'Moroccan' Vegetable Stew

Remember my Multi Cooker from Redmond? It’s the kitchen device that is many gadgets in one.

The RMC-M4502E Multi Cooker is a slow cooker, but so much more besides. You can fry in it, steam, bake, sterilise baby bottles, cook, make soups, so much!

In the past I have made fried mini churros in it, baked bread and made a cake.

However on this occasion I decided to go down the savoury route. No baking involved in this recipe.

It is a vegetarian stew, bursting with flavours of curry and cinnamon which gives it an almost Moroccan flavour. Not that I have ever been to Morocco, you understand! But that’s what I’m going with and hence the name of the dish…

I started by frying my onion in a little coconut oil, by having my multicooker on the fry function and when they turned translucent, I added some pre-cooked split yellow peas along with carrot and parsnip, plus some vegetable stock. Then I added the flavours of curry powder and cinnamon and let it stew for an hour.

I then got on with other household tasks whilst I waited for it to cook away. After the hour, I lifted the lid and saw a gorgeous stew waiting to be enjoyed.

As it was a little bit early for dinner, I switched the Multi Cooker onto 'keep warm' mode and it kept the dish at a good temperature, without cooking it further.

I served the stew with some rice and even my meat-loving partner Disneyboi enjoyed it. It was very filling and had loads of flavour, no need for meat. But if you wanted to be a bit more carnivorous, I would recommend lamb in this dish as the flavours of the cinnamon and curry would compliment it well.

The RMC-4502E Multi Cooker is such a versatile kitchen tool and I never run out of different ways to use the machine. It stores away perfectly when not in use and the handle on top makes it handy for moving about.

Gone in no time!

Here’s how I made the stew:

Moroccan Vegetable Stew

A vegetable stew flavoured with
cinnamon and curry powder

Cuisine:	Vegetarian	Category:	Stew	Yields:	4 servings
Prep Time:	10 Mins	Cook Time:	1 Hr	Total Time:	1 Hr 10 Mins

 

Ingredients

• 1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 225 grams pre-cooked yellow split peas
• 250 grams peeled and chopped carrots
• 250 grams peeled and chopped parsnips
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon mild curry powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 125 ml coconut cream

 

Instructions

1. Set your multicooker on the fry function for 10 minutes and melt the coconut oil in it.
2. Once the coconut oil has melted, place the chopped onion in and stir until it turns translucent.
3. Add the split peas, carrot, parsnip, cinnamon, curry powder, salt and pepper plus the vegetable stock and stir to combine everything.
4. Turn the multicooker to ‘Stew’ function for one hour and close the lid.
5. After the hour, open the lid and everything should have melded together into a hearty vegetable stew.
6. Stir in the coconut cream and serve straight away on a bed of rice.
7. Keep the stew warm, by setting the multicooker to ‘keep warm’ function.
8. It’s as simple as that!

Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links. I have been paid to create this recipe. Any opinions expressed however are my own.

Lemon Lavender Coconut Bars

I recently got my summer edition of BBC’s good food magazine and as the weather has been pretty rubbish up here in Scotland this summer, it certainly brightened my day up as is was pushed through the letterbox.

My subscription comes courtesy of  magazine.co.uk who kindly gave me the subscription in return for me writing some posts about the magazines I get. I love my food magazines and spend ages pouring through them. I also like adapting recipes from them!

In the good food magazine I saw a recipe for chocolate and coconut bars which did look delicious, but I had ideas… I had bought some lavender sugar the week before and I was dying to try it, so I decided to swap half the caster sugar in the recipe for that. Then I decided to add, instead of dried berries, some dried lemon peel I had in the cupboard. You could substitute any lemony jelly type sweet also, if you cut it into little bits here. Lemon and lavender are a great flavour combination.

Lastly instead of milk chocolate I went for white chocolate to sweeten things up more. The bars are made from egg whites, desiccated coconut and some other bits. The bars are very crumbly when baked and cut up, but that adds to the rustic nature.

The coconut texture is quite macaroon like (not to be mistaken with macaron!) and the flavours of lemon and lavender really brighten these little bars up.

If you would like to make lavender sugar, simply add some sprigs of dried lavender into a jar of sugar, like you would for vanilla sugar. The longer you leave the sugar, the more permeated it becomes with the lavender flavour!

Thanks again to magazine.co.uk for the subscription. If you would like to receive your magazines through the door, or gift a subscription to someone (it really is the gift that keeps on giving!) follow the link to magazine.co.uk.

Here’s how I made the bars…

Lemon Lavender Coconut Bars

Coconut bars flavoured with 
lemon and lavender and topped
with white chocolate
Inspired by BBC good food

Cuisine:	Dessert	Category:	Bars	Yields:	16 bars approx.
Prep Time:	10 Mins	Cook Time:	25 Mins	Total Time:	35 Mins

 

Ingredients

• 50 grams lavender sugar
• 50 grams caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 2 egg whites
• 160 gram can of coconut cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 250 grams desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
• 50 grams dried lemon peel or lemon jelly sweets chopped
• 150 grams white chocolate melted

 

Instructions

1. Line a 9”x9” square tin with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180C.
2. In the bowl of a mixer add the sugars, egg whites, syrup, coconut cream, vanilla and beat together until incorporated. Add the desiccated coconut and lemon peel and with a spatula fold these in to the wet mix until it is fully combined.
3. Place the mix into the baking tin and flatten with an off-set spatula or similar so it is flat and even on top. Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until it has turned golden brown on top and is firm to press.
4. Allow to cool fully in the tin then gently remove and place onto a chopping board, peeling the greaseproof paper from underneath.
5. Melt the white chocolate, either over a bain marie, or in the microwave and pour over the square of coconut bars. Allow to set fully – 2 to 3 hours.
6. Cut into bars with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife off after every slice.
7. Enjoy!

Cherry Mojito No-Bake Cheesecake

I was in a rush at the weekend! We had the Foodies Festival in Edinburgh on Saturday as you maybe read about.

This weekend also meant other family stuff, plus Cake Club on Sunday night! What to do – where would I fit in time to bake a cake?

Well, how about not baking a cake at all?

I decided to make a no-bake cheesecake and give it a summery flavour – mint and lime, plus a bit of rum for a mojito. Pop it in the fridge and let it do all the work!

Then I saw a recipe online for a Rainier mojito. No, not rainier as the summer we’ve had in Scotland compared to England, but Rainier as in Prince I guess. It has cherries in it. What a combo – sounded lovely to me, so a cherry mojito flavour it was.

The base of the cheesecake was classic digestive, sugar and butter.

The filling was made from cream cheese, whipped cream, sugar, and lime juice, a spot of mint extract and white rum – plus gelatine (sorry veggies!).

This would have been lovely on it’s own, but the thought of those cherries on top just intrigued me so I made a topping from blended dark cherries and some more gelatine.

It looked beautiful once it was all set and I cheekily took out a slice before the cake club, to photograph. It was difficult not having a wee taste there and then. But I resisted and popped the wedge back in.

My excuse was that the first slice is always a bugger to cut, so that went down well.

The theme of the cake club was summer and everyone brought a lovely selection of cakes for us to try. Here is a wee peak.

And here is the recipe for cherry mojito no-bake cheesecake…

Cherry Mojito No-Bake Cheesecake

Cheesecake flavoured with lime, mint
and rum, topped with cherries
(adapted from Mrs Ellwood's Simple Life)

Cuisine:	dessert	Category:	cheesecake	Yields:	9" cheesecake
Prep Time:	1 Hr	Chill Time:	4 Hrs	Total Time:	5 Hrs

 

Ingredients

• 250 grams digestive biscuits
• 113 grams melted unsalted butter
• 55 grams granulated sugar
• 300 ml double cream
• 250 grams full-fat cream cheese
• 125 grams caster sugar
• 50 ml fresh lime juice
• Zest of 2 limes
• 1 sachet of gelatine (about 4 teaspoons)
• 1 tablespoon white rum
• ¼ teaspoon mint extract
• 250 grams frozen cherries thawed
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Juice of half a lime
• 2 teaspoons gelatine

 

Instructions

1. Blitz the digestives in a food processor until they are fine crumbs (or whack with a rolling pin) and stir in the 55 grams of sugar.
2. Line a 9” springform pan with a sheet of greaseproof paper, whilst you melt the butter.
3. Pour the butter into the digestive mix and stir to combine.
4. Tip into the springform pan and press down with your hands to an even layer, coming about an inch up the sides. Place in the fridge to chill.
5. In a small bowl, place the sachet of gelatine with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Let sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, heat the gelatine over a pan of simmering water until it melts. Remove from the heat as soon as it turns liquid.
6. In the bowl of a food mixer, place the cream, cream cheese, 50 ml of lime juice, lime zest, caster sugar, rum and mint extract. Beat until stiff peaks form.
7. Add the gelatine and beat for a further 2 to 3 minutes then transfer the filling to the chilled cheesecake base. Smooth over and return to fridge to chill for at least 2 hours up to overnight.
8. To make the cherry topping, boil the cherries slowly with 3 tablespoons of water, for about 20 minutes.
9. Transfer to a jug and blitz with a hand blender or mash with a fork. The mix shouldn’t be smooth. Add the sugar and juice of half a lime and allow to cool.
10. Whilst cooling the cherry mix, place the 2 teaspoons of gelatine with some water letting it sit for 10 minutes, then heat as before, not allowing it to boil.
11. Add the gelatine to the cherry mix and stir thoroughly, then pour this over the cheesecake, spread with a spatula so it is even.
12. Return to the fridge to set, at least two hours.
13. To unmould your cheesecake, open the springform pan and slide off the base onto a serving plate, ready to slice with a sharp knife.
14. Serve with more lime zest and mint leaves for garnish

Our day at Foodies Festival Edinburgh

This weekend, Disneyboi and I ventured down to Inverleith Park in Edinburgh. This was the venue for the 'Foodies Festival' which is now in it's tenth year.

The festival is promised as a celebration of food and drink over a three day period. This year it had doubled in size as part of it's tenth year celebration.

We got there on Saturday just before midday. As we were lucky enough to be given VIP tickets, we went to the VIP tent and had a complimentary glass of fizz and collected our 'goody bags' .

We met up with our friends 'Fanny' from fab blog 'Keep Calm and Fanny On' and also Janice from 'Farmersgirl Kitchen'.

After a brief catch up, we went to book tickets at the events which were on were on in the various theatres at the park. There was the Chef's Theatre, Drinks Theatre and the Tasting, Cake and Bake Theatre to choose from, with various shows in each throughout the day.

There wasn't too much which took our fancy but we went for 'Autumn Drinks with Gin' hosted by Mike McGinty and 'How to Sniff Cocoa like a Rock Star'.

We had a wander around the festival, to try and take in as much as we could and get our bearings. We then grabbed a bite to eat, before the gin show. We both had pulled pork baps with black pudding and a bottle of Thistly Cross Strawberry cider, very refreshing.

We then headed to the tent for the Gin show. Mike was a very knowledgeable guy about gin and gave us samples of new a Bombay Sapphire gin 'Star of Bombay'. This was a very citrusy fresh drink and we sipped this as Mike then showed us a cocktail recipe for 'East India Punch' which had gin, tea, lemon, orange and peach and cardamom syrup. We had a taster of this also, getting a bit squiffy by this point.

Not to be deterred we then had another wander around the stalls and headed back to the VIP tent where we enjoyed a blonde ale from a company called The Campervan Brewery and chatted a bit more to 'Fanny'.

We visited more stalls and then it was time for the 'How to Sniff Cocoa Like a Rock Star' show. I have to say this was the low-point of the festival for me. A professional chocolate taster described how to sniff cocoa powder, stating that this was not something for children and wasn't really something to be recommended you do everyday. To be honest I wasn't sure why you would want to at all. There was no explanation as to what this was for - I expected an explanation akin to wine sniffing or something. But no, it just seemed to be for the hell of it - strange. He had a wee contraption that he sniffed the cocoa from then allowed all the audience the chance to do the same. - hope there were no drippy noses in the audience...

We declined and made our excuses. This whole show took approximately 5 minutes and was pointless to us. Still everyone else seemed to want to shove cocoa powder up their nostrils - each to their own I suppose.

We bought some lavender sugar from the Colstoun Cookery School stall. They were there promoting their full day cookery courses at their estate in hear Haddington, East Lothian, plus selling some of their produce too. I bought a couple of bunches of lavender too and might try making my own.

We also saw a stall for Audrey Baxter's relishes and curd range. Baxter's perhaps better known for their warming soups have a signature range of curds and we picked up new passionfruit and mango, very zingy, and raspberry. Our toast will be slathered with this stuff (or I may use it in some bakes)...

It was getting time for us to head away after having been there for a few hours. The party was still in full flow, with the entertainment near the entrance still pumping out.

I was disappointed this year at the lack of baking in the theatres, especially when one of the tents was called the 'Tasting, Cake and Bake' theatre. Sadly I missed 'Confectionary Made Easy' by Fiona Sciolti that was on once each day, which I'm sure would have been good. But I wonder if they struggled to get others to appear on stage for baking demos. A pity, as the nation does seem hooked on baking. Even though I'm practically unknown I would gladly appear next year, whipping up a sweet treat or two, or even my Arbroath Smokie cupcakes, if they struggle again!

The festival, which has doubled in size this year, seems to have made up for the extra stalls by putting in non-foodie related ones such as teeth-whitening, e-cigarettes, wooden furniture, jewellery - not quite the foodie extravaganza!

However, that was our day. The weather stayed fine for us and I even got a touch of the sun!  Mostly great foodie fun...

Disclosure Statement: I received free to tickets to the event and was not requested to promote the event. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Golden Oreo Crusted Peanut Butter Oreo Brownies

Do you like Oreos? Do you like brownies? If your answer to both of these questions is yes, then you will love this recipe…

‘I have received product from Oreo for this post. It is an entry to the Foodies100 Wonderfilled recipe challenge sponsored by Oreo, which marks the launch of two exciting new flavours: Peanut Butter and Golden. The delicious new flavours are available at all major supermarkets at an RRP of £1.08. To find out more, visit www.facebook.com/oreo’

I have been lucky enough to be one of the first people in the UK to try these new flavours of Oreo. The Golden variety has the same delicious crème filling, but instead of a chocolate cookie either side it’s golden biscuit. If you are thinking custard cream, you’d be wrong. These are soooo much better!

The other flavour is limited edition Peanut Butter. The cookie is the yummy chocolate that we know and love, but the crème filling is a smooth peanut butter flavour – who isn’t going to love that?!

Oreo are challenging food bloggers to come up with a recipe using one or both of these new flavours. I decided to make fudgy gooey chocolate brownies, crammed full of the peanut butter Oreos, atop a crunchy layer of Golden Oreo crust.

The Oreos are delicious on their own, but using them in this recipe showcases their flavours in a ‘Wonderfilled’ way.

Golden Oreo Crusted Peanut Butter Oreo Brownies

Golden Oreo crust with fudgy chocolate
brownies full of Peanut Butter Brownies

Cuisine:	Dessert	Category:	Bars	Yields:	16-20 brownies
Prep Time:	20 Mins	Cook Time:	30 Mins	Total Time:	50 Mins

 

Ingredients

• 20 Golden Oreos
• 65 grams unsalted butter
• 125 ml vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 225 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 50 grams plain flour
• 35 grams cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 13 Peanut Butter flavour Oreos

 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 9”x9” square baking tin with foil.
2. Blitz the Golden Oreos in a food processor until they are fine crumbs (or pop in a bag and whack with a rolling pin).
3. Melt the butter and stir the Golden Oreo crumbs with the butter then transfer to the baking tin. Spread out evenly and press down firmly. Pop this in the fridge to chill.
4. In a bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt, set aside.
5. In a separate large bowl, stir together the oil, sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs and stir through also.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined fully.
7. Pour the brownie batter over the Golden Oreo crust.
8. Break the Peanut Butter flavour Oreos up roughly. Scatter these over the brownie batter, pushing down very gently with the back of a spoon.
9. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, the edges will start to look baked.
10. Allow to cool fully before removing from the tin and cutting into squares.

Disclosure Statement: This is a sponsored post. I received the Oreos to make a recipe with and will receive a payment for the review. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Maple Pecan Meringue Kisses

If you are anything like me you will love maple syrup. I love the stuff and have done since I was a child. I have it on my porridge, over pancakes, waffles. The real stuff is the best to get, but I do also have a soft spot for maple flavoured syrups too.

But real maple syrup, the sap from maple trees, actually has many health benefits. It can be beneficial for your immune system, soothe a grumbly tummy and has anti-aging properties. So pouring this stuff over your breakfast dish isn’t quite as sinful as you might think.

When The Canada Shop got in touch to ask if I would like to try some of the Brien maple sugar they sell, I jumped at the chance. I had never heard of maple sugar and wanted to give it a go. Made from 100% maple syrup, it has an intense maple flavour and is delicious sprinkled on cereal, ice cream, stirred into coffee etc. But I wanted to use it in my baking.

And what better way than in a meringue kiss. A crisp delicate meringue with maple flavour would be ideal. I decided to top each kiss with some chopped pecans as the nuts compliment the flavour of the maple well.

You make these in the way you would normal meringues and bake them the same. But when they come out of the oven you have to seal them in an airtight container, as soon as they cool down, otherwise they go sticky and have to be popped back in the oven.

I discovered this by accident after making one batch and left them overnight to find a sticky mass of blobs. The next batch I checked were nice and crisp, but as soon as I left them out overnight – they went sticky again. I baked them once more at a low temperature and they crisped up perfectly, so I transferred them to an airtight container, and they stayed crisp just fine.

Check out the Canada Shop website to get your mapley goodness here in the UK.

Here’s the recipe for these maple flavoured melting kisses of deliciousness…

Maple Pecan Meringue Kisses

Maple flavour meringues
sprinkled with pecans

Cuisine:	Sweet	Category:	Baked	Yields:	lots of kisses
Prep Time:	10 Mins	Cook Time:	1 Hr 45 Mins	Total Time:	1 Hr 55 Mins

 

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 85 grams maple sugar
• 20 grams pecans, finely chopped

 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 100C and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer, place the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks form.
3. Continue beating on high speed and slowly add the maple sugar about a teaspoon at a time.
4. Continue beating for 5 minutes until the mix is thick and glossy.
5. Transfer to a piping bag with a star tipped nozzle (mines was about a half inch).
6. Pipe swirls on the baking tray, close to each other as they won’t spread.
7. Lastly sprinkle each kiss with some chopped pecans.
8. Bake in the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes then turn off the oven and leave them to cool completely.
9. Transfer any you are not going to enjoy immediately in an airtight container.
10. If the meringues do go soft, bake them again at 100C until crisp to touch, 30 minutes to an hour.

Disclosure Statement: I received the maple sugar free to use in my baking. I was not asked to provide a review of the product or the canada shop. Any opinions expressed are my own. 

Getting to Grips with OXO POP Containers

If you are a regular follower of mine you will know that my domestic arrangements have changed recently.

Disneyboi has moved into mine, after his place sold and we are waiting to get mine shifted. (If anyone is looking for a spacious 2-bed flat on the north-east coast of Scotland close to all amenities please do get in touch!!). We have put most of Disneyboi’s stuff in storage for now apart from a few essentials.

However, we now have double the amount of food in our cupboards which is making my baking supplies difficult to store. With the amount of baking I do, you can image I have a lot of ingredients. I also have a very untidy cupboard which houses these baking items – please see image below…. (embarrassed face)! Full of half empty folded over bags all piled on top of one another.

When the kind folk at OXO Good Grips got in touch to ask if I would like to give their POP container range a try I leapt at the chance – a chance to get some of my essentials in some form of tidiness.

I received three containers  - a tall 3.2 litre capacity one, a big square 3.8 litre capacity one and a 0.9 small square container.

 The containers are all airtight – they have a button on top which you press down once to seal. The lid locks and keeps what is inside fresh. Press the button again, it unlocks and the button acts as a handle to easily lift off.

The corners of the containers are curved – perfect for pouring sugar which I transferred into the 3.2 tall container.

I put my flour in the big square container. I love the size of this one, for a lot of my recipes I use cup measurements and this container is large enough for me to plunge the cup measures right in. I have often struggled with smaller, narrower containers for this reason. Plus again, one press of the button and the flour stays fresh.

In the third container I stored some maple sugar I currently have (look out for a recipe soon) and this is perfect for putting in half-cup measures or easily pouring from the rounded corners. As it’s airtight the sugar won’t get too dry and clump up.

 The containers are stackable and I am going to start investing in more so my ‘pantry’ looks organised for once! There are 12 sizes in total to choose from so stacking options are aplenty.

The containers are made from BPA free plastic and the silicone gaskets on the lids are dishwasher safe, with the rest of the container suitable for washing by hand.

I love my new POP containers which are going to make my cupboards a lot less hectic from now on! And I may not stop at just the kitchen - the containers have plenty of uses around the home too.

Disclosure Statement: I received the containers free to review and was not committed to writing a positive post. Any opinions expressed are my own.