The World in Your Lunch box by Claire Eamer

The World in Your Lunch box by Claire Eamer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very interesting history on food. Kids will love to learn where some of their favourite foods come from and why they are called the things they are. Set out in a weekly planning style, you see science, history and recipes for 3-4 different food each day. This is one cook/history book for kids to look out for in Feburary.

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Book Review - Whoopie Pies - Hannah Miles

Move over cupcakes, whoopie pies have come to town! Not quite a cake, not quite a cookie, these delightful treats are the new baking craze sweeping the world. Originally an Amish tradition, they can be enjoyed in a variety of flavours with different fillings. CLASSIC PIES are the perfect indulgence. Deliciously simple recipes include Classic Chocolate and Marshmallow Fluff Pies, Pumpkin Pies, Red Velvet Pies and Pecan Pies. A chapter of less conventional but no less delicious FRUITY PIES boasts a juicy Raspberry and Cream Pie, Key Lime Jello Pie, Lemon Sherbet Pie and Banoffee Pie. LUXURY PIES make perfect home-baked gifts and include chocolate-box pretty Rose and Violet Pies, refreshingly minty Grasshopper Pies, creamy Coconut Cloud Pies or grown-up Almond and Amaretto Pies, perfect for dessert with a cup of coffee. Ideal for any celebration, PARTY PIES offers plenty of inspiration. Try a Giant Whoopie Birthday Pie, a towering rainbow-hued Whoopie Pie Croquembouche or Oyster Pies, each one complete with its own sugar pearl.

I made the Mocha Whoopie Pies from this book and they were fantastic!! Very easy to make, I basically had all the ingrediants in the cupboard already. It was fun to put these together as I had never had a whoopie cake before. I sent some into my partners work and I got a marriage proposal and my container was sent home squeaky clean. Highly recommend this book!

Here is a picture of what they turned out like! 

(Tarran)

 

About the author of Whoopie Pies by Random House

A lawyer and MasterChef finalist in 2007, Hannah Miles has developed a second career as a cake maker and food writer. She has a monthly column in Country Kitchen and Country & Town House magazines and writes for Delicious. She is the author of Sundaes & Splits, also published by Ryland Peters & Small.

Nigella Lawson - Kitchen Recipe

ISBN: 9780701184605

Format:Hardback

A big, compendious, comfortable, informative and utterly engaging book, Kitchen brings us feel-good food for cooks and eaters, whether Express-style and exotic-easy during the week, or leisurely and luxuriating (in the spirit of How to be a Domestic Goddess and Feast) at weekends or for occasions.

Divided into two parts - Kitchen Quandries and Kitchen Comforts - Nigella gives us the wherewithal to tackle any situation and satisfy all nourishment needs. But real cooking is
often about leftovers, too, so here one recipe can lead to another… from ham hocks to pea soup and pasties, from chicken to Chinatown salad. This isn’t just about being thrifty but about demonstrating how recipes come about, and giving new inspiration for last-minute meals and souped-up storecupboard suppers.

As well as offering the reader a mouthwatering array of new recipes, both comforting and exciting – from clams with chorizo to Guinness gingerbread, from Asian braised beef to flourless chocolate lime cake, from Pasta alla Genovese to Venetian carrot cake – Nigella rounds up her kitchen kit must-haves (telling us, too, what equipment we don’t need) and highlights individual ingredients – both basic essentials and modern-day life-savers. But above all, she reminds the reader how much pleasure there is to be had in real food, and in reclaiming the traditional rhythms of the kitchen, as she cooks to the beat of the heart of the home, creating simple recipes to make life less complicated.

Here is a recipe from Nigella's new book, taken from Nigella website 

Ingredients        
                                                            

CAKE

• 150g dark chocolate, chopped
• 150g soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing
• 6 eggs
• 250g caster sugar
• 100g ground almonds
• 4 teaspoons best-quality cocoa powder, sifted zest and juice 1 lime icing sugar, to dust (optional)
• 1 x 23cm springform or other round cake tin

MARGARITA CREAM

• 60ml lime juice (2-3 limes) or from a squeezy bottle
• 1x15 ml tablespoon tequila
• 1x15 ml tablespoon triple sec or Cointreau
• 75g icing sugar
• 250ml double cream

Method

CAKE

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4, line the base of your cake tin with baking parchment and butter the sides.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave (following manufacturer’s instructions), then set aside to cool slightly.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar together until about tripled in volume, pale and moussy. I do this using a freestanding mixer, but a hand-held electric model would be just fine too; obviously, by hand is possible but would demand tenacity and muscle.
4. Mix the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and fold this gently into the egg and sugar mixture, followed by the slightly cooled chocolate and butter. Finally, fold in the zest and juice of your lime.
5. Pour and scrape this mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40–45 minutes (though start to check at 35); the cake will be just firm on top, but still have a bit of wobble underneath.
6. Remove from the oven and sit the cake in its tin on a wire rack to cool. Once the first heat has left it, drape a clean tea towel over the cake to stop it getting too crusty, though a cracked and cratered surface is to be expected; it’s crunch I’m avoiding here.
7. When cold, unmould, dust with icing sugar if you wish and serve with the jaunty Margarita Cream that follows.

MARGARITA CREAM

1. Stir the lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur togather in a good-sized bowl, then whisk or fork in the icing sugar and let it dissolve in the sour, strong liquid.
2. Slowly whisk in the double cream and keep whisking until you have a light, floaty, aerated mixture, then serve with the Chocolate Lime Cake above.

Want to find a quick and cheap cooking guide for your family?

'Budget meals are about being clever, organised and imaginative; the more variety you bring to the table, the less obvious it will be that you're cooking with economy in mind.'

RRP: $29.95

ISBN-13: 9780143205838

Jacki Passmore has created 200 delicious recipes for simple breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts. Along with hints and tips on how to trim the fat from your weekly food bill, she shows you how to cook fragrant and spicy meals with only a few ingredients, make snacks without sacrificing freshness and flavour, and turn one roast chicken into three small meals and a soup.

The thrifty cook knows how to:

• manage pantry and freezer shopping economically
• use budget cuts of meat and poultry
• turn leftovers into lunch for home, school or the office
• shop seasonally and save
• create essentials such as sauces, stocks and condiments