Man Risotto aka Tomato and Chorizo Risotto

Risotto used to be something I made as a treat.  All that stirring. Blerk! Since Thermie arrived, risotto has become something I make when I can't be bothered making any thing or there's nothing in the fridge to make anything from.
After a big weekend making coffee for a local cycling event I found myself not knowing (or caring that much! ) what to make us for dinner tonight.  With not much in the fridge I went for an old favorite that has not many ingredients and a flexible recipe so its is easy to make something that will please.

Chop 1 onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in Thermie then add a glug of oil and cook 3 min /varoma/sp 1.
Put in butterfly. Add 400gm of rice (I use medium grain for everything! )  and a chunk of butter. Cook 2min/100°/reverse/Speed 1
Next add half a jar of spag sauce and top up with water to the 2 litre mark. Add 2 or so tablespoons of chicken stock (I use massel), a chopped chorizo and whatever else you've got going. ..it was peas and parsley today!
Cook 17 min/100°/reverse/speed 1.
Let it sit for a few minutes then serve it up with some parmesan cheese. 

So. Damn. Easy.

Steak Pie

Meet Mr Steak Pie, I met him through the EDC (Everyday Cookbook) where he goes under the name Aussie Meat Pie. Sadly, he is no longer with us.....

A bit silly I know! I gave my children 2 googly eyes each and they ran around the house making everyday things come alive! Sometimes when your a non TV watching family you have to get a bit creative ;)  

So, I gave this recipe a try again using rump steak I had found on special. 

I was feeding 7 so I doubled the recipe in a round about fashion...not quite twice the meat and I added extra tablespoon of cornflour because I wanted it thicker. I didn't use the 2 TABLESPOONS??? of Vegemite I used about 1/4 of a teaspoon instead which was much better for our tastebuds.I also put in a big blob of tomato sauce, thats not in the recipe but I think its a great addition. I used thermie shortcrust pastry for the base and a bought sheet of puff for the lid because I had no ice to make my own!

I served it with scalloped potatoes (Mr Dairy Free had his own baked potato) baked the regular way..Sliced potato, onion, sprinkle with good chicken stock, black pepper and pour over 600ml of cream, cover with foil, bake at 180 for at least an hour......and of course some regular steamed veg.

It scored a 7/7 (7 people ate it, 7 people liked it!) 

I don't know why...but I love a good pie!

Happy Cooking!

Spag Bog and our menu.

It doesn't look that great.....but it was delicious!

We don't often make Spag Bog here. The kids don't really like it?? But tonight, it was quick, easy and I didn't have to think to much about it!  I checked out Quirkys recipe and mostly followed it.
I made these changes..

• I used minced beef
• no zucchini, used green capsicum and dried herbs
• I added the semi dried tomatoes in the same step as the veg so they got all chopped up. 
• no olives, no red wine
• I added extra water because it all seemed to thick to stir about and cook properly, and I still stopped it and gave it a mix with my trusty spatula a couple of times
• I also cooked it for an extra 15 minutes and threw in some baby spinach that needed to be used.

 The verdict was that we should defiantly have it again!! Lucky because it made the full 2 litres, which left about half for another meal!!



I was asked recently to share how I do my meal planning. It has made a big difference to the way I shop and makes things run much smoother! It also makes it easier to think in bulk when buying.

Firstly we all decide what we would like to eat for the next 2 weeks. Everyone gets a say and I make sure the kids all get at least one thing they have suggested. I also ask for suggestions for their lunch boxes too.
As I write the meals down I also write what I need to buy to make that meal. I have one column for Aldi, one for Safeway. By keeping it all in the one notebook I can use it to look back on when I need some inspiration and carry it to the supermarket with me. Sounds a big daggy, but it works a treat! 
The notebook hangs about in the kitchen so when we are deciding whats for tea, we look at the book and see what the options are and I can plan ahead if need be.......
Here's this fortnights menu plan

• Meatloaf with mash and veg                                              
• Steak Pie and Scalloped Potatoes and veg
• Pumpkin Soup and bread
• Veg Curry and Rice
• Honey Mustard Chicken with rice
• Chicken Soup and bread
• Beef and Blackbean Stirfry
• Risotto
• Pasta of some sort
• Mexican beans with poached eggs on toast
• Muesli Bars
• Lemon Slice
• Apricot Balls
• Fruit Loaf
• Sausage rolls

Are you the meal planning type? or the winging it type??

Quirkys Paprika Chicken and BUTTER!

Being Anzac Day you would think I should have made biscuits. But I am the worst Anzac biscuit maker EVER! 

So we made a couple of loaves of bread....

Scones with mulberry jam for lunch...

(isn't the color beautiful??)

and we made our own butter! 

Zara loved making the butter too, especially the part where she licked the spatula!

I get an immense kick out of making the normal things we have been buying for years. Pasta, tomato sauce, bread etc. I am always pleased to find another something I can make for myself instead of heading to the supermarket. I have spent a lot of time day dreaming about self sufficiency over the years......
Now I am dreaming of a cow so I can have loads of 

lovely cream to make butter from!

I used the recipe from the EDC, it was so easy and quick! I whipped in 1/2 tsp of salt and 50gms of Rice Bran oil at the end to make it spreadable out of the fridge. We'll be making it again for sure!

Lastly I made Quirky Jo's Paprika Chicken ...recipe here.

I was delicious! I didn't have any Herbamare (or even know what it was!) I just gave the chicken a sprinkle of salt and pepper instead, but have since found a homemade recipe of herbamare here

that I might made in the future. 

So the Paprika Chicken is a winner (I could happily have it minus the meat), lovely and creamy without the cream thanks to the cashews, which will be appreciated by my dairy free lad!

Look what happens when no ones watching!

Happy Cooking!

 

Peachy upsidedown cake

Tonights dessert/tomorrows lunchbox treat was/is Peach upsidedown cake. 

I have never made a cake like that before, but I had some tinned peaches leftover so I searched the recipe community and this is what I found! 

You can find the recipe I used here.

I am not a cake fan really, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it! 
I served it with vanilla custard from the EDC and put in too much cornflour in AGAIN.....20gms is nice for us..must remember!!

Next time I think I'll try Apple and Cinnamon instead of peaches....

Happy Cooking!

Roast Chicken Dinner Pie and the always delicious Chocolate Pudding

I first made the Roast Chicken Dinner Pie after making a huge roast dinner and everyone coming down with a bug and going to bed early leaving me with a heap of yummy food and no one to eat it!  Re-heating food is never appealing to me for some reason, but wrapping it in pastry is perfectly acceptable! 

This time when I made the roast dinner I cooked heaps of extra vegies just so I could make this pie again, its scrumptious! I used baked carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, onion, 4 cloves of garlic, left over peas, cauliflower and cheese ( this part in the most important!) leftover chicken and gravy.  You could add potato ( I don't like it much!) pumpkin ( my sis in law doesn't like it!) corn, broccoli, beans..... whatever!

First of all pre heat your oven to 180, then make a batch of puff pastry from the EDC and pop it in the fridge. Then make shortcrust pastry from the EDC, roll it out on glad wrap and line your beautiful pie dish (thanks Andrea!) Remove the gladwrap and cover with a sheet of baking paper, fill with rice or beans or pies weights! and blind bake at 180 for 10 minutes, remove paper and weights and bake for another 10.

 Mix all your chopped vegies and chicken and gravy together. 

It shouldn't be too dry, if it is make up some extra gravy or cheese sauce and add it in...here's what mine looked like...

This is just a regular bowl...I didn't chop it using the thermomix!

Pile it into your pie dish... I like to pile it up high!!

Roll out your puff pastry on glad wrap and cover up that yummyness!

I like to cut a big cross in the top to let the steam out. It helps the pastry cook better!

Bake it until its nice and brown and warm inside, approx 30 minutes.

One day you can have some Bonnie! 

Dessert tonight was good Ole' Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding! The same recipe I have always used but I Thermied it for the first time...

1. Pre Heat oven to 180
2. using the butterfly on sp 4 cream 1/4 cup of butter ( I just guess!) and 1/2 cup of sugar 
3. while its running add and egg and 1 tsp of vanilla, give it a scrape down and another quick mix
4. add 1 cup of SR Flour, 1/2 cup of milk and 2 dessert spoons of cocoa and mix for 1 minute on sp 4 giving it a scrape down if needed.
5. put mixture into a casserole dish
6. without cleaning out your jug add 2 cups of hot water, 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 dessertspoons of cocoa and mix on sp 4 for 30 sec. 
7. tip out onto cake mixture and bake in oven for 30 min or so
8. add a massive amount of cream and pat yourself on the back while you eat it for making something everyone will love that's wonderfully frugal.....

 Happy Cooking!

You'll never buy wraps again!

Ok,  Firstly I have to post from my phone because my computer won't turn on!!! So everything might be higgeldy piggeldy..sorry!

Now let me tell you a story.  I was cleaning our caravan recently and found an open packet of wraps that I had left in the cupboard from our January holiday.  Expecting the worst I pulled them out and guess what?  They were in perfect condition. Absolutely perfect.  I can only imagine what must be in them to keep them so fresh feeling for so long!  Yucko! 

Now that I have freaked you out I have a recipe so you can make you own and you won't need them to last forever because someone will eat them because they are GOOD! (And cheap! ) 

Wraps

620 gm flour ( plus extra for dusting the bench)
50gm of oil
1/2 tsp salt
600gm boiling water

Put it all in the TM process on sp7 for 6 sec the 2 min on wheat.

Dump it all on the bench and if it looks like play dough your on the right track.
It will be hot,  so give it a min to cool then separate into 12 pieces. 
Roll out one at a time to as thin as you can, then cook in a dry frypan on a med to high heat flipping over before it burns.  It's an easy process.  It takes about as long to cook add it does to roll out the next wrap for cooking.  As always its trial and error, but it's #6 on my stove top! 

I plan on trying it out with garlic oil one of these days. We use these for lunch wraps, Souvalki wraps,  with curry... By themselves with dip.. You could cut them and toast them in the oven to make a chip... You could sprinkle herbs and spiced on them...