Three ways with Beetroot

I love beetroot.

Mum grows way too many veggies for her and Dad. I secretly think she loves to just grow stuff, so she can give it away.

If I was as good as growing veggies as her, I want to grow it all too. 

Beetroot's the latest thing she's sent me home with. I've said I love it, haven't I? I don't think I have said how crappy I am at growing it myself though. I am trying.

I made a couple of jars of beetroot relish with it. A beetroot and ricotta tart too, based loosely on this recipe, which was delicious by the way. A little ugly to look at, like something you'd serve at Halloween, but delicious all the same. I might use less beetroot next time, or even try it with pumpkin or some other veggie. I will blog the recipe when I get it right.

I still had beetroot to use and a brain wave to bake with it. I went to google for a recipe for Beetroot and chocolate cupcakes and found this one for muffins.

I ate these over a few days. Summer helped. After a couple Izzy cottoned on, and mentioned that the chocolate tasted funny. Dang! No fooling her. 

I thought they were fucking amazing! I was in heaven with every bite, and seriously, you would hardly know there was beetroot in there.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Back to school and an easy Chocolate Slice

We've just gone back to school this week in South Australia. Izzy started back at kindy yesterday, a full day. Just what you want after two weeks of having both of them home. There's no worrying about if she was ready, I was ready.

We had a great holiday break, got some easter craft done, too much chocolate consumption and a catch up with our mothers group mates. It was great that easter fell IN the school holidays this year.

Sunday I had a bake up. There wasn't much to put in a lunch box. Instead of taking money out the bank to buy stuff they day before our big fortnightly shop, I baked with what I had in the pantry. Simple stuff. Nothing fancy.

I made my sultana loaf. Tea, sultanas, sugar and flour. I used a spiced chai tea in this one, and iced it with half a teaspoon of golden syrup mixed with little boiling water, then mixed with icing sugar.

Homemade crackers, these are very moorish. I will post the recipe soon, these are before I had cooked them.

This chocolate slice is easy to make with ingredients everyone should have in the pantry ready to go. It is also scrumptious.

Chocolate Slice

120 grams butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self raising flour
3 tablespoons of cocoa
1 cup of coconut

Mix dry ingredients together.
Melt butter, pour over dry ingredients and mix well.
Press the mix into a slice tin. I greased my tin with oil spray.

Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

When cool, ice with chocolate icing, sprinkle with coconut and slice!

Never have a problem finding someone to lick the spoon.

Joining Jess for #IBOT on this very wet tuesday.

Santa cupcakes

I had a can of condensed milk in the pantry. It was one of those cans my mum randomly hands over and says, "Take this, you might be able to use it". O.K. then.

Combine that can with looking at my christmas board on Pinterest and we(me and Izzy) made some santa cupcakes with strawberries and  cream. I don't own a piping bag, so a freezer bag with a small hole sniped out of the corner did the job with the cream.

Chocolate cupcakes using a 395 gram can of condensed milk.

150 gr margarine

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs (I used one duck egg)

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 and a half cups SR Flour

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 deg/160 degrees fan forced.

Beat butter and condensed milk until light and creamy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Stir in flour and cocoa, alternately with milk.

Spoon into patty pans and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Icing

2 tablespoons condensed milk

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Combine until smooth. If it is a bit stiff, add a few drops of hot water at a time to get it to a spreadable consistency, a bit like nutella.

I had to admit, it was the best tasting cake mix I have ever tasted!

My pantry is full of pegs, even the freezer!

 The santas were put on iced normal sized cupcakes. The top 'hat' sliced off the strawberry and then a bit of cream piped on and then the hat put back on top with a pom pom of cream. Chia seeds for eyes.

These were whole strawberries placed on mini cupcakes taken out of the case. Cream piped around the base of the strawberry and a pom pom on top.

Aren't these the cutest christmas cupcakes you have ever seen?

Have you got your christmas baking on yet?

Do you use pegs to keep stuff closed?