Midweek food ramblings …….

It’s been a somewhat peculiar week, that had a mix of mainly health driven lows (flu, two visits of my *cough* friend mr. Migraine, the loss of our cat Clark)…..
Luckily it had a couple of clear highs as well.

One of them was last Sunday’s party, thrown for Carter. It was his belated birthday party – his real birthday back in September was spent in the hospital – but we mostly wanted to celebrate his recovery from the mountain bike accident last July.
The past 1,5 months have shown great improvement. Sure, he’s still limping, still experiencing pain, has one more surgery to go, but: he’s walking without crutches (!), getting stronger by the day, riding his bike again – all things we’re immensely happy about!
In our house food (and drinks, haha) are an important part of any festivity, so off I went cooking and baking …..
At the party boy’s strong request, I made these “Oreo Cupcakes” again, and if you’re an Oreo-lover, these should definitely be on your list. They’re really-really good – you can find the recipe here.

Another hit was this sandwich cake – doesn’t it look absolutely wonderful? I found the recipe for this one quite some time ago, and was savvy enough to pin it to my Pinterest Food board. I used white bread instead of the suggested crackers, added some cut up capers to the cream you use between the different layers, and omitted the dill (not a lover of dill, I’m afraid).
Firstly, I looooove the look of this hearty cake, and secondly: it was so tasty, it was literally gone within minutes!
The original recipe is in French, but the translate button on the page will help you out.

A third all-time favorite is this speedy-but-oh-so-good-and-instantly-gone brie-dish! All you need is a good sized piece of brie, a jar of nice apricot jam and some sliced almonds. Layer them on a microwave-safe plate, microwave for 1,5 to 2 minutes on high, and serve with French bread!

Since we’re on the subject of food, I thought it’d be fun to share two more very easy and quick to make apetizers, that I made last December for our Christmas brunch.
The first one is cantaloupe (made smooth using a blender) with a touch of fresh mint mixed in, decorated with a piece of bacon (“baked” in the microwave in between some layers of kitchen towel, 600W for 4,5 minutes).

The second one is a combination of thinly sliced (smoked) chicken, topped with a no-cook cranberry sauce, and a finishing touch of rucola.
The cranberry sauce is made in the food processor as well: 1 package of cranberries (12 oz/340 grams), 2 oranges (peeled), 1 cup of sugar: blend until mixed well and smooth. Simple and delicious!

Happy Hump Day!
Love,
Marianne xx