What I Ate

What I ate

The Food

• Porridge made by Thomas with almonds, dried apricots, sunflower seeds and raisins.
• Mandarins.
• Pizza with broccoli, pesto, cheddar, mozzarella, feta and oregano.
• Mandarins.
• Roasted pumpkin, potatoes and leek stuffing topped with feta.

It’s been a bit of a cheesy day today.

The Calories

There is a total of 1405 calories in these photos which is 65% of the days calorie allowance (Allowance changes daily depending on amount of exercise).

Broccoli, Leek and Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 1 heads of broccoli, cleaned and chopped
• 1 large leek, cleaned and sliced
• 4 Medium Potatoes, cubed.
• 5 cups of vegetable stock
• butter or olive oil
• garlic, rosemary and thyme to taste.
• 2 tablespons of cream cheese/sour cream

In a large soup pot saute the leeks in the butter or olive oil, seasoning with garlic and herbs.
Meanwhile, boil the vegetable stock. Then add broccoli, leeks and potatoes, bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes (until potato cubes are cooked).

Stir in cream cheese/sour cream just before serving.

note:

We had cream cheese in the house so we used that. Normally we’d use sour cream.

Cake! Candy!

I want to go to an adult candy shop.

Or help eat a cake that looks like and is the size of a car. More pictures

I also want to increase my live span (or health span which seems to be the current buzz term). The best bet for doing this appears to be calorie restriction.

I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

What the World Eats

There is a great series of photos by Peter Menzel, Faith D’Aluisio for their book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.

You can see 12 of them here

They are well worth a browse. I found it fascinating trying to guess the countries by the food and the people.

Herb and Mushroom Quiche

Self-crusting Herb and Mushroom Quiche

• 2 medium sized onions
• 2 tablespoons oil or butter
• 200g mushrooms
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• Black pepper to taste
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup sour cream
• ¾ cup milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup self-raising flour
• ½ cup grated tasty cheese

Slice onions finely. Sauté in the oil or butter, when soft add the mushrooms and cook until these soften too. Add the basil, thyme and black pepper, and then remove from the heat and leave to stand while preparing the egg mixture.

In a medium-sized bowl lightly beat together the eggs, sour cream, milk and salt. Sprinkle the flour over this mixture and stir just enough to combine, and then add the grated cheese, again stirring just enough to mix.

Butter a 25-30cm flan or pie dish. Tip in the onion and mushroom mixture, and spread it evenly over the bottom, then pour the batter evenly over this.

Bake at 220C foe 20-30 minutes, until light brown and firm in the centre. Cool for 10-15 minutes before turning out.

Serve with fresh tomatoes and a green salad.

Cupcakes

I made cupcakes. They didn’t turn out as well as they should have because I forgot to put the little paper containers inside a proper muffin tin so they kind of went a bit long and flat.

I’ve made marvelous cupcakes with this recipe before though so I thought I’d share it anyway.

Cupcakes

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 150grams unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate, larger bowl, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition.

5. In a small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla.

6. To the butter mixture, add about one quarter of the flour mixture and mix well. Add about one quarter of the milk mixture and mix well. Continue alternating the flour mixture and milk mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.

7. Pour the batter into the cupcake tins. (and put these inside a supporting muffin tin!!) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cake springs back when touched.

8. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn the cupcakes out of the tins and onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

Makes approximately 14-18 cupcakes.

Potato, Kidney bean, Carrot, Corn and Leek Patty

Thomas is in raptures over this one, he has even offered to share the burger making crown.

Hamburgers with Potato, Kidney bean, Carrot, Corn and Leek Patty

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup canned kidney beans
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 leek, sliced
• 3 potatoes, grated
• 1 cup corn
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

PREPARATION:

Mash the beans with a fork or a potato masher. Add the remaining ingredients, except the oil and mix until well combined.
Shape the mixture into patties.

Heat about two tablespoons of olive oil and cook each patty at a medium/high until the veggie burgers are done, about 3 minutes on each side.

Serve on nice soft white rolls (toasted) with lettuce, tomato, mustard, tomato sauce and feta dressing.

I changed the recipe around a bit to fit in with what we had in our cupboard, The original recipe can be found here:

Veggie Burger Recipes

Carrot Cake

I found this recipe on the Food Network. I changed a couple of things and added a cream cheese icing. For surely, a carrot cake without cream cheese icing isn’t a carrot cake..

Carrot Cake

• 2 1/2 cups grated carrot
• 1 1/2 cups walnut pieces
• 1 cup chopped pineapple, fresh or canned
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the carrots, walnuts, pineapple and raisins with 1/2 cup of the flour to coat them and keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake batter.

Sift together the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.

In a mixer with a whip attachment, mix the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (the “ribbon” stage) then drizzle in the vegetable oil. Fold in the dry ingredients and pour over the carrot mixture. Fold carefully to blend, then pour the batter into a buttered, floured 10 by 3-inch cake pan containing a circle of parchment paper in the bottom. Bake until firm to the touch in the center, about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let cool on a rack and then turn out. Dust the top with powdered sugar and cut into wedges to serve. (or use Cream Cheese Icing).

Cream Cheese Icing

• 2 pkg. (3 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 3 tbsp. cream
• 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp.salt
• 1 lb. confectioners sugar
• Lemon (optional)

Beat together cream cheese and cream; stir in vanilla. Beat 5 to 7 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add salt and sugar, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition

Chocolate Cake

This is an excellent chocolate cake recipe when you want a tasty chocolate cake that doesn’t go overboard with sweetness++

Mrs Doran’s Chocolate Cake

• 100gm butter
• 2 dessert spoons of golden syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 2 table spoons of Cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Melt: 100gm butter, 2 dsp golden syrup, 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup milk.

Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add 1+1/2 cups flour, 2 tbsp cocoa and vanilla essence.
Dissolve 1 tsp baking soda in 1/2 cup warm milk. Add to the rest of the ingredients. Pour into tin.

Bake for 30mins (maybe more) at 180deg.

Ice with chocolate icing.