Chicken ApricotCurry ...

 

My turn to cook tonight so I'm making Rick Stein's chicken curry.

I was searching for all the spices I needed so I decided to throw out all the stale crap have a tidy up!

We have nearly every spice known to man - we do love a curry here!

I have all the spices measured ready to go...

I bought a free range chook and wondered how best to cut it up. The recipe asks for 1.5 kg of chicken portions.

I had a look at a couple of YouTube clips and voila! Chicken portions and a good chunk of chicken to use for a lovely stock. Check this clip -

http://youtu.be/BUdlyPeH1t8

I'll be back with pictures of the curry later ... Joolz xx

 

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Where did that week go?

 

Easter is fast looming. We are off on a road trip up to Sydney with our girls joining us there for the 4 day long weekend. Really looking forward to it!

The BreastScreen truck rolled into our little town a few weeks ago so I made my appointment for a mammogram. I turn 50 this year so it was time to join the 'big girls' club!

The truck is (wo)manned by a team of lovely ladies. The mammogram was over in about 10 minutes and I think its less invasive and cringey than a pap smear so I wont be afraid to front up again when the truck next comes to town.

I made Country Boy biscuits this week, some going to my bro-in-law who's recovering from an op. Have a go at making these crunchy, chewy biscuits, they are a winner!

http://www.countrylifeexperiment.com/2014/01/recipe-our-favourite-chocolate-chip.html

He's also fond of my banana bread so he got this too!

Always nice to get something back from a company!

Hmmm, food for thought? For quite a while, I have cut out buying 'diet' products - anything with artificial sweetners is a no go for us now. I buy the lowest fat milk (0.25g/250mls - Pura Tone) but I buy normal yogurt and ice cream. I'd rather have a smaller serving of ice cream than a bigger serve of diet stuff.

 

We are in love with this yoghurt at the moment. It comes in several fruity flavours and its delicious. I limit myself to a few of these during the week as the sugar content is higher. But yum, yum, yum!

Babymac had this pic on her blog - a watermelon based fruit pizza! How cool is that?

Easy chicken tacos for dinner last night. The recipe is here:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/30877/quick+chicken+tacos+with+homemade+hot+sauce

 

I added mango to the salsa and it was delicious!

I usually make a double batch of the sauce as it keeps in the fridge. Its a really easy dinner.

~

This weekend will be spent getting ready to go away on Tuesday. We head to Melbourne first to deliver a vehicle then we'll head up the Hume Highway to Sydney. No sewing, just washing and ironing for me.

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

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Lamb & Roast Vegetable Pasties...

With the cooler weather setting in, these Lamb and roast vegetable pasties are sure to hit the spot. The recipe is from Karen Martini on Better Homes & Gardens - http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/tv-and-video/video/watch/19137972/karen-lamb-pasties-ep-35-27-09-13/aulifestyle-better-homes-and-garden-cooking-with-karen/

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Sweat off the leek , onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper.

I couldn't buy lamb mince so I bought forequarter chops and took the meat off the bone then whizzed in the food processor.

Cool the leek mixture and add 1/2 cup peas and a handful of fresh parsley.

Brown the mince until well cooked. I added a bit of curry powder at this stage to add more of a kick. Cool off.

These are the roasted potatoes, carrots and pumpkin...tossed in with the leek mix...

Now combine all the ingredients and add in an egg and cheese, mixing gently but well.

Follow the way Karen makes the pasties using puff pastry ... it took me until the 6th one to get the fold over right (bottom right). Brush with beaten egg. Make sure the mixture has cooled otherwise your pastry will just melt and may cause you tears and a tantrum!

Once baked, they were delicious served with a saladand some sweet chilli sauce. The recipe made 10 so I have put 4 uncooked ones into the freezer to pull out another day. We enjoyed the cooked ones again for lunch today too! Gve them a go!

Cheers - Joolz xx

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Finally, I am ready to start sewing!

I now have all my fabrics to begin my first ever strip quilt top.

I bought these fabrics from our local shop, Bankhouse Quilts yesterday.

So this is the palette that I will randomly put together. Strips will be 4" wide and the rectangles random lengths so there won't be any matching up like with squares.

Not very happy with some of the cutting at Spotlight! I know you have to 'true up' the fabric but this is way off!

~

 

See what I mean? Most annoyng!

I spent the morning, cutting and trimming...

This is my inspiration - Alicia Paulson's strip quilt (photo from Pinterest)

So this is how far I got today. Not bad for a novice. I think sewing the long rows will be a bit daunting and it will be hard to get it squared up but I guess I can only try and I can correct any dog-legs as I go.

These are the smaller strips I am left with...

Then the larger, longer ones.

I am in no danger of running out of fabric!

It was a nice relaxing day, all in all!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

 

 

 

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Smoked Salmon Mornay ...

My hubby loves smoked salmon so I dreamed up this mornay recipe for him...

The salmon was reduced so I snapped up two packs, although I only ended up using one. Smoked salmon on scrambled eggs this weekend, coming up!

I gently fried off 1/2 a small leek, half a white onion, a small carrot and one stick of celery in a knob of butter, until tender but not browned.

~

I added a handful of baby spinach leaves.

For the mornay sauce, I used a recipe by Rachel Khoo for inspiration...(she was making Croque Madame (cheese sauce baked on toast).

2 tbsn butter

2 tbsn plain flour (heaped)

1.5 - 2 cups milk ( I used skim)

2 tspn Dijon mustard

1/2 cup grated cheese (I used half parmesan/half cheddar)

Pepper (season with salt at the end if needed - the salmon adds salt)

~

In a saucepan, melt butter and add the flour and cook off gently for a few minutes. Add in the milk, whisking constantly to get rid of any lumps. Keep stirring, stirring until the sauce starts to thicken. It will take a while - don't let it catch on the bottom. Add in the mustard and cheeses and season with pepper.

~

Once you have a nice smooth cheesy sauce, add 200gms of the salmon, chopped into small pieces. I then let it heat through for a few minutes to cook the salmon. Add a sprinkle or dried (or fresh) dill.

Add the vegetables to the sauce.

Next, I got out my trust little Bellini processor and whizzed a slice of wholemeal bread (and the crust). I grated a little more parmesan and cheddar and added a sprinkle of dried parsley.

Transfer your mornay to an oven proof dish, top with the crumb mixture and bake for 20-30 minutes until it has just browned and the mornay is bubbling.

I used pre-made vol au vent cases but you can make bread cases by buttering a slice of bread (crust cut off) and squooshing it into a muffin tin, buttered side down. Bake for about 10 minutes in the oven until crisp.

Et voila! Elegant smoked salmon vol au vents...

Cheers - Joolz xx

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Off my iPhone ...

I just had to add to this post to say that this is my 1000th post since starting blogging in August 2008!  Wow, I've met some lovely online friends and learned so much from it all.

Since I last posted these are pics off my phone. Oh, goodness there are some food pics in there. Oh, well I suppose we all have to eat!

We've been enjoying fresh juice every weekday morning...

Mini vegetable quiches with salad ...

A quick lamb curry using a HotPot mix.

Into the crockpot at 1pm (thrown in as I went back to work) ...

Ready at 5pm!

A trip to Adelaide saw me home alone for a few hours, waiting for Gus to arrive. The girls had gone to see The Rocky Horrow Show live at the Festival Theatre.

When Gus arrived, we headed for our favourite Indian restaurant, Hazara on The Parade). This was the night we were meant to go see The Rolling Stones, but of course the concert was cancelled due to the tragic circumstance of Mick Jagger's girlfriend taking her own life.

Next morning we caught up with our friens, Mike and Pauline, and our girls for a beautiful breakfast at Chianti Classico. Champagne too, why not?

~

Sunday night we went to Rain on The Parade for delicious Thai...

Back home, later in the week we had Thai beef salad...

I earned Best Wife of the Year award when I made this Tasmanian Salmon salad for Gus' lunch. He was beside himself!

I down-graded and had tinned tuna with balsamic vinegar and this fruit and veggie plate. It was very filling...

I bought this Bellini which is very similar to the Nutri Bullet - the motor is not quite as powerful but for $29 it was a bargain. I made a banana choc smoothie in two seconds flat!

~

I got new glasses - these have graduated lenses so it is taking a while to adjust. And yikes, they were quite a bit more expensive than previous lenses!

Season 4 of Downton Abbey arrived in the mail - I have all the bottm row to watch!

Last night saw us visit Horsham in Victoria. We dined at the local Thai but it was a bit lacklustre. Hours of business on the door said open until 9.30pm. We arrived late after ringing them and were told we had to be there by 8.30pm or no go. We got there and had to order straight up and the entree and main come out all together. We didn't realised it was a BYO so Gus had to sprint down the road to the BWS to grab a bottle of wine!

The Massaman chicken curry was okay but I dont think the chicken had been cooked in the sauce for long, not a lot of flavour...

Today we headed for home down some back roads ... that happened to lead us to some wineries!

More narrow country roads. The countey is still very dry, they haven't had any good rain for quite a while.

Back over the SA border...

We called into Coonawarra and had lunch at Fodder - wood fired char grilled pork belly entree

and shared a light crispy wood fired pizza...

Then it was back on the road, heading for home...

Something light for dinner - curried pumpkin and coconut soup...

I sauteed onion, carrot and celery then added pumpkin and sweet potato, chicken stock, salt and pepps and a generous tablespoon of curry powder.

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