Farmersgirl Kitchen

Monday, 28 February 2011

Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

Hot Cross Buns are everywhere in the shops just now, even though it is nearly a month until Easter. This is an easy warming dessert made with these spiced and fruited bread buns and if you have children or teenagers to feed, it fills them up! It also features one of the Total 0% Yogurt Split Pots, this time it's the one with the honey.

Hot Cross Bun & Butter Pudding

This pudding serves 3-4 people

1 Hot Cross Bun

10g butter

2 eggs

100ml milk

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 Total 0% Greek Yogurt Split Pot (Honey)

Grease a small deep heatproof dish with a little of the butter. Split the bun and spread each half with the remaining butter. Slice the bun into small squares and place in the dish. Drizzle over the honey.

Beat the eggs, sugar, milk and yogurt together and pour over the pieces of bun.

Leave for an hour to soak, then pre-heat the oven to 170C and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until risen and golden.

I served this with icecream, but you could eat it as it is, with custard, cream or more yogurt.

Labels: bread and butter pudding, eggs, hot cross bun, Total Greek Yogurt

Sunday, 27 February 2011

A moment on the lips...not so much on the hips!

I don't know about you, but I need to lose a few pounds after the long, cold dark winter. I've been tempted by warming puds which are now all around my hips! But wait....what's this? Those lovely people at Total have created the perfect answer, providing a hit of creaminess with a shot of sweetness, it's the Total 0% greek yogurt split pot!

What do you get? Well they are only around 85 kcal per pot and 0% fat, so you can certainly indulge in one of these for breakfast or a snack or even for dessert! They come with honey, strawberry, tropical fruit or blueberry.

Now although these Total Greek Yogurt Split Pots are delicious just as they are, I couldn't resist the urge to 'mess around' with them. This weekend I seemed to have a lot of little clememtines in the fruit bowl, so decided to make a fruit salad. I genlty poached the clementine segments in orange juice and a teaspoon of caster sugar for about 10 minutes. Then once it had cooled added the chopped apple and banana.

I then took two Total 0% Greek Yogurt Split Pots with Tropical Fruits.

I put all the 0% yogurt into a bowl and mixed through all the fruit from one of the split pots and half of the fruit from the other.

I topped the fruit salad with the Tropical Fruit Yogurt and put a teaspoonful of the reserved Tropical Fruit Sauce on the top of each one. The creamy yogurt cut through the acidity of the organges, delicious and refreshing.

Many thanks to the kind people at Total Greek Yogurt for providing me with these Split Pots to play with :)

Labels: Split Pots, Total Greek Yogurt

Saturday, 4 December 2010

Easy All-in-one Lamb Curry

It's Total Yogurt time again! This time I'm marinading lamb chops in a super easy recipe by Anjum Anand in her book Indian Food Made Easy.

Easy All-in-one Lamb Curry

Serves 4 - 6

800g lamb, cut into small pieces with the bone in

300ml Total Greek Yogurt

3/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp ground mustard seeds (ideally grind them yourself in a spice grinder)

1 heaped tbsp white poppy seeds, made into a paste with a pestle & mortar and a splash of water) I didn't have any and it tasted fine without.

Salt to taste

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

1-2 green chillies forked once

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

good handful of fresh coriander stalks and leaves, chopped ( I didn't have any of this either and I know it would definitely bring a freshness to the dish)

Mix the lamb with the yogurt, turmeric, ginger and garlic pastes, cumin, coriander and mustard seed powder, poppy seed paste and salt. Leave to marinate in a non-metallic bowl for as long as possible or at least until you chip and cook the next batch of ingredients.

Heat the oil in a non-stick saucepan, add the onion and green chillies and fry until the onions are brown, around 6-7 minutes. Add the meat, and its marinade and stir-fry over a low heat for 3 minutes. Cover and continue to cook over a low heat for 45-50 minutes or until done, giving the pot a gentle stir every now and then. If the pan is running dry, add a splash of water from the kettle.

Once tender, stir in the garam masala and black pepper; check and adjust seasoning. Always make sure there is enough water in the pan for a little gravy by adding extra from the kettle or cook the lamb over a high flame to dry of any excess water. Stir in the coriander and serve.

I added some french beans to the sauce and served with basmati rice, it would definitely have looked prettier if I had had some coriander!!

Labels: curry, lamb, rice, Total Greek Yogurt

Sunday, 21 November 2010

Total Frozen Greek Yogurt

Now when the lovely people at Total Greek Yogurt sent me a huge consignment of lovely creamy yogurt, I was a bit alarmed that I might not get through it all before the sell by date. It doesn't expire until early December, but there is a LOT!

So I thought I would see if I could make it last longer by creating a frozen yogurt. My research on the internet led me to this simple recipe:

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Recipe

First of all it is important to use good quality whole-milk yogurt. I believe it is also very good without the vanilla flavouring, but I haven't tried it yet.

3 cups (720g) strained yogurt (see below) or Greek-style yogurt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Mix togther the yogurt, sugar and vanilla (if using). Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Making strained yogurt: To make 1 cup (240g) of strained yogurt, line a mesh striner with a few layers of cheese cloth. Then scrape 17 ounces or 2 cups (480g) of plain whole-milk yougrt into the cheesecloth. Gather the neds an dfold them over the yogurt, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. So, for the above recipe start with and strain 6 cups of yogurt.

Recipe from 101 Cookbooks

Now just in case you get the impression that I am always cooking everything from scratch, let me just tell you that the lovely cherry & plum crumble I served with the Frozen Yogurt came straight from Marks & Spencer lol!

The Evidence!

Labels: Marks and Spencers, Total Greek Yogurt

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Totally Brilliant!

The nice people of Total Greek Yogurt have sent me a lovely consignment of their delicious thick greek yogurt to play with. As I've been away for a few days, I haven't had a lot of time to make anything, but her is a quick little dessert I made on Saturday.

Instant Apple 'Cheesecake'

Melt about 100g of butter in a pan. Put half a dozen digestive biscuits (graham crackers) in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Add the crumbs to the butter and mix well.

I made my little cheesecakes in ramekins but you could make a larger one in a small flan dish.

Divide the butter and crumb mixture between the ramekins and press down.

Add the Greek Yogurt and top with some fruit compote. I stewed some apples with sugar, raisins and cinnamon, once cool it made a lovely topping for the dessert. The combination worked well, it was not too sweet and the different textures worked well together.

Labels: apples, Cinnamon, Total Greek Yogurt

This Page