Natalie's Photos: Natalie's 30th Birthday, the nice photos

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Natalie's 30th Birthday, the nice photos

Here are the photos from my 30th Birthday Party. Not all of you are on here, I am afraid, but I figured that no picture is better than a stinky one! I think I have the knack of the camera now...so future photos should be better!

Thanks again for coming, and I am sorry that some of you couldn't make it!

Blowing out the Birthday Cherry Cheesecake!

Me and My Man, Alex

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Recipes

Alex is the person who most appreciates my cooking, and is happy to have me share my secret recipes. Upon his suggestion, I intend to post the big hits in our house.

Please keep in mind that everything is "to taste"; I know my quantities are not exact!

Slag

This recipe is basically chocolate chip cookies in a pan. Alex named it, and in spite of the name, is one of his favourite cookies!

1 cup Adam's type peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup brown rice flour

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

chocolate chips to taste

Okay, I need to make a confession. I know that the quantities of flour, sugar, eggs, and vanilla are correct. I eyeballed everything else, so you may need to adjust the rolled oats.

Mix everything in the order given, and press into a greased 7"x11" pan, or size thereabouts. The smaller the pan, the thicker the cookie, the longer the cooking time.Bake at 350 for 20-30 min. Check after 20 minutes, the top should be nice and brown.

Salmon Cakes

I actually got this idea for the recipe from my friend Beth, I know she has a different way of making them.

1 yam, medium size, roasted (boiled would probably work) and mashed

1 cooked salmon steak, or approximately sized leftovers.

1-2 green onions, finely chopped

1 clove roasted garlic ( I was roasting the garlic anyway. I might just sprinkle in garlic powder. Too much, or raw garlic might overpower everything else)

Various spices ( I used a generous sprinkle of cayenne, black pepper, sea salt, celery salt (dash), ground coriander)

Mix everything together, a few lumps are fine, and season to taste. Add an egg, the mixture will be soft and gross. It seems to thicken a bit when standing, which is good, because now you need...

1-2 cups finely crushed cornflakes (I sounded so gourmet up to this point, didn't I)

This part is messy. I did one patty at a time. Take an egg sized blob, and from it into a patty about a centimetre thick. Put it in the crushed cornflakes, then cover the top with some of the crumbs. I then picked it up, pressed it into a round shape a bit more,and put it aside to do the others. You should have 6-8 cakes.

Fry them on medium heat in a bit of olive oil until one side is toasty brown, then flip and brown the other side. I left them alone for the first few minutes to set the egg, and the cakes stayed together well. I discovered that these are just fine kept warm in the pan, I guess you can't really over cook them. That's the recipe. It's pretty open to interpretation!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

2 Portobello Mushrooms

1 small/medium onion

1/4 cup good quality feta cheese

12-14 good black olives

1/4 cup grated gouda

vegetable boullion

olive oil

Thinly slice the onion, and place in a pan with approx. 1/4 cup water and 1/2 of the veg. boullion. Cook slowly, adding more water when necessary to prevent sticking, for 1/2 hour or so. The longer the better, the point is to caramelize the onions.

While the Onions cook, deal with the mushrooms.Take out the stem, roughly chop, and toss in with cooking onions. Take out the gills (they are just too black) and discard. Scoop out as much of the mushroom flesh as you can without destroying the cap. Put this mushroom flesh, roughly chopped, in with the onions. Rub the outside of the caps with olive oil, and place in a baking dish, like little bowls.

Fill the bottom of each with crumbled feta. Top that with chopped olives. Now, you have to wait if the onions aren't cooked. They should be transparent, and less than half the volume you started with. Place half of the onion/mushroom mixture in each cap, and top with the grated gouda. Sprinkle with a bit of garlic powder (lazy, I know, but it works) and a bit of cayenne pepper and black pepper, if it suits.

I let these sit, ready to go in the oven, for half an hour, I imagine you could make them well ahead of time, and pull them out of the fridge when ready.

Bake at 350 for at least half an hour, until there are juices running from the mushrooms, and the cheese on top is melted and bubbly. That's it!