Home alone...

We had the worst weather this weekend! Gale force winds and driving rain. I stayed inside all day Saturday and as Gus was away I started to feel very caged in by nightfall.

I made an easy dinner - or should I say, brinner (breakfast for dinner)! Egg and bacon toasted sandwich...

I made a Jubilee cake. Its a simple little fruit cake that is just mixed together, no beating required. The Jubilee cake originated in South Australia. Below are two links to where I've featured the cake on my blog before.

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http://simplyjoolz.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/green-gold-jubilee-cake.html08/jubilee-cake.html

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http://simplyjoolz.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/green-gold-jubilee-cake.html

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Thin, runny icing is drizzled over the cake while it is still warm...this icing was made with icing sugar, cream and a little water.

Definitely worth a blue ribbon!

A pic of our gorgeous girls - I'm so proud of them both!

When the huz goes away I sometimes make Chow Mein. Huz does not like Chow Mein! The recipe I use is on the back of the Chicken Noodle soup packet.

I add grated carrot and about 1/4 of rice to bulk up the recipe...

All of this cooks down to make a delicious, easy meal. I can eat it for beakfast, lunch and tea!

I give it a splash of soy sauce when serving.

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Sunday, I went for a quick drive around our area. This paddock is on the edge of our town, you can see just how much rain we've had in the past week.

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It will be a while before they can crop this land and if its already sown down I doubt it will be any good.

On the way back into town ( and here I am probably only 2 kms from my house) I noticed these sheep....with black faces! The little lambs are so cute!

I know that black faced suffolk sheep have black legs also but these only have black heads and necks. I googled them when I got home and I believe they are Dorper sheep.

I want some! I need to sweet talk a certain husband into getting me a couple of you!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

The week that was ...

It is tradition at our business to take a cake in for smoko when it is your birthday so I made a Chai Spice Cake for Gus.

It had 5 chai tea bags in the recipe...

Lots of spices...

http://120dollarsfoodchallenge.com/2014/06/16/sweet-treats-chai-spice-cake/

It made 2 loaves and was deliciously moist. Everyone loved it!

Tuesday, I made Man Pleasing Chicken. I portioned a small free range chook ($8) ...

http://www.wittyinthecity.com/2011/08/man-pleasing-chicken/

Covered the chicken in the easy sauce...

Baked it and ...

Voila! Delicious chicken!

Its very unlike me not to have a stash of homemade bread rolls in the freezer but the cupboard was bare this week! Just haven't had time to get any made. Huz likes his bread with dinner so I knocked up some of these.

 

Savoury Scones (for when you don't have any bread rolls)

1 cup of SR flour

25 gms butter, rubbed in

Salt & pepper

25 gms parmesan cheese

Sprinkle of dried chives or parsley

Milk, enough to make dough

Bring it together like normal scone dough, don't over mix it. Press out on a floured surface and cut shapes. Bake at 180C until risen and just golden.

The meat in this meal is lamb steaks. I mix up plain flour, finely grated parmesan cheese and lemon pepper seasoning (Masterfoods) then coat the steaks in this mix. Heat a little oil in a non stick pan and fry gently until cooked through. Delicious! I served it with tomato bake (can of diced tomatoes, 1 small zucchini, 1 small onion, 1 stick celery, a shake of mixed herbs, s & p. Mix all together in a shallow baking dish. Butter 3 slices of bread (I used wholemeal), cube the bread then sprinkle over the tomato mix and top with a bit of grated cheddar cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes until bubbling. This is a dinner I can have ready for when huz comes home. Tomato bake and baked spuds done. Pan fry steaks and zap beans in microwave - dinner 15-20 minutes after he walks in.

Wednesday morning sun up...

Its been cold, cold, cold!

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It was yummo, one I will definitely make again.

Last night I made coconut, curry and pumpkin soup and these pizza scrolls.

The dough is made from 1 cup SR flour and 1 cup Greek yoghurt. Mix together until combined. My dough was sloppy so next time I think I will add nearly another cup of flour to make it more solid. I did add quite a bit while kneading it but could have added much more.

I rolled out the dough, topped it with pizza sauce, onion, bacon, capsicum, pineapple and cheese but when I went to roll it up, it stuck to the bench and started to break up, spilling out the filling! Lordy, I was in a pickle!

By the time, I had scraped them off the bench and got them on the tray, they looked like this! Train wreck, anyone?

But they redeemed themselves in the oven and came out looking delicious. And they were!

This is a radar image of the weather we got battered with last night - it was very wild and wooly!

Today hasn't been much better. I am hunkered in and plan to do not much at all! I have tidied, vacced made the bed and thats it.

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

A birthday surprise!

A certain hus (husband) around here had another birthday last Sunday.

Our two girls snuck home Friday night, driving 400kms to surprise their dear Dad. I played along, having a nice curry and accompaniments including this great garlic naan bread that I made, but pretended it was just any old Friday night.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22379/garlic+naan

Gus had no idea who was sneaking in the front door at 8.15pm until he saw Bri appear in the kitchen door way. The look on his face was priceless! We had a lovely dinner together. When we are together, all is right with the world!

Unfortunately, Gus had to work all day Saturday and Sunday....

Us women went to see and blubbered through The Fault In Our Stars. A very good movie which we all enjoyed.

Then it was a rush home to prepare dinner for the birthday boy! We had Rack of Lamb, twice baked potatoes, beans and carrots.

Kirby made Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/olive_cheese_br/

It was goood!

I've never made a baked cheesecake before and this is what Gus requested for dessert...

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20676/classic+baked+vanilla+cheesecake

A great recipe and it was really good. I made a strawberry coulis and served it with fresh strawbs too.

I bought Gus a Japanese Maple and some RM Williams clothing (shirt and vest). The girls gave him a Nutrimetics pack of men's toiletries and some Peter Alexander boxers.

 

When I was buying the maple I asked the lady at the plant nursery if she could tie a bow on the tree. Of course, she said! She disappeared and came out with her nose screwed up... 'I've only got tartan ribbon, sorry!' ... I said, 'well seeing his name is (insert very Scottish name) that is entirely appropriate!'

How funny was that!

Anyway, he loved it and it will be planted out very soon.

The girls went back home on Sunday. It was a very good werkend indeed!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

New Heaven ...

That is the name of a new Indian restaurant that has opened in our small town. Because I make our curries we hadn't needed to try it out.

But yesterday we both agreed to have a night off in the kitchen. We ordered one entree of samosas - large potato and pea filled pastries, nice and spicy.

For mains we got a chicken saagwalla (its got lots of spinach so its a horrible dark green) and lamb rogan josh and a yoghurt raita. For rice we ordered Kashmiri pulao which had fruit and nuts in it. I had homemade naan bread in the freezer...

All totally delicious and fairly big servings so there is leftovers for lunch today. We are lucky to have this little gem in our town but I will still make our curries from scratch. Working with the spices and getting the right balance is half the fun!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy