tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50030439655787453982024-02-19T08:08:45.097-08:00TV and CookiesCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-84591361812123473102021-05-19T00:11:00.004-07:002021-05-19T00:11:49.083-07:00Protein Cheesecake for every weeknight dessert <p> I've been making this recipe for a while, think 3-4 years in various iterations and adapted it a number of times. This is my favourite, and my husband's favourite, version to date. Previous versions were higher in protein and lower in fat but honestly these changes effect the taste so significantly that I don't consider them worth it but I will highlight them below.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reason I am posting this is because I recently watched a fantastic Cupcake Jemma New York cheesecake. Now that video was great, the recipe was more than likely a wonderful representation of a genuine New York cheesecake and I'm sure it's delicious. Thing is, is it THAT delicious? The cheesecake part includes full fat cream cheese, sour cream, double cream and a bunch sugar. Now look, I've made plenty of traditional cheesecakes and I am not shaming calorie dense foods. I am the first person to eat sweets, chocolate, dessert, icecreams etc. I love it all!! However when you taste this protein cheesecake you will see This. Is. Delicious!!!! It is really delicious, properly delicious. To me it tastes like normal cheesecake and when you compare the ingredients to more traditional cheesecake and definitely to New York cheesecake you will see that it offers a little more nutritional bang for your calorie buck and to me a dessert that fully tastes like dessert but nourishes my body is the actual dream. Now let's be clear this is not as nourishing as idk a chicken salad with a variety of vegetables and grains but I'm not comparing it to that. This is a dessert that builds muscles and that's frickin awesome in my book.</p><p><br /></p><p>So let's get started, here's what you'll need.</p><p>1 x 180g lowest fat philadelphia cream cheese </p><p>1 x 180g pack full fat philadelphia cream cheese</p><p>1 500g tub 0% fage Greek yoghurt</p><p>2 full eggs and one egg yolk</p><p>1 tbsp vanilla paste</p><p>1 scoop whey protein powder (flavour of choice) (optional)</p><p>1/2 tsp salt</p><p>Optional 2 tbsp sugar</p><p>1 x 250g packet of lower fat digestive biscuits</p><p>3 tbsp or more to taste butter</p><p>Substitutions- you can sub out the full fat cream cheese for all low fat</p><p>You can use mostly egg whites n maybe one full egg</p><p>You can either completely take out the biscuit bases or substitute it with less or another option</p><p>I've tried any and all of these changes over the years and they work fine but every change will impact texture and taste and as an mentioned I don't think it's worth it. This is, for me anyway, the best balance of form and function. </p><p>Final you can add more sugar, no sugar or sweetener. Do this to taste. Another good option is a whey powder with sweetener in it.</p><p>How do we do this -</p><p>1.Crush the biscuits into crumbs </p><p>2. Melt the butter</p><p>3. Mix the 2 together. The biscuits should look sandy but not wet. They don't stick together very much but the additional moisture from the cheesecake will help bind this.</p><p>4. Line an 8x8" or 9x9" square tin with greaseproof paper. Then pour your biscuit crumbs on the bottom and push them flat.</p><p>5. Put in the oven at 160'C for 15 minutes. Take out and let cool. </p><p>6. Using a whisk gently beat the cream cheeses together. We're not looking to incorporate air but just to mix thoroughly and loosen it up. </p><p>7. Add the yoghurt and beat </p><p>8. Add the vanilla, salt, sugar and beat</p><p>9. Add protein powder and beat. If you want to now is a great time to taste and see if you need this sweeter.</p><p>10. Add the eggs and beat.</p><p>11. Pour on top of the biscuit base. Smooth out and put into the oven. Cook on 160 for 40 minutes but keep an eye on it. You're looking for it to be a little bit jiggly but firm on the sides and like firm jelly in the middle. </p><p>Take it out of the oven and let it cool on the counter and then chill in the fridge. This is at least a 10-12 hour process I'm afraid. Although I always take a sneaky taste straight out of the oven. </p><p>At that's it. Then just enjoy, reap the benefits of extra protein and thank me later. 😄</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-24353771286489513172018-10-07T02:51:00.003-07:002018-10-07T02:51:40.865-07:00Honeymoon first Stops: Boston and Las Vegas We left London on A Saturday afternoon and flew to Boston, arriving in at 7.30pm Boston time. We somewhat regretted flying from London when we saw the queue for customs, it was approx 45 minutes long and poor hubby got into some trouble over some apples that I had left in the bag. However after a minor detour to US agricultural control we were on the road to Coolidge Corner.<br />
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The first night we had just enough time to check-in, dump our bags and explore the immediate area s little bit before bed. We grabbed a quick dinner and settled in for the night. Our B&B was a beautiful old house behind the main street in Coolidge Corner. It was decorated and steeped in the history of the building including old family photos from the early 20th century in a super old--fashioned library. It was extremely welcoming and friendly with a family feel.<br />
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The next morning we had breakfast in the B&B, they have a family table set up where guests help themselves to a variety of breakfast foods (eggs, cereal, yoghurt, fruit) from the centre of the table. From there we set off into Boston. First stop of the day had to be the local Trader Joe's (fun-fact - this is the first trader joes I ever went to, 14 years ago, aswell).<br />
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We then headed over to Harvard to explore this esteemed college. The campus reminded us so much of Trinity college in Dublin and it also reminded me a lot of Yale. I guess the Ivy-leagues have a very similar aesthetic but we were duly impressed with the beautiful buildings and the manicured grounds. From there we went to MIT, when I briefly lived in Boston I trained with the MIT TKD club and so it was so much fun to go back to those places and explore the college in more depth with Brian. We both picked up MIT apparel, which I wished I had done back in 04 and will treasure now.<br />
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We then headed into town proper and spent some time exploring the city, I showed Brian the shops of Newbury Street and we found a new shop, Johnny Cupcakes with a really cool oven shaped door. Unfortunately the shop contained no actual cupcakes and although the merch was cool, my deep disappointment at the lack of cupcakes prevented me from buying anything at all.<br />
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We also explored the park, where we stumbled upon a legalized weed festival and definitely left with a contact high and did the classic thing of going to Cheers. We went to a delicious restaurant that night with my Uncle and his partner - 75 Chestnut which was such a lovely chance to catch up with them.<br />
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The next day we walked across the city to go to my (and Nelly's) old place of work - The New England Aquarium. Pretty much nothing has changed so it was a really fun step into the past. Brian also loved the many penguin exhibits.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy is actually from Toronto Airport but seemed appropriate here</td></tr>
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Then we took a flight that night to Las Vegas, with a fleeting panicked (15 minutes from plane to plane) change over in Philly. We landed at 11.30pm local time and just about managed to get ourselves to the Hotel - the Luxor. We decided to stay one night in the Luxor and the next in the Cosmopolitan. We really wanted to experience what it is like to stay in that pyramid and it did not disappoint - You can see out the side of your corridor down into the pyramid below, it's actually quite dizzying! Las Vegas was exactly as I remember, crazy expensive and bizarrely disconnected from any sense of time or normal reality. This may sound like a bad thing but I find it to be a really unique experience that seems to mirror back whatever the visitor puts into it.<br />
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Our first day in Vegas we hit the gym and then hit up Urban Toms - Our favourite breakfast spot in Las Vegas!! The omelettes and breakfast burritos there are fantastic, there's decent coffee and really lovely servers. From there it was a whistle tour of some of our previous spots and then we picked up a car and moved over to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. This is where we got engaged in 2016 and we were so excited to get back and try out the Wicked Spoon Restaurant which we hadn't been able to in 2016. There was a huge selection of foods with exciting ingredients like bone marrow and wild boar, as well as some gluten free and vegan cake options so something for everyone.<br />
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Vegas is full of incredible places to eat and as well as the wicked Spoon our hotel also happened to have a new addition of a Momofuko and Milk Bar. I was absolutely delighted. I had recently watched the chef's table with Milk Bar and my brother had convinced me to watch Ugly Delicious in preparation for our adventure. So it was fate..... We got a whole buncha cookies from milk bar, including the famous compost cookie, which I found to be....okay but I didn't love. I think it was the crisps that threw me off but I am very very glad I tried it.<br />
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We also checked out Fremont Street which we had missed in 2016. There we saw some of the older casinos and the zipline. One consideration in both these locations was the heat. Boston seemed to be getting an indian summer on the weekend we were there. The sun was backing down and temperatures were easily in the low to mid 30s C. Vegas was even hotter it was 38-40C while we were there and the sun was scalding hot on the skin. Las Vegas is so air-conditioned in the hotels that it created a really unusual experience of flipping between too cold and far too hot in the split second of walking outside. However walking down the street the city had lamp-posts that sprayed mist into the air to keep us all from drying out completely. It was such a pleasant experience in that heat.<br />
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<span class="m_5436351499700688963gmail-s1" style="font-kerning: none;">We
felt particularly sorry for the street performers, out there all day!
Finally we also went to the Bellagio, which I somehow managed to miss
the first time around. There were saw an absolutely incredible Fall
(autumn) flower exhibit, a Christmas shop, a chocolate fountain as tall
as the ceiling and a little robot that delivers items from the shop to
around the hotel.</span><br />
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<br />
<span class="m_5436351499700688963gmail-s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> The last thing I did that I had missed the first time
was that I gambled. I choose one of those slot machines with the giant
red handles on the side, I immediately doubled my money (1 dollar to 2)
and then cashed out while I was ahead - doubling my money in Vegas baby ;
) </span>
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<div class="m_5436351499700688963gmail-p1" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span class="m_5436351499700688963gmail-s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_5436351499700688963gmail-s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I
will leave it there for now but return soon with more from our trip to
Los Angeles and the start of our roadtrip experience in America!</span></span></div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-9452277527506634582018-08-19T06:29:00.000-07:002018-08-19T06:29:00.912-07:00Honeymoon PlansHello again,<br />
<br />
So we have something kind of interesting planned soon. Myself and my husband are headed to America on a roadtrippin' adventure. We have decided to document the whole thing here to share with friends and family who have so kindly contributed in so many lovely ways, and also anyone else who might just be interested (I read and am reading a whole bunch of blog preparing for this).<br />
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It will also <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">definitely</b> be a trip involving lots of exciting food exploration for us and so I think it will add some interesting foodie content on here and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tvancookies/">instagram</a>, if that's your preferred content.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjbQMCY7_WG-DyqBHCa7wUrnuVao3SVzZZMUXnK3qLijZ_X4uayOivmyIEy02F9C7cuFC_iq1lcm1f0kVm_Gcga3yGAjeSY1fnJXpd08uJrOZ7WqZsRFpKWtsy6p1a2P2Q-P85j9c0Ec/s1600/rv+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="700" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjbQMCY7_WG-DyqBHCa7wUrnuVao3SVzZZMUXnK3qLijZ_X4uayOivmyIEy02F9C7cuFC_iq1lcm1f0kVm_Gcga3yGAjeSY1fnJXpd08uJrOZ7WqZsRFpKWtsy6p1a2P2Q-P85j9c0Ec/s640/rv+photo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from <a href="https://www.vacation-lists.com/rv-packing-list.html">Savvy travel</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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So I thought this might be a fun preparation post to give some details ahead of time.<br />
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We head off mid September and start in Boston. We spend a few days there and then fly to Las Vegas, where we got engaged. We spend a few days there, where we intend to hit Fremont Street as we missed it last time and the Neon graveyard cos it sounds so cool. Then we pick up a car and drive to Los Angeles. We are visiting family in Los Angeles and really really excited to see them there. We stay in Los Angeles for a few days, where I am also hoping to tour the Warner Brothers Studio and see where they filmed the Gilmore girls (Eeeeeeeeeeeee!).<br />
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In Los Angeles we are renting an RV, a huge RV!! We will then drive the RV up through California, stopping off in Sequoia and Yosemite . In Napa we are staying in a beautiful hotel for a night and we plan to do a few sneaky vineyard tours and drink a glass or three of wine....<br />
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Then it's on to the north California coastline and up into Oregon. We have some further stops planned in Oregon, definitely staying a night in Portland, to rent some bikes and hit up some craft breweries, and then up to Seattle.<br />
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In Seattle, we finally bid farewell to our (hopefully) trusty RV, and stay in a hotel again. We plan on touring Seattle and seeing the original Starbucks amongst other things.<br />
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Then we board a train to Canada!!<br />
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We have chosen the awesome looking Cascades train that goes up the coast and includes beautiful large windows with lots and lots to see. We will celebrate our one year anniversary as a married couple with a drink and an incredible view. We disembark in Vancouver and then our Canadian adventure begins.<br />
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We are planning on hitting more exciting wilderness with a tour of Whistler and Garibaldi.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiiRBTmTCjUiPdSqbDaCF9SE5_3kJnyUUkDenLH-4puadfXEthOGfkAXnErTFYIKRYb7JPh35zftejo0ptdqqv8tu_ttjR-ZB0bnk6L81r1wokcwMADmhTW6WA3y25hFhrB06CH9zAmE/s1600/Garibaldi-lake-mouny-price-bc-canada_600x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="578" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiiRBTmTCjUiPdSqbDaCF9SE5_3kJnyUUkDenLH-4puadfXEthOGfkAXnErTFYIKRYb7JPh35zftejo0ptdqqv8tu_ttjR-ZB0bnk6L81r1wokcwMADmhTW6WA3y25hFhrB06CH9zAmE/s640/Garibaldi-lake-mouny-price-bc-canada_600x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We are also really really hoping to see some bears in Canada - from a safe distance of course. We also want to explore Vancouver and the city experience in Canada.<br />
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Then after all the fun we will fly home, happy and tired but probably already planning our next adventures to Canada and Alaska.<br />
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As some of you are aware we had originally wanted to make it to Alaska on this trip. However, we could only take so much time off work, and after a huge amount of careful consideration we decided that pushing ourselves to make it to Alaska would probably end up reducing the time we had to appreciate all the places on the way. So we will make it to Alaska, no doubt about that, but just not this trip!<br />
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So that's our honeymoon. We are extremely excited now, doing lots of prep work and walking training, as you can tell we will be doing a lot of hiking on this trip. As mentioned at the start of this post. We have made the decision to document our experience on here. I cannot promise daily updates, particularly as we are staying in an RV in national parks for a good chunk of time and there will be no wifi there. That said we will be taking lots of photos so we will plan to update on here every few days and update instagram more regularly. So if you have any interest in following us on our American and Canadian adventure, check back here for more. See you soon =)Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-1554774164215504112017-05-15T01:00:00.000-07:002017-05-15T04:27:59.758-07:00So.........that went well......but I'm back with a bang!At the start of the year I said that I would try to post more regularly and......yeah....that didn't happen =/<br />
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Finishing this doctorate and wedding planning, well my excuses are endless but the reality of trying to blog while also writing and working on a million other things was something that I did not anticipate.<br />
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So I will catch you up. In the last few months I got my Dr, have travelled to Austria, Switzerland, sunny southampton (to buy a wedding dress) and have been slowly but steadily ticking off items on my wedding to-do list.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tUe3xXQDPfFbCz4m3BMUk06eZQ5sm2zpOvakeL5kA4_UhmGUbHQyEfNAzBbTs2cDpxWH67EUgq68q1FaXK8jWP7OqjFMNi-j1IwwQLkk6Vw3XWH-YlkYbk7D0loJgbH4-YCyJgQE2yU/s1600/IMG_20170309_101854707_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tUe3xXQDPfFbCz4m3BMUk06eZQ5sm2zpOvakeL5kA4_UhmGUbHQyEfNAzBbTs2cDpxWH67EUgq68q1FaXK8jWP7OqjFMNi-j1IwwQLkk6Vw3XWH-YlkYbk7D0loJgbH4-YCyJgQE2yU/s400/IMG_20170309_101854707_HDR.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A beautiful arch at our venue</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53zySZq6LPieBL1ieB3ZVHk5GGcdcxMyr_z1xEjUduCyRmom_B1DzrzBry5o-EjUCQixaXxI3SZ5mVYRQT_NJckp2VA1M3QqQAlsgBirLFyqUbIoTFrRpyrV5SSiv58jbYFV8AZdhWyw/s1600/IMG_20170323_143730548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53zySZq6LPieBL1ieB3ZVHk5GGcdcxMyr_z1xEjUduCyRmom_B1DzrzBry5o-EjUCQixaXxI3SZ5mVYRQT_NJckp2VA1M3QqQAlsgBirLFyqUbIoTFrRpyrV5SSiv58jbYFV8AZdhWyw/s640/IMG_20170323_143730548.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out those Austrian mountains</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ieq7L7SNWM0LeH0dU4wR4tKRJ1gEbWFf7EOr4FvHxB5LGdFpUazyEyNxNVtk1L980nHgMsajas3w6YUcZUT0T7a1bm0y_aF0Vf8SenfvYi-JyXf8ALaT3j-JfuFkiusMQBBHnFRGnjc/s1600/IMG_20170306_143935780_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ieq7L7SNWM0LeH0dU4wR4tKRJ1gEbWFf7EOr4FvHxB5LGdFpUazyEyNxNVtk1L980nHgMsajas3w6YUcZUT0T7a1bm0y_aF0Vf8SenfvYi-JyXf8ALaT3j-JfuFkiusMQBBHnFRGnjc/s400/IMG_20170306_143935780_HDR.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No-one tells you flowers cost this much</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd0orTgjv9U2JCyYyzVTzerwMclzGU5uvrM8Lt1hXriMV3rVR_VqCCXGNsthsVfuqrL2DBGHiNlHGgH410U7A_8qAvV-61sy0v2d7gizDeVE1Axq_7rXT8lz4hX-HloX5HAa7PWIm7Vg8/s1600/Save+the+date+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd0orTgjv9U2JCyYyzVTzerwMclzGU5uvrM8Lt1hXriMV3rVR_VqCCXGNsthsVfuqrL2DBGHiNlHGgH410U7A_8qAvV-61sy0v2d7gizDeVE1Axq_7rXT8lz4hX-HloX5HAa7PWIm7Vg8/s640/Save+the+date+photo.jpg" width="368" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We took this photo for our stationary</td></tr>
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I've got a dress. He got a suit. We got a florist, a band, a DJ, a priest, and a cake plan, which brings us to this post. This weekend I decided to do a trial of one of my cake layers. I call it a ferroro rocher cake. What do you think?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eQSDJED873s6joJPTL6TTq5eGepYIpONxJtiK5X_Iip-Wxd3fUTO1MbLwEknqAprXH-3bP1cYS71ceYKuXOGXFAHXOTjHnxWrNombcsREyVA73QgVagqHN1jS8PALxtWlM-bfnnAZng/s1600/IMG_4953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eQSDJED873s6joJPTL6TTq5eGepYIpONxJtiK5X_Iip-Wxd3fUTO1MbLwEknqAprXH-3bP1cYS71ceYKuXOGXFAHXOTjHnxWrNombcsREyVA73QgVagqHN1jS8PALxtWlM-bfnnAZng/s640/IMG_4953.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This cake has three layers of hazelnut genoise sponge, doused with amaretto, separated by layers of hazelnut chocolate buttercream, and then smothered in hazelnut chocolate ganache!! It's a nightmare for nut allergies but it is a heavenly dream for everyone else.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-23NzZr3DNEH91q2eMTAMntAAjVM3V89a5znXHo7DnRKCbLTtWDCT181kKmS2hcvTPv0Az1CRxfW_ZQbdq4yYaJeIpOiReW7JYWaEi9m6fOIAbKnsnyU8i4AM9f7uvkX6g8QW2m_OpjU/s1600/IMG_4968.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-23NzZr3DNEH91q2eMTAMntAAjVM3V89a5znXHo7DnRKCbLTtWDCT181kKmS2hcvTPv0Az1CRxfW_ZQbdq4yYaJeIpOiReW7JYWaEi9m6fOIAbKnsnyU8i4AM9f7uvkX6g8QW2m_OpjU/s640/IMG_4968.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't you want a little bite?!</td></tr>
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So let me talk you through the process and I should start by acknowledging my inspiration for this came from <a href="https://www.gretchensbakery.com/hazelnut-cake-recipe/">Gretchen Bakery blog</a> and I directly used her recipe for the sponge but I made significant changes to the rest of the cake that she then created for her ferrero rocher cake.<br />
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So for the genoise sponge recipe visit the link above.<br />
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I made three layers of cake and then used an amaretto simple syrup on the layers for moisture<br />
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Then I went in with a hazelnut chocolate buttercream. Now I have seen a number of other bloggers, including Gretchen, make a nutella buttercream by mixing ordinary buttercream with nutella. For me this was too sweet and too pale so I developed my own.<br />
<br />
<u>Hazelnut Chocolate buttercream</u><br />
<br />
2 tbsp hazelnut butter<br />
100gr butter<br />
1 pinch of salt<br />
150g Icing sugar<br />
2 heaped teaspoons of nutella<br />
3 tbsp of unsweetened cocao powder<br />
1-2 tbsp milk until desired consistency<br />
<br />
1 - Beat together the butter and hazelnut butter with a pinch of salt (unnecessary if using salted <br />
butter)<br />
2 - Add the icing sugar slowly and continue to beat<br />
3 - Add nutella<br />
4 - Add cocao powder<br />
5 - Finally add milk until you have reached desired consistency<br />
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I then piped this onto my layers leaving a small amount of room at the edge<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2F3pD6iTl0Kkl35AmzupIP7omX2lNGoX-o-9JCvLCgDbmEznAJrAPvkODf7uwhBlrM2Vygc70hmEkAXZcLFRloICtz-AVLNJqIm8DvonXea3o2wuEmEwQ7V6MHE9iafefFM1qNufH3WY/s1600/IMG_4934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2F3pD6iTl0Kkl35AmzupIP7omX2lNGoX-o-9JCvLCgDbmEznAJrAPvkODf7uwhBlrM2Vygc70hmEkAXZcLFRloICtz-AVLNJqIm8DvonXea3o2wuEmEwQ7V6MHE9iafefFM1qNufH3WY/s640/IMG_4934.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see how dark it is<br />
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Then add your hazelnut ganache around the outside of the buttercream, ensuring there are no air pockets and add your next layers<br />
<br />
For this cake I wanted a slightly soft ganache that would be firm enough to stay in place so for a three layer 7" cake this is what I used -<br />
250g - Milk chocolate<br />
200g dark chocolate<br />
260ml single cream<br />
85g chopped, toasted and slightly caramelised hazelnut pieces<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgetOjrhuSUuhHr3NiIYKXIK-y-unT-fkBV5kVtDxg4JQkgnbaEkghLUeIp3KNzJc76gf1CvBHAua43QZrczAQDAd3PzbcpwDQjONtSr-NMBSZ3VsXhFaBaXDLrANI0kfqZMUkojgGGs/s1600/IMG_4935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgetOjrhuSUuhHr3NiIYKXIK-y-unT-fkBV5kVtDxg4JQkgnbaEkghLUeIp3KNzJc76gf1CvBHAua43QZrczAQDAd3PzbcpwDQjONtSr-NMBSZ3VsXhFaBaXDLrANI0kfqZMUkojgGGs/s640/IMG_4935.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here you can see the layer have all been added and I am about to frost with the ganache</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Finally frost the top and sides generously with the hazelnut ganache and chill until the ganache becomes firm. You should now have a cake that looks like a ferrero rocher and tastes like a hazelnut dream.<br />
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This is definitely a cake that can be prepared in advance as the overnight storage allows the genoise to soak up more of the flavour and moisture from the buttercream and ganache. I would highly recommend that you try this cake and my fiance has given it a two thumbs up so if you are attending our wedding then you very well might be trying this in a few months time.<br />
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For the moment I will leave you there and return soon with some other deliciousnessCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-63007675717855409692017-01-16T08:24:00.000-08:002017-01-16T08:53:42.248-08:00New Year, new attempt to post regularlyTo say that the past few months have been crazy would be an understatement along the lines of nothing of interest happened in 2016. I explored in a previous post the difficulty with finishing a doctorate and I noted then, as I note now, that if this was easy it wouldn't be such a high level of education. So there you go, it was hard, and unfortunately as you can plainly see it massively impacted my blogging. I say this every time I disappear but it never ceases to be true- I thought about the blog frequently and over Christmas I even took photos for blog posts. Unfortunately every Monday would come and go and the simple reality is this - when you spend all day, every day reading, writing and editing large quantities of work then more writing in the form of blogging is the last thing you want to do at the end of the day!<br />
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Now I managed to write during the day and write to relax during the majority of my doctorate but in the last 3 months I was forcing myself to start early and finish as late as possible (although not past 10pm cos I'm not the all-nighter type that I used to be) and it just left me completely spent. In fact, the blog was not the only thing that suffered. I realised belatedly over Christmas that I had, unknowingly, become something of a recluse! I was so excited to see my wonderful friends over the break and then when I did see them I struggled to find something interesting to say. Once we covered the topic of how my doctorate was coming (usually within 3 minutes because ultimately it's boring) then I had nothing else interesting to add. So sorry to any of my friends to whom I seemed weird, this year I want to talk much more and I swear I will be more normal....promise =)<br />
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Still new year, new attempt and I am back with a simple but delicious recipe for the new year. I have posted about this many times but I quite dislike this time of year. Mostly I dislike the shame and self-blame that everyone is expected to carry and that I obligingly carry because the Christmas extravagance always leaves me slightly softer than before. But nothing in the societal narrative allows for acceptance of the natural ups and downs of body mass and unfortunately I have yet to find a way to negotiate that body shaming narrative without translating it into a personal narrative of low self-compassion. Each year I respond to this in the same way and although it does little to address the central issue of absorbing the shame, I usually find a nice little recipe to show myself some delicious self-love without having to feel bad.<br />
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Just after Christmas I received a delicious tin of soft amaretti biscuits. I have had plenty of hard amaretti before and frankly I don't really like them too well but soft amaretti.......oh yum!!! Soft Amaretti are basically just almond paste biscuits and if you know me then you'll probably know that Christmas means almond paste for me. I devour the stuff, in marzipan bars, stollen, stollen, more stollen, all of the stollen! So yes it's not a huge surprise that I liked these biscuits but the surprise is that those soft amaretti biscuits that you see above - they have 6g protein, 3g carbs and only 2g sugar! So to say that these are new years food is an understatement too - in fact I have definitely found my new tradition!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that deliciousness!!</td></tr>
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So lets get straight into it....<br />
<br />
<u>Healthy Low Sugar, Low Carb Soft Amaretti</u><br />
<br />
330g ground almonds<br />
4 egg whites<br />
3 tbsp castor sugar<br />
1/2 tsp vanilla paste<br />
1/4 tsp salt<br />
2 tsp Amaretto alcohol<br />
<br />
1 - Preheat the oven to 180'. Beat together the egg whites and salt until light and fluffy<br />
<br />
2 - Slowly add the sugar a tablespoon at a time beating between additions<br />
<br />
3 - Add the vanilla paste and beat. At this point you will have a meringue like mixture<br />
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4 - Now fold in the ground almonds.<br />
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5 - Then add the amaretto and mix to fully combine.<br />
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6 - Roll into 1" balls and place on a lined baking sheet<br />
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7 - Bake for 15 minutes then allow to cool<br />
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These taste crazy good. When you remove them from the oven you will find that the outside is hard while the inside is soft. However if you put the biscuits in an air-tight container you will find that the outside will soften and then they are at peak perfection.<br />
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Nutritional Info - Batch makes 20 biscuits<br />
Each Biscuit<br />
120 Kcals<br />
6g Protein<br />
3g Carbs<br />
of which 2g of sugar<br />
9g healthy fats<br />
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I have found these to be the perfect substitute to other sweet treats. I have used them after the gym and particularly as a low carb, low sugar dessert!!<br />
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So if you like almonds I would highly recommend trying this recipe and you will not be sorry. I will be back next week with more deliciousness and hopefully a further review of Gilmore girls: A year in the life.<br />
<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-15773043380060474292016-11-28T11:56:00.002-08:002016-11-28T11:56:22.364-08:00Gilmore Girls- A Year in the Life: Winter ReviewWell it has arrived!!! The weekend we have all been waiting for.....Gilmore Girls weekend!!! I was a bit disappointed with myself, as I had hoped to be finished with my thesis draft in time to kick back and enjoy the weekend. Unfortunately that has not happened, what thesis related planning ever works out?! So I have spent the weekend working all day and then stopping at 9pm for some food and an episode of gilmore girls and when I say food.......<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think Lorelai would be proud of this set up</td></tr>
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So on Friday night I set up and watched the first episode of four; Winter. I had a lot of excitement but also a few concerns as in the last few days there were some scenes put out online to promote the release and they were.......quite cheesy! However I remained hopeful and entered into the episode with an open mind. Please forgive my writing if this becomes more stream of consciousness than literary critique because all I dop it write at the moment so I don't have the energy for....grammar ;)<br />
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Spoilers from here -<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
The show opens with a lovely shot of the town and then we find Lorelai in the gazebo. Rory walks up behind her and we get some classic quickfire banter that establishes that Rory is paying a flying visit to town before they go on a walk around the town. I enjoyed this, for the most part, my one criticism was the slight staged feeling.<br />
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Firstly, as always they are carrying empty coffee cups, then we see lots of shots of the town and gazebo but it feels slightly small and finally when we get a classic 'I smell snow!' then the snow starts immediately, which......okay they are making a joke that stars hollow is a town in a snow globe but....... previous instances of 'I smell snow!' resulted in a distinct feeling of Lorelai making something normal into something magical. Whereas this iteration felt like they were directly implying some form of magic, which....to my mind misses the point but perhaps others enjoyed this!<br />
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So the summary of what we learned in the first episode -<br />
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Relationships<br />
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Lorelai and luke are still together and living in Lorelai's house.<br />
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Rory is dating someone called Paul, who no-one seems to remember or care about. We also find out that Rory is casually seeing Logan in London and they have some sort of agreement about 'what happens in Vegas (the times they meet up) stays there.'<br />
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Emily is trying to come to terms with life without Richard, who died of a heart attack four month before we are joining them<br />
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Work -<br />
<br />
Lorelai is still owner and manager of the Dragon Fly with Michel. However Sookie appears to have taken an extended sebatical and is being temporarily replaced by pop-up restaurants<br />
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Rory has had some good success writing but is freelance and running around the world constantly seekign her next job - She just moved out of her Brooklyn apartment to focus on travelling for work<br />
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Luke - Stil owning and running luke's diner<br />
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Storylines<br />
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We were told that they would all be at a cross-roads and this is clear. Emily is facing life post-richard. Lorelai and Luke appear to be in a limbo of sorts ever since we left them, they still are not married, never had another kid and the ramifications of this appear to hit Lorelai after her father's death and a fight with Emily. Rory has just become essentially homeless and is chasing jobs around the globe with very limited success<br />
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My thoughts on Winter<br />
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I massively appreciate the reverance and significance that has been given to Richard's death in this episode. As a GG fan the death of Edward Herman in 2014 was hugely upsetting and I can only imagine what those who had worked with him experienced. Therefore the significance of this has not been lost in this iteration and it feels like Richard Gilmore is very present.<br />
Emily's breakdown is beautiful and hilarious. I love that she has taken in her maid's family and is willing to put up with all sorts of antics and communication difficulties in order to maintain the maid who must have been there when Richard was there and also to surround herself with people.<br />
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Lorelai's mistake on the night of the funeral, although shocking, is completely in character and is reminiscent of her reaction to his heart-attack in 'Forgiveness and Stuff,' from <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/gilmore-girls-remembering-repeating-and.html">season 1</a>. However the ramifications of insulting her father at his funeral is pretty severe and the fight between Emily and Lorelai is, in my humble opinion, very justified. It is one of the more difficult parts of Lorelai's character (who I should mention is still my favourite) that she has managed to spend her life prioritzing Rory and yet she remains somewhat selfish and no more than when in relationship with her parents. She still struggles to see past her own pain and her loss at not having had a closer relationship with her father. There were numerous examples from seasons 1-7 that Lorelai could have given as a fondest memory. That said, every example that comes to mind for me has a darker side as well - Richard kicks Christopher's parents out to defend Lorelai, then tells her that he is defending the gilmore name....<br />
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Rory's forgettable boyfriend is interesting. I posited in my previous review that commitment with a man would be an issue for Rory as she has never had to move past the oedipal issue. We see here that her behaviour towards men, has become increasingly irresponsible. She is 'dating,' one man for 2 years while sleeping with her ex-boyfriend in London. I suspect and hope that this will develop further into some sort of climactic realisation of her relational issues and possibly a break-through that could facilitate a more grown up relationship for Rory.<br />
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Finally Emily's break-down to the point of giving away her belongings, which leads up to her decision to enter therapy, at Lorelai's encouragement, was quite a touching moment and then lead to my favourite scene of the whole episode - Luke and Lorelai standing in the winter wonderland style square, Lorelai being swept away by the magic of snow and the approval of her mother and then agreeing to meet her mothers therapist. I love that Luke had to be the voice of reason and lead Lorelai to the realisation that "Oh crap, I'm going to therapy with my mother!!"<br />
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Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. There were moments when the illusion was broken slightly but it's also possible that I was looking for them and in my opinion there were far more moments that pulled me in and brought me back to the stars hollow that I loved than illusion breaking moments. At the end of episode one I was very excited to see how this story will develop and I will return with my review of episode two: Spring next week.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note - All images property of Netflix and Warner Brothers - duplicated here under fair use for review purposes</span><br />
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<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-32723245848061413492016-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:002016-11-21T00:00:16.480-08:00Doctoral study and SnacksI have been completely snowed under lately. I mentioned during the year last year that if it doesn't have to do with my doctorate then I struggled to think about it but I didn't realise how bad that was going to get. Now, one month out from my hand-in I am completely under-water. I'm working on this thing 7 days a week and the fact that I could work this weekend while watching television because the work I was doing was mindless admin type of stuff. It was a huge treat! So that gives you a flavour of where things are.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Video property of Sigur Ros</span><br />
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I'm not complaining however as I am feeling increasingly excited to see an end to all this and as I've been reminded several times - if getting a doctorate was easy, it wouldn't mean as much. So if and when I get this it will mean a helluva lot to me.<br />
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So I thought that I would bring you some of the interesting or delicious snacks that I have been enjoying. There are two options - the first is a bit more involved but can be put together in an hour and the second is super simple and can be completed within a 15 minute study break.<br />
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On Sunday night I burned out at 6pm and called it a night on the study. All day I had been craving tortilla chips but by 6pm the local shop was closed, because Britain, but my craving had to be satiated and I decided to make my own. This was no small undertaking as we didn't even have any tortillas. So these are completely made from scratch. The dough comes together in a few minutes and then needs to be rested. You may want to rush this but I would highly recommend it because once I rested the dough I choose to fold it over a few times and although this does not make for very soft tortillas it made for fantastic chips.<br />
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Handmade tortilla Chips<br />
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150g plain flour<br />
180g strong wholemeal flour<br />
3 tbsp golden flax seeds<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1 tsp baking powder<br />
2 tbsp olive oil and more for frying/baking + coconut oil<br />
230ml water<br />
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1. Mix together the flours, salt, baking powder and flax seeds<br />
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2. Add the olive oil and half the water and mix to cobine<br />
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3. Slowly add more water bit by bit until the dough is fully combined but not excessively wet.<br />
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4. Knead the dough for 5 minutes<br />
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5. Divide into 8 balls and allow to sit for 15 minutes<br />
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6. Fold in on itself a few times and then roll as flat as possible between two sheets of parchment.<br />
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7. Heat a frying pan or griddle with a very small amount of coconut or another high smoke point oil and then fry the tortillas for a few minutes on each side until browned in spots.<br />
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8. Allow to cool on a wire rack<br />
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9. Once cool, spray the tortillas with a drop of coconut or olive oil and spread it around so that each side has a very very small amount of oil on it. Then sprinkle with salt before slicing into triangles.<br />
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10. Bake on 180' for about 10 minutes until crisp.<br />
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11. Serve with vegetables and hummus<br />
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These tortilla chips were so so delicious. They are quite filling and so much better than any commercial brands I have had.<br />
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So the second snack is much easier and all you need is<br />
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200g nuts<br />
1/2 tsp cinnamon<br />
1/4 tsp all spice<br />
1/4 tsp nutmeg<br />
1 tsp agave nectar<br />
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1 - Preheat your oven to 180'<br />
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2 - Line a baking tray with tin foil<br />
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3 - Pour out the nuts and roast for 10 minutes<br />
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4 - As the nuts are baking mix together the agave nectar and spices in a large glass or metal bowl<br />
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5 - Pour the warm nuts into the bowl and mix until all the nuts are covered in a tiny amount of the mixture<br />
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6 - Pour back out onto the tin foil and allow to cool<br />
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These are so simple and so so delicious! Even if you don't make the tortilla chips, if you like nuts and you like spice then these are a must.<br />
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Now....back to the writing. Talk to you soonCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-78714056353011609802016-10-10T13:56:00.000-07:002016-10-10T13:56:00.584-07:00Apples and autumnWell autumn has finally arrived and the cold has come with it! I have written more than once about how much I love this time of year - autumn into winter! It starts with a little chill that gets colder and colder until large coats and thick scarves are fully acceptable and expected and that, my friend, is licence to walk around in a duvet all day!!<br />
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However we are not quite at that point yet, so for the moment I can just enjoy the chill in the air, an occasional scarf, which is my happy place, well one of them...my happiest place would be in my fiancé's arms standing beside a Christmas tree. Okay sorry, I am wandering off in a dream! From the time the leaves start to change I develop an obsession with apples so I decided it would be appropriate to dedicate a whole post to my seasonal favourite.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Property of Lipton</span></td></tr>
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The inspiration for this has actually been a loss. Every single autumn/winter winter, since about 2008, until this one I have been drinking the delicious and incredible Lipton warming Apple and Cinnamon Tea. This won't be news as I have blogged about it before <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/getting-into-holiday-spirit.html">here</a> but the loss of this consistent and warming tea has left me feeling at an enormous loss. I have tried every other apple tea available in the UK market right now and the only thing that comes close is Teapigs 'Apple and Cinnamon,' tea. However it's not as good, in my opinion, and at £4.15 for 15 teabags, well I hope sincerely that they bring out a 50 teabag box soon. However I have started a search to try to recreate this incredible tea myself and I will blog about it if I am anyway successful!<br />
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So you cannot think apple and autumn without thinking apple pie! This apple pie consists of a nutty pastry crust and a delicious apple and amaretto filling.<br />
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And finally I decided to make my delicious apple salted caramel cake into muffins and they turned out great! Granted they don't have much of the classic muffin format or puffy top but they are so soft and delicious on the inside that you will definitely forgive me. The recipe is <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/apple-and-salted-caramel-cake.html">here</a> but there are a few alterations. The original recipe calls for cake flour or make your own cake flour. But for these I wanted them to have slightly more structure so I replaced 1 tablespoon of the flour with corn flour but nothing more because too light is not great for muffins. Half of the mixture from my last post will make 12 muffins and I recommend that you fill them up to the brim for the full looking muffins you see below....<br />
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Inside they are fluffy and delicious with moisture and flavour from the apples and soft and delicious bits of cake between each piece of apple<br />
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They are not a health food but they are definitely full of autumn flavour and definitely good for the soul!!<br />
<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-41280868195785709222016-09-12T13:35:00.000-07:002016-09-12T13:44:10.431-07:00Lena Dunham, Girls and the Donald Trump of 'Feminism,'This is a really unusual post for me and for TVandCookies. However it is something I feel strongly about and therefore have decided to write about it. We will return to our regular scheduled light heartedness next week. So the internet has been lighting up lately with thoughts and anger towards first Odell Beckham Jr. and then subsequently towards Lena Dunham. Months ago I started working on a review of the show 'Girls,' and I really struggled with whether to post it because I try to avoid too much negativity. However I will sum it up here.<br />
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*Side-note: I am currently working on a slightly psychological review of the Gilmore Girls in which I draw on my psychologist side. However I AM NOT writing this in any psychological capacity. I have NEVER met, nor do I have any first hand information on Lena Dunham as a person or an individual therefore I am merely writing in my role as an occasional television critique about her writing in Girls and the cultural and social impact of the personality that she chooses to display to the world.<br />
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I feel like I should state from the outset that I am not a fan of 'Girls.' This is not something that I came to lightly. I definitely gave this show a good college try, watched most of season 1, parts of seasons 2 and 3. I also watched a good 2/3 of the 'Tiny Furniture,' Movie but that was all I could manage.<br />
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So what's the issue. To me this is the essential point of this post, because I think that this was the issue that led to the Odell Beckham Jr. situation, I think (I could be wrong) that the problem with Girls and Tiny Furniture and the celebrity personality of Lena Dunham is that she has no boundaries between what she thinks and what she puts out there!! Furthermore she seems to think that most of the thoughts she has are golden and deserve to be shared with the world. But here's the real kicker and essentially the part that moves it on from gossip/hate to something slightly bigger. We created this, I view Lena Dunham as something akin to a a slightly feminist Donald Trump.<br />
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We seem to be in an era of anti-expertism, where we have become highly suspicious of authority and expert knowledge. This is, in my humble opinion, a good and bad thing. I certainly believe in questioning 'accepted wisdom,' and particularly those who claim to have the 'truth,' but who are heavily influenced by commercial interests and reductionist philosophies. However in the face of all the uncertainty that comes from questioning established authority and expert knowledge there emerges a vacuum where people seek something certain or something to believe it.<br />
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Something that has emerged, unfortunately, is a desire to trust things that 'feel right,' or people who appear to speak in an honest way, by contrast to all those 'lying' experts. I consider this to be a major factor in the rise of D. Trump and also, I would argue, the popularity of Lena Dunham.<br />
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But the saddest part is that, I believe, that these individuals who 'speak their minds,' and are just being 'honest with what they see in the world,' are in fact appealing to some of the more crude and base elements of the human experience or reaction, without giving them due consideration. It is this consideration that should be the essence of the educated expert. It is not always, and often not. However this 'I speak my mind and just speak the truth,' is no closer to a certain reality and what I see in D.Trump and Lena Dunham is also a craving for attention and scandal. Then we feed it, because it's interesting, because it's shocking, because we love to see someone expressing things we may have thought (or not: case dependant) but would never say. I realize that I am feeding it by even giving it space here or because the same people who look at her or him might look at this post or that news show. It's a vicious circle.<br />
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Now she released an apology via her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ50WGnAZDk/?hl=en">instagram</a> and for that I must commend her. However I am left wondering if she would have had the reflection or the apologetic thoughts if the world had not turned against her?! What if people had continued to attack Odell Beckham Jr for doing nothing!? Now obviously there are differences, for one D.Trump would not apologise or have the level of self-reflection that Lena Dunham demonstrated. However I think we need to see these situations as a symptoms of a much bigger problem and look at the three fingers pointing at ourselves while we point a finger at her.Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-48265237462989283122016-08-29T00:01:00.003-07:002016-08-29T05:23:49.460-07:00Gilmore Girls: Remembering, repeating and Working through pt1I have been teasing about it for a while and now I shall tease no more. This week I am starting the first in a series of slightly psychological reviews of Gilmore Girls. Why slightly psychological; firstly there is no shortage of GG reviews, therefore it is necessary to take an angle, secondly as I am a psychologist and am completing my doctorate in psychology I don't think I could honestly claim to see it in another way.<br />
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You may note that it sounds like a heavy title and I suppose it is. If you are a psychologist you may recognise this as a reference to Freud's seminal paper. However if you are not a psychologist I encourage you to continue reading. I intent to take an only slightly psychological stance and will not be filling this review with psychologist specific references. Partially because I spend enough time doing that in my thesis and I honestly could not be bothered but also because I intend these reviews to be generally accessible. So I will keep my referencing of obscure terms to a minimum. My other intention is to put forward a number of reviews. I may break it down into multiple reviews. All building up to an episode by episode review of the new season in November.<br />
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Now as I am aware that not everyone who comes to this website loves Gilmore Girls so I intend to space these out over the next three months and each of the posts will come with a cookie recipe, because you know...TVandCookies.<br />
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So anyway here we go...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image property of Warner Brothers*</span></td></tr>
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In a recent round up of the best episodes of the Gilmore Girls on a popular website they said that you can skip season one all together. Well, I'm sorry but I firmly disagree. Season one is essential! It establishes the mood of the show and the foundational context of the opposing worlds of Stars Hollow versus "Hartford," (i.e. Emily and Richard's World, Chilton). I use invert commas here for a reason. I recently watched a video of a Gilmore Girls fan who pointed out some geographical inaccuracies with the show and made a point that the depiction of Hartford is quite inaccurate which gave me a smile. I actually got to visit Hartford in 2009 and I was bitterly disappointed to see that Hartford was nothing like the place they describe in Gilmore Girls, at all!!!<br />
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However I digress, Season one. So, for me, the most important episodes are the Pilot, Rory's Birthday parties, Rory's dance, Star-crossed lovers and Other Strangers, and Emily in Wonderland. I will go through each one and explain why.<br />
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<u>The Pilot </u>is amazing and introduces us to all the major players and contexts. The intro scene with Lorelai, Luke and then Rory sets the pace and tone for the whole show and demonstrates the incredible Sherman-Palladino story crafting skills. We meet all the major players; the aforementioned three, Sookie, Lane, Richard and Emily, and Dean. Then there are the references, you have to love the many, many references. My favourite mother daughter fantasy relationship is beautifully depicted. I know the word chemistry is generally saved for romantic couples but the natural and loving banter between Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel gives the impression of people who have known each other for years, I guess like mother and daughter/best friends! It's so comfortable and that entices us, the audience into this beautiful, relaxed environment and makes us want to visit again and again. Then the core conflict between Lorelai and her parent's is played out beautifully in the first Friday night dinner. The acting in this scene between Kelly Bishop and Lauren Graham is wonderful, of course,but the dynamics are much less subtle than they come to be. In many ways I enjoy this, it's over spilling of pent up emotions, it's tolerating that by all parties for a greater good.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image property of Warner Brothers*</span></td></tr>
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<u>Rory's Birthday Parties</u><br />
This episode starts with Friday night dinner and unlike the pilot shows us a glimpse of the hope behind the anger/hurt in the Lorelai- Emily relationship. We see Emily making efforts to connect and Lorelai getting excited by those efforts, responding in kind. This, for me,is essential GG viewing. People can be hurtful to each other for lots of reasons but hurting each other because you want to love each other, well that's the stuff of Shakespeare! The party that Emily throws is beautiful and it's clear what a huge amount of effort she has put in, however once the party starts (foreshadowed by the shopping trip) it is immediately clear that the party was thrown for Emily's fantasy grand-daughter and not necessarily the real Rory. I also love that we get to see more of Rory's character; her attempts to sublimate her needs for those of others and then the subsequent frustration and outburst. Rory gets a taste of Lorelai's life and we get to see the dynamic repeated with Emily and Rory with Lorelai putting her head out to change the dynamic this time, with positive consequences. Sidenote: if you want a laugh watch the random extras at Rory's second party!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNsWO1WtZ2zqtzr0jrlF-KW3iWd7yYE3j-Yjb40LzEGA7MiGp4hzCt_zgzd13Rl_naFoNGD2WPs_-SrnTftKA9vGS24UeBCaBwdwK1Cru0Cw1-D3jwRL7iuXveE-o2VRbcanVQN6rw6c/s1600/Rory%2527s+dance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNsWO1WtZ2zqtzr0jrlF-KW3iWd7yYE3j-Yjb40LzEGA7MiGp4hzCt_zgzd13Rl_naFoNGD2WPs_-SrnTftKA9vGS24UeBCaBwdwK1Cru0Cw1-D3jwRL7iuXveE-o2VRbcanVQN6rw6c/s400/Rory%2527s+dance.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image property of Warner Brothers*</span></td></tr>
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<u>Rory's Dance</u><br />
Oh this is another classic episode. We get to see more of Dean and we get to see a bit more of the elusive Christopher! We see one of the major introductions of the theme of separating Lorelai and Rory. Emily accuses Lorelai of influencing Rory too strongly and then we see Lorelai encouraging Rory to form her own opinion on dances. This is one of the things that I most admire about Lorelai and Rory's relationship. A single mother and daughter creates an interesting situation. There is no father here to create an oedipal triangle and Lorelai makes it crystal clear that her major priority is Rory. Therefore Lorelai must hold a third within herself (as many mothers do) but is particularly important for single mothers. We see Lorelai struggling to be greater than how she sees her own mother, as being trapped in the dynamic of their relationship, doomed to repeat the past in every interaction. It is Lorealai's desire, to give Rory the chances she didn't have, that pushes her to re-engage with her parents and the grandparent's desire, for a second chance to give Rory what Lorelai refused, that force them to stay in relationship with Lorelai. They each want what is best for Rory (which of course is subjective) but this shared interest connects them and creates space for relating and small incremental adaptations. This is interesting as their core conflict could have been seen previously as Emily and Richard want what is best for Lorelai and Lorelai wanting what is best for Lorelai but those things being diametrically opposed. Now in Rory they may meet half way, kind of...<br />
What we see in Rory's dance is a climactic effect of these various efforts. Lorelai and Emily are brought together by the dance and they dare to hope for mother daughter connection between them only for that to blow up in their faces when Rory's best interests are not met. The second this happens all of the pains and failures of the past come flooding back and we see the explosion that occurs in the kitchen and unfortunately Lorelai and Rory's relationship takes a blow from the flying debris. As you can tell, I kind of love this episode!!<br />
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So lets talk cookies<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZqKyxx3u7w-S_36EA2ZtAehXt0z6uwE1OWJU4j3jJva1RGINHHfPvYHWjIQMSRrzWJh1g6l1gTfpm0OE4NZFB3cZq6QOozy9_AtnRY4fCidpQccvy_QTNs8JSFMewyx4d4Gh4A7QTHM/s1600/IMG_4641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZqKyxx3u7w-S_36EA2ZtAehXt0z6uwE1OWJU4j3jJva1RGINHHfPvYHWjIQMSRrzWJh1g6l1gTfpm0OE4NZFB3cZq6QOozy9_AtnRY4fCidpQccvy_QTNs8JSFMewyx4d4Gh4A7QTHM/s640/IMG_4641.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Macadamia White Chocolate Cookies<br />
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The recipe for the cookie base was a trial of <a href="http://www.simmerandboyle.com/2016/08/best-ever-chocolate-chip-cookies.html">these by Simmer and Boyle.</a><br />
I was impressed but would make some small adjustments next time. I obviously went for white chocolate chunks and macadamia nuts in place of milk chocolate<br />
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Here's a couple of delicious pics<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGgAVv3tOP5KFESs3maSgRBtvsYR9YkB8AD_fJGYhzmd1mP4Oar_E8kh-wl4H4QGIuiN67FWNftWT1PPYQC6cs9eh7rTkYLsX-cN9MtdorJv5UbBZRt_pV3U9AZtooyunapJo4WJJfpE/s1600/IMG_4629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGgAVv3tOP5KFESs3maSgRBtvsYR9YkB8AD_fJGYhzmd1mP4Oar_E8kh-wl4H4QGIuiN67FWNftWT1PPYQC6cs9eh7rTkYLsX-cN9MtdorJv5UbBZRt_pV3U9AZtooyunapJo4WJJfpE/s640/IMG_4629.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieiCPDNOwr4LEcTxKfKmms8LtbHfpFK_x3JPlto_gP_ClSPp2ImCCIuii9Xv6Uf48HaC9HcgXELbiXM1fHYbu34ddvk-8pBgqPeXaHHdBVeI_7iNBzic_FieJPyT1Ey_W_C0gFh_sGj40/s1600/IMG_4633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieiCPDNOwr4LEcTxKfKmms8LtbHfpFK_x3JPlto_gP_ClSPp2ImCCIuii9Xv6Uf48HaC9HcgXELbiXM1fHYbu34ddvk-8pBgqPeXaHHdBVeI_7iNBzic_FieJPyT1Ey_W_C0gFh_sGj40/s640/IMG_4633.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And on with the review<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnX9MLtYCfkOvL9pqeJR4lhO-8uiqr4awSbX8lL-u_G5lxjOUvy-X-9GhkStjzA6nFnprWsM1mH2gpDo01mMuvsMVtgM_qg-XJ6PjAxut4L0wf97OSuf_ahAgoodlJ9URT5Gb2WIZJ5Ks/s1600/Star_crossed_lovers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnX9MLtYCfkOvL9pqeJR4lhO-8uiqr4awSbX8lL-u_G5lxjOUvy-X-9GhkStjzA6nFnprWsM1mH2gpDo01mMuvsMVtgM_qg-XJ6PjAxut4L0wf97OSuf_ahAgoodlJ9URT5Gb2WIZJ5Ks/s400/Star_crossed_lovers.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image property of Warner Brothers*</span></td></tr>
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<u>Star Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers</u><br />
This episode comes much later in the season and Rory and Dean are well established. The episode leads up to them going out to celebrate their 3 month anniversary. The episode focuses on love and we see Lorelai's frustration at being alone. We also see, in part, why Luke has not made a move with Lorelai, i.e. his history with Rachel. This concept is introduced in 'Concert, interrupted,' but now we meet the woman herself and see the dynamic in action. Now much of this episode seems less significant that the episodes above but I would argue that a subtle dynamic is building that comes to a head in the last few minutes of the show. (Spoilers to follow)<br />
Lorelai has forsaken her relationship with Max for the benefit of Rory, and Max, but mostly Rory. However now she is alone, while Rory has a boyfriend. We see from very early in the episode how Lorelai subtly dismisses and downplays the importance of the anniversary. She projects it onto Emily, of course, but I believe it belongs to her. Then comes the date and Rory is blown away with Dean's efforts, that all lead up to the gift of the car and the declaration of love. Now, this could easily have been anticipated. Dean has been telling Rory that he loved her since day one and Rory clearly has intense feelings for him. But as she sits there with the meatball for her mother I believe that Lorelai plays an enormous role in Rory's inability to say 'I love you,' back.<br />
As I mentioned above, Rory has not had a father in her life to separate her from her mother, or with whom Lorelai can model romantic relating. We see in 'Love and Snow and War,' that Lorelai has never introduced another man to Rory, which is something I massively applaud, it's undoubtedly difficult but has provided stability. However every positive has a shadow and the shadow here is that Lorelai has never modelled romance, nor has she ever let a man come between herself and Rory (the essence of the oedipal situation, not the incest part that people erroneously focus on). Therefore how is Rory to know what romantic love looks like, and furthermore how is Rory supposed to put a man between herself and Lorelai? This becomes particularly difficult within the context of the messages of hating love that Lorelai has been showing Rory for the whole episode. Therefore I believe this is an important episode because it shows the shadow side of the fantasy mother daughter relationship and I might go as far as to say that it foreshadows the eventual situation with Lorelai and Max. Eitherway, I suggest you watch it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image property of Warner Brothers*</span></td></tr>
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<u>Emily In Wonderland</u><br />
So finally we come to the fifth essential episode of season one. In this episode we see Rory bringing Emily further into Lorelai and Rory's Stars Hollow world. The themes are somewhat similar to those in 'Rory's Dance,' so I won't get too far into them. However I enjoy Rory's naivety about how easy it would be to introduce Emily to the world that Lorelai worked so hard to keep her out of. The emotional punch of seeing the shed that Lorelai chose over Emily's beautiful house, with all it's advantages, leaves no room for doubt about Lorelai's desire to separate from Emily and her whole world. She reacts in the way that becomes the typical of the negotiation of the new dynamic, by trying to pull Rory closer to her, while in turn taking a step away from Lorelai. I like this episode and this story-line particularly. For me it sets the adaptation that perpetuates the conflict between Lorelai and her parents while trying to maintain the Rory connection. However the fact that Rory is not an inanimate object and therefore has her own interests and concerns, well this puts a spanner in the strategies and keeps things very interesting. Rory's tendency to want to facilitate other's needs is useful in that it gives them the impression that she is more malleable than she really is and this gives a hope that keeps this strategy in play throughout several seasons.<br />
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So those are my favourite episodes and there significance in season 1. If you just want to know everything that happened, the actor that played Kirk has been making summary's that cover all the major plot points in 60 seconds that are quite fun, so I would recommend those also. Otherwise I will return soon will more season reviews. I hope that you enjoyed this, it was a bit more involved than some of my other television reviews and since Gilmore Girls is my favourite show, possibly ever...idk, there is a lot more that I could say but I am trying to keep it to the important bits. Anyway, enjoy and the cookies are awesome too so maybe you'd give them a try.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Warner Brother images used under fair use for the purposes of review</span>Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-25198863298694311182016-08-15T10:40:00.004-07:002016-08-16T01:08:56.309-07:00Coffee and Duolingo reminds me of Gilmore girlsThis week we had a really fun and impressive anniversary. My fiancé hit a one year streak on Duolingo!! That is one whole year without missing a single day! That is very impressive to me, I think the most I have managed is about 10 days, but then if you've been reading this blog for any amount of time then my constant efforts to work on consistency won't be a surprise!!<br />
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Anyway back to my partner, to celebrate we decided to do a cake and when I asked him he said 'Coffee!' which may have been more to do with him wanting a cup of coffee than any specific cake design concepts.But We figured out a way to give him both!<br />
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This cake was so much fun to make. It. COntains 3 separate. cakes. One 7" and two that are basically oversized muffins each approx 3" diameter. Then there's the frosting. I used 3 types, ganache, buttercream and marshmallow fluff .The ganache was a combination of whipped and fudgy ganache to give a woodgrain look. The outside of the.cups is butter cream and the foam on top is the fluff. After that I just added a tiny bit of fondant/flower paste for the handles and raised decorations and we were away!<br />
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The cake needed to be sturdy so I did a coffee pound cake. For future reference I would add a coffee syrup for texture and extra flavour. However I think this was still pretty delicious! Here's how I put it together, recipe at the end.<br />
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I divided the main cake and first filled with fudgy ganache<br />
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Then coated it in whipped ganache and smoothed it out<br />
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Then I split the mini cakes, filled them with ganache and added them to the top of the cake, Being careful to avoid crumbs!!<br />
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Then I added a top coating of ganache before frosting with buttercream. I piped a rim for the mugs from butter cream also. The butter cream was initially difficult to smooth so I got it as smooth as possible and then let it set up in the fridge before applying greaseproof paper and smoothing further.<br />
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The handles were a mixture of fondant and flower paste, as mentioned above. If these are not things you have lying around you could feasibly make a play dough from flour, water and food dye and leave it it dry in the oven or the sun. Just be sure that no-one tries to eat it!<br />
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Finally there was the issue of the froth/cream. For this I made a homemade marshmallow fluffy using marshmallows and some agave nectar. It worked beautifully imho. However word to the wise- this stuff is Hella sticky, so keep some tools and a food scissors in a bath of hot water nearby while applying.<br />
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And that's it! Simples! Not really....but fun!<br />
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<b><u>Coffee Cake Recipe</u></b><br />
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220g Butter<br />
220g Sugar<br />
280g Plain flour<br />
1 tsp baking powder<br />
1 tsp baking soda<br />
4 eggs<br />
1 tsp vanilla extract<br />
2 tbsp instant coffee + 2 tbsp boiling water<br />
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<u>Ganache</u><br />
285g Dark Chocolate<br />
285/1 container double cream<br />
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<u>Buttercream</u><br />
100g unsalted butter<br />
200g Icing sugar<br />
1 tbsp Milk<br />
Black food colouring<br />
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<u>Marshmallow fluff</u><br />
3 jumbo marshmallows<br />
1 tsp Agave nectar<br />
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1 - Preheat oven to 180'. Beat together butter and sugar<br />
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2- Sieve together the flour, baking powder and baking soda<br />
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3 - Alternate additions of flours and eggs<br />
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4 - Add the coffee and vanilla<br />
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<b><u>Ganache</u></b><br />
1 - Heat the cream<br />
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2 - Chop chocolate into small pieces and pour over the hot cream<br />
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3 - Leave the chocolate and cream to sit and then mix thoroughly<br />
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4 - Leave to sit for at least 30 minutes to cool fully before whipping<br />
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<b><u>Butter-cream </u></b><br />
1 - Beat together the butter and icing sugar<br />
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2 - Add milk and food colouring<br />
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<b><u>Marshmallow fluff</u></b><br />
1 - Melt marshmallows in the microwave for 30 seconds<br />
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2 - Add the agave nectar and add to the top of the cups immediately<br />
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I am not going to get to worked up encouraging you to do this at home as I appreciate it's not a one hour job. However I will say that if you have a loved one that deserves a special treat it is probably less work thanks you would imagine! The whole thing really reminded me of Gilmore Girls and as a result I got through a few episodes while putting the cake together, which means that the review will be soon. (I don't know why I am constantly teasing this review......setting myself up for failure)<br />
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Otherwise I hope you enjoy this fun post and I will return next week with something a little more normal but just as delicious!!Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-18218707603936782962016-08-08T14:15:00.000-07:002016-08-10T07:43:08.847-07:00Simple things and stranger thingsThis week has been awesome and then tremendously empty. Once you find Stranger Things, get completely hooked and then realise that there are only 8 episodes. Well everything has slightly less shine now! Aw, I joke but honestly this show is fantastic!! It creates such a wonderful atmosphere of 80s nostalgia and childhood adventure with a hint of the mysterious paranormal!<br />
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So I thought naturally that I would accompany this post with a simpler thing - Scones.</div>
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Scones are one of the first things I ever learnt to make, scones and brownies. When I was about the age of the Stranger Things kids, maybe a little younger. My Mum taught me how to make these two things from a Darina Allen book and I was absolutely enthralled!! I felt like I was being taught some kind of super-power;You can just make treats?! Mind-blown! Well as you can tell, I started there and didn't stop but today I wanted to revisit the ole favourite with a bit of a healthy twist. </div>
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Obviously scones are sweet breads so they are inevitably carbs but I have made a few adjustments to make them as healthy as carbs can be, and honestly you wouldn't know he difference. They definitely passed the fiancé test. These two lasted about five minutes between us.</div>
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So what are the adjustments - the flour is a fine ground wholemeal flour. Fine ground is important here, it can be called pasta flour but it makes a very big difference.</div>
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The second big alteration, these contain no added sugar. They are sultana scones and thereis natural sugars in the sultanas but otherwise there is no sugar, no sweetner and no way to tell that it's no added sugar, I promise!</div>
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The secret is to soak the sultanas in tea. The tea adds a depth of flavour anyway but as the sultanas are soaked the natural sugars seep into the tea and then the whole lot is added into the scones which adds just enough sweetness, not to mention beautiful plump juicy sultanas. So you would never know that I didn't add sugar, why not give it a try?!</div>
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<u><b>Healthy Scones (Wholemeal, No Added Sugar) (Makes 12 large)</b></u></div>
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1-1.5 Cups Sultanas</div>
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Black tea - enough to cover the above</div>
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500g Wholemeal fine ground plain flour</div>
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1 tsp Baking powder</div>
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1/2 tsp cinnamon</div>
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1/2 tsp Nutmeg</div>
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1/2 tsp all-spice</div>
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1 egg</div>
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2 tbsp milk of choice</div>
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2 tbsp oil of choice (I used almond)</div>
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Egg-wash to beautify</div>
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1 - Soak the sultanas for at least an hour up to overnight</div>
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2 - Preheat oven to 180'C. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and spices</div>
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3 - Pour in the sultanas and mix</div>
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4 - Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until a dough is formed</div>
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5 - Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes</div>
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6 - Form into even sized balls, try to hide the sultanas inside, and place on a lined baking tray</div>
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7 - Egg-wash to finish and bake for 15-20 minutes or until hollow sounding when tapped.</div>
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8 - Allow to cool and enjoy with some sneaky butter ;)</div>
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Perfect for enjoying during an episode of Stranger things. I haven't spoken about it much but I feel that I don't wish to spoil anything. Suffice is to say that it is well, well worth watching! My favourite character was Eleven, shortly followed by Dustin, toothless kid, because he was just a hero and so cute whenever he speaks! If you don't have Netflix, get it, there is more and more amazing ontent there every week. I am not sponsored to say this, I just appreciate Netflix more and more every day and you will need it to see Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which I will review, episode by episode! Not to mention catching up, or rewatching Gilmore girls as I am doing right now to put together a full review for you shortly. So anyway for now, watch Stranger things, make these scones and thank me later =)</div>
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-12636358140786316922016-08-01T11:33:00.001-07:002016-08-01T11:33:52.558-07:00Apple and Salted Caramel CakeThis week a very good friend asked if I could make a cake for them. I was absolutely delighted to do so and the requested cake was Apple and Salted Caramel<br />
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I had never actually made an apple and salted caramel cake before so I decided to do a little research. I found a delicious looking recipe on the <a href="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/salted-caramel-apple-cake/">Brown Eyed Baker</a> and I must say that her cake looks amazing. However, naturally I had to make a couple of little adaptations and I am very happy with how it turned out. Firstly I wanted to make the cake lighter and more summer appropriate, so less spicy. I also wanted to include fresh apple to make it taste more fresh. Finally I came up with my own easy to make icing and some interactive decorations<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMFTihoa-WlCDshgkhDla7-ixJCTItXRApw2hToFusWNaESDYbKs286h87Y17NRx1gNPigifuMtcoaNfcPpIkN6nTtzj0LFVGJd-WpN-Q-GThSM3XGHVqOASrwHpmWQSNOViwTJCzHbY/s1600/IMG_4549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMFTihoa-WlCDshgkhDla7-ixJCTItXRApw2hToFusWNaESDYbKs286h87Y17NRx1gNPigifuMtcoaNfcPpIkN6nTtzj0LFVGJd-WpN-Q-GThSM3XGHVqOASrwHpmWQSNOViwTJCzHbY/s640/IMG_4549.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chocolate apple of mystery!!</td></tr>
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Two delicious layers of apple cake were covered in frosting<br />
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<br />
before three little apples were placed on top<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9RoMPWEVbcvlLBly1jyN703yAswXoDGkne4GpuUlKMsdkGjmMR0WEXcbnSpliIAuykGzDpn4y_o9b-LNS1fwoXOmJWNaEqh6-6tsHk8va-H12sS78hYY-OqXnPP8eGMVu9ZRtIdriFw/s1600/Apple+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9RoMPWEVbcvlLBly1jyN703yAswXoDGkne4GpuUlKMsdkGjmMR0WEXcbnSpliIAuykGzDpn4y_o9b-LNS1fwoXOmJWNaEqh6-6tsHk8va-H12sS78hYY-OqXnPP8eGMVu9ZRtIdriFw/s640/Apple+cake.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Excuse the on location picture quality</td></tr>
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And the apples, well let me show you how they work.....<br />
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<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwRgHAOP-RrI9vVuHIe0m45tUCi4BVLajkoTWFt9yb6Xu4lkrh4Wb-VRK2rN6-e85bl-xnQWOQEjKLZiWHueg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Fun right?!<br />
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<b><u>Apple Salted Caramel Cake (adapted from BrownEyedBaker)</u></b><br />
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<u>Apple Cake (enough for 2x9" Cake layers)</u><br />
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340g Butter<br />
400g Caster Sugar<br />
75g Brown Sugar<br />
1/2 tsp vanilla extract<br />
500g Cake Flour (Plain flour with 8 tbsp replaced by cornflour)<br />
1 tsp Baking powder<br />
2 tsp Baking soda<br />
1/2 tsp all spice<br />
1/2 tsp cinnamon<br />
1/2 tsp nutmeg<br />
2 eggs<br />
4 cups grated apple in 2 lemons worth of lemon juice<br />
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<u>Salted Caramel Icing (enough for this cake)</u><br />
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280g Salted Butter<br />
560g Icing Sugar<br />
60ml Caramel Sauce<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8167/caramel-sauce">Caramel Sauce recipe that I used</a><br />
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Instruction<br />
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1- Preheat oven to 180'C and grease and line your cake tin<br />
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2 - Beat together the butter and sugar, beat in the vanilla extract<br />
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3 - Sieve together the flour, baking powder and soda and spices<br />
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4 - Beat the eggs together<br />
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5 - Add portions of the eggs and flour to the butter alternating between the two, leaving a portion of flour<br />
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6 - Add the grated apple and the remaining flour.<br />
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7 - Divide between 2 9" cake tins. Wrap the tins in tin foil to protect and bake for 45-50minutes.<br />
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8 - Allow the cake to cool in the tin.<br />
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*Note - This is a very soft and light cake and needs to cool completely in the tin to be workable but the texture upon eating is just perfect!!*<br />
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9 - Beat together the butter icing sugar and caramel sauce for the frosting.<br />
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10- Ice the cake - First do a crumb coat - there will be crumbs. Although I think a naked cake version would also be awesome<br />
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Finish the icing and make the chocolate apples.<br />
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To make these I used half circl moulds and dark chocolate. I found the bet technique was to paint the chocolate onto the mould to achieve even layers. Then set and melt the edge to get two half circles together<br />
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I made a hole in the top and filled with more caramel sauce. Then filled in the hole with a pretzel stick.<br />
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Then when the cake is ready to be eaten, just cut the apples and enjoy the show!!<br />
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So that's it! I hope you enjoy and try it out for yourself!Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-90282250816262711242016-07-25T05:08:00.000-07:002016-07-25T05:25:32.515-07:00Trying something new without commitingIt's interesting that in my last post I was writing about marriage and in this post I want to focus on trying new things without having to commit fully.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXymql5wTdX1yEwxoctnzdFaxVGgThCn9n2c86jyeZ8h5_FKw7ywM4nvJ9TZd1z9z7c5533Hcgq6pyEQ15eeBcTFhqp-xbCbSqAkGTVzg2LkEQun9w0J9TRh5__tP9sI6P3RadXuRxQOE/s1600/2016-07-04+21.00.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXymql5wTdX1yEwxoctnzdFaxVGgThCn9n2c86jyeZ8h5_FKw7ywM4nvJ9TZd1z9z7c5533Hcgq6pyEQ15eeBcTFhqp-xbCbSqAkGTVzg2LkEQun9w0J9TRh5__tP9sI6P3RadXuRxQOE/s640/2016-07-04+21.00.34.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sun setting over the clouds</td></tr>
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Back in May I wrote a post about trying a week without milk. It was something really different for me because I really love dairy. I mean REALLY love it!!! I would probably go through about 5 litres of milk a week and then cheese; cheddar, cottage, brie and then yoghurt and whey protein and ice-cream. The list goes on and on but the main point is I consume a lot of dairy. In fact, when I think about it I would probably say that the majority of my protein came from dairy sources. I used to be a vegetarian for years and while I switched back to including white meat and fish when I moved in with my fiancé, I still wouldn't eat a huge amount of it. Therefore I got most of my protein from dairy and I loved it!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQiuNctcUwRjL_QyrO9eEC1yNcmiD05U6gno-Pshv3HLUvJ-LfdrtcdzHsYxyLGoyBX_osVqrH3dJEg90wvDZiyzPZYMDfQer8N-K9RsSmSlY5w1Wj7vyPqVzGnyZ4WRSaXZ3mHQiw1s/s1600/2016-06-29+12.44.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQiuNctcUwRjL_QyrO9eEC1yNcmiD05U6gno-Pshv3HLUvJ-LfdrtcdzHsYxyLGoyBX_osVqrH3dJEg90wvDZiyzPZYMDfQer8N-K9RsSmSlY5w1Wj7vyPqVzGnyZ4WRSaXZ3mHQiw1s/s640/2016-06-29+12.44.57.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KerryMaid Country</td></tr>
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However recently I have been doing some thinking and soul searching. Now I am not, absolutely not, going to stand here and criticise anyone else. Neither am I here to preach because lord knows I have consumed enough dairy in the last few years to feed probably about 5 people, so..... But there are a lot of people out there advising against too much dairy, for a variety of reason and I guess I have started to wonder if eating this much dairy is right for me?! And right now........ I'm not sure what the answer to that is.<br />
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So, I've decided to try something new, without making a massive commitment. So before the Vegan police descend - I cannot and will not tell you, or myself that I will never consume dairy again. In fact, I think I will probably deliberately leave myself the possibility of consuming dairy for ever, in a limited way, in one form or another. I mean I'm a baker, for goodness sake, and not a massive believer in overly processed substitutes. I may well be converted one day. However for the moment I have decided to try going dairy free for a little while and see how it is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1cgDTcUb4h9syAWDw7O2CRIlK7cZMxAAu64Femp0VT7n-BcATX5XqHaki8yaH_XQjGPahyZrJPRJjTyHsmItHJsYZSUUSTittM0DCoVNk1P04PFxzsMSTBJW_07coLuWd-YSeMc-kLU/s1600/2016-03-30+06.45.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1cgDTcUb4h9syAWDw7O2CRIlK7cZMxAAu64Femp0VT7n-BcATX5XqHaki8yaH_XQjGPahyZrJPRJjTyHsmItHJsYZSUUSTittM0DCoVNk1P04PFxzsMSTBJW_07coLuWd-YSeMc-kLU/s400/2016-03-30+06.45.01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Also another side note <b>to the Vegan Police</b> - <i>I am not Vegan, I do not claim to be Vegan. I have good people in my life who are Vegan and I respect them and their, at times, difficult choices for the benefit of animals. I believe in making some Vegan choices and you will see a number of Vegan recipes or alterations on my blog. However as a baker, a food blogger and a psychologist there is one thing that I firmly believe in and that is <u>spreading hate and attacking people is never okay!!</u> I understand that you view meat as murder, it kind of is, and I realise that living in a world where this is the norm frustrates you greatly. However I WON'T EVER agree that hateful behaviour towards others will successfully promote your cause. If anything it will shut down the very conversation you wish to start. So I compel anyone who finds this blog and feels the need to attack me or anyone else for where they are on their journey with food to just leave. This is not the place for you! </i><br />
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That said I welcome and am excited by anyone who would like to share with me their story with dairy and their experiences with dairy-free too!! Particularly any tips! Please?!<br />
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So this week I tried an exciting new recipe and I wanted to share. You may remember if you read my previous post about giving up milk that I am on a bit of a quest. If there is even the slightest hope of giving up milk then I need to find something to put in my tea. As a born and bred Irish person, tea is an essential part of the day. In fact you can almost chart my mood based on whether I have had tea, and carbs but that's another story. So I need, NEED a dairy-free milk that will work in tea or this dairy free life is not manageable. I appreciate that this sounds dramatic, but I have come to know myself a little bit and I know I need tea.<br />
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So when I discovered this easy homemade cashew milk I jumped for joy!! It's creamy, milky and has minimal lumps. It works perfectly with cereal, amazingly in coffee but ..........awful in tea. So my quest continues but that doesn't diminish my love for cashew milk because this stuff is amazing!!!<br />
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<b><u>Cashew Milk</u></b><br />
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225g/ 1.5 Cups Cashews<br />
1.4L/ 6 Cups Water<br />
2 Dates<br />
1/2 tsp vanilla<br />
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You need - a blender<br />
- an airtight glass jar<br />
- a sieve (optional)<br />
You Do Not need cheese cloth or any other special straining equipment<br />
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1 - Put the cashews in a jar cover with water and let them soak for at least 3 hours.<br />
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2 - Drain and rinse the cashews<br />
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3- Add Cashews and 1/2 the water into a blender and blend until smooth. At this point add the dates<br />
and vanilla if you want.<br />
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This is now a perfect consistency for creamer if that's your thing, so if you want that then stop here.<br />
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4 - Add the rest of the water until you have reached the desired consistency.<br />
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5 - Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days, some say 5.<br />
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Then just enjoy in a delicious coffee...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was full at one stage but I honestly couldn't resist it long enough to get photos</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note of caution ; It has been drawn to my attention that there can be an issue with raw cashews and mycotxins and although I have also found research that claims that properly treated and stored cashews contain little or no toxic substances. However I have yet to complete my own research on this subject and if you have any concerns I suggest that you do the same and reach your own conclusions.</span><br />
<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-32101437440125237952016-07-11T02:32:00.000-07:002016-07-11T02:36:53.607-07:00Travelling and doctorating etcI have been away for a while. I genuinely didn't mean to leave it so long and I think it deserves some real talk in explanation. However I will pepper it with some lovely pictures for your entertainment.I will also share a new baking post very very soon.<br />
<br />
Recently we travelled back to Ireland and visited some locations for our wedding next year!<br />
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I haven't written much about the engagement or the wedding planning on here and if I'm honest I think that has been a major reason for my absence. I'm not completely certain why I chose not to write about the engagement etc but I'm guessing it had something to do with the fact that it didn't belong to me alone. You see my fiancé is quite a private person and I fully respect that. You may have noticed that he never appears in this blog much. Sure, I make reference to him is various ways; bf, partner, the boy etc but I've kept it deliberately vague in order to give as little away as possible.<br />
<br />
You will have seen snippets of him -<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErZAWZMsoHkf7fAiQewBscPw0wFVzp61Lyjak_fSgKAqxBhn4O-UP_w0W52l1b9DZzVZZvc2i32jGLyORgEZf-hjwqbCH-noR2xVvwajTD4ACXvmUNxmtRC749bCI48filvfNlBJM41M/s1600/Bf+in+scarf.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErZAWZMsoHkf7fAiQewBscPw0wFVzp61Lyjak_fSgKAqxBhn4O-UP_w0W52l1b9DZzVZZvc2i32jGLyORgEZf-hjwqbCH-noR2xVvwajTD4ACXvmUNxmtRC749bCI48filvfNlBJM41M/s640/Bf+in+scarf.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't he handsome?!</td></tr>
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<br />
But that could be anyone really!<br />
<br />
So now when we decided to make our two lives into one -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcOjDBQiPHJDh4jNxr9ZGMsEcU_Knopr-WjUe26hThYbHHamA9GQ7lwaUQSGWKqewP2uRHYTZg9M8yW9EXbX_UpBna4L2t6aazGOlqV4sDRHm197jwwPjWVsHyxHlBp5qzArya2qMvAM/s1600/IMG_4306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcOjDBQiPHJDh4jNxr9ZGMsEcU_Knopr-WjUe26hThYbHHamA9GQ7lwaUQSGWKqewP2uRHYTZg9M8yW9EXbX_UpBna4L2t6aazGOlqV4sDRHm197jwwPjWVsHyxHlBp5qzArya2qMvAM/s640/IMG_4306.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Well suddenly it felt like a horse of a different colour! A shiny colour ;)<br />
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Seriously though, from the second you get engaged it feels like the wedding is ever present and it has taken up, in a good way, a lot of my thinking since then. In fact, between that and the doctorate, I don't really think about much else. Well my friends and family but you know, they will also be in the wedding so I often think of them that way too!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgulNCKAbiJP9Yy27Ii4ISWlwg7aAZbzCgPPToXNQBLnv61J2eR_N0jyc9IOvRXkpbUtV2flCo9ZTiG82I7FU80E1iqchtNVnFDR_6mKTo-w1erxChvZ-Ta-5ogWU3kb9mG9EO-vJqU2XI/s1600/IMG_4477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgulNCKAbiJP9Yy27Ii4ISWlwg7aAZbzCgPPToXNQBLnv61J2eR_N0jyc9IOvRXkpbUtV2flCo9ZTiG82I7FU80E1iqchtNVnFDR_6mKTo-w1erxChvZ-Ta-5ogWU3kb9mG9EO-vJqU2XI/s640/IMG_4477.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Showing off in their finery!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And in the mist of all of this excitement, I got a bit lost about how to blog -<br />
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I know it sounds old-fashioned, and honestly we are not being old-fashioned about this thing at all, but joining our lives together threw me for a hot minute about which parts I had a right to share and which I should keep private to respect his choices! I cannot even tell you how many times of the last few months that I have sat at the computer and stared at a blank post, with a blank mind! It all felt a little too fake and although I tend to show the happier parts of my life and my baking I am nothing if not real. As evidenced by my previous 'I screw up this recipe,' posts.<br />
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If I'm fully honest, this is a process that I am still muddling through. However I think that I have documented so much of our lives together on here (we have been together since before I started this blog) and I love blogging about life and baking. Not to mention that the biggest and best baking project (i.e. my own wedding cake) is also going to be coming up! Well I think I am going to share a little more and show you some of the colour (good and bad) and excitement of this developing experience.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A glimpse of my hubby to be and this green house!</td></tr>
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So I hope that you will accept my apology and explanation for my absence and here's to lots more baking fun to come!!<br />
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Also in fun news - I got an instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tvancookies/<br />
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Follow me on instragram at tvancookiesCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-41764692187445258052016-05-16T13:21:00.000-07:002016-05-16T13:21:03.008-07:00A Dairy-free Birthday TreatEvery year, on my birthday I bake a cake. Not this year, although I went back to dairy this year I decided to give myself the time to work on something else that I have been craving - Almond Butter cups!<br />
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As I mentioned in a previous post, we recently took an amazing <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/a-visit-to-vegas.html">trip to Vegas</a>! It was wonderful to be in Vegas but also to be in the states again. There were so many things I had missed from my time living there. There were also so many new things that I wanted to try. When you follow various food blogs you get to see some of the delicious new things people are loving in America and around the world. Since my time living in the US, it seems that healthy eating has become much more prevalent and, with it, a whole bunch of exciting new healthy products. One of the things that had tempted me was the Justin's products and particularly his heathy peanut butter cups. However when I went to get some I saw that he included sea salt, which is something that I don't eat. So I disappointedly walked away =(<br />
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(It's an unfortunate belief that sea salt is more fancy or healthy than normal salt and therefore many healthy food companies include sea salt in an attempt to appeal to the healthier customer, however it ignores those that cannot take it)<br />
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However I never gave up on the idea of a healthy nut butter cup, and preferably my favourite nut butter - Almond! So for this birthday I decided to dedicate my baking time to chocolate work.<br />
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<u>Almond Butter Cups</u><br />
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240g Dark Chocolate Chips<br />
100g Almond Butter<br />
50g Almonds, toasted and ground<br />
1-2 tbsp Agave Nectar<br />
1 tbsp Coconut Oil<br />
1 tsp Salt<br />
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I used some of my delicious 70% + dark chocolate. I melted down two thirds of it and then added the final third to bring down the temperature and temper the chocolate. Then I poured them into my mini-cupcake cases<br />
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For the almond butter centre I mixed store bought almond butter with more toasted ground almonds to thicken it, coconut oil for smoothness, salt in enhance the flavour and a tiny bit of agave nectar for sweetness. I then made little balls and pushed it into the hardened chocolate cases<br />
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From there I froze the cups to cool everything and facilitate the covers hardening. Then poured on the bottoms from the tempered chocolate.And then I simply let them hardened et voila...<br />
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As you can possibly see, the bases are not completely flat. This is due to the container having a raised lip. However I appreciate the thick bases as it's a nice chunk of chocolate to balance the almond butter.<br />
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As you can also see I left some lovely chunks of almond, but this is obviously optional! So now I have my dream treats and I will definitely be making these again, even if they leave a little bit of clean up.....<br />
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I would highly highly recommend making these. They are incredibly delicious, vegan, healthy and full of goodness. The best part is that it lasts so much longer than cake. I ate one of these while I typed this tonight and there is still plenty more =)Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-37827474206608630592016-05-09T10:15:00.001-07:002016-05-09T10:15:49.959-07:00A week without dairySo this week I decided to do something different. I am going to try a full week without dairy products and blogging the whole thing. So why go dairy free? Well there are lots of different reasons for different people; some ethical, some health based and some even just for taste. I have decided to explore the world of dairy free products for a number of reasons. I have been drinking lactose free for years. Not because of any digestive discomfort, thank goodness but because members of my little family breath easier sans lactose. Several other members of my family also pursue a dairy free life. There is a Vegan and a vegetarian that avoids milk and another member who takes some milk but tells everyone that milk may cause serious illness. So dairy free milks have been around in my world in various ways. But until now I haven't explored the possibility of being completely dairy free myself. However, over the last little while I have been reading lots about food and diet for health. A lot of people have suggested that most or many people are allergic to either gluten or dairy or both and everything else. I don't know how much I believe these claims but I am willing to give it a try and see how I would get on being dairy-free for a week. Also you'll have to excuse the photo quality as most of them will be taken on the fly Anyway here we go......<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2BGcEkySIWF2H3Vq5uWVAZbvwOIPNlW5_s6nhvZh8FNN_lKrwkEBwrLmnmzGwbq47UP-dzrC0OOzkFc2ueN8iOCdwdGV6Q5EFQ9yISf2R2FoAe5IYmhHkvwYWXEshgk55ZLMo2cyBRo/s1600/2016-02-29+11.18.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2BGcEkySIWF2H3Vq5uWVAZbvwOIPNlW5_s6nhvZh8FNN_lKrwkEBwrLmnmzGwbq47UP-dzrC0OOzkFc2ueN8iOCdwdGV6Q5EFQ9yISf2R2FoAe5IYmhHkvwYWXEshgk55ZLMo2cyBRo/s640/2016-02-29+11.18.24.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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Day 1 -<br />
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I did some significant research online as to which dairy free milk I should buy and then hit my local organic supermarket. In the end I settled on two; hemp and almond. I had previously had a bad experience with another brand of almond milk and so had my reservations about trying it but this one contained only almonds and water so I figured it might be safe.<br />
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Day 2 -<br />
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This is a day where I work a long day 9.30 til 8pm. Well some people might consider that a normal day, but I think it's pretty long. As I'm out all day the only time when I consume any dairy on a Tuesday is at breakfast. This morning I had almond milk in my shredded wheat and it tasted fine actually. I found that this almond milk has a very mild taste and therefore the main taste is of the shredded wheat.<br />
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Lunch and Dinner consisted or mostly salad and therefore it was quite easy.<br />
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(Note added on Friday - Only today did I realize that I messed up on Tuesday. When I work I tend to bring an Eat Natural Bar with me for a snack and my favourite is the apricot and yoghurt. On this day I happily ate my snack without even thinking)<br />
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Day 3 -<br />
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Almond milk porridge for breakfast. I found this really delicious! It's actually much creamer than porridge with cow's milk and I find myself considering whether I should always make my porridge with almond milk?!<br />
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3pm - This morning was really busy. I had two meetings and then an appointment after lunch. However at 3pm I get home and have to study and do thesis work. By 3.30pm I'm lagging already and I feel like I need caffeine. This is actually really unusual for me, I haven't drunk caffeine in almost 4 years, so a caffeine kick is not something I often crave. I decide that it's time for decaf tea (decaf contains some caffeine I realize, but for me it's almost more about tricking my brain into thinking I had caffeine at times like these).<br />
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So, it's my first dairy free cup of tea. This was something that I had anticipated and therefore I had researched what type of dairy free milk I should use. Again, having had previous negative experiences with almond milk (separation) I found an alternative. A pro-vegan website I found advocated for Hemp milk in black tea, so I purchased the Hemp milk specifically for this occasion. The honest truth is that if I can't find a dairy free way to enjoy my decaf Yorkshire tea then this is not happening long-term folks!<br />
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I boiled my kettle, stewed my tea bag and then added my hemp milk. The first thing I notice is that the tea is not changing colour in the way I would expect and it seems to take much more hemp milk than dairy milk. And then, just like that, the milk separates!<br />
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Disgusting!! Clearly I had been misled! I abandon the hemp milk and boil the kettle again. This time I turn to the almond milk. And to my great surprise it works, kind of!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tea without dairy 2.0</td></tr>
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As you can see there are a few unappetising lumps of almond floating on top and, as I drank it, a film of white stuff formed across the top. So visually it's not the best but the taste is absolutely lovely. Does it taste like tea with dairy milk? No, it's a lot more watery. However the strong tea flavour dominates and has the desired affect on my afternoon slump so all-in-all I'm happy and the experiment continues!<br />
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Day 4 -<br />
Today I was studying from home for most of the day. I found this a little difficult because for me a stay of study starts the same every time; breakfast, gym, shower, and then sitting down to work with the first cup of tea of the day! I love this cup of tea, it brings a beautiful sweetness to the start of my study and helps encourage me to sit down at the ball and chain, I mean laptop ;) I returned to the almond milk tea which I am finding more and more delicious but as the container gets more used the number of unappetizing lumps increases, maybe I'm not shaking it enough?!<br />
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Day 5 -<br />
Today I was working and that made things easier. However then I met my Mum and sister for dinner and I'll have to be honest, I slipped up slightly. We went to an absolutely delicious place near Hackney with piles and piles of gorgeous salads and scrumptious tapas plates. I did quite well during the meal but then came dessert! Now I actually hadn't planned on having dessert but when my Mum suggested sharing a brownie, well how could I refuse?! It was only on the way home that I emerged from the trance that overcame me when the brownie approached the table with a giant ball of ice-cream on top. So yes, I ate dairy but I was under the influence of some serious chocolate hyponosis. I forgave myself and renewed my efforts!!<br />
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Day 6 -<br />
Today I ate out for EVERY meal - read so much more difficult! We enjoyed a fantastic breakfast at the Wolesley! That place is truly gorgeous! Luckily they were willing to make me an almond decaf latte (despite none-of those things being on the menu,) I felt like quite the diva order off the menu but it was a perfect latte and I was very happy! Lunch was a falafel wrap with hummus, so no issue there. Dinner was in another fantastic restaurant, this time a french place in central london. And thankfully there were plenty of dairy free options. Now, I will admit that I buttered my bread, so not completley without sin but it was 99% dairy free day so I was pleased. Also I saw Kevin McCloud in the flesh which was awesome!<br />
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Day 7 -<br />
After all the fun of Friday and Saturday I spent this day at home resting and recuperating while trying and failing to study (thank you 26 degree weather). However I firmly stuck to the dairy free diet. With almond milk on my cereal and then a lot of salad and water all day!<br />
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<br />
So that was my week! I will admit that there were slip ups but I think that with any diet change there are going to be slip ups and how we recover post slip up is more important in my belief. So each time I noted my mistake and got back on the bandwagon. Tomorrow I can go back to milk but if I'm totally honest, I have a bunch of almond milk now and I think I may well keep having it in my cereal.<br />
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Would I go dairy free full time? This is a big question for me. I am currently considering a longer period of dairy free life to see how that goes; maybe a month. I like the idea in some ways and hate the idea with equal measure. I respect those that live a vegan or dairy free lifestyle and it's possible that I may join you for a while but right now I can't make any commitmentsCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-20969021575132707472016-05-02T13:31:00.000-07:002016-05-02T13:31:04.655-07:00Taking care of yourselfI haven't posted in a few weeks and I have been thinking about the blog and meaning to post each week but it has been so intensely busy with doctorate stuff that every time I came to write it seems that my attitude is mostly stressed or negative and honestly that's just not the side of me that I post on here. That's not to say that this is not the real me but TVandCookies is a place for the happier, more relaxed side of life and I guess doctoral stress is just about the antithesis of that, well for me anyway.<br />
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With all the increased stress around the place it's all to easy to fall into patterns of over-working, or more often-than-not underworking while over stressing. During all of this self-care seems to fall by the wayside. There are so many demands on us these days and far too often I find myself running around meeting everyone else's needs and completely ignoring my own. Can you get these pages to me by....? We can meet on....? You will make that appointment, right? You know the demands, they come from every direction. Meanwhile the little voice that tells me what I need gets quiter and quieter until it's on mute.<br />
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Unfortunately it can't stay that way for long, without issues. So this week I have been trying to listen to that little voice and give myself what I need; rest, exercise, sleep, healthy food and most importantly nutritious treats. Balance my friends is the key to life and I believe this completely!<br />
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So these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are my latest attempt at getting that delicious american bakery taste, and they are close, so close. They are morish, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and definitely a comfort food worth having. I have been enjoying them with a lovely cup of tea and a couple of minutes of me time (read watching Bake-off; Creme de la creme ;).<br />
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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies<br />
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115g/ Half cup of Butter<br />
146g/2/3 Cup pack brown sugar<br />
67g/1/3 Cup white sugar<br />
2 eggs<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
1tsp baking soda +2 tsp hot water<br />
128g/1 cup Bread Flour<br />
85g/ 1 cup Old fashioned oats<br />
85g/ 1 cup quick oats<br />
75g/ 1/2 cup sultanas or raisins<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
1/2 tsp Nutmeg<br />
1/2 tsp all spice<br />
1 tsp black treacle (optional)<br />
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1. Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth<br />
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2. Add the eggs and vanilla and alternate in part of the flour<br />
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3. In a small bowl add the hot water to the baking soda, then add to the dough and beat<br />
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4. Add the spices and treacle and beat<br />
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5. Now add the oats and the sultanas or raisins and beat to combine.<br />
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6. Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge<br />
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7. Preheat the oven to 180'.<br />
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8. Scoop out balls of dough and space well apart on a lined baking sheet.<br />
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9. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet.<br />
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10. Then enjoy a taste of home baked goodness and a few minutes of only listening to your needs.<br />
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I hope you enjoyed the post. This coming week I will be doing something a bit different. I will be trying a week without dairy. As part of this I will be tweeting daily and adding to a post each day that will go up next Monday. Wish me luck.....<br />
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<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-55063499794486475172016-03-28T10:23:00.000-07:002016-03-28T10:24:37.293-07:00Easter Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Spring is in the air! Not that you would know it here this weekend as we are being rained out of it!! Easter weekend has been a mixture of sunny spells and bucketing, window washing, rivers on every path style rain! Needless to say we have been hiding from it quite a bit, although we got drenched once!<br />
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None-the-less there is a sense of renewed life and new beginnings around the place as the country heats up and the flowers tentatively poke their heads out. Birds are singing in the trees and even between the downpours the sun shines brighter than before.<br />
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It has been a mixed week for me this week. I had a visit from a friend that moved away last year, which reminded me of things lost. I also had my final lecture in my doctorate; which feels like both an ending and a beginning. Finally we had Easter this weekend which is all about endings and beginnings. So everything seems distinctly meaningful, somehow.<br />
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In the presence of all these endings, it's not unusual to feel sad or perhaps at a loss as to what is coming next. I certainly feel excited about my future but there is an undeniable amount of uncertainty but I think that uncertainty can be a useful feeling to sit with, though daunting. I found myself processing these changes and struggling to write anything useful or insightful (not that my other blogs are always useful or insightful but still). So I thought I would show you the mini cupcake platter I prepared for my fellow doctoral candidates and show you how I put together the center piece.<br />
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The icing here is a swiss meringue buttercream to which I added 3-4 tablespoons of raspberry coulis for colour and flavour. All the surrounding roses are made using a star tip and a swirl but the central rose is a little more complicated. I assembled three cupcakes as shown below -<br />
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Then I used the rose piping technique demonstrated in this video from cakestyle - http://cake.style/2016/03/22/buttercream-rose-mini-cakes/<br />
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I really like her rose piping technique but I prefer the narrower base as I feel it gives a more dramatic effect. This piping technique is relatively easy given a little practice and a moderately steady hand (I was shaking like crazy when I piped these - too much emotion/adrenaline/caffeine). As you can see I finished these roses off with a dusting of edible gold leave but that is totally optional. Another possibility would be to add an extra stripe of coulis to your piping bag and give more depth to your colour. So if you want to do this I would say to play around and have fun!<br />
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So that's it, and then all you have to do it protect your masterpiece from thieves but this is more difficult than you might imagine ;)<br />
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<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-78748480010072279602016-03-21T07:11:00.000-07:002016-03-21T07:11:18.282-07:00Irish Soda BreadThis past week was St Patrick's Day and you may have seen a few dozen Irish or green things around the interwebs. Recently I saw a couple of posts about 'Irish Soda Bread.' This interested me because I love soda bread but when I went to the sites what I saw were horrendous mockeries of my beloved bread and I could not stand for it. So this week I am bringing you my recipe for Irish Soda Bread.<br />
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This bread is so simple and I threw it together in 1 hour start to fully cooked bread! Of which 45-50 minutes the bread is in the oven so as long as you set a timer you can do what you want with this time! There are very few Irish things that I crave when living away from home (probably because we are somewhat limited in traditional foods). However we do have the best tea (Barry's), wonderful dinners (Stew, Bacon and Cabbage) and more than anything amazing soda bread!! So forgive me for getting irritated when one of the few simple things gets butchered but I guess I'm somewhat fussy. In actuality the bread you see above is a bit too tall so I'm not a total perfectionist! But if you follow my pictures here you will see how incredibly simple this delicious bread really is.<br />
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Ingredients<br />
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400g Wholemeal flour<br />
200g White bread flour<br />
1 tsp Salt<br />
1 tbsp Baking Soda<br />
500ml Milk (Any kind - dairy or nut - I used skimmed lactose free here)<br />
1 tbsp lemon juice<br />
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1 - Preheat oven to 180'C. Add the lemon juice to the milk and let sit while you whisk together your flours, salt and baking soda<br />
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2 - Slowly add the milk mixture into the flour in sections and stop when you have a thick dough. Note - This bread is free form, if you want to use a bread tin then just add all the milk and mix<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Milk in this picture was left over as I had reached the desired texture as shown</td></tr>
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3 - Knead the dough a little bit (at most for 30 seconds to a minute) just to bring it together and get a smooth ball of dough<br />
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4 - Then (and I forgot to do this) roll it out just a tiny bit and cut a cross into the top<br />
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5 - Bake for 15 minutes and then cover in tin foil and finish baking for another 30-35 minutes or until it sounds hollow inside. Then allow to cool with a tea towel over it to soften the crust.<br />
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Then slice it up and enjoy with butter and jam or toasted with cheese or with soup or any which way you please!!!Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-28915988212147872772016-03-07T06:38:00.000-08:002016-03-21T07:11:37.721-07:00Double chocolate protein brownie bitesThis week I am updating an old <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/granola-bars-they-can-be-naughty-too.html">granola bar recipe</a> in order to make it higher protein as I got a request for a protein bar recipe including vita-fiber.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGWjjXWd-OIGYWv_xIBsMaMDeqQSAIJgs6Zp9e79L8fqWYJE7Ndj_7lUjqrKGFFO5meRBk9YJ_E0J5rnjRnEl1g-T_4RAPZu75CZFmZUY4Y9r-9qjs9JxakzC35j3hmkCNxmm7-mOTjGY/s1600/IMG_4334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGWjjXWd-OIGYWv_xIBsMaMDeqQSAIJgs6Zp9e79L8fqWYJE7Ndj_7lUjqrKGFFO5meRBk9YJ_E0J5rnjRnEl1g-T_4RAPZu75CZFmZUY4Y9r-9qjs9JxakzC35j3hmkCNxmm7-mOTjGY/s640/IMG_4334.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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These are super simple and I threw them together in about 5-10 minutes.<br />
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<u><b>Double Chocolate Protein Brownie Bites</b></u><br />
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75g Oats<br />
75g (2.5 Scoops) Chocolate Whey Protein Powder<br />
Pinch salt<br />
3 Tbsp Water<br />
2 Tbsp Liquid Vita-fiber/ agave nectar<br />
2 Tbsp Cashew Butter<br />
20g Dark (70%+) chocolate chips<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghP55-b08DluPM-VWNilNbcUaRD-PZYAEDnTMiemCHub5-9O8W8Z-ZuNo1_1w-3GjNmxoam4s3qUdv50Iz904VNa61kPn6IaLAej0K6_DxDIIFfx9mpB0aEY-HnYaNXoqiBPhXxmtJlYA/s1600/IMG_4325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghP55-b08DluPM-VWNilNbcUaRD-PZYAEDnTMiemCHub5-9O8W8Z-ZuNo1_1w-3GjNmxoam4s3qUdv50Iz904VNa61kPn6IaLAej0K6_DxDIIFfx9mpB0aEY-HnYaNXoqiBPhXxmtJlYA/s320/IMG_4325.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Method<br />
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1 - In a blender blitz the oats until you have oat flour<br />
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2 - Add the oat flour, protein powder and salt to a bowl and mix<br />
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3 - In a small saucepan heat the water and vita-fiber/agave nectar on a low heat<br />
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4 - Add the cashew butter and whisk to combine<br />
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5 - Pour the wet ingredients into the oat flour/protein powder<br />
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6 - Mix to combine, adding a small bit more water if you need to<br />
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7 - Chop up your chocolate chips into smaller chips. When the protein dough has cooled add the chocolate chips and fold in. I say fold because this dough is tough!! So don't be afraid, it's ok!<br />
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8 - Move to a food mat and knead the dough slightly until smooth. Roll out with a rolling pin to 1'<br />
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9 - Chop into bites and enjoy!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0ABB9ElgxjZ0XVGJSl2SDrpJzJAYXBz-zXd3nivCl23FdxQNriMuJjbwee9y6w4cQmvWkmkPRrEMDnr6Y8HMDNpgxHmOglL57hDr5x1eLID1ctuqowY-FG72hKl1FxlXuuFjN_mIbeQ/s1600/IMG_4336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0ABB9ElgxjZ0XVGJSl2SDrpJzJAYXBz-zXd3nivCl23FdxQNriMuJjbwee9y6w4cQmvWkmkPRrEMDnr6Y8HMDNpgxHmOglL57hDr5x1eLID1ctuqowY-FG72hKl1FxlXuuFjN_mIbeQ/s640/IMG_4336.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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These are so delicious and seriously, seriously simple. So please do try them. I will definitely be making them again.<br />
<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-49717174495852608722016-02-29T14:00:00.000-08:002016-03-21T07:11:56.230-07:00A visit to VegasThis past week we visited Las Vegas. It was amazing. My wonderful partner put us up in a suite on one of the top floors of the Cosmopolitan hotel. The room had a beautiful balcony with an amazing view, but don't believe me. Let me show you -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDVAGkgAjfITuX2O16Qq-xQHNjNbbq6qnsrGTw9G-s37c-fLcPXvpjp5X9_e8ceDpWvXHWFGRr1A0nQFVdX-LfetNiBs-beyyJeIp7Zpn7t7bFtzLBm9QM4wpwWpOZPSBC-NKhBO4ibA/s1600/IMAG0117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDVAGkgAjfITuX2O16Qq-xQHNjNbbq6qnsrGTw9G-s37c-fLcPXvpjp5X9_e8ceDpWvXHWFGRr1A0nQFVdX-LfetNiBs-beyyJeIp7Zpn7t7bFtzLBm9QM4wpwWpOZPSBC-NKhBO4ibA/s640/IMAG0117.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpkewLpk6TUPOQdD8c7CqBfvuirn7NSdb-SImgxvyOrHOTJOslc2g3PpxXYFTAIJEqdnsvqABghAS_-_Es738vdnBNjNhzJSsp1esUNH7GjMilThPKgKOIbDUQpmKYjCK2cq6KfCD0WQ/s1600/Night+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpkewLpk6TUPOQdD8c7CqBfvuirn7NSdb-SImgxvyOrHOTJOslc2g3PpxXYFTAIJEqdnsvqABghAS_-_Es738vdnBNjNhzJSsp1esUNH7GjMilThPKgKOIbDUQpmKYjCK2cq6KfCD0WQ/s640/Night+view.jpg" width="474" /></a></div>
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The trip was amazing but that's not what I am here to tell you about. I am here to tell you about a few little things that we brought back. So here are some of my favourite US purchases<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUN9IYrKp9RkzRUThc6aSR7J0zG70KrgKy-1JobFTRuKJC7EH_GdhHj5JJKSRB2rbDKP2KPk-ykUH9epumAEWwSAdqD3gbih-cdRGIv13wQlciHSamhVjjnzV-hZcJJuAKLJwmeJ6aLPc/s1600/IMG_4230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUN9IYrKp9RkzRUThc6aSR7J0zG70KrgKy-1JobFTRuKJC7EH_GdhHj5JJKSRB2rbDKP2KPk-ykUH9epumAEWwSAdqD3gbih-cdRGIv13wQlciHSamhVjjnzV-hZcJJuAKLJwmeJ6aLPc/s640/IMG_4230.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The Drop-Catch Magnetic Beer opener</b><br />
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This thing has been circling the blogosphere and pinterest for the last little while and it definitely caught my eye.<br />
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This ingenious device is magnetic on both sides, so the same thing that makes it stick to my freezer draws the bottle caps to it, quite artistically I might add and it makes for quite a fun party accessory.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKlzWN2EDWPz0KlOjcYkIR0cVnaWKLoyMPEzo5k_oHc32qpYpug8xwLzkVUN0bap20lf1nqe2ajqyNWPZ2LWbRoq5JkFXQRvwU3UB1I6p-rNNIFMZUPCQ-Ro6-6sJao9apH9dteEUjF-k/s1600/IMG_4234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKlzWN2EDWPz0KlOjcYkIR0cVnaWKLoyMPEzo5k_oHc32qpYpug8xwLzkVUN0bap20lf1nqe2ajqyNWPZ2LWbRoq5JkFXQRvwU3UB1I6p-rNNIFMZUPCQ-Ro6-6sJao9apH9dteEUjF-k/s640/IMG_4234.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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The second purchase was also for drinking but of the day time variety.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhCcIwNzQ8vKKBTmsAy51MHD7HiW1mCs4XmaQsNDJycjWdeqLj5UyUaZliB8mYDt2KkdoFxaf1DXSWdeFhS5X03qmK17phvJKmmI0olVZikPbomeKpRsY6qW3BW6DpC7a_emDnd1jvrs/s1600/IMG_4235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhCcIwNzQ8vKKBTmsAy51MHD7HiW1mCs4XmaQsNDJycjWdeqLj5UyUaZliB8mYDt2KkdoFxaf1DXSWdeFhS5X03qmK17phvJKmmI0olVZikPbomeKpRsY6qW3BW6DpC7a_emDnd1jvrs/s320/IMG_4235.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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<b>Teavana Contour Tumbler</b><br />
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When I lived in America I loved shopping in Teavana, so it was a must visit for me. There I picked up this beauty on sale and I would highly recommend it<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPzPGUAVfzjnuZey03-R-3h_ZcujUdHYi6bJJwT-01Xx85dMyDNt961FE1K9SNd5JpEUiANt_dOG6XJ1FCjwOEVYq4jUW6nP04LdjtLfhXUhkUN9ZcC7vXUjr-R_4LHzsu3eh4Wx7ZH7Y/s1600/IMG_4236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPzPGUAVfzjnuZey03-R-3h_ZcujUdHYi6bJJwT-01Xx85dMyDNt961FE1K9SNd5JpEUiANt_dOG6XJ1FCjwOEVYq4jUW6nP04LdjtLfhXUhkUN9ZcC7vXUjr-R_4LHzsu3eh4Wx7ZH7Y/s320/IMG_4236.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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This beautiful piece of tea-ware is not only a perfect colour but also a fantastic design.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPYwan2OA26Yu_gUPGjb5sB1PA2ztLBum5l9ueXBEPxrH3zZpSxspq14rJqwOM4n8oHkRC3e0dGY98iNpIsxsUR3PamflmVCOVo64tylHlDv6stKzfm4k5SiiBSkaCECDnk4He72JXa0/s1600/IMG_4238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPYwan2OA26Yu_gUPGjb5sB1PA2ztLBum5l9ueXBEPxrH3zZpSxspq14rJqwOM4n8oHkRC3e0dGY98iNpIsxsUR3PamflmVCOVo64tylHlDv6stKzfm4k5SiiBSkaCECDnk4He72JXa0/s400/IMG_4238.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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As you can see it breaks down into 4 parts.<br />
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1- a cover lid, that doubles as a drip holder for the tea strainer<br />
2 - a drinking lid<br />
3 - a tea strainer and<br />
4 - a vacuum sealed holder that stays cool to the touch while keeping your drink warm for 6 hours.<br />
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This is the perfect travel mug for having fresh tea any time of day. Of course it would mean putting the water in at 100' and using a tea that requires less than 100' as it undoubtedly loses at least a degree or two.<br />
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I also particularly like the any angle drinking lid<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Xbj2vTlFjB2jY4-wshng2JzVAu0SdCzzyzR2fFq8MFZc6fMPnaeQ6Mqrwz3_PhOmFyCszQz6kPBtAPT-q9vq5JohoZE5tkxNqwTME9XFCvjyPT_DFk5muhxp7V5j8spCDaJtOYmfqWI/s1600/IMG_4239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Xbj2vTlFjB2jY4-wshng2JzVAu0SdCzzyzR2fFq8MFZc6fMPnaeQ6Mqrwz3_PhOmFyCszQz6kPBtAPT-q9vq5JohoZE5tkxNqwTME9XFCvjyPT_DFk5muhxp7V5j8spCDaJtOYmfqWI/s400/IMG_4239.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now we move on to the edible items -<br />
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PB2<br />
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This stuff is fantastic!! Peanut butter with 85% less fat, it can be re-hydrated with water, or yoghurt to make a mouse. It can be used in baking and I will hopefully be posting some recipe ideas that I have already.<br />
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Next is this <b>Trader Joe's Ginger, Almond and Cashew Granola</b><br />
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This was a firm favourite of mine when I lived in Boston. Trader Joe's was one of my local markets and I miss it terribly on this side of the world. </div>
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This granola was and still is my favourite of theirs. They do not skimp on the nuts or ginger and it is so rare to find a ginger granola, even in ginger obsessed England. Although generally I have found that here they focus more on ginger as a flavour rather than the crystallized kind.</div>
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Another favourite granola - Nature's Path Hemp Plus Granola</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhMcmSFtyJCrPIDnw05CPm1ogNRLERaZ6ZnbMv8UrV9xCGgddNR9NsjTMhHp9CV6wchEqyVRmu0pmC6Au2D0tkpEcr9APoPh9TMdrfikcYfEqEmBjkfMYegGusBKhve4VKmCVszn6ltg/s1600/IMG_4247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhMcmSFtyJCrPIDnw05CPm1ogNRLERaZ6ZnbMv8UrV9xCGgddNR9NsjTMhHp9CV6wchEqyVRmu0pmC6Au2D0tkpEcr9APoPh9TMdrfikcYfEqEmBjkfMYegGusBKhve4VKmCVszn6ltg/s640/IMG_4247.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I love this granola and it is relatively low in sugar compared to many others. Nature's Path have distributed to the UK for several years now and I constantly ask them to bring over their Hemp Plus or Flax Plus Granolas without joy. Therefore, I brought over some of my own. I eagerly anticipate the day they see the light and sell these granolas on this side of the world.<br />
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Onwards to the increasingly less healthy -<br />
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Trader Joe's Chocolate Orange/Raspberry Sticks<br />
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These are not awful for you, they contain a decent amount of natural ingredients and no nasty chemicals or colours. However the first 3 ingredients are all sugar, so you know what you're getting yourself in for. That said - these are delicious. The chocolate orange sticks taste like everything that is good about Jaffa cakes and the raspberry works beautifully with the dark chocolate. I must be very self controlled with these lest I finish them too quickly. Thankfully the tubs come in health 510g sizes as standard, so I'll be ok for a while<br />
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And finally, for this list anyway, is my least healthy but most favourite candy -<br />
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M&Ms!! But not just any M&Ms<br />
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Almond M&Ms!!! These delicious candy's have the amazing excuse of containing a powerhouse of healthy eating, taking that delicious nut and covering it in processed chocolate, sugar, and artificial colourings and I friggin' love it!!<br />
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So that's my list for today. There are a few more items that we got in the states that I may share with you in the future and I will definitely have some recipes up including these and potentially those items but in the mean time. I hope you enjoyed this post and if you are living in the states I greatly envy you and recommend that you go to Trader Joe's and Teavana now, Now.....Are you there yet? ;)<br />
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Ok see you next week =)Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-85690696672158974492016-02-15T07:36:00.002-08:002016-03-21T07:12:10.688-07:00Healthy and happyThis week's recipe is super easy and I must admit that I am a little bit late on this bandwagon. However we tried this recently and I have to say, it was a revelation! It's so delicious and so so simple. It makes a meal feel so much healthier and when it's this little effort, well why not?! What is it??<br />
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Cauliflower Rice!!<br />
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Myself and the boyfriend do a take-away every friday as our little treat. It's lovely because at the end of the week cooking is the last thing that I want to do. My bf loves it because we eat healthy every other night of the week and it's nice to have a night off from stictly healthy eating. So you might think that adding a healthy part to our take-away would be frowned upon?! Nope! This tastes so good that it was embraced with open arms, and requested again with enthusiasm!<br />
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The technique is simple and you'll find a dozen recipes online but I have discovered a few little pointers that make sure that you have the most delicious cauliflower rice every time!!<br />
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The most important step is blanching the cauliflower before processing it. I saw an old episode of American Test Kitchen where they made cauliflower soup and emphasized the importance of blanching to remove the bitter taste. The first time I made cauliflower rice I actually included this step by accident - I started cooking the cauliflower normally and then realized that was wrong. However the accident turned into the perfect tip and when I make it without blanching it just does not taste as good. So it's definitely optional but I would highly recommend it!<br />
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<b>Cauliflower Rice</b><br />
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<u>Ingredients</u><br />
1 Cauliflower<br />
Boiling water<br />
Olive oil<br />
Onions (optional)<br />
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<u>Equipment </u>-<br />
Saucepan<br />
Colandar<br />
Food processor/nutribullet<br />
Frying pan<br />
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<u>Instructions</u><br />
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1- Chop up your cauliflower and bring some water to the boil in a saucepan<br />
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2- Put the cauliflower into the boiling water for just 1-2 minutes<br />
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3- Drain cauliflower and rinse with cold water to rapid cool<br />
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4 - Blitz the cauliflower for a few seconds, in small batches<br />
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5- Heat a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and onions if you wish<br />
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6- Fry the cauliflower for 3-4 minutes<br />
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7 - And serve instead of rice!! Done - delicious<br />
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So that's it! Next week we are travelling so there won't be a post but hopefully it will mean I have lots of lovely photos for the next week. Until then if you try my little tips let me know and if you have any little tips for healthy changes please comment!Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-33126123839716173572016-02-01T06:19:00.000-08:002016-03-21T07:12:29.194-07:00Melting middle Nutella CookiesIt's February, finally! The January blues were less intense this year because I feel good about 2016. However even a good January is a difficult month; Christmas is over but it is still cold, every form of media that just 2 weeks prior was telling me that I deserve a treat is now telling me that I am fat and worthless for eating treats and my only redemption is an extreme diet with the help of their weightloss program, or tablets, or juice; and finally this will start to ease up!<br />
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And so, in the spirit of this I have made you some delicious melting middle nutella cookies!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxsUfkolqGAH5R9cNC_gPM5_zn7xf0z-79RhyphenhyphenmoDt2THeJUFu_wap4HlXa2-Q4js1BJVEYsqCLejaX9h_tSirKKTP6BDBpqhQ6f_4QyfOjhmMESwQq_KxTg_2IXEiNtecowMzA8RZYVc/s1600/IMG_4196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxsUfkolqGAH5R9cNC_gPM5_zn7xf0z-79RhyphenhyphenmoDt2THeJUFu_wap4HlXa2-Q4js1BJVEYsqCLejaX9h_tSirKKTP6BDBpqhQ6f_4QyfOjhmMESwQq_KxTg_2IXEiNtecowMzA8RZYVc/s400/IMG_4196.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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These are just delicious, I realize that I make a few different cookies on the blog, like <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-almost-perfect-oatmeal-raisin.html">these</a>, <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/snow-flake-zimtsterne-preparing-for.html">these</a> or <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/secondly-cookies.html">these</a> but these have a melting center of nutella and they are pretty darn morish!! The actual cookies are based on the nutella cookies I made <a href="http://tvandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/normal-0-false-false-false-en-gb-x-none.html">here</a> but the gooey center makes all the difference. It's been cold here this week (on and off) so I will be honest with you. If it is cold you will need to microwave the cookies if they are room temperature in order to have a melting center. However even without the melting the nutella center is pretty scrumptious (can you tell I'm trying to find words other than delicious?!). Anyway on to the recipe...<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><u><b>Melting Middle Nutella Cookies</b></u></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">170g Butter</span><br />
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50g White Sugar</div>
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275g Muscovado Sugar</div>
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340g Bread Flour</div>
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1 tsp Salt</div>
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1 tsp Baking Soda</div>
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1 whole egg</div>
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1 egg yolk </div>
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2 tbsp Milk</div>
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1 tbsp Amaretto </div>
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100g chopped toasted hazelnuts</div>
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100g Dark chocolate chips</div>
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Frozen nutella</div>
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1. In a saucepan melt and cook your butter until it has browned</div>
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2. Meanwhile beat together the flour, salt and baking soda.</div>
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3. Pour the browned butter into a bowl and add the sugars, mix until fully incorporated</div>
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4. Add the eggs, milk and amaretto and beat again until fully combined.</div>
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5. Add the flour bit by bit and beat between additions. Mix to form a dark brown dough</div>
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6. Add the nuts and chocolate chips and mix once more to combine.</div>
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7. Now chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. When you take it out it should be quite dark.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;">8. Freeze the nutella in little blobs of about 1/2 tsp in size on a side plate</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;">9. Once your nutella has frozen and the cookie dough has chilled take a scoop of the dough and mould it around a frozen piece of nutella.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;">10. Place your cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;">11. Remove from the oven and press down with the back of a spatula before they cool.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;">Then just try not to completely undo all your good work from January but even if you do....you will thank me ;)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfbf5; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003043965578745398.post-8134205758520096062016-01-25T09:16:00.000-08:002016-03-21T07:12:47.182-07:00Irish Brown Soda Bread (Vegan)You may have noticed that a few of my post here are vegan. This is partially to be inclusive but also because in my family we have a vegan, a vegetarian, someone who is lactose free and a person who for various reasons avoids taking lots of milk. So making recipes that suit these requirements is fun and gives me options when baking for others. It is not always simple and I cannot tell you how many recipes I have started adapting only to realize that it just will not work. This Christmas when I was home we were talking about Irish soda bread and how most of the recipes, including mine, contains milk. So this January I have been working on a Vegan version of my previous recipe and I have to tel you I am very pleased with the outcome.<br />
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Vegan Soda Bread</div>
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350g Whole grain flour</div>
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200g Strong white flour</div>
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1 tbsp bread soda</div>
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1 tsp salt</div>
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8-10 tbsp seeds of choice (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax, poppy) save some for top</div>
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500ml almond milk (try to find a salt-free kind)</div>
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1 tbsp lemon juice (compared to 1 tsp in normal bread)</div>
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75ml water</div>
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1-3 tbsp molasses</div>
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1. Mix the lemon juice into the almond milk</div>
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2. Mix together the flours, bread soda, salt and seeds.</div>
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3. Add the mollases and almond milk into the flours and mix.</div>
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4. The mixture will be on the dry side, add water bit by bit until the mixture is more like a cake mix than a thick bread dough</div>
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It tastes almost exactly like the soda bread with milk and it is absolutely delicious with dairy free butter and jam!!</div>
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15017562607534916194noreply@blogger.com0