Spring

So spring is here and nearly gone. I have been wanting to share this one for a while, but have had some really good recipes that I had to add first.

We celebrate a few extra holidays in our house. You may remember the pumpkin pie from our autumn feast or have seen pictures of our yule feast on my Facebook page. We celebrate the standard ones too, but really enjoy having the old school seasonal celebrations. They fit with the weather, with fresh food available at the time.

On the 22nd September it was the spring equinox, so we had our Ostara party. Or I guess you could call it easter or Eostre. So you get the theme - flowers, bunnies, eggs, butterflies - Spring things. And what better way to do it than a garden tea party. The table was set with all my china along with glass jars and cups with fresh flowers (these were the rather smelly kind, if you're smell sensitive use ones that are low fragrance).

 
No new recipes for this party, just reshaping some that I already have.

Flower and butterfly shaped biscuit wands made to the iced biscuit recipe or the gum free recipe.  These were decorated with white icing and natural sprinkles and coloured sugar. This is so basic to do, but something I forgot about for a long time. You know exactly what you are getting with these, and if you use homemade colours they can be completely failsafe.     

I used the gum free recipe for these biscuits

Coloured Sugar
Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp sugar
• A few drops natural colour of choice

Method

1. Place sugar and colour in a small container or ziplock bag.
2. Shake until the colour is evenly distributed through the sugar
3. Store in an airtight container.

Also made using the coloured sugar were rice crispy eggs. To shape them I use little plastic eggs, the kind you would normally put treats inside for Easter.

Rice crispy eggs

Rice Crispy Eggs  
Ingredients

• 4 cups crunchy puffed rice
• 200g white marshmallows
• 80g nuttelex
• Coloured sugar

Method

1. Place rice puffs into a large mixing bowl.
2. Slowly melt marshmallow and nuttelex in a saucepan over low heat. Stir continuously to stop it sticking and burning.
3. When it is relatively smooth pour over rice puffs and stir until well combined.
4. Lightly grease the inside of the eggs and pack the rice crispy mixture into both sides and squash them together.
5. When they have set gently ease them out of the eggs and dip one end in coloured sugar.

If you wanted to do these as something the  Easter bunny has left you can coat inside half the egg with the sugar and leave them in the egg to make it less messy.

My friend made vanilla cupcakes that had a split marshmallow on top to look like a flower and tea cup biscuits which were an Orgran thistle shortbread biscuit topped with a marshmallow, sprinkles and half a lifesaver (not failsafe, but similar could be made from royal icing) all stuck together with royal icing.

Meringue peeps, Teacup biscuits, quiche, scones and iced biscuits

Meringues were piped in the shape of peeps or little chicks. I tried adding a bit of saffron to them for colour, but the little that I used gave no real colour, but drastically changed the flavour... not something I would do again. You could also add little dots of icing or carob to make eyes.

There were also scones & jam, little chicken & mayonnaise wraps, mini quiches and pink vanilla milk (rice milk for mine, cow milk for the others) in teapots for the kids to drink. 

Wraps, quiche and flower cupcakes

The activities were loads of fun, the kids made birdfeeders by sticking birdseed to toilet rolls using flour  and water glue and took them home to hang in the garden.

My friend brought blank animal masks and the children decorated them with glitter, sequins, pompoms and textas.

Making masks

The grand finale was an egg hunt in the yard for plastic eggs with treats.

They all took home seedlings to plant; a bean, a purple cabbage and a decorative one. A great non-food idea for easter too, just make sure your seedlings are right for the season.

Now to prepare for the Summer Solstice!

Sweet, Sweet

These are something that I make a lot. It seems that most recipes call for egg yolks and the only recipe that wants the white bits is meringue. I asked my mum if she had any other ideas what I could do with them, she suggested an egg white omlette and the thought of that makes me want to puke. Taking all the nice flavour and texture the yolk adds and leaving you with something resembling rubber. No thanks. So I keep on making meringue. And since I regularly make mayonnaise, I regularly have egg whites, so I regularly make meringues too.

This is a simple recipe, two ingredients, that is it. It bothers me that the commercial ones can contain so many ingredients.

Meringue
Ingredients

• 4 egg whites, preferably at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups of caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 110°C
2. Place egg whites into a very clean, dry bowl of a mixer (Stand mixer is easiest, hand held electric is alright anything less is doable, but tiring).
3. Beat/whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.
4. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time until it is all incorporated and the mixture is thick and glossy and the sugar has dissolved.
5. Pipe or spoon the mixture onto lined oven trays leaving a few centimetres between them.
6. Bake for approximately 35 mins. Leave them longer so they are crisp through or take them out sooner for a gooier centre. It depends on how big they are too. Half the fun is testing them during cooking to see if they are done yet.

Variations: Make them large and flat to use for a pavlova.
                   Add 1-2 teaspoons of sifted carob just before piping for variety.
                   Add a small quantity of vanilla seeds before piping for flavour.
                   Sprinkle uncooked meringues with natural sprinkles for a special occasion.
Dairy/soy - After they are cooked and cooled dip the tips in melted white chocolate or carob.

These make great afternoon tea treats or are lovely for a party.

Rice Crispies

This is a recipe straight from the Fed Up Cookbook, but with a little difference.

I had tried the recipe quite some time ago when we first started gluten and dairy free as I thought it was going to be an easy treat. The result was very disappointing. More squishy than crispy. I asked my foodie friend Vibey how it could have possibly gone wrong. "Homemade marshmallow" she said. Followed by "What? Rice bubbles have gluten in them! Maybe it was the ones you used". Since there is about three ingredients in this recipe and two of them were possible culprits, I didn't bother to make them again.

Until recently. I was at a different health food shop to usual and spotted these.

Soland Puffed Rice. Ingredients: rice.

Anyone who is gluten free and failsafe will know that you just can't get crunchy puffed rice cereal that doesn't have other things in it. These are different. They looked different in the packet and the packet didn't feel soft and squishy, but they were pricey. It was worth it though. They are crunchy and sweet and really good.

Rice Crispy Bars
Ingredients.

• 4 cups crunchy puffed rice
• 200g white marshmallows
• 80g nuttelex

 Method

1.  Line a slice tin with baking paper.
2. Place rice puffs into a large mixing bowl.
3. Slowly melt marshmallow and nuttelex in a saucepan over low heat. Stir continuously to stop it sticking and burning.
4. When it is relatively smooth pour over rice puffs and stir until well combined.
5. Tip into lined tin and press down firmly. I find that a piece of baking paper over my hand makes it easier.
6. When completely cool cut into bars.

Variations
 - Add about a tablespoon of carob powder to the marshmallow mixture for a change of flavour.
 - For special occasions sprinkle with some natural sprinkles when you are pressing into the tin.

A very mild carob version.

These would be a great and very easy addition to a party table too.

Try not to eat them all before the kids get some!