Japanese cotton cheesecake

As you can see from the photo, we got halfway through eating this before I remembered to take a photo!

This is such an easy recipe with only three ingredients!!! That’s right – only 3 😀.  Definitely suits my preference for simple…  It tastes pretty damn good too – it has a nice light texture and flavour.  For those who like their cakes to look fancy, you could try decorating with chocolate curls and/or some fresh berries.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

• 3 eggs, separated
• 120g white chocolate 
• 120g cream cheese

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.  Grease and line a small springform pan and place in a baking tray.

Separate the eggs and place egg whites in the fridge until needed.

Melt chocolate in a medium sized bowl placed over a simmering pot of water.  

Add cream cheese to the chocolate and mix until melted and combined.  Remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks.

Whip the egg whites to firm peaks.  Add 1/3 egg whites to chocolate mixture and fold through until well combined.  Repeat with remaining egg whites, half at a time.

Pour into prepared cake tin.  Add hot water to the baking tray and place in the oven.

Cook at 170 degrees C for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 160 degrees C and bake for a further 15 minutes.  Turn oven off and leave cake in oven for a further 15 minutes.

When cooled slightly, remove from cake pan and cool in the fridge until ready to eat it!

Smoked salmon and cream cheese egg wrap

I was trying to separate eggs for a recipe and managed to stuff it up. ..  So what do you do with that egg you hadn’t planned on?  Egg wrap!

This is easy as – just whisk up the egg (I added a little water but you can skip this) and pour into a frypan with a little butter.  You don’t need to flip the egg as it is quite thin and will cook the whole way through.  Flip out onto a plate when cooked and allow to cool. 
I filled mine with cream cheese and smoked salmon, but you can fill it with whatever you want!
You could add some chopped chives to the egg mix or even add chopped herbs to the fillings.

All purpose crepes

Ah, Pinterest….   My newest addiction!  It’s a wonderful resource full of stuff on any topic you may be interested in (or not!)  Be warned, though, the hours will pass by without you noticing!  I’ve had to carefully ration my Pinterest intake or else I would get nothing done…

Having said that, if you are looking for recipes, its the place to go.  Just type in what you want and off you go…  I came across this recipe for low carb crepes – these can be used as crepes, tortillas or even sliced into ribbons and substituted for pasta.  They are grain free and low carb which means I can happily eat them without the resulting belly bubbles I get with wheat based recipes.

The end result – the green bits you can see are chives.

• 4 large eggs
• A pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• ½ cup ricotta cheese

Add all ingredients into a blender, and pulse until well combined.

Add enough batter to a well greased, non-stick frypan, to form a thin crepe (make sure you tilt the frypan to coat the base evenly).  Cook until you see the edges start to brown, and carefully flip over to cook the other side.

The original recipe calls for 2 tbsp of fake sugar (e.g swerve, stevia) but I can’t stand the taste of them, so just don’t bother.  I usually use these as a savoury item, so its not needed.

Blending away!!

Into the frypan – I flip these very carefully! using my fingers as the spatula tends to tear them apart.

I use quite a small frypan for this – which works quite well as I have a tiny little pie dish that they fit into perfectly.  So far I’ve used the crepes to make mexican tortilla pie and the chicken and ricotta crepe stack in the pic below.  Next up – lasagne!

I’ve also done ricotta crepe rolls – drizzled with just a little bit of fresh honey – delicious!!!

Chicken and ricotta crepe stack

Zucchini Fritters

These are quick and easy, and so tasty. I served these up with some bbq chook, baby spinach, grilled pumpkin and avocado for my dinner tonight.

Zucchini fritters

1 large zucchini, grated
Salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond meal
Chopped herbs
Parmesan cheese

Sprinkle salt over the grated zucchini and set aside for 10-15 mins. Pile zucchini into a clean cloth and wring out. Place in a bowl with remaining ingredients and mix well. Heat butter or olive oil over medium heat. Place spoonfuls of batter into pan and smooth out top. Cook until sides start to brown and flip to cook other side.

You could try adding bacon or other flavoring or herbs. I sprinkled in some turmeric which turns the fritters a nice shade of yellow.

Ricotta & pea tarts

I tried these out at our work Melbourne Cup lunch – they went down a treat!

These are very easy to make and delicious…

Ricotta & pea tarts

2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed  (puff pastry works well too)

300ml thickened cream

3 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons dried basil

200g fresh ricotta

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

Mixed salad, to serve

Preheat oven to 200C.  Grease 8 holes of a texas muffin pan.  Cut each pastry sheet into quarters (squares).  Carefully press squares into prepared holes in tray.  Gently roll down the pointed corners of the pastry to form a neat edge.  Whisk cream, eggs, basil and ricotta in a jug.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in frozen peas.  Spoon mixture evenly into the pastry cases.  Sprinkle tops with parmesan.  Bake for 15 mins or until golden brown and just set.  Stand for 5 mins in pan.  Serve warm with salad.

 

variation – Spinach and ricotta

Here’s a variation I tried…

I used low-fat cream and ricotta and replaced the peas with some frozen spinach.  They turned out really nice and tasty – just a lighter texture.  I froze them and often have one for breakfast.

The side salad is simply rocket with beetroot and some parmesan cheese.

Simple vegie frittata

I love frittatas – they are so simple to make and always tasty…

I often freeze them in portions (hubby doesn’t do eggs!).  They’re great to take into work when I sleep in and don’t have time for breakfast before I go!!

The basic egg mix I use is 2-3 eggs, a bit of milk, salt and pepper and some parmesan cheese.

The filling is up to you.  The one above had some potato, sweet potato, roasted pumpkin, peas and bacon.  Feta cheese is a fantastic addition if you have it.

Basic frittata – heat your vegies of choice in a frypan, mix together the egg mix and pour over the top of the vegies.  Cook on medium or a little lower (depending on your stove) until the egg is mostly cooked through.  Top with some grated cheese and pop under the grill to finish cooking.

This can also be done in the oven.    Just pop everything into your dish and cook in a moderate oven until done.