Recipe #16: Chocolate and walnut brownies!!

DEAD SET EPIC BROWNIES!!

Think about those words for a moment! DEAD= eternal...yeah I got nothing..SET= well set, cooked perfectly, moist....Epic= one of a kind, adventure, to remember..and Brownies= awesome chocolatey things!!
Ok you are probably thinking did this girl put something in her brownies?? No I didn't I am just in a bit of an interesting mood!!
Anyway back to the brownies..like seriously if you want an epic moist lovely brownie recipe to make you feel sick cause you ate too many of them cause they are sooooo good..then this is the recipe for you!!

So how did these amazing brownies come about?? Well the incredible, amazing, wonderful Ashley was coming over for a late night cuppa and I thought I should wip up something quick and easy and these were just that! But also delicious!
Ash gave them a 9 out of ten..her comment was that they definitely need the nuts or they would of been too sweet. I agree! The nuts add some crunch and nice contrast to the rich chocolate. The recipe gives the option of using bittersweet chocolate or nuts, I used a bit of each!

Very moist (probably due to the cow full of butter used) and addictive. I had one too many! With a cup of tea, a good friend to chat with, great music to listen to and a warm room to chill in..what more do you need in a winter evening?

Recipe #14 +15: Spicy fried pork balls with garlic and ginger dipping sauce!

So it was the evening we had all been waiting for! The celebration on our minds, especially Mum's! It was her birthday! I won't say how old she turned or she may be cranky! Anyway I was contributing to the menu with some sort of starters. I came across this pork ball recipe and thought I would give it a go! I made these and also some cous cous for the mains.

So what can I say about this dish! Firstly very time consuming (I was up till midnight), especially seeing as I had to finely dice all the ingredients as we don't have a food processor! grrr! I can't wait till I have my own kitchen and can have an awesome food processor! maybe a red one.
The pork balls had a lovely flavour! just beautiful! I was making them the night before the party and we probably ate almost a quarter of them that night! Well mainly Will stealing away as quick as I could fry them! The texture was ok, I would of preferred them to be a little crispier on the outside. Maybe baked in the oven would of been better, less time consuming and less fattening also!
The dipping sauce was a little disappointing, in that I didn't think it matched the pork balls very well. Would of been great with some seafood though!

Overall a great party starter and all of them were gobbled up within 15 minutes or so.
A nice way to begin a evening celebration of a wonderful lady! Happy Birthday Mum!!

Awesome!

Well all the muffins and nearly all the gingerbread men got sold! and we raised over $230!! enough said!!
Ps. Yummm

Recipe #13: Many kinds of muffins!

Hmmm not sure what I think about this muffin recipe. The recipe calls for a lot of vegetable oil which yes, it does make the muffins crunchy and crusty, although it takes away from the sweetness a bit too much I think. I have used other recipes I like better, especially one from the cafe I used to work at! That recipe is gold!

The good thing about this recipe is that you can use it as a base recipe and make as many different flavours as you like. I doubled the recipe as I need lots of muffins to sell at uni tomorrow (raising money for cancer council). I made three different flavours: mixed berry, double choc-chip and my favourite, banana, date and walnut. No I am not a pig and yes I have tried all the flavours as I made some mini muffins as well, just for me to taste test. hehe. It will be interesting to see which flavour is the most popular tomorrow!

I don't think I would use this recipe again for sweet muffins, a little too oily and bland (maybe needed some vanilla essence or salt). I would use it for savoury muffins though and just omit the sugar. A good foundation recipe for bacon and cheese muffins or something like that.

I enjoyed making up flavours and experimenting on a rainy windy day!

Recipe #12: Gingerbread biscuits!!

Well what a lovely day to be home, baking lots of yummy things, drinking tea, listening to Katie Noonan and cranking the heater! Yes you may have guessed it is pouring outside and the wind has just picked up. Looking out the window everything is grey! It is suppose to be like this tomorrow too which is a bit of a shame because tomorrow I am hosting 'Australia's biggest morning tea' at uni to raise money for the cancer council. Therefore I have been baking today so there are things to sell tomorrow. I have many wonderful fiends who are baking yummy things too!

So these gingerbread biscuits I am thinking of selling for about 20 cents, or maybe 50 cents. They are only small and they taste pretty yummy; nice spices! I am a little disappointed with the texture of them as they are rather hard and I prefer softer biscuits. I think there is nothing I could of done to change this as the recipe states they can be used as christmas tree decorations and last a while. I am assuming that if they are harder, the better they will keep. It was quite a long process to make these as you have to chill the dough overnight and then there are many steps involved when rolling and cutting them out; in and out of the fridge a lot waiting for time to pass!

Anyway I will see how they sell tomorrow at uni! Hopefully they are a hit! Nice with a cuppa on a chilly day, which tomorrow will be!

Recipe #11: Beef Stew! Another delicious evening at my household!

Hmmm..what to say about this stew. I have mixed feelings and there were mixed reviews! Ashley said it was too spicy for her (softy!), although Will and I thought there could of been a little more spice! We also thought it was a little bland! Some more spice/herds could of helped. Mum, being a little tipsy from the left over wine, ate gleefully, giggling away and being as pleased as ever with the flavours, giving it a 9! She was, however a little disapproving of the cost this blog is causing her, seeing as the meat was 12 dollars alone, so I gave her 5 dollars towards it and also told her I would mention her in my blog! So attention everyone ! I would like to thank my mother for her CONTINUED support of this blog, as she is a financial sponsor and official food critic! haha! I personally don't know what she is complaining about! She gets to eat lots of yummy food! So thanks Mum.

Ash also gave a 9, so glad the guest enjoyed it! Always a good thing.
I would probably give a 7. I think some crusty bread or some rice would of been good to soak up the juices. I didn't serve bread with it as we had just had the bruschetta, but next time bread would make it I reckon! Could of been more flavours in the stew. In saying that, the meat was awesome! Chunky tender beef on a chilly evening as the fire crackles away in the other room! I love it! Thank you God for cows!

Made it to the tenth recipe!! Bruschetta!!

WOW this was probably the best bruschetta I have ever had (excluding the one Kristina made me at her house with home grown tomatoes and basil: and she is italian so she knows what she is doing)!! but seriously one of the best ever and that says something, seeing as I order it quite often at restaurants! I had a piece with Mum and she stated 'this is the real ma-coy!'. I couldn't resist and had another when Ashley arrived! I could probably have another piece now, even at 11.15pm! I am using a lot of exclamation marks!

The recipe doesn't specify much about the topping as you can use many different toppings. I stuck to the traditional tomato topping and the recipe only said tomatoes and red onion. I also added basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. The bread made it though! Crunchy hot italian bread rubbed with garlic and salt and drizzled with olive oil!

Simply delicious! Fresh flavours! complementing textures! Seriously try it!