A Croissant in a Jaffle?

As many of you are aware, I'm a little bit obsessed with my Breville Jaffle Maker.  I adore it!  I'm a big fan of a breakfast jaffle, usually consisting of bacon and eggs or some other type of savoury filling.

The other day, we had some croissants that were starting to get a little old and dry.  They weren't looking too appealing.  I thought, "I wonder if it could be revived in the Jaffle maker?" The answer is YES!!

I sliced the croissant in half, added a little butter and some raspberry jam and them popped in the Jaffle Maker.  The result is a buttery, crispy and sweet pastry.  Added with some vanilla cream and you've got yourself a sweet breakfast treat.

Really, is there anything that you can't put in the Jaffle Maker?!!

Homemade Celery Salt...

We have been inundated with celery in our veggie patch and we have been trying to find new ways to use ALL of the celery.  My wonderful husband made this batch of celery salt, which I thought I would share with you all.  It is super easy and uses the leaves of the celery.

How to:

1. trim leaves from celery
2. wash well and spin in a salad spinner, you need to get them super dry.
3. Pat dry with paper towel.
4. lay on a tray, lined with baking paper in a single layer.  You don't want them over lapping otherwise they won't cook.
5. bake in a low over (about 150 to 170 degrees Celsius) for about 3 to 5 minutes.  You want it dried out, not brown!
6. you will need to do a few batches.  Add the dried out celery leaves to equal amount of flaky sea salt.  Store in an air proof container.

How easy is that?!  So what can you do with this delicious salt now?  Well you can add to your food as per usual, add to savoury items when you add salt or try it on boiled eggs like I did!

Give it a go!  It's a great way to use up those final last leaves on the celery and adds great flavour.  Yum!

Pomegranate Sour...

I've been a little obsessed with sours lately.  That frothy foam can transform a basic drink into something pretty special.  I also love pomegranates for the warmer months so I thought I would try my hand at a pomegranate sour!

Ingredients:

240 oz pomegranate juice (such as POM)

180 oz of Belvedere vodka

60 oz of lemon juice

30 oz of simple syrup

30 oz of egg white (about the egg white of one egg)

ice

Like any sour, add all the ingredients with ice into a cocktail shaker.  Shake! Why do we shake?  Well we need to combine and froth the egg white and chill the liquid.

Pour into chilled martini glasses or a short glass.  This recipe makes 2 cocktails.

Enjoy!!

Beetroot and Fennel relish...

In the spirit of 'make do and mend' - I have been trying to waste less food.  The recipe for this Beetroot and Fennel relish is something that I just made up, mostly due to the ingredients needing to be cooked or they would have been in the compost bin very soon!

I adore beetroot relish as an accompaniment with cheese.  I think that I got hooked on this combo after having a cheese platter at Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley many years ago but nothing beats/beets (get it, beets!?!) making it yourself.

Ingredients:

2 large beetroots

2 small to medium fennel bulbs

2 small brown onions

approximately 2 cups of cider vinegar

1 cup of caster sugar

about 1/3 cup mustard seeds

How to...

Clean beetroot bulbs and fennel.  Chop fennel into large chunks, chop beetroot into eights.

Lightly drizzle olive oil on beets and fennel and roast in a hot oven for about 35 minutes (or until beets are slightly soft) Keep an eye on the fennel to make sure that it doesn't burn!

Remove from oven and cool.

Place beets and fennel in a food processor and blitz until it is in small pieces.  Do not turn into a paste!

Chop onions and lightly sweat until transparent in a large pot. Add the beet and fennel mixture and slightly cook together for a minute or two. Add sugar, mustard seeds and vinegar and bring to the boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 40 minutes, keep and eye on the mixture to make sure it doesn't dry out too much or is sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Mixture should be glossy, a little saucy but not too runny!  Spoon into sterilized jars and seal.  Relish should last about 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator if not sealed in a jar, it will last longer if properly sealed.

Enjoy your relish with some delicious cheese and bread!

A fancy egg-ie bread...

I love eggs for breakfast.  I go through stages of how I like them; boiled, scramble etc.  This week I've been making the good old 'Eggie bread' in the morning as it is quick and definitely satisfying!

This fancier version adds a good amount of flat leaf parsley while cooking.  I love how the parsley gets a little crisp.  Our parsley is going a little crazy at the moment, I feel like I'm using it in almost every meal!

You've never made 'eggie bread'?!  Simply you cut a hole in the bread (discard this part).  Heat a little oil in a frying pan, place bread in and then crack an egg into the hole and cook to your liking.  It only takes a few minutes and is delicious!

I like to cook mine so the egg yolk is still runny when I cut into it.  How about you?  How do you like your eggs?

Recipe Remix: Granola topped Carrot Cakes

Granola topped Carrot Cake

I thought for this recipe remix that I would combine two of my loves; carrot cake and granola!  It also turned out that I had some granola that I made during the week left over so it worked out perfectly.  These little cakes are moist, crunchy on top and super delicious!

The original carrot cake recipe can be found here.  However for this recipe, I swapped the olive oil for macadamia oil.  It has given it a lovely nutty flavour and I would highly recommend it.  Just to recap, here are the ingredients that you will need!

Ingredients for carrot cake:

3 good sized carrots grated (you want about a cup of carrot)

1/2 cup of olive oil - I used macadamia oil

3/4 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup of self raising flour

1/4 cup of chopped walnuts (you can add extra if you like the crunch!)

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon of allspice or to taste

*************

Mix the sugar, eggs and oil together (I did this on a low setting in the kitchenaid mixer)

Add carrot and flour and mix again.

Stir through walnuts.

Add mixture to 12 muffin tin, that has been prepared with paper cases.

Sprinkle granola on top.

Cook at about 170-180 degrees celsius for approx 20 minutes.

Here they are just before going in the oven!

For the granola recipe, you can find one of my basic granola recipes here.  If you are anything like me, you generally make granola each week and have it on hand!  You could also use a bought granola too. These didn't last long in our house!  They are moist and not too sweet - they definitely hit the spot if you are craving cake.

Enjoy!!!

A salad of memories...

It's funny how the combination of flavours can bring back certain memories.  I remember my first Christmas in New York City.  It snowed on Christmas eve and we ran outside in Manhattan with snowflakes falling on our eyelashes.  We also went out to a restaurant for Christmas dinner and I remember having a salad that was made of radicchio, blue cheese, pear and hazelnuts.  I don't know why but this salad as the starter will always stay with me and everytime I make something similar, it takes me back to that Christmas in New York City, which was well over 10 years ago!

Yesterday, I made a similar salad, however I swapped the blue cheese for feta and made a champagne vinegar and dijon dressing.  This salad is filling, crunchy and fresh but will always make me think of Christmas in New York.