Auntie Viki's Zucchini Bombs

So, our veggie patch (which hasn't done very well this year) has suddenly decided that it is going to produce monster vegetables! We had a zucchini (or courgette) that was 16 inches long, and 16 inches around at the widest end...and a marrow that weighed in at 2 kilos!

So i took my monster zucchini, and i sliced three rounds (3-4 inches high). Then i scooped out the seeds, and made a 'cup'. 

These i put aside, and i started on my filling. I took 2 cloves of garlic and sliced them, then i took one small onion and chopped it. I sliced around 6 mushrooms and put them to the side. Into a frying pan i put 2 teaspoons of oil, and then threw in the onion and garlic.

 After around a minute, i added the mushrooms, and a minute later i added the mince (around 400g). Once the mince had started to brown i added  400g of tomato puree, 2 tbsp Italian herbs, 1 teaspoon chili flakes (this can be omitted if you don;t like it hot!) and just let it all simmer for a few minutes, so the flavors can all bind and come together.

Next, take your zucchini 'cups' and fill them up, then cover with foil, and into the oven they go at 180C for 40-45 minutes, or until the zucchini is soft (you can stick a fork into it to see if it is done).
Enjoy!

English Muffins

Ok, so i have to admit i LOOOVVEE muffins, banana walnut ones, strawberry or blueberry ones.. the choice is almost endless, but once in a while, i have a craving for English muffins. There is just something about them- the crispiness of the exterior, the butter melting into all the nooks and crannies of the interior...what can i say??
So, I found myself in a dark house when evryone else was sleeping this morning, and i thought-hmm, i could really go for an english muffin. Bearing in mind that in Cyprus such things are not readily available, and if they WERE there is no way i would find them at 4:30am on a sunday morning- so into the recipe book i go!

I found a great recipe by Isa Chandra Moskowitz in her Vegan Brunch cookbook (a totally awesome cookbook by the way!).

You start off with 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 cup of water- place in a bowl, and let it do it's thing for 10 minutes or so, then add the flour (2 1/4 cups) the salt (1 1/4 teaspoons) and the margarine (3 tablespoons). Mix it untilb it forms a sticky dough

Then turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead for 6 minutes or so, until you have a nice smooth dough. Now leave to rise for an hour (in a nice warm place) until the dough has doubled in size.

Now we are ready to roll it out on a floured surface, and using a cookie cutter (or the top of a coffee mug) cut out rounds (about 3 inches across).

Preheat a heavy frying pan or skillet, and melt about a table spoon of margarine in it (the pan should not be hot enough to burn the margarine!). Now, working in batches put a few muffins in the pan at a time, and fry for about a minute on each side until the muffins are lightly browned  and then put them on a greaseproof paper lined cookie sheet, and into a oven at 180C (350F) for 6-10 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes (this is what Isa suggests, but to be honest, these didn't last that long!) Serve dripping in butter and with a nice cup of tea!

St Fanourios cake

Here in Cyprus, on the 27th August, we celebrate St Fanourios day. He is the patron saint of lost things, so if you lose something, or are looking for something (new job, love etc) then you pray to him. As well as being an extremely useful saint to have on your side, he has a cake- that people tend to make after they have found what they are looking for.
 9 years ago my mother made a cake for Saint Fanourios and I met my husband in the same week,so he has always had a special place in my heart. With this in mind (and the children clamoring for cake) I thought i would make his cake today.
Traditionally it has 7 ingredients Flour (2.5 cups), baking soda (2 teaspoons), mixed spice (1/4 tsp),cinnamon (1 teaspoon), sugar(2 cups),oil (1.5 cups)and orange juice (2 cups).

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl, add the dry, mix and put into a cake tin-i used a round tin  am across today. Put into a preheated oven , 180 degrees C for 55-60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife comes out clean, when stuck into the middle.

My children like icing sugar, so i just dust the top to decorate it a little...enjoy!

Sponge cake with a difference

So, I like to trawl the web sometimes to find new recipes, and i found one that caught my eye. Of course, i had to replace some of the ingredients with George friendly ones, but it all came together, and the cake is a keeper! Now the thing about this recipe is that it calls for you to warm the milk and the butter, before adding it to the recipe- don't question it, just do it! :)
So here goes-First preheat your oven to 180C (350F).Take 1 3/4 cups plain flour, add 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 cups of sugar. Now take your cup of butter, and put it in the microwave for about 1 minute on high, add it to your mixture. Do the same with 1 1/4 cups of milk, add to the mixture. Add 5 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 4 eggs. Mix until the mixture doesn't have any lumps in it anymore, then turn into a greased cake tin (i used a bundt tin today but the original recipe suggests a 9x13 inch tray).
Bake it for around half an hour (or until the top goes a nice golden color, and a knife comes out clean)
Now you can decorate it with your favorite icing, my children just made a quick water and icing sugar icing today, and colored it with a few drops of yellow food color. Then they made it pretty with glace cherries :)

Tina Ballerina's Apple Stars

So, today's inspiration comes from the food network (the pastry) and Tina ,my 5 year old daughter (the star shapes). I made the pastry according to the recipe i scribbled down 1.5 cups plain flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 10 tablespoons butter (only i substituted vegetable oil). Then I added COLD water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture binded together into a flaky dough. I wrapped the dough in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for one hour. While the dough was resting, I found 4 apples in the back of the fridge, they were still firm, but looking a little worse for wear- perfect for apple pie :) I chopped them into little pieces, and into the frying pan they went with 3 teaspoons of sugar, one teaspoon of cinnamon and the juice of one small lemon. As the apples started to soften, and release their juices, i added one teaspoon of dairy free butter, and then sprinkled with 1 tablespoon of flour (to thicken up the sauce a little.)

Now, waiting for the apple mixture to cool, i started rolling out the dough to about a 1.5cm thickness. I used a coffee mug to cut out rounds, and then rolled out the rounds into a bigger, thinner round shape.




 Then i took a tablespoon of the apple mixture, and put it into the middle of the round shapes. I painted water (with my finger) around the top of the pastry shape, and then using my finger and thumb, i went around the shape, pinching as i went, until the pastry looked like a star. I brushed the stars with an egg wash glaze, ans then I put the pastries on a greaseproof lined cookie sheet.Into the oven they went at 180 degrees until they went brown around the edges.
These are guaranteed to fill your house with a yummy smell, so if there is anyone else in the house, don't expect there to be any left by the time they cool down! :)

Cheeky monkey banana bread

Both of the children enjoy eating bananas, but here in Cyprus (where the heat gets the better of most things) they don't look nice and yellow for long...so what to do with black bananas??? Banana bread!
So, I make my banana bread in the same way i make most of my cakes, first put the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the wet-

For this recipe, we use 2 cups plain flour, add 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 3/4 cup sugar.

 Then I add 1/2 cup vegetable oil,2 eggs, and 3 mashed bananas. I also like to throw in a handful of walnuts, and sometimes (if the children are helping) we might add some chocolate chips too!

Turn the mixture into a nice loaf tin (27 x 13cm) and put in the oven (preheated to 175 C) and cook for around an hour, or until a knife (inserted into the middle of the bread) comes out clean. Enjoy!

Georgie's Egg Salad

My seven year old son has always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen- well now he has decided that he wants to be in the driving seat :). He made the egg salad that i will be sharing with you today- i just took pictures :)
Ok, so we made the salad as a main dish for a family of four, so we took 4 eggs and put them on to boil, we also took 3 medium potatoes, cut them into 3 pieces each, and put them on to boil in some salty water.

Then we took a quarter of a small cabbage, and chopped it into small pieces like so..









We then took a couple of leaves of lettuce, tore it into small bite sized pieces, and added both the cabbage and the lettuce to the salad bowl. Next comes tomatoes-we used 4 good sized cherry tomatoes,and chopped them into querters. Into the salad bowl they go.

 Next comes cucumber, we used two small cucumbers. Chop them into bite sized pieces again, adn add them to the salad bowl. Now take your potatoes off the heat, drain adn cool under the cold water tap, and add to the salad. Take your eggs off the heat, drain and cool under the cold water, then peel, quarter adn add to the salad bowl.








Take two pieces of large Pitta bread, quarter and toast. Dress the salad with dressing made from 1/4 cup olive oil, adn the juice of 4 small lemons, salt and pepper to taste, et Voila!

As my son Georgie says- Bon Appetite! (You can catch George's youtube video of this recipe here )

Vegan Scottish shortbread

So, I have been away (recovering from an unplanned surgery) but I am back on my feet, and in my kitchen! Yesterday I went food shopping with my mother, and she bought a packet of traditional Scottish shortbread. Now I don't eat a lot of biscuits, but these are one of my favorites- only problem is, they are made with butter....lots and LOTS of butter! Obviously we can't make the traditional recipe, but once upon a time I managed to come up with a vegan variation that tastes almost as good as the original! All i had to do was hunt down the little piece of paper i wrote it down on- so hunt I did, and lucky for all my lovely fans out there I found it. Now my original recipe used spelt flour (obviously i made it when my son George was still allergic to wheat) so I used 480g spelt flour, but today when i made it with wheat flour, it took more like 530g. I put the flour into a bowl, together with 1 1/2tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 200g sugar. I slowly incorporated 225ml of vegetable oil to form a very soft dough.

I then pressed out the dough into shapes, today i used a round cookie cutter, and also manually cut some rectangle shapes. Put the biscuits onto a greaseproof paper lined cookie sheet, and into the oven they go at 200 degrees C until they are golden brown (it took 30 minutes today).

Let them cool on a wire cooling rack, and serve with a nice cup of tea.