Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Coconut Cake

Last month both Hubby and I celebrate our birthdays, with Hubby's coming first. Instead of the usual chocolate cake, I thought I'd do something different and made this coconut cake instead. I called out for a Bundt tin on the local Buy, Swap & Sell and was lucky enough someone had one in their camping gear that they no longer wanted!

I love the cake. Nice and fragrant with coconut, but not overpowering. It was a little lighter than I expected, but I substituted the milk for the leftover buttermilk I had in the fridge, so that might be why. I also used wholemeal self-raising flour instead of white flour, supposed to be healthier. Hey, I won't argue...



We light the candles a few times so Noah can have a go at blowing them out as well. He wants candles on every cake we have at home! Sometimes it's cute, sometimes it's exasperating.




 A lovely change for a Birthday cake!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Minted Lamb Leg

Sorry, no photos for this one. It was eaten too quick on empty stomachs, and I completely forgot about photos.

This one is in the 'Spring' section of the Seasons book, but now that the weather is cooler I'm leaning more toward roasts as having the oven on warms the house so nicely. The heat radiates through the tiled floors and take the chill out of the evening air. Then the lovely warm food sits well in the our cool bellies. Perfect cool weather food.

I loved the addition of malt vinegar to base the meat. It left a beautiful sweet layer on crust and just worked so well.

Neither of us eat asparagus, so instead I served it with a small salad. Now that it's cooler, some mash potato might be called for.

:)

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Crispy Southern Fried Chicken

Living out in the middle of nowhere, there's not a lot of option to get take-away food.

Next best option? Make it yourself!

Taking these out of the oven after they'd finished cooking, if you closed your eyes it smelled like KFC. Without the greasy aftertaste. Yes, they are initially fried to get the crispy texture to the coating, but then completely cooked in the oven.

I loved using buttermilk with them and think it made a big difference to how light they tasted. If I'd just used regular milk, I can understand that they'd feel a lot 'heavier'. I've never used Onion or Celery Salt in cooking before either. Might have to start experimenting....

I made burgers from this meal and they were awesome! Just with toasted bread, a little salad, mayo and the coated chicken = win!