Cabbage and Cauliflower Soup

It's one of those days where I have too much vegies and not enough time to use them before they spoil.  Whenever I am in such a situation my answer is always a pot of soup. 

With cauliflower in one hand and cabbage in the other, as the wheels in my head are turning I am wondering what on earth to do with them.  Do they work together?  Should I toss other vegies in there?  Is there something special I need to do?  Then in typical fashion, I just go "stuff it", toss it altogether and see what happens and I was very happy with what happened.  

Here are quick facts on their health benefits:

Cauliflower

• Rich in antioxidants, just like the cabbage
• Loaded with vitamin C and E, folic acid, potassium, zinc and carotenes

Cabbage

• Loaded with vitamins A, B, C, K and E
• Rich in antioxidants that help reduce the risk of bowel cancer and cardiovascular disease
• Can help lower blood sugar
• Aids in strengthening the immune system and help the body overcome infection
• Effective remedy for rheumatism and arthritis

Just like any vegetable, the cabbage is highly effective in its raw format since the active ingredients are lost in prolonged cooking.  It is also a natural cleanser and purifying agent when juiced.

Ingredients

1 leek, trimmed and sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 sticks celery, trimmed and chopped

¼ cabbage, chopped

½ cauliflower, chopped
1L stock
salt & pepper and chilli flakes to taste 

Method

In a large saucepan add the leek, garlic, carrots, celery, cabbage and a cup of water.  Saute for 10 minutes on low.

Add the cauliflower, stock, salt and pepper, then bring to boil on high heat.  

Turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with crushed pepper, a pinch of chilli flakes and crusty bread.

Pasta and Polish Sausages

I am a big fan of chorizo sausages and regularly use them in pastas, soups and whatever else I come up with.  However, it's hard to find in Singapore and when I do it's quite expensive.  Through a local friend, I was introduced to Polish sausages which have a delightful flavour, maybe not quite as potent as chorizos but yummy just the same.

I often have to rely on a combination of whatever I have in the cupboard and fridge because I truly despise supermarket shopping and not having a car in Singapore makes it that much harder to go shopping with a 4 yo in tow.

With sausages in the freezer and pasta in the cupboard, I rummaged through the fridge and pulled this pasta together which was appreciated by the whole family.

Ingredients

400g pasta of your choice (we use small pasta to make it easier for our little girl)
1 jar of bolognese sauce
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
0.5 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
3 polish sausages, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt

Method

In a large saucepan, bring to boil water, pasta and salt.  Cook the pasta until al dente.

In the meantime, fry the sausages on medium heat until nice and crispy.  Remove from pan.

Using the same pan gently cook the rest of the ingredients except for the jar of sauce for about 15 minutes.  Add the sausages and sauce and cook on low for about 10 minutes.  Toss in the cooked pasta and gently stir until all mixed.

Serve with grated parmesan and a nice glass of red.

Chocolate Frosted Rainbow Cake

A couple of months ago my 4yo daughter came across "Nerdy Nummies" on YouTube, a series of videos made by a young girl named, Rosanna Pansino.  As Rosanna describes it, the videos are "geeky cooking shows" which are basically simply made themed cakes or cupcakes. 

Trini was totally hooked and every couple of days she asked me to find the "girl who makes the rainbow cake" so she can watch her videos.  I looked over her shoulder one day and watched Rosanna make a rainbow coloured cake that just looked so cool, I promised to make it for Trini's birthday in September.

Recently I celebrated my birthday with a party at home and figured why wait till September and chose to make the cake for my birthday.  Trini could hardly wait to help with the mixing and dyeing of the cake layers.

How fun is this.  I feel like a kid all over again.

Making this cake is super super easy.  Just needs time since 6 separate cakes need to be baked.

Instructions:

3 Betty Crocker Super Moist White Cake Mix boxes
9 egg whites (3 per box)
1 cup oil (1/3 cup per box)
3.75 cups water (1.25 cup per box)
2 Betty Crocker chocolate frosting tubs
Food dyes in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red (we used pink instead of yellow simply cause my daughter asked me to)
2 x 20cm round non-stick cake pan

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 160 celsius.

Take the first cake mix box and follow instructions to mix batter.  Split the batter in half and add purple to one batter and blue to the other.  Add enough dye until you are satisfied with the intensity of the colour.  Pour each batter into the lightly greased cake pans and bake in oven for 20 minutes each (or 30 minutes for both at the same time) or until cakes are baked through.  Repeat the process with the rest of the boxes and food dyes.

The 6 colours.

You may note that the green one split in half because I handled it before it was completely cooled and unfortunately I didn't have a cooling rack.  The pink also got a little messy because I forgot to grease the pan.  Either way it didn't hinder us from continuing with the cake production.

Straighten the top of each cake by slicing off the bumpy section.  This way as the cakes get stacked they are unlikely to topple over.

Spread each cake with chocolate frosting and stack in rainbow colour order starting with purple at the bottom.  This uses up one tub of frosting.  Then frost the outside of the layered cake with the second frosting tub.  I got hubby to do the frosting cause he is so much more patient than I am and it was a good decision, since he did a wonderful job.

Layered with frosting.

Not a bad job by hubby.  Certainly more patient than I am.

And that's it.  Cut the first slice nice and big just so you can experience the wonderful rainbow colour before the rest of the cake gets sliced and chomped up.  We had very little left by the next day but we sure enjoyed it over and over again.

Trini is looking forward to her rainbow cake in September but I am told that she will choose the colours next time.  No worries sweet-pea, you can make it whatever colour you want.

Happy me, with my first slice cut out.
I was surrounded by under 6 yo when it was time
to blow out the candles.