Strawberry & Mascarpone Cupcakes

CUPCAKES!!! What more could anyone want?

These are probably my favourite cupcake (well, second favourite-after Red Velvet cupcakes)

Cupcakes

-1 box of white vanilla cake mix

-8 ounces of mascarpone cheese

-2 egg whites

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-1 cup water

Topping

- 2 cups strawberries (fresh of frozen)

-2 and half cups icing sugar

First, preheat the oven to 400 F.

To make the batter: mix oil, egg whites and cheese together until smooth.

Then gradually add the cake mix and water until the mixture is smooth again. Usually takes about 3-5 minutes depending on your mixer speed.

Pour the batter into the cups, and make sure you don't fill them to the top because they will rise and overflow when heated. Try to keep it at half or 3/4.

Once you fill the pan, they are ready to go in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

While they bake and cool off, you can make the strawberry icing.

Simply cut up the strawberries and blend them in a food processor.

Then mix the puree with icing sugar and whisk it till its thick. If it still looks runny, add a tablespoon of flour and leave it in the fridge for a few minutes to cool down.

Once the cupcakes are done baking and cool off, spread the strawberry icing on top and serve.

Tastes even better with some fresh cheese nd strawberry slices on top:)

Pork Roast Dinner

My blog is targeted towards those who are either beginners when it comes to cooking, or just do not have the time to cook extravagant meals every day... but do not be afraid of this one! It may take a couple of hours to cook but the prep time takes less than 10 minutes.

Many of us, even more experienced cooks, are hesitant when it comes to cooking large sizes of meat, worrying that it will under cook, overcook or just completely burn and you won't have anything to serve for dinner. In times like that I like to refer to cooking charts such as this one: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/how-to-roast-meat6.htm

It breaks down the cooking times by weight and type of meat you are preparing. Easy to follow and saves you all the worries.

For this roast you will need:

-Pork roast (any weight)

-1 cup olive oil

-2 onions

-1 whole garlic

-3-4 carrots

-Leeks ( or any other greens of your choice)

-Black Pepper & Salt

-Tinfoil

Prepare the surface by folding over 2 large sheets of foil as shown above^

Chop up the onions, leeks and carrots and spread evenly in the center of the foil

Rinse the roast and pat dry with a paper towel to get rid of any excess moisture.

Prepating the actual roast takes 10 seconds: rub pepper salt and shopped garlic into the meat, then cut 7-8 slits on top and stuff garlic cloves in them. Then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some ground pepper

.

Some more leek and onion on top so that the flavour can cook into the roast, wrap it up and into the oven. [refer to the time charts for temperatures and times]

Annnd... 2 hours later !

2 hours may seem like a long time in the oven, but at a low temperature the meat cooks evenly and therefore avoids undercooking. It also give you plenty of time to cook some mashed potatoes, vegetables and salads to serve with the roast.. maybe even some dessert.

Speaking of dessert.. tomorrow I am planning to make some mascarpone cheese cupcakes with strawberries. Stay tuned!

Red and Yellow Thai Curry Stir Fry

After weeks and weeks of procrastinating, I have finally decided to collect all the cutout and bookmarked recipes and start this blog!! It will be mostly about cooking, which is one of my favourite pass-times (and eating too), and everything to do with it. I do not have a specific cuisine that I focus on, but some of my favourite recipes come from Italian, Thai and of course Russian cultures.

I am going to try and post a new entry 2-3 times a week since I cook almost everyday, so feel free to request any dishes or suggest recipes.

I am going to start with this really easy and fast thai noodle dish for which you will need:

-Rice (or Rice noodles

-Red and Yellow thai curry

-Coconut milk

-2-3 cloves garlic

-Carrots

-Onions

-Red pepper

-Bean sprouts

-Broccoli

* feel free to use any other veggies and add beef, shrimp or chicken to the curry

First, heat up a pan with some olive oil to cook the veggies.

Cut up onions, garlic and carrots and throw them in the pot first, since they cook the longest.

Then add broccoli, red peppers and the bean sprouts..

Finally, add the curries and coconut milk! mmm. If you want it less spicy, add more yellow curry than red.

pour the mix onto freshly steamed rice and viola: