Brownie Cheesecake

Brownie mix:
          
200g dark choc melted
200g butter
250g icing sugar
3 eggs
110g plain flour

Cream tog. butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating each one and add flour after each egg until it is finished. Add melted chocolate and mix in.

Put mix in a tin 33 x 23 x 5cm (approx).

Cheesecake topping:

400g cream cheese
150g icing sugar
1/2 tsp.vanilla extract
2 eggs

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla tog. Add beaten eggs slowly.
Spoon into tin on top of brownie mix.

Bake 170 deg. for 30-40 mins.

This is a rich and delicious dessert, not in the healthy category but worth putting on my blog. I don't have a picture of it but I'm sure you have an imagination. Serve with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

Lentil soup with beef

This is just gorgeous. I found it in a cook book but have adapted it to my own taste buds. I used 2 ribs of beef, available from a butcher. Only buy lean ribs. You only have a little meat but you have the rib bones which are steeped in flavour. They are cheap too €3.50 for the two ribs and you get four or five good servings from the pot. Definitely worth a try.

Ingredients:

1 tblsp. oil
2 ribs of beef
2 onions
4 carrots
4 large sticks of celery
6 garlic cloves
Punnet of cherry tomatoes
1/3 head cauliflower
Carton of Passata (liquid strained tomatoes, in Aldi for 69c, great value)
1 tblsp each of rosemary and oregano or any herbs you have
Beef stock or any stock
2 fists of lentils
Salt + pepper

Method:

Heat oil very hot and brown the ribs on both sides, remove and put on a plate. Reduce heat a little and add chopped onions. Cook for a few mins till golden. Add chopped carrots, celery and cauliflower and cook for 5 mins. Add chopped garlic, tomatoes, stock, passata and herbs.

Add the meat on top. Spoon some liquid on the meat. The level of liquid should come to the meat. Season. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add small potatoes or chopped larger ones on top of the meat and get your carbs. in the one pot.

Add lentils and cook for a further 30 mins. or cook them separately and add, it's faster.

It's an easy dish but you have to give the allotted time to the cooking, that's what brings out the flavour.

Also it's just as good with pasta or rice. I have tried all three. Go for it, you'll make it more than once!

Cranberry cookies

Ingredients:

150g butter
150g pl. flour
1/2tsp. bread soda
50g ground almonds
50g porridge oats
50g cranberries   
100g white chocolate
80g brown sugar (use less if you like, I used 50g, the recipe says 100g)
1 egg

Chop cranberries and white choc roughly. Use a bare 1/2 tsp. bread soda or you’ll taste it in the biscuits. Melt the butter but only melt 1/2 the amount given first as I didn't use as much as the recipe suggested.

Just mix everything together. The mix must stick together when you make it into walnut size balls. Put on a tray and press each ball gently down with a fork. Bake at 180 for 10 mins. Leave to cool in the tin as they will be very soft when you take them from the oven. This is the way they should be but the will harden as they cool.