Anything for hungry relatives

I am partial to a bit of Facebook now and again and I'm even more partial to relatives. I'm definitely partial to cooking, so when I get a chance to mix all three I jump up and down with delight!

This all came about whilst perusing Facebook this morning and noting that one of my adorable relatives was hankering for a brownie, What can be more yummy than some brownies and a nice steaming cup of something hot, be it coffee, tea or cocoa?

I've trawled my memory banks for the best brownie recipe I could find so jump into your favourite chair, with a duvet and a book, and strategically place those brownies and drink within reach, Ah blissss.................

Heavenly Brownies

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional)


1. Heat oven to 350°F or gas mark 4. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well . Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts, if desired. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

About 16 brownies.

The Venerable Carrot

Vegetables. I have a hard time trying to get excited about most things let alone vegetables. I think most people are the same. I never ate them when I was a kid and apart from a brief love affair I had with broccoli once, I don't head straight for the salad if I have a choice. I spent many years, with some degree of success, craftily hiding and incorporating vegetables into my children's diets so that they would actually like them. I won that battle hands down.

Which brings me to the carrot. Not a bad veg really but hard come up with anything exciting to say about it or to do with it. Until I came across the following recipe in the BBC Good Food Magazine. It is well worth falling in love with carrots for this one and I promise you that this will be a recipe you make over and over as there will never be any left.

Ingredients

175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
100g raisins
grated zest of 1 large orange
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg

FOR THE FROSTING
175g icing sugar
1½-2 tbsp orange juice

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
• Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.
• Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients until evenly blended. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point.)
• Beat together the frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth - you want the icing about a bit runny. Set the cake on a serving plate and drizzle the icing back and forth in diagonal lines over the top, letting it drip down the sides.

I'm tempted to try a cream cheese frosting for this. Just mix cream cheese with icing sugar and spread on cake.

Let's get Started

Let's get started right away!



Having been born in the country that celebrates Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November, I have fond memories of roast turkey, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. After feasting we would doze in the livng room with one eye on the telly watching the Cowboys play the Indians and the other closed in slumber.



However, bringing my children up in another country posed no problem. My little half American sweeties would always look forward to me replicating this wonderful family feast. We couldn't always get a turkey so a variation of turkey anything would do.



Here are some recipes for you to try where ever you may be.


TANGY GLAZED TURKEY MEATLOAF

1 lb. ground turkey
1/4 c. bread crumbs or medium matzo meal
1 sm. onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tspn dried basil
2 tbsp. Ketchup (or 2 tbsp. sweet chili sauce)
1 egg beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all meat loaf ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and pat into small loaf pan. Bake at 180C or or Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes.

GLAZE: (optional)
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 c. Ketchup
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix glaze ingredients and spoon over meatloaf. Bake 20 minutes longer.

ROAST SWEET POTATO WEDGES
4 big sweet potatos
2 tablespoons oil

Heat oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Toss the potatoes with the oil and cook in the oven for 35 mins until lightly charred, then season with a little salt.

BROCCOLI WITH CASHEWS

fresh broccoli
1 red onion
2 tbsp mayo
1 tspn caster sugar
1 tspn lemon juice
handful of salted cashews

Steam the brocci for 5 mins, then rinse under cold water. This helps retain the greeness. Let cool. Slice the red onion into thin slices.Meanwhile mix the mayo, sugar and lemon juice to form a dressing. Toss the onions into the broci and then add the sauce and mix gently but well.

Pumpkin Muffins

Tired of pie? Try this instead

3 cups caster sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn cinnamon
2.3 cup water
2 cups cooked pumpkin
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tspn ground ginger
2 tspn bicarb of soda
1 1/2 tspn vanilla
2 cups chopped walnuts or raisins

Mix together sugar, oil, eggs, salt cinnamon, water and pumpkin 'til well blended. Add remaining ingredients and mix thouroughly. Pour into muffin cases and bake for 15-20 mins at 180c or gas mark 4. Makes 30.

Welcome Food Fanatics

Welcome Food Fanatics. It's a cold and wet November day and I am where I always am - staring out the office window thinking about what I'm going to cook tonite. These thoughts permeate most days and nights for me. I don't just like to cook - I love to cook - I live to cook - it's my passion. I spend mst of my precious spare time trawling for recipes that will delight my family and friends. I don't pretend to be a 4 star Michelin chef; I don't try to do anything over the top and fancy; I just want to prepare homemade, nutritious food.



Cooking is a love that has been handed down to me through the generations. I have wonderful memories of watching my grandparents spending whole days doing nothing but cooking. Filling up their freezer in anticipation for those long Pennsylvania winters. Their kitchen was redolent with the smell of soups, stews, baked fish, biscuits and cakes. My mother as well taught me the joys of cooking as well as catering.



Through the years my travels have taught me a range of techniques and variations. I have gone through Jewish, Pennsylvania Dutch, West Indian, Chinese, Asian. I'll have a go at anything and everything and my particular strongpoint is baking.



So welcome to Cooking my way to Paradise. Enjoy!