Chocolate and Mixed Berry Trifle

We are still bunkered down in the trenches here with the dessert war not looking like it's going to end any time soon and to be honest it's getting tough. When Dad and Mr B declared 'Dessert War' on each other, I thought it would all die down within a week or two but in the meantime I had a couple of things up my sleeve......

Here we are 6 weeks down the track and Mum and Dad are still bringing out the big guns. Now I know I could take the high road and admit gracious defeat, but I do love any excuse to make a great dessert!!

This week Mum, with the help of her chief jelly slicer / chocolate grater, Dad, whipped up this Chocolate and Mixed Berry Trifle. It was awesome! The berry juice had soaked into the chocolate roll giving it an almost Black Forest feel and I loved the combination of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries as opposed to the typical fruit salad.

To make this Chocolate and Mixed Berry Trifle you will need:

1 x 250g chocolate sponge roll, sliced 2cm thick
1 x pkt of prepared strawberry jelly
500g mixed strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
2 cups of chocolate custard
300ml thickened cream, whipped
2 x 30g Cadbury Top Deck Bars, grated

Prepare the jelly as per packet directions and allow to set in the fridge overnight. Before assembling your trifle, remove the jelly from the fridge and roughly chop.

To assemble your trifle start by placing the chocolate roll slices over the base and up the sides of a glass serving bowl.

Place the berries in a microwave safe dish and heat for 3-4 mins. You want to get to a point where the berries are still holding their shape but have broken down enough to give you some syrup / juice. Pour the syrup / juice over the sponge roll and top with the fruit and jelly.

Pour over the custard and top with whipped cream. Finish off your trifle by sprinkling with the grated chocolate.

Place the trifle back in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

 

Mrs B xx

This Week's Highlights....

You may remember a few weeks ago I made a Rainbow Cake for my birthday? Well this week, Mr B requested rainbow cupcakes for his lunches. I made up 1 basic vanilla cake batter and divided it into 5 bowls, tinting each bowl a different colour. Then I dropped alternating teaspoons of the mixture into a greased muffin tray. I love that they came out all psychadelic looking! 

Awesome rainbow cupcakes require awesome rainbow frosting! 

To make the frosting I just made some blue, green, red and purple frosting and layered it up in a piping bag - I love that each one is different and has a different mix of colours. 

Last Sunday night Mr B and I got ourselves all dressed up and went to see a Johhny Cash Tribute Concert to celebrate what would have been the year of his 80th birthday. I will admit I was abit unsure about the concert as I'm not really a country music fan, but it was so much fun! The atmosphere was just fantastic and you really can't beat live music, Mr B and I have been singing along to some of his old Johhny Cash CD's ever since!  

Last Tuesday night Mr B and I went to visit Mum and Dad for dinner and they put up another one of their legendary caravan kitchen meals! This one is kind of like vegetarian eggs florentine.....Veggie Burgers topped with Cheese, Scrambled Eggs, Spinach and Mushrooms with a side of Haloumi and homemade Tzatziki! YUM!!

And this....well this is a bowl of ice cream, but I want to talk about the little heart sitting on top of it. I have been wanting to try this for ages and it was so easy and so awesome! Simply whip some cream up until it's thick, pipe it into a heart shape or spoon it into a heart shaped cookie cutter onto a plate covered with baking paper. Place in the freezer for a few hours and ta-da! The consistency is kind of like ice cream and I think they would be fantastic floating around in a hot chocolate or irish coffee!

Mrs B xx

Beef and Beer Casserole

Whilst Mr B and I were on our mini-moon we came across a sign that said Happy Wife Happy Life.....but what about Happy Husband?

You see all this week....and all last week for that matter, Mr B and I have been hauled up in our garage every night staining our new furniture. Getting new furniture is very exciting, spending 2 hours painting and sanding each night is not. And to top it all off painting is the one thing that Mr B really detests. So needless to say even though we only have one more night of painting to go, it may as well be 3 more months and Mr B is tired, miserable, seemingly allergic to paint fumes and generally over it. In an effort to 'turn that frown upside down' (you do not want to see the look Mr B gave me when I said that....I decided to put my rendition of Happy Little Vegemites on hold until further notice....) I decided to make this Beef and Beer Casserole with fresh bread for dinner tonight because let's be honest, anything involving beef, beer and in Mr B's case, fresh bread is bound to be a winner with the boys!

Beef and Beer Casserole

You will need:

2 tbspns oil
750g topside beef cut into 3cm cubes (you can use gravy beef or any other casserole beef if you wish)
1 leek, trimmed, halved, washed and sliced
1 tbspn crushed garlic
4 short cut bacon rasher trimmed and diced
250g sliced mushrooms
2 tbspns plain flour
2 large potatoes, chopped into 2cm cubes
2 dried bay leaves
1 tbspn crushed thyme (I use Gourmet Garden thyme - comes in a tube, like a crushed herb paste) or you could use 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
375ml beer
1.5 cups beef stock
Fresh crusty bread to serve

Preheat oven to 160°C fan-forced and heat half the oil in a heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish over medium-high heat. Cook the beef, in batches, for 5 minutes or until browned and transfer to a bowl / plate.

Heat remaining oil in the same dish and add leek, garlic, bacon and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion has softened. Return beef to dish and add the flour, potato, bay leaves and thyme. Stir well.

Stir in the beer and stock. Cover dish and bring to the boil. Transfer to oven and bake for 2 hours or until beef is tender. Check regularly and stir. Remove the bay leaves (does anyone else have trouble finding them!?) and serve with warm, crusty, buttery bread!

 

Enjoy your  dinner and enjoy the benefits of a happy husband! Mine is so deliriously happy and full right now, he has agreed to dye my hair for me!!

And on a side note, look at our little babies! They are no longer needing us to go out and feed them bottles of milk at all hours of the day and night, they simply have a bottle of water when we get home from work and spend the evening munching their way around the front yard before they go to bed....but the best thing? No matter where they are, as soon as they see us they come flying toward us at full speed as if to say 'Oh wow we have missed you!' and it just makes me melt every time....especially when they forget to brake and skid across the gravel or the grass trying to stop!! From the below picture, can you guess which one has been playing underneath the car and sticking his head in the grease!?

Mrs B xx

Lentil Cottage Pie

We are well and truly experiencing winter here. I am not a winter child, I don’t do cold, 30 seconds after I walk in the door at night I have my electric blanket on and I’m changed into my flanny pj’s, dressing gown, ugg boots and in desperate times, my beanie....

I like to be warm and snug and generally I believe there is nothing better then waking up in the morning, all cosy in your bed and looking out the window on a miserable day, it looks horrible and cold out there, but you’re all warm and snug and cosy so you don’t care....but occasionally you do need to get out of bed and get on with life so in the absence of my nice warm bed, I find there is nothing to complete that feeling like a happy belly. And in my experience a happy belly (in winter) is often related to a big bowl of something hot, something not too filling or too rich as to leave you feeling icky, just enough to leave you feeling content.....and this Lentil Cottage Pie checked all those boxes, it was tasty, healthy, vegetarian (OH even quite enjoyed it!), easy and we got 4 huge serves out of it for like 363 calories a serve....Hello new favourite winter dish!!

Lentil Cottage Pie

1 onion diced
1 stick of celery diced
1 red capsicum diced
1 carrot diced
200g button mushrooms sliced
1 cup red lentils (dry)
1 pkt brown onion and garlic gravy mix
2 tbspns tomato paste
1 tspn wet Italian herbs
1 tbspn worcestershire
80g of baby spinach leaves
600g potato peeled and diced into large chunks
100ml light sour cream
1 tbspn light butter

Pre-heat oven to 160C.

In a large frypan over medium-high heat, add your onion and cook for 3-4 mins or until it is almost transparent.

Meanwhile put your potatoes in a pot and cover with water, let them boil whilst you are preparing the pie filling.

Add the celery, capsicum, carrot, mushrooms, lentils and gravy powder. Pour over 3-4 cups of water.

Add the tomato paste, Italian herbs and Worcestershire. Stir everything to combine.

Put the lid on the fry pan and allow the mix to simmer for 10 - 15 mins, stirring occasionally. The mixture should become quite thick.

Stir the spinach leaves through the lentil mixture and take off the heat.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain the water from them and mash with the sour cream and butter.

Pour the lentil mixture into a casserole dish and top with mashed potato. Season with salt and pepper. You can also scatter with some grated cheese if desired.

Bake for 10-15 mins or until potato is golden.


Enjoy :)

This recipe is a great way to hide lentils and vegies from kids / big kids as it has a very similar texture to mince cottage pie. You could even make it with half mince / half lentils if you really wanted to keep the meat eaters in the house happy!

Hope you are all keeping warm! I have a busy day at work, then I’m going home to do some polefit for the first time in what feels like months (I miss it so much!!) and then I have 40 cupcakes to ice (all chocolate...honestly....are people trying to kill me!) before I plonk myself on the couch with a big bowl of leftover lentil cottage pie and refuse to budge for the rest of the evening....oh except to get up and make some waffles with caramelised pineapple and cream, but more on those later in the week!!

Happy Wednesday!!

Em x

Happy Birthday to Us!!

For those of you who don't know, today is Love, Shoes and Cupcakes first birthday, yep one whole year. It doesn't feel like that long hey! Things have certainly changed in that time though...
- My shoe collection has increased ten-fold (and evolved into a love of tights too)
- Both OH and I have started new jobs and made significant changes in our lives
- We were getting married, then two weeks before the big day we decided to postpone which was one of the hardest things we have ever done, but now we are six months out from our wedding date and you know what, this time it just feels right, it's really going to happen and I couldn't be more excited, we even booked our mini-moon last night and we are about to book our honeymoon to Europe!
- As for the cooking, it's grown from a love of cupcakes and basic baking to a love of all things cooking, I've made things I never thought I could and I still love nothing more then an afternoon in the kitchen :)

So in honour of this milestone last night, Mum and Dad came up for dinner and this is how we celebrated...

Roast Tomato and Lentil Soup with Homemade Foccacia....


This foccacia recipe has been haunting me for ages! I have desperately wanted to try it, but just wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but well last night was the night and it was better then I expected. The herbs and sea salt on the top gave it so much flavour and it was crispy on the outside, but light and fluffy in the middle, just perfect :) Wanna try it for yourself? Here's how...

Foccacia

2 cups plain flour
7g dried yeast
2tbspns of olive oil
2 tspns rock salt
2 tbspns parmesan
2 tspns pizza herbs

Grease a 20cm x 30cm slice tin.

Combine the flour, yeast, parmesan and half of the salt in a bowl.

Make a well in the centre and add 1 cup of warm water and oil. Stir until a soft sticky dough forms.

Knead the dough (in the bowl should be fine) for around 5-7 mins or until the dough springs back when pressed.

Press the dough into the prepared pan and cover with cling wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 1 hour.

Waiting waiting waiting.....pre-heat your oven to 180C....wait some more...

Remove the plastic wrap from dough. Drizzle with some balsamic vinegar or olive oil. Sprinkle with remaining sea salt and herbs.

Bake for 15 mins then reduce temperature to 160C. Bake for a further 10 -15 mins or until top is golden and sounds hollow when tapped.

And for dessert, we had the grand finale (I even had a candle!!) The Double Decker Icecream Pudding!!


Now what to make for this occasion has been a point of contention for me for some time, it had to be something special, something celebratory, something different, something I hadn't made before, something easy yet impressive....this long list of criteria led to me sitting on the floor last Friday, surrounded by every recipe book I own....and after much page turning, huffing, puffing, foot stamping and general tantrum throwing, I settled on a combination of several recipes with my own twists thrown in. (I have to give OH a big shout out here for putting up with me during the decision making process!!)


And you know what? It was so easy!!

Double Decker Icecream Pudding

1.25L of light vanilla icecream
1 cup of store brought or homemade vanilla custard (I made some at home)
10-15 mini vanilla meringues (crushed)
16 choc ripple biscuits (leave 8 whole and roughly crush the remaining 8)
Peppermint essence
Green and pink food colouring
250g of fresh strawberries (hulled and diced)
2 tbspns strawberry jam
Ice Magic

Line a large mixing bowl (with steep sides) or a large pudding steamer with cling wrap.

In a large bowl, combine the vanilla icecream with the custard, meringues and crushed biscuits.

Place half of the mixture in a seperate bowl.

Add 2 drops peppermint essence and 2-3 drops green food colouring to one bowl. Combine. Spoon the mixture into your prepared bowl and place in the freezer.

Cook the strawberries and the jam in the microwave or on the stove top for 4-5 mins or until they have cooked down. You want them to be mushy, but you still want some strawberry chunks too!

Stir the strawberries and 2 drops of pink food colouring through the remaining icecream. Place the bowl in the freezer.

After 2-3 hours the mint layer should be set enough to pour your strawberry mixture over the top. Place back in the freezer for an hour.

Layer your remaining chocolate biscuits over the strawberry icecream to form a 'base' for your pudding. Place back in the freezer overnight.

When you are ready to serve the pudding, place a large plate over the bowl and flip upside down. The pudding should come out of the bowl easy enough. Remove the bowl and peel the cling wrap from the pudding.

Pour ice magic over the top and leave for a minute or two to set.

Serve and enjoy!!


I was really happy with the way this came out, it looked fantastic, it tasted great and I couldn't think of a better way to end our first twelve months!

So thank you to OH, Mum and Dad for putting up with my cooking madness and thank you to all of you for sharing the ride - I can't wait to see what the next year has in store!!

Em x

Chicken Macaroni and Cheese with a Twist!

I have had a massive craving for mac and cheese lately, but not your average mac and cheese, I wanted something more, something with zing, something with vegies...but I just wasn't sure how to bring it all together. In the end it just kinda fell together and I was worried it would be a disaster, but it was delicious and a new family favourite!!

So for this Chicken Mac and Cheese with a Twist you will need:

120g macaroni
300g four cheese pasta bake sauce
300g chicken breast (diced)
1 x capsicum (diced)
2 x sticks celery (diced)
120g button mushrooms (sliced)
1/4 cup spicy red sauce
2 tbspns worcestershire
1/2 cup grated pizza cheese

Cook your pasta in the microwave or on the stove.
Meanwhile in a fry pan over medium heat cook your onion for 2-3 mins and then add chicken. Cook until just sealed.
Add capsicum, celery and mushrooms. Cook for 4-5 mins.
Drain pasta and pour into 2 small ramekins or one large baking dish.
Mix in sauces, chicken and vegetables.
Top with grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden.

So simple and easy and yummy!!

Em x

Cowboy Casserole!

Ok so sometimes you just wanna come home to a big bowl of goodness to make you feel like all is right with the world....today was one of those days and this recipe definetly resulted in one of those meals.

I found this one quite some time ago on the Healthy Food Guide website but hadn't tried it as I thought it might be like a standard average meal....I take it all back!


Ok so that looks like your standard bake / slice thing....whatever sunshine....I got home tonight and I could smell it cooking from the driveway, by the time I got to the kitchen I was drooling and pretty much camped out in front of the stove until it was ready.

Cowboy Casserole
2 x 400g tins of salt reduced baked beans
500g beef mince (you could also use Sanitarium soy mince)
1 x onion chopped
1 tbspn worsterschire sauce (I always spell that wrong sorry)
1 tbspn spicy red sauce
1 tspn crushed wet italian herbs
1 vegetable stock cube
1 cup dry pasta cooked (try and get some sort of tubey pasta that will hold your sauce)
1 cup of grated light pizza cheese

Preheat oven to 180C
Cook mince and onion in a fry pan.
Add baked beans. Cook for 3-4 mins.
Add sauces, herbs and stock cube. Mix well.
Add cooked pasta and ensure it is all well combined.
Pour into an oven proof dish and sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake for 10-15 mins or until cheese is melted and golden.
If you serve on it's own it will do about 4 decent bowls or if you serve with some salad you should get 6 serves.

So tasy and delicious and dead simple!! Kids will love it - seems to be something to do with the name!

To be honest I'm hanging out for Thursday night leftovers!!

Enjoy!

Em x

Moroccan Your Socks Off!!!

That is what my OH says whenever we have Moroccan inspired / flavoured stuff for tea. And this Moroccan Hot Pot definetly rocked our socks off! And it was so very easy too, plus the combination of moroccan marinade and light and creamy evaportated milk was pretty awesome, next time we might try it with some coconut milk to just give it that hint of coconutty goodness....anyway, if you are wondering what I am on about here is the dish


And here is the recipe!

Moroccan Hot Pot
500g diced lean lamb
1 onion diced
200g sweet potato diced
1 pkt Masterfoods Moroccan marinade
185ml Light and Creamy Evaporated Milk
2 zucchini diced
1 cup of chickpeas
2 tspns cornflour

Add the lamb and onion to a heavy based casserole dish and cook until meat is browned.
Add sweet potato, marinade and 1 cup of water. Cover and let simmer for 10 mins or until sweet potato is tender.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for another 5 mins or until sauce thickens.
Serve with rice, cous cous or warm crusty bread......so easy and the lamb is so tender no one will know you haven't had the casserole in the oven for the last 2 hours! Great for a quick after work meal!

Now onto more important things such as dessert! Tonight we are test driving Aunt Betty's Raspberry Jelly Jiggle ice cream topping, sounds impressive huh! In my head I am kinda picturing it as a jelly version of ice magic....ohhh I haven't had ice magic in years - possibly due to my tendency to eat it out of the bottle, but that is besides the point. I am off to the kitchen and will be back shortly with the results!


Excuse me while I go back for seconds! Ok so it was pretty much just jelly in a bottle and pretty much the same as having jelly and ice cream for dessert, but I mean seriously how good is jelly and ice cream!! The jelly jiggle is made with real raspberry juice and has a real raspberry flavour as opposed to some of the artificial flavourings you get in some products. All in all we are big fans!!

Ok thats enough from me, I'm off to bed!!

Em x

Smooth, soft and creamy fudge recipe

I had good intentions of making more golden syrup dumplings this week but the universe had other ideas. So last night upon realising I was not going to get a chance to make them I also realised I had a tub of extra thick cream in the fridge that needed to be used. I also had some dark chocolate melts in the cupboard left-over from some cherry ripe cupcakes and some marshmallows left-over from the hot chocolate season! First thing that came to mind was fudge! I know fudge should have condensed milk in it, but I find cream works just as well and gives the fudge a really creamy (duh) and smooth consistency, the only problem is you probably need to let it set for 24-48 hours.

The only other issue I encountered last night was that OH dislikes dark chocolate...so into the mix went my bag of fun size milkybars that I had been saving for after work treats :( Oh well....saves me eating them!

Emily's Last Minute Fudge
375g of chocolate melts (any flavour or combination)
300ml bottle of thickened cream
1 x bag of marshmallows chopped
1 x pkt of choc ripple biscuits crushed
2 x 50g bars of turkish delight chopped

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second bursts. Stir through cream and remaining ingredients.
Pour into a lined slice tin and refigerate for 24-48 hours or until firm enough to cut, it will always be soft, but if you leave it for awhile it won't be sticky...I get impatient and have to cut mine up after 4 or 5 hours and end up with chocolate everywhere..which really isn't a bad thing!

You can really add anything you like, which is why this recipe is great, as long as you have the cream and chocolate you could use anything you have in the pantry - for instance glace cherries and crushed chocolate biscuits, dessicated coconut would make a deliciously smooth and creamy coconut rough, liquers make delcious fudge or some caramel swirled through, the possibilities are endless!

I only added the marshmallows this time and used half dark chocolate and half white, and the result is a rich, decadent treat!


Em x

Comfort food

Last night OH and I finally went to the parentals for dinner. We didn't make it on Tues night as planned coz OH was visciously attacked by the man flu on his way home from work and therefore spent the night in bed. I, on the other hand, made a spectacular vegie chow mein....possibly a touch too much curry powder, but I'm gonna make it again next week with some tuna so I will try and rectify it second time round! Anyway, last night Mum made this casserole of Sanitarium vegie sausages, baked beans and onion all cooked up in this delciously thick tomato sauce and served with a dollop of thick and creamy mashed spud. It was mega filling, but it was hot and tasty and reminded me of home. It was real comfort food. Which got me thinking about what comfort food is and what my favourite comfort foods are.

Wikipedia defines comfort foods as 'foods consumed to achieve some level of improved emotional status, whether to relieve negative psychological affect or to increase positive. More generally, comfort food can be defined as food that brings some form or measure of comfort, sense of well-being, or easy satisfaction, usually from being warm and filling such as a dish made with a staple food, or basically pleasing such as sweets or desserts.' Like most things I think comfort food is in the eye of the beholder, I mean some people might find a big bucket of kfc or a tub of ice cream or a block of chocolate comforting, and whilst the chocolate and the ice cream sound nice, I don't think they would do much to comfort me. To me comfort food is food that reminds me of home. Food that conjures up images of sitting around the dining table or in the lounge at Mum and Dad's. That's one thing I miss about living at home I think, just having my parents there to chat to. When we go to Mum and Dad's for tea the boys retire to the lounge and Mum fusses about the kitchen while I sit on the kitchen bench in the same spot I always used to and we just chat about everything and anything.


I miss my Dad being involved in that too, but we still talk heaps and times change plus I imagine he is happy to have another boy to talk to! To me, that is what real comfort food is about. That being said, it's really not even about the food, the food is good, but the real comfort is just knowing my parents are there I think and being reminded of that is comfort enough. I love going to Mum and Dad's and having big bowls of Mum's hearty home cooking or Dad's chocolate pudding or my parents Christmas Pudding. Oh the Christmas pudding...it is a tradition that everyone shakes the fruit while it's stewing and everyone has a stir of the batter, it's an annual treat that we try and stretch out as long as possible. The night we have our last slice of pudding is always a sad one!

Big bowls of hot, hearty, mushy food on a cold morning or night comfort me too though, but in a different way. There is nothing like sitting in bed with a big bowl of porridge and golden syrup on a cold winter's morning or curling up with a bowl of thick vegetable soup and hot crunchy bread roll on a cold winter's night while you listen to the rain. I don't seem to need comfort food so much in summer, it must be a winter / warmth thing. That being said however in desperate times I am quite partial to a big bowl of pudding or golden syrup dumplings or even some white chocolate for comfort all year round too!

On another note it is cold and windy and rainy here. I got out for a walk tonight though before it set in and that is two nights in a row. I have been a bit slack on the exercise since switching to maintenance calories, but I feel so much better for having done something the last few days!

OH is currently cooking a chicken curry and we are using coconut cream for the first time ever (I know, I have told you before though that we are a little behind!) but I can smell the coconutty goodness from the lounge room and it smells divine! I can't wait to try it and I will fill you in tomorrow!!

Em xx

Cheese, cheese and more cheese!!

How good does that look?? Doesn't it just make you want to dive in an see whats underneath that golden top layer!!

Ok getting a bit ahead of myself here, we ended up going to Mum and Dad's on Wed night because on Tues night I came home from work and OH was asleep on the couch with a severe case of man flu (this is starting to become a weekly event!). I love going to Mum and Dad's for tea because no matter what Mum makes, it reminds me of home. I love my Mum's potato bake, her pumpkin soup, her chow mein, her vegetarian curried sausages, even her suprise quiche's are always delicious. My Dad doesn't cook alot but he does a mean bbq, a heavenly chocolate mocha pudding and he can whip up any flavour loaf of bread you want...just don't ask him to make your sandwiches for school. And lately Mum has been going all out, trying to cook something new and different when we go there for tea, and if you have been reading this blog you will know that my Mum is a basic meals kinda person, chicken and vegies, quiche and vegies, so seeing her cook all this new and different stuff and the look on her face when she conquers a new dish, I am very proud of her! I also love having my Mum and Dad up here for dinner because I like the opportunity to try new vegetarian dishes and I don't know I spose I want to see them enjoying something that I cooked if that made sense? But really I just like spending the time with them, it's nice to know that once a week no matter what they will come here or we will go there.

Anyway, slightly off topic, last night we walked into a flurry of activity in Mum and Dad's kitchen and were swiftly told to remove ourselves to the dining room so we didn't see what was being made. Whatever it was it smelt delicious and I was starving when it came out. I soon found out it was Baked Ricotta and Fetta with Roast Vegetables...pretty much exactly what it says it is, ricotta and fetta combined with some roasted eggplant and capsicum (but you could use any roast vegies) baked in the oven for 20-30 mins or until the top is a beautiful golden colour. Then you can top with some grated cheese and chopped cherry tomatoes and put back in the oven until the cheese is all melty and fantastic. You can serve it in little ramekins or you can make it in one big dish as above and serve it like this:



Did I or did I not say it looked awesome! And my Mum is working on her portion sizes and the amount of cheese she puts on things because I have been trying to lose weight and because Dad has an obsession with checking the fat content on everything, I know that hasn't been easy for her, but she has come a long way! Anyway, off topic again, we had this with a pizza base drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and topped with some cheese before being baked in the oven. You could also use pita bread or pita crisps or just nice crusty bread because you really need something to scoop up all that baked cheesy goodness.

After dinner the boys retreated to the lounge room to indulge in some tv and car magazines while Mum and I gossiped away in the kitchen. They also let me borrow their bread maker whilst I was there and I am really looking forward to trying it out over the weekend. Plus we got some cadbury coconut rough chocolate for the road : ) Mum and Dad have always had a tupperware container full of various fun size chocolates and blocks of chocolate as long as I can remember. Often for dessert Mum would get a block of chocolate and give us a few pieces each before putting it away again...oh i loved that chocolate container - the only problem was she always knows exactly whats in it so you can't pinch anything! Which reminds me, next time I'm there I will take a photo of Mum's chocolate jar for you...you won't believe it.

So tomorrow we will have an update on the Sweet and Sour Meatballs that OH is currently cooking in the kitchen (the recipe is suspiciously similar to the Ragu he cooked last week but with sweet and sour sauce lol but it smells fantastic) and hopefully maybe...all things going to plan...my first loaf of bread!!

Em x