Lemon & Coconut cupcakes

This is a gorgeous fresh zingy lemony recipe for buns perfect for afternoon tea or bring them when visiting friends.

I've used Gluten Free flours today but can easily work the same with other flours.
I have stated before, i do not need my food Gluten free but over the past few years have baked and cooked quite a bit experimenting with Gluten Free recipes and dishes.  Personally, Gluten free products help me to enjoy some of my favourite dishes without all that bloating, heaviness and discomfort.

On a separate note, I have an intolerance to Yeast.  So, Anything with yeast in it, like breads, sauces etc etc, gives me symptoms such as stomach cramps & bloating; tiredness; cravings for sugar and many more.  Also any sugary foods, as it fuels the growth of yeast in the body.

Bake to my lemon cupcakes!
I'm using a simple cupcake recipe that i always use for cupcakes.  I also use it for cakes.
It's easy to whip together and the simple ingredient list will you will know very quickly, so you won't even need to pull the recipe out to read after a while!

TOP TIP:
Always take the butter out of the fridge well in advance so it is soft at room temperature when you start baking.  It will need to be this soft consistency for baking your buns.

This recipe will make 12 small cup cakes or 6 big ones (or squeeze 8 out of it like i've done today)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Line cupcake tins with cases.
2. In a mixer beat your softened 125g BUTTER with 125g CASTER SUGAR until light and fluffy.  Add in 1/2 the zest of 1 full LEMON saving the other half for icing. 
   
3. Alternating the eggs and the flour, gradually add the 2 EGGS and 150G SELF RAISING FLOUR with 1/4 TSP BAKING POWDER.
   
4. Once batter is well combined and smooth and light, mix in a drop of VANILLA EXTRACT and 1 TBSP desiccated COCONUT.
   
5. Divide mix between the bun cases and bake in pre heated oven for approximately 10-12 minutes until cake skewer inserted into middle of buns, comes out clean/dry.  Cool on wire rack before adding icing to them.
   
6. To make the lemon icing, beat 75g of soft BUTTER and gradually beat in up to 175g ICING SUGAR.  Mix in the JUICE of half a LEMON and the remaining zest.  It should be easily spreadable - you may need to add more/less icing sugar and a little water if it requires more liquid. 
   
7. Ice your fresh lemon cupcakes and sprinkle a little lemon zest on top for decoration.

Delicious - zingy - fresh !

Homemade BEEF BURGERS

It's Friday Treat!
And for me, it's homemade Burgers & homemade chips.

When i cook burgers, as they are looooved in our house, i always use pork mince as i find it lighter and that bit healthier. But today is a treat, so its juicy beef !!

I had a busy day, so i prepared the burgers last night and chilled them overnight in the fridge.
All that was left today for me to do was cook them & bake some honemade chips!

If you are cooking them straight away, firm the burgers for about an hour in the fridge.
Remember to bring back to room temp before cooking them by taking them out of the fridge about 30 mins before cooking.

To prepare the burgers:
1. Season BEEF MINCE with: SEA SALT; BLACK PEPPER; YELLOW AROMAT; CRUSHED GARLIC; PARSLEY & TOMATO PUREE. Combine with 1 EGG.
2. Divide into 4 and shape into balls. Place them on greaseproof paper on a plate and flatten down slightly to shape.

To cook simply fry on each side for about 7 mins and finish cooking the burgers through, in a 180 degree oven for about 15 mins.

Serve with toastedbun of choice, yummy homemade chips or wedges and a juicy salad.

Happy Weekend!

SCRAMBLED SATURDAY!

Good Morning Easy Peasers!

This morning is a lazy one....but it's Saturday so that's ok!

But there's nothing lazy about my breakfast that i just had......
.....MIXED SCRAMBLED EGG

I'm using leftover avocado salad i made the other day, but without the lettuce.
Nothing worse than soggy warm lettuce i think!

My only critic is i placed the scrambled egg on my toast, which i don't normally do as i hate soggy toast too!  Soggy anything is just not good!!
I usually place the egg on a plate and some toast on the side.
But however, the scrambled was super yummy and super easy to prepare:
(made 1 big portion for me - could divide for 2 small portion sizes)


Whisk 2 EGGS in a bowl with a seasoning of SALT & BLACK PEPPER and a splash of MILK.  Add in the mixed leftover avocado salad (diced avocado/peppers/tomato/spring onion/cucumber)

Add a knob of BUTTER to a saucepan over low to medium heat.

Once butter is melted, tip in your egg mix.  Give it a stir every so often to break up the egg and making sure not to stick to base.

Once all the liquid gone, your scrambled egg is ready.  Serve with yummy warm bread toast of choice.  Today i have a chia and sunflower seed bread.

Tip: to make a delicious scramble, use a frying pan/sauce pan..... do not attempt to revert to the ole microwave!!  Although the microwave is great for fast and easy kids scramble when you're in a hurry, doing your scramble in a pan is deliciously fresh.

Have a great weekend guys xx

Tomato Coconut Chicken

A yummy creamy tomato sauce and chicken with basmati rice for dinner.  

It's very simple and easy to make, so here's how i did it:

1. Brown the seasoned (salt/pepper/chicken spices/all spice) cubed CHICKEN in some fry lite, in a skillet over medium to high heat.  Remove the chicken pieces with a spotted spoon.
2. Add thickly chopped ONION and GARLIC to the pot juices and cook over low to medium heat to soften slightly.
3. Return chicken to pot, return heat to medium high and add in 1 1/4cup chopped TOMATOES; 1 cup light COCONUT MILK and 1 cup of CHICKEN STOCK. Add a little more seasoning of sea salt.
4. Bring pot to boil and turn heat down to simmer for about 20 minutes.
   Always remember to taste taste for flavour/seasoning. 
5. Serve with basmati rice and a garnishing of parsley.

Iced sweet bread fingers

I'm visiting friends this evening.  I've just made these yummy sweet breads with icing on top.  Great for a sweet breakfast or for a treat with a cuppa.  

The bread recipe is a white bread mix with caster sugar added in.

Making and kneading the dough stage is the longest part and of course letting time for them to rise.  Baking only takes about 10 minutes.  And once cooled, your icing is a matter of minutes.

You can make these in advance for a tea party or when you know you are going to be visiting.  You can just ice them then the next morning.
Or, you can freeze them un-iced until when you want them.

It's always good to have a press/cupboard stocked up and this is the reason i always have mine stocked.  You can make something up then at a moments notice.

These would be also perfect maybe with some hazelnut spread in the centre or chocolate coating on top.  Or simply left plain with a little butter.......

Note: Kneading is a very important stage of any yeast bread making, to get that yeast and sugar working. Don't be lazy!

Here's how i made them:

1. Sift 250g plain flour and 250g strong bread flour into a large bowl.  Add 1x 7g sachet dried yeast and 1tsp salt and stir to combine.  Make a well in the centre.  To this you will add your mix of 50g softenend butter; 1 egg beaten; 30g caster sugar and 100ml milk.  Stir to combine gradually adding 175g tepid water until the dough is soft and sticky.
2. Turn the dough out onto a floured clean surface.  Knead dough for 10 minutes.  Leave the dough in lightly greased bowl with a clean t-towel over it and let it sit in a warm place for about 1 hour, to rise or double in size.
3. Knock back (literally turn the dough out onto floured surface again and punch the dough!) the dough and divide it into 14 pieces.  Roll each piece into long finger light rolls approx 12-14cm long and leave on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper, for another 30 minutes, or doubled in size.  Leave enough space between each roll to rise. 
4. Preheat oven to 180degrees for a fan oven (200degrees otherwise).  Bake for 8-10 minutes then or until lightly brown. Leave to cool.
5. For the icing, sift 250g icing sugar into a large bowl. Add 2tbsp water and mix.  (I had plenty in this and did not need to add more water.  It should be quick thick that it doesn't drip but spreadable enough too).  Divide mix into 3.
   You will now make pink icing (using red colouring) and yellow icing (using yellow colouring) or of course any other colours you choose.  As it's Easter very soon, i chose yellow, pink and white.
   To add the colouring: take a tooth pick, dip into the colouring you want, put the tooth pick into the into icing mix and mix.  You can always add another drop if it's not dark enough, but you cannot take away!  So, start this way and build up.  But i found just 2-3 dips into the colouring was enough.
6. Spoon the icing over the fingers and decorate with sprinkles of choice.  Leave to set on your lined baking trays again.  And......Enjoy!
   

Operation Christmas Pudding !

I've made my Christmas cake a couple of weeks ago.  I like that it matures that little longer while i feed it booze every couple of days !
I've left my pudding a bit late this year.  However i'm on it!

(Recipes for both my Christmas cake and Christmas pudding are posted previously here http://thatseasypeasy.blogspot.com/2014/11/christmas-prep-xmas-cake-pudding.html )

So, the other night i combined my ingredients for the pudding and let it sit overnight.

Fruit and flour mix       Important ingredient!   Ready to rest overnight

Today, i am steaming them.  I have made one for a 2pt pudding bowl (which my recipe caters for) and i used up the leftover Guinness and made a smaller pudding.
It will take 6 hours but as we have a range, so it's great that the electricity is not on for 6 hours and i can leave them sit steaming away and not be too worried about them.  Win win !

Here's a picture step by step for preparing for steaming:

    

Again, preparing the pots is crucial.
(all details in the previous Christmas baking posts.)

I love the smell around the house.  I had a sneaky taste of the mix and it's fab!
Now, just to pass 6 hours........

Avocado & tomato salad

I used Jamie Oliver's recipe to get an idea for an avocado salad.  

Avocados are one of those things.....i buy them with the best intentions but always struggle to figure out how I'm going to prepare it.  Then, it is left sitting lonely in the fruit bowl and eventually thrown out!  

I have made guacamole before with some fresh limes and fresh coriander.  

So, today i made this little salad for my lunch (I made just enough for one serving):

1. For the dressing i combined 2 TSP DIJON MUSTARD; 1 TSP RICE WINE VINEGAR; 1TSP LEMON JUICE; SEASONING OF OREGANO; WHITE PEPPER & SALT.
2. Once combined, i whisked in about 2 TBSP OLIVE OIL. And drizzled over the salad. 
3. The salad consisted simply of CHOPPED AVOCADO; TOMATO & BABY GEM LETTUCE.
4. Crack some black pepper over and enjoy.