All posts filed under: Eats

Recipes and ideas

Sunny, rainy, windy Sunday

Published by

I bought this hat yesterday for Bodhi and it makes me laugh everytime he puts it on, especially like this! We very happily managed to buy trousers which reach ankles too. So I am feeling a little more prepared for the Autumn and winter now! Of course the boys have no winter boots yet, but as they are virtually growing before my eyes, I am holding out. I decided I need to make Millionaire Shortbread today which is a complete faff. Nothing difficult about it, but lots of ‘make and cool’ stages, and lots of stirring hot fudgey-ness.   Worth it though! I will now have to freeze it, hide it or tie my hands behind my back to stop myself eating the darn lot! Don’t underestimate, I really could eat the lot! I could, but, I won’t.  Might. I also make this today, not the pumpkin, the bracelet. Another catseatdogs wrap bracelet/necklace/anklet. I feel I should invent a new jewelry name for them…brecklet?….anklacelet? (worth mentioning here that auto correct thought I wanted to write ‘ankle …

Ten on the tenth

Published by

It is time for ten photos on the tenth day….of the tenth month, I only just realized that! Here are todays comings and goings in my neck of the woods. I made Blueberry muffins for breakfast. No, this is not normal! It is Gary’s birthday today. Unfortunately I didn’t plan well and the muffins were not done in time and everyone had cereal and raced off to school. Bodhi and I walked to school in the chilly sunshine. The trees were luminous in the sunshine. My neighbour has great Halloween decorations including this guy! He is also my ‘photo of the day’ which was emotion – I thought he looked a little fed up! On my street walking home, I spotted lots of leaves with delicate dew on them, so I snapped this one. Home for coffee and a blueberry muffin. I made a little pan of beads to make a knotted necklace. Pretty pinks and greys with a hint of amethyst. I had a request to make a Longhorn choker, so here he is. …

September 2012 Photo A Day

Published by

September has been the first month I have done the photo a day ‘challenge’ thrown down by Chantelle at Fat Mum Slim blog.   Each day has a word or phrase and off we go and snap a photo to fit.  I used my iPhone 4 for all of the photos and various apps to take the photo or to add finishes to liven the shots up! As I take the photos, they get popped into Instagram (@catseatdogsmakes) and I post on Twitter (@catseatdogsmake). I have also brought them all together here today! There are a couple missing as I have them on Instagram, but they got lost from my phone camera roll and I am not smart enough to get them from Insta onto my computer and into the blog – doh!  I have put some Fat Mum Slim photos and some Hipstamatic here, for a bit of variety.  I have written with are Hipstamatic and the rest are FMS. September in Pictures. T Day 1. ‘You now’ FMS theme. Untangling a GI Joe …

Where’d you go Rock Cake, Pumpkin Spice Coffee and Bernadette?

Published by

This morning I came across a recipe for Pumkpin Spice Latte. My taste buds were alerted as was my purse because buying the Pumpkin Spice Lattes on a regular basis will render me bankrupt. I was also sceptical as I have had a go at my own before and without much success. This recipe makes a syrup which keeps in the fridge to keep me in coffee exotica all week! I had all of the ingredients except vanilla extract, so I used maple flavouring which worked just fine. I used about 2 dessertspoons of the finished syrup in my mug of coffee and it was fabulous! Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe from Coffee Krave Ingredients for Pumpkin Spice Syrup 1 cup of water 4 cinnamon sticks and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon OR 5 tsp. of ground cinnamon 4 dried cloves 2 tsp. of shredded/grated ginger 1 tbsp. of ground nutmeg 1 cup of brown sugar 2 tbsp. of pumpkin puree 1 whole vanilla bean or 2 tsp. of vanilla extract Ingredients for the Pumpkin Spice Latte …

Beetroot & Chocolate Brownies and Pizza Challenge.

Published by

We recently harvested all of the beetroot from the garden and I decided to investigate different ways to use it. I like pickled beetroot, but I don’t need a whole fridge full! Some were crammed into a jar full of dark pink beetrooty ,vinegary, goodness. Some were swapped for peppers, a cucumber and a handful of hot chillies from my neighbor. There were more! Dig deeper for lovely beetroot ideas. My digging (ok, googling) proved fruitful. We were already planning a firepit, so following Jamie Oliver’s instructions, I wrapped some beetroots in a double layer of silver foil, along with some rosemary. Tucked it all in tight, jabbed in some holes to let the beets smoke as well as cook and onto the coals for about 40 minutes. They turned out really well, let them cool and the skin virtually peels off by itself and a delicious beet salad awaits its dressing. Beetroot and Chocolate Brownies Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe from The River Cottage 250g/1 cup good, dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces …

Packed and ready to layer

Published by

Started today with a sunny and sweaty bootcamp class on the High School track. Exercising outside in St Louis is a brutal thing in the summer, but think of the toxins I sweated out. Oh, and the wine from last night! Dropped some jewels off at the fabulous ‘Screaming Mimi’ in Maplewood.  Go and check them out, lots of wonderfuls in there! Favourite sandwich stop for lunch – ‘Fozzies’ on Big Bend. I had the chicken gyros on pita with salad and feta and it was delish! Home to cram a last minute bargain t shirt in my suitcase for our UK trip. Got the shirt and a lovely scarf from ‘Mezzanine’ on Sutton Blvd in Maplewood. They are closing which is a shame as it is a lovely store to go and dream about affording anything in there. We also got a massive and fabulous glass vase for five dollars. I know this scarf is black and not exactly summery, but England is not exactly summery at the minute either. I have booked some …

Strawberry and cheesecake all in home made ice cream

Published by

Lovely lovely lovely lovely home made ice cream lurks in my freezer! Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream (from Kraft Foods) 80z cream cheese – softened 14oz can condensed milk 1/3 cup heavy cream 2 tsp lemon zest 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries 3 graham crackers (I used Trader Joes) broken up – I put them in a zip loc bag and bashed them quickly with a rolling pin Mix the cream cheese, condensed milk, cream and zest until smooth.  Freeze until almost solid (about 4 hours). Beat the cream cheese mix again until smooth.  Blend the strawberries to a sauce and add to the cream cheese with the graham crackers. Freeze until firm.  Take out of the freezer 15 mins before serving. Now, I want to try this with other berries like blueberries and even different cookies.  I will report back on my experiments!   Here are some more photos I took at the Lantern Exhibit at the Botanical Gardens.  I took these on my iPhone using Hipstamatic, Instagram and Shake it Photo.  

Crazy creepy and blueberry scones

Published by

I got dragged down to the woods this morning by Bodhi to go on an adventure. Wellies on and we were on a mission to find the ‘cabin’ otherwise known as the ‘creepy cabin’ at the side of the creek. We paddled a short way down the rather stinky creek and there it was….the creepy cabin, complete with a brown and crispy Christmas wreath.  The Cabin in the woods The Creeeeepy Cabin in the woods Boots are way too big, but waterproof! ‘Chicken Mushroom’ – edible, but not eaten, well not by us anyway Blueberry Scones But, before all of the adventuring, I made some scones! Blueberry Scones 3/4 cup heavy cream                                                                                                                               …

Baking and Making – scones and a summer necklace

Published by

After a trip to St Louis Children’s hospital for an x ray on Max’s hand (not broken), we Metro-linked home and made scones. I fancied them up with smoked sea salt from Trader Joes. This stuff works it’s magic on anything from fries, to caramel sauce! Trader Joe’s magical Smoked Sea Salt! I use the same basic scone recipe to make all sorts of flavours, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and cinnamon for cinnamon scones. Mix some rosemary in with cheddar (don’t add the sugar for this one!). Use raisins and add the sugar for a traditional fruit scone. Blueberries and lemon zest for a non traditional fruit scone. Pear and candied ginger is one I haven’t tried, but I will soon! When peaches are falling at your feet in the summer, chop one up, add it to your sweet scone and make a summer peach delight. Tennis anyone?   Strawberry scones are sliced and eaten with fresh jam and cream. White chocolate chips and cinnamon is a winner!  What am I saying?  Chocolate is …

Pizza pizza pie

Published by

This is the best pizza dough recipe I have found, it is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s book called ‘River Cottage Veg Everyday’. I made 3 pizza’s out of it.  Our house is mainly vegetarian, so I suppose ‘eat-less-meat-arian’ is more accurate.  So I usually make a variety of choices at pizza time.  This one did a ‘BBQ chicken’, ‘cheese and olive’ and ‘caramelized onion, potato and rosemary’ menu. Caramelized Onion, Potato and Rosemary pizza Ready to go! Pizza Dough Recipe 325ml/1 1/2 cups warm water 500g/4 cups All Purpose Flour 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast 1 tablespoon olive oil I piled it all into the bread machine and set it to ‘dough’. When the dough is made, knead it on a floured surface, then cut it into as many pieces as you need. You can make bread sticks, dough balls (little tiny rounds of dough which bake into bread golfballs!), focaccia and pizzas.