Yorkshire Puddings with Beef and Red Wine Stew

Ingredients:

800g beef chuck steak, cut into 4cm pieces (can use gravy steak but I prefer chuck!)
2 tbsp plain flour
1/3 cup olive oil
20g butter
6 shallots, halved
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
160g button mushrooms, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced (you can add in any veges you like!)
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 cup fresh chives, coarsely chopped

Yorkshire pudding batter
1/3 cup plain flour
pinch of salt
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten lightly
20g butter 

To do:

Coat beef in flour and shake off excess. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large saucepan/crock pot, cook beef in batches till browned all over. Melt butter in saucepan, cook shallots, garlic, mushrooms and carrot, stirring till vegetables soften. Add wine and bring to boil. Return the cooked beef to the pan with the paste, stock, sauce and thyme and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 1 hour 15 mins. Uncover and simmer for a further 15 mins until the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in the chives.

While the stew is simmering start preparing the puddings. Sift the flour and salt into a small bowl. Whisk the egg and milk and then combine with the flour and whisk till smooth. Pour into a jug and set aside for 20 mins.  Preheat oven to 240'C (220'C fan forced). Melt butter and divide it and the remaining oil among 4 holes of a muffing tray. Heat pan in the oven for 3 mins. Remove pan from oven and immediately divide batter among the 4 holes then return the pan to the oven. Bake for 12 mins until golden.

Serve the pudding and stew together with a sprinkling of chives. This recipe takes around two hours from start to finish but well worth it :) the beef is melt in the mouth good!!!
ENJOY x

Christmas Cookie Mix in a Jar {Printable Labels}

Hey there, 
Its Christmas time!!! a time for giving, sharing and being grateful for the people that surround you. What better way to show your appreciation then to give a gift homemade with love.
I love these 'Christmas Cookie Mixes in a Jar', not only are they thoughtful, special and look effective, they are also super easy to do, wont break the budget and the kids can get involved (my kids love filling the jars). 

These Christmas Cookies in a Jar make the perfect gift for teachers... we make them every year for my son's teachers and they just love them!! ( it's just like a packet cake mix in a jar but way way better) Perfect for busy people with no time to bake from scratch. These Cookie Jars are not just for Christmas they are the perfect easy peasy gift all year round. This recipe is a simple cookie recipe with just the addition of add ins such as chocolate, nuts, fruit - whatever you like to personalise it and make it special for the receiver. 

To make Christmas Cookie Jars:
1 1/3 cup of plain flour 
1 tsp baking powder 
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 tsp salt 
1 cup rolled oats 
1 cup add ins ( white, dark, milk chocolate chips, M & M's -green and red for christmas ;) 
1/2 cup brown sugar 
A reuseable/ bought glass jar ( I re-used a 1L pasta sauce jar)

1. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt. Mix well. 
2. Assemble jar... Spoon flour mix into jar (bottom layer) 
3. You can now be creative with layering remaining ingredients - oats, brown sugar, add ins 
4. easy peasy, done. now just to decorate jar...

*Cookie mix label
*Cookie making instruction card
* String
*Christmas fabic/paper for covering lid

Below is the label and instruction card I used to decorate my jar.. You are welcome to right click and download my 'Cookie Mix' label below, I printed mine on labelling paper but plan paper and a hot glue gun would work fine :) 

Here is the link to a little delightful blog where you can find the instruction card template I used at the bottom of the page. These cards have all the instructions on how to make and bake these lovely cookies. But if you would prefer to do your own instruction card or bake them yourself, I have popped the instructions below. 

To bake cookies add to cookie mix; 
-1 egg
-100g butter, melted
-1 tsp of vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
shape cookie dough into balls, flatten slightly and
bake for 10-12 minutes at 180c

Easy peasy ;) 

Lastly just finish off with string or ribbon to tie the instruction card to jar and some Christmas fabric or paper to cover jar lid. 

Jayme x

Beetroot, Chocolate Almond Cake

This recipe came about when I found a bunch of unloved beetroot in the bottom of my fridge that I forgot I had. I needed to use them!!! I would usually just throw them in a yummy juice but I was planning on baking a chocolate cake and thought why not add some beetroot. I have heard of beetroot and chocolate working well in brownies and cakes so I jumped on the net and found this recipe http://thenutritionguruandthechef. After playing around a little with the measurements to suit and converting it to Thermomix, whhaaalaaa...this was the result. DELICIOUS!!!
WARNING warning, this cake is very RICH, mudcake-like and death by CHOCOLATE good. YUMMMM!

I have included Thermomix and bowl method for your convenience.

YOU NEED: 

90g dark chocolate, melted

3 eggs
280g Rapadura or brown sugar
180g (220ml) olive oil
250g raw beetroot
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g cacao or cocoa powder
200g Almond Meal
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ( Gluten free baking powder if GF)
good pinch of salt

TO DO:

1. Preheat oven to 170. Grease a round cake pan with a little oil and line with baking paper. 

2. Firstly cook beetroots, place in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Cook until cooked through and you can push a knife easily through. When cooked, remove skin by rubbing under cold water. 

3. Place cooked beetroots in Thermomix or food processor and Blend on high (speed 9) till pureed. Set aside.

4. In Thermomix attach butterfly, place eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil and whisk together well on speed 4 for 10secs (or in a bowl whisk together well) - important step as whisking the eggs helps the cake rise

5. Remove butterfly attachment and slowly add the pureed beetroot and melted chocolate on speed 3 for 30 secs don't over mix (or beat in until just combined ).

6. Add cacao, almond meal, baking soda and salt and fold through using spatula - I prefer to fold through with the spatula rather then use a speed on the Thermomix at this stage as I think its the best way to take care with the batter and make sure air is folded through the batter gently. Fold until just combined, do not over mix. 

7. Bake for 1 hour and 15 mins or until cooked through when skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out clean. Cooking time may vary depending on pan size and oven. 

8. Remove from oven and leave to cool in pan!

Can top with cream and chocolate shavings if wish :) or perfect as is!! 

Enjoy x 

The 'Full of Goodness' Loaf

I just love finding gluten-free recipes that work so well that you don't miss the gluten, and this is one of those!! It's moist, it's full of goodness, and it's also dairy, grain and re-fined sugar free!!! Could it get any better?!! We aren't gluten intolerant or anything intolerant in fact in this house but I do believe that gluten is not the best for us especially in high quantities and I think most people consume way too much gluten in their diets. I am a big believer in everything in moderation.. a balanced diet with not too much of anything.. as too much of anything is always bad news. Plus I really feel a big difference when I eliminate it from my diet for even just a day!

This cake has so many yummy healthy ingredients in it that you just don't feel guilty going back for seconds or thirds.. hehe ;) This AMAZING recipe I found on the blog anjasfood4thought which has a gazillion other recipes I want to try!!!! I used shredded coconut instead of desiccated coconut just because I prefer it, added zucchini and also walnuts but you could use other nuts if you wish. I have also converted it for all you Thermomixers out there..below you can find both methods (by bowl and Thermomix) 

YOU NEED:

3/4 cup almond meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons melted coconut oil

1/2 cup mashed bananas 

6 pitted and chopped medjool dates

1/2 cup of a mixture of grated carrot and zuchini

1/4 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts 

1/4 cup cranberries

TO DO: 

Preheat oven to 180C and grease plus line a loaf tin with non stick baking paper.

In a bowl, combine almond meal, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs well (whisking the eggs is an important step as it helps rise the loaf) Stir vanilla extract, coconut oil and mashed banana in gently. 

Add almond meal mixture and combine before folding in dates, carrots, zucchini, shredded coconut, walnuts and cranberries. 

Transfer batter to prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or so until cooked through 

TO DO: (Thermomix)

Preheat oven to 180C and grease plus line a loaf tin with non stick baking paper.

In a bowl, combine almond meal, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.

In Thermomix bowl, whisk the eggs on speed 5 for 10 secs (whisking the eggs is an important step as it helps rise the loaf) Stir vanilla extract, coconut oil and mashed bananas in gently on speed 4 for 5 sec. 

Add almond mixture to Thermomix bowl and combine on reverse speed 3 for 5 seconds. Than use a spatula to fold in dates, carrots, zucchini, shredded coconut, walnuts and cranberries.

Transfer batter to prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or so until cooked through. 

 ENJOY x