Chocolate Cake & Happy Birthday :-)

This chocolate cake is a staple in our house. quick and easy to make, & its always well received. I'd like to dedicate this cake to the lovely Ruth from Ruth's kitchen experiments, Happy Birthday Ruth :-)

Cooking Time
45 minutes

Ingredients (serves 6)
Melted butter or margarine, for greasing
50g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
125mls (1/2 cup) boiling water
125g butter, at room temperature
275g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
40g (1/4 cup) plain flour
chocolate icing to serve
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a deep 22cm round cake pan with the melted butter or margarine to grease and then line the base with non-stick baking paper.
Sift cocoa powder into a bowl. Gradually add almost all the water, stirring to form a smooth, thick paste. Stir in remaining water. Set aside.
Use electric beaters to beat the butter, sugar and vanilla essence in a medium mixing bowl for 1-2 minutes or until pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined,
Sift together the flours. Use a large metal spoon to fold the flours into the butter mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture, in 2 batches each, until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with the back of the spoon.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Stand for 3 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. cover with chocolate icing!

Note: I added approx 1 small cup choc chips & baked the cake in a loaf pan

Menu Plan Monday

In an effort to bring some kind of order to my meal planning I've decided to join menu plan monday hosted by organizing junkie. there are lots of other lovely bloggers who kindly share their weekly menu's (lots of ideas) please take a look as its lots of fun! oh & please wish me luck :-)


Monday: pizza
Tuesday: beef stirfry
Wednesday: French onion soup and cheese topped toasts
Thursday: hamburgers
Friday: chicken with 40 cloves of garlic (it's yummy, really!)
Saturday: mystery meal ;-)
Sunday: mystery meal ;-)

Fusili With Capsicum Bolognese

I had some peppers that needed using over the weekend so I thought it was the perfect chance to make a recipe I'd seen on cooks.com. I love peppers with pasta so I was well pleased with this. I'm sending it to Ruth from Ruths kitchen experiments for her bookmarked recipes event!

2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 c. onion, chopped
2 med. yellow peppers, diced
2 med. red peppers, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 c. basil, chopped
1/2 c. parsley, chopped
2 (16 oz.) cans tomatoes, cut up
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 packet fusili (spiral pasta)
Brown beef in skillet; drain fat, add onion, peppers and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds. Add basil, parsley, tomatoes and sauce and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer 25 minutes. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain. Serve sauce over pasta. Makes 7 cups sauce or 8 servings.

Mini Toblerone Muffins

I'm not much of a fan of chocolate but I do enjoy it in muffins & cakes. recently I came across a recipe for mini toblerone muffins and decided to try it. they are simple to make & taste good!






Makes 24

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 60g butter, melted, cooled
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 100g Toblerone milk chocolate, chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease two 12-hole 2-tablespoon capacity mini muffin pans or line with paper cases.
2. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in the centre.
3. Whisk butter, milk and egg in a jug. Pour into well. Add chocolate and gently fold until just combined. Three-quarter fill muffin cases with mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand muffins in pan for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes & tips

• Hint: To make 12 regular-sized muffins from this mix, bake in a 1/3-cup capacity muffin pan for 15 to 18 minutes.

Six Word Memoir

Lovely Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen experiments recently tagged me to do a meme by posting a 6 word memoir that describes me. here goes, LOL

friendly
loyal
funny
inquisitive
impatient
scatty

I'm not going to tag anyone atm if thats ok, I'm just going to leave it open & invite anyone who wishes to take part to please do so. thanks Ruth it was fun :-)

Beef Tacos

When I first saw Robin and Danielle's new food event Recipe Remix I knew I wanted to take part but couldn't make up my mind between shepherds pie or tacos. as you can see I've gone with tacos. it was a nice change using sliced rather than minced/ground beef but I've got to say my family prefer this mix (sliced beef one) in pita rather than hard taco shells. all in all I'd make them again, but prefer the minced/ground beef. this was such a fun event & a great idea!

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

500g beef steak, cut into 1cm strips

35g packet taco seasoning

425g can chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup water

12 taco shells

3 cups shredded iceburg lettuce

cheese to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Heat oil in a frypan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high, add beef, and toss until brown. Stir in taco seasoning, tomatoes, and water. Stir until well-combined. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
3. Heat the taco shells in the oven for 5 minutes or until hot. Fill each taco shell with lettuce and beef mixture. Top with cheese and serve.

Breakfast For Dinner (bacon & maple french toast)

Yes I've made French toast again but I hope you'll indulge me ;-) as it really is delicious. I made it as part of a cook a long I sometimes join in on that takes place on a forum I visit. I have had french toast lots of times before but this variation was new to me. as said before its delicious and will be made again. funny thing was I almost ran out of time to make this recipe within the cook a long guidelines in fact so much so that I ended up making this popular breakfast dish for dinner, which brings me to a question. do you have breakfast for dinner? ( I often do) & whats your favourite thing to have? :-)


French Toast
3 tablespoons thickened cream or milk
1/2 tea spoon vanilla
3 tablespoons caster sugar
pinch of cinnamon
3 eggs
6 thick slices vienna loaf
Butter
Combine the cream/milk, eggs, sugar & cinnamon in a bowl. Soak one slice of bread at a time in this mixture.
Melt half the butter and cook 3 or 4 pieces of bread at a time until golden on each side. Melt more butter and continue cooking until you have used all the bread.
Serve with crispy fried bacon drizzled with real maple syrup.