Zucchini Chips and Home Made Mozzarella

Continuing on with our love affair with cheese making, Mr B and I spent a rainy afternoon last weekend making mozzarella.

It was actually really easy to make and the best part is it's ready to eat straight away - hello creamy mozzarella!

To make the mozzarella, we followed THIS video on YouTube. We use a Mad Millie Cheese Making Kit and not only are the instructions in the kit great, but most of the recipes are backed up by YouTube videos as well which I find really useful.

So as you can imagine, Mr B and I had a week filled with mozzarella goodness!

First of all we ate it in fresh rolls with juicy tomatoes.

Secondly we stuffed it inside some chicken breasts with basil and then coated them in panko breadcrumbs before baking  them in the oven.

And thirdly we tried it in a good old caprese salad with tomatoes and basil.

This was definitely my favourite. You can't beat the combination for flavour plus it took me right back to Sorrento where we ate this every night on our honeymoon.

And in the background of this photo, next to the stuffed capsicum....which is topped with melted mozzarella... you can see some zucchini chips that we made. To quote Mr B, these were the bomb-diggity which I have come to realise means they were pretty damn good.

To make them for yourself you will need:

2 x zucchini cut into sticks
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tbspn parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten

Pre-heat oven to 150C

Combine the panko breadcrumbs with the parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Dip the zucchini sticks into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. You might need to press the breadcrumbs down to ensure they stick.

Place on a lightly greased oven tray and bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown.

These were so tasty - I could have eaten a whole bowl of them!

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx

Cheesy Zucchini, Spinach and Chicken Lasagne

I am totally exhausted right now! But I have a very cool chocolate cake in the oven that I can't wait to tell you about later in the week and an equally cool cheesecake in the fridge that I can't wait to eat....and then tell you about later in the week too!! In the meantime, before we enter a cheesecake / chocolate cake induced coma, let's talk savoury stuff....and by stuff I mean lasagne crammed full of zucchini, chicken, leek and cheese. Have I got your attention yet?? 

Sometimes when I go to make a lasagne I just don't want the same old tomato, mince, cheese combo....I know like it's bad enough that I frequently skip the mince altogether and throw in a heap of vegetables, but now I'm turfing the tomato too?? I must be tired! But as they say, a change is as good as a holiday, so go on, live dangerously, be brave and mix it up a little! 

Cheesy Zucchini, Spinach and Chicken Lasagne

1 leek, trimmed, halved, washed, sliced
2 tspns crushed garlic
1.5 tbspns plain flour
1.5 cups chicken stock
1 cup grated parmesan
2 chicken breasts or 3 cups of shredded cooked chicken
50g baby spinach
4 lasagne sheets
250g extra light ricotta
1 tbspn crushed basil
2 medium zucchini sliced into ribbons (use the veggie peeler to make the ribbons - it's so much easier!!)
1/2 cup grated cheese

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Spray a small oven proof baking dish with oil. Place chicken breasts in oven dish and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 25 mins, turn over and cook for another 15-20 mins or until cooked through. When the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and shred. Leave oven on 180C.

Meanwhile spray a large frying pan with oil place over medium heat. Add leek and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until leek has softened.

Add the flour and cook for 1 minute before adding the stock. Simmer and stir for 5 minutes - the mixture should start to thicken slightly.

Add 1/2 cup parmesan, chicken and spinach. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes or until spinach is wilted.

In the base of a large baking dish, spread 1 tbspn of the sauce from your chicken mixture.

Place 1 lasagne sheet over the sauce and top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Layer 1/3 of your zucchini ribbons over the top of that. Top with another lasagne sheet and repeat your layers, finishing with a lasagne sheet.

Combine ricotta and basil. Spread over lasagne sheet. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan and grated cheese. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until pasta is tender.

This is such a tasty mid-week week meal and packed full of all those spring favourites like leek and zucchini!

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx

Savoury Omelette Stack

Well it is a wet and miserable day here, it's windy and rainy and generally horrible. I spent the morning lazing around in bed with my coffee and a monster size bowl of fruit and yoghurt but as much as I tried to avoid it, I had to go out in the hurricane and buy some vegies to plant this week and try and track down the last of the wedding decorations...I was so happy to get home and put my pjs back on!!

And on a day like this you just want to come home and have a nice dinner that is not only fast and easy to make, but tasty and different too! So when I came across this recipe during the week whilst searching for something to cook for Mum and Dad when they came over for dinner, I knew I was on a winner!


Savoury Omelette Stack

9 eggs
1 zucchini (diced)
2 spring onions (finely chopped)
2 capsicums (roasted with skins removed)
1 tspn crushed garlic
2 tspn crushed wet herbs (I used a combination of garlic, parsley, thyme and rosemary)
1/2 tspn crushed chilli
200g extra light cream cheese
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup grated cheese

Now the night before I was going to serve this, I roasted the capsicums - pretty easy, cut them into quarters and place them on a baking tray skin side up and roast at 200C for about 1/2 hr until the skin is all wrinkly. Once they have cooled down you will be able to take the skin off. Then just pop them in the fridge till you're ready to use them :)

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

In a large bowl, add the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Whisk well to combine and set aside.

In another bowl, add the philly and mixed herbs and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a frying pan over medium heat add your zucchini, spring onions, garlic and chilli. Cook for 5-10 mins or until softened. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding to the eggs.

(Now I used my pancake maker at this step but you could use a fry pan just as easy) Spray a small frying pan (or your pancake maker) with oil. Use roughly 2 tablespoons of mix for each omelette. Cook until the egg is set and they are lightly golden. If you are using a fry pan you will need to flip them after a minute or so.

Now I got about 8 omelettes out of this mix so I made 2 x stacks of 4. To assemble your stacks, place 1 omelette onto a baking tray and spread with some of the cream cheese mixture. Top with another omelette and spread with more cream cheese. Once you have 4 omelettes in your stack, spread the top one with cream cheese, sprinkle with grated cheese and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat this to make your second stack.

Back in the oven for 10-12 mins until the cheese is melted and golden.


Can I just say yum!!!! I also think these would be awesome with a bit of tomato salsa in between the layers with the cream cheese as well :)

This post is also being featured over at Veggie Mamas Meatless Mondays Em x

Chorizo, Pumpkin and Fetta Quiche

I don't know about you, but I've been interviewing all day...I like interviewing, it breaks the day up, you meet new people, but a whole day of it is a loooonng time in the one room, asking the same questions over and over and honestly after 4 hours I was starving!!!

So when I got home tonight, my brain was fried and I needed something easy, something tasty....something like this!


Chorizo, Pumpkin and Fetta Quiche

1 red onion cut into thin wedges
1 tspn crushed garlic
1 tspn crushed wet herbs (such as rosemary, thyme and parsley)
100g chorizo thinly sliced
1 zucchini thinly sliced
400g pumpkin peeled and thinly sliced
100g fetta cubed
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk

Add onion and herbs to a fry pan over medium heat and cook, stirring for 3-4 mins. Add the chorizo and cook for 3-4 mins or until lightly browned. Add zucchini and pumpkin, cooking for 8-10 mins or until pumpkin begins to soften.

Transfer mixture to a greased quiche dish and scatter with fetta.

Combine the eggs and milk in a jug, being sure to whisk well.

Pour the egg mixture evenly over the pumpkin mix.

Bake at 180C for around 15-20 mins or until puffed and golden and the egg is set.

You should get 4 serves out of this and we just had our with some steamed vegies.

I must say though, the leftovers are delicious cold on their own or in a sandwich!!

OH tells me I'm odd...but I can not be the only person who likes cold quiche / frittata in a sandwich....am I?? Come on guys (and gals) back me up here!!!

Em x

Let's Talk About The Weekend :)

How was your weekend?

My weekend was filled with some highly un-exciting things like spring cleaning (something I have never done before and will never do again!) and grocery shopping and washing :(

But it was also filled with some fantastic things like...


The new Rekorderlig winter cider with cinnamon and vanilla - the only cider I actually like and did I mention you can drink it hot or cold - perfect for a cold winter's night :)

Parfait! Everybody likes parfait!! Especially when it's as easy as beating 2 blocks of cream cheese with a tub of yoghurt, some icing sugar and then swirling through some fresh raspberries when it's all done!


And last but not least - on Friday night I made my first zucchini slice - now this may not seem like a big deal, but my Mum is the Queen of savoury slices, she throws in whatever is in the fridge wether it be dips, cheeses, vegies, absolutely anything and they always turn out delicious - so I was a touch nervous but luckily it came out and it looked good, it smelt good and most importantly it was packed full of flavour :) We even had baby pumpkins out of our vegie patch with it and whilst they may have been small, they were tasty!



Zucchini Slice
4 eggs
1 cup self raising flour
80g baby spinach
2 zucchini grated
1 cup grated cheese
3 tbspns melted butter + 1 extra
200g rindless bacon diced
1 onion diced

Pre-heat oven to 170C.

Combine the eggs, flour, zucchini, 3 tbspns of melted butter and grated cheese in a bowl.

In a fry pan over medium heat, melt 1 tbspn of the butter. Add onion and bacon and cook for 7-10 mins or until done. Add spinach and cook for a further 2 mins or until wilted.

Add onion mix to the batter and stir to combine.

Pour into a greased pyrex dish and place in the oven for 30-40 mins or until golden.

Serve with salad and vegies :)

I actually had the leftover slice cold for tea last night and I would go as far as to say it was nicer cold or even just warmed through. Also a good one for lunch boxes!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend :)

Em x

Creamy Chicken and Vegie Pie

Ok so I forgot to take a photo of the chicken pie....this is how it went down - I was cooking the mix thinking gee this looks good, I should get a photo, then I thought no I'll get one when it's in the dishes. It was in the dishes and I thought gee this looks good, where's the camera...oh never mind I'll get one when it's got the gorgeous pastry on top...then we were sitting there after dinner saying how delicious it was and I thought @#$%%!! So...no photo....my bad. But it was delicious!

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Pie
200g chicken breast diced
2 x zucchini diced
250g button mushrooms
1 x capsicum diced
430g tin of creamed corn
1 pkt pre-made cheese sauce (around 170g)
1 x onion diced
1 x sheet puff pastry
2 sticks celery diced.

In a fry pan over medium heat cook your onion until lightly browned. Add chicken and cook for 3-4 mins until just sealed on all sides.
Add zucchini, mushrooms, capsicum and celery. Give everything a good stir and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 4-5 mins until the vegies start to soften.
Add the creamed corn and cheese sauce. Stir well and simmer for 7-10 mins.
Spoon into ramekins (we got two decent sized pies out of this, but you could get 3-4 smaller ones if you were going to serve with a salad).
Cover each ramekin with pastry put a small slit in the middle to let any steam out. Brush with a little egg wash (milk or butter works equally well).
Bake for around 20 mins until pastry is puffed and golden.

Lovely pie for a cold winter's night!

Em x

An Apology....with a side of Zucchini Gratin

Well last night was the usual Tues night dinner with my parents and this week they were coming to our house. I had decided to make a Zucchini Gratin out of a Gratin's and Bake's book Mum gave me last week and it was well worth the grating of 8 zucchini let me tell you! But more on that later....

Mum also brought me a fantastic cupcake book last night, so many recipes, decorating ideas, tips on making toffee, piping, using royal icing, it's like a Cupcake Bible...it's so very cool it has even been put on the recipe book stand in my kitchen - highly coveted position!

One thing that came up in conversation last night was that the parentals had sat down the night before to trawl through every post of this blog, which I was thrilled about, they had taken the time to go and read all this babbling because they knew it was important to me (more on that tomorrow!) but then I realised Mum was kinda hurt at me implying she was a basic cook. And I tried to justify the way I had written it and everything I said made me sound worse. I laid awake thinking about it...I don't think I was nasty in what I said, but then again how would I feel if I worked hard all day, came home and put delicious meals on the table every night and years later someone told me it was basic....I have no doubt my Mum used to cook just like I do now...but it finally hit me this morning (kind of more like a blonde moment then a realisation) if my Mum had dished up a chickpea and paneer curry or butter chicken crepes or anything that looked remotely fancy to me as a child I would have complained and whinged and poked at it and pulled it to bits saying I didn't know what was in it...and it would have been a nightmare. As a child I didn't like alot of things, it's funny how as you grow up your taste buds develop and things that used to see you stuck at the table for hours refusing to eat your dinner can become some of your favourites. I'm quite convinced all my Mum's evenings and weekends baking elaborate meals went out the window upon having a fussy screaming child to look after....and no doubt mine probably will too. And also to be honest I make thinks like casseroles and lasagne and curries because it's one easy thing that you can just chuck on a plate or in a bowl for dinner, I can cook complicated meals, but I can't be bothered chucking chicken in the oven and having 3 seperate pots of vegies boiling on the stove....I know I'm odd.

Maybe what I was trying to say in the first place - and managed to completely bugger up - was that I'm glad now that I'm all grown up my parents and I can sit down and eat proper meals together, we can try new things without worrying that the little girl with curly hair only likes chips or that the surly teenager is whinging about everything on the plate just to upset her parents, maybe I was trying to say that we have come a long way and it's all part of growing up and being an adult, but I'm really enjoying where we are right now.

Ok...enough soppy stuff, I forgot to take a photo last night (my bad coz it looked delicious!) but here is the recipe for a delicious Zucchini Gratin

60g butter
1 x onion diced
6 x zucchini (4 of which are to be peeled)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fresh basil or 1 tbsnp crushed wet basil
1/3 c gruyere (sp?) cheese
3 x eggs
grated cheese

Now you start with the fun part..put some music on...and grate all your zucchini
Melt half the butter in a pan and fry up the onion. Set aside.
Melt the rest of the butter in the pan and add the zucchini. Continue cooking and stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Combine onion, zucchini and basil and spread into a baking dish.
In a jug whisk eggs, sour cream, basil and gruyere cheese.
Pour egg mix over zucchini and gently mix through with a knife.
Top with grated cheese and bake for 20 mins at 160C (fan forced)

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm zucchini goodness!

Tomorrow there will be Part 2 of the Cupcake Shop / Business Adventure / Debacle and photos of tonights Sweet and Sour Fish Parcels :)

Em x