Keep Calm...

Easy Peasy Cone Cakes

As a child my mother always used to make these delicious little cupcakes in cones aka. "Cone Cakes".  The greatest joy was licking the icing off the top and nibbling around the cone and eventually getting to the cupcake centre!  Effective at keeping children occupied for a while and so simple to make!

One of my best friends and lab buddy is having a baby boy soon and we threw her a work baby shower ~ so I thought "Why not bring out the Cone Cakes?"  The cupcakes were moist and the icing creamy, with the cones providing just the right amount of crunch!  You can go ballistic with the type of cones, icing and decorations you want to use!  But this is my Easy-Peasy way of making Cone Cakes :)

Ingredients:

• 1 box ready-to-mix cake mix
• 1 box cones
• 1 packet ready-to-make icing (or you can make your own)

Instructions:

I followed the instructions on the packets...  Easy peasy :)

And in the words of my three year old niece...  "Delicious and Nutritious!"

 

Tiramisu chocolate éclairs

My attempt at The Kate Tin's Tiramisu chocolate éclairs

I am a big fan of fellow Blogger and author of The Kate Tin!  All her recipes are so simple and some have a delicious twist on an old classic!  I attempted her Tiramisu chocolate éclairs the other day for a picnic at the botanical gardens...  Okay, so they didn't look as elegant as Kate's but boy oh boy did they taste great!  Check out the recipe on her blog and I highly recommend following her on Facebook too http://the-kate-tin.blogspot.com/2013/08/tiramisu-chocolate-eclairs.html?spref=fb

Why I'm doing a PhD...

Home-made Chicken Pie

I love this chicken pie recipe as it makes a large pie, perfect for having left overs for lunch the next day or freezing for when I have to go away for work and the hubby is alone at home...  It is also very versatile - you can add what ever veg you think will work, add more or less of certain ingredients and substitute the cream for skim milk.  I don't add mushrooms as I think they are vile (yes, I am a mycologist who hates mushrooms!) but you can add any type that you think will work...  Happy pie-making :)

Ingredients

• 1 packet ready-to-roll puff pastry
• 1 sliver of green pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cloved of garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, cubed
• 1 medium potato, cubed
• 3 skinless chicken breasts, parboiled and shredded
• 1x egg, beaten

For the sauce 

• 2-3 Tablespoons of flour
• 1 Tablespoon of butter or margarine
• 2 Tablespoons cream or milk
• 250ml chicken stock
• Additional boiling water as needed
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Parboil the chicken breasts in some salted water while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
3. Dice the green pepper, onions and garlic and saute in some olive oil until the onions are translucent.
4. Add the flour and margarine and cook until the flour is straw coloured.  Add the chicken stock and cream and stir until thick.
5. Add the Oregano and season to taste.
6. Add the chicken, carrots and potatoes.  Add additional water to allow for the carrots and potatoes to cook.  (Optional:  Cook carrots and potatoes in a separate pot and add; no need to add additional water then).
7. Spoon into an oven proof dish and lay the pastry over the top.
8. Pierce the top of the pastry several times and brush with beaten egg.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Learn from the cooking masters

Came across these great tips this morning and had to share!

http://www.womenshealthsa.co.za/nutrition/learn-from-the-cooking-masters/

I'm not that type of cook!

Okay, so by no means am I going to incorporate science into my cooking!  I am not that type of scientist and in no way that type of cook!  I am half Portuguese and so grew up eating the most delicious meals thrown together by my mother, my aunts and grandmother!  Knowing that using simple, good quality ingredients would produce tasty meals has fared me well as a newly wed!  Baking and cake decorating has also been an integral part of my life as I grew up with a father who took to making gorgeous wedding cakes and the coolest birthday cakes a kid could ever have as a hobby!  So where does the science fit in?  I'm a geneticist by trade and love interesting facts to do with science!  Cooking and baking is an escape from the stresses that come from completing a doctoral thesis...

In the beginning...

In the beginning...

I have always been fascinated by the number of different blogs out there in the digital universe.  As a scientist, avid baker and keen cook I have been inspired to create a blog that incorporates all my fields of interest, which may be too many to be healthy!  So here goes nothing...