my birthday present

she is gorgeous and does so many things in the kitchen.

so far she has made soup, scones, pie crust, breadcrumbs, cauliflower puree and it was only my birthday 10 days ago................................

zucchini carrot ham slice

finally - i have two working ovens! they were fixed last thursday - just in time for the weekend! to celebrate i made apple crumble and fish pie

so needless to say i was looking for a quick, delishious and easy meal catering for 18mth Samuel and came along this slice. PERFECT to cut into little cubes that he can stuff into his mouth.

it was a hit.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15319/zucchini+carrot+ham+slice

ovens = dead

a quick post from me as i am still gob smacked (we never use that term enough).

we are currently renters and unfortunately i've been told that we will not hear from the electrician until at least monday. . .

which means - no baking in the oven ALL WEEKEND and I only have one hot plate. three words

aiy aiy aiy!

and this wednesday is my BIRTHDAY. luckily my little little sister has offered to make the birthday cake this year, I am looking forward to the surprise!

oh well, it will be stirfry meals, curries and stuff baked on the BBQ this week coming. I'm just sad because I'll miss my baking . . .

BBQ APPLE PIE !!!!

right-e-o

so my last post was all about the box of apples i acquired for $3. there was a total of 50 apples in the box, thats right - only 6c per apple. i gave mum 9 apples, threw 2 away and then there were 39. so this weekend, i saw, as an apple bake-off weekend. i love baking, have the apples - what do i possibly have to lose???

well our oven stopped working!!!! and i had made this gorgeous apple pie (and used 12 apples which left 27 apples!) to feed our son Samuel...............and freeze for hubbie Jonathan (for when he gets back from Sydney on Saturday).

how disappointed was i. .... until i realised - i had an option :

BBQ APPLE PIE !!!!

this is easy, you just need a roaster hood. put the griddle plate in the middle, turn all 4 burners on and close the hood. heat for 10 minutes. it gets to around 160c. then turn the two middle burners off, put in the apple pie - close hood.


cook for 40 minutes or until brown gooey and lovely.......

unfortunately it burnt a wee little on the top but it worked out well in the end.... phewwwww.

apples apples apples

this is the box of granny smith apples i bought at the market for $3.

this is the box AFTER i donated 10 to my parents house.

what to make ? any ideas ? i am all ears......

thai red chicken and pumpkin curry - comforting sunday dinner

sunday was simple

church - market - gardening - dinner - sam to bed - masterchef with jonathan - sleep

of course there was all the other bits and bobs but i wanted it to look simple and pretty.

market buy of the day - box of granny smith apples for $3. by box, i mean small fruit carton and there are alot to work with!

dinner cooked - thai red chicken and pumpkin curry with rice. this is actually a recipe for a pork pumpkin curry but we adapt things in our house. jonathan is working night shift so a warming delishious meal was on the cards. samuel also enjoyed it - making yummy sounds whilst eating and doing a little dance when the food was getting closer to his mouth. jonathan even left a wee bit for him to enjoy for dinner tonight.

this is a pretty easy meal to replicate over and over again. a staple on our list to cook, probably repeated every 4 months or so. the recipe is from the complete stir-fry cookbook which is produced by family circle. why i like this book ? well it has nutritional information for every single recipe and a hugemongeous variety of recipes.

you can pick this book up secondhand on amazon

but here is my altered recipe

thai red chicken and pumpkin curry (serves 4)
1 tbsp oil
1-2 tbsp red curry paste
500g chicken, cubed
1 cup coconut milk
350g butternut or japanese pumpkin, peeled and cubed
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup coconut cream
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
2 red chillies sliced (optional)

1 - heat oil in wok, add curry paste, cook 1 minute
2 - add chicken to the wok and stir fry until golden brown. add the coconut milk, pumpkin, lime and 1/2 cup water. reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
3 - add the coconut cream, fish sauce and brown sugar. stir to combine. scatter chilli over the top to serve.

Nutritional Info:
30g protein
11g fat
9g carbohydrate
1.5g dietary fibre
62mg cholesterol
260 cal (1085kJ)

muffins muffins muffins

ok so its the weekend, time to add stock to the freezer. With a husband working night shifts on the roster and a 17month old, quick easy and nutritious snacks are a must. Without them I've realised I rely way to much on tiny teddies and other not-so-good snacks. i only started making muffins after being reintroduced to its versatility (they can be frozen, reheated or put in a lunch box and will defrost by lunchtime) by my BFF sandy gail.

so the request for muffins was in order. i have a simple recipe (acquired from my mum when creating my 'moving out of home recipe book') that I adapt to whatever is in the freezer / pantry and would make a good muffin. Gone are the days of regular muffins and say hello mini muffins. each batch of muffin mix will yield one tray of mini muffins (24 muffins).

i make two batches at a time so we have lots of them frozen for snacks. today i made two types :

chocolate, coconut + mixed berry

oat, sultana + banana

here is the recipe :

base muffins mixture (12 adult size or 24 mini muffins)

1 3/4 cups SR flour
2 tbsp caster sugar

1 lightly beaten egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. preheat oven to 200c

2. sift flour, sugar & baking powder into bowl. add fruit (and other dry ingredients here).

3. in a smaller bowl combine melted butter, milk, egg and vanilla (and other wet ingredients here). add liquids all at once to the flour mixture.

4. combine gently with fork till dry ingredients are moistened.

5. spoon into muffin tins

6. bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

oat, sultana + banana variation - add 2 smushed bananas to the wet mix and 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cups sultanas to the dry mixture.

chocolate, coconut + mixed berry variation - add 200g frozen berries and 1/4 cup shredded coconut to dry mix and substitute 1/4 cup flour for 1/4 cup cocoa.

other variations -

apple + cinnamon - add 2 diced apples + 2 tsp cinnamon to dry mix

lamington - add 1/2 cup coconut + substitute 1/2 cup flour for 1/4 cup cocoa to dry mix. top with shredded coconut prior to baking.

will provide other variations as we make them at home but be adventurous.