Virgin Mojitos

Virgin Mojitos

Inspired by:

I can’t find the recipe anymore! I didn’t even write it down!

Apologies if my directions are rough.

Why?

I felt like having a Mojito but am off alcohol at the moment.

Time Taken:

5 minutes

Number of Dirty Dishes:

Spoon, knife, chopping board, 2 drinking glasses

I used: (2 skinny glasses)

4-6 tbs Lemon cordial chilled

(equal parts lemon juice, castor sugar and water, boiled until sugar has dissolved)

2 limes

10 mint leaves

2 tbs raw sugar

Cold water (still or sparkling)

What I did:

Cut limes into quarters and squeeze half a lime into the bottom of each glass.

Add 1tbs of raw sugar and 5 mint leaves to each glass.

With the spoon mix thoroughly, making sure the flavours muddle.

Then add the squeezed half lime and 2tbs of lemon cordial.

Mix again and add the other half of the limes and fill glass with cold water.

Serve!

Comments after drinking the Virgin Mojito:

YUM! I want to make another one! (and I did!)

What I would do different:

Muddle more, and maybe add some more lemon cordial.

Mint Chocolate Ice cream!

Mint Chocolate Ice cream!

Inspired by:

Sandy Parrott Ashbrook on Aprovechar’s Fresh Mint Ice cream Recipe and Jamie Oliver’s Pear Sorbet Recipe

Why?

Ice cream is my favourite food! I love Gelato/i because it tastes great and the fruit flavours (in real gelato- like here in Rome) are dairy free! It’s a blessing especially when I can’t indulge in the pizza and pasta!

My favourite flavor is Mint Choc Chip, which is not dairy free. I had a craving (perhaps because my brain tells me it should be summer even though it’s super cold here) and so I decided to experiment!

Time Taken:

10 mins to create the mixture. Several hours to freeze. I froze mine overnight. Using an ice cream maker the times will vary.

Dirty Dishes:

Heat proof dish (2L), medium saucepan, spoon.

I used:

250g icing sugar

1 can of coconut milk (400ml)

Peppermint essence (to taste)

Peppermint leaves (to taste- dried 2Tbs)

50g dairy free chocolate broken into chunks.

What I did:

Combine icing sugar and coconut milk in saucepan on medium heat. 
With a spoon stir until sugar is melted. 
If  using fresh mint leaves add them now and keep the mixture on low heat for several minutes to allow the flavor to develop. 

If using peppermint essence, add desired amount now and the dried peppermint leaves and stir in thoroughly.
After the peppermint flavour has been mixed through, taste the mixture (it will be hot!) to check the flavor, and add more essence or seep for longer if desired. 

Then bring to the boil, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat (turn off the element) and let mixture cool. 

When the mixture is still warm, but no longer boiling hot, add the chocolate chunks and give a brief stir. Some of the chips should melt. Pour the mixture into the heat proof dish until the mixture is completely cool. Then use an ice cream maker according to it’s instructions to complete the freeze process or to freeze it without an ice cream maker, put the ice cream mixture in the freezer. 
Mix every hour or two (if possible) for the first few hours to spread the chips around and to avoid any ice deposits.

After eating Mint Chocolate Ice cream:

I am wondering why I took so long to make it in the first place! The others who ate it enjoyed it too! Mmmmm mint.

Comments and what I would do different:

The ice cream doesn’t stay frozen for as long as traditional store bought ice cream. Once put into a bowl it gets quite melty around the edges. I’m not sure if there’s something I can do to combat this in my recipe (more sugar/longer boiling etc) or if that is a symptom of dairy free/preservative free ice cream or I need an ice cream maker. If anyone knows let me know! Until then I'm happy!

Carrot and Mint Damper

Carrot and Mint Damper

Inspired by: Masterchef Australia helping me rediscover good old damper! and Alldownunder.com.

Why? I love mint and I will use it in whatever I can. I needed to use up a few carrots, had no eggs, and thought carrot and mint would make a great combination in a bread type recipe.

I used:

2 cups self raising gluten free flour

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup dairy free rice milk

2 tbsp dried mint leaves

1 cup grated carrot (2 medium carrots grated)

What I did:

Preheat oven to 190C, and line baking tray.

In a bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar and mint. 
Add the butter and rub it through the flour until well mixed. 
Add milk a bit at a time, stirring, until a dough forms. 
Add a bit more milk or flour at this point if you need in order to get a good dough. 
Divide into 6 and spoon out on to the tray into mounds with at least an inch between, and bake for 30 mins, or until damper has formed a firm crust.

Comments after eating carrot and mint damper!

Yum! It’s tastes light, herby and refreshing. Love it. Exactly what I was hoping for!

Chocolate Mint Slice

Chocolate Mint Slice

Inspired by:

Australian Women’s Weekly Choc mint slice recipe on ninemsn.com.au

The fact that I love mint and like to recycle.

The method of making cheesecake base.

Why?

As previously mentioned my first attempt at hot cross buns did not work out as well as I had hoped, and so I wanted to have another try at them. So instead of wasting all the ingredients and time I had spent making the first batch I thought I should recycle them somehow. I love mint and have been waiting for an opportunity to make this. Perfect match! (Next time I won't go to so much effort though!)

 

I used:

Base (old hot cross buns):

3 ¼ cups Gluten free flour mix

100g dark chocolate broken into small chunks/ chocolate chips (dairy free)

3 tbs cocoa powder (gluten free)

2 tbs caster sugar

1 sachet of dried yeast (7g)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Large pinch of salt

1 cup warm rice milk (250 mls)

50g margarine, melted(Dairy free)

1 egg, whisked

Plus to mix to form the base

50g margarine (dairy free)

1 cup rice milk (250 mls)

Peppermint layer

250g icing sugar/confectioners sugar

1 tbs  rice milk

1 tbs mint syrup (liquid sugar, colour and mint flavor)

1 tbs margarine (dairy free)

peppermint essence to taste.

Chocolate layer

150g dark chocolate (dairy free)

½ teaspoon vegetable oil

What I did:

Grease/line a baking tray.

In a bowl, crush failed chocolate hot cross buns with margarine (I usually do this with marg, sugar and biscuits for cheesecake base and it works well, but it wasn’t blending with the hot cross buns- so I decided to add milk instead). 

Gradually add milk, crushing base with a fork until mixture is moist and moldable.  
Turn mixture onto baking tray and press mixture into tray as evenly as possible. 
Put into the refrigerator to chill.

Combine milk, mint syrup (or just more milk or water), margerine, and peppermint essence; add icing sugar gradually, stirring with a butter knife, and squashing lumps against the side of the bowl.

Once the mixture is smooth and thick (add more icing sugar to thicken if needed), take the base out of the refrigerator, and using the knife, smooth the peppermint layer over the top.
 Put the slice back in the refrigerator. (Resist the urge to eat it now, there’s still one more layer!)

Let the peppermint layer set before beginning the next step.

Melt chocolate (I use the double boiler for this) and stir in vegetable oil. 
Smooth melted chocolate mixture evenly over slice and refrigerate until set.

Now you can eat!

Comments after eating Chocolate Mint Slice

YUM! It was soo good. I put a little too much milk in the base, so it took a few days for it to set properly, but we still ate it not-as-set, and it was still delicious. So good. I wish there was still some left.

 As you can see. . .by the time I got around to taking this photo. . .a lot of it had already been eaten!