Gotta love Vinegar

What vinegar can't do to help round the house isn't worth knowing about! Today I discovered a new use for vinegar in the laundry.

I had the experience of pulling out my washing only to discover that I had left a sticker on a t-shirt. There on the t-shirt was that horrible glue residue from the sticky part of the sticker. It sat for a few days till I had time to figure what to do. Well here it is!

Heat a small amount of white vinegar in the microwave till warm. Dab it on the sticky residue until it is all removed (I used my fingernail to help this process). Rinse in cold water then wash as normal. Easy!!

Palm Oil

Whilst holidaying over Easter in Hamilton I looked up Hamilton Zoo for their opening hours and discovered a 'Palm Oil Free Easter Goodie Guide' on the site. I was curious and quickly checked my Lindt and Guylian goodies and discovered they were safe. How nice that they list the good brands/products to buy rather than giving a list of products to avoid.

You might be wondering what the fuss about palm oil is? In itself it is not a bad product. The problem is that to grow this product companies cut down hectares of rain forest destroying the habitat of several endangered species. Indonesia and Malaysia are the two main sources of palm oil. Every year in Indonesia 340,000 hectares of rainforest is cut down to start new plantations. That's equivalent to the size of two Stewart Islands! Be wary buying wood products from these countries too as they choose to cut down young rainforest to sell wood such as kwila to make extra profits.

The Auckland Zoo has been running a campaign to encourage consumers to avoid buying products which contain palm oil. It is their belief that if the demand for palm oil decreases then production will slow down. We have seen the effects of such a campaign when Cadbury introduced palm oil in their products. Sales went down, people protested and Cadburys NZ no longer uses palm oil. Good on them!

At the end of the day it is consumer choice. However, I believe that we all have a moral obligation to be aware of the issues affecting our planet and do what we can to stop corporations exploiting our planet. Ignorance is not an excuse to contributing to destruction of precious habitats and species.

Do you really want to see these (and many more) animal species become extinct?

Thanks Auckland Zoo website for the photos. I'm sure you won't mind as I am championing your cause.


If you are interested in more information see the Auckland zoo website:
http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/conservation/buy-palm-oil-free.aspx
The zoo website has a good summary of information, ideas for what you can do, and links to more indepth articles such as this one from the UK:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-guilty-secrets-of-palm-oil-are-you-unwittingly-contributing-to-the-devastation-of-the-rain-forests-1676218.html

Bloomin' Brilliant Brownie

I have had a few requests for my brownie recipe of recent. This brownie is luscious and melts in your mouth. The secret is good quality chocolate and cocoa (see notes below). The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's website. As always I have made a few adjustments to the recipe so have included these. Sorry Jamie - perfection can be added to!


Bloomin' Brilliant Brownie
250g butter
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up (save the rest of the block)
80g cocoa powder, sifted
65g plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
360g caster sugar
4 large eggs


In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth.
Add the cherries and nuts, if you’re using them, and stir together.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate mixture.
Stir together well.
Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.
Chop the remainder of the chocolate block into chunks and stir these through.
Pour your brownie mix into the a 25 cm square baking dish, and place in a 180°C oven for around 25 minutes.
You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle.
Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.


Ingredient notes:
My favourite cocoa is Equagold organic cocoa. I have just started trying the Trade Aid fair trade organic cocoa as it is kinder on the pocket. I will let you know how that works out next time I make it.
I use Whitakers Dark Ghana (72%) or Dark Cacao (62%) The dark cacao has a sharper almost orangey flavour. Both are yum!
If you are an allergy sufferer this recipe can be made dairy free using above chocolate (these two have no milk products) and a butter substitute called Just Like Butter. Nobody has complained about my dairy free version! 
Cocoa is usually gluten free, if you buy the good stuff, and the flour is such a small amount that replacing with rice flour is also successful. The baking powder can be omitted also, however, the Edmonds brand is gluten free (but does contain a warning about traces if you are hyper allergic).

Children's Art Apron

Ok so I am going to brag a little. Last September I promised some little friends of mine I would sew them an art apron for their birthday. I found the project in an apron book I borrowed from the local library. At long last I got myself organised, sat down and did it! It was fun and what's more I think it looks very cute!

It has got me on a sewing buzz now and i have ideas for future projects already. I am even tempted to buy my own machine so I don't have to keep borrowing Mum's from Hamilton. We will see. I might whip out a few more of these aprons first.

Passion fruit Cordial

I was fortunate enough to have a few passion fruit hiding in the fridge waiting to be consumed. I decided to make some cordial. Cordial is relatively easy and it sure is impressive to visitors (if they come over before it is all gone). The taste is far superior to any bought stuff. Here is the recipe to try. I have slightly adapted the recipe from bestrecipes.com.au. Of course you may have to wait till next passion fruit season.

20 Passionfruit

2 tsp tartaric acid

3 cups water

3 cups of sugar

Scoop passion fruit pulp into a jug and add tartaric acid.

Boil sugar and water for 4 minutes and then add passion fruit.

Boil for several minutes until the pulp starts to separate from the pip.

Allow to cool, before straining and bottling.

Hot Cross Buns

I enjoy making several batches of these spicy delights every Easter. Yum, such lovely memories the smell brings back. In fact I even made these with my class today. Here is the recipe I use which I have tweaked a little over the years. It is very reliable and not too difficult. Of course I have a handy kenwood mixer with a dough hook for kneeding! You could pop it in a breadmaker on a dough cycle too. I have successfully made this recipe dairy free using soy/rice milk and olivani spread. Will try gluten free flour one day.

Dough

200 ml milk

100 ml boiling water

1 Tablespoon Surebake (yeast)

3½ cups (450 g) white flour

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tablespoon butter

1 cup (100-150 g) dried fruit (sultanas and currants work well)

1 Tablespoon mixed spice

1 tsp each of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg

Put 200 ml cold milk into measuring jug, pour in 100 ml boiling water. Dissolve Surebake in lukewarm liquid and leave while preparing dry ingredients.

Into large bowl measure flour, sugar and salt; rub in butter; mix in dried fruit and spice. Pour yeast liquid into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Knead dough for 10 minutes. Return to warmed and greased bowl (grease bowl with 1 teaspoon oil); turn over once to grease top, cover with a clean teatowel and leave in a warm place to rest for 15 minutes.

After rest period, cut dough into 16 pieces (approx 65g). Shape into bun shape. Leave in a warm place to allow buns to double in size (1/2 to 1 hour). When buns are nearly finished rising pipe a cross on each bun.

Cross mixture

2 Tablespoons cornflour

2 Tablespoons white flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

pinch salt

2 Tablespoons milk (approx.)

Mix together into a batter, adding a little more milk if necessary. Spoon mixture into corner of a plastic bag, snip off the corner to make a small hole. Squeeze mixture onto buns to make cross shape. 

Cook buns at 220˚C for 5 minutes, then reduce to 180˚C for a further 10 minutes.

Brush with 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water to glaze. Alternatively use 2 Tablespoons apricot jam dissolved in 1½ Tablespoons hot water.

Forgotten Cookies

There is a good reason these are called forgotten cookies but you certainly won't forget these! It is a traditional American recipe where you leave the cookies to cook in the heat of the oven overnight. This version comes from Healthy Food Guide. I find the recipes from there website very reliable, plus healthy which is a bonus!  The recipe below is as it appears on the website. I have been experimenting with adding dried cherries. These are far superior to glace cherries and are actual cherries pitted then dehydrated. They are available at my local Pak N Save in the bins and are called Razz Cherries. You will never go back to glace cherries again! For those who are dairy free use 70% cocoa chocolate. It was my great delight to discover this is dairy free!

2 egg whites, at room temperature
pinch salt
120g (1/2 cup) castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
120g (3/4 cup) roughly chopped almonds
150g (3/4 cup) chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Beat egg whites and salt until foamy.
Gradually add sugar and continue beating until they hold stiff peaks and make a glossy, stiff meringue.
Add vanilla, almonds and chocolate chips folding carefully with a spatula.
Cover baking tray with baking paper.
Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the paper.
Put in the oven, then turn oven off.
Leave overnight in oven (or for at least 3 hours, until oven is cold) with the door closed.