Saturday 13 December 2014

Snow + Bread Pudding + Chocolate Bark: 6 December - 12 December 2014

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful




We do not remember days, we remember moments.




 Saturday: The sun shone bright this morning.
But it was absolutely freezing due to overnight frost.
Beautiful flowers on my desk.
After a winter walk, we decided that a bubbling chicken curry was what we needed.
The recipe used was similar to this one.
I tossed a salad together using ..
.. lettuce, cucumber, tomato ..
.. sweetcorn and cooked peas.
Rice was boiled.
And, it was time to eat. Chicken and rice - one of the ultimate comfort food pairings!
 Sunday: I lit a new floral candle today.
It has the most amazing scent and you can buy it here. 
We had hail and snow here today.
It was such a light dusting but still, it was snow! Even though it melted 15 minutes later when the sun came out.
After a panettone attempt last week, I had a loaf to spare. So, using inspiration from this recipe, I got to work.
The ingredients were simple: eggs, milk, marmalade and panettone.
All you do is get the oven preheated to 180 degrees c or Gas Mark 5.
Then, you heat up 4 heaped tablespoons Marmalade and 1 heaped tablespoon Lemon Curd. Heat until it's melted and runny.
The lemon curd was my addition to the original recipe because I had ran out of marmalade and the panettone had lemon zest in it.
Slice up 325 gram Panettone.
And, place half of it into a buttered, deep oven dish.
Crack 4 large Eggs into a bowl.
Whisk together with:
500 ml Whole Milk
Seeds of 1/2 Vanilla Pod
1 tablespoon Vanilla
Then, spoon half the marmalade over the bread.
Ladle over half of the milk mixture.
And, then do it all over again. Pop on the remaining bread slices.
The marmalade.
And, the remaining milk mixture.
Let it sit for 10 minutes before baking.
Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Once baked, it should be puffed and golden. It should wobble but show no sign of uncooked custard.
This bread pudding was delicious - full of citrus flavour, creamy custard and fluffy panettone.
Monday: Breakfast today was porridge and a banana. The porridge was sprinkled with linseed which had sesame seeds and blueberry in it.
For lunch, we made Hummus. Into a bowl went:
1 can (400g) Chickpeas
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
Juice of 1 Lemon
2 teaspoons Tahini Paste
Splash of Water
Few tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Blend well until it's lovely and smooth. Taste, and adjust seasoning.
I love serving mine with another drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of smoked paprika - I love this spice!
The recipe was inspired from this.
I ate my hummus with rice cakes.
Lettuce, peas, cucumber and sweetcorn.
Leftover chicken.
And, a little leftover rice.

Today, my Mother roasted a pan full of raw cashew nuts.

I love cashews - they're up there with pistachios and peanuts as one of my favourite nuts.
For dinner, I sliced up a red bell pepper, a jalapeno chilli and red cabbage.
Into a pan, on a medium heat, went sliced carrots, broccoli and broccoli stalks along with a splash of water to steam.
Once they were softened, in went the rest of the veg.
Everything was stir-fried together with rice noodles, soy sauce, tahini, dried oregano, lemon juice and salt.
This was a delicious, vegetarian dinner even though the cabbage turned everything else purple.
The recipe was inspired from this.
Tuesday: Ingredients out to cook up stewed apples.

Done! They went into the fridge to chill overnight ready for breakfast the next morning.
Then, I whipped up a spinach pesto to use up 1/2 a bag of spinach in the fridge.
Perfect stirred into pastas, as a base on a pizza or just as a sauce with chicken.
Dinner was leftover noodles from the night before along with a basa fillet marinated in salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, dried oregano, dried thyme and red chilli powder.
Wednesday: After a combined brainwave from me and the mother, the stewed apples made the perfect breakfast covered with tropical granola.
I can't wait to share the recipe with you guys - it's dessert for breakfast!
Update: Here is the recipe.
My Mother cooked Aloo Methi today - a vegetarian winter warmer.
I made this chicken recipe.
I added in lime zest too along with the juice.
And, steamed it in a pan for a delightful dinner.

 Thursday: Have you guys ever tried making Chocolate Bark?
It's basically melted chocolate covered with anything you want.
I covered mine with raisins, pistachios, almonds, sea salt and Crunchy Nut.
It goes into the freezer until set, and is then broken into pieces to munch.

 Friday: A sweet treat for my Mum in the making.
Chicken meatballs rolled and ready to be cooked.
Onions frying.
Curry bubbling.
And, meatballs browning.
For lunch, I made a tortilla pizza. I spread a wholemeal tortilla with spinach pesto.
Topped it with leftover chicken, carrots, broccoli and cheese, and baked until melted and crispy.
A gloomy Friday afternoon brightened up with this! Recipe coming soon!
Update: Here is the recipe.
Curry and rice for dinner! I'll be sharing the recipe soon - it's one of my mothers.
Update: Here is the recipe.
After dinner, we made Swiss hot chocolate spiked with cinnamon.
With marshmallows melting into it.

And, sweets and roasted cashews alongside. 

The rest of the sweets were packaged off.



Recipes shared on the blog this week:


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


Chicken and Spinach Cannelloni 


Double Chocolate Flourless Cake with Vanilla Cream


A few of my favourite links from around the web this week:

1. My next adventure in waffles should be with these.
2. This pastry looks so intriguing.
3. Chocolate bark with toffee popcorn!
4. Cannot wait to try out these pancakes.
5. Cookies baked without flour? Sound good to me.
6. These may give gingernuts a run for their money.
7. Three of my favourite things in a cookie.
8. I've always wanted to try baking these.
9. The chocolate bark that inspired my own version on Thursday.
10. These are genius.
11. Healthy gingerbread cookies.
12. I want to try all of these this winter.
13. A classic French sauce - made Halal!
14. Popcorn!
15. The obligatory doughnuts.
16. Orange brownies?!!



I hope you all have a wonderful week,

Wasalaam!


Spice Enthusiast
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