This Week's Highlights....

You may remember a few weeks ago I made a Rainbow Cake for my birthday? Well this week, Mr B requested rainbow cupcakes for his lunches. I made up 1 basic vanilla cake batter and divided it into 5 bowls, tinting each bowl a different colour. Then I dropped alternating teaspoons of the mixture into a greased muffin tray. I love that they came out all psychadelic looking! 

Awesome rainbow cupcakes require awesome rainbow frosting! 

To make the frosting I just made some blue, green, red and purple frosting and layered it up in a piping bag - I love that each one is different and has a different mix of colours. 

Last Sunday night Mr B and I got ourselves all dressed up and went to see a Johhny Cash Tribute Concert to celebrate what would have been the year of his 80th birthday. I will admit I was abit unsure about the concert as I'm not really a country music fan, but it was so much fun! The atmosphere was just fantastic and you really can't beat live music, Mr B and I have been singing along to some of his old Johhny Cash CD's ever since!  

Last Tuesday night Mr B and I went to visit Mum and Dad for dinner and they put up another one of their legendary caravan kitchen meals! This one is kind of like vegetarian eggs florentine.....Veggie Burgers topped with Cheese, Scrambled Eggs, Spinach and Mushrooms with a side of Haloumi and homemade Tzatziki! YUM!!

And this....well this is a bowl of ice cream, but I want to talk about the little heart sitting on top of it. I have been wanting to try this for ages and it was so easy and so awesome! Simply whip some cream up until it's thick, pipe it into a heart shape or spoon it into a heart shaped cookie cutter onto a plate covered with baking paper. Place in the freezer for a few hours and ta-da! The consistency is kind of like ice cream and I think they would be fantastic floating around in a hot chocolate or irish coffee!

Mrs B xx

Tornadoes, Cheese and Cake?!

Today we have experienced tornado warnings of all things....I mean I know in some parts of the world tornadoes are common place, but I live in Tasmania....tornadoes just don't happen here! Apparently they were only little ones, but I have always appreciated and liked living in an area where we are 'tornado free' and it does make me feel uneasy thinking that we are starting to see them, even if they are minor. 

Mr B and I seemed to escape the worst of the weather today - I got caught in a small hail storm and Mr B played in a thunderstorm but thankfully that was all. To be honest my first thought when I saw all the weather warnings around the place was 'I just don't have time for this today, I have baking to do!' Tomorrow I am entering two of my cakes and some jewellery in the Brighton Show. I have never entered my cooking in a show before and I'm not expecting to win anything, it's just something I have always wanted to do. So today I was busy making an orange cake and a chocolate cake with the hope that they will do me proud tomorrow! 

                                   

For my birthday a few months ago, Mr B brought me two fantastic cheese making kits. The first thing we attempted to make was a Farmhouse Cheddar. There are a few steps involved in making the cheese, but it's not hard, it's just time consuming and requires more patience then anything - we made this cheddar in mid-September and it's just ready to try now! The cheddar was actually ready to try last weekend, but Mr B and I have been dancing around it for the last week because whilst we were both excited, we were also terrified that when we cut it open it would be blue or that it would taste disgusting. Anyway, with all the talk of tornadoes and the fact that we were locked inside going crazy today, we decided to bite the bullet and try our cheese. I cut a small wedge out of the 1kg round of Cheddar (with my eyes closed....) and Mr B and I both had a small tentative nibble....our eyes widened and there was blissful silence as we scrambled around gathering biscuits and scoffing cheese - it was delicious! And it actually tasted like cheddar!! 

Let me show you some pictures of our cheese making journey! 

The cheese all made and ready to air on the bench for a few weeks.

Mr B coating the cheese in wax. 

6 weeks later.....the finished product! 

1kg of delicious, creamy, home made cheddar cheese! 

I still can't believe we made it ourselves!! At the moment we have some camembert ageing as well so fingers crossed that comes out just as good! 

Mrs B xx 

Waffles with Strawberries, Banana and Cream

On a Monday you need dessert. End of story. But dessert doesn't always have to consist of ice cream straight from the tub or indulgent chocolate puddings or decadent cheesecakes, dessert can consist of fruit and still be satisfying and delicious....don't believe me....check these waffles out and tell me I'm wrong. 

This recipe makes 2 of the waffles shown in the picture. 

.6 cup of plain flour
.6 tspn baking powder
1 tbspn caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
30g butter, melted
1/2 cup strawberries sliced
2 small bananas sliced
whipped cream

Pre-heat your waffle maker.

Combine the flour, baking powder and sugar in a mixing bowl.

Stir through the egg, milk and melted butter.

Pour half of the mixture into your waffle maker, close the lid and cook for 4-5 mins or until golden.

Repeat with remaining mixture.

Serve topped with strawberries, banana and whipped cream.

I just adore banana and whipped cream and with the addition of strawberries and a freshly cooked golden waffle, it is the perfect dessert. I also love that it's a lovely light way to end a meal, plus it looks really specky so it makes you feel like you are indulging in a decadent dessert without leaving you with that heavy 'oh i've over eaten' feeling!

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx

Strawberry Cheesecake Slice

This weekend Mr B and I discovered 'Click and Collect' groceries which basically is where we can do our groceries online and collect them the next day at no extra cost! Every weekend I get increasingly frustrated at the amount of time it takes to do the shopping list, go to the supermarket, pick everything up, come home and unpack, but I did have some concerns regarding the freshness and quality of the goods we could receive, so on Thursday night, Mr B and I sat down and did our order online and when we rocked up at the supermarket after work on Friday, there were our groceries all ready to go! We were really impressed, the fruit and vegies were all good quality and everything was well packed, plus it has made such a HUGE difference to our weekend! We have had so much extra time which equals lots less stress and lots more quality time. It has been fantastic!

And to celebrate, I made Mr B one of his favourite snacks for his lunches this week.....Strawberry Cheesecake Slice!

You will need

1 packet of Lattice Biscuits
125g of cream cheese
125g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 tbspns strawberry jam
2 tspns gelatine
1 tspn vanilla essence

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, sugar and butter. Beat until smooth, creamy and pale.

Dissolve the gelatine in 1/4 cup of hot water and add to the cream cheese mixture with the strawberry jam and vanilla. Beat until thick and creamy.

Line a baking dish with baking paper and then layer half of your lattice biscuits, shiny side down, in the dish.

Spoon the cheesecake mixture over the top of the biscuits and smooth with the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Top with the remaining biscuits and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Cut into squares and serve!

Anyway, I best be off, I have Apple Pikelets cooking away and I need to get ready because tonight Mr B and I are kicking off a month of celebrations for Mr B's birthday (against Mr B's will, but I love any excuse to celebrate!). We are heading out to dinner and then to a Johnny Cash Tribute Show so it should be a really good night....not to sure how we will go at work tomorrow, but we will worry about that later!

Mrs B xx

Nutella Stuffed Pikelets

I have been promising Mr B I would make him these Nutella Stuffed Pikelets for weeks now and over the weekend I finally got around to making them. I always see things I want to make so I say to Mr B 'Oh how about this weekend I make this for your lunches?' and he gets all excited and in the meantime I've seen a bazillion other things I want to make and well sometimes the things I promised to make this weekend, don't get made for like quite a few weekends! Anyway, I now have one very happy husband which equals peace and quiet which equals one very happy wife!

For these Nutella Stuffed Pikelets you will need:

1 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 tspn bicarb soda
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tspn white vinegar
15g butter, melted
Nutella

Place the flour, sugar and bicarb soda into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the egg, milk and vinegar and butter. Stir, or beat using an electric mixer, until smooth.

Now here is where I use my pancake maker, but I imagine it's not too different to using a fry pan heated to medium heat and lightly greased with butter.

Drop tablespoons of batter into the frypan (or pancake maker!). When bubbles start to appear, place a teaspoon of nutella in the centre of each pikelet and top with a tablespoon of batter, ensuring nutella is totally covered. Carefully flip pikelets over. They should only need another minute or so and they will be done! Repeat with remaining mixture and nutella.

This recipe makes around 15-20 pikelets depending on the size you make them and how much batter you eat in the process!

These are great freshly cooked when the nutella centre is all gooey and warm, but they are also great cold which makes them fantastic lunch boxes treats!

Mrs B xx

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

It's a sad afternoon here in the B house....we have just come to the end of 4 lovely days off and whilst this morning we woke up feeling like we had definitely had more then the normal 2 days off, it was over all too quickly, and here we are, Sunday evening with work in the morning....massive thumbs down to that!

So before I disappear into Sunday night misery, let's talk about how Mr B and I spent our 4 days off.

On Thursday Mr B did some work outside while I stayed inside and had a craft day. I think I have told you all before that I make my own jewellery and I also sell it too. Anyway recently I was looking for a new way to present my items and then I remembered my old stamping kit! When I was younger my Mum and I got right into stamping and we had all the gadgets and the ink pads and the embossing powders and we used to always make our own Christmas cards and Birthday cards and it was so much fun. I really enjoyed getting back into it and I am so happy with the outcome. Here is a pair of earrings that I made on one of my new backing cards....

Then on Friday Mr B and I went shopping for some furniture to go in our new pergola, we have our eye on a wine barrel for the table, but we can't find any barstools to go with it - everywhere expects you to buy the stools as part of a set with a matching table, but we will keep looking. We also caught up with our friends and their beautiful baby for lunch, I got my nails done, Mr B got a tetanus shot, we had a nanna nap and followed our tradition of watching the long weekend fireworks.

On Saturday Mr B did some more work outside and I tackled my To-Do list (damn that To-Do list!). It started with a visit to Mum and Dad who had just returned home from a week away and boy was it good to see them! Next stop was the grocery shop, oh how I hate grocery shopping, the supermarket is like a big black hole, you walk in and rush around and you walk out loaded up to the eyeballs with heavy bags and all of a sudden an hour has gone by! Then by the time you get home and unload, it turns into a half day job! Anyway, my next stop was right down in town - I was headed to the local craft superstore to check out their range of stamping stuff. After my little play around the other day I was keen to get back into it. As it turns out, the world of stamping has jumped ahead in leaps and bounds and there were little tiny thin adhesive stamps that you stuck onto big clear blocks to use and to be honest I just wanted some tried and true wooden stamps. I did leave with plenty of ideas though.

My next stop was a local organic health food store that I have been dying to spend some time exploring. Oh my goodness how much fun did I have. I have had a hankering for muesli lately, but not your regular supermarket muesli, I wanted specific things in it, like banana and coconut and big juicy sultanas and I didn't want 'weird' stuff in it, like paw-paw - I have issues with dried glace style fruit in my muesli. I did a couple of laps of the store just to get a feel for everything and then I grabbed my basket and loaded it with all the goodies I could find. Did I mention the peanut butter?? I have always wanted to make my own peanut butter and with the peanut butter hating Mr B nowhere to be seen, I pounced on the machine and added some freshly made crunchy peanut butter to my basket too! Now I just have to wait until next weekend to actually try my muesli creation.....

Last night Mr B had a craving for pizza so we descended on Pizza Capers and managed to demolish 3 delicious pizzas -all of which, totally unintentionally, had potato on them.....chicken and potato, potato and bacon, potato, rosemary and beef.....hello potato pizza heaven. Then we waddled our way to the movies and watched Frankenweenie 3D, Mr B has been dying to see it and frankly if it stops him walking around saying 'Frankenweenie!' all the time, then I'm willing to give it a go, plus it was a Tim Burton film and you generally can't go wrong there!

And today - the last day of our 4 days off, and the first day of sunshine so it was time to get out and make the most of it! After our usual Sunday morning Egg and Bacon breakfast, we jumped on the bikes and hit the road. The last time we went for a ride it was super windy and I got blown around all over the show which led to me totally freaking out and bursting into tears....I have been really hesitant about getting back on the bike, but I knew the longer I left it, the harder it would be. Mr B and I had such a lovely ride, the sun was shining, the road was quiet and to top it all off we stopped up at Meadowbank Dam for a laze around in the sunshine.

Do you know what would have made that laze around in the sunshine absolutely perfect? Obviously, it was sunny and warm and I had my gorgeous Mr B there with me....but some cookies and cream cheesecake would have just topped it off nicely! Mr B and I have demolished this cheesecake for dessert over the last week and to be honest, this is not a Mrs B creation, this one was all Mr B's doing! If you want to whip one of these babies up for yourself, here's how it's done....

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake (Updated November 2013)

3 x 150g pkts Oreo Cookies (I used 2 x chocolate and 1 x classic)
50g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 tspn gelatin, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
2 tbspn lemon juice
1 cup thickened cream

Place 1 pkt of the oreos into the bowl of a food processor and process until they are down to fine crumbs.

Add the melted butter and mix well. Press the mixture into the base of a lined 20cm springform pan and place in the fridge.

Place the remaining biscuits into the food processor and process so that they are broken up into small chunks, but not to the point where they are crumbs, you want chunks of biscuit in your cheesecake!

Whip the cream and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the lemon juice and gelatin and beat until just combined. Gently fold through the whipped cream.

Stir through the cookie chunks and pour the filling into the prepared crust. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until set.

Now when we made this cheesecake we thought 'well you know it's not huge, but if we get 2-3 nights out of it that will be great.' 5 nights later we are still going!! I made some lindt chocolate whipped cream to go with it and it was superb.

Well there is no avoiding it...time for lasagne, followed by pancakes....ice cream....bed!!

Mrs B xx

The Best Chocolate Cake....

I know I just made a big call, like a huge big call....but I have struggled to find a really nice moist chocolate cake recipe for years and I finally have it! 

This recipe makes 2 loaf size cakes and it is moist, chocolatey, keeps amazingly well and....

.....is packed full of beetroot! Yes I said beetroot.

 Beetroot Beetroot Beetroot! 

And before you get all ewwww beetroot in chocolate cake on me....I promise you this cake does not taste like beetroot, there are no big chunks of it and if I didn't tell you (or you didn't make it yourself!) you wouldn't even know it was there! 

You're intrigued now aren't you? You have no choice but to try it for yourself. Believe me, I know because that's what happened to me and I'm so glad it did! 

Here's how you do it....

Beetroot Chocolate Cake

900g tin of beetroot, drained and pureed
2.5 cups of plain flour
2 tspns of bicarb soda
1.5 cups of vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tspns of vanilla essence
2 cups of caster sugar
1/2 - 3/4 cup of cocoa

Pre-heat oven to 180C and grease and line 2 loaf tins.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, eggs, oil and essence until well combined. 

Add the flour, bicarb, cocoa and beetroot puree. Beat until everything is combined and smooth. 

Pour into your prepared loaf tins and bake for 45-50 mins or until the cakes bounce back when touched or a skewer inserted comes out clean....whichever your preferred method is!

Now when I made this, we ate the first one the very next day with whipped cream and it was off the charts awesome. And today as I sat down to write this post, I had a slice of the other one, straight out of the fridge, 4 days old.....still freakin' amazing and not even a hint of drying out. I am in love (and getting one of my daily serves of vegies through chocolate cake!!) 

Mrs B xx