Cookie Dough Brownie, Roasted Beets and Carrots and Baked Avodaco

 

Morning blog friends, hows everyones weekend coming along? i’ve had a lovely wknd so far!  

Let me take you through it with pictures, their so much better than lots of words anyway! 

I got in from work on Friday and set to making my nieces birthday cake – which you’ll see later, and cookie dough chocolate fudge brownies.

Like I said in my last post, Nic gave  me the idea for this AGES ago and I've been looking for the perfect excuse to try it out, and my nieces 12th birthday party!! 

Cookie Dough Brownies (naughty of the variety)

Take one box of Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix

and One box of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Make both up as per instructions on the back of the box

 

 

spread the brownie mix into a baking tray, and take slightly flattened balls of cookie dough mix and press into the brownie mix.

 

and bake at 180 degrees for approx 30 – 40 minutes

 Ensure they are totally cool before cutting.

 Flip me with a kipper these are awesome! nothing nutritionally sound or good about them but jeeeeezo, if you have an excuse or just the restraint to make these and not indulge too much go for it, their glorious!

 

Dinner on Friday night was pretty good, it was another tomato creation

 Sliced onions, in the bottom of a dish, baked at 200 for approx 30 minutes, till going brown and roasted

 

 

Then take out the oven and top with sliced large tomatoes, chopped basil, goats cheese pine nuts, red wine vinegar, ground garlic, olive oil, salt and peper

 

Bake for a further 15 minutes and serve

I served mine with a slice of WM homemade bread, a sliver of buddies lasagne and a side salad to share with buddy

 

 

 

I rocked the kitchen last night for dinner! I did:

Jamie Oliver’s Roasted Carrots and Beets

 whole peeled carrots

halved peeled beets

garlic cloves unpeeled

olive oil

red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

herbs (i used dry thyme)

 Place the prepared carrots and beets in a roasting dish, add the whole garlic cloves (these are just for flavour so no need to peel), sprinkle with herbs, S&P, and drizzle with red wine vinegar, and olive oil.

 Roast for 50 minutes at approx 200 degrees.

 I served with some new potatoes, and some thinly sliced chicken breasts grilled till cooked, then popped in the oven to keep warm, into the grill pan i squeezed a whole lemon, some agave and a drizzle of olive oil and swish about a bit to pick up the sticky bits from the bottom of the pan, pour this over the chicken.

 Delish!……….

 

 

After dinner, we were off to my nieces party! doesn't she look beautiful! i cant believe how grown up she looks! she spent the afternoon at mine so i could do her nails, hair and make up, i wish i’d taken a pic of her nails, i did them pink with purple tiger print on them, she loved them! 

 

 

We had lots of fun

 

 

Buddy took this pic, looked at and then exclaimed….LOOK at your SKINNY neck!! he showed me the pic, i grinned lots then he picked me up and made me swear i wouldn’t leave him! how cute! <3 <3

 

 

The birthday cake, it has a hole in the middle, its a pretty cool tin! but my frosting kept sliding off coz it was soooo hot i had to send buddy out for more buttons and more smarties!

 I’m afraid i totally cheated with the cake, i used a betty crocker cake mix, i started making test cakes last wknd and failed miserably 3 cakes went in the bin!! none of them would rise! i dont know why, i’ve never had a problem making cakes before but, i was too stressed and busy this week to think about rectifying the problem after 3 fails! so i cheated! the kids loved it so its all good!!

 

 

Breakfast this morning was podge made with water ( i need to scale back the cals today and tomo to make up for picking at the party last night!) with rasps and sunflower seeds.

 

 

Lunch today was:

 Baked Avocado

 take half and avocado and a whole tomato, chop up, put in a dish, top with a little cheese, i like gruyer, or parmesan or mozzarella, this time was mozzarella and a sprinkle of bread crumbs, a drizz of olive oil and grill until golden.

 

 

serve with a slice of homemade bread and a salad on the side

 

 

Mega tasty!

 Questions:

 Do you have a favourite chef? mines Jamie Oliver and Nigel Slater, i could watch Jamie cook all day long, i love his style, and his attitude.  Nigel is also great, he has a simple but attractive style of cooking, the fact that he’s so passionate about everything he cooks its appealing!

Do you buy your favourite chef’s books?

Do you have any recommendations? I like pretty much all Jamie’s books, but particularly Jamie at home, which figures seens how i have alot of my dads home grown produce to play around with, Nigel’s Simple suppers is a great book, for quick, simple week night cooking and also for jazzing up dinner parties but keeping the behind the scenes simple!

 epic post today, lots of recipes, i hope you enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed my wknd of fabulous eats!

Speaking of Recipes, Check out my recipes page at the right hand side, its finally up and running

PS – Windows Live Writer rocks!