March Favourites!

This month I have few favourites I want to share with you all,

Favourite Food

Blue river Halloumi

This stuff is seriously amazing. I'm not usually into cheeses, but this is one of a kind.
If you aren't familiar with Halloumi, it is the cheese you can fry or grill and doesn't melt away like you would expect most cheeses to do because it has a higher melting temperature.  I always hear people say that Halloumi is the 'squeaky cheese' because it can kinda squeak around your teeth, a bit like chewing gum...
But this is the one Halloumi that doesn't. It crisps up with a nice golden brown colour when you fry it and it tastes great!

I usually add it too my salads or as a side with dinner. I think is a great idea for anyone looking for a non meat alternative in their diet since it is high in protein.

Favourite Treat

Watermelon cake

 This was actually made in February, but I just wanted to share it because I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

I saw a watermelon cake on pinterest a few year ago and I had always wanted to make one ever since. I was never really sure how it would turn out and thought the cream would just run off the watermelon and it would just be a big watery mess. But I tried it for my birthday and it worked! It is definitely the quickest and easiest cake I have ever made. I'm sorry for the rushed looking photos, but everyone was in a hurry to eat it so I took a quick few snaps to show you. 

I used a whole watermelon with the skin off. Then decorated it with whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries and grated dark chocolate.  So if you want to make a 'cake' that is flour-less and refined sugar free, here is your answer! 

Favourite Read

This year I'll be doing a bit of travelling - I can't wait! So I have been doing a bit of research on some of the places I will be visiting. The lonely Planet Travel guides are great if you don't know a lot about the places you are visiting! I'm bit of a beginner when it comes to travelling, but these books are helping me a lot!

Update!

Brit Bakes is now on facebook!

Check out Brit Bake's facebook page here and give it a bit of a like if that's your thing :)

What were your favourite things in March? Hope everyone enjoys April!

Brit :)

Sweet Sunday - Oaty Ginger Crunch

I have memories as a kid making ginger crunch with my dad. We would make it after I finished school, and the sweet ginger smell would fill the house.
I think we used to make it because it was always so quick and easy, and tasted great! 

This is the best recipe for ginger crunch that I have found.

This particular recipe has an oaty, chewy base, and a soft smooth icing

This recipe works perfectly if you are wanting to double the recipe too!

Recipe

Oven Temp - 180 C


Ingredients

150g Butter
3 T golden Syrup
1/2 cup brown Sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 cups oats
1/2 cup coconut

Icing
150g butter
3 cups (approx) Icing sugar
4 Tablespoons golden syrup
4 Teaspoons ground ginger


Method
Melt Butter, Golden Syrup and brown sugar over a low heat until all melted together.
Remove from heat
Sift in flour, baking powder, ginger.
Add oats and coconut.
Mix well until all combined

Press into a lined tin
Bake for 15 mins

Once cooked leave in tin.
Heat icing ingredients in a saucepan (except icing) over a medium heat,
 once melted, sift in approx 3/4 of the icing.
Stir well. Add small amounts of the remaining icing until you get a smooth but slightly thick consistency.
Pour over warm slice.
Leave to cool in tin. Then slice to your preferred sizes.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you enjoyed this recipe in the comments!
If you have any other sweet Sunday recipes that you enjoy, let me know :)

Brown rice and Lentil salad

If you have been following my blog, you might have noticed I like to keep things simple.

I like to keep things quick and easy but only if they are going to taste yummy!

I was introduced to "Sun rice - Brown rice and lentils" (you can also get Brown rice and quinoa)
I find these great for a good salad base. They are full of fiber and essential vitamins and minerals.
Lentils are a great source of protein, especially for vegetarians or vegans.

I quickly made this recipe up as I was making it one night. Just using ingredients in the fridge and fresh herbs from the garden!

Brown rice and Lentil salad
Serves approx 4

Ingredients

3 cups brown rice and lentil mix ( if you don't have this available, any brown rice and lentils will be fine and mix them yourself, with most of the mix being brown rice)
  6 cups water
1 cup chopped salami
1 cup chopped black olives
1 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
fresh chopped herbs ( I used - Italian parsley, curly parsley and mint )
Salt and pepper to season

Method

Rinse rice with cold running water
Place the 6 cups water and rice in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Stir so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom
Reduce heat and simmer covered for approx 25 mins - stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat.
Transfer rice into a large serving bowl.
You can leave to cool in the fridge or rinse with cold water and drain if you are using it straight away.
Mix in remaining ingredients.

Enjoy!

Brit :)

In no way am I sponsored in this post
All opinions are my own :)

October favourites!

Wow hasn't the year flown by! I still feel like I'm only just getting used to writing 2014 on dates and in 2 months it will be 2015!

This month is based around breakfasts, workout gear, getaways and a wedding!

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I'm a huge fan of them. There are so many options for breakfast, but this month I had had two favourites, muesli and poached eggs.

Summer is coming here and I was so excited to see strawberries back at the supermarket at a good seasonal price.

Strawberries + Banana = Best fruit combo

My favoutite workout gear are these 3 pieces from NIKE. My boyfriend brought these for me and I just love the colours! 

My favourite getaway
Central Otago NZ

I've mentioned this place in a previous post.
This place is beautiful all year round. 

Last weekend my boyfriend and I went to a beautiful wedding. The weather hasn't been great here at the moment but the day of the wedding was sunny, warm and perfect!
My dress is from Emerald Boutique. I loved the colours of this dress, perfect for a warm summer day! 

I hope you all have had a great month! Bring on November!
What were you're favourite things this month?

Brit :)

Honeyed Glazed Pumpkin

Hey Everyone! 

I love trying out new recipes with different vegetables to try mix things up a bit.

It can actually be so easy to enhance flavours of vegetables to make them not only taste amazing but so you can still get all the important nutrients from them.

It's well into spring here now (not that the weather is showing us that at the moment!) but we still had a couple of pumpkins to use up. 

I love pumpkin because it is so versatile. It can be sweet or savoury. Baked, roasted, boiled or steamed. You can eat it in pieces or it can make a really yummy puree. 

This recipe is inspired from a recipe I found in the My petite kitchen cookbook. She is a blogger from NZ who comes up with the most amazing nutritious, wholefood recipes! My copy of the book has post it notes in nearly every page for recipes that I want to try! Check out her blog here 

Honey Glazed Pumpkin

( Serves 3-4 side dishes )

Ingredients

1/4 pumpkin

1T Runny honey

Small handful of chopped coriander and Italian Parsley 

1/4 cup Chopped Olives( I wanted to use black olives but we only had stuffed green olives but they still tasted great!)

1T coconut oil melted

Salt and pepper

Method

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius 

Carefully slice the skin off the pumpkin. Using a sharp knife and a chopping board that is not wobbling around ( place a wet cloth underneath your board to help ).

Cut pumpkin into thin slices, roughly 10 - 5 mm thick.

Place pumpkin into a roasting dish.

Drizzle honey and coconut oil onto pumpkin.

 Season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until pumpkin is cooked right through.

Place into a serving dish and sprinkle with chopped herbs and olives.

Serve while still warm.

Even my cat was trying to get in on this!

Enjoy!

Brit xo

Sweet Sunday - Chocolate Brownie

This has to be one of my all time favourite brownie recipes. It's texture isn't too gooey and not too cakey. It is more like a fudge texture.
I love making this recipe for my family - it always goes down well with a cup of green tea!

I found this recipe from a New Zealand chef called Jo Seagar. The cookbook it is in is called "Jo Seagar cooks" I have so many of her cook books, she has sooo many great recipes to try.

This recipe its super easy and quick to prepare, and doesn't require much effort at all!

This is a great special occasions recipe but isn't for everyday eating as it doesn't contain much nutritional value.
If you're lucky enough to have leftovers, it can be easily frozen. Bring it out a few hours before it is required to give it enough time to thaw out. :)

Recipe
Approx 18 peices

200g melted butter
3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups caster sugar
1/4 t salt
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
2 cups chopped chocolate (I used Whittakers 72% dark chocolate)

Pre heat oven to 150 degrees Celcius
Prepare a 20x30cm Slice tin with baking paper
Mix the butter, cocoa, sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat until the colour lightens (about 4-5 mins).
Incorporate the flour, baking powder and chocolate - gently mix.
Pour in your slice tin and bake for 50- 55 minutes.
Once baked, cool completely in the tin so the brownie doesn't crack.
Cut once cooled ( or if you and you're guests are super impatient like my family you can attempt to cut when still warm so you can eat it straight away!)

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!
I will be doing a few allergy friendly baking recipes in the future so keep a look out for them!

Brit  :)

Easy Vegan Couscous

This is a simple Couscous recipe with great summer flavours.
When I'm cooking during the week I like to keep meals easy and simple.
This Couscous recipe can be used as a side dish to a meal or can be a meal itself.

Couscous is usually quite inexpensive. This recipe is friendly for anyone on a budget or looking to feed a crowd.
If you're lucky enough to have any leftovers, store it in the fridge and have for lunches the next day!

Ingredients

2 cups Couscous

2 cups boiling water

1 onion finely diced

1/2 large red capsicum finely diced

handful coriander leaves finely diced

1 T coconut oil

1 gherkin finely diced (optional)

Salt and Pepper

Method

Place the couscous into a bowl that has a sealed lid. (you can also use a saucepan).

Pour the boiling water on the couscous.

Immediately cover with the lid and leave aside to cook.

While your couscous is cooking, heat coconut oil in a small pan. Add onion and capsicum

Gently saute until onion is cooked.

Check the couscous after 4-5 mins

The couscous should be a soft texture when you bite it. But not soggy.

Once cooked, add the onion mixture, coriander and gherkin.

Lightly fluff up with a fork so it is not lumpy and all stuck together.

It's important to flavour and season your couscous as it lacks flavour on its own.

Here you can add Salt and pepper and season to your own taste.

Try this recipe next time you're stuck for ideas :)

Have a great day!

Brit x