Mac and Cheese Topped with Loaded Potato Skins

On Sunday morning, Mr B was pottering around the kitchen making our egg and bacon breakfast while I was lazing around in bed. Feeling a little guilty about this, I decided to get up and give him a hand, albeit with the end stages of preparation. This was my first mistake. You see I was tired.....very tired. All week Mr B and I both look forward to our Sunday morning egg and bacon breakfast and for me it's about the whole package, sitting in bed with my eggs and bacon and a cup of coffee. But on this fateful morning, in my sleep deprived state, I topped my coffee mug up with milk instead of boiling water effectively giving me a large iced coffee to go with my eggs and bacon. I tried to fix it but only managed to make it worse. Cue no coffee for me. And for some reason, that just upset my apple cart (or coffee cup) for the whole entire day, I was hot and bothered and a giant grumble butt and in my mind that was how I was going to stay until I got my egg and bacon and coffee package next Sunday! 

Anyway, given it was a lovely sunny day and the bushfire threat around home had eased, Mr B decided it was a perfect day for a road trip to the Tahune Airwalk. Me and my grumpy pants were obviously thrilled about a 3 hour round trip in the car on a stinking hot day and we were even more thrilled to be hot and sweaty and bombarded by flies the whole time we were there, but grumpy pants aside, it was a beautiful spot with some incredible scenery. 

Whilst we were there, Mr B took the opportunity to go hang gliding which saw him cruise for 400m across a river at around 40km p/h. From what Mr B tells me, the view was amazing and just to be sure, he went twice! 

The airwalk itself is over 600m of what can only be described as 'walking in the tree-tops,' I mean take a look for yourself......

After the airwalk, we went on another walk through the forest that took us over two swinging bridges where yes, we both jumped up and down like little kids....and I may have cracked a smile. 

Anyway, to make up for my slightly grumpy mood, I decided to make Mr B a super fantastic awesome dinner guaranteed to make him totally forget that he is married to a sometimes grumpy pain in the butt wife and probably also to thank him for not leaving my grumpy ass down in the forest....

 

The only dish guaranteed to cover all of the above was this Macaroni and Cheese topped with Crispy Potato Skins filled with Bacon and Sour Cream.....oh yeah, you heard me.

It sounds long and complicated, but it tastes amazing and decadent and is comfort food wrapped up with I love you forever food topped with bacon....what more could you want?

Macaroni and Cheese topped with Crispy Potato Skins filled with Bacon and Sour Cream - Serves 4

250g macaroni
1.5 tbspn butter
1/2 tbspn plain flour
1.25 cups full cream milk
1/2 cup sour cream plus 1/2 cup extra
3 cups shredded tasty cheese
100g cream cheese
1 tspn cajun seasoning
2 rashers short cut bacon, finely diced
4 spring onions, finely diced
4 large potatoes

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Place the potatoes in an ovenproof dish and roast for an hour. Once they are cooked, remove from the oven to cool. Reduce oven heat to 180C.

Meanwhile, cook the macaroni as per packet directions.

While the macaroni is cooking, place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth (roughly 1 minute)

Add the milk, 1/2 cup sour cream and the cream cheese. Continue whisking until smooth. Add the shredded cheese and cajun seasoning and whisk until everything is combined. In a large oven proof dish, combine the macaroni and cheese sauce. Set aside.

Take the potatoes and cut in half. Depending on the size of your potatoes, cut each half into 2 pieces for small potatoes or 4 pieces for larger ones. Using a spoon or a melon baller, remove the majority of the flesh, leaving a thin layer of potato still in the skin. Scatter the potatoes over the top of your macaroni.

Lightly brush the potato skins with some olive oil.

Fill each potato skin with a tspn of the remaining sour cream.

In a fry pan over medium heat, cook the bacon and spring onion for 5-7 mins or until bacon is nice and crispy. Scatter the bacon and spring onion over the top of the potatoes.

Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and bake for 20-25 mins or until cheese is melted and golden.

I know it sounds a little fiddly, but alot of the processes take place simultaneously and to be honest, it's totally worth it (and Mr B totally thinks I'm an awesome wife again!)

Mrs B xx

Potato and Bacon Rosti

Mr B and I are still here, still sitting in our partially packed up house, watching and waiting. The fire around us seems to have settled a little which is lovely, but it's still quite large and uncontrolled so we are still on high alert. Here are some of the photos we have managed to get on our phones at the back of our property over the last day or so (our camera is packed somewhere in the depths of the car and I have no idea where it is...). 

 

 

Anyway, at the end of a day full of all of that, you need to sit down to something comforting, something good, something that is not just going to fill your belly, but something that is going to temporarily make you forget about all that crap going on just beyond your backyard....this Potato and Bacon Rosti totally did that for Mr B and I. For just a few minutes while we sat down to eat tea, it almost felt like any other night and with all the stress and anxiety and sleepless-ness going on right now, those moments are rare and when they do occur they are heaven.  

 

Potato and Bacon Rosti - Serves 2

Adapted from Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery

 

6 large potatoes

1/2 tspn salt
1 onion, finely diced
3 pieces short cut bacon, finely diced
4 pieces short cut bacon (extra)
1 tbspn butter
Tomato Relish to serve

Place the potatoes and salt in a large pot of cold water. Place the pot on the stove and bring to the boil. Allow the potatoes to cook for a further 10 mins after they begin to boil, then remove from heat, drain the water and allow them to cool.

Peel the potatoes once they are cool enough to handle. Grate the potatoes and set aside.

In a lightly greased frypan over medium high heat, cook the onion and diced bacon for 5-7 mins or until onion is transparent. Gently stir the onion and bacon through the grated potatoes.

Now to shape my rostis, I lightly buttered a small round ramekin and filled it with the grated potato mixture. You need to ensure the mixture is pressed in there well so that it holds together. Tip the ramekin upside down onto a plate and there you have your first rosti! Re-butter your ramkin and repeat with remaining mixture. You could also use a large round biscuit or pastry cutter if you prefer.

Melt the remaining butter in a fry pan over medium heat. Use a large spatula to lift the rostis gently into the frypan. Allow to cook for 10 mins before gently turning over. Cook for a further 8 mins and then they should be ready to serve. When the rostis had around 3-5 mins to go, I made some room in the fry pan and added the extra short cut bacon rashers. They should be nice and crispy by the time your rostis are done.

Serve the rostis topped with bacon and a generous spoonful of tomato relish and a side of salad.

Enjoy!!

Mrs B xx

Asparagus and Camembert Quiche

Where are the days going? So far 2013 feels like one of those cartoons where the pages just fly off the calendar, one second it’s January and a split second later it’s February!! That’s ok though, I plan to make every minute count this weekend with lots of baking, relaxing afternoons full of buttery shortbread dunked in cups of tea, some quality Mr and Mrs B time exploring the outdoors, and general lounging about. We also have a giant trailer load of wood chips to spread around the front garden too but at this stage I'm choosing not to think about that.

Do you know what is a great meal if you have general lounging about planned, or if you need a quick pick me up after excess wood chip shovelling? Quiche. Super easy to throw together, can be eaten hot, cold or in a sandwich (trust me....) and assuming you can drag yourself off the couch or away from your book for say 10 mins to throw it all together, you’re good to go!

Mr B and I had some of our home made camembert leftover last week so we were looking for a recipe to use it up in, I was thinking asparagus, I was thinking quiche and we were extremely impressed with the results, this quiche has a tonne of flavour from frying off the bacon and the onion first and when you get it out of the oven the camembert will be all gooey and melty and awesome. I would even go as far as to say this quiche was even better the second night (but aren't they all!)

Asparagus and Camembert Quiche - Serves 4

You will need:

1 tbspn olive oil
1 bunch of Asparagus, trimmed
1 onion, finely diced
5 eggs
1 tspn Dijion mustard
½ cup milk
150g (3-4 slices)shortcut bacon, diced
60g Camembert, thinly sliced

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and bacon. Cook for 5-7 mins or until onion has softened and bacon is cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add the asparagus to the pan and cook for 2-3 mins or until softened.

Whisk the eggs, mustard and milk together. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture into a quiche dish.

Arrange the camembert and asparagus on top of the mixture.

Bake for 30-40 mins or until set and golden. Serve with steamed vegies and / or salad.

Enjoy!

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

Fully Loaded Honey Roasted Pumpkin, Egg and Bacon Pie

So as far as I'm aware it's Easter yes? The time for 4 days of relaxing with cups of tea, buttery hot cross buns and easter eggs yes? Ahhh no....

On Thursday night Mr B and I kicked off the Easter break with a night out to watch the Shaolin Kung-Fu Monks. My god, these guys (and lady) were off tap, we were on the edge of our seats for the whole show and for a theatre full of people, including small children, the number of times the whole place fell dead silent in awe of what they were about to do, was incredible. I would definitely recommend catching this show if you get the chance.

Yesterday Mr B and I headed out with the bikes to do some skills practise for my upcoming license test. I've had my learners for nearly a year now, so it's time I got myself together. I have no trouble riding on the road, but the finer skills that they test you on like cone weaves and obstacle turns just needed some work. So we spent 5 hours in the cranking hot sun working on my skills...and getting frustrated with each other...and throwing tantrums...and getting very excited when I got things right...and dancing around like lunatics...it was an all over the show kind of day, thank god Mum and Dad came down and brought us hot cross buns, easter eggs and a cuppa for lunch! Thanks Mum and Dad!! After all that practise we were all tuckered out last night and in bed by 6:55pm....oh yeah just call me Nanna B!


Which brings me to today....more practise...and I finally nailed everything...HOORAY!!! (That's literally what I was yelling whilst doing a victory lap of the car park....) And I have video evidence to prove it! I wonder if they would accept that at the test??


Anyway, moving on...let's talk Pie. Like real pie....like a huge big savoury pie stuffed full of eggs, bacon, honey roasted pumpkin, onion, cherry tomatoes and spinach!?! Are you sold yet? You should be.


This pie is huge and so far had fed Mr B and I for two nights and we still have half of it in the fridge for the next 2 nights! Not to mention the overwhelming satisfaction you will get when you pull it out of the tin and see how amazing it looks and knowing you did it all yourself simply by following these very easy steps...

All you will need is:

650g butternut pumpkin cut into 2cm cubes
1 brown onion finely diced
1 small punnet cherry tomatoes halved
100g baby spinach
4 rashers of short crust rindless bacon, finely diced
2 tbspns honey
50g butter (melted)
6 sheets filo pastry
6 eggs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup grated cheese
1 tbspn wet italian herbs (I used Gourmet Gardens Italian Herbs)

Pre heat your oven to 180C (fan forced) and place the pumpkin and onion in a baking dish. Drizzle with honey and toss to coat. Roast for around 20-25 mins. Add the bacon and stir to combine. Roast for a further 10-15 mins or until pumpkin is tender and bacon is browned. Set aside to cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 150C.

Brush the base and sides of a 20cm springform tin with butter. Place 1 sheet of filo on a flat surface and brush with butter. Carefully push filo into pan, allowing it to extend over the edges. Repeat with remaining filo and butter ensuring all surfaces of the pan are covered. (The best way to do this is to layer them in a clockwise pattern around the pan)

Whisk the eggs and evaporated milk together in a bowl. Stir through the herbs, cheese, tomatoes, spinach and pumpkin mixture. Carefully pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Place the pan on a baking tray and bake for around 55-65 mins or until the filling is golden and set.

Carefully remove the sides of the pan and stare in awe at the amazing pie you have created, take photos, call friends to come have a look at it, but most importantly, serve it up with some salad and enjoy it!!


Wishing you all a Happy Easter for tomorrow!!

Mr and Mrs B x

Mum's Pasta Surprise

This is a recipe my Mum makes all the time and when I was little the sight of tinned pumpkin soup in the cupboard could only mean one thing - Mum's Pasta Surprise! It earnt the name Pasta Surprise because the vegetables in it usually depended on what was in the fridge at the time! Some of you may remember that for Christmas last year my Mum gave me a book with all her recipes written in it. This was one of them and I decided it would be the perfect winter treat for OH and I to have this week :)

You will need:

200g dry pasta
2 x 540g cans of Campbell's Butternut Pumpkin Soup
125g of bacon (or similarly you could use some sliced sanitarium vegetarian sausages)
2 x celery stalks diced
1 x onion diced
1 x capsicum diced
150g mushrooms diced
(Or similarly you could use a mix of peas, corn, capsicum and carrot)
1 cup grated cheese

Cook the pasta in a microwave dish or on the stove top.

Meanwhile fry the onion and bacon in a frypan over medium heat. Add the vegetables and cook for 8-10 mins or until softened. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine the vegetables, pumpkin soup and pasta in an oven proof dish.

Top with grated cheese and cracked pepper. Bake at 180C for 20 mins or until golden.


This is a delicious and hearty winter dish that is very versatile. I think the pumpkin soup also makes a nice change from other pasta bake sauces.

Enjoy :)

Em x

Low Fat Creamy Mushroom Pasta

I have avoided pastas with creamy sauces for years, living in fear of the calories and the fat, plus for some reason I really do just prefer a pasta with a good tomato sauce. But anyway, I found this recipe for a low fat version of Pasta Boscaiola, roughly translated means pasta with mushrooms, and it sounded delicious plus I had a hankering for pasta with a lovely creamy sauce that wasn't too rich so I had my fingers crossed that this might be it!

All you need is:

250g pasta
1 x onion (diced)
2 tspns crushed garlic
125g 98% fat free short crust bacon diced (rind removed)
200g button mushrooms (sliced)
1/4 cup dry white wine
250ml tub of light cooking cream (I used the Philadelphia one)

Cook the pasta as per packet directions, I used spaghetti and just chucked it in a big pot of boiling water while I made the sauce.

Spray a large fry pan with non stick oil and add the onion, garic and bacon. Cook for 3-4 mins or until onion has softened.

Add mushrooms and cook for another 2-3 mins.

Add the wine and bring to the boil. Stir in the cooking cream and make sure everything is well combined.

Allow the mix to simmer for 5-6 mins, season with salt and pepper if desired.

Check your pasta, if it's ready, then drain and return to the pot. Pour the sauce into the pot and stir well to combine.

This dish serves 4 and it is spot on. It's not too rich or too creamy, but just a lovely light meal that both OH and I really enjoyed (and it's rare that a full fat meat loving man will agree with this little calorie conscious vegetarian girl!)

Hope you all enjoy as much as we did!

Em x