I've found a couple of cucumber recipes on Pintrest that I liked the look of. They were pretty simple but had enough 'interest' to make them more appetising than a plate of sliced cucumber.
I especially liked the 'asian' influence in this one where the cucumber is almost pickled.
Once again my trusty mandoline made this really quick to prepare.
I let the cucumber for about an hour to drain the liquid out...it just kept coming.
I'll make this one again. It looked really good with the black and white sesame seeds on it.

Japanese Cucumber Salad

Serves 4 to 6 as an appetizer

• 4 Kirby cucumbers or 2 large cucumbers
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup white rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon white or black sesame seeds, or a mixture of both

1. Cut the cucumbers into paper-thin slices. In a large bowl, toss the cucumber slices with the salt (this draws out excess water). Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Drain the cucumber slices in a colander and gently squeeze them with your hands to squeeze out excess water. Return the slices to the large bowl and toss with the rice vinegar mixture. Transfer the cucumber to a serving dish. Serve at room temperature 

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I'm always on the look out for quinoa recipes - healthy, good minerals, fibre etc. Often the recipes I find are just variations on those I already have.
I liked the look of this one because it had olives in it...I love olives.
I'm quite pleased with the result although it was a bit wet with dressing. I;d probably reduce the quantity next time.




Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Bring to a boil over low heat:

1 cup quinoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water (I use 2 cups of water (or chicken stock)  to 1 cup of quinoa)

Cover and simmer slowly for 15 to 20 minutes until the grains are cooked but still a little firm to the bite.

Remove from heat and add:

2 diced tomatoes
1 cup diced bell peppers
1 cup diced cucumber
1 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped green onion (spring onion - I used 2-3)

Toss everything together with the Lemon Oregano Dressing.

Lemon Oregano DressingWhisk together well:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp honey
juice and finely minced zest of one lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tbsp dried oregano)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows - party food

As a way of sticking to my 'reduced stress' birthday party food theory for Isabella's Rainbow Birthday party I made collected a number of recipes that seemed pretty quick and easy and in some cases could be made in advance. Some were great, others a bit of a disaster.

These were quick, easy and looked effective. I made them a couple of days before the party and they disappeared quickly on the day.



They were as simple as this...
1. Inser a kebab stick into a marshmallow
2. Dip in melted chocolate
3. Dip chocolate dipped marshmallow in a bowl of sprinkles

I painted polystyrene balls to stick the marshmallows in

Rainbow Birthday Cake

Isabella chose a 'Rainbow' theme for her fifth birthday. After last year's Ginger Bread House fiasco where stress levels were high to say the least I was determined to make this year's cake a lot easier.
I found lots of examples of cakes with separate layers to form rainbows which all looked reasonably easy but my concern was the time involved in baking each layer. I found a couple of recipes for this cake and gave it a try several weeks in advance.
My trial cake seemed like it was going to be a bit of a disaster but turned out really well - a good sign for the 'real thing'.
The key to this cake it using a cake recipe and mixture that is pretty thick - I chose a Madeira cake for this reason and using A LOT of food colouring.

I wanted to keep the decorating quite simple to get the 'wow' factor when it was cut open. The white icing and white chocolate fingers were easy to put on.
I used a 'Butter Cream' icing (below) which was easy to work with and eventually set a bit hard.
The '5' was just cut out of paper, placed on top of the cake, then sprinkles added.
I did the top decoration before I did the white chocolate fingers so that I could keep the sides 'clean'.


Rainbow Cake
Make the cake mixture according to the recipe.  (I used about a 30cm tin and doubled the recipe. There was some mixture left over)
Take about 1/2 the mixture and use red colouring to colour. Create a red layer around the outside of the cake tin.
Next take smaller amount of mixture and colour orange and create the next layer.
Continue through the rainbow colours until you get tot he middle where you use a very small amount of purple coloured mixture.
If you have a lot of mixture left over you can colour it according to the colour you are short on and add mixture in. The cake is very forgiving!


Maderia Cake

250 g butter
250g sugar
4 large eggs
250g self raising flour
125g plain flour
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 23 cm cake tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.
Sift the flours together and fold into the creamed mixture.
Fold in the lemon juice
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.



Butter Cream Icing

125 g softened butter
1 tbsp warm milk
flavouring of your choice
colouring of your choice
375 g icing sugar


Put the butter, milk and any flavour or colour in a mixing blow. Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time and beat well between each addition until it has all been incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy.

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo

I pin lots of recipes on Pintrest and don't always get around to making them. Earlier this week I decided to go back and have a look at a few of them, especially those that looked quick and easy. Tonight's dinner was one of those and it was sooooo easy and really good to eat.
The other bonus is that it is cooked in one dish and pretty much prepare it and leave it to cook...nothing else!
I'd be tempted to spice it up with smoked paprika if I didn't have a little person eating it, but it was just fine with the spice from the chorizo coming through.
I always keep chorizo in my freezer so it is there when I need it and the other ingredients are pretty standard in my house. I added 2 capsicums to the dish to increase the vegetables and serves it with broccoli and cauliflower...but  it would have great with a salad too.


Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes
Recipe from Nigella Lawson's Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes from her bookKitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home.
Serves 6.

• 3 tablespoons regular olive oil
• 12 chicken thighs (bone in, with skin)
• 750 grams chorizo sausages, whole if baby ones, or cut into 4-cm chunks if regular-sized
• 1 kilogram baby potatoes, half the larger ones
• 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 chopped cloves of garlic
• 2 capsicums chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• grated zest of one orange
• salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Put the oil in the bottom of a large shallow roasting tin. Rub the skin of the chicken in the oil, season with salt accordingly, then turn them skin-side up. Spread the chorizo sausages and the new potatoes around the tin. 

Sprinkle the onion and the oregano over, then grate the orange zest over the arranged contents of the 2 tins. Cook for 30 minutes, then swap the top tray with the bottom tray in the oven and baste the contents with the orange-colored juices. Continue cooking for about 30 minutes or till chicken is done. 

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Not the best picture...but still worth a try!

I found this one on Pintrest. It looked good and it was pretty good. My 4 year old little person gobbled it down!
I made a double recipe and froze half for another night.
The dish wasn't strong in orange flavour, in fact I'm not sure you could even identify it. I did use orange juice and the recipe asked for concentrate.
I also added chopped onion, garlic and capsicum to try to increase the vegetable ratio.












Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks
• 1/3 cup flour
• olive oil
• 1/2 T salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 T ketchup
• 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (thaw or throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds)
• 4 T brown sugar

In a bowl, mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and ketchup.

Pour the flour in a small bowl.
Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.

Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken.

The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked since it's going in the crock pot.

After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot.
Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3.

Frittata

Isabella (4 years) for some reason is really keen to watch cooking programmes on TV with me. Masterchef has been a regular afternoon event for us to enjoy together, each selecting the chef we want to win that day. Last night she was allowed to stay up to watch Annabel Langbein with me. She has a current obsession with breaking eggs for cooking so when she heard the Frittata that was being cooked had 8 eggs she decided we should make it the next day.

Our version of the one we saw last night is as follows...








Frittata
1 onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a cup of chopped mushrooms fried in olive oil until soft.

8 eggs whisked
Add 1/2 a cup of parsley and thyme.
Add onion mixture
Add 6 large sliced potatoes (cooked until almost soft)
Season with smoked garlic salt
Sprinkle with edam cheese

Cook initially on stove until almost set, then move to oven to fan grill the cheese until brown.

We ate this at room temperature but I suspect it will be great cold.
We will make this agin with whatever vegetables we have and any left over veges....and maybe bacon.