I confess, I have had a love affair with Mexican food and flavours for a very long time.  My sister introduced me to nachos one time when we were visiting her. I had never tasted anything Mexican before.  She layered tortilla chips onto baking sheets and topped them with oodles of cheese, and peppers, spring onions, jalapenos, olives, etc. before baking them in the oven. It was love at first bite!



I remember one time I had made a huge batch of Turkey Enchiladas and froze a pan of them for supper at a future date.  My oldest boy had a friend to stay overnight, and I found the empty pan under the sofa bed the next morning.  They had indulged in them as a midnight snack, and I dare say they ate them frozen.  Yes, they are that good. But I digress  . . .


Another thing we really like in this house are Quesadillas.  They make for great appetisers, snacks and light lunches.


 Essentially they are tortillas that are filled with whatever is going, folded over and then grilled or baked to heat up the insides and crisp up the tortillas. You cut  them into wedges to serve and usually serve them with a dip of some sort.


Quesadillas are a great way to use up bits and bobs of things you have that, on their own, are not really enough to feed a family, but when you throw them all together, and then pop them into a quesadilla, well . . . you have something really tasty on in your hands that can feed a few more people than just one (unless you are a greedy gus)!!!


I had some leftover chicken from the weekend, but it wasn't enough to really feed both of us as a meal, it was only one grilled chicken breast.  I put my thinking cap on and came up with these. 


We both really love Artichoke Dip, and we both love Quesadillas and so I combined the two loves and came up with these easy, tasty bites of deliciousness! I chopped the chicken up and combined it with chopped tomatoes, spring onions, marinated artichokes and lime juice. 


I layered this mixture on some corn and flour soft tortillas that I had spread first with some herbed garlic cream cheese.  The cream cheese held everything in place, I sprinkled some pepper jack on top, folded the tortillas over and then baked them in a hot oven, until the cheese melted all scrummy yummy and everything was piping hot!  Alternately you could fry them in a skillet, lightly brushed with oil.



Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Butter a baking sheet.  Set aside.

Spread the herbed cream cheese evenly onto each tortilla, almost to the edges.  Mix together the chopped chicken, lime juice, salt, tomato, spring onion and chopped artichokes to combine well.  Spread this onto half of each tortilla over the cream cheese.  Sprinkle an equal amount of pepper jack cheese over each and fold the other half of the tortilla over top to cover completely, pressing down lightly to adhere.  Place onto the buttered baking sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cheese has melted, the filling has heated through and the tortillas are turning golden at the edges.  remove from the oven and cut each tortilla into 4 wedges.  Serve hot with your favourite accompaniments.  We like salsa and sour cream with ours.



These went down a real treat as a light lunch with some sour cream and salsa on the side.  They also make great (but messy) appetizers!  Some good!   Buen Provecho!

I recently received a new Madeleine pan and I found a lovely recipe to bake in it.  I love French Madeleines . . .  tiny little moreish shell shaped little cakes . . . rich and wonderful for dipping into hot drinks.   I wanted to do Gingerbread ones because Todd really loves Gingerbread and I found the perfect recipe here.

I have always wanted to bake Madeleines.   I have had a silicone Madeleine pan for quite a while now and had never used it.  Today was the day.

Ahhh  . . . .  Madeleines. That little French butter cake that most (non-French) people think of more as a cookie.

  

I had in my mind to make Friands today, but not just any friands . . .  raspberry and marshmallow friands.   I went to the shops and picked up some lovely fresh raspberries and a bag of pink and white mini marshmallows and got home only to discover I had no ground almonds.  I hate it when that happens. 

We're usually starving by the time we get home from church on Sundays. We just don't do Sunday lunch in this house. By the time we get home from church, there's not really enough time on Sunday do one justice. We usually have Sunday Lunch on Saturday Night, then on Sunday we usually just have either leftovers, or something that I can quickly throw together, like beans on toast or scrambled eggs and toast, or something like that.



Once we are fed, I usually call my mom while Todd does the dishes. (I know I am a really lucky woman!) After that we settle in to watch some quiet telly together and then late in the afternoon or early evening, I will bake us a teatime treat.



It's usually something scrummy like rock cakes, or scones . . . something that we can enjoy eaten out of hand with a cold glass of milk or mug of Horlicks.

Today it was these wonderfully scrummy Strawberry Jam Swirls.



Beautifully puffed and buttery pastry . . . quite similar to a scone dough, and stogged full of gooey Strawberry Jam.

All swirled and then glazed with an egg wash and granulated sugar . . . oh my but these are soooo good.



You don't have to use Strawberry Preserves though . . . you can use whatever preserves strike your fancy . . . plum, raspberry, blueberry, apricot . . . even orange marmalade! If you are a marmalade lover like me, that is superdy duperdy scrummilicious!!!



You can even get really fancy and sprinkle the jam with some chopped toasted walnuts or pecans before you roll them up. Seriously delicious.



Seriously . . . trust me on this.



*Strawberry Jam Swirls*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

A buttery pastry swirled with strawberry jam, rolled, sliced and then baked until the pastry is all puffed and the jam all gooey scrumdiddlyumptious! You can use any flavour of jam you wish, or even marmalade. We love them with strawberry jam though!

3 ounces of butter, diced (6 TBS)
16 ounces of plain flour (4 1/2 cups)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 ounces of caster sugar (a scant 1/2 cup)
2 medium free range eggs
300ml of milk (1 1/4 cups)
2 generous dessertspoons of strawberry preserves
1 small free range egg, beaten for glazing
2 TBS granulated sugar for sprinkling



Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Butter a baking sheet really well. Set aside.

Measure the flour into a large bowl. Whisk in the baking powder, salt and caster sugar. Drop in the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Beat the eggs and milk together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and then pour in about 2/3 of the egg/milk mixture. Mix it in with a fork, until you get a soft dough, adding more milk/egg if necessary. You will havea fairly sticky dough and may not need more.

Lightly flour your work surface. Dump the dough onto it and dust with flour. Roll or pat out into a rectangle about 12 inches in length, 7 inches wide and 1/2 inch tall. Spread with the strawberry preserves covering completely. With the long side facing you, roll into a roll, rolling the pastry away from you. Cut into 12 slices and place each slice onto the buttered baking sheet, leaving some space in between.

Brush with some beaten egg and then sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. Lovely eaten warm with a nice cold glass of milk!

One thing that I love about food blogging is that it's not about me. It's not even about you . . . it's about the recipes and the food!



It's about being able to cook and taste some of the best and most indulgent foods ever . . . and exploring the culinary delights my adopted country has to offer me.




It's about stretching my skills . . . both in the kitchen and . . . behind the camera . . . and about making food that not only tastes delicious, but food that looks good.



It's about waking up every morning and making YOU believe that what I am presenting to you on this page is the absolute best thing ever . . .



and about making you want to go into your own kitchen and cook it for yourselves, because you have just got to taste it for real, and because I have inspired you to do it, and given you the confidence to believe that you can!



Your comments are like me winning the "X Factor of food" every day of my life, and I thank you for that. Here's to 2011. Let's begin as we mean to go on.



Cream Palmiers . . . tasty little bites of fluffy crisp buttery pastry, filled with a soft cloud of sweetened whipped cream and sticky sweet strawberry jam. Kind of like a de-constructed jam tart . . . with puff pastry . . . and CREAM. A delicious teatime treat.



The only down side is they all have to be eaten on the day they are filled . . . so NOT a problem!



*Cream Palmiers*
Makes 8
Printable Recipe

Absolutely delightful on the tea tray!

225g (1/2 pound) of all butter puff pastry
1 1/2 ounces granulated sugar (a scant 1/4 cup)
1 TBS icing sugar, sifted
400ml of double cream (1 3/4 cups)
a few drops of vanilla
2 TBS strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Slightly dampen a baking tray. Set aside.

Dust the work surface with half of the sugar. Roll the pastry out on the sugared surface to a rectangle 10 by 12 inches in size. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining half of the sugar. Gently press the sugar in with a rolling pin. Starting at the short sides, roll the pastry towards the middle from both edges into the centre until they meet. Press together gently. Cut across the rolls into 16 slices. Place onto the baking tray. Press down to flatten slightly.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes until crisp and golden, turning them over halfway through the baking time so that they caramelize equally on both sides. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Whip the cream along with the icing sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Sandwich together pairs of the palmiers with some of the whipped cream and some of the jam. Serve immediately.

As a North American, I have a real love of sweet and salty/savoury combinations, which drive my British husband up the wall . . . You know what I mean . . . combinations like peanut butter and jam, potato crisps and chocolate, cheese and chutney . . . I'm sure you get the picture.



He equates eating such things on a scale of horror equivalent to eating the likes of fish and custard . . . together. Yikes!!

It is just not the same thing at all!! (although I do have to say that fish and a savoury herby and lemon custard would probably be quite nice!)



I cannot get enough of these sweet/savoury combinations and can often be found to munching on pretzels and chocolate, or peanut butter and jam sandwiches . . . which is perhaps why I look the way I do . . . because of the frequency of these snacks mind you, not because of the combinations . . .



I love, LOVE Chocolate Hazelnut spread. I just adore it. I bow down to it. It is delicious spread on Malted Milk biscuits and slowly scarfed down with an ice cold glass of milk. It is scrummy spread between rich layers of cake, any cake will do. (Try it with Lemon sometime, that is gorgeous!)



I thought I had just about exhausted what I could do with it actually until I had this wonderful brainstorm today.



Imagine puff pastry, spread to the edge with delicious chocolate spread, sprinkled with toasted chopped hazelnuts, rolled up, sliced, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and then baked until fabulously crunchy!!

Oh my but these are some good eating . . . perfect with a nice cuppa and a curl up with a book. Quick, easy and oh so scrumdiddlyumptious! Bet you can't eat just one!!




*Chocolate Hazelnut Palmiers*
Makes about 30
Printable Recipe

Delicious and addictively scrummy! Very simple to make and uses only a few ingredients.

Butter for greasing the pan
13 ounces of ready made puff pastry
(thaw if frozen)
plain flour for dusting the work surface
8 TBS chocolate hazelnut spread
(such as nutella)
75g (2 3/4 ounces) chopped toasted hazelnuts
2 TBS cinnamon sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Butter a large baking sheet and set aside.

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface to a recangle roughly 15 by 9 inches in diameter.

Spread the chocolate hazelnut spread all over the top of the pastry using a palette knife, and spreading it out evenly. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts evenly over top of the chocolate spread.

Starting at one long end, roll up one side of the pastry to the centre. Roll up the other side as well, so that they meet in the middle. Dampen the edges where they meet and join. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 30 slices crosswise. Transfer to the buttered baking sheet and flatten slightly with the palette knife. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in the heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Scoop off onto a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!!