Stephanie Catherine: 2012

Things I'm loving right now

Sunday, October 07, 2012

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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

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Brilliant Burgers and Fruity Flapjacks

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Firstly I must apologize for the appalling photography you are about to see... the lighting in the kitchen isn't too great

Brilliant Burgers

Last night, we made some frickin' awesome burgers.

Strolling around the supermarket deciding what to eat is always a task for two indecisive food lovers and it was only because we hadn't had it for so long that we picked lamb and made these amazing burgers...

Ingredients:

1 pack minced lamb

1 red onion

2 slices bread

1 egg

rosemary to taste

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Slice a red onion into small pieces and create breadcrumbs from the slices of bread with a blender.

3. Empty the minced lamb into a large bowl and mix with the onion and breadcrumbs.

4. Crack the egg into a glass and whisk it quickly with a fork. Add this to your burger mix to bind it.

5. OPTIONAL: Add rosemary to the mix to taste.

6. To create the burger shapes, place the mix onto a baking tray and use a cookie cutter to cut the circles.

You can fry, grill or oven these burgers - it's up to you :)

Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the cooked burgers (they were just so yummy we couldn't wait to eat them!) but they look so professional and you know exactly what's gone in them!

Fabulous Fruity Flapjacks

To accompany the burgers above, we made a fruity dessert!

Ingredients:

150g butter

75g soft brown sugar

3 tablespoons golden syrup

250g oats

fruit! - we used sultanas, but you could use dried apricots, nuts, etc. Anything!!

1. Preheat the oven to 180c /160c fan/ gas mark 4

2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper (a 20cm tin should be fine)

3. Melt the butter in a pan. Gradually add the sugar, syrup, oats and fruit to the mix. The mix will get quite thick!

4. When it's all mixed together, transfer the mix to the baking tray. Make sure the fruit is covered and not too exposed otherwise it will burn.

5. Bake for 20 - 25 mins. (Our oven gets very hot, so 20 mins was enough for us)

6. Once cooked, cool on a wire rack - don't try to cut it until it has cooled completely!

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Pinterest Interests

Sunday, August 12, 2012

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lifestyle

My New Excercise Plan - Beginning Tomorrow

Saturday, August 11, 2012

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lifestyle

The Olympics

Saturday, August 11, 2012

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fashion

How To Wear It Wednesday: Olympics Special

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

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Childhood Summer Vacations

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

I'd like to introduce you to Neenu from Mirror of Enlightenment!

Today we're taking part in a Blog Swap, courtesy of 20 Something Bloggers, about Childhood summer vacations. Here's Neenu's story...

Summer in God's Own Country

I was born in 'God's Own Country', Kerala, a small state in the southern end of India.

The beautiful landscape adorned by lush green coconut trees, paddy fields and many small lakes, rivers and backwaters earned it the title of being 'God's Own Country'.

My childhood summer vacations were mostly spend with my Granny and cousins at our ancestral home, tucked away in a remote and beautiful village in Kerala. I would start dreaming about summer, months before the school closed and as soon as vacation starts, I would rush off to Granny's place.

We would catch a bus till the local bus stop and then walk a few kilometers to Granny’s. I loved the walk. The bumpy road would cut straight through rubber plantations and small streams. I would spend hours soaking my legs in the cool water of the stream and counting the number of tiny fishes that brush past my legs. Houses on the roadside would be filled with the sounds of people merrily going about their work, tiny tots chasing each other, elderly ladies sitting outside their homes and gossiping while chopping vegetables or carefully cutting homegrown jackfruits. Jackfruit was the most popular fruit of the area and no summer vacation was complete without munching those small yellow yummy fruit.

My Granny had a rubber plantation, paddy field and a variety of trees ranging from coconut trees to jackfruit trees growing all around her house. The house looked like it was build right in the middle of a jungle and she had cows and hens at home. Reaching her house was nothing short of an adventure for me.

All my uncles, aunts and cousins would come from distant places to spend the vacation together.

It would be chaos as everyone chattered incessantly, filling each other on everything that had happened in their households. Aunties would be in kitchen making food and laughing and teasing each other. All the uncles would be seated in the veranda, talking animatedly about current political scenario, finance, business and lots of other important and boring stuff.

We kids would assemble in front of TV, talking and switching channels. Granny would be moving between the three groups with a tray filled with food- jackfruits, mangoes, bananas and various home made delicacies.

It was customary for us to have all the meals together. So everyone would crowd around the small dinning table and have food. Granny was very particular that we should all be well fed and she personally saw to it that everyone had their plates full at all points of the meal. She would scold us children and wouldn't let us leave the table until we had finished eating everything that she had piled up on our plate.

During the evenings, we kids would go for a walk or go swimming in the pond nearby or would play cricket on the road. Kids from the neighborhood and sometimes uncles would also join us for games. Running carefree, chasing each other, climbing trees and playing, summer vacations always ended too soon.

At the end of the vacation, Granny would pack our bags with a variety of food items and the much loved jackfruit, to take back to our homes in different cities.

We would bid each other a teary farewell with the promise to meet soon. As we turn back for a final goodbye, granny would wave at us smiling like an angel. Childhood summer vacations were indeed the best vacations of my life..