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This is one of those veal's pieces that are sold in a special market shop. The meat shop where I...

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What's happened to Beyond Baked Beans?

Some of you may have arrived at this blog looking for my student website beyondbakedbeans.com. I'm sad to say it no longer exists. (See update on my more recent post. There is a happy(ish) ending. It now has a new domain name www.beyondbakedbeans.org.)

Due to my inattention and a mix-up on who should renew the domain name it's expired. Someone else has snapped up the name and is running ads on it. It was never a moneymaker so I can't afford to buy it back. The domain registration site GoDaddy even wants to charge me commission for finding the buyer (surely they know?) and negotiating a sale. On top of a fee. I can't afford to pursue that.

It's a sad day. The site, which was founded at the same time as my first cookbook came out in 2003, has been going for over 8 years, encouraging students to cook and eat healthily. But it's not all bad news.

* There is a Beyond Baked Beans Cooking Page on Facebook which I'll be updating more frequently while I sort out what's to be done

* The books - Beyond Baked Beans, Beyond Baked Beans Green and Beyond Baked Beans Budget are still around and available for next to nothing on Amazon. Plus there's a full-colour illustrated compendium of all the best recipes called The Ultimate Student Cookbook which also contains recipes from three of our ex-students James, Sig and Guy.

* Plans were already in hand to pass the website over to the students of Bath Spa university to give it a comprehensive makeover. I'm sure a better, more interactive site will result.

* And there are plenty of simple, low-cost recipes here on this blog for students or anyone else on a budget.

But it's a useful warning if you have a site of your own - don't ignore reminders about domain name expiries and make sure the credit card you pay with is up to date.

And if you're the person who bought the site, just think about it. The site helped many young people to learn how to cook. It would be nice if you gave it back.

Noble Pig, Kamloops

(december 2010)

deep fried pickles

tropical pizza

cubano sandwich

the noble pig

650 victoria st

website coming soon (?)

Cauliflower cheese with parmesan and almonds

They had some really nice cauliflowers in the greengrocer the other day which prompted me to make this cauliflower cheese with a twist. My husband isn't mad about cooked cheese anyway so I decided to cut the amount of cheese and top it with flaked almonds which I reckoned would go well with cauliflower. (They really do). I think some chopped ham would be nice too if you want to make it more substantial.

The main thing is to use a strong, dryish cheese so you don't have to use too much and can keep the flavour and texture light. I used some mature Old Winchester which I happened to have after a cheese festival but you're probably more likely to have parmesan which would be fine. (Frugal cooking is, of course, about using what's in the fridge.)

Serves 2-3 as a supper dish, 4-6 as a vegetable

1 medium-sized cauliflower
30g butter
25g plain flour
350-400ml semi-skimmed milk
25-30g mature Pamesan or Grana Padano or 50g strong hard cheese like Old Winchester, Comté or Cheddar, grated
2 tbsp light cooking oil
50g flaked almonds
Salt and white pepper

Cut the outside leaves off the cauliflower but keep any tender, inner leaves. Cut the florets off the stalk and divide them into even sized clusters. Steam or boil the florets and inner leaves until just tender (about 6-7 minutes), drain and tip into a shallow buttered baking dish.

Melt the butter gently in a small non-stick saucepan, stir in the flour and cook over a low heat for about 30 seconds. Take the pan off the heat and gradually add the milk bit by bit, stirring between each addition. When you've added half the milk you can pour most of the rest of the milk in one go, holding back a little to see if you need it.

Bring the sauce to the boil, turn the heat right down and simmer for 5 minutes until thick and smooth. Take off the heat and add most of the cheese. You should be able to taste the cheese but it shouldn't be overwhelmingly cheesy. Add more if you like then season with salt and white pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick add the remaining milk or a couple of spoonfuls of the water you've used for cooking the cauliflower. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower florets.

Preheat the grill to a medium setting. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the flaked almonds over a low to moderate heat until they begin to colour then sprinkle them over the cauliflower. Place the dish under the grill (not too near the heat) until the almonds are light brown and the sauce starts to bubble.

Do you have any favourite additions to cauliflower cheese or do you prefer the classic version?

How to Eat for $7 or Less a Day

Welcome new readers! If you found my blog in the US News & World Report story about living on a budget on Yahoo! Finance and are looking for budget shopping and cooking ideas, please check out my Hunger Challenge posts. You'll find recipes, tips and more.

Thanks!

Amy

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Filled Chocolate Cupcakes.\, Part 1

I'd been thinking about making some cupcakes for a party, when I got a call from a friend asking me if her daughters could come and learn how to make cupcakes with me.  Little did they know that I had never made chocolate cupcakes before!  But, I thought it would be a great learning experience for us all.  When the girls came, I learned that they, like me, had  reservations about cupcakes  because there's usually a mound  of frosting glopped on the outside and too much dry cake underneath.  We all thought it would be fun to try and fill the interior of the cake with some frosting  and I decided on cherries for the top ( I had been invited to a party and was asked to bring something chocolate with fruit).

I would say that the morning was not a success, although we did have fun and learned what to do when you have a failure.  The first problem was that the cupcakes (we made minis and regular) stuck to the pans.  We hand anticipated some trouble and had greased and floured some of the cups, and just greased the others, but ALL of the cupcakes stuck.

But the cake tasted great -  so we certainly didn't want to throw it away.  Now was the chance to think creatively.  Veronica thought the cupcake remnants looked like muffin tops (they did) and in keeping with our idea of having filled cupcakes, we decided to cut off the tops and sandwich two together with frosting and filling inbetween.  Here are my two helpers, Jasmine and Veronica.

I had planned on using simple meringue buttercream and cherries for the filling, but Jasmine wanted to know if I could make some ganache, so we made some of that, too.  The buttercream never really firmed up the way I had hoped (the kitchen was WAY too warm), so eating the cakes right away (no refrigeration) was perfect with the soft buttercream, cherries, chocolate cake and oozy ganache (like hot fudge!).

The ganache went on top and we ended up with something looking like a moonpie, which tasted great!  Another idea for when things don't work out is to do a trifle sort of dessert.  In this case I used real whipped cream instead of buttercream (it's quicker to make and  the dessert can be eaten straight from the refrigerator).

Next post, look for the recipes for chocolate cupcakes, frosting and icing that works!

VAZHAITHANDU /BANANA STEM JUICE - SWEET AND SALT VERSION

I really got bored of making thogayal, pachadi and poriyal with vazhaithandu.My husband hates to eat vazhaithandu just becoz it takes so much time to chew n eat ;). I heard drinking vazhaithandu juice in empty stomach is one of the healthiest way to include in our diet. Its a hassle free job too.Last month when i went to my native ,we tasted this juice in a famous restaurant. We loved it.It was mild in sweet and served chilled.We couldn't find out its the juice of vazhaithandu .I wanted to try the same at home.I tried sweet and salt versions. Both were excellent. I dint serve it cold , i made at room temperature.So its ur choice  !!

 

SWEET JUICE

Plantain stem /Vazhaithandu - 1 /2 no (medium size) Boiled Milk - 1/2 cup (adjust) Sugar - 2 tbsp Water- If necessary

 

Method

Remove the outer layer of vazhaithandu till core ( At this point u dont have layers to remove). Cut into rings while removing the fibre simultaneously that comes between the rings . Chop into small pieces .Grind with sugar and milk.Add more milk & sugar if necessary. Strain in a double cloth filter.Pour in a serving glass. Serve it chilled or at room temperature !!

 

SALT VERSION

INGREDIENTS

Vazhaithandu - 1/2 no (medium size) Sour curd - 2tbsp Salt & water - As needed Pepper powder - 2 pinches (optional) Coriander leaves - To garnish

METHOD

Repeat steps 1 and 2 given in the above version and cut the stem into pieces and immerse in buttermilk to avoid color change. Grind the pieces along with curd and salt. Add more water , whisk and strain in a double cloth filter. Pour in a serving glass and  garnish with little coriander leaves serve chill!!

 

NOTE

1. Drinking vazhathandu juice alone doesnot help u to shed ur weight. U have to carry on the other things like diet .excercise etc.
2. U can prepare the juice in another way .

• Grind the Banana stem with salt , pepper powder and lime juice. Filter and enjoy !! Hope this method sounds easier.

KITCHEN CLINIC

PLANTAIN STEM / VAZHAITHANDU A potassium rich food with high fiber content and it has many other amazing health benefits.       Most people include banana in their daily diet, but very few have ever thought of including banana stem. The banana stem has many nutritive and health benefits. The stem is usually thrown away once the fruit is cut from the plant. So next time if you happen to find one, think of including it in your menu. Here are some good health reasons why banana stem must be part and parcel of your diet at least on occasions. Banana stem is rich in fiber and helps weight loss.  Due to rich content, it helps body to feel full faster.  The intake of food gets reduced by including banana stem to diet.  It can be taken in the form of juice, but eating it as a whole provides more benefits. Including it once or twice a week can help people looking for ways to cut down extra pounds. Like banana, banana stem is also rich in potassium and vitamin B6.  Vitamin B6 helps production of chemicals such as hemoglobin and insulin. Again, it improves the ability of body to fight against infection. Potassium helps effective functioning of muscles including cardiac muscles, prevents high blood pressure, helps nerve impulses and maintains fluid balance within the body. It is a diuretic and helps detoxify the body. Some believe that banana stem can prevent and treat kidney stones. This is fact under study and the effectiveness has not been proven by the western world. It can be taken as a laxative for constipation. Again, the rich fiber content prevents constipation. It cools the body. So overall, banana stem does wonders to our body. How to include them in diet? Very tender ones can be used in salads and not so tender ones can be added to soups or as a steamed vegetable.   Slicing banana stem for dishes might be hard work, but it provides unmatchable health benefits.Its a cooling agent to our body , so use it weekly twice is recommended.

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Great Gazpacho

I had a hankerin' (oh yes I did) for gazpacho now that our weather has turned more summery. I was going to make my usual version with V8, but in the freezer I found a bag of tomatos that I had oven roasted and frozen last fall.

I used this recipe as my inspiration, but I went much simpler.

2 bell peppers (I used one orange and one red) whizzed smooth in the food processor with a few cloves of garlic and a spoon of sugar. I added my thawed tomatos and juice and pureed until smooth. I stirred in a couple of shots of red wine vinegar and some salt, then chilled for an hour.

Serve with a piece of cheesy toast, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.