Photochallenge December 2012 – Cappucchino Balls with Meringue Topping

Usually I’m no last minute girl. When it comes to presents I’m quite good to get everything ready in advance. Back in school I was mostly ready with presentations or homework ahead of time.
So this months photochallenge over at the lovely Simone from Junglefrog Cooking caught me with my pants down. But as I tried to be something like a domestic goddess this afternoon I had a few options…or not that many as the cookies I baked weren’t that appealing considering the appearance.
So here we go with my Cappucchino Balls which started looking like little dog poohs when I piped the dough on my baking sheet.

But when they got their little meringue tops they started to look like little snow covered mountain tops…or dog poohs with bird dropping on it…as you like it. ;o)

Mingled with my advent decoration and arranged in a little silvery bag it looks really cute and I’m ready to enter this month challenge. I forgot to mention in my last entry posts for the previous month that you can vote for me with linking my photo here…just a little hint, hehe.

Last but not least I want to share the recipe with you for those who are interested.
You need:
3 egg whites, a pinch of salt, 250g icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla sugar, 2 tsp cocoa, 2 tsp instant coffee, ca 250g almonds
Directions:

• whisk the egg white with the icing sugar, salt and vanilla sugar until stiff
• put about 4 spoons beaten egg whites aside for the topping
• mix the cocoa and coffee under the remaining beaten egg whites
• fold in the almonds and pipe the mix on a baking sheet
• pipe the beaten egg white that were put aside onto your little piles

Bake in the oven at 130°C for about 20-25 minutes.
xoxo,

Feta Cheese Dip

To skip some calories in the evening and to stop snacking on sweets I tried to grab some carrots and turnip cabbage with a dip.
I remembered a nice dip a sweet friend of mine brought with her to my birthday party. This Feta Cheese Dip is very easy and tastes delicious.
 
As I would like to participate at Simone’s picture challenge for this month at Jungle Frog Cooking about drinks or food in a glass, I thought I compose a pretty picture and share the recipe with you.

200g Feta cheese
100g crème fraiche
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
I throw everything in my food processor and chop it and mix it and here you are. Because of the garlic in it, you should share it with your loved one as the smell can be very intense.












xoxo,

Tea potting passion

Hands up everybody, who likes a comforting cup of tea now and then!!? I have been a tea girl since early childhood days and have never stopped.
About ten years ago there there was a second love infusing in out relationship…the coffee fellow. There were though times for my tea passion when Latte Macchiato, Cafe au Lait, Cappuccino and the whole gang got really trendy and of course I didn’t want to miss them.
Anyway, now I’ve gained a steady plan when it comes to hot beverages. I get one coffee in the morning pretending to get awake more quickly and then I stick to tea as I honestly don’t want to drink my calories and Latte Macchiato is a real calorie bomb.
To serve me all day without additional work to do, I like to have a thermos jug on my desk with just hot water so I can decide which tea flavor I like next in my cup. Clever, huh? Let me show you my favorite thermos flask so far that is on top of my personal wish list!! Sadly it’s a bit expensive considering it’s a tea pot.
 
















What do you prefer, tea or coffee? Which reasons do you have, just taste?
Have a lovely afternoon with a healthy, heartwarming cup of tea.

Cheers,

Photography and Styling Challenge October @ Junglefrog Cooking

 

Today I came across a photography and styling challenge over at Simone’s blog Junglefrog Cooking and decided to take part. The challenge for the month October is about a pumpkin orange fall setting including of course homemade food.

Luckily pumpkins could be substituted by carrots ( or any other orange food) so it fitted in today’s meal schedule. I cooked a Carrot Potatoes Hotpot with cooked sausage ( Kochwurst in German, hope the translation makes sense to you?).

At least I had some decorative pumpkins and leftover fabric leafs from yesterdays DIY around that jumped in to improve the fall setting mood.

It’s fairly easy to cook and the perfect fall meal when it get’s cold outside.

The hubs felt cold all day at work and was very pleased that his little domestic goddess had a steamy meal ready for him…*cough cough* after taking a few pictures of it of course.

This is what you need for 2-3 big portions:

• about 250g carrots
• 3-4 big potatoes
• 3 cooked sausages
• cooking pot half full with water with about 1 1/2 tsp instant broth ( I know ‘real’ broth is much better, but I took what was in my pantry)
• pinch of salt and pepper

This was one of the go tos when my mom had no clue what to cook. Funnily it was sometimes just named potato stew or carrot hotpot even if it was the same all the time. Great childhood memories and it feels like home when I do this dish.

So happy cooking ladies and have a great week.

xoxo,

Rosemary Potatoes & Steak

Sometimes the easy things in live are the best. I really like cooking and baking but during week days after work I don´t want to spend long time in the kitchen. 

Coincideltally I came across the cooking directions for these potatoes at a German food blog named Einfach Guad. I haven´t tried potatoes in the oven before because I thought they are really too oily and greasy but with this recipe they are so tasty and crunchy. A dream come true, yummy. 
Just sliced potatoes, chopped rosemary and spilled olive oil, salt and pepper over it. Put the potatoes for approx.35-40 minutes on a bun tin in the oven. Take this "quality" time for yourself and enjoy it with a book to wait for the potatoes to get ready.


As my hubs likes to have a good chunk of meat, we brought some beef fillet steaks to go with the potatoes...yes, this way round, not the other. There were potatoes first.


We had a fun evening cooking our meal together in the kitchen, chatting, eating and had of course some white wine. No, I have no wine problem...just La Dolce Vita!


Next time we will probarbly combine a green salad to get some more vitamins in our meal. :o)