Banana And Peanut Butter Cake

Today was my daughter's first day back at school, so I thought I'd do some baking so that she had a treat to come home to. Such a nice Mum that I am!

When I looked in the fridge, I didn't quite have enough butter for the cake I was going to make. In a stroke of genius, I thought I'd use peanut butter in its place and this delicious banana and peanut butter cake was born! Using brown sugar, instead of white, also gives it a beautiful caramel colour and intensifies the flavour.

The peanut butter icing is absolutely amazing. Mr eat quaff laugh, who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, claimed it was 'delicious'! If you want a smoother icing, use smooth peanut butter. I only had the crunchy version in the cupboard, but didn't mind having a few bits of nuts in mine.

If you like lots of icing on your cake, or you're likely to eat half of it straight out of the bowl (like I did) then I'd recommend making a double batch. It disappears without even knowing it! To get a bit fancy, you could decorate the top with extra roasted peanuts and some banana chips.

This cake  is yummy! Go on and make it for an after school or work treat :-)

Banana And Peanut Butter Cake

100g butter, softened

50g peanut butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups SR flour, sifted

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

2 Tbs milk

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees.

Grease a cake tin with oil spray. I used a loaf tin, but you could use round or square, if you prefer.

Beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until creamy.

Add eggs, mashed banana and vanilla and beat well.

Fold in the sifted dry ingredients and milk until well combined.

Pour into the tin and smooth the top.

Bake for 35-40 mins or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes in the tin and then tip onto a cake rack to cool completely.

When cold, ice with peanut butter icing

Peanut Butter Icing

150g cream cheese, softened

2 Tbs peanut butter

3 Tbs icing sugar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and creamy.

Enjoy!

Iced Vo-vo Ice Cream

With Australia Day coming up next week, Facebook and the internet is being swamped with pictures of lamingtons, pavlovas, prawn dishes, kangaroo burgers and the like.

It's nice to get in the spirit of the day, so I thought I'd work on a recipe for my variation on a classic Aussie treat. Iced vo-vos are particularly Australian and I know that my husband loves them. Why not come up with an ice cream version, which is probably much better suited to enjoying on a hot day than a biscuit with a cup of tea!

This recipe is really quite easy to make. I made the biscuits and the raspberry sauce myself and then stirred them, pink marshmallows and coconut into bought vanilla icecream. If you wanted to get super fancy, you could make your own ice-cream and marshmallows. I don't have an ice cream machine and didn't have the time to make my own marshmallow. Iced vo-vos should be fun, after all!

If you were really short on time, you could always use a packet of milk arrowroot biscuits and shop bought raspberry sauce or jam. The flavours would still be delicious!

You won't need all of the biscuit base or sauce in the ice cream, so you can experiment with other combinations to come up with your own dessert. Maybe iced vo-vo sandwiches?

Just make sure you leave the vanilla ice cream out of the freezer long enough to soften before you try to stir in the components. If you like more jam or more marshmallow, just add a bit extra. Tip it all back into the original tub and then freeze again for a few hours before serving.

This is the perfect dessert to have on Australia Day, or at any time over summer when you feel like a sweet treat.

Iced Vo-Vo Ice Cream

Biscuit base

60g butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup plain flour

3/4 cup SR flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with a mixer until creamy.

Add egg and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.

Stir through sifted flour until it forms a soft dough.

Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest. This is really important on a hot day, otherwise the dough is too soft.

After 15 minutes, roll the dough out onto the baking paper directly into a rectangle about 5mm thick. You might need a sprinkling of flour to stop it sticking.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and transfer the biscuit on the baking paper to a wire rack to cool completely.

Raspberry sauce

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

1 Tbs caster sugar

Place berries and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Bring to a simmer and cook until the berries release their juices and start to break down. You want a thin jammy consistency.

Allow to cool slightly, then push through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Discard the seeds.

Allow the sauce to cool completely. If it seems too thick, add a tiny bit of water to thin.

1 litre vanilla ice cream

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup pink marshmallows, finely chopped

Allow the ice cream to soften and tip into a large bowl.

Stir through coconut, marshmallows and as much of the crumbled biscuit as you like.

Drizzle over the raspberry sauce and gently stir through so that you create a ripple.

Spoon it back into the original container and return to the freezer for a couple of hours to set.

Enjoy with a little more of the raspberry sauce over the top and a piece of biscuit poking out the side.

Perfect summer indulgence!

Easy Chocolate Brownies

Now that I've had a couple of weeks to get back to normal eating after Christmas, it's time to bring out the chocolate recipes again for a bit of a sweet treat.

Brownies would have to be one of the easiest treats around and this recipe is particularly easy. Just melt the butter and stir in all the other ingredients! To mix it up a bit, you can use whatever add-ins you like. I used desiccated coconut and raisins, but you could be really indulgent and use chocolate chips, nuts or fresh rasperries or blueberries. A combination of everything is pretty good too!

To make this brownie into more of a dessert, serve it warm with a dollop of double cream or ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate or raspberry sauce. Easy, delicious indulgence!

Easy Chocolate Brownies

125g butter, cubed

1/4 cup cocoa 

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup plain flour, sifted

3/4 cup add-ins (coconut, chopped nuts, raisins, sultanas, choc chips, fresh berries)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Grease a rectangular slice tin well. Line if your pan needs it.

Melt butter in a saucepan and then stir through cocoa and sugar until dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add eggs, stirring well between each addition.

Stir through flour and your chosen add-ins.

Spread mixture over the base of the tin and bake for 25-30 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Serve on it's own or with cream, ice cream, chocolate topping and fresh berries.

Enjoy!

Passage Foods Review

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Kids Business Bloggers BBQ in Melbourne yesterday. It was a great chance to catch up with other bloggers and meet those who I have been reading for ages. I was also able to meet some brands who are interested in promoting their products further through reviews.

One of the brands that I was very excited to try was Passage Foods. This company make Indian and Asian simmer sauces and meal kits using quality ingredients. They also use authentic recipes, so you are assured an easy meal that tastes great. Readily available at Coles, Woolworths and IGA stores around Australia, it's easy to pick up a pack for a simple mid-week dinner.

On tasting at the Bloggers BBQ were the butter chicken and master stock cooked pork belly, served with Kekap Manis. They were both delicious. Mr eat quaff laugh can't wait for me to make the pork belly!

Each blogger was lucky enough to be given a goodie bag containing packets of the Asian Master Stock, Butter Chicken and the Street Kitchen North Indian Butter Chicken. Tonight we trialled the Street Kitchen Butter Chicken.

This meal kit included a marinade for the meat, a spice mix and the simmering sauce. Each component gave a different flavour to the dish, so that the end result was beautiful and rich. Even though there were the three sachets, it still only took 20 minutes to prepare. Just enough time to cook some rice and papadums to go with it!

The instructions on the kit were very easy to follow. All you needed to add was 600g of diced chicken.

First I marinated the chicken in the garlic and ginger paste.

Then I fried the spice mix until fragrant and added the chicken to brown.

Finally I added the sauce and simmered until the chicken was cooked.

A delicious meal prepared in no time! We served ours with a spiced potato and pea side dish, to make it a complete meal. the flavours of the Butter Chicken were amazing and everyone in the family gobbled it down.

The very generous people at Passage Foods have a competition running for my readers at the moment, where you too can win a hamper of goodies, valued up to $100.

Do you fancy cooking up your own range of Indian, Asian and Street Kitchen dishes with a handy Prepara iPrep tablet stand? Of course you do!

Just visit their competition page at www.passagefoods.com/competition to enter. Also visit them on Facebook to check out new products and recipes using their range.

Now that I've tried the butter chicken, I can't wait to get creative with the Master Stock and whip up something delicious!

Minced Lamb With Coriander (Dhaniya Keema)

I love eating Indian food and we often get Indian takeaway when the cooking fairies are taking a break. Luckily for me, my husband also loves to cook Indian food. When he says that he's going to prepare a meal for the week, there's a big chance its going to come out of our well worn Indian cookbook! With splatters all over it, the pages almost open to this dish by themselves!

This recipe for minced lamb with coriander is one of our absolute favourites. It's quite easy to make and doesn't require too many different spices. Being a dry curry, it doesn't have a gravy, so we just serve it with papadums, roti or naan to scoop it up with. I like to have mine with a dollop of natural yoghurt or Dahi on top as well.

If you love the flavour of fresh coriander and have a lot to use up, then this recipe is for you. It's also great to make a day or two ahead for the flavours to infuse. Just make sure you only add the coriander when you are about to serve it, to keep that lovely fresh taste and beautiful green colour.

The recipe suggests 2 green chillies, but this time we used one red and one green to add a little bit more heat. If you prefer a more mild flavour, only use the green chilli which isn't quite so hot.

This is one meal I can never have too much of. I'd love to try an authentic version to see how it compares, but you rarely see this on the menu of your local Indian. Hint hint to any of my Indian friends :-)

I hope that you enjoy this as much as we do. It might become a regular in your household too!

Minced Lamb With Coriander

700g lamb mince

3 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

1/3 cup oil

300g onion, finely diced

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves

3 green cardamom

2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1/4 tsp ground turmeric 

3/4 tsp ground cumin 

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp garam masala

2 tomatoes, finely diced

Salt to taste

1 cup of coriander leaves, finely chopped

Boil the mince in 2 cups of water with 1 whole garlic clove and bay leaves for 10 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

Finely chop the remaining garlic.

Heat oil in a saucepan. Fry the onion over low heat for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom, ginger, garlic and chilli. Cook for 2 minutes then add the mince and sauté for another 5 minutes. 

Add the turmeric, cumin and garam masala and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir every minute or so to stop the mixture sticking.

Add the tomatoes and salt to taste and cook for another few minutes.

Add 2 cups of water and cook, uncovered, until the liquid has almost evaporated.

Stir through the fresh coriander and remove from the heat.

Serve the mince in bowls with papadums, roti or naan and a dollop of natural yoghurt or Dahi, if you like.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Salad

Late last year I was given a copy of the De Bortoli Wines 2015 Food and Wine Calendar. It is a lovely calendar with each month showcasing a particular wine from their range and a recipe to match it. There is also a little paragraph about the history of the recipe from the De Bortoli family and why the particular wine was made in the style it was.

Given how lovely the recipes are, I have decided that each month I'm going to make the dish and blog about it. I won't always necessarily match it to the wine, as some are not so readily available in bottle shops.

The recipe for January is a lovely fresh zucchini salad, perfect in the hot Melbourne weather that we're having at the moment. This salad is in memory of Vittorio De Bortoli and his young wife, Giuseppina, who were married in 1928. They had a collection of fruit trees, vegetables and grape vines and cooked with what was available in the garden at the time. With zucchini in season during summer, I'm sure this salad was a regular feature on their table.

Zucchini Salad

3 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into thin ribbons (I used a vegetable peeler)

2 Tbs white wine vinegar

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs Dijon mustard

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 Tbs tarragon, chopped

1/2 a small red capsicum, thinly sliced

150g semi dried tomatoes, thickly sliced

A few olives to garnish, thickly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the zucchini ribbons in a colander and toss with plenty of salt. Leave to sit for 20 minutes, then rinse well and pat dry with paper towel.

Combine vinegar, oil, mustard, garlic and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.

Place zucchini, tarragon, and capsicum in a bowl and toss with the dressing. Allow to sit for 1 hour for the flavours to infuse.

To serve, toss the tomatoes through the salad and garnish with the chopped olives.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

The wine matched to this salad is the De Bortoli La Bossa Sauvignon Blanc. Bossa is the nickname that was given to Giuseppina by her husband and childhood sweetheart. This range of wines also includes a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Shiraz Cabernet Merlot and Pink Moscato. For approximately $10 a bottle, these wines are great value quaffers. The grapes for the Sauvignon Blanc are sourced from the Riverina and King Valley.

The Sauvignon Blanc is beautiful and aromatic, with green apple and passionfruit on the nose. It's not quite as full on as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but still very fruity. There is a nice acidity, which helps to balance the wine, and a touch of sweetness. It was deliciously moreish!

The wine was a perfect match with the salad and a great choice to have on a hot night when you need something refreshing. The sweetness of the red capsicum and semi dried tomato, the saltiness of the olives and the acidity in the dressing made lovely friends. Certainly a wine to enjoy when you want something light, fruity and delicious!

After the success of January's food and wine match, I can't wait for the rest of 2015!

A Liebster Award Nomination

Happy New Year and welcome to 2015!

I've been a bit slow to get back on the blogging bandwagon this year. It really has been so hard to drag myself away from playing with the kids, eating and drinking, to sit down at the computer and write! 

A three week break has been just what I needed and now I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. 

Rather than a recipe to start off the year, I thought it was about time you learned a little bit more about me. 

Thanks to my lovely friend Nicole, from Seeking Victory and Champagne and Chips, I have been nominated for a Liebster award. How she finds the time to write two blogs I'll never know! 

A Liebster award is created by bloggers and given to other bloggers who are starting out on their journey. There really aren't any rules, you you can pretty much make them up as you go along. Even though I've been blogging at eat quaff laugh now for over a year, I need all the help I can get! Plus, I figured that it was about time you discovered more about me than just my cooking and wine drinking habits!

Nicole has asked me the following questions and then I have to make up a few more for my own nominations to answer. A modern version of a chain letter! Please take the time to look up the other blogs too. They are all wonderful and I love reading about everyone else lives, cooking and adventures!

Anyway, here goes :-)

Where in the world would you most like to visit (or return to)?
Paris, definitely Paris. It is a city that I have always wanted to go to and when I was there about 7 years ago, I could just feel the magic. My now husband hated it and found it dirty, but I loved it. This year we are hoping to have a child-free holiday to France and Paris is on the top of my list! The recent terrorist events only make me want to visit and support this city more than ever.

What is your most favourite food?
Only one favourite? That's like choosing which of my kids is my favourite! Cheese would have to be one of the best foods around because there are just so many different types and you can have it fresh, cooked, sweet or savoury. Perfectly versatile.

How many pairs of shoes do you own? And how many of them do you wear at least once a year?
I'm scared to count! Although I'm definitely not a shoe and handbag kind of girl, I still have quite a few pairs of shoes. Luckily I culled a whole lot when we moved house last year, so there aren't quite so many. A quick count revealed 27 pairs, and I would wear all of them at least once a year. The fancy high heels don't get a wearing anywhere as often as they used to, but they still get brushed off for a Christmas party or wedding here and there!

Tell me about an absolute cooking failure...
A few years ago we had a dinner party for some good friends. They are big red wine drinkers, so I thought I'd make a hearty beef Wellington using the best butter puff pastry, pate, crepes to protect the meat and stop the juices leaking and a delicious mushroom duxelle. It took ages to make all the components and put it all together, but I was happy with how it was looking. The recipe specified a cooking time, but I thought it seemed a bit short, given the size of the beef fillet. Anyway, I put it in the oven for a little longer than the recommended time, until the pasty was puffed and golden and looked perfect. After resting the meat for 15 minutes I started to carve it and the fillet inside was completely raw! I was mortified and so upset. Luckily the friends were happy to have another glass of wine while the meat went back into the oven for a little bit longer. The beef Wellington ended up tasting delicious, but dinner was eaten a little bit later than I'd planned. Not an absolute failure, but still disappointing :-(

Why did you start blogging?
About three years ago I started writing cafe reviews for a website and blog called Hey Bambini. They review kid friendly cafes in the Melbourne area. Having a young baby at the time, this was a perfect excuse to get out and explore Melbourne's cafe scene with a child in tow. One night I was invited to a bloggers event and got talking to other people there about my love of food and wine. They suggested I start my own blog. At first I wasn't sure about it all, but then figured that I had nothing to lose and why not go ahead. A few weeks later, eat quaff laugh was born!

Parties or quiet dinners?
I think there is a time and place for both, but I probably prefer dinner parties with a few friends over big raucous parties. I'm too old for that caper now!!

How do you treat yourself (as in give yourself a treat)?
Taking myself out for a child free lunch at a nice cafe or restaurant, or a massage or facial is my ultimate indulgence. If they can both be combined into one day, it would be simply perfect. Take note husband :-)

Tell me about your high school formal dress...
It was a black chiffon number which I had made for me after pouring over what seemed like hundreds of pattern books at the fabric shop. 
By today's standards it was a very modest dress - calf length, flowy skirt and v-necked with shoestring crossed straps. I remember having it cut shorter a few years later to wear to another event at university. It was really one of the first times I'd got very dressed up at that age and I felt really special. Looking back at the photos now, it looks very dated!

Are you a christmas lover or a grinch?
Now that I have two young kids of my own, I'm definitely a Christmas lover. I still hate battling the crowds to go shopping for presents, but I love that it is now a magical time again. With my family being interstate, it's also a wonderful chance for us to all get together and for all the kids to play. Being the food and wine lover I am, I love to make Christmas treats, plan the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day menus and help out with the cooking. One day I'd love to host Christmas, but I'll have to fight with my Mum over that one for the time being!

If you could change your career tomorrow, what would you do?
Moving into the food and wine scene is what I'm ultimately aiming to do. My current career as a Physiotherapist is great, but I'm not passionate about it any more after 14 years. I still haven't exactly worked out what I want to do in the industry, but I'm slowly working towards it, gaining some relevant experience, making contacts and seeing where it might lead me. Watch this space.

How do you relax?
I don't have anywhere near enough time to relax as I would like. Or at least I don't make the time to relax. Having two young kids, I always come last! In a perfect world, I would enjoy a coffee while it's still hot, a warm bath with lots of beautiful bubbles and smells, an uninterrupted glass of champagne and reading a book or magazine from cover to cover. One can dream!

What is your favourite food and wine combination?
Again, this is like choosing my favourite child! Duck and Pinot Noir, Australian fortified wines and blue cheese, Shiraz and beef, Champagne and seafood. I love them all equally. It's less about the food and wine combination itself and more about the people I'm with and the memories being made!


Now that you know a little bit more about me, I'm passing the baton to a few of my favourite blogs. It's now time for The Windmill Paddock, I Spy Plum Pie and Dancing Through Sunday Blog to take the baton.

Girls, here's how it works. 
- Let the world know I nominated you
- Pop a Liebster Award on your blog
- Answer my questions
- Add a few of your own
- Pass the baton to a few of your favourite newbie bloggers
Easy!

My questions to you are:
What is your favourite place in the world?

Who would you most like to meet and why?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Favourite drink and why?

Favourite Movie and why?

What is one goal you have for 2015?

What is your ultimate job?

Why did you start blogging and why?

Ready, set, go!