Floating Islands for Christmas In July!!!

It's Christmas in July at our house!!!

JoJo just loves every celebration, and she has taught us so much on how to celebrate any occassion !!!

Here in Australia Christmas in July is becoming widely celebrated...

and we had our own little celebration last weekend!!!

A very popular classic French dessert known as Ile Flottante is very popular in Latvia also where it is known as Peldosa Salas

To read more about this classic dish...go over here

Floating Islands has various names according to each country...here are a few...

French :
île flottante
German :
Schnee-Eier ("snow eggs")
Polish :
zupa nic
Austrian :
Kanarimilch
Hungarian :
madártej ("bird's milk")
Croatian :
schneenockerln, šnenokle
Romanian :
lapte de pasăre ("bird's milk")

I saw this gluten free fruit cake mix and thought JoJo could help prepare this...

it came with it's own custard mix but we didn't try it...
the prepared mix was choc-full of fruit...and once made up was quite nice...

to make it tastier I added some brandy...cherries and almonds...

Here it is in our oven...

and ready to slice up...

Making the Custard Sauce...

Scald milk and vanilla, add sugar

beating egg whites...

and here they are...
the poached egg white on Custard Sauce...

Recipe from my Mum...Mum's Floating Islands

• 4 eggs, separated
• pint of milk (2 C)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 t sugar
• 1/4 C sugar, extra, if desired
• vanilla

• Beat egg white with a pinch of salt
• (I also added 1/4 C sugar) Mum prefers no sugar
• Beat the egg yolks lightly together with sugar
• Scald the milk and vanilla
• Place spoonfuls of beaten egg white into milk
• Turn a couple of times and take out with slotted spoon
• Drain whites
• Add egg yolk to milk and stir till it comes to just under boil
• Rinse dish with cold water
• Put custard in and then spoon in egg white

Note: This is more a sauce than a custard...but oh so delicious!!!

There are many variations on the net...

Creme Anglaise can also be made...or your favourite custard recipe...

Happy Christmas in July...and Bon Appetit!!!

Thanks Mum!!!

Lemon and Broccoli Soup

Recently I saw over at Vickis-bit-o-earth that she was going to pick some broccoli from her abundant Californian garden and turn it into soup...Vicki's post is over here...I immediately enquired of her the recipe and she said it was a Donna Hay one...I tried it and what an absolute treat it was!!!

Vicki and I regularly do a cook up from Donna Hay magazines and blog about it...

anyone can come and join us...it's simple, just cook something from the magazine and then blog it!!!

Thank you so much for the heads up on this Vicki...I loved it!!!

English Spinach...

Sauteing leek...

Adding the leek to the broccoli...

I recently saw this bread mix and though I'd try it to have with the soup...

Using the dough hook...

in the oven...

Sliced into...texture is quite different to 'normal' bread as it is gluten free...

Not too long to wait...and the soup is absolutely delicious!!!

This soup is one of my Winter favourites...perfect with a glass of red!!!

For the recipe go over here...

Bon Appetit...Dzintra