Weekly piffle ...

We had the pleasure of Bri's company last weekend.  Here she is making poffertjes ...

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... with my strawberry jam - delicious!

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The cooler weather always makes me want soup so I made a healthy batch from my Annette Sym book...

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There is no way that this can be bad for you!

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It really hit the spot for lunch and there was lots left over for the fridge and some to freeze...

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We are still juicing each morning - I buy juice for the girls when they are home as they don't like our healthy juice - I know which one I prefer...
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 There is still fresh beetroot in our supermarkets so I bought another bunch and pickled it.  It is so nice and crunchy with a hit of pepper/mustard.  I eat it straight out of the jar...

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Dinner Thursday night - cauli/brocolli/carrot in cheese sauce, peas, baked potatoes ...
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 and Wagyu schnitzels with gravy...

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 I made bread rolls on Friday night and they just didn't turn out very good.  I baked them in my muffin tin and they were really hard and dense... so I had another go last night.  I used Rhonda's bread recipe from her book but I made bread rolls with it.  I used a new brand of dry yeast and a new packet of flour but even these didn't rise as they should have...

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 They weren't really flops, but I have had a better rise from other batches...

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As I usually use my mixer with dough hook, next time I am going to hand knead it to see if that makes a difference - and instead of mixing the yeast with water and sugar first, I am going to put the yeast in dry and add water to see if that makes a difference.

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 We had this last night - Lamb Dhansak - it was really delicious - very fragrant with just a bit of a kick!

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 We have bookmarked that one to have on our favourites list.  It only takes about 1.5 hours to make.

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 Here's a couple of pics of our girls, taken Easter weekend...

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Beautiful, hey?

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 And now onto that mundane task of pantry cleaning out!  Oh, Lordy!  I should be entered into the pantry Hall of Shame!

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 After a couple of hours, I had removed 3, count them 3! garbags of out of date food items.  Bottles and jars of sauces, jams, packets of soups, cereals, pastas, gravies, mixes, biscuits, spices, vinegars, oils, nuts - you name it, it was in there!  Cans that I know have been in there for 2 years or more...

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 The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off!

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But now, organisation has been restored - it's all fresh and ready to use and easy to find!  Do you have a pantry that gets out of control? Does it irk you when someone doesn't put things back where they should (eg. on the perfectly clearly labelled shelves in perfectly labelled containers???  I have a husband someone who puts the packet of Cruskits up on the oil shelf when it came from 2 shelves down ... he does it every single day!!!!   If  I did that with everything in the kitchen, how the hell would you ever find anything??  Spatula in the utensil drawer - why no, it's in the saucepan drawer - just for something different!  Give me strength! (*breathes in and out...)

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This afternoon I am making a slow cooked beef ragu to have with home made pasta that we are also making so stay turned for that!  Now what did I do with the pasta maker....?

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Cheers - Joolz xx

Pre-Easter food happenings ...

Just a few of the things we have been eating in the lead up to Easter. The weather has been much cooler and Autumn like which has been a relief. Funny how as soon as the weather cools, out come all the comfort foods.

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I made Annette Sym's Chicken Laksa - the recipe is here.
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It's a lovely warming dish.

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St Patrick's Day came along so I thought I'd made Beef & Guiness pies.  I had purchased the oval pie tins some time ago so I thought they'd be perfect.  I blind baked the puff pastry bases first then added the pie mixture then topped them with pastry and baked again.  

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These were delicious!  The recipe is here.
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I made bread rolls, always handy to have in the freezer.

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Quick and easy pasta - choose your favourite sausages (Woolworths do a nice Lamb with Mint & Rosemary), using kitchen scissors, chop the sausages into a pan and fry them off.  Remove and drain on kitchen paper.  Use your favourite tomato pasta sauce (I had some leftover homemade), add the sausages back into the sauce.  Cook your favourite pasta (bowtie/farfalle) and add to the sauce.  Serve and top with grated parmesan cheese.  Much quicker than rolling meatballs!

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I had a couple of 'dead' bananas so I made choc chip banana muffins for our staff's smoko.  Forgot to take a picture of the finished muffins.  Oops!

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Twice baked potatoes - bake potatoes in the skins (on baking paper) until tender.  Cut in half length ways, scoop out innards and put aside in a bowl.  Now you should have boat shapes.

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Chop a rasher of bacon and one onion.  Microwave to cook these for about 2 minutes.  In the bowl with the mashed up potato, add a good dollop of sour cream, the bacon and onion, some chives, salt & pepper and 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese.  Now fill the potato boats with the potato mix, top with a little bit more cheese and sprinkle with paprika and bake a further 20 minutes until golden.  Try stopping at one!

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Lastly, I made my favourite chicken curry which we had with a yoghurt (cucumber & mint) raita and some of the flour tortillas which I made (see separate post).

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Cheers - Joolz xx

Thanksgiving salivations...

I've been looking at some blogs and salivating about their Thanksgiving menus.  The beautifully dressed turkey is from Kris at Simplify - her first cooking tutorial.  I may just have to try this method soon.

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The Pioneer Woman has her favourite Thanksgiving sides listed in a post - my goodness, how I'd love to have green bean casserole, whisky glazed carrots and brussels sprouts with balsamic and cranberries and lovely stuffing for the turkey!

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Then I found these on the Tasty Kitchen blog - Sweet Potato Knots
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Have a look and try not to drool!

Cheers - Joolz

There's warmth in the air...

We are on the count down to the end of our Australian Winter - Spring starts on September 1 and it will start then, right?? Well, maybe not but we can all hope! I have noticed the last few days, when the sun is out, that it actually warms the air - there is definitely Spring in the air!
This pic was taken yesterday morning as I was sitting knitting (instead of doing some housework - don't judge me!) - sun streaming in my front windows. So nice after the bleak days we have had ...
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Today we are back to bleak - its raining and it is cold and 10.6C - so much for spring arriving early!
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Last weekend, Gus and I went for a drive to Mt.G to see if we could find a suitable little table to house our 'surround sound' control box and speakers. Success! We ended up just buying a nest of 3 tables and he mounted the box under the smallest one and the speakers will sit on top, behind our lounge chairs, out of the way. Don't worry, we know what we are trying to achieve!

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I made his take me out to lunch, because I am not pushy at all! I had this lovely small barbecue meat lovers pizza...
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and he had the creamy calamari linguine which he declared just perfect!
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I've been drinking a lot more tea lately - Twinings Chai, Dilmah, Twinings Australian Afternoon Tea... its so nice to drink out of a nice cup too.
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Monday night I made Forbidden City Chicken - the recipe is here ...
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Pop it in a zip lock baggie and throw it in the fridge until you are ready to cook it... then bake in a baking dish as per recipe until done.
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I served it with oven baked potatoes, sweet corn and sweet potatoes and a left over green salad. Delish!
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Tuesday night I tried my hand at a Pot Roast. Australian's usually dry roast their meats and vegetables but I thought I'd try roasting in my Le Creuset dutch oven with a little beef stock in the bottom of the pan.
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I need to find a tenderer bit of beef but it was quite nice and the vegetables were lovely and tender.
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Another jug of juice - see how it settles in layers? I give it a good stir before pouring it out so we get all the goodness together.
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It's becoming a tradition - when I am 'home alone' I make Chow Mein for myself ...
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Do you like my 'clothes peg' hinged chopsticks? Cool, eh?
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Another cute dish cloth...
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I finished it last night. The colour is a bit off in this picture. What pattern will I choose next??
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I will finish with these ever so yummy Macarons - just a picture I found on the web. I have tasted real macarons in Paris but I am not sure I could make them - I think the stars have to be aligned just right to have success! I'll leave it to the experts!
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I have another Jubilee cake in the oven (the old recipe) so will have some pics of that once I ice it.
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Cheers - Joolz