Chocolate Goodness

Nearly everyone loves chocolate. I've only known two people who didn't like it that much. So when we had a bake sale last week for Easter it wasn't a surprise that I was asked to bake and when I asked coworkers what to make the first response was brownies!

So here is my favorite brownie recipe, it's taken a long time to find the right one but I do so love this recipe!

Brownies

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped chocolate (optional)

Grease baking pan (13"x9") and pre heat oven to 350

Mix cocoa powder & baking soda, with 1/3 cup of the melted butter, add water. Stir in sugar, eggs and rest of the butter. Mix well.

Add flour and vanilla until mixed.

If you're adding the chopped chocolate add.

Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. If you are using a smaller pan bake for longer. You want them to be done, but not well done. They should still be a bit fudgy.

Let cool and then cut into squares.

Viva Mexico!

Since living in Arizona for one year I have loved Mexican food. For any of you using Old El Paso, you can throw that out right now. It's offensive.

Fajita Seasoning

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp sugar
1 chicken bouillon cube crushed

Mix all of the above in a bowl. You probably will have extra as I use about 2 tsp per batch of chicken/veggies.

Chop up some chicken, normally about 4 chicken breasts (cut them long ways into strips), add these to a skillet with about a tablespoon of oil and about 1 tsp of fajita seasoning, fry for about 5 minutes on medium high heat. Chop up some red and green peppers and onions and place in another skillet with another tsp of fajita seasoning fry about 5 minutes on medium high heat.

Have some soft tortillas wraps available, sour cream, guacamole, salsa etc and build your fajitas!

Beef Enchiladas

500 grams beef mince
1 onion chopped
2 can chopped tomato's
1/2 tsp garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp salt
8 tortillas
1 tbs oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F or 200C

In skillet,place oil, brown beef and onion together and drain. Add 1 can of tomato's, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, coriander and heat mixture thoroughly.

In oven proof baking dish (I use the same one I use for Lasagna) place about three tablespoons of the beef mixture into a tortilla and roll up placing them seam side down into dish.

If you have left over beef mixture pour this and the other can of tomato over top the enchiladas.

Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over and put back in the oven for 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

-S

An all time favorite!

One savory recipe I am known for is my Corn Bread. To the English it's a bit like soda bread, but only a bit.

My Granddad gave me his recipe when I was younger and it's perfect. Technically this should be made in a cast iron skillet but I haven't had one in years.

Corn Bread

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup plain flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven at Gas Mark 8 or 425F

Greased baking dish, at least 8x8 inches, and over 1.5 inches deep.

Mix the above ingredients into bowl, pour into greased pan. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then if you want cut into squares and slice in half and butter.

If you're feeling brave once this has cooled take a piece and crumble into a cold glass of milk, I used to have this as a treat!

Twinkies, M&Ms and Twizzlers

There was a stall this weekend at the Kapow! Comic Book Convention by Cybercandy. They had a load of stuff so I dropped about £7 on American candy.

Peanut Butter Cups - Thank you Grandpop for ruining these for me, as your home made ones are 110 times better. Still I ate them ;)

Pretzel M&M's had been recommended to me by a guy in the Leniel Yu queue. I ate the whole pack and still cannot figure out if I liked them. I think the candy coating is a bit much, I loved Flips which were just chocolate covered pretzels.

Twinkies - I admit to not having one of these since I was a kid, I preferred the hostess cup cake. However the Twinkie does not hold up to the memory of a twinkie (or they've changed the recipe).

Lastly one of my favorite treats when I go to see a movie, strawberry twizzlers. Not the pull and peel ones but the classic 8 strips of darn near strawberry flavored wax. I love them dearly and these held up to my tastebud memories!

All in all £7 well spent ;)

Husbands Favorite Pudding

Pudding means different things to people. As an American I think of things like Jello Pudding Pops and Instant Jello Pudding.

To my husband it means dessert (or to be English, an after dinner sweet).

My husband doesn't like many desserts, Fairy Cakes, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and his Mother's Pineapple Cake.

I've made this cake so many times! So I'm sharing.

Pineapple Cake

1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Self Raising Flour
1 small tin of Pineapple peices + Juice
1/2 Cup Raisins (or Sultanas)
2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 200C

6 or 7 inch round cake tin greased (with butter)

In mixing bowl combine all ingredients. Pour into prepared cake tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes

On both sides of the Atlantic

The first 23 years of my life I lived in the USA mostly in Baltimore Maryland but I spent a year in Arizona and six months in Pennsylvania. The rest I have spent in Leeds England which means I have a mixed taste in food. Some things I had never heard of before landing in the UK.

Quiche (which I can barely spell)
Curry
Thai Curry
Sausage Rolls
Pasties
Mince Pies
Fairy Cakes
Yorkshire Pudding

And that’s not including the funny named foods. Which there are a lot of!

I also had to get used to the different terms.

Cracker does not mean anything in England, they call them biscuits for cheese.
Biscuits are cookies in the generalist sense.

English Muffins, are just called muffins over here.

What American’s term muffins are called American Muffins….

Crumpets are completely different.

And mince = ground meat

Which makes Mince Pies a bit different as they do not contain meat!

Confused yet?

A lot of my recipes are still in American, I use cups to measure nearly everything. In England they use grams, millilitres, and sometimes ounces. So if you don’t understand cups there are loads of websites that will translate for you.

To show the differences my first two recipes are:-

Simple Single Cheesecake

2 packs of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 pack of hob nobs (or if in the US crushed graham crackers, with a bit of melted butter)

mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.

Using a muffin tin with bun cases (muffin liners) place one hob nob in each, fill 3/4 of the way with cheesecake mix.

Bake at 350F or 180C for 20 minutes, let cool.

Put in fridge for at least an hour.

Variations: add baileys or lemon juice for a bit of a different flavor.

Fairy Cakes



1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cups self raising flour

Mix everything into a bowl

Using muffin tin, place bun cases in tin. Fill 3/4 of the way full with fairy cake mix.

Bake at gas mark 6 for 15 minutes.

In the beginning

Food is a part of everyone’s life.

I started baking with my Grandfather when I was about 6, it was cookies and cakes. I learned very early on that I enjoyed the experience. Not only the spending time with my Grandfather but the learning how to bake.

It wasn’t until I was in my late teens I attempted to cook dinner, which went badly. I’ve since improved, except when it comes to meats I’m still very much a learner there.

My parents were not great in the kitchen my Dad can only make two meals, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (from a box) and fried breakfasts. My Mom couldn’t bake at all and used to burn chill and slice cookies and her Chicken was normally offensive to the cats.

Still, I do love being in the kitchen but I prefer baking as it is more of an art to me. It looks pretty and tastes pretty. I also have my Nana to thank for my Sweet Tooth which is probably the size of Texas.

I’ll be posting recipes and experiences as I go. Enjoy!

-S