Banana Smoothie and The Cutting Revolution

A delicious banana smoothie to make my day.

The ingredients for the shake came from the very different places. I used a yogurt from a local farmer, a banana from a South America country, and a secret ingredients that I bought at Asian market is some magically shining sugar and honey crystals. What a good idea to bright up my drink!

Sugar and honey crystals

 



 So, sugar melted in the hot yogurt together with banana and some powder cinnamon went to the handle chopper/blender which is called The Cutting Revolution. Properly mixed it went to my glass.

 

 

My mini-function manual food chopper

A painting in my kitchen

 

 

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Halloween Treat: Alien's Skull, Owl, Candy Corn Flower, Finger Cookies

Breakfast with a witch

Are you curious to know what a city witch has for a breakfast? Then you are invited to my home.

Today I have some fingers and aliens to treat you my dears. And a cool refreshing green potion.

Welcome to my kitchen. You will learn a super-easy method of cookie's decorating that you can use for making Halloween treats.
On the pictures you see ginger cookies in the shape of fingers (do you like the nail style?) and green alien's skulls.

Breakfast with the a witch.

Witch's fingers with green nail style

Grinning green aliens

A green potion I drink to stay young and beautiful

Halloween cookie decorating

I used a ginger cookie recipe to make the Halloween cookies as on the pictures. This time I designed  aliens, candy corn flowers, owl, mushroom, pumpkin and evil hearts.
What makes the cookies look bright is the glaze icing of yelk.

Aliens and Halloween candy corn flowers

Halloween candy corn flower cookies

Glaze icing recipe:

You need 1 egg. Separate the yellow yelk from the white yelk. We need the yellow part.

Add few drops of food coloring into the yellow yelk and mix well.

If you need glaze icing in more colors just divide the yelk in several plates.



Add few drops of food coloring into the yellow yelk and mix well

 How to make Alien's Skull cookie

1. Use the cookie cutter to cut a round detail.
2.  Cut off the details as shown in the picture #2 to shape a skull.
3. Use the small details to make eyes and grin.
4. Prepare the yelk glaze icing.
5. With a finger or a brush, apply the glaze icing on to the skull.
6. Place the eyes and grin on to the skull as shown in the picture #6.
Bake the cookies for 7-10 minutes at 180*C.

How to make Corn Flower

1. Use the flower cookie cutters, a big and a small one, to cut out the flowers.
2. Cut the small flower in 6 pieces.
3. Place the small details as shown in the picture #3.
4. Paint the flower in yellow and orange with the glaze icing. Bake the cookies for 7-10 minutes at 180*C. The white center is applied to the baked cookie and it the white yelk whipped with sugar powder.



 More Halloween cookie's designs

Owl, mushroom, evil heart and pumpkin cookies made with cookie cutters and painted with the glaze icing.

Cookies before being baked

Little owl cookie

Baked cookies

 HAVE A SPOOKY COOKIE HALLOWEEN!

More Halloween ideas:
Haunted Tree
Disney Theme For Halloween Treat
Guide To 3D Pumpkin Sculpturing
Beautiful Pumpkin Lantern. Step Instruction
Easy Halloween Pumpkins
My First-Time Pumpkin Lanterns

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Easter Treat - 3D Chocolate Eggs

Get more ideas about 3D Chocolate Lekue molds:
Bicolor Valentine 3D Chocolate Hearts
3D Chocolate - Christmas Tree, Hearts and Eggs DIY

Easter 3D Chocolate Eggs with lovely flower decoration

Spring is coming! Easter is around the corner! And my easter eggs have a spring message, read in floristic ornament. 

The chocolate eggs are made in Easter 3D Lekue mold and decorated with chewing candy. The eggs are very bright, unique and having unusual look. I made video about making the 3D chocolate treat, it is attached below. 

For the Easter treat you will need:

Chocolate

Marshmallow or chewing sweets (any baking and waflle decorations work great here)

See in the video:

How to melt chocolate

How to fill the 3D mold

How to prepare decoration

How to create the lovely Easter eggs

Watch video on making 3D Chocolate Eggs

Music is by Alizbar, "Dwarves' songs in Hobbit's hole", harp

Easter Eggs Gallery.

Make a special egg for Easter 2013

3D Chocolate eggs and heart

 Watch my video on making the Easter eggs

Spring design in Easter eggs

Chocolate heart with small heart decoration

Chocolate mousse garnished with chocolate heart,
made in 3D Lekue mold

Use baking decorations, sugar balls, waffle flowers for the chocolate eggs.

Use the easter eggs for cake top. 

Get more ideas about 3D Chocolate Lekue molds:
Bicolor Valentine 3D Chocolate Hearts
3D Chocolate - Christmas Tree, Hearts and Eggs DIY

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Thai Food. Chiang Mai Sightseeing

Chiang Mai, Thailand
February 2013

We had a dinner for 4 persons in a Thai restaurant.
Picked up the popular thai dishes, I don't remember its names. There were fried fish, a salad, tasty something looking like a white soup and fried chicken in leaf wraps.

Deep-fried fish with a sauce

Fried chicken wrapped in leaves

The fried chicken dish was garnished with a simple carrot flower. No carvings. Food first :) Don't you think the chicken in leaf wraps looks decorative?

The next day I found a recipe of the fried chicken in a guide magazine at my hotel.

Click the photo to enlarge

Fried chicken wrapped in leaf

Wrapping how-to

If you want to learn thai cooking, visit the Food Store at TempleofThai.com. There is plenty of asian products and cookware, some articles have a video about cooking/using the products.

Chiang Mai Sightseeng

Red Songtail taxi 

Laundry in Chiang Mai

Frangipani flowers what we carved in soap with Khun

Chiang Mai veiw from a hill

with Karla (TempleofThai.com)

In a Budhist temple, a sacred place on the hill

in the temple

God statues

Little thai girls dancing on the flower petals

Pagoda
walk the temple area barefoot

Take your time walking the Buddhist temple. Watch the local people doing rituals. You can do the same. We donated to the birth day's god to get the upper spirit support, got a strength from a Buddhist monk and picked out a fortune prediction (it was similar to O-mikuji in Japan). 

I had evening train to Bangkok that day. Well that was time to go back to the city, toward new carving lessons and new meetings!

Khun, Karla, Rob, see you on Facebook! :-)

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Savory Corn Crumble with Butternut Squash, Spinach and Feta from Ivy of Kopiaste

What do you do wirh carved fruits and vegetables after they were displayed? I use them for cooking.
Apples, oranges, kiwi, pineapple go to baking and compote (a Russian drink). Beetroot, daikon, bell pepper, carrot, pumpkin and squash go to soups and stews.

Today I am sharing a Savory Corn Crumble recipe by Ive from Kopiaste blog. Kopiaste blog is mainly dedicated to Greek and Cypriot meal. For her Savory Corn Crumble Ivy used a butternut squash which is great for crafting and delicious cooking :)

Savory Corn Crumble with Butternut Squash, 

Spinach and Feta

 This sponsorship is brought to you by GLAM Media who we have partnered with for this promotion.

Savory Corn Crumble with Butternut Squash, Spinach and Feta, recipe by Ivy Liacopoulou of Kopiaste…to Greek Hospitality

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 1 hour

Serves: 1 baking dish (about 12 pieces)

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 2 lbs butternut Squash, grated
• 1 lbs spinach, squeezed
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 lbs feta, crumbled
• ½ cup parsley, finely chopped
• ½ cup fennel fronds, finely chopped
• Salt (with caution) and freshly grated black pepper
• A pinch of cumin

Crumble:

• 1.5 lbs corn meal
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 200 ml Greek yogurt 2%
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp salt

Additional ingredients:

• 3 tbsp margarine divided (to grease the baking tin and to add on top)

Directions:

1. Grate the pumpkin and mix all the filling ingredients.
2. In a large bowl add the crumble ingredients and mix using your hand until the ingredients are well blended to form the crumble. If you still see corn meal, add more olive oil, if necessary.
3. Grease a 35 x 25 cm baking tin with 2 tbsp margarine. Add half of the crumble on the baking tin.
4. Add the filling on top and sprinkle the remaining crumble on top of the filling.
5. Add the remaining margarine in small pieces scattered all over the baking tin.
6. Preheat oven to 180o C / 350o F and bake for about 1 hour or until the crumble is golden on top.

Serve as a main dish, a side dish or a snack.

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Cook Like a Star - Barefoot Contessa (Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad Tartines)

I found the recipe at Food Network - Barefoot Contessa  Salmon is a frequent ingredient in our menu here. Smoked salmon and egg salad tartines were really delicious. I didn't modify the recipe. I prepared the tartines following exactly the original recipe of Ina Garten. The only thing I added was a radish batterfly garnish. And yes, I reduced the ingredient's quantity.

The recipe source here

Ingredients 
8 servings

• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon good mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoons whole-grain mustard ( I ground it)
• 1 tablespoons minced fresh dill
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 ground black pepper
• 8 slices French bread 
• 8 slices good smoked salmon

Directions

Boil the eggs. Peel them and chop.
Transfer the chopped eggs to a bowl and add the mayonnaise, mustard, dill, salt, and pepper. Combine lightly with a fork.

Toast or grill the bread. Lay 1 slice of salmon on each piece of bread, spread on the egg salad, then garnish with a sprig of dill. I used a radish garnish.  Serve at room temperature.

 Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten recipe

The day before I made a vegetable carving arrangement for my class and carving tools presentation. It consists of pumpkin, cucmber, carrot and daikon.

The recipe is linked to Cook like a Star blog hop event organized by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids).

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Huckleberry Tart With Apple Rose Garnish

Huckleberry tart

I found this easy recipe of the berry tart at TheScootaBaker

Roll out a sheet of puff pastry. Spread berries on the sheet surface and fold the edges like on the photo. I used frozen huckleberry sprinkled with sugar powder.

Fold the edges of the sheet

For the tart garnishing  I made roses of apple.
Quarter and core an apple. Slice it as thin as you can. Now you need to blanch the slices in the syrup.
Take 1/2 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water, bring to the boil. If you want to change a color of apple add a few drops of food coloring (or some berry juice). Boil for 5-7 minutes and take out to drain.

Lay the slices out to get a strip as on the picture.

Roll the strip up and form a rose. Do not roll it tightly, let the rose open its nice petals :)

Roll the slices into a rose

Set the apple roses on the tart and enjoy your baking!

Linked with:
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/

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Lazy Pelmenys. Russian Food Recipe

The 1st of May was a holiday in Russia. I took my time to make a photo recipe. I recalled the recipe after reading Veggie Cheese Roll-ups at Kathleen's blog Step by Step in the kitchen. 

The recipe I'd like to share is a quick edition of the famous russian Pelmeny called Lazy Pelmeny.

I am not skilled in making a dough. But this time I succeed it to my surprise. 

For dough you need:

2 cup of flour,

1 egg,

1/2 cup of water 

salt

Volcano :)

I am mixing the dough and it seems to me a pleasant work :))

Prepare meat mince, add garlic and spices

Flat the dough

Spread the mince on the dough flat

Roll it up and cut into small parts

Add a sauce (water, mayonnaise, paprika or any spice)

Bake it for 30-40 minutes

Eat pelmenys with a mustard, pickles and sour cream. I love them with japanese vinegar gignger.

In March I hosted Flavour of Russia Event in my blog. Check it up and have a happy cooking!

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