For the last couple of years as well as cooking up a vegetarian storm, I have set up my very own Business.
Studio ShivAay Photography is nearly two years old and I felt it was time to share my work with my favourite blogging family!
Specialising in children’s photography and family photography. Love capturing emotions and relationships…
Natural, simple and captured
More pictures to follow…until then, love D x
These chunky chocolate chip cookies have just been made, photographed, blogged and eaten. The sweet (low fat) buttery aroma has filled every room in our home.
The main reason for making these today is my adorable 4 year old nephew. I just had to treat him!
Hope you all enjoy them…Have a wonderful day! Much love, D x
INGREDIENTS
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
120g soft brown sugar
150g low fat butter spread
2 eggs
1 packet chocolate chips
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°c. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper
Take all ingredients apart from the chocolate chips and combine well in a food processor or large mixing bowl
Fold in the chocolate chips. Roll one large heaped tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball and gently flatten after placing on the baking tray
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown in colour
Salsa verde is a green salsa, it can be quite chunky but the one that was prepared by my youngest sister in law last Saturday, was something extremely special. Rupa had called us round for dinner and Oh my did we enjoy ourselves! She had prepared grilled vegetable and golden halloumi skewers with a jewelled vegetarian couscous along with the salsa that tantalised our taste buds and made all the the different ingredients on the plate sing!
The consistency was very smooth and the colour so very vibrant. I just deeply regret not taking a picture to show you all, I was too busy eating away! Sorry!
I have however, found a picture that shows the type of consistency of the salsa we had. The colour here, is more a lime green but the colour you will achieve with this particular recipe will be slightly darker due to the mint. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.
Thanks to R & V for a wonderful evening and for this lovely recipe!
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch parsley, chopped leaves only
1 bunch basil, chopped leaves
1 bunch mint, chopped leaves
2 tbsp capers drained
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tsp dijon mustard
Olive oil as required
Sea Salt & Ground fresh pepper to taste
METHOD
Simply blitz all the above ingredients together in a food processor, grinder or Nutribullet if you have one
Pour into a bowl and leave in the fridge until your ready to serve
Picture courtesy of https://fortheloveofyum.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/img_5766.jpg
Yesterday we went to my sister in law Sushila’s house and she had made a lovely Thai curry with rice for lunch and an immensely sumptuous chocolate cake for dessert! As I walked into the kitchen, initially I thought I saw a chocolate sponge cake but how wrong could I have been!
When the time came to have dessert, I was profoundly surprised that the chocolate sponge was indeed the most moist, rich , sweet and velvety textured almost chocolate mousse like cake. It was partnered with some sweetened fresh whipped cream. Just in having a spoonful of this cake…I was in absolute heaven.
I just had to have the recipe for myself and for all of you too…don’t say I never think of you all 😉
Thanks so much Sushila…We had a wonderful time and the cake you made will stay with us forever!!!
Thanks M…For taking the great pictures!
So here it is The French Chocolate Cake…by Martha Day
INGREDIENTS
150g caster sugar
275g plain chocolate chopped
175g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tsp vanilla essence
5 eggs separated
40g plain flour sifted
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar for dusting
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 160°c. Grease a 24cm springform cake tin, sprinkle with a little sugar and tap out the excess
Place the chocolate, butter and sugar in a saucepan, cook over a low heat until melted. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla essence and leave to cool slightly
Beat the egg yolks, one at a time, into the chocolate mixture, then stir in the flour
Beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form. Beat one third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest
Pour into the the tin. Bake the cake for 35 to 45 minutes, until well risen and the top springs back when touched lightly. Transfer to a cooling rack. Remove the sides of the tin. Once cool, remove the tin base, dust with icing sugar, slice and serve with soft whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream
I have been eating this yummy chutney all my life but it is now, how much I appreciate my mum’s cooking even more! Knowing how difficult it is, running a household, working and looking after children, she made it look so easy. I have been blessed with two wonderful parents who both know how to cook and always make us food even today if we let on we are slightly hungry!
This coriander chutney is simplicity at its best. Mum has been delivering pots of the wonder stuff recently as I am on a chutney phase! I have been enjoying it in sandwiches. With Indian food and now in a melted cheese bagel! Try it for yourselves friends and do let me know…I will give the feedback to my Mum! Much love, D x
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch of fresh coriander
2~3 green chillies medium hot
2 tbsp fine grinded peanut powder
Salt to taste
Lemon to taste
Grated mature cheddar cheese
Bagels (I had red onion and chive)
METHOD
For the chutney
~ Blend all the ingredients together into a paste, season with the lemon and salt
~ Slice the bagel in half, toast on the grill. Spread the chutney on one half. Top with cheddar cheese
~ Sandwich together and grill in a panini maker. I used my Optigrill on a medium heat and toasted it until the cheese had melted into the chutney
~ Serve with some coleslaw or salad
Love this! And so very true!! ENJOY your kitchens everyone x
These are awesome by my very talented friend Suchit Save! Can you please send me over a batch? Thank you!….
To cookie or not to cookie… 😀
For a while now I’ve been having some serious cravings for cookies ever since my dear friend Saloni posted her oh-so decadent creation on Facebook a few days ago. Ah, ’em beauties! I had to bake a batch and pronto… I always have this urge to cook/bake when I see something that divine looking. Well, it sure did the trick I guess. Cause there I was, back at the drawing board trying to design the perfect cookie that would not only be visually appealing but also have a nice flavor combination. The latter was a no-brainer really. There had to be chocolate. Why would someone bake cookies without chocolate?
A crime, if there wasn’t any chocolate! 😛 A quintessential ingredient for all cookies awesome! 😀
For that crunch, I knew for a fact that none other than Hazelnuts would make the cut. And to bring…
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It was my nephew’s birthday this week and today we celebrated together as a family.My brother and sister-in-law went all out and gave their little one a party to remember. The theme being the 3 year old’s favourite “Curious George”
A pass the parcel tailored for each child to open so they all got a present. A pulling string pinata! Where all the goodies and toys much to the little ones surprise fell and scattered everywhere. They enjoyed grabbing what they could!
Even the adults got hold of 2 model airplanes, ripped the paper packaging and started to assemble their masterpieces!
It’s so lovely to relive our childhoods again through our children. It was just the other day I remember celebrating my sixth birthday with my best friend Natasha.
How time flies when you’re having fun! We have to cherish every beautiful moment and this weekend we got to capture many of these wonderful moments!
Have a warm, loving and beautiful Christmas! ♡
Enjoy the Fun, Festivities and FOOD!
Much love D xxxx
A guest recipe from my sister in law Amrita, who brought round these tasty date balls. A delicious quick sweet which has no added sugar as the dates naturally sweeten them. Coat in coconut according to taste and if you want them to be a bit more Christmassy then adding a little orange zest will do the trick!
An alternative to chocolate but still extremely satisfying! I asked her for the recipe and she shared it instantly ad lib. These little sweets are just lovely and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have done! Thank you so much for sharing Amrita! Much love D x
INGREDIENTS
250g pitted date block/paste
2 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter
5 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts crushed
Unsweetened desiccated coconut to coat
METHOD
• Heat up the ghee/butter in a non stick medium saucepan on a low heat for 2 minutes. When melted, break in the date block and simmer until the date block has become a paste. Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally
• Add the crushed peanuts, combine and cook for a further 5 minutes
• Take off the heat and let the date mixture cool down a little, when warm take small amounts of mixture and roll into balls covering in coconut as the last step
Shivaay Delights 
