So domestic it hurts

Today I was so domestic it hurt  – almost physically as I just about got my pointer finger stuck in the electric beater as I tried to push an undercooked sweet potato through the rotating whisk thingies.  It is Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend and normally we would have planned to mark the occasion with turkey of some sort but we had other plans for this weekend – unfortunately those plans fell through (or crashed ) so we decided last minute to do our own Canadian Thanksgiving.

Thankfully  Sainsbury’s (grocery store) accommodates lazy domestics like me and we found a ’succulent boneless turkey breast basted in butter’ that I just had to stick in the oven.  Add to that some sweet potatoes (and marshmallows as per my mother in law’s famous recipe – although the hubby only wanted them on half as he apparently doesn’t like candy on his veggies!!) , carrots in maple syrup, peas and red wine and you have Thanksgiving (minus the fine china and chaos)

Succulent turkey breast

Happy Thanksgiving

For some reason I also felt inspired to make raspberry muffins so I bought all the ingredients and whipped up a batch while the succulent turkey breast cooked.  I couldn’t find ‘American’ sized muffin wrappers so I improvised and made them out of ‘greaseproof paper’ that belonged to our landlord and has been in our cupboard for 3 years.  I haven’t tried them yet as I am full of turkey but will let you know tomorrow morning – in the meantime Happy Thanksgiving – or Happy Sunday for those of you non Canadian types.

Raspberry muffins in home made muffin papers

Divinity Fudge

The other day I was reading a book about a pastry chef (move over Shakespeare, chick lit is where it’s at) as such it had a recipe between each new chapter (more value for your money, a novel AND a cookbook). I normally ignore recipes of any kind however one of them, Divinity Fudge, reminded me of my as my Grandfather used to make it for me a lot as a kid. He would also let me eat as much as I wanted and due to the sugar content I was usually physically vibrating from a sugar high when my parents came to pick me up.

Divinity fudge isn’t like traditional fudge that you would normally cut a chunk off of and eat, it is more like mini soft meringues.  After seeing the recipe I had an instant craving to make it. The recipe is fairly simple but I am impatient and usually don’t wait for the sugar to get to hard ball stage (not owning a candy thermometer means I guess and always get it wrong) but they turned out okay.

The key (other than getting the hard ball stage bit right) as my grandfather used to say, was to ‘beat air in it’s pants’ (American pants aka trousers, not British pants aka undies) once you mixed it all together by taking a wooden spoon and beating it to death…I did this then plugged in the electric mixer for some added oomph  – I ended up spraying the wall and floor with the wonderfully sticky and sugary goo.

Beating the air in it's pants

The recipe is below (bear in mind my Grandfather was diabetic – I don’t recommend any diabetics attempting this recipe). Just in case you are wondering, I made these Friday and I only have 5 left and the hubby has only had 2 – they are a bit too sweet for his liking….which is fine by me!

Divinity Fudge recipe

2.5 cups of sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup (aka Golden Syrup in the UK)
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt
3 large egg whites
1tsp vanilla
1/2 cup dried cherries, blueberries or cranberries (optional – I tend to leave these out as they are too healthy)
1/2 chopped pecans (optional -  I also leave these out as I am a purist when it comes to sugary treats)

In a 2 quart saucepan mix the sugar corn syrup water and salt.  Using a candy thermometer heat to hardball stage (250 to 266 degrees) stirring only until sugar is dissolved.  Meanwhile beat the eggs to stiff peaks.  When the syrup reaches 260 degrees F add it gradually to the egg whites while beating at high speed in a mixer.  Continue to beat until the candy takes shape (about 5 minutes) Stir in vanilla, nuts and dries fruit.  Quickly drop the candy from a teaspoon on to waxed paper finishing each piece with a swirl and cool to room temperature.

Fancy potatoes and margarita sorbet

I am not really big on cooking but in a pinch I can do it and sometimes even enjoy it (quite the opposite to my Mom whom is a natural cook and never seemed to swear, burn herself or dirty every dish in the house as I do when I cook).

Anyway I came across this website called Sea salt with food as it was recommended on the BBC Click website which gives a weekly recommendation of great sites.  Frankl,y I had never thought of food blogs but I have added it to my google reader and admit that I get a bit excited when I see a new recipe has been posted.

I have only tried two recipes but they turned out pretty well so I have faith that I might be able to do more as time goes on (and I continue on with my fun-employment – as once I get a job, its back to Marks and Spener ready meals, who has time to cook!).

The recipes I tried were the Hasslebeck Potatoes (no relation to Elizabeth on the View) which are the Swedish version baked potatoes.  They are really yummy – especially in our fan bake oven as the skin gets nice and golden all over.

The second one I tried was last week during our heat wave was the lime sorbet which was lovely as it was very cold and we were very hot….it ended up tasting very much like a bowl full of frozen margarita mix but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Pictures below are from the website as I can assure you mine didn’t turn out looking anything like that…but they tasted good!