With the festive season ,we have all cooked a variety of dishes to indulge in over the last few days . But I am sure that with so many dishes that were so lovingly prepared and eaten, there are many leftovers of the same dishes that are now sitting in tupperwares in your fridges. This event is all about being creative and using up leftovers and giving them a new dimension by preparing a new dish with them in order to avoid food wasteage. To participate in this event you must prepare any dish using leftovers. You can add other ingredients to your dish to complete it .Only vegetarian dishes allowed although eggs are permitted.
To Participate:
1.Prepare a dish (vegetarian only - eggs allowed) please link your dish using the linky below by entering your Dish Name and Post URL 2.Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory. 3.Use of logo is not mandatory but usage is appreciated as it helps to spread the word visually. 4. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reposted and updated with this event link. 4.Only in the event of problem using linky you can email me the entry at simplysensationalfood@gmail.com
Please use this format Your Name: Recipe Name Recipe URL Image no larger than 300 pixels.
This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.
If you are interested in joining Blog Hop Wednesday here is how it works:
"The plot behind this attempt is to form groups and make pairs with a blogger who will be your partner for that particular week. This happens every alternate Wednesdays. You will then go through your partner’s blog, select, choose, cook, click and post the recipe in your blog on Wednesday and vice versa. The alternate week you will have a new partner. This way not only you tend to your blog at intervals but also learn some new recipes along the way and get to know a lot of bloggers and make friends."
This recipe is from Nisha's Kitchen. Looking through her post, there was a huge variety, but finally I decided to try this ladoo recipe. The recipe was simple to follow. The only changes I made were that halved the quantity and I added mixed nuts instead of just cashew .I also added some saffron strands into the mixture to add colour the ladoos. The original recipe can be found here.
Delicious and delectable ladoos that tasted wonderful and nutty.
Ingredients:
8oz Urad (Black Gram) Dal husked 4oz Powdered sugar 4oz Coarsely chopped mixed nuts, pistachio, almonds and cashew 1 teaspoon cardamom powder 1/2 teaspoon saffron strands soaked in 2 tablespoons milk. 1/2 cup clarified butter (ghee) Method: 1.In a large pan dry roast the urad dal until golden and grind to a coarse powder. 2. Transfer the ground dal to a large bowl and add the powdered sugar, followed by the cardamom powder and saffron soaked in milk. 3. Dry roast the nuts for 2-3 minutes then add them to the bowl with the dal. Mix well 4. Melt the clarified butter and add it gradually to the mixture until it forms a sand like texture that will come togeter when pinched into a ball in your fist. 5. Form small walnut sized balls on the mixture and place on a serving plate. Ladoos are ready for serving.
Delectable little Christmas pudding shaped cakes on sticks, coated in chocolate and edible decorations.
Preparation time – 2 hours Cooking time- 30 minutes Chilling time – 45 minutes Makes 18
Ingredients:
For Cake 420 grams / 14 oz Plain flour 240 grams / 8 oz Sugar 60 grams / 2oz Cocoa ½ teaspoon Salt ½ teaspoon Baking powder ½ teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda 75 ml Sunflower oil 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar 250 ml Water 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
For Decoration Cake pop sticks Ready to roll fondant icing in white, red and green 240 grams / 8 oz Milk chocolate candy melts
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 º C / 350 º F. 2. Grease a 10 inch x 15 inch baking tray and keep aside 3. In a large mixing bowl sieve together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the sugar to the flour. 4. In jug add the oil, water, vinegar and vanilla and mix together. 5. Make a well in the flour and gradually add the wet ingredients. 6. Gently fold the mixture taking care not to over mix. 7. Pour the batter in to greased baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes. Check if cake is done by inserting a skewer in the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is ready. 8. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool. 9. Remove the cake from baking tray and cut off the crusts from all four sides. Cut the cake into small pieces and put it into a food processor and whizz to form crumbs. Transfer the cake crumbs to a large mixing bowl. 10. In a mixer add the butter, vanilla and icing sugar and whip the butter cream till smooth and creamy. 11. Add half the butter cream to the cake crumb mixture and mix well to form dough like consistency. (Reserve remaining butter cream for future use) 12. Divide the mixture into 18 parts and roll each part into a ball. Place the cake balls onto a baking tray. 13. Melt a small handful of the chocolate candy melts in the microwave. Dip approximately 1 cm of each of the lolly stick into the melted chocolate and push it into the ball of rolled cake, repeat for remaining balls to form lollipops. 14. Place the cake pops into the freezer for 30 minutes to set.
To make decoration: 15. On a flat surface dust with icing sugar and roll out the white fondant to approximately 2mm thickness. Using a 1 inch flower shaped cookie cutter cut out 18 flowers. 16. Roll out the green Icing and using a holly leaf cutter cut out 36 holly leaves. 17. Pinch the red fondant icing into small red balls the size of peppercorns and keep aside 18. Melt the remaining chocolate melts in the microwave. 19. Remove the frozen cake pops from the freezer and in turn dip each pop into the melted chocolate. Tap the cake pops gently to remove any access chocolate and leave to set up right. (Push the chocolate dipped cake pops into a block of polystyrene to keep them up right whilst chocolate is setting.) Repeat for all cake pops and once they are all coated place in refrigerator for chocolate to set for 5 minutes. 20. Once chocolate is set, decorate the cake pops. Wet the back surface of the white fondant flower and place it on top of the cake pop. Wet the back surface of the holy leaves and place two opposite each other on top of the white flower, finally wet the centre of the two holly leaves and place three red fondant berries. Repeat for remaining cake pops. 21. Leave the decoration to set before eating.
Recently at my visit to the BBC good food show I had the opportunity to meet some of the lovely team from The English Provender Company at their stand and to sample some wonderful condiments and chutneys made by them.
Flavours such as Apples, Pear and Fig Chutney, Damson and Port, Caramelised red onion, Moroccan spice, Ploughman’s plum, Sweet tomato and chilli and lastly but not the least Hot chilli with red pepper. All seven chutneys each had a unique flavour, rich in taste and texture and were absolutely delicious. This is not surprising as all the chutneys are made with finest ingredients, starting right at home with the best quality vegetables, fruits and herbs, adding just the right blend of traditional spices, and then combining them to create simply delicious results.
Favouring spicy flavours I particularly enjoyed the Morrocan chilli, the hot chiili and pepper and the hot chilli relish. They were perfectdollopped on a sandwich, used as a dip with some tortilla chips or stirred intoa bowl of tomato soup to give it a kick.
Together with these mouth watering chutneys the English Provender also makes condiments like Applesauce, hot Horseradish, Hot chilli relish and Seafood sauce and many more, you will be drooling at the sound of all the mouthwatering flavours. To check out the full product range you can click here.The English Provender also provides recipe ideas for their chutneys and condiments which you can check out here, It has an on line shop so you can order and sample the chutneys from the comfort of your own home.
The English Provender has kindly agreed to provide a free gift pack of 3 assorted chutneys to onevisitor to this blog.
You can also check below to see how to be to be entered in the free giveaway.
This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a UK mailing address. The winner will be chosen using an online randomiser and announced in a subsequent post.When commenting please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. The winner will be notified and will be given a 48 hours to contact simply.food with a mailing address. If no response is received with in the stated time an alternate winner will be selected.
There is one main way to enter and several ways to get bonus entries.You must leave a separate comment for each bonus entry otherwise they will not be counted.
Closing date: Friday13th January 2012 -
For a chance to win please leave a comment telling me what is your favorite flavour of chutney.
For a second chance to win please likeThe English Provender Companyand simply.food on face book and leave a comment here telling me you have done so and also leave your face book ID
For a thirdchance to win please followThe English Provender Company and simply.food on twitter and leave a comment here telling me you have done so and also leave your twitter ID
For a fourth chance to win please tweet this post using the twitter button below and leave me a comment saying you have done so and also leave your twitter ID
For a fifth chance to win share this post on your facebook page using the button below and leave a comment here telling me you have done so and also leave your face book ID.
For a sixth chance to win follow this blog via goggle connect in the side bar and leave me comment telling me you have done so.
Good Luck.
Many thanks to The English Provender Company and for providing a prize for the giveaway.
Christmas has come a few days early for me, as I had a super surprise visit from the Fairy Hobmother of Appliances on line, a haven for kitchen appliances, which offers free advise on products and is open 7 days a week for purchases. I read about the Fairy Hobmother granting wishes on Mina's blog Authentic Vegetarian recipes so I had left a humble request for her to visit simply.food and grant me a wish too. Having totally forgotten about the wish, I was astounded to know that my wish had been granted, the Fairy Hobmother had dropped by simply.food and gifted me a christmas gift in the form of an amazon gift voucher to redeem againt a kitchen appliance of my choice.
The Fairy Hobmother tells me she is busy speading christmas cheer throughout December and is visiting many blogs so if you would like to request a visit from her and make a wish, please leave a comment here inviting the Fairy Hobmother to visit your blog and grant you a wish too. She tells me that she will be returning here to check the requests so you never know, like me you too may get lucky and she will pay you a visit too............... Oh yes and one more thing, pls dont't forget to join this site via google connect gadget in the side bar of this blog so you can keep up with the latest news.
This is my 5th assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it.
My assigned blog was Adventures in Dinner. The blog is very interesting with snippets of the writers daily life encorporated into the recipe posts.I chose to bake the healthy muffins from the blog .The Original recipe can be found here. The only changes I made were I replaced the egg with apple sauce and the berries with some chopped apples. I also increased the sugar as original recipe said 1/4 cup, when I made the 1st batch they were not sweet enough for our palate so cut them up and made a trifle with them. I remade them again this time adding 3/4 cup sugar.They were very healthy, a little dense and didn't rise as much as a normal muffin , texture was more like a scone ,still they were throughly delicious and delectable.
This recipe yeilded 18 mini muffins.
Delicious, soft and delectable muffins that are perfect for a healthy treat.
Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats 1 cup of buttermilk 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, dash salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons apple sauce 4 tablespoons melted butter 1 cup chopped apples
Method:
1. Soak the oats in buttermilk and keep aside. 2. Sieve together the flour salt and baking soda. 3. In another bowl add the melted butter, apple sauce, sugar and mix well. 4. Add the soaked oats and chopped apples to the flour mixture and fold in the wet ingredients. 5. Spoon mixture in to muffin cases and bake in a pre heated oven at 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C for 20 minutes until golden brown. 6. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.
If you are interested in joining Blog Hop Wednesday here is how it works:
"The plot behind this attempt is to form groups and make pairs with a blogger who will be your partner for that particular week. This happens every alternate Wednesdays. You will then go through your partner’s blog, select, choose, cook, click and post the recipe in your blog on Wednesday and vice versa. The alternate week you will have a new partner. This way not only you tend to your blog at intervals but also learn some new recipes along the way and get to know a lot of bloggers and make friends."
This recipe is Anusha's Blog Tomato Blues. Whilst looking through the posts I saw this Dhokla recipe and seeing the wonderful spongy texture and the fact that it was steamed it instantly grabbed me. I did not make any changes to the recipe. The dhoklas turned ot perfect.
Spongy, sweet and sour with a spicy kick these perfectly spongy steamed savory cakes are delicious served with spicy chutneys. Ingredients:
8 oz Chick pea Flour 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder 1 teaspoon freshly grated Ginger 3 green chillies finely minced 4oz Sour natural yoghurt 125 ml water 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1 and 3/4 teaspoon eno salts
For tempering: 1 tablespoon sunflower Oil 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 tablespoon sesame seeds 1 red dried chilli 4-5 curry leaves For garnish:
1 tablespoon Grated coconut 2 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander 1 red chilli sliced on the slant.
Method:
1.In a mixing bowl, add the chickpea flour, add the chilli ,ginger paste, sugar, salt and turmeric powder. Mix well. 2.Make a batter by adding the yoghurt and water. Mix well so that batter has a dropping consistency like thick custard. 3.Grease a deep bottom flat vessel with oil generously and place in a steamer. 4.Mix eno to the batter and combine well. Now pour the batter into the pan and steam 15 mins. 5.Insert a knife into the steamed dhokla to see if it comes out clean.khokla are ready. Remove from steamer and let it cool. 6.Cut into small pieces and arrange on serving platter. 7. In a pan add the oil when it is hot add the mustard seeds, sesame seeds, red dried chilli and curry leaves. 8. Pour the tempering over the arranged dhokla and garnish with the coconut and fresh coriander . Serve with coriander green chutney.
Luscious, juicy and succlent strawberries dipped in mouthwatering and delectable white and milk chocolate.
Ingredients:
24 ripe strawberries 200 grams while chocolate 200 grams milk chocolate sweets/sprinkles of choice
Wooden skewers
Method:
1. In a double boiler melt the white chocolate and milk chocolate separately in separate bowls. 2. Wash and air dry the strawberries. Keep the green stalk on. 3. Push the pointed end of each skewer in to the base of the strawberry .Repeat for all strawberries. 4. Dip each strawberry into the chocolate anda sprinkle the chocolate dipped end with the sprinkles. 5. Leave to set. Repeat for all strawberries , decoarting them using different sprinkles. Serve strawberries with Ice cream or as they are on skewers as strawberry pops.
Auto Stirrer your Hands Free, Cordless Kitchen Cooking Assistant that was the iDA Award Winner 2010.
This amazing new kitchen Utensil made by Autobin lets you stir your food and sauces automatically without having to stand over the cooker. Auto Stirrer works with any size pot or pan and is designed to cover every inch of the bottom of the pan. Just push the button and it automatically starts stirring for you. Battery powered with three speed settings, it is ideal for stirring soups, sauces, milk based puddings and baby foods . The Auto Stirrers heat resistant silicone feet and attached spatula can with stand temperatures up to 300˚C. With its sturdy stainless steel legs providing additional durability, the Auto Stirrer is lightweight making it highly versatile and portable.After use, it can be put into the dishwasher as it has an easy-care no fuss ergonomic design. To see a demonstration of this wonderful kitchen aid click here.
A third hand in the kitchen, allowing you to get 2 things done at once. Auto Stirrer makes meal preparation a breeze. A perfect kitchen aid, auto stirrer would make an ideal Christmas gift for any foodie, for the elderly, or for people with any disability that restricts movement in their hands.out there. It is retailed at £ 14.95. You can buy your own by visiting Auto bin.co.uk or calling +44 (0)20 3137 5792
By quoting the following code “Christmas /simply.food” you will receive 10% discount off any autobin products purchased between 1st Dec 2011- 31 st Dec 2011
You can also check below to see how to be to be entered in the free giveaway.
This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a UK mailing address.The winner will be chosen using an online randomiser and announced in a subsequent post.When commenting please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. The winner will be notified and will be given a 48 hours to contact simply.food with a mailing address. If no response is received with in the stated time an alternate winner will be selected.
There is one main way to enter and several ways to get bonus entries.You must leave a separate comment for each bonus entry otherwise they will not be counted.
Closing date: Friday16th December 2011 -
For a chance to win please leave a comment saying why you would like the Auto Stirrer?
For a second chance to win share this post on facebook using the share with facebook button below and leave a comment here telling me you have done so and also leave your face book ID.
For a thirdchance to win please tweet this announcement using the twitter button below and leave a comment here telling me you have done so and also leave your twitter ID
For a fourth chance to win follow simply.food on twitter and leave me a comment saying you have done so and also leave your twitter ID
For a fifth chance to win follow this blog via goggle connect in the side bar and leave me comment telling me you have done so.
For a sixth chance to win follow simply.food on facebook and leave me a comment saying you have done so and also leave your facebook ID
Many thanks to Jay @ Autobin for letting me try out this wonderful gadget and for providing a prize for the giveaway. Pictures and some text courtesy of Autobin.
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" thats an age old saying. With a total of 27 entries these amazing desserts with apples will have your taste buds tickling and your pulse racing. Here is the round up of C.E.D.D Apples event round up.
Many Thanks to everyone who participated and sent their entries, each and every recipe looks wonderful and tasty.
Raven who is the brain child of this event has picked a winner for the book apples . The winner is Namitha of Collaborative Cookery. Many congratulations to you.
