It's Sugar High Friday! SHF #76: Rice Sweets

Note: This event is now closed. Round up is posted here 

I have a weakness for dessert (just in case you had missed all this talk of cakes and cookies and cream puff swans ) and one of the blog events I eagerly check out is Sugar High Friday created by the awesome Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess. SHF is often described as an “international sweet tooth blogging extravaganza” with a different theme ever month, and each one dessert! Aaaand guess who is the giddy excited host this month? Me!! Yes, I get to open my inbox and hopefully get a sugar rush of toothsome posts from around the blogspohere all month long! Sweet! 

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Just pictures :)

Yes I have been missing in action :( Just wanted a short break, which became a little bit longer than intended, but I'm back! So what's news with you all? For one, the most significantly for me I got my very first DSLR from the awesome husband and am spending as much time as I can learning how to use it! I have been cooking, baking and shooting pictures by the hundreds, just not blogging which I plan to catch up on stat, with something very exciting coming up in my next post :)

Here are some pictures I took (and the recipes will come soon, I promise! ) I have a lot to learn and am trying to wean my self away from the auto settings so any tips or advice you all have to share will be very much appreciated!

Peaches

Beetroot and Potato Gratin

                                                Bell pepper, peas and potatoes coconut curry 

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The Kerala Kitchen July 2011 is open for entries!

The Kerala Kitchen June 2011 event round up is up! Click here to check out all the awesome entries we received.  Apologies for my chronic procrastination :( Do submit your entries to take part this month as we continue to celebrate Kerala cuisine here at Magpie's Recipes. Look forward to seeing all your delicious dishes! Do check out the Kerala Kitchen blog and rules ( they are pretty simple!) if you are participating for the first time. 

From Aug to Dec 2011 Ria and I would like to invite you to be hosts since we will both be travelling. If you are interested, do indicate which month you would like to host and either leave a comment with your email id or mail me at magpiemails AT gmail DOT com

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The Kerala Kitchen on your blog!

Update: Only one more slot is available to host year, so hurry!

Calling for hosts for our monthly cooking club featuring Kerala cuisine The Kerala Kitchen in the coming months! Ria will be travelling and I too plan on making a trip to India towards the end of the year, and we would love to have you host the event in the coming months from August to December 2011.
As host you would basically post an event announcement on your blog calling for entries to that month's event. Participants will email you their entries by the end of the month and you will need to post a round up on your blog by the beginning of the next month.
If you are interested and quite sure that you will be able to host, then do send me a mail to magpiemails AT gmail DOT com or leave a comment here with your email id so that I can get in touch and mail you the details.

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Apple pie cake aka Marie-Helene's Apple Cake from Dorie Greenspan

Did you all have a fun weekend? I did! We took the little monkey to our county fair and he was mesmerized ( and just a little scared ) by the crowds, the heat, the colourful spinning rides, the animals- (including two llamas!), the music and the fireworks from friday night on, which he insisted on NOT watching, covering his eyes :( Tonight, though I was super thrilled to catch the fourth of July fireworks, from over the Golden Gate bridge, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year! Whoa! I love the Golden Gate bridge, love seeing it in the distance, parts of it disappearing under  the thick fog so that it looks magically suspended in the clouds, and I still ( after two years) always feel really excited when we drive over it, so catching the fireworks over the Bay was just a special treat. 


Something else I love? I love the smell of apple pie baking in the oven. The delicious aromas of baking apples, pastry and cinnamon fills the entire house and announces the arrival of good things, and seriously what could be better than a slice of warm, freshly baked apple pie topped with a scoopful of salty caramel ice cream? Nothing, except maybe this cinnamony apple pie cake :)


Yes, you read it right: its apples and cinnamon, but baked into a cake, so no need to bother with that fiddly pie crust. It's quite amazing. It is so full of apples and the texture is not really like a sturdy cake but veering more toward an apple y  bread pudding, and the flavours are unmistakably that of apple pie so that's why I call it apple pie cake and I'm sticking to it!

This was the first thing I took out of the new oven in the house we moved to last month. I didn't get to post because this chocolate Oreo cake too its place. And yes, some days, special days, you need a fluffy frosted cake covered in Oreos, or a barely chocolatey cake covered in Nutella frosting roses and ruffles ( yes the birthday cake, that's coming here soon!) but not everyday. This apple pie cake however, I would be very happy to eat everyday :) Its perfectly easy to make, all the equipment you need is a bowl and a whisk- no food processor, mixer or rolling pin needed.

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Boysenberry Yogurt Parfait- Berry Happy Fourth of July!

granola + yogurt + ripe juicy boysenberries 

This really doesn't need a recipe.The top layer is just juicy berries mashed with yogurt ( I used plain, non fat) and a teaspoon of sugar if the berries are too tart. Just stir them up with a spoon in a coffee mug. ( that's how I eat it when I don't have to make it look pretty for pics- in a coffee mug). No food colouring, that beautiful pink (not quite red) came from the berries.  The middle layer is plain yogurt with or without sugar to sweeten  and the bottom layer is granola, graham craker crumbs, cereal, whatever you want.
Top with berries and enjoy a chilled fresh and fruity healthy dessert, breakfast or snack.
Berry Happy Fourth of July everyone! 

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