Tucker for the Time Poor November 2, 2009

I can guarantee that at least 90% of the people reading this right now have eaten cereal for dinner, at least once in their adult lives. The reasons may vary- too lazy to prepare a nutritious meal…. lacking those vital ingredients in the fridge to pull a meal together….or had a nightmare of a day with the boss from hell and feeling like the life has literately been sucked out of you.

We’ve all been there at one stage or another.  We live in an age where mothers are trying hard to juggle a family, careers, keeping the home in some state of order and relishing in some me-time all the while trying to get some decent stuff out on the table for dinner each night. We’re too tired or we’ve run out of ideas.

It’s becoming easier to drive through at a fast-food place and have a complete meal in under 3 minutes than it is to stand in front of stove juggling 2 saucepans, a screaming baby and Today Tonight. Not to mention the clean-up. So here are some tips I’ve compiled from experience, from friends, from research and from my psychologist (!) and you’d very unsurprised to learn that a lot of it stems from good time management.

 

MENU PLANNING IS CRUCIAL

I am going to take a guess that you have heard of menu-planning at some point.

Basically, it involves sitting down on a Sunday (or suitable alternative) and plotting which meals you are going to make on which day for the remainder of the week, then shopping according to make sure you have all the vital ingredients.

Menu planning has become the saviour of many mothers and many working people alike, giving them a structure and run-sheet to follow.

Sit down and draft up a table with 7 columns and three rows across to address breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If you don’t do breakfast, or grab lunch on the run, then just focus on dinner. Plan a meal for each day of the week. Swap and change until you’ve found the right flow. Try to be conscious of a getting a good balance of nutrition across the week- ensure there is a good variety of proteins, lean meats, fish and lots of vegies.

For example,  I tend to plan the easiest and quickest meals for the peak days during the week which I know I’m going to be home later. I plan my more elaborate meals for Friday nights and Saturday nights and keep the quick easy meals for the weeknights. I bet you didn’t have to be a genius to know that. My husband plays tennis on Wednesday nights, so we usually have something light that evening. We usually do our shopping on a Tuesday night, so I plan most of my meals that require fresh produce on the Wednesday and Thursday and cook meals that rely on frozen vegies or canned vegies during the later portion of the week.

Plan your menu so that you can use leftover produce from the night before to ensure there is minimal waste. For years, I have been turfing out rotting vegetables from my fridge because they just sat there and rotted before I had a chance to use them. Now, if I make a side of cauliflower cheese, I steam up some extra cauliflower and put the extra in the fridge where it will become tomorrow’s  cauliflower soup.

 

PREPARE AHEAD

I know this is not anybody’s idea of a fun Sunday afternoon, but I have heard of people doing a big shop-up on the Saturday and then spending all day Sunday cooking and freezing their meals for the week. I can’t imagine anything sweeter than coming home and just having to defrost my dinner without having to dirty a pot or lift a finger.

There’s a few benefits to this idea, the most obvious being that by cooking all your ingredients when they are fresh, you’re getting the best out of the produce (i.e, it hasn’t been sitting in your fridge getting slimy for a week) and you can also multi-task with ingredients. For example, if I’m making a batch of pasta, I can make some extra to put aside for a pasta bake or if I’m making a bolognese sauce, I can also use this sauce as part of a lasagna or to fill canneloni.

It might seem like a hectic idea, but with some careful planning and the right ingredients, you can be preparing a whole week’s worth of meals around a few main ingredients.

For example, one week my main ingredients were rib eye steak, leeks, potatoes, pumpkin and broccoli. On the same cooktop, I had four different recipes cooking away- a hearty beef, vegie and wine casserole;  potato and leek croquettes which were served with steamed vegies, pumpkin and lentil curry and potato and leek soup. It certainly didn’t feel like we were eating the same thing every night, but essentially, we used a few ingredients to get four nights meals together.

It this sounds like too much, too soon and you need baby steps to get there, how about starting by doing some minor prep before the week begins- chopping onions, mincing garlic, dicing or filleting meat, washing, peeling and prepping veg and then storing in the fridge or freezer so that when you do get home from work, all the prep work has been taken out of the meal and it’s just a matter of tossing it all together. There will be less clean up as well.

SLOW COOK YOUR HEART OUT

My slow cooker is the best thing that ever happened to me. If you don’t have one, you need to stop what you are doing, get off the internet and go to your local retailer and get one. Or go and bid on one on eBay.

Slow cookers are a heavensend for busy mums or people who just don’t have time to muck about in the kitchen all day. The idea is that you combine budget cuts of meat with vegetables and liquid, set and forget. By the time you come home (yes, you can leave it on while you’re gone, genius!), the house will be filled with a delectable aroma and you’ll have a tender, succulent meal begging to be had.

Because the slow cooker cooks…slowly, the meat becomes so tender and delicious that you can get away with using those budget cuts you normally wouldn’t touch. The meals are more flavourful because they cook in their own juices. You can cook everything from a beef roast to apricot chicken in a slow cooker. The idea is that it always has some liquid in it. Most slow cookers have settings anywhere from 4-8 hours, so you can time it so that you have a deliciously cooked, tender roast waiting for you when you get home on a Tuesday night! Who would have thought!

I tend to use my slow cooker in those winter months, where you crave the delicious hearty stews, soups, braises and casseroles- and believe me (and anyone who has a slow cooker can agree), there is no more delicious smell on this earth than coming home to a slow cooked meal. And the best part- only one pot to wash. Heaven!

 

HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS

I’m talking about steamers, pie-makers, stick blenders, food processors, breadmakers, knife sharpeners, rice cookers, grills, fancy cheese graters, mortar and pestle. I know many of you buy these things and then stuff into the back of a cupboard never to be seen again, but they really are the tricks of the trade- the little tools invented to make our lives easier. I have cooked whole meals in the steamer baskets. I’ve made bread for the weekend breakfast in my breadmaker. I’ve pretended to be Jamie Oliver while pounding the crap out of my mortar and pestle. I’ve been covered in pumpkin soup muck while trying to blend it to perfection. These tools might take up space and you might decide they’re sometimes too much effort to pull out of the cupboard, but I plead with you to make the effor.

I am especially loving my pie-maker at the moment, it’s genius!

 

ONE-POT WONDERS

I’ve touched briefly on the benefits of slow-cooking, in that you can keep the whole meal centralised in one pot, but when you are menu planning definitely give preparation time and effort a consideration. The last thing you want to be doing after coming home from a long day is slaving away in the kitchen doing the cleanup. That is why I happily volunteer to do all the cooking in my home, so I can guilt my husband into doing all the cleanup. I would rather work in a morgue than have to clean up after one of my cooking expeditions….it would probably be cleaner too.

So wherever you can, plan meals that you produce in one pot, tray or appliance- ie, steamer, pie-maker, slow-cooker, oven tray, frying pan, wok or saucepan/pot.

 

TRY TO GET YOUR PARTNER, HOUSEMATE OR KIDS INVOLVED

Involving the other people in your home in menu-planning and cooking can be a rewarding experience. And by rewarding, I mean sharing half the workload rewarding. Asking them to help choose the meals for the week can also help if you’ve run into a brick wall when it comes to inspiration. Also, once they’ve made a suggestion, like let’s use my husband for example, who suggested we have shepherd’s pie, you can ask them to help you with the preparation and if they say no…you can use it to guilt them into helping you. Example.

“Hold on! You mean, I’m standing here in this kitchen, making the shepherd’s pie you wanted, and you’re not willing to help me? That’s pretty low, buddy, even for you. Hmmph!” Storm off, no sex for a week.

Taste of Twilight November 2, 2009

I can only admit this online because I am perfectly anonymous, but yes, I am what you would call a Twihard.

The worst part is that I am 26 years old.

I am a closet Twihard (team Jacob all the way) and cringe at the all hysteria going on at the moment, but I do get swept up in the hype.

So that’s why I simply couldn’t resist posting these amazing pics and links by some very talented bakers.

I stumbled across these on Cake Wrecks which is a fantastically hilarious blog.

Cake by Honey Sugar Tea

Cakes by Francesca

AMAZING!

 

Tucker for the Time-Poor November 1, 2009

Over the last few years, I, like many of you, have struggled with juggling work, running the household and a life while trying to make decent meals.

I am sure that many of you can relate to working an obscene amount of hours during the week and then coming home, staring listlessly into the pantry and then your brain clicks into “Screw it, I’m calling in for Chinese” mode because it all just seems too hard.

I am in the process of putting together an article about tackling this issue, with tips and hints on how to get your act together and get a meal on the table, even after a long, exhausting day at work. It seems like an insurmountable task sometimes, but it’s worth it when you know you have saved your arteries from another bout of KFC grease.

Will be posting soon!

I’m back! October 29, 2009

After a lengthy hiatus, I have decided to come back and attempt to revive my blog (and my enthusiasm with food).

 

I’m sure you all can appreciate that it’s hard to remain enthusiastic about food when your job sucks the absolute life out of you and you end up eating a bowl of cereal for dinner, on the couch while watching Family Guy.

 

So I’m back and I will be attempting some regular posts. I have some yummy and easy new recipes to try, so I am hoping to share them all with you.

 

Kisses xxx

Valentines Day Romantic Breakfast January 16, 2007

Yeah I know.

We’ve barely gotten through Christmas and the New Year and already I’m talking about Valentines Day? Hey, if you think I’m bad, go and have wander down to your local supermarket and have a chat to them about the EASTER EGGS they’re filling the shelves with.

So anyway, back to Valentines Day. It’s approaching rapidly and for those of you lucky (or unlucky) enough to be in a relationship, it’s a great opportunity to do something special for your other half. You know, to show them, you, like, care and stuff.

You know the saying. The way to the heart is through the stomach. This is especially true for men and poor people. Could there be a way to lavish some attention upon your special Mr. or Mrs. than to cook them up a delicious, seductive breakfast and eat it together? Hell NO! Hey, you never know, you might be able to negotiate some morning hanky panky. Now that’s a great start to the day. Like I always say, you can thank me later.

Now the whole idea behind this romantic breakfast is requires a little planning. You don’t just casually roll out of bed at 11:45am, scratch your genitals and look in the pantry and hope you have something. No. You actually need to leave the house and go to the supermarket. You need to have money. To buy stuff. Like milk.

Decide before you go what you’re actually going to make. Now you can go as fancy-pants as you like or you can just be laid-back about it. A huge factor influencing what you decide to whip up is the season. If it’s the middle of summer, you’re likely to want a refreshing, fruity brekkie. In winter, however, it would be fantastic to serve up your smoked salmon scrambled eggs, baked beans and sourdough toast.

Now I’m assuming you’re going to do the breakfast in bed thing. If not, set the table nicely with a pretty tablecloth, clean napkins and a romantic centrepiece. Flowers are always a winner, but if you’re a tightarse, a decorative glass bowl of loveheart candy or pink M&Ms would be equally nice. Don’t do candles if you don’t want to look like a dick.

If you’re planning to enjoy the fruits of your labour in bed, then find an appropriate breakfast tray, pop some cute fresh flowers in a little bud vase or sprinkle with pink and white rose petals.

As for the food, there is no limit to the kinds of stuff you could make. You can put as much or as little effort into it. Some popular suggestions:

* Strawberries and cream

* Chocolate dipped strawberries

* Scrambled eggs on sourdough toast, crispy bacon and grilled tomatoes.

* Blueberry pikelets

* Croissants filled with ricotta, honey and raspberries.

* Bagels smeared with cream cheese and morello cherry preserve.

* Omelettes with a variety of fillings like smoked salmon, tomato and basil or ham and cheese.

* French toast drizzled with honey

* Pancakes with any kind of topping, whether it be chocolate fudge sauce, honey or fresh fruit.

* Fresh fruit salad with honey yoghurt.

* Sauteed mushies on thick cut sourdough toast with wilted spinach, grilled tomato and poached egg.

* Crepes

I’m getting hungry just thinking about it all.

 

Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with lime dipping sauce January 16, 2007

With the Japanese cuisine explosion a few years, things like teriyaki, sushi and yaki soba, which had never been heard before suddenly became all the rage.

Now I know teriyaki has been done to death. Now we’ve all tried it and decided if we like it or not, the quest is on to find a fabulous teriyaki recipe.

If you’re the type of cook to pour your marinades out of a bottle, welcome to my world. However, occasionally, I like to be bold and try and impress my husband so he will buy me things.

This recipe was a hit last night. I suggest you give it a try next time you have your eye on a new pair of shoes that you want for your birthday.

The magic ingredient in this recipe is Mirin, which is a sweet rice Japanese cooking wine. If you cannot get Mirin, go for some sake mixed with sugar.

Ingredients for teriyaki sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup Mirin

2 tbsp sugar

For skewers

4 chicken breasts, sliced lengthways, fat and junk removed

For dipping sauce

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 tsp lime zest, grated

1/3 cup toasted sesame oil (if you only have vegetable or olive, that will do)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar, to taste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

2 tbsp water

Method
Pour all ingredients in a pan.

Stir the mixture well.

Put the pan on low heat and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Remove from the heat and cool the mixture.

Store the sauce in a clean bottle in the fridge.

When you’re ready to use the sauce, pour it into a bowl.

Add sliced chicken breast and mix to coat thoroughly.

For best results, marinate, covered in the fridge overnight. However, if you’re time-poor, marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge prior to cooking.

Thread chicken onto skewers. Some people like to do this before they marinate. The choice is yours.

Cook skewers on a hot grill, turning occasionally until cooked through. The sugar in the sauce will cause it to caramelise, then burn quickly. You will have crunchy sweet black bits on the chicken, this is my favourite part!

To make the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients together and that’s all there is to it! Enjoy!

Sultana Tea Cake January 16, 2007

This is one of my all-time favourite recipes. It reminds me of the first every packet of cake-mix that I made. Back in the old days. *Sigh*.

Tea cake is classic. It’s light enough to enjoy with a cup of tea of coffee during your afternoon break and special enough to cut a slice and pop it in your loved one’s lunchbox and send them off to work.

The trick is soaking the sultanas in boiling hot tea. They soak up all that beautiful flavour and become all plump and juicy and delightfully delish.

I’ve decided to bake mine in a loaf tin because occasionally when nobody is looking, I like to cut a thick slice and smear it will naughty butter and eat it in secret. However you, being the more normal of the two of us, will probably like to bake it in a round springform pan or something like that.

Here is the recipe. It’s all over the place and measurements are very approximate. I was never good with measurements.

Ingredients

1 cup sultanas

8 oz of unsalted butter, room temperature (this works out to about 3/4 of the block you buy the unsalted butter in)

1 cup caster sugar or other fine sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2-3 eggs. You decide.

2 1/2 cups S.R flour

2 black tea or Earl Grey teabags

Pinch of salt. Not sure why, just do it.

Method 

1.   Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. In a heatproof bowl, pour in one cup of boiling water. Add two teabags, soak for three minutes and stir.

2.   Add sultanas to tea and allow to soak for about an hour if time permits. It not, ten minutes will do. Remove them from the tea, drain and allow them to dry on a flat surface.

3.    In a large bowl, use your special power blender thingy to cream the butter and sugar together. Add the vanilla essence, then the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between each egg.

4.   Add the flour and salt to the sultanas. Toss them around so the sultanas are coated well. This will stop them from sinking straight to the bottom of the mixture.

5.   Mix flour mix with butter and egg mix. Stir until well combined.

6.   Pour your batter into a greased loaf pan lined with baking paper. Make sure the baking paper extends over the edges- this will help you lift out the cake later. (I separated my batter between two loaf pans because I felt they were overly full).

7.   Bake for 30-45 minutes depending on your oven. The cake is ready when it is a lovely golden colour and when you poke a skewer through the middle, it comes out clean.

8.   Leave it to cool in its tin before lifting it out. Don’t even attempt to move it or slice while still hot, it is extremely delicate.

This cake will store well in an airtight container for a few days after baking.

Enjoy!

Afternoon Tea is cool again January 14, 2007

Haven’t you heard?

That’s right, afternoon tea is back in vogue.

It’s no longer for old fuddy duddies or Ladies Who Lunch.

Afternoon Tea technically never really went out of fashion, it’s just that people didn’t really have the time or the patience to spend the afternoon talking over freshly baked pastries, scones, tarts and hot tea and coffee.

Afternoon Tea had resurged in popularity as many people find it’s the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon, meet up with the girls for an afternoon of gossiping and laughs or even as the theme of your bridal or baby shower. Why not throw one for your friends next weekend? Tell them it was my idea.

The big ritzy hotels in almost every city on earth offer fancypants Afternoon Teas complete with waiters in cute little gloves, brandishing fancy little tongs with which to serve up your scones and cookies.

Now there is a difference between afternoon tea and grabbing a quick afternoon snack. High Tea generally takes place at around 3pm in the afternoon. So what separates afternoon tea from a Quarter Pounder at McDonalds at 3pm? It’s the ritual, the tradition and the food.

Wherever you go, High Tea will always comprise the same basic rituals, foods and traditions.

It is usually set in sumptuous surroundings, whether that be a beautiful rose garden, an elegant ballroom in a hotel or a stately library in a beautiful home. A cozy living room will do the trick, as will a patio or deck during the summer months. To be frank, it doesn’t really matter where you do it, I mean, I’ve had afternoon tea on a cruise ship in the middle of the South Pacific, as long as the spaces gives off a certain feel of luxury, quiet and elegance.

Before you even consider the idea of throwing an impromptu afternoon tea gathering, make sure you have all the good stuff. A decent teapot (no Lipton tea bags hanging over the side of mugs, thankyou very much!), little serving jugs for milk and cream, a tiered goody serving thing or some really noice plate thingies to put yer grub on. No mugs. Nobody wants to pretend to be sophisticated whilst nibbling on cucumber sandwiches and sipping tea from your Dreamworld Tasmanian Devil mug. Okay?

Every afternoon tea will consist of scones, cookies, baked pastries, tea sandwiches, tarts, cakes and of course, lots of cups of perfectly brewed tea! Remeber, when considered what you’re going to make for your high tea, make sure it can be held with two fingers and isn’t too messy. This probably isn’t the right time to be showing off your skewering skills with satay chicken or serving up a hearty pudding. Keep it simple, keep it nibbly.

We’ve already talked about scones, so I’m assuming you’ve figured out how to make a decent batch. If not, drop everything, turn this computer off and get in the kitchen. Scones are the staple of afternoon tea, without it, afternoon tea is a fraud, kind of like the TomKat marriage.

Scones are best served warm, split in half and spread with lovely tarty jam and clotted cream. If you pull out that whipped stuff in a can, you’re going straight to hell. Don’t stop, don’t collect $200.

Buy some loose-leaf tea and learn how to make it correctly. The last thing you want is to invite all your people over and pour out some dirty dishwater into their teacups. Trust me, I’ve been there.

In my humble opinion, the sandwiches are the best part of afternoon tea. So many different varieties, all so deliciously scrumptious.

The general rule is to allow about 4-6 sandwich servings for each guest. Any more than that and you’ll be rolling them out the door with a wheelbarrow.

The whole idea behind the success of tea sandwiches is to get some good white bread. This isn’t the time for an Aldi 99c loaf of white. Go for the posh bread (you know, the one you buy when you know people are coming over, so you can display it prominently on your bench and hope they think you’re posh!) and DON’T, listen to me, DON’T use them bum ends. Who the hell eats those anyway? They’re the mould gates as far as I’m concerned.

Now I’ve done my research on tea sandwiches, aren’t you lucky. First of all, NO CRUSTS. But the trick is to cut the crusts off after you’ve filled the sandwich. Lop off the ends with a nice sharp knife- this keeps it all neat and good looking like the pictures you’ve drooled over seen.

I’ve also read that no matter what you are slapping in the middle of them, the bread slices should always be buttered. And that’s unsalted butter. If making in advance, the secret to avoid soggy bread is to spread the butter right to the ends of the bread. Don’t know if that’s true, that’s your homework.

Now if you’ve read this far, I’m assuming you know that you don’t just serve up a big fricken sandwich. These sandwiches are little. When they’re made, cut them in half diagonally. And then again.

Some interesting (and traditional) fillings for tea sandwiches:

• Chicken Curry (chicken breast, celery, mayo, curry powder)
• Cucumber (cucumber, der, alfalfa sprouts)
• Egg (Hard boiled eggs, mayo, chopped dill)
• Smoked Salmon (slices of smoked salmon, minced onion, capers, mayo, cucumber, dill)
• Tuna and Cucumber (tuna flakes, diced cucumber, mayo and finely diced red onion)
• Ham and Mustard (slices of honey leg ham with a lovely Dijon or wholegrain mustard, maybe even a slice of cheese)
• Chicken and avocado (Cooked, diced chicken breast, mixed with mayo and avocado until a gluggy delicious mess)

Next, let’s focus on the sweets. Here, your options are endless.

Cookies are a great start. Choc-chip, lemon cookies, orange nut cookies, shortbreads, anything delicate and delectable is spot-on for a great afternoon tea.

Muffins and cupcakes are easy to buy if you can’t be arsed making them yourself. And they look so cool on those tiered tray thingies. Just make sure they’re decorated with all those pretty little things on top and you’ll be right.

Slices, mini – cakes, trifles, carrot cake, sponge cake, fruit cake, you name it, it’s on the table.

There you have it. Afternoon tea- yet another excuse to have another meal in the day!

Image Source 1

Image Source 2

Crunchy fruit kebabs January 5, 2007

This recipe is a bit weird at first glance, but the more I read it, the more I am certain that it’s fricken genius.

Some of you will have a husband kid who won’t do the whole cereal and fruit thing in the morning.

Maybe you were that kid who grew up and still can’t do the whole cereal and fruit thing. Maybe it’s laziness, maybe it’s because you know that fruit and cereal are healthy and you are subconsciously boycotting your body and your waistline?

This recipe is a lot of fun because you can use whatever fruit or cereal suits you. The whole idea is to put a spin on regular fruit skewers by coating the fruit in crunchy cereal or muesli  and then dipping in yummy vanilla and honey yoghurt.

Ingredients 

2 cups of your favourite cereal, crushed finely (cereals like cornflakes or muesli and any other cereals that would make a nice crunchy coating for the fruit are ideal)

2 apples, chopped into chunks

1 can of pineapple rings, cut into chunks

1 punnet strawberries, hulled and halved

2 bananas, cut into chunks

1 cup vanilla yoghurt

2 tsp honey

Method 

Place cereal in a bowl.

Dip chunks of fruit into cereal, making sure it’s coated well.

Thread chunks of fruit on to skewers. Eat this whilst running out the door, 15 minutes late for work or arrange decoratively on a platter if trying to impress.

In a separate bowl, mix vanilla yoghurt and honey until well combined. Serve alongside fruit kebabs.

Yummity yum.

Image source 

Mushrooms on sourdough toast January 5, 2007

I happen to love mushrooms.

Not everyone shares my affection for the fungus, but there is nothing I adore more than yummy sauteed mushies on a slice of thick sourdough toast on a lazy Sunday morning.

You’ll enjoy this recipe if you’re a mushie lover, if not, then BUGGER OFF and grow some tastebuds!

This recipe is apparently intended to serve four people, after they eat throw up their hearty lettuce leaf dinner from the night before.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, rind finely grated
• 4 large flat mushrooms, stalks trimmed
• 4 thick slices sourdough bread
• 40g Boursin herbs and garlic cheese

Method

1. Preheat grill on high heat. Combine oil, garlic, parsley, thyme, lemon rind and salt and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Place mushrooms, stem-side down, on grill tray with bread. Brush mushrooms with herbed oil. Grill for 3 minutes.
3. Turn mushrooms and toast over. Brush mushrooms with remaining herbed oil and crumble over cheese. Grill for further 3 to 4 minutes or until mushrooms are just cooked and bread is toasted. Season mushrooms with pepper. Serve on toast.

Source

Super Food Ideas – June 2006 , Page 27

Falling off the cupcake bandwagon January 5, 2007

Remember how I was enthused about cupcakes for like, five minutes, a while ago?

Well, after a costly trip to Coles, an assortment of piping bag tips and a vast array of coloured patty cases, I am officially OVER IT.

I’m not very good at baking at the best of times, which is why I usually bake when I’m depressed.

My husband knows that the moment he comes in and smells the aromas of something sweet baking in the oven, that something is UP.

Well, my attempt at becoming a cupcake goddess was pretty lame. I mean, the cupcakes themselves tasted good. I was very precise with all my measurements, for the first time, like, ever.

But my patty cases were a little too cheap  floppy and they sort of didn’t retain their nice round shape. And I didn’t put enough mixture into each case.

And then the icing. Oh boy. I just don’t want to talk about it.

Now I have all these bloody baking and icing supplies- but I doubt I will be getting back on the cupcake bandwagon in the near future.

You should have seen the way I iced these things. They were hideous.

Portuguese Chicken Salad December 29, 2006

This yummy salad was something I put together this afternoon because I was too lazy to make anything else.

I dare say this salad is a healthier alternative to the chips and ham sangers you are possibly contemplating.

It was fricken delish!

I’ve used yellow plums in the recipe but if you can’t get them, you can also use mango for that beautiful sweetness.

This is a very yummy, dead easy lunch for those lazy days.

Ingredients

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/2 small cucumber, finely diced

1/2 tomato, finely diced

1 yellow plum, sliced thinly

olive oil, to serve

balsamic vinegar or dressing, to serve

1 chicken breast

Portuguese seasoning or spice rub

Method

Rub the Portuguese spice rub or seasoning over the chicken breast, ensuring you coat all of it well.

You can throw the breast on a hot grill, but for those too lazy to get the grill going like me, just put it in a non-stick pan with a smidge of olive oil and cook it over med-high heat until cooked inside and the outsides have a slightly charred appearance.

Wrap the chicken breast in some foil and set aside to rest for a few minutes.

Arrange your carrot matchsticks in the middle of your plate.

After the chicken has rested for a few minutes, slice it thinly against the grain and arrange atop the carrots.

Mix your plums, tomato and cucumbers in a bowl with a drop of olive oil.

Sprinkle your tomato, plums and cucumbers over the chicken and let it tumble down the sides.

Drizzle some olive oil and basalmic vinegar over the plate and gobble it all up!

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Off for Christmas December 24, 2006

Well, it is time for me to get busy with my Christmas preparations and I need to bathe my stinky dog, so I must bid you adieu for a few days while I stuff myself silly with copious amounts of fattening food.

Merry Christmas to you all- I hope your bellies are all full with delicious food and drink and that Santa is especially good to you this year.

Merry Christmas! 

Avocado December 24, 2006

Avocado is everywhere nowadays.

I must admit that the first time I tried avocado, it tasted like soap.

I’m still not salivating over the taste of avocado, or it’s lack thereof, but I must admit I’m entranced by it. It must be something about how lovely the green, glossy slivers of the fruit (yes, fruit) look sitting atop a delicious meal. Or the fuzzy, oily warmth I feel as it slides down my throat.

Yes, there’s something about avocados that keeps me interested, so that’s why today we’re going to talk about everything avocado.

Let’s start with the basics. Avocados are the fruit of the avocado trees native to Central America and Mexico.

Now I know you think of avocado and think, “OMG IT’S SO HIGH IN FAT!!”- yes, you’re right. It’s higher in fat than most fruits and vegetables, but it’s mostly monounsaturated fat.

They also have 60% or so more potassium than bananas and are rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E, vitamin K, and folate. So they’re fricken good for you, alright?

In the supermarket, you’ll know if an avocado is ripe by gently squeezing the fruit in your hand. I’m not talking death-grip here. Just a gently squeeze. If it’s ripe, it will be a little bit soft.

When you slice one open, the flesh will be a greenish, Exorcist-rotating-head-spew green or a golden yellowish colour.

If you’ve left it out just a little too long, you’ll know about it. The flesh oxidizes and turns brown quickly after exposure to air. To prevent this, lime or lemon juice can be added to avocados after they are peeled.

Avocado is a great healthier alternative to using margarine or butter spreads on sandwiches. Simply mash it up and spread it over the base of your sandwich.

It’s as the base for yummy Mexican guacamole and as the filling for several kinds of sushi, like California rolls.

In Brazil and Vietnam, avocados are frequently used for milk-shakes and occasionally added to ice cream.

In the Philippines and Indonesia, a dessert drink is made with sugar, milk, and pureed avocado.

In Central America, avocados are served mixed with white rice.

The fruit is also pressed for avocado oil production.

In Chile it is often used in hamburgers, hot dogs and celery salads.

It’s a great base for all the yummy salsas that are all the craze at the moment to serve over your chicken or fish. Dice it up finely with tomato, mango, or whatever else strikes your fancy and add some olive oil, seasoning and lime juice and spoon it over delish grilled chicken breasts or fish fillets.

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How to deglaze December 24, 2006

 

What is this deglazing crap you always hear these bloody chefs carry on about?

Why make things even more difficult for you by having to get all fancy and ‘deglaze‘ your pan?

Before you panic, it’s not that hard.

In short, deglazing is scraping the shit out of your pan, adding some liquid to it and pouring it over your dinner.

The whole idea is that when you cook something yummy, little bits of food are going to stick to the bottom of the pan and caramelize. These yummy little scraps are actually full of flavour and when you pour your liquid in, like some stock or red wine, these yummy flavour infuse the liquid as you cook it down over a high heat. This is not the part where you walk away and chat on the phone about Laguna Beach or tend to your cuticles. You need to stand there and work at scraping these scraps off with a wooden spoon and stirring as the liquid reduces.

At this point, you can add your seasonings like chopped parsley, salt and pepper, peppercorns, whatever you want.

If you’re happy with the texture the way it is, serve it over your meal, but if you want that perfectly creamy, velvety kinda feel, chuck in a knob of chilled butter once you take the pan off the heat and stir it through as it melts. This will act to thicken the sauce up and give it a lovely, seductive flavour.

When you’re ready to plate up, pour some of your yummy sauce over the meal and be satisfied in the knowledge that nothing got wasted! Woohoo!

Oh and the best bit? You don’t have to stand at the sink scrubbing like a lunatic to get all the crusty bits off the bottom of the pan! Double woohoo!

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Top 10 things you should ALWAYS have in your pantry December 24, 2006

If you’re lazy like me, which I assume you are because you’re on the internet reading blogs rather than doing something productive, then it’s safe to assume that you despise grocery shopping like I do.

I hate buying stuff.

Hate browsing the aisles, trying to find one particular item when I have a dozen other coloured logos, the words 98% FAT FREE! and NEW & IMPROVED! popping at my poor eyeballs.

Hate the unflattering fluorescent lighting. It makes me squint and shows off my imperfectly blended make-up.

Hate the grubby trolley with its’ grubby dirty handle. Hate being looked at like a FREAK when I pull out my sanitizing hand spray from my bag and spray like crazy.

Hate people who won’t move and hog the whole aisle, especially when standing there reading the MAGAZINES! Just buy the damn thing you fricken tight-arse!

Hate the grotty fruit and vegies that are left over.

Hate finding a tray of beef minute steaks stashed on the taco shell shelf because some fat-arse couldn’t be bothered putting it back.

Hate, hate, hate the stench of the pet food aisle.

Hate having to pretend to be nice to the cashier.

Hate cringing while cashier gets a price check on something embarrassing like KY Jelly/condoms/supersized tampons/cheetos.

Okay, so I hate shopping. I could go on, but I will spare you.

The point is, having a well stocked pantry can help you avoid having to go the horrible supermarket as frequently.

So here are the top ten things you should have in your pantry at all times- with these lifesavers, there will always be something to make a meal out of.

1.

Canned tomatoes

These are essential to any pantry. I cannot imagine my pantry, or my life for that matter, without tinned tomatoes. They are perfect to whipping up yummy pasta sauces and they’re good for you. I read that they also contain high amounts of lycopene, a powerful anti-cancer antioxidant.

You can throw in a can of tomatoes with some olive oil, chopped onion and garlic, a few sprigs of basil, a bay leave and some salt and pepper and have yourself a delicious sauce for your pasta in no time. You can also use it to make soups, like tomato soup, lentil soup, bean soup and minestrone soup.

2.

Pasta

Pasta is not an option. YOU MUST HAVE PASTA!

I don’t care what shape, what colour, whatEVER, just make sure you always have a few reserve packs of pasta waiting for you in case you catch a bad case of toolazytoshopitis. Apart from the fact that dried pasta seems to keep forever, it’s a good base for a hearty, filling meal.

You can make a gazillion different pasta dishes with the variety of sauces out there. Tomato based sauces are easy to make or alternatively, you can do a cream based sauce. Chuck in some vegies, a few herbs and voila. Lazy mans’ dinner. Pasta like penne, orichette and other cute little shaped pastas are also great for pasta salads. Just mix in with some vegies like chopped capsicum or sweet corn kernels and mix with your fave dressing.

3.

Chicken stock

You can add stock to give any meal flavour- everything from your lovely creamy pasta sauce to your minestrone soup, pumpkin soup, whatever soup! This stuff can turn something drab into something edible and maybe even tasty.

4.

Canned corn & canned beans.

These ingredients are very important to always have in your pantry. If you tend to suffer from Icantbebotheredshopping Syndrome, like myself then the only vegetables you will have around will be part of the rotting sludge on the bottom of your crisper section of the fridge.

This is where the corn and beans come in. You can get almost any vegies in cans these days. I didn’t say they were any good however. Stick to the corn and beans because they’re probably the only ones that are any good.

You can use the corn in everything from chowders, minestrone, as a side, in fritters or patties with other ingredients, as a dip, in a salsa or if you’re really lazy and really desperate, you can eat it out of can while you watch American Idol. I have done this.

5.

Tuna

You either love tuna or you hate it. There is no in between.

Tuna is a great addition to always keep in the pantry if you’re okay with fishy flavours.

You can use tuna in almost everything, from salads to sandwiches, to dips, to patties, to pastas. And nowadays there’s those fancy pants tunas with gourmet flavours, like chargrilled and with lemon pepper and red chilli pepper and sun-dried tomato and onion and BLAH BLAH! It’s fricken FISH, in a CAN, with oil or brine. Goes good with stuff. Staple amongst the poor uni students and working schmucks who stink out the office at lunch time with their little tin of stench and then throw the empty can into a wastebasket under their desk, where it CONTINUES to stink until the unforunate cleaner has to get rid of it.

6.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are a fatties’ pantry essential. With their potential for so much greasy evil, why wouldn’t you want to keep some in your pantry? Breadcrumbs are great when you have some meat to crumb and fry up (HELL YEAH!) or if you want to make some patties, meatballs, rissoles, fried with some garlic and shallots and served with oil over pasta or even make some potato croquettes (mashed potato and chopped flat-leaf parsley rolled in egg wash and breadcrumbs and fried until golden and delish!) or even arancini, which are Italian rice balls. They are really yum. Which brings us to our next pantry life-saving item.

7.

Rice

It isn’t just for Asian people anymore, okay?

Rice is a great staple to always keep in the pantry. It’s filling and can be used in a variety of ways.

The type of rice you want to keep in there is up to you, however for diversity, I think just regular long grain rice is the best.

Now I’m not usually one to endorse packet foods, but we live in a day and age where people waste most of their live chained to a desk at work and come home and don’t have a lot of time, or will to live energy and just want something quick. So those little packets of instant rice that you zap in the microwave are a solution for these situations. They may be a ridiculously overpriced rip off, but for the time poor, they are heavensent.

With rice, you can do risottos, add it to soups, make sushi, fried rice, arancini, rice salads, rice pudding, eat it plain with butter and cheese (another whilst watching American Idol moment) or use it to stuff vine leaves or make cabbage rolls. Hubba, hubba!

8.

Flour

For those nights when pancakes seem like a good dinner. Yep, you guessed it, during American Idol.

If you’re too proud to sink down to the level of having pancakes for dinner (and I can guarantee almost EVERYONE has done it ONCE!), then flour always comes in handy for making batters for fritters and patties, deep frying anything you can find or baking a cake. It can also be used to thicken stews and sauces, used as the base of a roux for a cheese sauce or just toss it at your kids if they are giving you the shits, that ought to shut the little turds up.

 

 

9.

Potatoes

If they haven’t gotten to the point where they’re sprouting alien-looking lifeforms, potatoes can be your saviour. They come in handy for everything from potato croquettes, to helping make tuna or salmon patties, to delish mashed potato. Alternatively you can keep them whole and bake them in the oven and split them open, slather them with garlic butter and eat with coleslaw and sour cream.

You could also top a baked potato with slices of avocado, beans, salsa, Cheddar cheese and sour cream. Yummity yum!

Slice em, fry em and make your own chips.

Cut them into wedges, give them a good toss in some olive oil and seasoning and bake.

Dice em up and cook em with some capsicum, garlic, tomato paste and onion for a yummy dinner to dip some bread into. The smell is DIVINE.

And last of all….

10.

A box of your favourite cereal.

For when American Idol is on.

Disgusting Dinners December 24, 2006

Omg!

I have spent the last hour laughing so hard that I almost couldn’t breathe!

You have to check out this thread for pics of peoples’ cooking disasters.

Click here to see it (you will have a great laugh, just make sure you haven’t just eaten or are about to eat!)

Some of that stuff is so freakin’ foul!

It was a great laugh and mighty, mighty entertaining!

One of my faves , pictured  left.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Endeavouring into the land of the cupcakes December 23, 2006

I will be attempting my first cupcakes in the next few days after a lengthy visit to the baking aisle at Coles!

Oh yay, the excitement.

Be sure to check back for pics!

join the The Cupcake craze December 22, 2006

What is with cupcakes being so, well, in the words of Paris Hilton, so hot lately? Everyone is jumping on the cupcake bandwagon these days, trading multi-tiered wedding cakes for tiered cupcake creations and spending hours perfecting their own cupcake recipe.

Me? I never saw the appeal in cupcakes. To me, cupcakes were reserved for childrens’ parties and afternoon teas in nursing homes.

Then I started noticing that I was flicking through cooking magazines and gazing longingly at glossy pictures of perfectly formed cupcakes with luscious frosting on top and decorated with little flowers, butterflies, candy, you name it. And they looked really pretty.

Suddenly, there are blogs devoted to cupcakes.

I find this all very interesting. Interested enough to have a renewed interest in cupcakes and enough interest to start contemplating experimenting with my own cupcake creations. After a visit to the baking aisle in Coles, of course.

Here is a basic cupcake recipe.

Use this as the foundation for all future cupcake experiments. This recipe makes about 12- enough for you to figure out if you suck at baking cupcakes and should give up entirely, or if you are a culinary cupcake genius.

Ingredients

• 60g butter, softened
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or milk
• icing sugar, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line a 12-hole patty pan with paper cases.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
4. Add vanilla and egg.
5. Beat until well combined.
6. Transfer mixture to a larger bowl.
7. Fold in half the flour, followed by half the buttermilk/milk.
8. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk/milk.
9. Stir until batter is smooth.
10. Fill just over half of each paper case with batter.
11. Smooth surface of all cupcakes to ensure a lovely finish.
12. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
13. Stand cakes in pan for 10 minutes.
14. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
15. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Source

Super Food Ideas – April 2006 , Page 81

• 50g butter, softened
• 1 cup icing sugar mixture
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• food colouring of your choice

1. Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter until pale.
2. Add icing sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until pale.
3. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add colouring, 1 drop at a time, stirring until icing is is the desired colour.
5. Spread icing over cakes.

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Table Manners Basics December 22, 2006

I know most of you will skip this post, thinking you don’t need to hear about table manners. After all, your mother drummed it all into your head whilst you were growing up. You can almost hear her again, sternly saying, “Elbows off the table!” and “Only cows chew with their mouth open.”

You’d be surprised how often we go out to dine in restaurants and have to see people with appalling table manners, who don’t even realise how disgusting they are.

I’m big on table manners, not because I’m a snob, but I think if someone went to the effort to cook you a good meal, you should have the common courtesy to eat it properly and show some respect for your fellow diners. Despite what you may think, they don’t want to see what’s in your mouth while you talk. They don’t want you to lean over them and their plate while you help yourself to the salad. And they almost certainly don’t want to see you try and swallow the spoon while you slurp that soup down.

Now before you get your goat up, nobody is asking, or expecting you to be all prim and proper at the table. No pinky-finger out while you sip your tea, no standing when a lady leaves the table, none of that. Relax. Just be fit to be seen eating in public and say it, don’t spray it.

Some basic table manner hints and things to remember are:

Don’t be a bogan and butter your whole breadroll and then eat it whole. Tear off small, manageable pieces of bread and butter it as you go.

Do not season your food before you’ve tasted it. It’s rude and makes you look like a bogan.

Do not slurp soup from your spoon. Spoon the soup away from you when you take it out of the bowl and sip it from the side, not head on. Slurping is so…bogan.

If your soup is too hot to eat, let it sit until it cools; do not blow on it. This makes you look like a bogan.

Don’t stuff your mouth full of food. Not only does it make you look like a starving bogan, but you could choke and there is nothing more embarrassing than choking in the middle of a restaurant or formal dinner.

Chew with your mouth closed. Nobody wants to see what that veal looks like after being attacked by your chompers. Neither do they want to hear all the juicy, slopping, bogan sounds of you chewing it. Don’t utter one word until you have swallowed.

Don’t make any rude comments about any food being served. Attempting to joke that the casserole on your plate looks like dog mush will only result in two outcomes. 1) You will not be invited to any future dinner parties. 2) If you are lucky enough to be invited back, your food will spat in by an angry cook with a long memory.

Always say thank you when served something. It astounds me how many people go to restaurants and totally ignore the waitstaff when they deliver their meals, drinks and cutlery. Take a minute to say thankyou, you jerks! These people handle the food you’ll be ingesting and you don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, so be appreciative.

Wait for your fellow diners to have their meals served before you tuck in. There’s nothing worse than The Pig of the table slobbering all over their plate in a hungered frenzy while the rest of the guests wait patiently. You should all start eating together.

Speaking of The Pig of the table, you should eat slowly and don’t hog into the food like a starving bogan who hasn’t been fed this fortnight because his dole money hasn’t come through yet. Slowly means to wait about 5 seconds after swallowing before contemplating your next bite.

If you get something stuck in your chompers, don’t sit there and pick it out, even if you think you’re being discreet. If you absolutely cannot handle it anymore, excuse yourself and go the toilets and deal with it.

We’ve talked about napkins before. It should be on your lap. If you somehow managed to dribble some of your French onion soup on your chin, use your napking to dab your mouth and chin gently, not smear it across your face like a …yep, you guessed it, like a bogan! Don’t wipe your face or blow your nose with a napkin. I have seen people do this.

Any utensils that have been used should not touch the table again – leave it on the plate at all times.

If someone asks you to pass the salt, you pass both the salt and pepper. Don’t ask why, just do it, okay? That’s just how it’s done. Don’t be a bogan.

When the meal is over, thank the host and if they ask how it was or if you enjoyed it, tell them it was great and you were very impressed, even if this is a lie. Telling them it tasted like “dog shit” probably isn’t appropriate.

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