Chocolate Goodness without Excess Guilt

I've gotta admit, some recipes I try without a lot of hope that they'll actually taste good.  You know the ones I mean.  Filled with sneaky little pulverized vegetables.  Low-fat.  Bran.

With low expectations is exactly how I approached this recipe -- a whole wheat brownie made with more than a cup of applesauce.  Healthy-ish, for a brownie.  But probably not a brownie you'd make again with any enthusiasm.

Well.  Can I just say here I was wrong.

This little beauty, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, certainly surprised me.  It's moist.  Fudgy.  Even crowned with a handful of chocolate chips.  Two hundred calories for a square like this one.  Just 100 calories if you cut it in half. 

But then, of course, you'd have to eat two.

If you're looking for a nice little October brownie to have with your cup of hot tea, look no further.  Whole-wheat brownies, Martha's way.  It's a good thing.

Carrot, Apple & Walnut Salad

Mmmm this is a really lovely salad, goes well at a BBQ with coleslaw, potato salads etc but also if you live here in Bulgaria its a good winter salad to go with the Rakia.
Make this one day in advance, so that the flavours have a chance to meld.

4 x Carrots
1 Apple
1 tbsp Lemon juice
2 tbsp Honey
Walnuts chopped to your liking
Mayonnaise to your liking
Salt & pepper
Peel & shread the carrots & apple then mix all ingredients in a bowl, cover & refrigerate over night.
I like lots of walnuts & mayonnaise. I leave these quantities to you but add little at a time so you can check your preference

Harlequin Chicken

I love this recipe as it can be made with pre cooked chicken or raw. I had to cook a chicken as the sell by date had only a day left, so I roasted it & used it the following day in this recipe.
I call it Harlequin as it is very colourful.
Feel free to leave the olives out if you are not a fan & add onions if you are tolerant.
4-6 cloves of Garlic
1 pint Chicken stock
Zest & juice of 1 lg lemon
4 Chicken breasts or breasts & legs
4 rashers Bacon
4 ripe Tomatoes or jar of home preserved tomatoes
3 tsp Tarragon
1 Bay leaf
4 Red & green Peppers or jar home preserved peppers
Salt & pepper for seasoning
Spray a deep pan with oil or use a little olive oil. Cook the garlic for 5 mins, add Peppers cook for further 5 mins add stock & boil for further 5 mins then add lemon cover & simmer for 15 mins. Wrap the bacon around the chicken & secure with a cocktail stick.

Add the cooked chicken with bacon to the pan with the tomatoes, tarragon & bay leaf. Cover & simmer 15 - 20 mins, reducing the sauce. Add olives if using & cook a further 5 mins. Serve with pasta, a salad or minted new potatoes.

Individual Victoria Sponge Cakes

A great way to serve a classic cake for dessert, afternoon tea or freeze them for an occassional treat, lovely :-)
Makes 12 individual cakes
6 oz butter or margarine, softened
6 oz Caster sugar
3 Eggs, beaten
6 oz SR flour, sifted
Filling;
1 tsp jam
Whipped cream
Pre heat oven to 180c & place muffin cases in baking pan.
Beat butter & sugar till creamy. Beat in eggs a little at a time. Add the flour, also a little at a time, fold it in, don't over mix it.
Spoon into the muffin cases & bake for 20 minuets till the top springs back.
I bake these 1 day ahead. Just before serving, remove from the cases & cut in half. Spread with jam & top with cream.

Pickled Garlic

Its that time of year, lots of home grown garlic

This is fabulous. If you love garlic you will love this. Its easy to do & lasts forever. Tastes delicious & is a great accompniant to drinks or pre dinner nibbles along with olives & peppers specialty breads etc. We had them the other night with all the above instead of salad & we all enjoyed them very much.

Whole peeled garlic

Red wine vinegar

Salt

Whole chilli

Sliced red pepper

Place the garlic, chilli & pepper slices in the jars, cover with vinegar & add the salt. Secure the lid & gently shake to dissolve the salt. Store in the fridge for a minimum of two weeks to cure. Will keep almost indefinitely if covered & refrigerated.

Pickled Garlic #2

5 Sterilised jars

12 large heads garlic peeled

625 ml White wine vinegar

250 ml Dry white wine

1 Tbsp Salt

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Dried oregano

5 Dried chilli peppers (1 for each jar)

In a large pan combine vinegar, wine, salt, sugar & oregano. Bring to the boil,  & boil gently for 1 minuet.

Remove from heat, add garlic & stir for 1 minuet

Pack garlic & 1 chilli into a jar leaving 3/4 inch room. Add hot liquid to cover the garlic. Remove the air bubbles & wipe the rim of the jar. Secure the lid.

Line a deep pan with an old cloth & place the jars on top. Add water to cover & bring to the boil. Rapid boil for ten minuets, then remove from the pan & cool for 24 hours

Store in a cool dark place.

Pear Frangipane

Pears are in season here now, falling off the tree's in droves & bringing the wasps out, but I won't hold that against them!

Our pears are quite hard so I tend to cook with them. Frangipane is one of my fave desserts, the Apricot one is to die for , so I thought I would try it with pears & found this interesting recipe. I am serving it to guests tonight & will post their response :-)

Sweet pastry

500g Plain flour

250g Butter

125g Caster sugar

1 Large egg

Beat butter & sugar together till light & fluffy. Add the egg & combine. Add the flour a little at a time. Put the dough in the fridge for 30 mins to rest. Take the pastry & leave for 10 mins. Grease the bottom of flan tin Roll out to fit a 20-30c flan tin. It may fall apart so patch it together, when the tin is ready put it in freezer for 15 mins or in fridge for 30.

Blind bake it 200c for 10 mins then set aside to cool. Reduce oven temp to 180c

Almond Cream

150g Butter/margarine

150g Caster sugar

150g Ground almonds

3 Eggs

50g Plain flour

1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

Pears peeled cored & sliced in half or quarters

Beat together sugar & butter/margarine. Add eggs one at a time till combined. Add vanilla essence & stir in. Sift together almonds & flour & slowly add to mixture. mix till creamy.

Spread the cream evenly in pastry case & place pears cut side down. Bake for 30 - 40 mins till risen & golden brown. It will be firm to touch.

Heat  2 tsp jam, I used white plum jam, & brush this over the pears & tart to glaze. Refrigerate. Can be made a day before needed.

Serve warm or at room temp with cream or ice cream.

Enjoy! 

Homemaking in the Fall

Turns out sometimes you're too busy being productive at home to actually blog about being productive at home.  Like a squirrel gathering nuts, I have been nesting -- saying goodbye to the season past and preparing for the one to come.

There were the leaves collected and flattened and traced and turned into the cutest autumn towels ever.

Idea from this delightful book.

There were the home-grown tomatoes, transformed into oniony/Parmesan-y tarts, soup for the freezer, dehydrated disks, and juice, glorious juice.

There were the apples made into chips, dehyrated snacks, and a nice little side dish doused with a citrus-y dressing of orange juice, lemon juice, and diced red onion.

There was the eggplant --  itty bitty ones, to be sure, but enough for a quiche and lovely cracker spread and a couple other dishes I forgot to photograph ;)

And finally, the peppers.  Are they not gorgeous?

This year, rather than making pickled peppers, I opted for lots of slivering for the freezer, and a wee bit o' roasting.

To roast, just cut them in half and remove core and seeds, put them in the oven on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil for 10 minutes or so, until quite blackened, then sweat them out in a sealed zippered plastic bag for 20 minutes before peeling.

A bit of work, I'm not gonna lie.  But in the end, the roasted peppers, pureed with a clove of garlic and a bit of olive oil, circled around a platter of lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, salami, and tomatoes -- probably the best meal of the season.

Happy fall.

Y'all.

NOTE:  Instructions for roasting peppers came from an old issue of Cooking Light magazine.  Salad idea with the roasted pepper puree came from another old magazine clipping -- maybe McCall's?  Not sure.