Visiting our coast ...

We picked the coldest day to show our visitors our rugged coastline. 

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My friend, Pauline!

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Pauline and her Polish cousin, Ewa (pronounced Ever)...

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...and Tomek...

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The coast was very pretty...

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My favourite picture!

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Some of the food we ate...

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The pavlova was a triumph!

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I turned another year older on the 14th and got thoroughly spoilt - the most stunning red roses from Gus!

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Cheers - Joolz xx

Putting things back together...

I got all my treasures back into the china cabinet yesterday. I am so glad I took pictures so I could put the jigsaw back together!

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plenty of cups of tea and coffee were drunk...

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I made a Date loaf...

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for my sister...all packaged up...

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...because she made a pavlova for me! We are having friends come to stay with international visitors from Poland. This cold snap of weather is going to put paid to us going beach driving and having a fire on the beach - it's just too cold!

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I have cleaned out our spare room for the guests - boy did that need doing! Its so easy to throw stuff in there and shut the door - we have been doing that since Christmas!  Everything has now found a new home and there are just two king single beds made up ready for the guests.

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I made this Date, apricot (and prune) loaf ... I didnt have many dates left so some plump prunes went into the mix...

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It turned out well.

Here's the recipe, my sister texted it to me...

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Its a great recipe as you boil everything in the saucepan then when cool, add the flour and egg and mix it in the saucepan.  Only one pan and a wooden spoon to wash up!

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It is yummy with nice chunks of fruit throughout...

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My friend, Pauline, who is coming to stay, is a coeliac so I am trying to make all the food we have gluten free. She is bring her own bread for breakfasts.

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Monday night -

Roast lamb

Potato bake

Winter fruit salad (savoury)

Watermelon, mint & fetta salad

Pavlova with strawberries, kiwi fruit and chocolate sauce

(I gave my sister GF cornflour to use)

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Tuesday night -

Beer can chicken roasted in the Weber

to be shredded

Taco fixings - salsa, corn, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, barbecue sauce...

Flour tortillas and taco shells (I may make GF tortillas if I can't let cate GF ones)

White chocolate swirl chesecake

(Biscuit crumb base using GF biscuits and cocoa)

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These should work for the biscuit crumb...

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This the cheesecake recipe...

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So we are in for a busy few days but it will be fun catching up with Mike and Pauline and Pauline's cousins, Ewa and Tomek.

Cheers - Joolz xx

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Steak Carne Asada Tacos...

We really loved these tacos last night...

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I made a few adjustment though.  It said to marinate the steak in the spices provided and 1/4 cup of oil - way too much oil!  I just gave it a drizzle and halved the spice mix as well.

The other spice mix was for the avocado which was meant to be mashed.  I like a chunky salsa so I diced the avocado, deseeded some cherry tomatoes and chopped them, fine diced cucumber and red onion then squeezed lime juice over it. Add some finely chopped coriander and just a sprinkle of the spice and balance it with a teaspoon of caster sugar. Let it sit a while for the flavours to mix.

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I shredded nice fresh cos lettuce and roasted a corn cob on the griddle before taking the kernels off (then a quick microwave to cook the corn)...

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Gus seared the steak on our little griddle pan until just cooked through - oh yum!

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Assemble the taco - a little cheese and sour cream in the bottom, steak, salsa, lettuce, corn, salaa, more steak on top - now munch!  A dos capos taco is when you have the crunchy shell on the inside with a flour tortilla on the outside (it does make it easier to eat). Will definitely be getting this kit again as the flavours were really good!

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Cheers - Joolz xx

 
 
 
 
 
 

Hunker down for the winter chills...

I took this yesterday morning, the sky was really pretty, all grays and pinks...

It looked like rain was coming but it was just a still, part sunshiney day all day - perfect!

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We're heading for a cold snap - nearly a full week of 11 - 12C! 

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Last night we had pork chops with an apricot and prune crust (using panko crumbs, italian herbs, onion and made moist with a little melted butter and milk). We seared the chops on a griddle then topped them with the crust mix then baked for about 20 minutes.

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The sauce was apricot nectar, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce and cornflour to thicken...

Yum!

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Tonight we're having these tacos - a new flavour that we haven't tried before. I'll have them in hard shells or do dos capos where you wrap a soft tortilla around the hard shell. Have you ever tried that?

Stay warm friends,

Cheers - Joolz xx
 

 

 

 

Pickle and healthy Beef Koftas...

I made another Pickle purchase from Juanita Tortilla ... Check out her Etsy store here ...

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/juanitatortilla?ref=em

What or who is Pickle? Pickle is the beautiful Birman ragdoll cat who belongs to Juanita - or does Juanita belong to Pickle?

My Pickle Pocket will hold all of my power cords and adapters and it fits snugly in my glove box. Because I swap cars fairly often (the perils of owning a car dealership!), I need to be able to grab everything out of my car quickly and for travel its perfect too! My Kobo fits nicely.
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The pocket came in a cute Pickle draw string bag which I will use for my latest acquisition - a blood pressure monitor!  :(

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I recently had my 51,000km service and I have started on BP meds as it's been too high of late so hopefully it will come down to near normal.  My cholesterol is down from 7.4 last July to 6.1 - still high but better.  This lead me to drag out a WW recipe book for a healthy dinner inspiration.

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Beef Kofta with chickpea couscous...

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I ditched the skewers when they were cooking as they just got in the way!
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I'm not big on couscous (I don't like the texture) so rather than have plain, I tried this sachet from Ainsley Harriot...and added half a can of chickpeas to it when I poured on the water.  It was very tasty but not my cup o tea!
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I made my own salad of lettuce mix, tomatoes, cucumber and kalamata olives and used a zero fat french dressing.
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I found the koftas to be a bit dry, maybe a bit of skim milk and a handful of fresh bread crumbs might lighten them up...but it was a yummy dinner anyway!

Cheers - Joolz xx