Luscious Lemon Coconut and Merringue Slice

Do you try food from cafes and resturants and then try to recreate them home? Renette from South African Kiwi and I were FB messaging each other about this delicious slice you can get at our local library cafe. So I googled a recipe for us to replicate. Then Neetz from Bassets Blurbs and Banter answers the call about the fact I was missing a key ingredient lemons! and delivers me some the same day..despite her super busy day...Some people are just too kind!

For once I did my best to actually follow the recipe...So here it is for you to try!
From www.food.com

Lemon Filling

* 1/2 cup sugar

* 3 tablespoons lemon juice

* 1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon rind

* 2 egg yolks

* 2 tablespoons butter

Crust

* 1/2 cup butter

* 1/2 cup brown sugar

* 1 1/2 cups flour

Topping

* 2 egg whites

* 1/3 cup sugar

* 2 cups coconut

Method

Combine the filling ingredients, cook, stirring constantly until thick and set aside.

For the crust, cream butter, add brown sugar and beat well.

Blend in the flour and press into the bottom of an ungreased 9" square baking pan.

Bake at 150°Celcius for 15 minutes.

Allow to cool, then spread with cooled filling.

For topping, beat egg whites, gradually add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Fold in 2 cups coconut and cover lemon filling with the topping.

Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes longer or until browned.

Cool and cut into squares.

addicted to coffee

I just love a good coffee. Mochaccino's are my favourite esspresso when out at a local cafe. But when I'm at home I plunge. I'm loving this locally roasted blend from this site. I bought a couple through "Grabone" and are now a regular customer. There seems to be a big difference in the fact that it is roasted the day or two before it's delivered. So yum!

I found this funny

For Coffee Drinkers: You know you are addicted to coffee if ...

You grind your coffee beans in your mouth.

You sleep with your eyes open.

You have to watch videos in fast-forward.

The only time you're standing still is during an earthquake.

You can take a picture of yourself from ten feet away without using the timer.

You've worn out your third pair of tennis shoes this week.

Your eyes stay open when you sneeze.

You chew on other people's fingernails.

The nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse.

You're so jittery that people use your hands to blend their margaritas.

You can type sixty words per minute with your feet.

You can jump-start your car without cables.

You don't sweat, you percolate.

You walk twenty miles on your treadmill before you realize it's not plugged in.

You forget to unwrap candy bars before eating them.

You've built a miniature city out of little plastic stirrers.

People get dizzy just watching you.

Instant coffee takes too long.

You channel surf faster without a remote.

You have a picture of your coffee mug on your coffee mug.

You can outlast the Energizer bunny.

You short out motion detectors.

You don't even wait for the water to boil anymore.

Your nervous twitch registers on the Richter scale.

You help your dog chase its tail.

You soak your dentures in coffee overnight.

Your first-aid kit contains two pints of coffee with an I.V. hookup.

You ski uphill.

You get a speeding ticket even when you're parked.

You answer the door before people knock.

You haven't blinked since the last lunar eclipse.

So who wants a coffee?

Whangarei's best kept secret

Well its not much of a secret judging by the amount of tour buses that hit the spot, but let me tell you about one of my favourite places in the city. The Whangarei Fudge Farm and cafe. This places has ruined all other fudge for me, if its not Fudge Farm fudge, it isn't fudge. My love affair with their fudge started years ago when it was a little business on the way out to Dargaville. Situated on a farm, the fudge was made by a couple who made their fudge from fresh dairy milk. Now a decade or two on it lives in the Whangarei town basin.
They do a range of coffees and drinks and also ice creams and hand made chocolate. But the one thing I go there for the a thing called "Fudge flavourama" And mix of fudge and vanilla ice cream whipped together in a cup or waffle cone. Heavenly! Add my favourite coffee blend and you have my favourite spot in Whangarei. Next time you hit Whangarei, be sure to stop in to this little place.

Russian Fudge for somebody special

A way to a mans heart....

...is through his stomach.
I sneaked a Valentines card and two protein bars for his morning tea in his bag to find at work. He was pleasantly surprised. For Valentines dinner this year we stayed home. I would usually find us a babysitter and book us a table somewhere for dinner, but it just didn't work out this year. The jump from two to three kids for a babysitter just seems too much to organise. So I made us a nice tea at home. I had envisioned a nice romantic candle lite dinner after the kids had gone to bed. But it just didn't work out that way...so dinner for two was the usual party of five. I made us "duck al' orange". I know! Fancy much! Well it was my take on it (It always is!). Along with some champagne and a some dessert later after the kids were in bed.

Duck al'orange (fancy name for orange glaze)..on a bed of red cabbage and broccoli with potato stacks. And delicious Kapiti Ice cream for dessertMaintaining the romance after almost 10 years of marriage, three kids, a mortgage and work, seems like so much effort but they say "familiarity breeds contempt." So what if Valentines Day is a big money making-commercial day? I still need reminding that I am loved and I have someone to love. A hallmark card helps me remember that for the rest of year I should let the one I love KNOW that he is loved.

Happy Valentines to my LOVE!P.S
Thankfully he understands the bloggers need to take a picture of the food BEFORE it can be eaten!

Homemade Hangi.

I LOVE hangi. No one in my family knows how to make a real NZ earth oven, so when ever there is a fundraiser selling hangi I'm there...first in line! When I was a little girl it cost $5 a parcel. These days its more like $7-9. I think it must be one of the only items that hasn't inflated too much comparatively. I only get one about once or twice a year...so when I found a recipe for an at home one I just had to give it ago.

So if you love Hangi as much as me...here's the easiest way to make it, all in your slow cooker.

Ingredients I used..this time.
Cabbage, sliced fairly thick
potatoes, kumara, pumpkin all cut into roughly the same size
Chicken pieces, skin on.

Method:
Lay foil on bench surface, two strips over lapping to make sure there is enough width and length to cover all food in a nice tight package.
Layer cabbage down first, then vegetables, finally chicken on top. Gather foil up from sides and form a nice tight parcel to prevent steam from escaping. If needed get more foil to ensure all food is covered nicely.
Place parcel in warmed slow cooker with 2 cm of water at the bottom. Cook on high for 5-6 hours. Or Low for longer according to your slow cookers requirements.

The layering

Nice tight parcel into slow cooker

All cooked and entire house smelling of hangi...mmmm

Even the young food critics liked it.

It worked a treat for a first attempt.The chicken was falling off the bone, the veges were delish. Missing was the stuffing (My favourite part) and some other type of meat (pork or mutton)...and of course the smokey flavour. So next time I will try and incorporate these.

Give it a go at yours xx

Because sometimes peanut butter sandwiches just don't cut it

Master 4 is my little cafe buddy. His classic line is "can I try some of yours" And I'll say "you won't like it!". "Mumma I will!".
I love this about him...usually! Sometimes I just want to eat my delicious morsels in peace..but he is always willing to try new things. When faced with the decision McDonald's or Sushi its actually a difficult choice! In complete contrast Miss 7 who likes to stick to the tried and true.
So today I made him something a little special, tomato and rocket pesto (bought stuff) with smoked salmon on heart shaped crostini. Just because sometimes peanut butter sandwiches get a little bit old. And because I love the little fella.

Do your kids have daring taste buds?

What's cookin this week...

These cute little Hershey's kiss cookies look adorable and taste yum. I doubled the batch of cookie dough and also made mini M&M Cookies too. The kids enjoyed helping make them and eating them of course!


Check out my new Kitchen Whizz! I'm so stoked. I've wanted one of these for ages and my mum bought me one while we were out shopping together (my Christmas present). I used the grate blades to whip up these carrots, courgettes and onion. Done in no time! They were great in my lasagna last night!

If there is one canned item that is always in my trolley, its tomatoes. I love the flavoured range from Watties. My usual supermarket doesn't stock this flavour(I have no idea why not) so I stocked up on loads of these!.Most of my meals tend to have onion and garlic in them...Its the indian in me. I added these to my lasagna last night too! Delish.


And this little fella is the newest food critic to hit the family. Yes...he is now old enough for solids! So I have tried a few home made slop feasts as well as the bought stuff. He's sucking on a piece of green capsicum. I think he prefers the red...don't we all.

I now have 5 different taste buds to cater for...and quite frankly I would appreciate it if they all just ate pretty much anything just like me. Not so far!

Christmas Baking.

Well I picked the most stinking hot day to spend baking in the kitchen. Yesterday got up to 30 degrees, with very little breeze. But when you've finally got your baking mojo on, you just gotta roll with it...am I right?!

The Hubsta took the kids out for the afternoon while I got on with the job. I wanted to make little plates of baking to go to my nearest and dearest for Christmas. I also made a Cranberry Cheesecake for Christmas lunch. I sure was stuffed by the end of the day.
Clockwise from the top left.

• I was inspired by Delissimons christmas cookies. She's a real baking whiz. I love the pohutakawa design. It says Merry NZ Christmas. The Cookies are a Spicy butter biscuit.
• Red Velvet chocolate brownies (Recipe here)
• White Tim Tam Truffles inspired by Mrs Cake (Recipe Here)
• I also made a batch of Russian Fudge something I haven't done since 4th form! (recipe here) I love fudge and am very fussy about how it tastes and so I'm pretty darn proud these turned out perfect.

Later on today comes the fun part. Surprise drop offs with the kids.

If I don't see ya (or read ya ;) ) for a while. Have an awesome Christmas and I look forward to reading the blogs of what we've all be up to these holidays.

Mocha Cheesecake.

I love cheesecake and have made a couple of the unbaked kind but I wanted to try and make "New York" style cheesecake. After some googling I decided a mocha cheesecake would be ideal. Three of my favourite things meshed together; Coffee, chocolate and cheesecake and of course the recipient loves these thing too! So here's how to make one of your own!

Base:
1 Packet digestive biscuits
75 grams butter
Blitz biscuits (or cookies if you are American) into fine crumbs, add melted butter. Combine then press into 23cm spring-form tin. Put into fridge while you mix the filling.

Filling:
500 grams cream cheese
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp instant coffee
2 tblsp hot water
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cream
1/2 sour cream

Cream together cream cheese (room temperature) and sugar until creamy, using cake mixer. Combine coffee and hot water in a small bowl and allow to cool. Add eggs one at a time mixing in between each one. Next add flour, cream, sour cream and finally coffee (feel free to add more coffee if you want a more intense espresso flavour). Mix until creamy. Pour over biscuit base.

Bake: For 50 minutes on 180 Celsius. Mine looked like this. It still had a little bit of "wobble"


After cooling to room temperature, put it in the fridge to chill overnight.


Topping: Ganache
1/2 cup cream
3/4 chocolate chips
1/2 tsp instant coffee (optional)

In a small pot slowly melt together chocolate chips, cream and the coffee (if you want it). Cool slightly then drizzle over cheese cake. Chill in the fridge and then decorate as desired.

Tasted great...and I will definitely try another one for Christmas day dessert.

whats new in my trolley this week.

I usually LOVE grocery shopping, its one of the highlights of my week. Watching the bill go up higher with each year with the extending number of mouths to feed and the flippin GST rise however is not so fun. I don't mind taking the kids with me sometimes. They are not tantrum-for-lolly-pop type kids. My secret is...they get a treat from the bakery section if they be good all the way round. And I mean all the way because the bakery section is the last possible isle. The favourite is a danish =$1.40. Pretty cheap way to get through shopping.

Anyhoo...being a food lover I'm always on the look out for some inspiration...heres a few things that made it to the trolley this week.

We are trying really hard to wean ourselves off coke and the like but I had to try this...100% apple juice with carbonated stuff for fizz and no added sugar. Not that bad for us..is it?!

Bubba is almost ready for solids. I already have some pumpkin in the freezer made up...but I like the pre bought stuff too and I'm looking forward to trying out these new fancy fan-dangle pouches. I can see they would be quite useful when we are out and about.

Nobody seems too fussed on bought fish'n chips at our house so these bake and eats are a great healthy substitute- can't go wrong with the red tick!

Okay so I lie...this is not new to my trolley...truth be told these babies make my trolley every time they are on special and its the only coffee I buy for home. Love it!

Oh-my-goodness is all I have to say about these...yummo!

All these were on special too!
Whats making your grocery shop interesting at the moment?

I love Saturdays...

January 15th 2011...D day. The Boss is expecting me back at work for some part time work, 1-2 shifts which usually means my Saturdays are gone. Since I started Maternity leave in April I have been enjoying my weekends. Great family time, spontaneous trips to the beach, takeaway nights, going to the Saturday morning market...here are some other highlights.

Mandatory Saturday morning coffee run

Finding these bad boys at the market. Thanks hubby for spending an hour shucking themAll these for $10!
Oyster kilpatrick

game time

Hubby hitting the garden

Fun at the beach

And I still have a couple more of months worth of Saturdays to enjoy... wahoo!

kitchen gadgets

I saw Jo Seager using one of these a few months ago...and thought I want one! So last weekend on my trip to Auckland, I had a leisurely peruse around Botany Downs shopping centre while Lesmondj and the kids went and saw a movie. It was like heaven. No hearing... "Im hungry", "My legs are sore from walking", "can we go and see the toys"...Or my least favourite "I need to use the toilet"...but I digress...

I found this lemon juicer while perusing.

I think its so funny how it turns the lemon inside out. I put the juice in a ice cube tray to freeze and pop when I'll need some out of season.

White chocolate and macadamia nut browine....well...sort of.. DOH!

I have been wanting to make White chocolate and macadamia nut brownies ever since I saw it featured on Sophie Grays site (Destitute Gourmet).
So master 4 and I get started, butter melted, sugar added, white chocolate in...time for the eggs....eggs...*scours pantry*. "We had eggs for breakfast this morning mumma" Master 4 pipes in. Oh NO! I did the "no-nos" of all baking "no-nos" I didn't have all the ingredients laid out ready to go...silly me! I managed to find one egg in the fridge. "Well, time to experiment" I boldly stated to master 4..its the best way to cook anyway. So I tried to make it into a white chocolate slice. Added some coconut, and a weet-bix...hmmm what else can we chuck in?? I added the chopped nuts flour and a bit of baking powder. Gave it a mix, pressed it into a baking tin, bunged it into the oven and hoped for the best. And this is what turned out.

I left half "nude" dusted with a bit of icing sugar. And the other half had a bit of lemon icing just to see how that would taste.
It tasted sooo good. I think I like it better than a chocolate brownie. It has a lovely chewy texture.The nuts add a nice bit of crunch.
I love experimental cooking.

Helloooo school holidays.

Kids really hold you to your promises. I promised the kids we would make painted cookies on Monday (yesterday), but I got hit with some sort of mad virus that had me spending the entire day either on the couch or in bed (virus + nausea+fever+breast-feeding= NOT COOL!) .
Even though I explained several times to master 4 that I was sick and we probably won't be able to make them today he still persisted "but you said!"
So today we made painted cookies.

My sister-in-law had sent this over from America last year so we were long over due to try it out...You could easily make the icing at home with food coloring, but what I like was the icing was flavored: strawberry, lemon, raspberry etc.

The kids had a blast.