Carrot cake (tart)

Vegetables are good for you, so this can go under healthy foods and treats. For the longest of times I hadn’t liked carrot cake at all- turned out I had never had a good one 🙂

I am far from a picky eater, but I have my share of food traumas as well- and really weird ones, according to my sister anyway. I hated pizza with a passion for years and thought of it made it sick. My first taste of pizza had been given to me in a children’s  club and I had gotten extremely ill after- pizza still isn’t my favourite thing in this world but I can enjoy one occasionally. The others trauma’s include blueberry soup (got served lumpy soup by a nanny years ago 🙂 ), non smooth yoghurt (yet again the dislike of lumps…), prawns, oysters and squid…

Back to the business which was a carrot cake. I do mine in a oven tray the same way I do the Mocca-Chocolate-Brownies. For the measuring I often use a glass (size about 3dl) to ease up the process…

What you need for the base:

3 eggs

1 glass of sugar

1 glass of plain flower

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 teaspoons of cinnamon

1,5 glass of grated carrots

150 g butter (melted).

For the frosting:

100 g butter,

200 g plain cream cheese

1 glass of icing sugar

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar first into a stiff foam

2. Combine the dry ingredients together

3. Gently turn the flour mixture, grated carrot and melted fat into the egg-sugar foam.

4. Stir until smooth and pour in to a baking tray covered by a baking paper.

5. Bake at 200 degrees (Celsius) for about 30 minutes – Let the base cool

6. Whip the soft butter and cream cheese – Add icing sugar into mix and spread the frosting on the cake. If desired, sprinkle with crushed  hazelnuts or almonds. Cut into a serving size pieces. You can also add lemon or orange chest in to frosting for extra flavour.

MoccaChocolateBrownie

MoccaChocolateBrownies

I had completely forgotten this treat, until I started graving something chocolate to go with my coffee.

Many of my childhood memories tie into a food in one way or another. It is the sweet scent of warm brownie and sticky fingers from frosting. Competing with my sisters who gets the biggest piece with most chocolate (often ended up in a surprisingly big argument until someone decided to steal the victory by licking the top of the favourite one or at least sticking a finger in on it…)

For the dough:

4 pcs eggs

4,5 dl sugar

300 g butter (melted)

3 dl of milk

7,5 dl wheat flour

5 teaspoons of baking powder

5 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 tablespoons of cocoa powder

200g chocolate

Frosting:

4,5 dl icing sugar

100 g butter (melted)

5 tablespoons of coffee (ready made)

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

4 tsp vanilla extract

DOUGH:

1. Mix the eggs and the sugar until stiff foam.
2. Measure all the dry ingredients and place in a bowl, and mix them.
3. Measure 3 dl milk.
4. Pour the dry ingredients alternately with milk, and egg-sugar foam. Mix well.
5. Add the melted butter and mix thoroughly once again.
6. Mix in grated chocolate of your choice before pouring the dough into a tray that has a buttered baking paper on it and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees (Celsius)

FROSTING:

1. Measure 4,5 dl icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and pour them into a dish.
2. Pour the coffee and vanilla extract among the dry substances, mix well.
3. Melt the butter and pour it into the mixture, mix well.

After brownie has cooled down, remove the baking paper and pour the frosting on top. Decorate with sprinkles or go wild with fruits and berries. Cut into serving size pieces.

Best served with fresh coffee 🙂 These literally will melt in your mouth…

Soup for the soul…

Easy, delicious, warming… I often use this creamy garlic soup as a starter in the winter time if I have people over, or just a everyday dinner for me and my husband. This soup has converted my nephew and niece liking onions and garlic- so I think that speaks for itself.

I often pack this soup in my thermal bottle for a lunch at work and also if I find myself hiking or skiing longer distances- this is the food to take with 🙂

Creamy Garlic Soup

Olive oil (or any other you happen to have)

3 whole garlics

3 onions

2 tbl spoons of flour (I use plain flour, but also cornflour can be used- and occasionally I have forgotten the whole flour…)

4 cups of vegetable stock (or water and stock cubes, (I have also used chicken stock)

1 cup of cream

salt and white pepper

Making it:

1. Peal all the garlic gloves and chop the onions

2. Add some oil into a pot and pour the onions and garlic gloves in.

3. When onion has soften a bit, add in flour and mix well.

4. Add in vegetable stock (and for extra flavour you can add a cup of white wine of your choice)

5. Let the soup boil in a mid temperature between 30 to 40 minutes and then take it off the heat.

6. Take a hand held electric mixer and smooth the soup. In case you don’t have mixer n hand you can use potato masher or even whisk- once I have used fork to make a bit lumpy garlic soup- still tasted great 🙂 …

7. Pour in cream and add salt and white pepper (I have also used black pepper) and check the flavour.

8. Heat up the soup, but do not boil it.

9. Serve with fresh bread!

The Best Dessert for a sweet tooth…

When I first came across this cake I thought there is no way in this earth I could make it. I sat on my sisters kitchen watching her serve one- her version is filled with banana and cream and topped with kiwi, i decided I definitely need to learn to make it.

Turns out it is fairly quick to make and I have been serving it a year round, just by changing fillings. This recipe is for Romanov style Strawberries and cream, but this works well with nearly anything. I have tried apple marmalade and cinnamon cream, marinated orange slices with chocolate cream and many other combinations and there have never been a piece left over 🙂

INGREDIENTS 10 servings

Base:
150 g of butter (soft)
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
Meringue:
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
Romanov strawberries:
500g strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon or orange type of liquor (e.g. Cointreau)
2 tsp orange peel, grated
Cream Filling:
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Making it
1. Whip the soft butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks one at a time, mix well. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture and milk alternately into the mix. Spread the dough into a thin layer on an oven tray on top of a greased baking paper.
2. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar gradually while continuing to whip until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Spread the mixture on the top of the dough on the tray. Bake at 175 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until the meringue surface is light brown.
3. Lift the tray out and let the “cake sheet” cool down. Cut the cake sheet in half making two equal size pieces. Remove the baking paper.
4. Clean and chop the strawberries. Mix the sugar, orange juice, liqueur and orange chest before adding half of the strawberries in. Let it marinate for at least an hour. Stir in between.
5 Whip the cream until stiff. Season it with sugar and vanilla extract.
6 Lift tone cake sheet on a serving dish. Spread the sheet with half the cream and spoon over the sifted marinated strawberries. Lift the second sheet on top. Spread the rest of the  cream over the top cake layer. Sprinkle the non marinated strawberries on top and the cake is ready to be served!

Might seem complicated but believe me if I can do it- you can do it 🙂 Don’t mind if the outcome doesn’t look like from the cookbook- this is all about the flavor

A bit of spice in the chilly days…

Chicken Curry served with basmati rice and naan bread.

I love hot flavoured  Asian foods, and particularly Indian food is close to my hear. There is nothing better when autumn has arrived to warm up with woollen socks and a big bowl of Indian curry.

So two years ago I decided to try and I found myself in an oriental shop going through the shelves of spices and pastes. I have always been bad following recipes and no matter how much I try I always seem to do it my way anyway. So this combination of recipe given to me with my own variation.

In our household this dish is eaten weekly, I just change between different meats or pastes. You can use curry paste, tikka masala paste, curry powder, vindaloo paste… pick your favourite. I usually use chicken or lamb and excellent vegetable version can be done by placing meat with chickpeas. Also if you have left over boiled potatoes or other vegetables like cauliflower- just chop them and add them in after tomatoes have gone in.

If you have any tips of your own- please let me know 🙂

Chicken Curry á la CraftyMissus

(for 4-6 people)

olive oil

4 gloves garlic (grated)

2 chillies chopped

2 onions chopped

Curry paste (according to the instructions on the jar)

3 chicken breasts chopped

6 tomatoes chopped (I tend to use fresh tomatoes, but a can of ready chopped ones will do too)

2 cups of yoghurt (natural yoghurt)

– Pour oil into hot wok-pan

– Add grated garlic, chopped chillies and onions.

– When onions have soften a bit add curry paste and chicken pieces mixing the paste well.

– Add chopped tomatoes and let it cook.

– After chicken is being cooked, you can notice that the tomatoes have solved mainly in making a sauce for the dish.

– Finally add in natural yoghurt, I like Greek style, but I have successfully used also Turkish as well as so called normal natural yoghurt.

-Test the flavour and if needed add in either more spices or yoghurt.

Serve with basmati rice and nan bread.

Becoming Domestic Goddess…

I had always had this image of me in my head that I just ain’t a household person. I would have liked nothing better than be neat, organized, great at hosting and an excellent cook. Reality was that my student apartment looked far from nice and clean home: clothes gathered in a big pile on the chair, so might have even been dropped on the floor, sad and lonely cactus suffering (I still do not know how I managed to torture it in that bad condition) on the table. My cooking speciality was pasta mixed with a can of tuna and a bag of pea/corn/pepper- mixture thrown in the mix…. yummy 😀

Then again I had always been surrounded with these domestic goddesses, my grandmother, mother, aunts and even one of my sisters. With my other sister we have a part of the gift: she with the flowers and gardening, me with the DIY. These women were able to keep the house under control: everything cleaned, kids clothed and fed and visitors entertained. And it all seemed so effortless.

I have always been very short fused in a way that if I do not know how to do something or it does not feel natural to me- I do not need to know about it. Maybe it is the age been 30 something that I felt like this is something I need to get a control of. In my work I am extremely efficient, organized and creative so why not also at home.

So this is the result, a blog where I tackle my domestic challenges, and occasionally step outside home and wonder the world around me.