Overnight at McIntyre Beach...

We had a nice camp this past weekend.  Check it out at Camping Adventures of Ruby and Pearl

Weekday meals and what not...

I bought a new spurtle when we were in Tasmania.  Spurtles are very good for stirring scrambled eggs and also porridge.

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 My scrambled eggs are just egg, a knob of butter for the pan and salt and pepper (and maybe dried parsley or chives sometimes.  A blob of cream if I'm feeling decadent!).  By not adding milk, they never seep liquid once plated up.
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On Tuesday night, I made chicken and cashews with hokkien noodles.  The recipe was for beef but I prefer chicken and I used noodles instead.

Chicken & Cashews

Oil for cooking

500 gms chicken tenders or thigh

1 small onion, cut into small wedges

1 tspn minced ginger

1 cloves garlic, crushed

1 small red capsicum, cut into thin strips

250 gms snow peas (I used zucchini in its place)

115 gms fresh baby corn, cut in half lengthways (I used fresh corn cut off the cob)

1 small head broccoli, cut into florets (I used thinly sliced carrot)

1/3 cup oyster sauce

2 tblspn plum sauce

1 cup roasted  cashews

rice, cooked to serve (I used one packed of hokkien noodles, soaked in boiling water, before adding them last).

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It was delicious!
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Do you have a favourite mayonnaise or salad dressing recipe that you grew up eating?  This one is what my Mum always made, only in summer though...
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Boiled Salad Dressing

1 cup of milk
1/2 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar (seems a lot but the vinegar balances out the sweetness, you could use 1/2 cup)
2 eggs, whisked
2 tspn dried mustard powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tblspn corn flour

Place everything in a saucepan and heat until just to the boil, stirring continuously as it thickens, so it doesn't catch.  Place in clean jars and refrigerate.  Use within 4 weeks.

I love it on iceberg lettuce and it makes great curried eggs...
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...as you can see!
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Wednesday was salmon - we try to get a fish meal in each week.  It is expensive but we had dinner with leftover.  Gus had a cold salmon salad roll and I had some with coleslaw for lunch.

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I made this naughty little potato galette - 2 medium potatoes sliced with the mandolin.  I melted 25gms butter then scalloped the potato in rounds, brushing each layer with a little butter and cracked pepper.  Delish with the salmon and salad!
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Finally - a rose has popped!  Mine seem so slow this year...
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I got out last night when I got home and went for a 3km walk.  It took me 31 minutes.  It was windy which is annoying and makes the going harder.  I was pooped when I got home and my feet and knees were sore.  I just need to do more of it!
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Last night, I made Baked Beef Risotto which was very yummy and an easy dinner.   I didn't have Hot Chilli Sauce so I used Swee Chilli Sauce instead.  It made a huge pan full so I think next time, I'd halve the recipe and it would still do us for dinner then lunch the next day.  I am going to freeze what's left after lunch today...

Baked Beef Risotto

Not sure what's for dinner tonight yet, we are having farewell drinks for a staff member so it might be 'duck under the table'!

We are hoping the weather will be kind this weekend so we can get down to our camping spot at McIntyres Beach.

Cheers - Joolz xx

Sunday roast...

Gus roasted a roll of pork in the Weber, along with a tray of potato, pumpkin and carrots...

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I think roast is my favourite meal, be it chicken, lamb or pork.  If we go to a pub for a meal, that's what I usually order...

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I had a packet of Lion brand pastry mix in the pantry that I hadnt tried so I made up the pastry (just add a bit of sugar and water to it) and it made a nice, short pastry. I pushed the pastry rounds into muffin tins and used mulberry jam and rhubarb and raspberry jam.

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A very nice little dessert!

That's the weekend done and dusted. We hope to get away next weekend in Pearl...

Cheers - Joolz xx

We ended up lighting our outdoor fire last night and Gus baked those thigh fillets in the Weber...

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I made a baked rice - add whatever veggies you like - I had carrot, zucchini, capsicum, onion, mushroom and fresh corn -  1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water, big teaspoon each of curry powder and chicken stock powder, salt and pepps - mix it all up.   Put a few dobs of butter on top, cover with foil and bake about 1 hour in 180C oven. Better than Continental!

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Dinner!
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The sourdough rose really well...

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I picked it up to move it over on the bench...

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...and this huge air bubble erupted. It's alive!

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Plop onto the mat...

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No further kneading is required, just gentle shaping then I plopped then into the floured bannetons to rise again...

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i sat then in the (turned off) warm oven...

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Tipped out and still rising...I forgot to take a pic of when I "slashed with panache"!

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Peppermint tea...

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This loaf is nearly burnt on one end but it is still fine.  I do prefer baking in the lidded tins as I think it gives a nicer crust...

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The round loaf...

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I cut the oblong loaf and am very pleased with it.  The taste is delicious, I'm not sure if that is the pure milled flour from Tassie or just the starter doing it's job. Either way, yummy!

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Oh, I'm having a lazy day, couch sitting and drinking tea...

Cheers - Joolz xx

23 on the 23rd...

Bri had her birthdy on the weekend and unfortunately we couldn't be there but she celebrated in style out on the town. (L-R Tori, Maddy, Bri and Chloe)...

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Best friends and old school buds, Bri and Maddy...
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Our gorgeous girls...

Cheers - Joolz xx

Wind and rain delays play...

...well, cancels it, more like! We were going to head to a little beach spot with Ruby and Pearl today for an overnight camp but the wind is blowing it's guts out and there is more rain forecast. It is also only about 14C...

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So, I have dinner marinating...

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Baked chicken thigh fillets...

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I think we'll have baked veggie rice with it and a bit of salad. Easy.

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I have mixed up a batch of sourdough, made from this flour I bought in Tasmania...

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I will wait until later tonight to give this a flip and turn, gently folding it in on itself. Then it will rise overnight ready to shape early in the morning then bake.

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The house is tidy, the washing is done so I'm kicking back, surfing the interwebs, Youtubing, sipping tea (this is one I tried at work yesterday...), maybe knitting if I can be bothered...

Hope you have a peaceful weekend too! Cheers - Joolz xx

Coonawarra weekend...

Hop on over to Camping Adventures of Ruby & Pearl to see what we got up to last weekend.
Cheers - Joolz xx

Mish mash...

Here's a bit of a round up of what's been happening in the past week.  Earlier last week, I made these two loaves of Chadd's bread. I bought these two tins in Tasmania and they're handmade. One is a smaller tin which made a cute loaf.  Perfect for gifting a little loaf with homemade soup to someone...

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On Tuesday, I dined out at a local cafe with my four sisters for two of their birthdays.  I had a big bowl of delicious, homemade vegetable soup.

I follow Kelly Rae Roberts on Instagram.  She is a very talented artist from Portland, Oregon USA. I decided I'd like to get her 2017 calendar so I looked online then decided against it because of freight costs and exchange rates etc.   Imagine how pleased I was to find that very calendar in a gift shop in MY HOME TOWN!  I'll hang it up at work above my desk. Happy, happy!
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As we were heading to Adelaide on Sunday, I did some baking for my girls.  I made Cranberry Hooty Creek Cookies ...

...and these Weekender Biscuits. 

I also made two slices - Clinker Slice and Lemon Slice

I made this for dinner last Wednesday...

Thursday was Hasselback chicken, stuffed with ricotta and spinach...

 

 The slices went off to Adelaide with us as I like to send Bri off to work with some goodies for her and her nurse and doctor colleagues.  Anything to make their shift a bit better.  Kirby also took some to work with her too.

We went out to dinner on Sunday night, to Singapore House.  This is a lovely fusion restaurant on Glen Osmond Road.  We had soft shell crab, yellow duck curry, coconut prawns, sticky pork and crispy beef between 5 of us and I had black sticky rice and fruit salad (yum!) for dessert. We'll definitely be going back!

When we were away on holidays in Tasmania, we happened to find a new doona cover at Bed, Bath and Table, in Hobart.  Gus liked this one and I was happy to go with neutral tones but we didn't get it over there, we just took down the name (Orlando). I went to Burnside Village in Adelaide before we headed for home on Monday and was able to buy the set there at BB&T.   Again, happy, happy!

Greys, silver, fawn...

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Stock piling! You've got to do it! Chocolate was all $2.50 a pack, deodorant $3.00 instead of over $4.00, shampoo and conditioner $3.29 half price. Fruit $1.50, down from $1.99 - hubby eats one tub over 2 morning with his breakfast. 

$54.77 saved by stocking up! 

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I love Bircher muesli for breakfast but I think it tends to have a fair bit of sugar in the muesli so I just used 1/4 cup plain rolled oats, 1/4 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup low fat yoghurt, 1/2 cup blueberries and half a grated apple....

This was delicious!  I am also going to try it with chia seeds soon...
So that's me up to date, how about you.

I am still having a bit of trouble blogging from my phone - Blogger is dropping out each time I try and compose a blog so I need to sort that out.  Have resorted to my work pc to put the words to this post!

Be kind to one another and yourself too!

Cheers - Joolz xx