Whittaker's White Raspberry Chocolate

I love chocolate! 

And I do (kind of) recognise that there is nothing particularly special in this statement . . . after all, does not everybody love chocolate? 

However, I maintain that my relationship with chocolate is a special one. Chocolate has been by my side as long as I can remember. It has been with me through the good times and the bad. Chocolate has the ability to accentuate a fantastic day or alternately brighten a bad one.

And so over the years chocolate has been both my very best friend and (at times) my worst enemy - as I do find it hard to stop . . . struggling to maintain my self control at times!

Lucky for me my chocolate tastes have matured over time and I have narrowly avoided becoming the size of a house by learning that the best way to enjoy chocolate is in small doses . . . savoured . . . everything in moderation and all that.

Oops! That all went out the window the day I set eyes on the newest addition to the Whittaker's chocolate range, White Raspberry chocolate:

Because it is absolutely delicious . . . rich, decadent, creamy deliciousness! And all for a good cause - the New Zealand Breast Cancer Society is receiving a 20 cent donation for every block sold. 

And no, I was not out of control, I did share . . . and it was savoured, and savoured, and savoured some more. Till all that was left . . . 

. . . was the evidence!

If you haven't already tried it, I would strongly suggest that you do so. In fact, I might go so far as to insist. I can assure you, you will be left with the satisfaction of having enjoyed the taste of something truly divine. 

Whittaker's White Raspberry chocolate is available nationwide in 250g blocks, at the same price as the rest of the Whittaker's 250g range. And as you too will be supporting charity with every block you buy, why not enjoy generously, throwing moderation out the window. You know you want to!

BBQ! + blue cheese and mushroom sauce

Yesssss! Finally it is BBQ season, such a treat!

I am loving daylight savings, more time in the evenings for getting out and about, in particular chilling out while dining alfresco style on the deck. After a long winter of inactivity the BBQ has finally made its seasonal debut . . .

This recipe is for steak served with blue cheese and mushroom sauce and is pretty simple to put together considering how spectacular it tastes.

Ingredients:  (enough for four servings)

100 grams Blue cheese

100 ml Cooking cream

Small onion, chopped

Half a dozen chopped button mushrooms 

This sauce doesn't take too long to make - approximately five minutes - which is perfect considering that's about how much time it took for my Husband to perfectly cook scotch fillet steaks on the BBQ!

In a food processor blitz the blue cheese and cooking cream until smooth:

Meanwhile, in a pan brown the onion and mushrooms:

Add the blue cheese mix to the pan, stir through and heat slightly 

(takes about ten seconds!)

Serve.

See? Simple! But absolutely delicious.

 

This sauce is so versatile - you can easily change up the amount of cheese / mushrooms / cream depending on the amount of sauce you want and what you are doing with it - you don't need a lot for this dish, but you may want more if you were to use it as a pasta sauce.

In the spirit of a good old BBQ this was served with a couple of salad sides - coleslaw and a bean salad. YUM!

Lazy Sunday at the Mount

Had a lovely day wandering about the Mount today - with both the Little Big Markets and the busking festival going on it was a pretty busy day in Mt Maunganui!

Very pleased with my purchases form the Little Big Markets - including a few tasty cupcakes for afternoon tea:

Passionfruit:

And lemon curd, yum! :

Before a potter down the Mainstreet to check out the busking festival and a quick bite and cider in the sun at Astrolabe. I couldn't resist a plate of the blue cheese wontons from the small plates menu, served with a berry sauce - this was my favorite from a platter I dined on last time I visited!

Awesome way to spend the afternoon . . . feels like it is just about time to get ready to herald in the start of summer!  

Providores

Urban Food Store

19a Pacific Avenue 

Mount Maunganui

This is my new favourite brunch spot in the Bay. All of the food is absolutely delicious, including an awesome all day breakfast menu with a focus on free range and organic ingredients. Oh, and dare I mention the amazing array of baked goods and sweet treats on offer?

To celebrate the first day of spring we made an effort to get out and about in the sunshine, with a bite to eat prior to circumnavigation of the Mount.

I enjoyed a steak and merlot pie while my Husband chowed on a venison and blue cheese pie. And yes, both were just as delicious as they sound!! If you fancy yourself any kind of pie connoisseur and haven't had a chance to sample the gourmet pies on offer at Providores then you really must, post haste. 

Well worth the trip out to the Mount, our visits have become a quick weekend ritual as the food never disappoints!

Pink Lemonade Cookies

When life gives you lemons . . . make lemonade! Or even better, pink lemonade cookies. These are just so pretty, made using a variation of my old favorite, the Edmonds cookbook basic biscuits.

Ingredients:

125 grams butter
3/4 cup sugar
Juice and grated rind of two lemons
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

50g butter
1/2 teaspoon strawberry essence
1 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon of hot water (approx)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. 

Cream softened butter and sugar. Once light and fluffy add the lemon juice and rind and egg. Beat well. Mix in sifted flour and baking powder. 

Roll into small balls before flattening onto a baking tray. 

Bake for about ten minutes, until golden brown. 

And once cooled, make the icing: 

Cream softened butter until light and fluffy. Add strawberry essence. Gradually beat in icing sugar, beating untill smooth. Add enough hot water to give a good consistency for spreading. Voila!

Ice cookies, stand back to admire!

So pretty x 

Piniata Cookies: Attempt #1

Its no secret I love pretty much anything mexican . . . and baking with food coloring (the ladies at my work tease me about it often!) . . . so when I saw this recipe for Piniata Cookies, it was pretty much a given I would have to give it a try. This is my first attempt!

This is what the finished product should look like: 

Unfortunately it didn't really go to plan, I will be trying this again very soon with a tried and true sugar cookie recipe. The recipe quoted is really oily and puffed up when it was baked, which I wasn't expecting. 

Anyway, it is an interesting baking technique and such an awesome idea! 

Here is my layered cookie block:

And once sliced:

The recipe called for the cookie slices to be baked and then cut with cookie cutters. But my cookies unfortunately puffed up when baked. They tasted good, but would not have worked for the purposes of these piniata cookies, they were way too thick:

I figure that blogging can't always be about my successes, I am not especially proud of these cookies but am looking forward to trying again without an epic fail- Attempt #2 will be completed and documented shortly!!

Wannabe vegetarian - Stuffed capsicums (peppers)

This is an easy way to make the most of all of the cheap capsicums we have about at the moment.

Cut the top off the capsicum, remove the seeds etc and set aside.  

In a pan cook up chopped onion, garlic, olives, fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and any of the capsicum you have managed to salvage:

Once nicely cooked through layer this mixture with crumbled feta in the capsicums. Top with a few wedges of feta before popping into the oven for approximately half an hour.

Served with Mediterranean couscous.  

Yum!

Nautilus

Nautlius Restaurant

Sulphur Point

Tauranga

Enjoyed a really lovely meal at Nautilus this evening.

We started with the 'Artisan breads',

 a platter of fresh bread served with Olive Oil, dips and Olives. 

The perfect sized entree for two.

For mains, I had the Fish of the Day. This is without a doubt the best meal out I have had in ages! Fairly decent sized Tarakihi fillet, poached, 3 scallops, 3 mussels, 3 prawns, and veges - broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, parsnip and potatoes. For someone as indecisive as me this was the perfect meal - a posh seafood medley really. Yummmo!!

My husband had the Scotch fillet, and if I hadn't enjoyed my meal so much I would have been very jealous. This was amazingly presented - a generous portion of steak served with fries, onion rings, and gravy (sorry, pinot noir jus sauce). Also delicious.

The atmosphere at Nautilus was buzzing, obviously plenty of regulars and everyone's meals looked amazing. Good service, good food, good wine. Slightly on the pricey side so probably best saved for a special treat. 

I am well impressed with Nautilus, will definitely be returning again after such a delightful culinary experience! Wow.

Banana and Walnut loaf

I'm a bit useless with bananas. I always promise myself I will eat them before they become past their best, but I never do. So once again I had the dilemma of what to do with over-ripe bananas, left in a sorry state in the fruit bowl. 

I have been meaning to try out banana loaf, or bread for a long while and today I finally got around to it. And as with a lot of things I wish I had got around to this a lot sooner. How many opportunities for delicious banana loaf have I previously missed? One will never know.   

Here is my recipe for banana and walnut loaf, it is a variation from my beloved Edmonds cookbooks' banana loaf recipe. My recipe calls for the addition of walnuts, less butter, brown sugar.

Ingredients:

3.5 cups of self raising flour

half a teaspoon of baking soda

half a teaspoon of salt

1 cup of brown sugar

4 eggs

half a cup of milk

75 grams melted butter

2 mashed bananas

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl before adding brown sugar. In a second bowl beat the eggs before stir in milk, melted butter, mashed bananas and walnuts (don't forget to set aside a few walnuts for sprinkling on the top of the loaf).

Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients, stirring until everything is just combined.

Transfer mixture into a greased cake tin, sprinkle with walnuts and bake at 180 degrees for approx 50 minutes (maybe longer, I lost track of time). Test with a skewer until it comes out clean, reassurance that the loaf is cooked right through . . .

Like so.

Spread with butter . . .

 and enjoy!

Mexican Night: Tacquitos

Yes, I love Mexican food. And for good reason . . . this is yet another excellent addition to my repertoire- Tacquitos, which I think are a bit of a cross between burritos and enchiladas.

The three main ingredients are chilli, grated cheese and (store brought) burritos. I used a vegetarian chilli made with beans, chopped onions, capsicum and tomatoes, garlic, coriander, and because I like it to have a bit of a kick: chopped chilli and chilli sauce.

Spread 2-3 tablespoons of chilli across the middle of a tortilla and sprinkle with grated cheese. Then roll it up, as tight as possible without losing chilli out the sides and pop into a greased baking dish. Repeat until your dish is full.

Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 220 degrees
for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown:

And serve with guacamole
(avocado, chopped tomato and red onion, lime juice and coriander)

Yum!