Papaya, pawpaw we all cry more, more!

When I was asked if I was interested in the taking part in a papaya recipe challenge I was just a little bit excited. When these little babies turned up on my doorstep I was even more excited.

Now I know that from that photo the red pawpaw (the longer of the two) looks a little worse for wear. When I cut it open though that was far from the case.

Even though I live in the tropics and have even had papayas grow in my backyard it is not something that we eat all that often. For some reason the girls are not the hugest fans. Which I think has something to do with the soft squishy texture of them.  And quite possibly the fact that I had never thought of actually making something with them. Up until now I had simply thought of pawpaw as a stand alone fruit you eat by itself.

Oh how little I knew.

Thankfully with the papayas came some wonderful recipe ideas. So wonderful that I set about trying to make them all and promptly declared the following day as pawpaw party day.

Now since then (the middle of May) and now life has been a non stop roller coaster of events which has sadly seen all things blogging take a back seat. Which means I suddenly find myself on the final day to enter without a post. And while I don’t think I came up with the most imaginative or creative recipe I still feel compelled to get something out purely and simply because I said I would.

One of said events that has taken place in the last month has been me packing up the house ready for #ouradventureofalifetime. Which means the recipes I used have been put…who knows where. So I am more than winging it right now.

My favourite one though was a prawn and pawpaw tortilla. Super easy and beyond yummy, though not very popular with the kid lets on account of the prawn factor.

All I did was gently pan fry some prawns, about 3-4 per tortilla. To fry them I just put some butter and crushed up garlic in a pan on a low heat and added the prawns. It only takes a few minutes each side. I then put some thinly sliced papaya and rocket and spinach leaves on a warmed tortilla. Then added the prawns and drizzled over lemon mayonnaise. Which is essentially just ordinary mayonnaise with lemon juice squeezed into it. Yum, yum yum.

 My next favourite dish was a breakfast/dessert. This one was the one the kids most liked as well.

First up I boiled some (1 cup) of raspberries with some sugar and water. And here is where you discover what a terrible food blogger I am because for the life of me I cannot remember how much sugar and water I used and given my terrible lack of internet at the moment I can’t google it to find out. Essentially though I was just making raspberry syrup.

Once the raspberries were liquified and sugar all dissolved I put it aside to cool. Once it was cool I layered it in a cup with granola, diced pawpaw and vanilla yoghurt. Sprinkling some chocolate powder on top. Perfect for a healthy dessert or breakfast which makes it totally winning in my book.

Another of the recipe suggestions was a pancetta and papaya pizza. Which I thought would win the kids over hands down simply because it was pizza. Apparently I was wrong.

Though I must admit that the pizza I made was nothing at all like the recipe on account of me for getting to get the pancetta when I did the shopping. I also excluded the ricotta and rocket leaves because I just knew they would make it a no go zone for the kids I was cooking for.

So my pizza stared papaya slices, bacon and mozzarella with a BBQ sauce. Rather than a traditional pizza base I used the tortillas wraps as I love how they make for a crispy base.

The final recipe I created if you will was a pawpaw and rocket salad.

In this little beauty I just through together my favourite green leaves, (rocket and baby spinach), some diced papaya, fried bacon, pine nuts and some diced chicken. Instead of a dressing I just squeezed some lemon juice over the top. Again all kinds of delicious.

So there you have it. What I came up with for the Aussie Papaya Challenge.

Did someone say pancakes? On a weekday?

Now before I get started I feel that I need to offer a bit of a disclosure. You see I feel that I have already written this post but I just can't seem to find it. Which perhaps means that my feeling is wrong. Maybe I didn't write it I just though really long and hard about it. Stranger things have happened I know.

Of course if the Blogger search box widget was working properly I would be able to have a really good look and know for sure one way or another but sadly that is not the case. In fact the Blogger search is so useless that I have removed it from the side bar. Which is more than just a little frustrating but what can you do? I fear I was the only one that ever really used it anyway so little sleep will be lost.

Apparently the only other time I have mentioned pancakes was here,
which was not the post I thought I had written and was looking for,
it is however a super cute photo.

Pancakes are one of our most loved breakfasts here. But then that is not really surprising. Who doesn't love a good pancake for breakfast?

A better question might be who actually has time to cook pancakes in amongst the weekday morning hustle and bustle?

Well put the mixer down and hold the phone because have I got the best news for you.

Cooked pancakes can be frozen and then simple zapped in the microwave as needed.

AMAZEBALLS huh?

I was totally gobsmacked when I first read about it. In fact I went and whipped up a batch right away, stuck them in the freezer and gave it a go. And then when I discovered that it was true I felt like my life had changed forever. So much so that I was certain I went and blogged about it right away but apparently not.

Anyway I am sharing the news now and that is all that matters. And in case you don't have a fail safe pancake recipe I am going to share mine with you.

The most awesome pancake mix ever*

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup almond meal or oats or combination of both or any other similar substance

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 grated apple

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Grab a large bowl and throw all the ingredients in

Get the electric mixer and mix it all together until you have a lovely smooth batter.

If you wish you can sift flour, pre beat eggs and milk and then add gradually but experience has taught me that at the end of the day it makes little difference other than mixing for a bit longer.

Heat pan with some butter and oil in the bottom. Tip excess oil and butter into glass jar to be reused between each batch.

Spoon desired amount of batter into pan and cook until little bubble appear. The bubble indicate it is time to turn. Flip and cook until golden brown on both sides. Repeat until batter is all gone.

Serve with your favourite toppings, ours include maple syrup, sugar & lemon, honey (& lemon), fresh fruit, yogurt, nutella and on some days even ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Whatever doesn't get eaten layer between baking paper and whack in the freezer till you next want pancakes. Even on a school day.

Frozen pancakes can be zapped for around 30 seconds each I think (I am fairly confident you will be able to work it out for yourself)

* I feel it would be remiss of me not to say that I rarely actually measure the quantities used I think this is about what I would use. If it is too thick add more milk, too runny add more flour. The apple can be optional as well if you leave it out put in a little more sugar.

Nothing beats homemade chicken and vegetable soup

My rather awesome and totally pinworthy (hint hint)
Chicken and Vegetable Soup

In this house when we start to get sick the first thing we do is eat. Nothing particularly special, just standard good whole foods. Generally lots of fruit like strawberries, oranges, and kiwi fruit are consumed during the day. When it comes to dinner, there is one fail safe that I always turn to and that is my homemade chicken and vegetable soup.

Some days when I make it I go all out and even make my own stock before I make the soup. Other days I cheat and just use a lovely box of pre-made stock. Today I am going to share with you the whole process, including the stock making. (Excited much?)

Chicken & Vegetable Soup
with homemade stock

Ingredients - stock

2kg chicken necks

leaves and tips from 1 bunch of celery

2 carrots

vegetable peelings from soup vegetables

2 onions or 1 leek

4 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf (optional I often don't use them but I know others that love them)

Ingredients - soup

2 turnips

2 swedes

4 carrots (my kids are a bit carrot crazy)

3 garlic cloves

1 celery stick

stock (either homemade or pre bought about 4-6 cups)

2 chicken breasts

optional extras - parsnip, pumpkin, potato, brocoli or any other veg that takes your fancy, pasta/noodles

Method - stock

Place all ingredients in a large pot (preferably with a strainer inside it see photo below, there is probably some technical name for this kind of pot but I don't know it). Veggies only need to be roughly chopped. No need to peel. This includes the onions, though if using leeks still give them a good wash as they are generally full of dirt. 

Just a side note on the vegetable peels. I actually peel all my other vegetables for the soup in advance, cover them with some water and throw the peels in the pot. 

Cover with water and bring to the boil. Gently simmer for a few hours. I like to give mine a bit of a stir and mash every now and then, just to make sure all the goodness of the juices get squished out.

My awesome pot with insert
Perfect for making stock and soup 

If you are like me and have one of these super cool pot inserts, separating the liquid from the other stuff is as easy as eating ice-cream. 

If however you don't, you need to find yourself a super large sieve. 

If you are after a particularly clear stock then you need to find the sieve and a new chux cloth and pour the liquid through the chux lined strainer. 

Not that I have ever actually done this, but I have heard that it is what all the top chefs do when they want to make a liquid clearer. In our house thankfully no one is particularly fussed on how clear their soup is.

Stock with celery and garlic

Method - Soup

Dice all vegetables to about 1-1.5cm square. If you are adding broccoli leave out till 5 minutes before cooking other wise it will just become mush.

Place in pot and cover with stock.

Gently simmer for an hour.

Add finely diced chicken. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so.

If adding noodles or pasta they can either be cooked in the pot with the soup (saves on washing) or cooked separately and added when serving. Just check the cooking times on packet and add to pot that long before you want to serve.

Full of nature's goodness

 It's Tuesday and I have blogged which means I am joining Jess and the gang for IBOT.

You should too!

How to make a 'Pigs In Mud Cake'

A month or so ago our IBOT hostess with the mostess liked a picture on Facebook. Knowing that her birthday was just around the corner I took it as a hint. After all it is not every day that you turn thirty.

All in all not a bad effort.
Even if I do say so myself

While I am no cake baker I closely examined the picture and decided it was well within my capabilities. Really all it was, was a chocolate cake surrounded with kit kat bars and a couple of fondant pigs wallowing on top.

Easy as!

Though I did decide that a trial run was in order as well. Which worked out well because then that gave the birthday girl a cake to have with the kids and a cake for the adult party. Win, win. Though according to my girls a better solution was to let them have the trial. I foresee a few more pig cakes in my future this year.

Since I am a sharing, caring kind of blogger I am going to let you know how I went about it all.

First up you need to have some chocolate cakes. I cooked made three from the recipe that I found on the side of the self raising flour that I purchased for the occasion. I tried going to their website to link it in, but would you believe that it is not on there?

There is this one for a rich chocolate cake which I must admit does sound rather nice and not unlike the one I used. Alternatively you can try and copy it from this photo

This is not a sponsored post, just me telling it how it is.

or perhaps head down to the local supermarket and check out the backs of self raising flour packets.

Anyway even though I cooked three you probably only need two. I just wanted one to practise with. Also if your cake is a lovely rising high cake you may only need one. Mine were dense and heavy and not very high at all. But since there were two of them the same it worked well.

Now because two cakes sitting upon each other is a lot of cake so I broke it up with a raspberry cream filling. Again totally easy.

See that yummy raspberry cream in the middle there?

Get a cup and a half of frozen raspberries, whack them in the blender with a bit of cream (about 200ml) and blend away. Spread in between the two cakes. Don't worry too much about spreading all the way to the edges of the cakes. The pressure of the top cake will push the mixture out to the edges.

For the top of the cake, as in the mud, I made a chocolate ganache, which sounds rather flash I know, but again, dead easy.

My cupcake friend explained it easily when she said you just get twice as much chocolate as you do cream. Melt them together and stir for a while. Let it cool and you are done.

I was doubtful, but it turns out that was pretty much all I had to do.

Using the ganache I stuck the time out's to the edge of the cake. It went much easier than I expected. For the trial run cake I used finger biscuits and only did a single layer. This also worked quite well, especially if you didn't want a huge rich cake.

The trial cake with chocolate fingers instead of time out or kit kat. 

Probably could have squeezed a second layer of cake in, if it weren't a trial. 

Mind you once the pigs and mud were own the empty space on the fingers wasn't so noticeable..

Seriously can someone please pin this shot for me?

Surely this is pin worthy material?

Possibly more cake photos than you really need to see but it didn't seem right to leave any out

So the only part left to tell you about is the making of the fondant pigs. These were not exactly dead easy like the rest of the cake but they were not exactly to tricky either. I have actually a whole post lined up on handy fondant tips. It is just a matter of getting it out of my head.

Fondant is lots of fun and can be used for a whole range of things. It is possible to make your own, but since a decent size box from the super market is only around $5 it is a worthy investment in my mind.

Fondant is essentially just yummy play doh

It is best to prepare the fondant shapes a few days before you actually need them. To get all the low downs on making pigs out of fondant check out here or give it a quick google. 

I decided that I could just wing it and just between you and me I don't think I did too bad a job! It really is just a matter of rolling a few different shaped balls and gently pressing them together. A dab of water also helps hold the fondant in place.

So what did the birthday girl think of it all...

Excuse the dodgy lighting, apparently that is what it is like
when you go out

It is Tuesday and I have blogged.

You should too.

Chocolate Caramel Brownie

Now before you go any further you must be warned.

This is ridiculous sweet and full of lots of icky sticky goodness that can only be found in copious amounts of chocolate and gooey caramel. If you are on a diet or restricting your sugar levels in anyway you should probably just walk away now. There is no healthy component to this delicious goodness other than the joy and endorphins that come with eating the pleasurable delicacy that is chocolate.

Mr Awesome and I can have a particularly sweet tooth at times. Which is both a good and bad thing. Thankfully we are generally able to portion control out our sweet treats. Since they are reliant on me actually baking them they are not something we have all the time.

However, when I do get my bake on, I get my bake on and create a sugar hit that will send any sugar fiend crazed. For a while my specialty was caramel slice but I really found it a bit of a pain and particularly messy. There were saucepans, bowls, baking dishes... too many for my liking really. Not to mention all the different process that involved heating, cooling and waiting.

In the past I have made a rather mean brownie however it did not have quite the same sugar hit as te caramel slice. When I discovered this chocolate caramel brownie recipe today I was sure I had hit the jackpot. After making it I think I can safely say that this is the sweetest most yummiest thing I have made in a very long time.

The recipe, which is so easy and do able in one jug, was found on the tin of caramel. It can also be found here

Only I did things a little different because the recipe is actually for a Caramel Choc Pecan Brownie, but I didn't have the pecans. What I did have were some super yummy caramel drops though and they worked just as well (if not better).

So here is what you need to do.

• Get a microwave glass jug that hold around four cups of stuff. In there put 150 grams of butter. Whack that in the micro and melt it.


• Add half a cup of baking cocoa to the melted butter and mix it in.


• Then add a cup of sugar a teaspoon of vanilla essence and mix some more. 


• Add three lightly beaten eggs and keep on mixing.


• One cup of self raising flour can now be added and mixed in well. If you are super keen you can sift it but I never have. I have all of this going into the same glass jug that I melted the butter in because I don't want to wash up more than I have to.

• Once the flour is mixed through, gently stir in some caramel drops. I tend to go about half a packet. But remember I after super sweet.
  
• Pour mixture into 28cm by 18cm lamington pan that you greased and lined earlier. Pour tin of Top'n'Fill caramel over mixture and oh so gently swirl the two together.
  
• Pop in the preheated 180 degree oven for around 35 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.
  
• Stand in pan for ten minutes or so before turning over.
  
• Eat and enjoy

Recipe - Bean and Watermelon Salad

Now this recipe is so quick and easy to make that I almost think I shouldn't bother posting it because it is not like a real recipe. However it is so simple and yummy (not to mention healthy) that it would be wrong of me not to share it.

There are even a few little things you can do differently to adapt it to suit your size and tastes.

In it's most simplest form all you need to do is

Dice up two slices of watermelon.
Throw in a few handfuls of a mixed baby leaf salad from your local supermarket.
Mix in a can of tuna and beans (John West has just brought out a new range with a couple of different flavours but don't feel obliged to get it because this is certainly not a sponsored post)

Eat and enjoy.

See I told you it was simple.

Here is what you could do differently

• Get your own tin of beans rather than use the ones that come in the tuna.
• Add tinned corn, beetroot or even pineapple. The super keen may even choose to use fresh.
• Use fresh/frozen green beans
• Drizzle with a light mustard dressing

Just perfect for the sizzling summer before us.

Joining in with

Ten Fairly Simple Pastry Ideas

Technically speaking this is the 350th post that I have written.  However since post number 349 is currently scheduled for publishing on Friday my numbers are all a bit haywire.  Go me for having my Things I Know post all ready to go on Tuesday though.  The fact that it is actually left over from last week when I didn't get it done is only a minor detail.  I guess I should also mention that since I imported all my posts from previous old blogs so my 350 really is a bit hit and miss but still worth a little mention.

Moving right along though.

As you are probably aware today is Tuesday which means Jess over at Diary of SAHM is hosting the iBOT (I blog on Tuesdays) which is why I am trying to pull together something that resembles a decent blog post.  Easier said than done at the minute but I will plod along anyway.

Sif also has a link up today called Ten Things Tuesday and whenever possible I like to join the two together.  I had thought about doing my Christmas Wish List to Santa but I wanted to include some awesome photos and since my Internet is slower than slow at the moment that is not going to happen.  Stay tuned for it though so you know what to get me (just in case).  Keeping with the Christmas theme I contemplated doing a list of all reasons I love the festive season but after a night of sleeping on the floor with a sick child which followed a night of waking up with sick child and wondering if she was planning on emptying her stomach contents on my bed festive is far from what I am today.  But again stay tuned as I have some pretty awesome Christmas things to share this year.

So without further adieu I am going to share with you ten fabulous things you can do with puff pastry.

1. Apple & Raspberry Scrolls
   Slinky an apple and then chop finely.  If you don't have an apple slinky (I suggest you get one as they are awesome) then peel the apple the old fashioned way and finely chop.  Get some frozen raspberries out and crush them.  Cover a sheet of pastry with the apple and raspberries and sprinkle with sugar.  Roll up and brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Slice log into 4cm (or there abouts) lengths.  Squash cut ends to make a flatish shape. Place on tray (lined with baking paper) and brush once more with milk and place in moderately hot oven for about 15 minutes or until pasty looks brown and flaky.
2. Cheese & Vegemite Scroll
   Spread vegemite over pastry, sprinkle with grated cheese.  Roll up, slice and cook as per the apple and raspberry. 
3. Spinach & Feta Slice
   Line a shallow dish with baking paper then place pastry inside.  Spread a thin layer of sauce (tomato or BBQ).  Sprinkle a little grated cheese.  Then put down some baby spinach leaves, roast pumpkin or sweet potato, red capsicum and feta cheese.  You could also add a bit of ham or salami if you so desire.  Place in oven and cook for about 20 minutes
4. Left Over Party Pies
   One of the staples in our house is Dirt & Worms.  As I like to cook for the masses there is always some dirt left over which when you line some deep muffin trays with pastry turn into delicious little party pies.  Left over meat from taco night can also be used the same way.
5. Chocolate Twists
   Cover a sheet of pastry with Nutella or the like. Roll up and slice into 2cm chunks.  Now I am not really sure how I do the next part but somehow I manage to stretch and twist them so they look a little like this
   

   

   Please excuse my dodgy photo

6. Jam Twists
   Very similar to the chocolate twists mentioned above only you use your favourite jam instead of a chocolate spread.  These little beauties take about 10-15 and you can have the oven quite hot when you put them in.  Alternatively if you feel like being fiddly cut small circles out of the pastry with a cookie cutter and stack them on top of each other with the jam in between each layer.
7. Vanilla Slice
   I haven't actually made this before as I only saw it on the pastry box this morning but I love a good vanilla slice so I imagine it won't be long till I give it a go.  I would have linked to the recipe but apparently the brand I buy isn't up to date enough to have a website.  Basically cook the pastry sheets, make some custard put the custard on top of the pastry then another sheet of pastry on top of the custard and refrigerate over night.
8. Ham & Cheese Scrolls
   Ha! Bet you thought I had moved away from the scroll thing. Tricked you.
   Spread sauce (BBQ or Tomato) on a sheet of pastry, sprinkle ham and cheese over said sheet.  Roll, cut, squash and cook as per other scrolls.  This time sprinkle cheese over the tops rather than sugar though.
9. Sausage Rolls
   OMG! I can't believe I got this far down the list without mentioning sausage rolls.  Get some sausage mince from your butcher, whack it on some pastry, roll it up brush with milk and cook for about 40 minutes.
10. Vegetable Pockets
    Yes some might call them pasties but previous experience has taught me that children are not that receptive to the word pasty.  But that might just be mine.  Dice whatever vegies are in your fridge.  Potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, swede, whatever.  Include some greens like beans, peas and even  broccoli.  The beauty of this one is that it is wrapped in pastry so they can't see what they are eating (esp if you add some sauce).  For this one I like to cut the sheet into four, place the vegies in the middle and then somehow enclose it.  If you are clever, or a chef you can make it real pretty like.  If you are me you just push all the ends together and hope for the best.  These ones take about 30 minutes.

So there you have it, ten pretty simple things to do with pastry.  I wish I could say this was a sponsored post and I have some pastry to share with you all but I don't.  My PR kit is still not even in the pipe line let alone out and about to the masses.  All in good time though.

Meatless Monday-Cheesy Potatoes and Veg

Now a little while ago Nic over at From Highlights to Housework started a Meatless Monday link up.  Now she has been busy having a baby and what not but I thought that I would still create a MM dish so here it is.

In case you are wondering the inspiration behind this particular masterpiece? It was all that I had in the fridge!  

8-12 baby potatoes, quartered and tossed to fry in butter it one roughly chopped onion.  Add a few cloves of crushed garlic or a couple of shakes of garlic powder.

Chop two carrots into 2inch square cubes (or there abouts)  Add to potatoes.  Gently move around fry pan to avoid sticking and burning.  Once a light crispy outer has appeared transfer to oven proof dish and sprinkle with your favourite cheese.  Place in a moderate oven for around 20 mins or until potatoes and carrots are soft.

Meanwhile back at the fry pan, squeeze in some lemon juice and add some asparagus stalks, capsicum, mushrooms broccoli and a few sliced beans.  These really only need to be cooked for around 10 mins so time it to be ready at the same time as the potatoes.

Once potatoes and carrots are soft remove them from the oven.  Place a few spoonfuls in a bowl.  Add a few spoonfuls from vegetables in the frypan.  Sprinkle with a little more cheese,  (I actually tore up a few shaved slices of jarlsberg.

Eat and enjoy!

Now I know that this is supposed to be a meatless post and so far it is but I just wanted to mention that if you were cooking this on a meaty day then you could easily and some bacon and salami when the potatoes are cooking.  Another meaty alternative is some sliced chipolatos.

I must say that I was rather surprised at how well this meal was received by everyone.  When DD2 asked what was for dinner  and I said potatoes and vegetables she kicked up a right fuss.  When I put the food in front of her she gobbled it up in like two seconds flat!  Go figure!

Masterchef Returns!

Which I am just a little bit excited about.  I am not exactly close to the Masterchef standards but I certainly do appreciate lovely food and would love to be able to improve my skills in any way possible.

In honour of the return of the Masterchef team to our screens I am going to share with you a little apple creation I just cooked up for dessert.  Hubs and I cooked a marvellous  roast pork dinner tonight and as a result of me being rather over zealous in my apple peeling there was a some leftover apple sauce.  The apple slinky I got for my birthday has really made peeling and cutting apples so much fun that I tend to over use it whenever possible.

Not wanting to be wasteful I thought a bit of an apple dessert might be called for.  So I cranked the old gas oven back up and grabbed a piece of puff pastry out of the freezer.  Once the pastry was soft enough I sliced off about a third of the sheet and lay the bigger piece in a greased shallow ceramic dish (about 15cmx5cmx3cm)

I then spooned the apple mixture over the pastry.  There was probably about a cup and a half of apple all up.  Which I had just cooked on the stove for about 10-20 mins with a little sugar and water.  I then stretched out the remaining pastry strip and after turning in all the dish edges placed over the apple.  The top actually turned out to have a few overlapping thin layers.  I then covered the top with cinnamon sugar and brushed lightly with milk.

If you can't find a dish an alternative is covering a sheet of pastry with a thin layer of apple and then loosely rolling.  Gently press down on the roll the blunt side of a bread and butter knife.  Again cover with cinnamon sugar and brush with milk.

Place in oven and bake until pastry is light and puffy.  About 20-30 mins (I think...times and measurements are not really my strong point)

Anyway the real kickers for this dish were the tinned caramel, melted chocolate and whipped cream that I served with it.  To make the cream just a little sweeter I added a bit of icing sugar.  I know I know not exactly weight loss approved but very very yummy which is what I love most about Masterchef.  They don't worry about the weight loss factor either...it is all about taste

Meatless Monday

The wonderful Nicole over at From Highlights to Housework has started a link in with the theme of Meatless Monday's. Now to be quite truthful there would be a revolt in this house if I said we were going meatless once a week. My family is very happy in the carnivore category. However what they don't know won't hurt them.

You see if a meatless dish is just placed before them they will devour it in an instant. (Hunger is said to have that effect on people) Yet if they were to be told that they were venturing down the path to vegetarian there would be protests and false claims in the hope that I would cease to consider feeding them such food. So tonight we will be dining a very yummy cheese mac served with a side salad (and if I had of thought of it a bit earlier garlic bread)

Now I know that there are some wonderful (sic) boxes that you can get microwavable cheesy mac, but I don't have a microwave and making your own is really really simple.

Ingredients

pasta

4 eggs

cream/milk (about 250ml in total use one or both)

300 grams grated cheese

Instructions

Cook pasta as per normal, only drain and remove from heat 2 minutes earlier

Beat together eggs, cream and cheese.

Pour over pasta while still in saucepan, mix in

Gently heat saucepan while stirring. Continue to cook until egg mixture is no longer runny and is sticking to pasta.

Remove from heat and serve

Optional extras for the pasta include peas and corn (not very popular with some here) and if it weren't for being a Meatless Monday recipe some fried bacon and onion and garlic are a nice touch.

The salad tonight will probably be a bit boring, just lettuce, baby spinach leaves, cucumber, and tomato. The kidlets are such pasta fans that is all they will probably eat so the salad is really more for me. Which means I am thinking the corn and peas I didn't add to the pasta can go in the salad!

So Easily Sidetracked!

That is me! Always up for a distraction. Doesn't matter what I am doing I can always find something else that will find my attention.

You know how people say that women, particularly mothers, are some of the worlds best at multitasking? Well I take multitasking to a whole new level. In fact I think it is fair to say that there is never a point in time when I have just one job on at a time.

Take right now for instance. In my bid to conquer the world with my writing this is supposed to be my "Writing Time". Where as the name suggest I spend time writing, and while I am getting a few words down here and there it is not much more than a line or two at a time.

I will no sooner get a good sentence out and I will think 'ooohh I wonder if the flower pot is in the London Market yet?' and then promptly go and find out. You see folks I have an infliction known to some as the Rat Packer's Addiction.

Once again the forces of FaceBook have struck! This time in the form of a card collecting and trade game called Rat Pack. A truly addictive and time consuming game. It has mastered the art of desensitizing the brain to the perfect level of monotony yet still be interesting.

Anyway all this talk of has sent my withdrawal through the roof so I must be off.

I have included a full list of my blogs labels so please have a browse around. I have recently developed the desire to meet lots of new people so please drop me a line and say hi.

Feel free also to sign up for a RSS Feed, I assure you that the current updates will not want to be missed. After being relatively idol now for nearly 6 months I have decided to kick myself into over drive!

Dirt and Worms

Meal times are often a battle for many parents. Convincing children to eat a well balanced diet is not always easy but it is not impossible either.

The key to happy eating is to provide children with interesting yet simple meals that are appealing to a child's mind.

Recently as my daughter sat down to eat her spaghetti she termed a new name for this old favorite. It was so ingenious yet simple I have decided to share the recipe here with you.

Worms and DirtIngredients
500 grams premium minced beef
4 slices of diced bacon rashers
2 grated carrots
1 grated zucchini
1 diced onion
2 cloves of garlic grated or crushed
2-3 400 gram tins crushed tomatoes
Grated cheese to serve
Worms (aka Spaghetti pasta) (make sure you leave this nice and long)
Method
Brown mince in large pan, there is no need to add oil
Remove mince from pan and leave to drain any excess fat
Fry onion and bacon in the same pan
Add grated zucchini and carrot, stir well to ensure even cooking
Place meat back in pan and mix in well
Add tinned tomatoes
Leave to simmer on a low heat

Cook pasta according to directions on packet, alternatively I have found you can place pasta in a large microwave container with adequate water and microwave on high for around 15 minutes

Place pasta in bowl and cover with meat sauce. Top with a little grated cheese (optional)
Serve and watch as your children delight in searching through the dirt for their worms!

Recipe: Potato and tomato delight

The other night I devised this beautiful recipe for potatoes. They are a staple in most people's diet yet it sometimes so difficult to find a new way to serve.

Never fear Chef Rhianna is here!

This is quick and easy, plus it is super, super yummy. I wish I had of thought to take a photo to include, I will next time I make, which I am sure won't be that far away.

When I made this I got 2 large adult serves, and 2 child serves. There was also a heap left for the dog. Adjust quantities to suit your needs

Ingredients
Potatoes (I used 8 small-medium)
Tomatoes (I used 4)
Grated cheese (of which my family loves melted so I used a lot!)
Butter for frying (or whatever you like to cook in)

Method
Scrub potatoes and cook in microwave on high for approx 10 minutes
Cut into bite size cubes and leave to cool
Dice tomato and microwave on high for 1 minute
Add potato to large fry pan with heated butter
Fry till outside of potato is golden and crunchy. Add some rock salt for extra flavor and texture
Combine tomato and potato an place in a ceramic dish
Cover with as much (or little) cheese as you desire
Heat until cheese melts. ( I heated in the microwave on high for 5 minutes and it was perfect but you could get the same (or better) from an oven or under the grill