Year: 2012

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Apetina Cheese – Summer Suncatcher Salad, with a Chance to Win a Fabulous Hamper

 

Apetina is a new cheese to me.  

I was delighted to be asked to make a new salad that would help our family nutrition by keeping the kids happy.  Looking for the cheese to buy, I was quite surprised to find they also have gorgeous little snack pots.  

The lovely looking Apetina Sun Dried Tomato Snack Pack and the Garlic and Olive Snack Pack also made it into my shopping trolley, along with a classic block.  It really is worth a try, and also suitable for vegetarians.

The cheese crumbles with ease when it is being eaten and seems to absorb flavours well.   Arla also make a light variety which I would have loved to try, but my local shop didn't have any left.

To keep my kids happy, a sharing dish is usually the best option, especially if I can put together all the ingredients that I know my kids love.  They always pick from the big help yourselves dishes on the table.

Apetina Cheese – Summer Suncatcher Salad Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 x 200g tub of classic Apetina cheese
  • 1 chinese leaf lettuce
  • 150g grapes
  • 200g strawberries
  • 4 apricots
  • 10 cherry tomatoes
  • 15 cherries
  • croutons
  • olive oil
  • sour cream

Method

Salads are just so easy to make.  The first step is washing all salad ingredients and placing the lettuce in the bottom of the bowl, to make a bed for the rest of the salad to sit on.

  1. Drizzle a little olive oil onto the lettuce.
  2. Spread a little sour cream over the surface.
  3. Cut strawberries into quarters.
  4. Half the cherry tomatoes.
  5. De-stone the apricots and cut them into quarters.
  6. Sprinkle the fruit and tomatoes onto the bed of lettuce.
  7. Drain a tub of Apetina cheese and place on the salad.
  8. Top with cherries and croutons.
  9. Serve with sour cream as a side dish.

In our house, this was a success as I used the fruit that my kids love to mix with the cheese.  I like mixing fruit and veg where they work well together and salads are perfect for that.  We had a suncatcher that we made a few weeks ago on the window, so my boys named the salad the suncatcher as it had such lovely colours and looked spectacular on the table.

My Apetina recipe will be entered into the contest over on the Apetina Facebook page.  It will also be featured in the Recipe section of the website.

If you like the Facebook page, and vote for your favourite salad of the week, you'll be entered into a prize draw to win this fabulous picnic hamper.  Inside the basket, there will be a salad bowl with servers, and a dressing bottle.

The final week prize will be a BBQ, so head on over using the Apetina link to vote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Slow Cooked Beef Stew with New Potatoes

Beef and New Potato Stew

Beef and New Potato Stew

Being the fan of slow cookers that I am, mine has seen something of  a slacking off period this last few weeks.   Now back and determined to get back to using it more often, we’ve just sat down to a lush slow cooker beef recipe that includes new potatoes.  As always I am cooking for a large family (usually 6 + at any one time to feed).   Reduce the side of the portion to suit your own family size.

Slow Cooked Beef Stew with New Potatoes 

  • 6 – 8 servings.
  • Preparation, 15 – 20 minutes + cooking time.
  • Nutritional, rich source of vegetables and meat.

Ingredients

  •  1.2 kg stewing steak, diced.
  • 500g mixed vegetables.  I used celery, leek, carrot and turnip.
  • 1 large or 2 small onions.
  • 1kg baby new potatoes.
  • 2 x beef stockpots.
  • salt, pepper and / or spice to taste.

Method

  • Brown the stewing steak and add to slow cooker.
  • Brown onions and mixed vegetables and add to slow cooker.
  • Add stockpots.
  • Wash new potatoes and mix with meat and vegetables in the slow cooker.
  • Cover with enough boiling water to skim the top of your ingredients.
  • Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.
  • Put on lid and cook for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high for large wattage slow cookers.  Adjust heat and time depending on the size of your element.
  • Thicken, season to taste and simply serve.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with bread or rice cakes.

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Project 366 Day 5/365 – Summer Sun

Summer Sun – we go to a club every week that we help run.  For my special needs child it really is his lifeline out of school.  With other children that he can relate, he doesn’t have to worry about what is said or done.  If another special needs child says something out of turn, it really is because they just don’t like each other, and nothing to do with their disabilities.  It is lovely to see these kids acting like kids, and the mums get to have a coffee and a chat with other mums that “get it”.  Friendship is fabulous.

It’s nice to see kids making the most of the sun, even it if it is just to laze about on the grass.

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Project 366, 1/365 for me. My Old Lady Enjoying the Smells

My girl is 11.  She is blind with cancer and arthritis, but still she enjoys walking, cuddles and food.  She’s spending more and more time outside, so I suspect this year I will be taking lots of pictures of her as we really don’t have that many.  This is a new start for me joining the project, so adding more pictures of here will a common thing I suspect.  If I’ve done it wrong as I’m joining really late, someone please give me a shove to get it right.

 

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Strawberry Cheesecake with Fresh Scotty Brand Strawberries

Our delivery of strawberries arrived, and two boxes were eaten almost immediately by children who ate them like sweeties.  They were so sweet and juicy that I was reminded of the strawberries we used to get as kids.

Our challenge came via this adorable recipe from Scotty Brand for cheesecake pots.  You can download the Scotty Brand recipe from the link, and my version is below.  I didn’t have all the ingredients to hand, so I have changed the recipe to suit my kitchen cupboard.

The kids wolfed down some glasses of cheesecake as soon as they were made and they didn’t have the chance to set.   We only have 3 glasses left for after their evening meal tonight.  I suspect they will disappear sharply.

Strawberry Cheesecake  Makes up to 8 glasses.

Ingredients

Filling

  •  600 g Scotty Brand strawberries, blended
  •  500 g cream cheese
  • 200 ml whipping cream, whipped
  • 30 g gelatine
  • 6 tbsp hot water
  • 3 tbsp icing sugar

Base

  • 400 g digestive biscuits, crushed
  • 100 g butter, melted

Method

1. Melt butter and mix with crushed biscuit crumb.  Press into individual glasses.

2. Beat soft cheese (mascapone here) and mix with 3 tablespoons of icing sugar.  Fold in whipped cream.

3. Blend the strawberries until it’s a pulpy mush.

4. Dissolve 30 g gelatine using hot water.  Add half to the cheese mix and half to the blended strawberries.

5. Pour a layer of the blended strawberries into the glasses.  I put mine in the freezer for 10 minutes to set the strawberries a little.

6. Smooth the cheesecake mix as the next layer.

7. Pour the last of the blended strawberries on the top and leave overnight to set.

8.  Add strawberries, cream or topping before serving.