Soup Recipes Please!

I love soup, but I have a very limited range of soups that I make-so far I tend to stick with Pumpkin Soup. 

Last Sunday I made a chicken soup which came out really well-Lara even ate all of hers. (I did cheat and used a cooked chicken from the supermarket.) I really want to make an effort to be trying new meals, and well soups are just so great. And of course another bonus is soup often is cheap to make and lasts more than one meal.

So please feel free to leave me a comment with links to your great soup recipes. Thanks :)

Dairy free recipes?

Miss Paige seems to often have a upset tummy so I have begun eliminating dairy from my diet. But when dairy goes out the window so does yummy things.
Silas and Lara did the grocery shopping this weekend and came home with a packet of chocolate biscuits-Lara thought she was being so nice offering to share. They've been taunting me in the fridge (I am such a sucker for chocolate!!) so tonight I went searching for a dairy free chocolate cake.
One of my buddies on FB popped this one up for me, and its currently in the oven now. (Would have been there 2 hours ago but Paige hasn't been sleeping this evening-instead she has been screaming.)

Ingrediants:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

2 level tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup oil

2 tbsp vinegar

2 cups water

2 tsp vanilla

And the super easy directions:

Preheat oven to 180degrees C.

Sift dry ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients and mix.

Place in a greased lined tin and bake for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

Now I'm not sure how big a tin I was meant to use, I hope it doesn't over flow my tin! Will let you know how it turns out.

Do you have any great dairy free recipes you would love to share? Biscuits, cakes any would be great :)

Hot Cross Buns-Recipe Review

Yesterday Lara and I set out to make some Hot Cross Buns. After a little searching on the net we found this recipe.
I enjoyed the process of making them-I find something therapeutic about kneading.

Ingredients:
Bun Ingredients

15g dried yeast
300ml milk
4 cups plain white flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
90g butter cut into pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup dried sultanas (I didn't add these-I have a thing about fruit in bread)
1 egg

Cross Batter
1/2 cup flour
5 tablespoons of water

Glaze
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
1. Heat milk until just warm in a saucepan. Remove from heat and sprinkle yeast over the milk and set to the side on the bench.

2. Sift flour and cinnamon. Add butter and rub in using your fingers until mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Then add sultanas and sugar.

3. Whisk egg into milk and yeast. Then add the milk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix until combined.

4. Place mixture onto lightly floured board and kneed until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place dough in a large greased bowl. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place. It is ready once it has doubled in size, which should take about 45 minutes.

5. Punch down dough to release gas and then knead for a couple of minutes. Cut dough into 16 pieces of the same size. Knead and form into balls. Place balls together on a greased tray. Cover and place in warm spot and allow to double in size.

6. Turn on oven and preheat to 220 degrees C. Whisk the cross batter of flour and water together until smooth. Place in piping bag. (I use a small plastic bag and cut off a small bottom corner). Pipe on the crosses. Bake at 220 degrees C for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 200 degrees C and bake for a further 10 minutes.

7. Place glaze ingredients in a sauce pan and bring the boil stirring constantly. Then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for a further 2 minutes. Brush liberally over buns once they are removed from the oven.

Enjoy!

While it was nice and easy to make these they tasted soo wrong. They were overly sweet and well it tasted as if they were missing something (and don't say the fruit cos I know that!)

Do you have a favourite hot cross bun recipe?

(Photos by Lara-clever little girl)

Sticky Date Pudding-Yum yum.

Pregnancy cravings have hit and I had to satisfy one with some baking. After some web surfing I found this recipe and had to try it.

Serves 8-12
Ingredients
PUDDING
200g pitted dates, chopped 
1¼ cups water 
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 
60g butter, softened 
3/4 cup caster sugar 
2 eggs 
1 cup self-raising flour 
75g (3 rows) Cadbury Dark Cooking Chocolate, grated
SAUCE
1 cup thickened cream 
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 
200g butter

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Remove from the heat, stir in the soda, and stand for 5 minutes. Purée until smooth.
3. Cream the butter and caster sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well.
4. Fold in the flour, then the puréed dates, followed by the chocolate.

5. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 21 cm round pan (or six to eight individual moulds - muffin trays are ideal). Bake for 55 minutes (25 minutes for individual ones).

Competed mixture

Ready for the oven

6. Prepare the sauce by placing the cream, brown sugar and butter in a saucepan. Stir over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Making the sauce

7. Remove the pudding from the oven and stand for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a baking tray. Pour over enough of the sauce to cover the top of the pudding. Return to the oven for 5 minutes.
8. Dust the pudding with icing sugar and serve with remaining sauce, accompanied with cream or ice cream.
Note: This pudding can be kept for 1 week in the fridge. Heat single serves with sauce poured over in the microwave on High (100% power) for approximately 1 minute.

Cooked to perfection!

I used our muffin tin and I'm super happy with the size of the puddings-even better they taste amazing!

Complete with sauce-delicious!

Yum!!

I have coffee group tomorrow morning and I am so tempted to try and make these cupcakes that Courtney posted on her blog. They look so good! I know I won't be able to ice them they way she has-I don't have a piping bag or the energy to try.

Sugar Rush
Makes 10 – 12 cupcakes
1 cup ‘V’ energy drink
¾ cup caster sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 ½ cup plain flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Place cupcake papers in muffin tray.
Combine sugar and oil by mixing together.
Add the ‘V’, vanilla essence, baking soda, baking powder and salt, mix quickly.
Sift the flour into the mixture in three additions, being careful not to over mix each time.
Fill each cupcake casing ¾ full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they turn a light golden brown and the tops spring back when touched.
Cool on a wire rack.

She iced hers with a basic butter cream icing, (125g butter and 1 ½ cups icing sugar) and added the remaining ‘V’ instead of a tablespoon of milk.  You can colour the icing any colour of your choice but she used a pink and orange swirl to complement the colour of the ‘Nerds’ she then sprinkled on top.

I hope mine turn out as good as hers!

Recipe-Fruity Yoghurt Pops

Lara loves these and I love that they are so healthy.

First you need to work out how much liquid your iceblock molds hold-my one holds 2cups of liquid and makes 8 iceblocks.

You will need:
1 cup Yogurt (plain or fruit flavoured)
1 cup pureed fruit (I use canned peaches, but drain first)
(optional -add a few teaspoons of lemonade, or fruit juice-I use a little of the juice from the can of peaches) 
Mix and pour in to your ice block molds. Freeze then enjoy!