I’d received a free recipe calendar with one of the diet magazines I bought at the start of the year, with every month having a new recipe. The calendar has been hanging in my kitchen, but I’d ignored January’s recipe as it was a beef stew – something I already knew how to make.
February’s recipe was entitled Cheesy Potato and Broccoli Bake and the picture looked delicious! After admiring it since the beginning of the month, I decided to make it for dinner on Tuesday night. Whilst the picture on the calendar looked great, I wasn’t convinced I was going to love the recipe, as I’m not a huge fan of vegetarian food, but I was completely wrong.
The recipe consisted of some cubed and boiled potatoes, par-boiled broccoli florets, cherry tomatoes, onion and peas stir-fried together. These were put in a casserole dish. I then made the ‘bake’ mixture by mixing together some eggs, quark, crushed garlic and dried chilli flakes, then poured this over the stir-fried veggies. Finally this was topped with a little grated cheddar cheese, and baked in the oven.
The end result was something like a quiche, without the pastry, and I was really amazed at how well all the flavours came together, and how tasty the whole thing was. There was also plenty of leftovers for another night’s dinner.
This has actually been one of my favourite recipes that I’ve tried so far this year, and has really showed me that I do need to try completely new things, even when I’m not convinced I’m going to enjoy them.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Week Seven - Millionaire Shortbread
I had decided that for Valentine's day this year, I would bake my boyfriend something. I asked him in advance what he wanted, and whilst he gave me a list of different kind of cakes he enjoys I couldn't find a recipe that I liked for any of them, and so decided to go with my gut instinct and try out making some millionaire shortbread. It also meant I had the chance to surprise him!
The recipe came from my £1 Chocolate Recipes book again. Making the shortbread base was simple, as was the melted chocolate topping. The trouble came from the caramel part. Despite following all the instructions, it burnt slightly, and wouldn't thicken up as much as I'd hoped, however after a quick taste I decided to try it out anyway.
The results weren't bad. As I'd suspected, the caramel had been too runny, which meant that when I cut the millionaire shortbread up into squares, the caramel was oozing everywhere, and the whole thing looked a bit of a mess. However, it tasted good - and my boyfriend really enjoyed it, which was the main point for this week's recipe.
The recipe came from my £1 Chocolate Recipes book again. Making the shortbread base was simple, as was the melted chocolate topping. The trouble came from the caramel part. Despite following all the instructions, it burnt slightly, and wouldn't thicken up as much as I'd hoped, however after a quick taste I decided to try it out anyway.
The results weren't bad. As I'd suspected, the caramel had been too runny, which meant that when I cut the millionaire shortbread up into squares, the caramel was oozing everywhere, and the whole thing looked a bit of a mess. However, it tasted good - and my boyfriend really enjoyed it, which was the main point for this week's recipe.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Week Six - Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake
At the start of the year, one of my friends decided to start up a baking club, where we all go round to each others' houses and teach everyone new recipes. As well as being a fun idea, it also seemed to fit in well with my resolution!
The first meeting was last Friday, and to kick things off we were all tasked with making a Chocolate Cheesecake. I'd made Chocolate Cheesecake once before, but it was a diet recipe, and didn't really turn out too well. This time I decided to forget about the calories, but only make a small amount so that there wasn't lots of leftovers for me to eat afterwards!
I knew I wanted a new recipe for it, but on doing a quick google search there seemed to be a lot of options out there, although none of the ones I looked at really grabbed me. I had a bit of a think about what I wanted to do, and liked the idea of doing some sort of marbled milk and white chocolate version, but couldn't find a recipe. However, when I was buying my £1 cookbooks the weekend before last, I found a chocolate recipe book, and in it was the exact thing I was looking for a no bake marbled chocolate cheesecake!
Aside from forgetting to buy caster sugar, and having to leave work early on Friday so that I could get home early to make and set the cheesecake before heading to the baking club, it was very easy to make - a standard digestive/ butter mix for the base, and then philadelphia, cream, sugar and chocolate for the toppings. I made 2 bowls of chocolate topping - one white, one milk, and then just spooned them on to my base one over the other, before swirling everything together with a knife. Simple!
There were four of us at the baking club who had made cheesecakes, and all of them were totally different. As well as mine we had cheesecake cupcakes, a more traditional baked chocolate cheesecake and a chocolate orange cheesecake with a pastry style base. All were delicious! We had a bit of a competition to pick the best out of the bunch, which was a very difficult decision. In the end I came out joint first together with the more traditional style cake, and was very pleased with the results!
I think this has been my favourite recipe so far, definitely one to make again, although not too often given the major calorific value!
The first meeting was last Friday, and to kick things off we were all tasked with making a Chocolate Cheesecake. I'd made Chocolate Cheesecake once before, but it was a diet recipe, and didn't really turn out too well. This time I decided to forget about the calories, but only make a small amount so that there wasn't lots of leftovers for me to eat afterwards!
I knew I wanted a new recipe for it, but on doing a quick google search there seemed to be a lot of options out there, although none of the ones I looked at really grabbed me. I had a bit of a think about what I wanted to do, and liked the idea of doing some sort of marbled milk and white chocolate version, but couldn't find a recipe. However, when I was buying my £1 cookbooks the weekend before last, I found a chocolate recipe book, and in it was the exact thing I was looking for a no bake marbled chocolate cheesecake!
Aside from forgetting to buy caster sugar, and having to leave work early on Friday so that I could get home early to make and set the cheesecake before heading to the baking club, it was very easy to make - a standard digestive/ butter mix for the base, and then philadelphia, cream, sugar and chocolate for the toppings. I made 2 bowls of chocolate topping - one white, one milk, and then just spooned them on to my base one over the other, before swirling everything together with a knife. Simple!
There were four of us at the baking club who had made cheesecakes, and all of them were totally different. As well as mine we had cheesecake cupcakes, a more traditional baked chocolate cheesecake and a chocolate orange cheesecake with a pastry style base. All were delicious! We had a bit of a competition to pick the best out of the bunch, which was a very difficult decision. In the end I came out joint first together with the more traditional style cake, and was very pleased with the results!
I think this has been my favourite recipe so far, definitely one to make again, although not too often given the major calorific value!
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