add in chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

Stir in the sliced potatoes and nutmeg. Bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Pour the potatoes and the cream into a baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese and a bit more nutmeg. Bake in a preheated oven Gas mark 3 /170C for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are tender.

This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more at bit.ly/18rWnaB

Chorizo and Turkey Hotpot

This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more atbit.ly/18rWnaB

300g turkey cubes

2 tablespoon cooking oil

50g/2oz plain flour (with salt and pepper)

2 onions (sliced)

200g Chorizo sausage (sliced)

100g sundried tomatoes

500g Maris Piper potatoes (peeled and sliced)

1 carrot (cubed)

100g swede (cubed)

50ml dry sherry

½ teaspoon mustard

1pich of nutmeg (grated)

3 bay leaves

½ teaspoon rosemary (chopped)

 1 teaspoon thyme (chopped)

350mls vegetable stock

15g butter + 1 clove chopped garlic

50g chorizo sausage (chopped)

50g Cheddar  cheese (grated)

1.     Heat the oil in a frying pan. Coat the turkey with flour. Fry turkey till brown. Layer turkey, Chorizo, tomatoes and the vegetables (except the potato slices) in an oven proof dish or a casserole. Season with salt and pepper.

2.     Add in the bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, mustard and nutmeg.

3.     Cover with potato slices then pour in the stock and sherry. Spread with garlic butter, grated  cheese and chopped chorizo. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4.     Cover with foil and cook in an oven (160C/Gas mark 3) for 1 hours. Remove the cover and cook for further 30 minutes (200C/ Gas mark 6) till the potato topping is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Love Food: Family Favourite Cottage Pie

Love Food: Family Favourite Cottage Pie: “This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more at  bit.ly/18rWnaB ” and linking to  bi...



(makes 4 individual cottage pies)

600g Maris Piper potatoes ( peeled and cut into wedges)

25g butter

50ml milk

500g minced beef steak

1 teaspoon cooking oil

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 teaspoon cooking oil

1 large onion ( chopped)

1 small carrot (diced)

500ml beef stock

A handful of chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon cornflour

100g grated  cheddar cheese 

Salt and pepper

1. Place Maris Piper potatoes in a large pan of boiling salt water fr 20 minutes till soft. Drain. Add in butter and milk. Mash the potatoes using a potato masher till light and fluffy. Season to taste. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Fry the onion  till golden brown. Add in mince beef and carrots. Cook for 3 minutes. Add in chopped parsley. Stir in the beef stock. Cover and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Blend cornflour with a tablespoon of cold water. Stir into the minced beef to thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Transfer the beef filling into 4 individual pie dishes.  Put the mashed potato in a piping bag wit a star nozzle. Pipe the potato on top of each cottage pie. Sprinkle the top with grated cheese.

5. Place the cottage pies in a preheated over Gas mark 5/ 190C for 25 to 30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Family Favourite Cottage Pie

Family Favourite Cottage Pie

This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more atbit.ly/18rWnaB

(makes 4 individual cottage pies)

600g Maris Piper potatoes ( peeled and cut into wedges)

25g butter

50ml milk

500g minced beef steak

1 teaspoon cooking oil

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 teaspoon cooking oil

1 large onion ( chopped)

1 small carrot (diced)

500ml beef stock

A handful of chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon cornflour

100g grated  cheddar cheese 

Salt and pepper

1. Place Maris Piper potatoes in a large pan of water with salt and boil for 20 minutes till soft. Drain. Add in butter and milk. Mash the potatoes using a potato masher till light and fluffy. Season to taste. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Fry the onion  till golden brown. Add in mince beef and carrots. Cook for 3 minutes. Add in chopped parsley. Stir in the beef stock. Cover and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Blend cornflour with a tablespoon of cold water. Stir into the minced beef to thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Transfer the beef filling into 4 individual pie dishes.  Put the mashed potato in a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe the potato on top of the beef filling. Sprinkle the top with grated cheese.

5. Place the cottage pies in a preheated over Gas mark 5/ 190C for 25 to 30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

My Hard Working Kitchen

This post is an entry for the "My Kitchen Story" Linky Challenge, sponsored by Fairy Platinum

I only have a very small kitchen. I love cooking and I spend a lot of time in this small area making nice food for my family. I have a garden. I get a lot of fruits and vegetables from my garden every year. I collect all the fruits and vegetables, I either freeze them, make them into jams or chutney.

I love jam making. It is a hobby of my. Every year I made 

about 10 kg. of jam with of various kind of fruits. I don't have 

any fancy jam making gadget. All I have is a large heavy 

base sauce pan and a jam thermometer. Jam making is 

very scientific process and a satisfying task.

I can see straight to the bottom of my garden through my kitchen window. I grow a selection of herbs on my window sill. I use a lot of herbs in my cooking. I use them in sauces, stew, salad and in garnishes.

I collect fridge magnets and stick them on my fridge  

freezer to decorate my fridge. I have a pestle and 

mortar in my kitchen. I use the a lot to grind up my 

chilli and whole grain spices. I also collect large  jam 

jars and coffee jars to store my pasta in. I think the 

pasta look very attractive in glass jars.

Summer Herb and Tomato Chicken Casserole

Serves 4


4 pieces chicken joints (skin removed)
 
6 fresh large tomatoes (chopped)

2 tablespoon tomato puree

1 handful chopped herbs (basil, thyme, oregano and parsley)

2 clove garlic (chopped)

1 teaspoon brown sugar

6 shallots (chopped)

1 cup white wine

100g sliced mushrooms

1 small courgette (diced)

3 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon flour

Salt and pepper

1. Sprinkle the chicken joints with salt and pepper. Dredge with flour.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Brown the chicken on both sides. Drain and set aside.
3. With the remaining oil the pan, sweat the shallots and garlic. Add in mushrooms, herbs, white wine, tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and sugar.Simmer for 10 minutes to make the sauce.
4. Transfer the chicken into a slow cooker. Pour over the sauce. Cover and cook on High heat for 1 hour.
5. Stir in the diced courgette. Cover and cook for  further 10 minutes.
6. Season to taste. Garnish with freshly chopped herbs.