Savoury Bready Cups

A wee recipe I adapted from Sophie Gray "Delicious"

6 slices of bread with the crusts removed
Tomato paste
any toppings you like (I used ham, tomato, pineapple and cheese)
egg and milk

roll your slice of bread with a rolling pin, spread with tomato paste and pop into a muffin pan, one  per slice.
mix your egg and milk in a little jug with salt and pepper
top with your chosen toppings
pour over your egg mixture and top with cheese
bake in the oven for 15 mins
eat :)

I made this for Bridget and I to eat for lunch today, they were scrummy! Three each was just right :)

have a go for yourself!

-Leah x

Lemony Lemonade

My home-made lemonade!

When the weather is hot hot hot like it was today, I like to make bottles of icy cold home-made lemonade!

 here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

(this recipe makes roughly 3 litres of lemonade)

1 - 1&1/2 cups white sugar (depending on how tart/sweet you like your lemo-nard)

6 medium lemons

3 litres of cold water

ice

Juice the lemons, making sure to remove the pips from the juice.

Stir the lemon juice, sugar, and water in a large jug until the sugar is entirely dissolved.

Garnish with ice.

Boom.

- Bridget

Candy Cane Hot Chocolates

Another late post, but a good one!
This recipe doubles as a gift idea too - win!

- Bridget

• 1 cup powdered milk
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips/ smashed plain chocolate of your choice
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy canes
• 
  
• Layer powdered milk, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, chocolate , and peppermint candy canes

Note:

This mix will fill a 1-quart jar (12 servings/ 4 cups), but if your containers are different sizes, just keep the ratio of ingredients constant. On the back of the tag, write: "Mix contents in a large bowl. For each serving, place 1/3 cup cocoa mix in a mug and stir in 1 cup boiling water. Store remaining mix in airtight container."



(this is an adapted version of THIS RECIPE)

Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes

Hello Hello!

Here we are once more, this time getting amongst a rather unusual tasty treat!
PUMPKIN.PIE.MILK.SHAKES.
Oh yes.

This recipe is inspired by THIS RECIPE by Elsie.

First and foremost you are going to need to learn to make pumpkin pie!
This is a secret recipe I am about to bestow upon you, beware, people fall in love this pie.



PUMPKIN PIE:

(This recipe makes enough for two large pies!)

(and yes for this you best make two whole pies)

1 Cup evaporated milk
1 Cup brown sugar (white works if you dont have any!)
1 small pumpkin or half a large pumpkin or even a quarter of a large pumpkin
2 eggs
2 recipes worth of sweet short pastry, or alternately 2 packets of sweet short store pastry
4 teaspoons nutmeg (or to taste)
3 teaspoons cinnamon (or to taste)

oil

First - skin, and chop the pumpkin into small cubes, drizzle with a little oil, and toss with the spices.
Put onto a baking tray and spread out evenly, bake at 180C until the pumpkin is tender.
You may need to give the pumpkin a wee turn half way through cooking.

Second: While your pumpkin is cooking, prepare your pastry, either make the pastry yourself and line two large round pie dishes, or use the store bought kind.
Blind bake the pie crusts until they are just starting to set, remove from oven.

Third: Once the pumpkin is ready, mash it the best you can and set aside.

Fourth: In a bowl, whisk the evaporated milk and eggs.
Add the pumpkin to this and stir.
Either whizz this mix with a hand whizz until smooth, or pop it into a food processor until smooth and lump free.

Fifth: Mix the sugar into the pumpkin mixture (to taste) until well combined.

Sixth: Pour the pumpkin mixture evenly between your two pie crusts and pop them into the oven again at 150C to bake.
You basically bake them for 25 minutes, or until the filling is set (you'll be able to tell its ready by giving it a gentle jiggle - if it wobbles it probably needs a little longer. You want a firm filling).

VOILA! PIE!
Now the reason you needed 2 pies and not one?
Because one is for milkshakes! The other? Whatever you please....

PUMPKIN PIE MILKSHAKES:

1 cup milk (per person)
1 scoop vanilla icecream (per person)
1 slice of pumpkin pie (per person)

Blend them.
Simple.
Make sure you get all the lumps out!

Pour into a tall glass and top with another scoop of icecream!
Yum yum yum!

- Bridge

Gingerbread Lattes

Well hello there!

Today I am going to share a nifty little recipe for Gingerbread Lattes! So delicious :D

Gingerbread lattes are crazy easy to make and would be a nice gift for that friend who enjoys hot drinks. We made Gingerbread coffees and a Gingerbread hot chocolate for Jaimee, the only non-caffeine-addicted flattie here in the Little House.

So you will need these things

2 cups water

1-1 1/2 cups of sugar, depending on how sweet you want it

(I used a mixture of raw and white sugar for that yummy dark colour)

2 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla essence, or extract
(This makes about 500ml of syrup)

All you need to do is combine these ingredients in a saucepan and boil for about 15 minutes.

And you have your syrup!

To give your syrup as a gift, put it in a nice glass bottle. I save glass bottles that look nice, wash them and remove their labels. 

Make a little label for it

and you are ready to give it away to that special someone :-)

I didn't give this one away though, we simply had to try it ourselves!

One shot of gingerbread syrup with some coffee and some warm milk is a delicious treat!
We don't have a milk steamer, so I warmed the milk in the microwave and shook it up in a jar to get a little fluffiness

Sprinkle a little nutmeg on the top and serve!
If you usually take sugar in your coffee, chances are you won't need it this time, gingerbread syrup is all the sweetness you'll need.

If you aren't a coffee drinker, gingerbread syrup is just as tasty with some hot chocolate.

Give it a try for a little Christmas spice and yumminess!

Leah x

Stained Glass Window Cookies

Today's recipe is an old reliable one - basically you combined boiled sweets and sugar cookies.

Here is the recipe we used for the cookies:

"Makes about 20 

200 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
280 g caster sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
400 g plain flour
a pinch of salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
shaped biscuit cutters
2 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.

2. Put the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. 

3. Add the flour, salt and cream of tartar and mix well, but don’t overmix. The dough should be light, soft and easy to handle.

4. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Cut out shapes with your choice of biscuit cutters. "

- Hummingbird cafe's Sugar Cookie recipe (http://ireland-guide.com/recipes/sugar_cookies.8169.html)

Basically I followed this and I have taken out what I didnt use from the original (you can see the original by clicking the link)

Once I had cut out Christmas trees from the dough, I used a smaller cutter to make holes to create the stained glass parts of the cookies.

You can also use a chopstick to make a hole for threading them onto string to use as tree ornaments!

Put the cookies on the trays.

Jaimee bashed some boiled sweets until they were in tiny bits, and we divided them into separate colours,

then filled the holes in the cookies with the smashed sweets (make sure to put plenty in!)

Bake the cookies until golden and the sweets are melted.

Leave the cookies on the trays to cool entirely as the sweets will be really soft!

yay!

- Bridget

Vege Melts

So I made these a while back for a simple dinner idea. They went down a treat!

Ingredients:

1 x Eggplant
3 x Courgettes
3 Medium tomatoes
1 x Red onion
1 x Capsicum
1 x spring of spring onion (chopped)
1x Loaf of bread
1 Tblsp garlic (chopped finely)
50g Butter/ Margarine
Mixed herbs
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
Salt and Pepper


Lets get this show on the road...

For this meal I used a heavier bread, full of grains and other good stuff.
Make sure to choose a loaf big enough for each person to have a slice and a half.

First is the laborious task of nicely slicing your vegetables.
Slice the onions into thin rings, and the capsicum into 1cm (ish) thick  slices.

Chop off the ends of your courgettes, and slice them length ways, again around 1 cm thick.

Chop off the spikey end of your eggplant, and slice it length ways, one more time now - 1 cm thick (issssshhhhh).
Pop the eggplant onto a baking sheet and rub a little oil over them.

Slice your tomatoes, you get the idea on how thick by now.
Ive emphasised the thickness as it insures everything cooks evenly...see...clever!

Pop the courgettes, and capsicums on a baking sheet of their very own.
And head them into a 180C oven, along with the eggplant, for around 20 minutes, or until just turning goldeny roastiery...

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a frypan.

Cook your onions, try to maintain their circles by cooking them flat. Set aside.

Do the same for the tomatoes. Set aside.

Slice your bread.

Combine the butter/marg, garlic, and herbs.

Spread the butter mix on one side of each slice of bread.

ASSEMBLAGE TIME!!!

First the eggplant...

Then the courgettes...

Then the matos...

Then the prince caspians...

Then the onions...

Then the cheese...and a little salt and pepper...

Bake them on  baking sheet at 180C until the bread is just starting to toast, and the cheese is bubbling.

Top with a little chopped spring onion and enjoy!


- Bridget