Better Than I Expected

Do you ever look at a recipe and think it looks good, then go to make it and think that it might not be so great after all? That's what I did with this one. Happily, the end result was quite tasty and I was pleasantly surprised. The kids scarfed it down, even Ms Picky (aka Offspring #2), so I think it's fair to say that I'd consider making it again. The original recipe is for 8 so I halved it (although I wasn't especially careful with with measurements, sorry) and still had leftovers - guess what the kids are having for dinner tomorrow night? I used half of a cooked chook from the supermarket but if you had leftover chicken from last night's roast dinner this would be a perfect way to use it up. I also cooked mine a little longer than suggested, only because I made it earlier this afternoon and then threw it in the fridge for a few hours so it needed to be properly heated through.

Chicken and Vegetable Pasta Bake
Good Taste, August 2007

Serves 8

1 tbs olive oil

1 brown onion, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, peeled, finely chopped

2 celery sticks, ends trimmed, coarsely chopped

2 corncobs, husks and silk removed, kernels removed (I used a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and corn instead)

2 zucchini, trimmed, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed (I used the jarred variety)

300g dried risoni pasta

1 large roast chicken, skin and bones removed, meat shredded

1 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs

1 cup coarsely grated cheddar

Bechamel sauce

60g butter

1/3 cup plain flour

3 cups milk, warmed

2/3 cup coarsely grated cheese

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, corn kernels, zucchini and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

3. To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for one minute or until the mixture bubbles. Remove from heat. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until well combined. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. Simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cheddar.

4. Preheat oven to 190C. Add the pasta, bechamel sauce and chicken to the zucchini mixture and stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the pasta mixture into a 3 litre (12cup) capacity ovenproof dish.

5. Combine the breadcrumbs and cheddar in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the pasta mixture. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Serve.

More Reading Material

Just in case you don't have enough blogs to visit, here are a few more that I've been loving lately and will be adding to my sidebar when I get a chance. It might not be real soon though as things here are a little hectic. I can't make the links a different colour so they show up all pretty-like so just hold your cursor over the name of the blog and click on it to link over and have a read. (Edited to add: YAY!! I made it work so now the links are a different colour and you can find then real easily.)

Mountain Mama visited here a while ago and, as a matter of courtesy, I popped over to check out her site. I love it. She's on the other side of the country to me in a gorgeous country town and shares bits about her life and some lovely photos too. Go check out the tornado that just swept through her town - wow!

Iris is in Germany and I have been reading her blog for a while now. She loves Australia, she's funny and she lives a completely different life to me - all good reasons that I enjoy reading Double-Half.

Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice is one of the original Daring Bakers and she makes the most fabulous food and provides gorgeous photos too. Even if you're not big on baking, this one is worth visiting simply for the drool factor! You can also check out The Daring Bakers blogroll to see all the results from the participant's latest challenge.

And finally, a relatively new blog that has just been bought to my attention by Karen at Bitstop is Rock Recipes. Again, the drool factor is unavoidable and there is a nice mix of recipes on there.

Hope you enjoy browsing.

Sweet and Chewy

I made this slice the other day and we all enjoyed it. This is very sweet and also a bit rich so cut it into smaller than normal pieces and they should be just right.

A tip: If you're storing this in the fridge, like we are in this 37C heat, pull it out of the fridge about 5 minutes before you want to eat it so it's chewy rather than rock hard!

Choc, Apricot and Almond Slice
Woman's Day, April 30, 2007

125g butter, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

2 cups rolled oats

100g milk chocolate, finely chopped, plus extra 40g, melted

1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1. Preheat oven to moderately slow, 160C. Lightly grease and line an 18 x 28cm slice pan.

2. Combine butter, sugar and golden syrup in a medium pan. Stir over low heat for 4-5 minutes, until sugar dissolves.

3. Transfer butter mixture to a large bowl. Add oats, chocolate, flour, apricots and almonds. Mix well.

4. Press mixture firmly into prepared pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until golden.

5. Once slice is cold, drizzle with remaining melted chocolate. Allow to set. Cut into serving size pieces and store in an airtight container.

Here's another recipe that has been in the Ugly Binder for a while. I kept putting it off because of Offspring #2's hatred of pumpkin but finally decided to make it and pull the pumpkin bits out of her serving. Defeatist, I know, but I am sick of fighting with the kids at dinner time. They are generally very good but they both have a stubborn streak about a mile wide (hmmm... now where could that have come from??? LOL) and they are being fussy and painful at the moment.

Hubby and I really enjoyed this. It was tasty, easy and used up the leftover chicken quite nicely. Offspring #1 was very tired and being a big grump so I'm not going to count his opinion as I know that generally he would like this sort of dish. #2? Yeah, she lived up to expectations and ate the cheese out of the salad.

I had some of the leftovers for lunch and it is just as yummy cold the next day. I'll make this one again. Oh, and the photo? No, the vege bake isn't sitting on newspaper, the baking dish is clear glass and that is sitting on the newspaper!

Di's Vege Bake
Super Food Ideas, February 2007

Serves 6

5 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup self-raising flour, sifted

1 cup grated tasty cheese

1 carrot, peeled, grated (they were small so I used 2)

1 zucchini, trimmed, grated

4 green onions, finely chopped (didn't have any so I diced a brown onion and sauteed it with some dried mixed herbs)

150g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes

4 cup mushrooms, chopped (I used about 10 button mushrooms)

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped (didn't add this, see the note about the onion)

I also used the leftover chicken meat from the previous nights roasted chicken pieces. I guess I added about 1 1/2 cups worth.

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a 4cm deep, 20cm (base) square baking dish.

2. Whisk eggs and oil together in a jug. Combine flour, cheese, carrot, zucchini, onions, pumpkin, mushrooms and parsley (and the leftover chicken meat) in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add egg mixture and stir to combine.

3. Spoon vegetable mixture into prepared dish. Smooth surface. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden and set. Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve hot or cold.

Oh Dear!

You know what kind of a day it is when you don't realise that the batteries you just threw into the rubbish bin were the rechargeables. And if you don't fish them out Hubby is going to go ballistic (because it's not the first, or even the second, time you've done this). So you find yourself sorting through such delights as last night's chicken bones, chopped up bits of lettuce, fusty bits of cheese, the contents of your purse that you cleaned out this morning and more soggy teabags than you care to remember... and that's the recognisable bits.

Bleurch!

Not Too Much To Report

Not much happening here today. Well, to qualify that statement there is actually heaps happening and we have been flat out but nothing of much interest LOL. Offspring #2 has yet another cold, at least I know she's not got an infection as she's already on antibiotics for something else. She was set to go to day-care tomorrow but she won't be going now. Luckily my new job hasn't started yet so it's just a heap of money down the drain rather than one of us having to take time off to look after her. Ah, back to the joys of day-care LOL. She's also having 'sleep issues' (that's the polite term, you really don't want to know what I think of it in the middle of the night) and for the past week and a bit has decided that she will be awake all night (don't worry -she's in her bed, not wandering the house!) to finally falls asleep at 3am, in time for her brother to leap out of bed around 5.30! A red dirt tired mummy equals a red dirt grumpy mummy and it's not pretty. She still definitely needs her day-time sleep, without it she's beyond feral by about 4.30 and asleep at the table by 6pm, so we'll let her get over her cold and then start working on sleeping at night THE WAY WE WANT!

I did manage to start on a bunch more alphabet ornaments today while Her Highness napped (two and a half blessed hours!). I got some more beads yesterday and have a few more colours to work with now. I'll post more photos when I get some finished.

The weather is warming up but it's still quite pleasant. Night-time temps are around 20C - warm enough for a fan but not so warm that it's hard to sleep - and day-time temps have been hovering in the mid-30's. I have decided that 34C is really nice but an extra two degrees makes a huge difference. It helps that the humidity hasn't risen too much yet, that will come in another month or so.

Here are some pics of the kids on their respective trampolines. #2 loves the big trampoline but, obviously, it's a bit big for her so Grandma and Grandpa gave her a little one for her birthday. She LOVES it and shrieks "dump, dump" with every jump. Very cute but also very noisy, especially when her ever-helpful big brother joins in!

And here's one of them dancing in the backyard. A shame the music was only in their heads, although they did appear to be dancing to the same tune LOL.

Christmas Already?

I went scrapbooking Friday night and started on my Christmas decorations. I make an ornament of some sort every year for each of the kids and this year I decided to try one I had seen on a website somewhere - I can't link to it as I saw the idea a couple of years ago and made a quick note on a scrap of paper without taking down the website. These were very simple and I think they ended up looking really great. They just need a quick coat of fixative/varnish (I'm cheating and using a spray, I think two or three coats should do the trick) and they'll be done.

I like them so much I'm thinking about making a bunch more and selling them at the up-coming Christmas Craft Markets up here. What do you think?

Spectacular!

We had friends around for a BBQ last night, there were five kids all under 6 so I was aiming for something fairly simple but nice at the same time. I made the same old potato bake as usual but used a different brand of tinned soup - I won't be doing that again. I didn't even think about it making that much of a difference but the flavour was completely different and, while everyone else eat it happily, I wasn't impressed. I also made another pavlova but this time I topped the cream with a couple of smashed up Crunchies (choc-coated honeycomb chocolate bar, just in case they go by a different name elsewhere in the world).

It was seriously decadent and absolutely delicious. I wouldn't do it everytime but it was nice for something different. To go along with the meal I decided to try yet another recipe I have been eyeing off for some time. It is a bread recipe, with a slight twist, and although there are quite a few steps and it does take several hours it is absolutely worth the time and effort. Light, airy, delicious and a real crowd pleaser. I will be making this again and I'll be trying all sorts of variations for the filling - I'm thinking ham and cheese, herb and and garlic, and maybe olive tapenade. You could easily do it with Vegemite too but I'm not a big fan of vegemite scrolls so I don't think I'd like it too much in here either. If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them.







Onion and Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread.
Madison, July 2007







8g sachet of instant dried yeast (I used a 7g sachet)
2teaspoons, sugar
1 cup (250ml) milk, lukewarm
2 3/4 cups (400g) plain flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
75g butter, melted
25g butter, solid
350g red onions, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan

1. Place the yeast, sugar and 60ml of the milk into a small bowl and leave for 5 minutes or until yeast mixture starts to foam.

2. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add yeast mixture, remaining milk, egg and melted butter.

3. Mix together until a loose dough forms, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth.

4. Lightly grease a bowl with some oil and add the dough, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm, draught-free place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (I got caught up doing other stuff and mine ended up rising for closer to 2 hours).

5. Melt solid butter in a pan over medium heat, add the onions and cook for 20 minutes or until soft and caramelised, set aside to cool.

6. Knock the down down and knead lightly. Then using a rolling pin, roll the dought into a 35cm x 25cm rectangle. Sprinkle with parmesan and scatter with the onions.

7. Starting with a long side, evenly roll the dought up into a log shape, trim the edges, cut into 11 pieces and place into a greased 20cm pie time. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise a gain for 45 minutes.

8. Preheat oven to 170C.

9. Brush with a little melted butter, sprinkle with sea sat and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

It's All About Me.

As if you were in any doubt!

WARNING: self-indulgent dribbley post ahead. Feel free to skip today and come back tomorrow.

It's a funny day for me. Offspring #1 is at school and Offspring #2 has gone off to her second day at child-care. I have a new job (more on that in later posts when I have more details) which won't start for another week or so and I'm sitting in a house all alone. And it will be this way until 2.30 this afternoon.

This hasn't happened in... well since I was pregnant with #2 and so sick that #1 had to go to child-care because I couldn't look after him on my own while Hubby was at work.

It's a really odd feeling. I have been a SAHM for the past two-years and, despite my misgivings at times, I have really enjoyed it. I have been defined by my kids for all that time and today they aren't here. I'm at a bit of a loose end. The house is relatively clean, and while the living room could do with a vacuum my OCD is ramping up at all the changes that are taking place and I'm not sure I'd be able to stop at just vacuuming so I'll wait till tomorrow when everyone is home and I'm more pressed for time. I'm well aware of my OCD triggers and, having dealt with a bit of craziness not that long ago, am working hard on not letting it take over.

Offspring #1 is coping pretty well with the proposed changes. We had a couple of practice runs this week of me walking him to his class then kissing him goodbye and leaving rather than going in with him and doing puzzles, etc, together. Offspring #2 was not thrilled with child-care on Wednesday. As I left she was screaming, "no, my mummy." It was heartbreaking but to put a positive spin on it, it was her first proper sentence so her language skills are developing! I figure I'd better laugh at this stuff or I'll cry myself silly and never go back to work. She is an independant, inquisitive and friendly little person and I am totally confident that she will love daycare when she gets used to it. She has never been far away from me and moving here meant a real lack of babysitters so she's never really had anyone else look after her. Once she gets used to the new routine, understands that I'm not deserting her and I will be back this afternoon, and that it is only three days a week so she'll still have Mummy all to herself a couple of days of the week I know that she'll love her daycare as much as #1 loved his. Of course none of this is actually helping me right now!

The dumbest thing is that I'm soooooooo ready to be working. I need to do something with my brain, I need to do stuff where people do what I tell them to (rather than them throwing a screaming tantrum on the kitchen floor and telling me I'm a "bery bad mummy"), and I need to get back into the workplace for my own sense of worth. I love being a mum but I can't say I love being JUST a mum. I know there is no such thing as JUST a mum, so don't flame me, I mean that the role of 'mum' while fulfilling, isn't quite fulfilling enough for me. I admire, even envy, women who want to be with their kids all day and get such a sense of self-worth from that role. I don't feel that way and I'm okay with it. I really feel like I have been incredibly lucky to have been able to have this time at home with the kids, and that was partly possible because of our decision to move to Red Dirt Central so for all my whinging about living here - if we didn't I would have been back at work well over 12 months ago.

For the positive spin:

- I'm really looking forward to my new job, what I can achieve in it, and the new challenges I'm going to face;

- Offspring #1 is doing well at school, he is feeling secure and his confidence is steadily growing;

- Offspring #2 is an independant, inquisitive and friendly little person who will settle into daycare quite happily, once she gets used to it.

- Hubby's looking forward to the second income :)

Thanks for being my free therapy session today!

Like Mother...

Like daughter!

Simply Wonderful

I have only attempted to make a sponge cake once before and, let's just say that it wasn't a raging success. I don't have that 'lightness of hand' that is so necessary for fluffy sponges and it took many many many attempts before I mastered the art of scones. I don't think it helped much that a certain eldest offspring of mine was determined to "help stir" the sponge mixture and his hand is most definitely not light LOL.

So it was with some trepidation that I approached this recipe. I'd torn it from a magazine half planning to make it and half dreaming that it might magically spring from the page ready-made. I finally worked up the courage and decided to take it for dessert to a bbq with friends. Oh my, this is simply wonderful.

The sponge was so fluffy and light - everything you could want in a sponge. It wasn't difficult to make and the couple of extra steps added so much to the end result that it was well worth the effort. I have to say that, while it was lovely for dessert, it really came into it's own the next day (we all ended up with a little bit of the leftovers) when the flavour of the filling had worked through the cake. This is a delightfully delicious addition to my repertoire and I'll be trotting it out again, I just have to work out when.

Mascarpone and Fig Sponge
(Pan di Spagna con Fichi e Mascarpone)
Australian Table, July 2006

5 eggs, separated

1 cup caster sugar

2/3 cup plain flour

1/2 cup cornflour

1 cup fig jam

Mascarpone Filling

2 eggwhites

500g mascarpone, at room temperature

2 tablespoon icing sugar, plus extra icing sugar to dust

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and lightly flour a 24cm springform pan.

2. Using an electric beater, beat egg yolks and half of the caster sugar for 5 minutes, until pale and thick. Gently fold twice-sifted flour and cornflour through yolk mixture.

3. Using an electric beater, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Beat in remaining caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until thick and glossy. Fold into yolk mixture. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool.

4. To make Mascarpone Filling, beat eggwhites using an electric mixer until firm peaks form. Gently fold mascarpone and icing sugar through eggwhites. Using a serrated brad knife, cut cake into three layers. Spread half of jam over base and top with half of Mascarpone filling. Repeat layers once more, finishing with top of cake. Dust with extra icing sugar before serving.

It's A Winner

I put off making this lasagne dish for three weeks because I assumed that it would be difficult and that the kids probably wouldn't like it anyway. Offspring #2 is being particularly fussy at the moment and it's driving me a bit nuts. It's all typical two-year-old behaviour but, my goodness, does it get on my nerves when I have chosen a recipe I'm sure she'll love only for her to have a taste, say "nooooooooo" or even worse, "yuk" (pretty much guaranteed to make my blood boil) and push it away. Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and tried this one out and it was delicious and really simple to make. It took me about an hour and a half from grabbing out the chopping board to putting the meal on the table but you could easily prepare it the night before. Hubby and I loved it and Offspring #1 polished his off and asked for seconds so I knew I was on a winner there. #2 did well until she came across the pumpkin, which she has decided is the foulest vegetable known to man, after which she refused to eat any more. Sadly for her, I love pumpkin so it tends to find it's way into any number of dishes and she's just going to have to get used to it!

Here's the recipe. I'm giving it to you as it appeared in the magazine but I halved it which fed the four of us for one night and left enough for dinner for Hubby and I the next night. I forgot to add the onion but we didn't miss it, so I won't bother to put it in next time round.

Vegetable and Ricotta Lasagne
Australian Table, July 2007

1 medium kumara, peeled, sliced

400g pumpkin, peeled, sliced

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

1 large onion, sliced

2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthways

2 carrots, sliced lengthways

3 medium potatoes, peeled, sliced

575g jar bolgnese pasta sauce

1 kg ricotta

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 packet instant lasagne sheets

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Cook vegetables in a steamer over boiling water on medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes, until soft.

2. Cover base of a 12-cup baking dish with one-third of vegetables. Season to taste with a little salt and a good griding of black pepper.

3. top with one-third each of pasta sauce, ricotta, parmesan and lasagne sheets. Repeat layers, finishing with parmesan. Bake for 45 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Serve with mixed salad leaves.

Look What Happens...

When Dad takes you for a haircut.

According to Offspring #1 the barber was "a bit crazy" and instead of one spike he gave him two! Don't worry, it's only gel and the haircut underneath (while a little shorter than I would have asked for!) is quite normal. Oh, and the grubbiness around his face? Mostly peanut butter with a dash of jam. More influences from his Dad!

Happy Birthday to...

Max.

Our beautiful Max had his tenth birthday today and what else could we do but celebrate?

He received gifts of tennis balls, homemade cards and pictures from his human brother and sister and a lovely juicy bone.

We also made a birthday cake for the human members of the family. It was a chocolate fudge cake that was a little disappointing taste-wise but it looked great.

And if the applause and general noise level was any indication, the cheer squad was impressed.

We even had some friends over to help blow out the candles and join in the party.

Yeah we're kind of insane, but in a good way!

What A Fantastic Holiday!

We're back, obviously! We had the best time. There was lots of relaxing, several afternoon naps for the whole family, lots of playing on the beach, animal sightings and just heaps of fun!

We stayed in a lovely villa.

It had everything we needed and lots of room to spread out.

It even had a spa, which the kids thought was a terrific swimming pool.

The kids did get colds while we were away and we had a couple of less than restful nights but nice long naps the next day helped. The weather was gorgeous - 5 or so degrees cooler than here, so around 30C, and quite cool at night. I hadn't packed any cool weather stuff and have to admit that I wouldn't have minded a pull-over one or two nights.

Offspring #1 was hugely excited to see emus (yeah, we thought it was pretty good too!). They come right into town as the weather warms up and can be quite a nuisance. We saw a couple in town, in people's front yards, but this lot were just on the outskirts.

#1 was also excited to see kangaroos from his bedroom window each morning. In fact he was so excited that he had to wake us up and tell us all about it... at 5.30 in the morning! We were slightly less excited LOL.

We spent lots of time playing at the beach. We went down to Coral Bay, which is about an hour south of Exmouth and is just gorgeous. Sadly my batteries died as we got there and of course I'd left the spare set at the villa :( However we also visited beaches close to Exmouth where the boys had a go at fishing (no luck) and #2 and I played in the shallows and built sand castles. At this spot the tide was out and we had a shallow little pool sheltered by a ring of coral, beyond that was the beautiful aqua water which was protected by another ring of coral, hence the name The Coral Coast.

Hubby, Offspring #2 and I have come home with lovely golden tans - I think #2 just needs to walk past the window to tan up, she certainly doesn't get her colouring from me - but #1, despite all the time he spent outside, is still our Neon Boy with his blindingly white little body. I always thought I had fair skin but his defies all of the sun's attempts. We were all covered in sun-screen and wore our rashies and hats at all times. Here we see Neon Boy with his beloved sister/ arch nemesis, Brown Girl in the Tub

We had bbq's and bought fish and chips, went out for dinner, played mini-golf and ate ice-creams.

We went for lovely walks, did lots of sight-seeing and had an absolute ball.

We haven't crossed Exmouth off our list of holiday destinations because... we loved it so much we're planning to go back.

We're Off!

And I mean that in a good way LOL. We're about to head off on our holiday to Exmouth and we can't wait.

The Gastro Bug paid us a visit over the weekend and I, who normally come off quite well against gastro, went down with a bang. I've lost 4 and a half kg's and I think you'll understand how bad it was if I tell you the first four were gone in the first ten hours or so :( . Everyone else got some variation of the bug but all seem to have bounced back quite nicely. I'm still on crackers and water, but gosh I'm close to my goal weight!

Anyway, Exmouth beckons. We're staying in a swanky villa, planning lots of relaxing and playing with the kids, some fishing, lots of swimming and hopefully yummy food too!

I'll see you in a week or so with lots of pics from the trip.