The way to a mans heart is through his stomach and what about the lovely ladies of this world – one word – chocolate !!! This is quick, easy and can be knocked up with little or no skill in less than half an hour.

 So here is my fabulous, decedant, luxurious, sexy chocolate ganache torte.

A ganache, to explain is simply a combination of cream and chocolate and a  pinch of salt is used to bring out the sweetness from the dark chocolate. This chocolate ganache torte is so simple, and so decadent. I hope you and your Valentine enjoy x

P.S. Gentlemen – think of all the extra brownie points yo will earn from this fab hand made gift.

P.P.S Gentlemen – please remember to clean the kitchen !!!!

Serves 10/12

Ingredients

2 packets oreo cookies

100g butter

150g bar 70/80 % cocoa (Lindt / Black & Greens )

150g bar milk chocolate

200ml fresh cream

good pinch sea salt

Method

1. Lightly grease a quiche dish/ cake tin ( 10″ )
2. Blitz the biscuits into a crumb. Melt the butter and pour over the biscuits. Pour the biscuit mixture into a tin and flatten down
3. In a small saucepan warm the cream with the salt. When gently bubbling remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
4. Using a bain maire (pyrex bowl sitting on a saucepan with a little hot water ) melt the chocolate.
5. Stir the warmed cream into the melted chocolate.
6. Pour the mixture over the oreo base and allow to chill for about 2 hours or overnight.
7. To serve, remove from the fridge about an hour before serving and allow the torte to come to room temperature.
8. Serve with softly whipped cream and raspberries.

You don’t need to register beforehand and there is no entry fee but a donation can be made, you can even get sponsorship to help raise funds for GOAL who are currently working in 13 developing world countries: Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Haiti and Pakistan. All monies raised will go towards the many relief programmes in these countries.  

So gather up your family, put on comfortable shoes, grab your raincoat and join us in the North Kildare at 11am on Christmas morning.

Yesterday was Potato & Leek ( Its too simple to even do a recipe – Heat 1 tsp oil in a small saucepan – add in 1 leek thinly sliced, 1/2 potato finely diced, 1 chicken stock cube & pinch of pepper. Allow to simmer for 20mins, blitz and add 1 tsp avonmore cooking cream when reheating)

Today, its Spicy Thai Red Lentil Soup

There is such a temptation to complicate this soup however the joy of it is that it only has 6 ingredients and takes 20mins to cook. Store the remaining curry paste in the fridge and with the leftover 300ml of coconut milk divide it between two freezer bags, freeze and use in a curry at a later stage.

This soup is very low in fat and high in fibre which means it will keep you full for longer. There is no need for bread or a carb with this soup. Lentils are a great source of protein and are associated with reducing the risk of heart disease and maintaining steady blood sugar levels (great for any one suffering from or at risk of diabetes)

Ingredients

Serves 2

100g red lentils

1/2 onion

1 tsp olive oil / donegal rapeseed oil

1 1/2 tsp thai red curry paste

1 chicken stock cube

100ml reduced fat coconut milk (1/4 tin )

Method

Peel & dice the onion.
Heat the oil, saute the onion for a minute or two. If it starts to stick add a drop of water.
Then add in the lentils & stir in the thai red curry paste.
Pour in 400ml chicken stock.
Allow to simmer for 20 / 30mins.
Remove from the heat, pour in the coconut milk and blitz.
To add a little pizazz grate over some lime zest and garnish with a little red chilli.

    These cookies are a total indulgence, but ooohhh so worth it !!!! On a cold wintery day, the aroma of fresh baked cookies wafting through the house, fire on and a mug of steamy tea and I promise you the world will feel like a better place. No one will ever question your domestic goddess status after these delights come out of the oven all golden and crisp.

The recipe calls for real butter - I beg of you please do not try to substitute it for any low fat alternatives or margarine. I use the Aldi dark chocolate with orange pieces and I also purchased the Ocean Spray dried cranberries here too. No special kitchen kit is necessary at all so there is no excuse.

Ingredients

Makes about 10 cookies

200g plain flour

150g butter

50g icing sugar

Zest 1 orange

Handful dried cranberries

2 small bars choclate & orange (100g)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 oC/Gas 6. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Weigh out the ingredients.Wash & grate the skin of the orange, bash up the chocolate into small pieces.
3. Sieve the flour into a bowl, cut the butter into small pieces and rub in with finger tips until it looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Stir in the icing sugar,cranberries,chocolate & zest. Knead the mixture together (sometimes the heat from your hands will bring the mixture together. No liquid is to be used!)
5. Keep kneading until if forms a ball. Roll into a fat sausage shape.
6. Wrap in clingfilm and ideally chill for 1 hour. ( 20mins should be ok if you are stuck for time)
7. Remove from the fridge, leaving the clingfilm on and cut into 1/2 cm slices.
8. Place on the baking tray (no clingfilm now) and bake for 8 to 10 mins. Be sure to leave alot of space between each cookie as they may spread out.
9. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool on baking tray for 2/3 mins . Using a spatula transfer them to a wire tray to cool.
10. Enjoy warm.

Children can also bring along their letters to Santa and he will bring them back in his Santa Sack to the North Pole, have a read of them and tick ofs all the names of all the good children on his ‘Naughty or Nice List’.

Also along with Santa, there will be Carol Singing and the official switching on of the lights, which are put up by the Kilcock Business Association with some of the funds raised by the sales of the Kilcock Community Calendar. 

“We are delighted that the sales of the calendar have gone so well.  We came up with the idea of the calendar to raise funds to put back into the community and to help run community events such as the Canal festival.  This would not have been possible without the kind support of The Sammon Group, our advertisers and of course everyone who buys a calendar.  We would encourage everyone to do as much Christmas shopping in Kilcock as possible to help keep jobs locally.  Every bit spent with local businesses helps so even if its just a bit extra, it all adds up”  Tara Lane, PRO of the Kilcock Business Association.

Also don’t forget that everyone who buys a calendar for €5 in the local shops gets entered into a draw to win a €500 hamper for Christmas goodies, from local shops. 

So have a date with Santa Claus this saturday evening at 6pm in the Harbour.  Don’t be late as he has to fly off at 7pm and remember your letter.   Lets all help to light up Kilcock this Christmas.

Hey everybody, Welcome back to the foodie section of the Our Kilcock website.

My name is Aisling Larkin aka SkinnyLovesFood. In a quest to improve my lifestyle and health I embarked on a journey of low fat, healthy, wholesome cookery. To this end I lost 2 stone in weight and established the blog SkinnyLovesFood (http://www.skinnylovesfood.blogspot.com/) which details gorgeous, healthy recipes which I now run with my friend Rhona. I am back writing for Our Kilcock and I hope you follow and enjoy all my recipes. Any requests or queries are welcomed – I love a good challenge!!

Tarts and pies are some of the most delicious and comforting foods; however, they can be loaded with calories and saturated fat from meats, sauces and oodles of butter in the pastry. My skinny version is the exact opposite. The basis for this tart is filo pasrty (shop bought) which has such little fat when compared to puff pastry or even short crust. The filling for the tart are ripe, plump, vine tomatoes along with some low fat mozzerella. The ball of low fat mozzerella again gives a much lower fat content than traditional or even worse, processed grated mozzerella. The pesto is my own skinny pesto recipe which can be found here on the blog. This pesto is uber healthy as it only uses 1 tbsp olive oil/rapeseed oil for the entire jar. In addition to this pisctachio’s are used instead of pine nuts as they have a lower calorific content and are higher in fibre.A little hard cheese such as parmesan goes along way on top too. This dish is perfect for a light lunch or starter or even better a summer picnic. Also, it taste just as good cold as warm and even better the next day.
As a little tip – defrost the filo pastry in the fridge not out at room temperature. If defrosted at room temperature it goes very flaky and breaks very easily. Feel free to drizzle a little balsamic glaze over the top when serving.

Ingredients
Serves 4
2 large sheets filo pastry
4/5 large tomatoes
1 ball low fat mozzerella
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar/glaze
30g grated parmesan
4/6 heaped tbsp skinny basil pesto

Skinny Pesto
I honestly cannot express how sensational this really is !! Be warned.

1 whole fresh basil plant (enough to fill a mug & half)
1 tbsp olive/rapeseed oil
2 tbsp cold water
40g grated parmesan
30g shelled pistachio nuts
1/4 tsp salt & pepper
2 cloves of garlic (roughly diced)

Method
Just one step here – Blitz in a food processor and try not to devour it all immediately !!!!!

Method
Preheat the oven to 200oC.
Spritz a 7″ loose bottom metal flan/tart tin with spray oil.
Layer in the filo pastry – if it rips/tears don’t panic – just patch it in and give a little spritz of spray oil to hold down the layers. Pop in the oven for 10 mins (or until you get everything ready)
Cut the tomatoes into long slices (remove any green core pieces)
Coat in a little balsamic and allow to sit for a few mins.
Cut the mozzerella into long slices.
Remove the pastry base from the oven.
Spread the pesto on the base.
Starting from the middle layer the tomatoes down in a circular shape.
Place the slices of mozzerella in between the tomatoes.
Crack a very small amt (1/4 tsp) black pepper over the top.
Turn the oven down to 180oC. Bake in the oven for 40mins.Ten minutes before the end – remove from the oven & sprinkle over the grated parmesan.
Allow to cool a little and serve with a drizzle of skinny pesto. Enjoy.

Kilcock Business Association Presents  

‘GROW YOUR BUSINESS’

Thurs 10^th November, 7.30pm, Kilcock GAA

We would like to invite all local business owners to attend and its FREE..

The doors open at 7.30pm and the first presentation at 8pm is on ‘The importance of having a web presence and getting Kilcock online’.   This will be followed by a demonstration on ’How to use Youtube to promote your business’

Keynote speaker for the evening is Bernie Tracey of Beacon Coaching Consultancy, based in Johnstown near Naas.  Ms Tracey, who has mentored many Kildare businesses through work with the Kildare County Enterprise Board and conducted workshops with the North Kildare Chamber of Commerce, is a very well known and respected business mentor and coach amongst the Kildare business community.  She will speak on the 5 Key Skills on Effective Selling, Exploring how to run your business in changing market situations, Long term survival and the 3 Top Tips on closing a sale with more confidence. She has also launched a book called ‘The Cheese Mall, Key Marketing Skills for Budding Entrepreneurs and the KBA are delighted that she is available with her busy schedule.

The evening will also feature the launch of the Kilcock Community Calendar, kindly sponsored by The Sammon Group and local advertisers.  The CEO Miceál Sammon of main calendar sponsor, The Sammon Group was one of the finalists of the International category of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award on 20^th October.  The Sammon Group, whose headquarters are in Kilcock, employ 3500 people worldwide. 

The calendar features photographs of Kilcock that have been chosen through a competition run by the KBA and will be on sale around Kilcock for only €5.  All funds raised from the sales will all be used by the Kilcock Business Association to enhance the town and also for funding of the business and community events that they run including the Kilcock Canal Festival. 

The seminar promises to be a great evening and it is open to all and free in, so come along, enjoy the speakers and bring business cards for the networking opportunities afterwards.  For more information see  Kilcock Business Association on Facebook or email kilcockbusinessassociation@gmail.com.

Enquiries to: Tara Lane 087 9789318

Registration will take place at 8.30pm and First Questions to be called at 9pm. Each Team should consist of 4 Players and the Cost per Table is €40.00. Quiz master for the evening is Mick Amoruso.   More details on KMDS Table Quiz Poster

This will surely be a night to remember so we hope to see you all there.

See the KMDS website on http://www.kilcockms.com for details on all their events and getting involved.

October 2011

The Kilcock Integrated Services Programme (ISP) is supported by the Kildare County Development Board Plan 2009-2012 and is welcomed by the Kilcock community. The ISP will bring together key stakeholders- representatives of services provided by the state, local business, community voluntary sector groups/organisations, and local people living in Kilcock. They will work together to develop the town.

To help inform the future work of the ISP, independent consultants Burtenshaw Kenny Associates (BKA) are contracted to carry out research and a plan for Kilcock. The goal will be to produce a plan that will help to make Kilcock the kind of town that people are proud of; a sustainable community, with the services, supports and sense of togetherness that is needed to meet the needs of all residents of Kilcock.

Consultation with the community is also taking place through focus groups and a survey is available for residents of Kilcock that wish to contribute to the process.

The survey is available online at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/KilcockCommunitySurvey

 If you have Internet access, then please submit your responses online.

If not, then you can collect and return a printed version of the survey at the Kilcock Library. The survey will be open until: 4th November 2011.

All information collected will be treated in full confidence and will be incorporated into the findings from the consultation.

A separate youth survey is also taking place targeting young people aged 12 to 18 and is available at:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/KilcockYouthSurvey

 If you are aged between 12 and 18 years and living in Kilcock then we want to hear from you!

 Login at:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KilcockYouthSurvey

 The survey is being carried out by Burtenshaw Kenny Associates who are working with Kildare County Development Board and the community of Kilcock to put together a development plan for Kilcock. 

It is really important that young people have their views heard so that they can be taken into account in this plan.

Have your opinion heard and listened to.  Spread the word and let us know how you would like YOUR town to develop over the next few years. 

It just takes 5 minutes to do the survey and don’t delay, the survey closes on 4 November 2011!