Chicken Laksa ...

Gee, the weather has been bleak with heavy, dark grey clouds hanging but no more rain s far. Just dry and cold.

I thought this spicy laksa would warm us up - I wasn't wrong! Here is the recipe from Annette Sym.

http://food.ninemsn.com.au/recipes/ichicken/8339788/chicken-laksa-annette-sym

 

Assemble all of the ingredients. I added in zucchini and snow peas to bump up the veggies.

~

~

~

~

~

... a real winter warmer!

Next week at my Weight Watchers group, we will be tasting a few more dishes for those cold nights ahead. A chunky vegetable soup, a chicken and bacon pasta bake and curried tuna risoni. I'll try and get pictures.

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Winter garden...

The skies are grey each day now, the sun rarely poking out. We've had good opening rains (if they arrive by Anzac Day, they say it will be a good season, which they basically did) with 35mls and 28 mls on two days last week. Autumn is heading into winter with temps dropping to 14-15C (57-59F).

The agapanthus seed heads need lopping off....

Oh, dear! My poor tomato plants. They gave me a few fruit over summer but nowhere near as good as previous seasons. I picked the green ones today to see if they ripen. I'll toss the plants into our green bin for composting this weekend.

There's just not enough heat in the days to ripen them...

A few carpet roses are still blooming but they will die off soon...

~

~

there's one more bud to bloom!

Oh, the shame! Look at those weeds!

~

~

~

I guess I'll get to it in the coming weeks...

Easy Pasta Bake dinner here tonight - 300gms of beef mince and onion browned off, tip in a jar of pasta sauce, salt and pepps, slug of balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar (I find it balances the sauce). Toss through you favourite pasta noodles...

I like San Remo Vegeroni shapes (a SA company)...

~

A winter warmer...

What's on your dinner plate?

Cheers - Joolz xx

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Savoury fruit salad...

Do you put fruit in your vegetable salads? In summer, I quite often add mango, strawberries, orange or kiwi fruit to my tossed salad.

Gus made this salad of beet leaves, baby spinach, rocket, fetta and raspberries.

The dressing was ...

2 spring onions

2 tspn dijon mustard

2 tblspn red wine vinegar

2 tspn raspberry jam (we didnt have raspberry vinegar as the recipe wanted so he improvised)

1 tblspn balsamic vinegar

2 tblspn honey

2 tblspn orange juice

1/4 cup good olive oil

Mix all together in a jar and shake well to combine.

Drizzle over the salad and sprinkle with walnuts.

The girls headed back to the city after lunch yesterday so I did a tidy up then popped on a curry for dinner. Just so good!

You can see why I miss them!

~

Not sure what the week holds weather wise, its been wet and cold (just how I like it!) but the sun it peeking through now so it might be milder today. I'm off to work, I hope you have a great day.

Cheers - Joolz xx

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Ciabatta rolls and early Mother's Day...

Recently found a recipe for Ciabatta rolls at Life at Cobble Hill Farm. I made the starter (biga) yesterday and baked them this morning. The recipe can be found here, its a lovely blog.

http://www.lifeatcobblehillfarm.com/2014/04/ciabatta-rolls.html

The biga had formed a sort of crust overnight and when I broke through it, it was full of bubbles and smelled very yeasty. Next time, I might just add a tiny bit more water.

After mixing the biga and other ingredients in my stand mixer, the dough was left to prove again for 1-2 hours. When ready, I just tipped out the blob of dough onto my floured bench and pressed it out to a 12" x 6" rectangle then cut it as shown above.

Bake in a hot 220C oven until golden. Mine took a little longer than 15 minutes so just keep an eye on them.

They turned out great - we are making thin cut steak sandwiches for lunch with them.

Magnificent!

When my girls got up this morning they surprised me with early Mother's Day gifts. Beautiful flowers and...

a 'Mum' Pandora charm. I love it!

Sadly, they head home again after lunch, back to the city. Its been a quick, sweet visit!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Veggies for warmth...

 

Lots of veggies being eaten here this week. The weather has turned cold...

We had crumbed pork chops with these dishes, I put apple in the salad to go with the pork. It was the first time I had crumbed pork chops (usually I do lamb) and they turned out lovely and moist.

I portioned a small free range chicken (cost me $7.50) then tossed the pieces into a ziplock bag with this marinade....

http://www.howtoinstructions.us/honey-soy-chicken-breasts/

Smoosh it all around then pop into the fridge until you are ready to bake. I did mine at 4.30pm then went off to my Weight Watchers meeting. Came home and popped the pieces in the oven on a rack over an oven tray lines with foil.

How good does my roasted veg salad look? I did the veggies in the oven while the chook was cooking.

Yummy, sticky chicken bits...

This weekend our girls are home for a visit. Gus is planning to rotisserie a chicken or two over his coal pit thingo and I want to make pea and ham soup (I have a lovely smoked ham hock waiting). Also, I have made a starter for ciabatta bread rolls so we'll see how they go.

As an early Mother's Day present, the girls are taking me to the movies to see The Other Woman and maybe a bit of shopping.

What are you up to?

Cheers, Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Extra Bananery Banana Bread...

My sister recently asked if I wanted to buy some bulk dried fruits/baking goods from a company she buys from...

I have tried dried bananas before so I ordered those and 500gms of glace cherries and the coconut. I also bought a kilo of trail mix (almonds, pepitas, sultanas, pine nuts etc).

The bananas dont win any awards for good looks but make up for it in taste. Chewy and yummy if you like bananas.

I chopped some up and added them yo my normal bamana bread recipe.

I love this easy recipe. Melt, mix, bake...

A lovely loaf each time. Here's were I blogged it last time ...

http://simplyjoolz.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/bread-rolls.html

~

Those chunks of banana really intensify the flavour. Now, how about a cup of tea?

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy