Blackberry Fool

Mr B and I arrived at Mum and Dad's for dinner on Tuesday night and as usual we were ushered out of the kitchen to our spots at the dining room table. Having a night where I don't have to cook tea is lovely so I take the opportunity to sit and read the paper and catch up with Mum and Dad whilse Mr B spends his time trying to figure out what is in the pots bubbling on the stove and how to get at the secret desserts hidden in the fridge....

This is the vegetarian butter chicken we had for dinner (with spinach, mushrooms, potatoes and soy meat in place of chicken), topped with fried paneer and served with polenta and cheese toasties! I have never thought of frying the paneer before putting it in a curry before and it just added a whole new layer of texture that I just loved. And I think the paneer toasties are a brilliant idea - think cheese sandwiched between two slices of polenta....and then grilled till it was nice and golden and toasty - to me that sounds perfect to have with a big bowl of steaming winter soup or stew...or in this case - curry!

And this is the magical creation Mum and Dad whipped up for dessert - Blackberry Fool. The tartness of the blackberries paired with the sweetness of the creamy vanilla yoghurt is a match made in heaven.

We rarely have blackberries and that is definitely something I plan to fix because they were awesome and I have so many ideas for things I'd love to bake with them!

For the Blackberry Fool you will need:

300g thawed frozen blackberries
1/4 cup caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup water
300 ml thickened cream
1.5 cups vanilla yoghurt
Whipped Cream and Chocolate and Vanilla Wafers to serve

In a saucepan over low heat, combine the blackberries, sugar, lemon zest and water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or until berries are soft. Allow to cool and then blend until smooth. Place in the fridge to chill for 30 mins.

Beat the cream using an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold through the vanilla yoghurt.

Gently fold 2-3 tbspns of the blackberry puree through the yoghurt mixture to create swirls.

In a glass, layer the yoghurt mixture with the remaining blackberry puree. Top with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate wafers.

Serves 4 - and enjoy!

Next Friday I'm off to hospital for a small procedure and whilst it may be classified as 'minor day surgery,' to me it still very much involves the word surgery and is still very scary. I mean if it was so 'minor' why have they given me 7-10 days off work to recover? And yes, a week off work will be lovely and peaceful in theory, but it's the reality of it that bothers me.....will I be in pain? will I be bored? will the surgery go Ok? Is this just the beginning?

In case you didn't know, I think too much.

Because my Dad will be at a conference interstate next week and we won't be doing our weekly dinner, Mum and Dad presented me with a 'going to hospital' pack to get me through that week at home. It included 3 of my favourite magazines, some coffee, some milk and honey brioche to dunk in said coffee, my favourite lollies and a Panda Bear heat pack. I was obsessed with Pandas when I was younger and this lil guy is just adorable - perfect to keep me company while I lie on the couch, reading magazines, drinking coffee, eating brioche and eyeing off the lollies.

I never would have thought of giving someone a pack like this but it meant the world to me last night and I just think it is the loveliest idea. I am very lucky to be surrounded by such caring and thoughtful people and I think it's that that makes me think everything is going to be Ok.

Mrs B xx

A recipe from Mr B's Mum!

Sometimes I think that the whole world loses their mind at this time of year.

Traffic increases ten-fold, everyone is super stressed and super rushed (including myself) and sometimes I think we need to remind ourselves what the season is about.

It’s not about how much money you spend on someone or how many presents you have under the tree, it’s about spending quality time with your family and your friends and celebrating and relaxing and putting a smile on someone’s face.

Last weekend we caught up with Mr B’s Mum, Step-Mum, brother, sister, nieces and nephew for dinner as we don’t normally get to see them on Christmas Day. It was a lovely evening filled with chips, cheesecake, Christmas crackers and crafts, but most importantly it was just nice to have everyone together.

So I thought today would be the perfect time to share one of Mr B’s Mum’s recipes with you.

Not long after Mr B and I met, Mr B told me about this recipe and asked if I could make it for him. The original recipe stated that you could make it with crab meat, chicken or tuna.....and of course Mr B wanted crab meat. Now I should mention that when Mr B and I first met I was still very vegetarian and very anti-seafood (except tinned tuna....), but I was in a new relationship and I thought I would try this whole ‘compromise’ thing....needless to say I could barely swallow the crab meat and have never made it again ever since. But a few weeks ago Mr B asked if I could make it again, this time with tuna and I do love me some tuna! It was really easy and so tasty! I hate to admit it but it may even have earnt itself re-entry into regular rotation!

 Mr B’s Mum’s Versatile Curry

You will need:

1 pkt of chicken noodle soup
1 onion – chopped
1 carrot – diced
2.5 cups cold water
310g tin of sweet corn, drained
1 tspn curry powder
400g tin of tuna chunks in springwater (feel free to substitute with 500g chicken breast or 500g crabmeat)
2 cups of milk
2 tbspns of cornflour
Rice to serve

In a large, lightly greased, frypan over medium heat, fry the onion and carrot for 3-5 mins or until onion is softened.

Add the soup mix and water and bring to the boil. Allow the mixture to simmer for 5 mins.

Add the corn, curry powder and milk. Simmer for a further 5 mins.

Add the cornflour and tuna. Simmer with the lid on for 7-10 mins or until mixture is thickened.

Serve over steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx

Hidden Vegetable Curry

What a hectic week it has been. It started on Monday with a full day of interviews, on Tuesday I had a full day training, yesterday, today and tomorrow have been / will be spent attending seminars for Workplace Safe week...on top of that I got a heap of new beads so I've been busy making jewellery most nights and even found time to whip up a couple of cakes too! All of this makes this bowl of tasty, hearty mince and vegie curry with eggplant and yoghurt even more comforting and enjoyable to sit down and savour!

To whip it up for yourself (and 2 friends because it serves 3) you will need:

250g mince
1 carrot grated
1 zucchini grated
1 onion finely diced
1 eggplant diced
1 tspn butter
2-3tbspns curry paste (I used Korma)
1 tin diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
200g tub of European yoghurt to serve

In a fry pan over medium heat add your onion and mince and cook for 4-5 mins or until mince is browned.

Add the curry paste, diced tomatoes, carrot and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and let it simmer for 5-10 mins.

Meanwhile throw your eggplant and butter into a microwave safe dish and cook for 10 mins (checking every 2mins) until the eggplant is nice and mushy and the butter is soaked up. Give it a bit of a mash up with a fork too.

Serve the mince mixture with a heaped spoonful of the eggplant and a generous dollop of yoghurt. I also think this would be delicious served with some naan bread too.

This dish is just packed with flavour, a great way to hide vegies from the kids, low in calories and very filling too!

Right, I must be off, jewellery to package, chocolate to eat...you know...the usual!

Em x

Easy Chicken Curry

So it's Friday night, you want something easy for tea, something tasty, something that may even resemble some sort of take away food...well my friends (we're all friends here right?!) have I got the meal for you!

This Butter Chicken is so very easy!

When you get home from work dice up 400g of chicken breast and chuck it in a bowl with 3 tbspns of the curry paste of your choice (I used Rogan Josh) and 200ml of european yoghurt. Mix it all together and throw it back in the fridge. Now go have a relaxing soak in the bath and a glass of wine, maybe paint your nails or something....(this is a very important part of the recipe so make sure you do it!)

Come back 2 hours later and cook the chicken in a fry pan over medium heat until just sealed on the outside. Add one diced capsicum and one diced onion. Stir it all around for a few minutes while you dance to your favourite song (did I mention you should also have the stereo on whilst making this meal?).

Add one 400g tin of whole peeled tomatoes and a 200g tin of drained sliced green beans. Do a bit more dancing, get your favourite DVD lined up, hell, pour yourself another wine.

Once the curry has simmered for 10 mins, stir through a few handfuls of baby spinach and your good to go! Throw a naan or two in the microwave for 20 seconds and you have yourself one awesome meal. So go snuggle up on the couch, watch a movie, enjoy your dinner and just relax....it's Friday!


It's not the best photo but honestly some meals are just not photo friendly!

I am off to dinner tonight with some lovely ladies from work and I intend to eat like a King because tomorrow I start a low residue diet in preperation for a colonoscopy / gastroscopy next Tuesday...low residue sounds very boring to me, no grains (not my brown rice and my porridge!!), no more then 300ml of milk a day (including if it's in stuff like ice cream etc) no fruit or vegies with skins and no yoghurt or jams with fruity chunks in them, amongst other things....fiddlesticks.

Anyway I'm off, hope you all have a fantastic weekend :)

Em x

Mini Curried Pumpkin Tarts and a Suprise!!

Well I got home from work tonight and there was a parcel addressed to OH but he was adamant that it was for me so, hesitantly, I opened it and look what I found!

It is the most gorgeous winter coat I think I have ever seen! It is a thick woolen grey coat with a damask print down the centre panel and on the arms, I think I'm in love! It took some digging but eventually OH admitted that it was partially to cheer me up coz i've been so down about my health, partially because he knows I have wanted a coat like this (oh but I could never have imagined one so beautiful) and partially because he just gets sick of roasting when we go in the car and I crank the heaters! He does have remarkably good taste though don't you think!

And because I'm in such a good mood I thought I would whip up some goodies for work tomorrow and eventually I settled on these Mini Curried Pumpkin Tarts


You need
about 300g of cooked mashed pumpkin
120g of reduced fat feta crumbled
2 sheets of shortcrust pastry
3 eggs beaten
1 tbspn curry powder
300ml of thickened cream
1/2 tub of Chunky Basil and Cashew Dip

To begin with pre heat the oven to 170C fan forced.
Combine the pumpkin and feta in a bowl and set aside.
Cut your pastry into 16 lil squares (cut into quarters and then cut each quarter into four!)
Grease 2 x mini muffin tray and line the holes with the pastry squares.
Divide the pumpkin and feta between the pastry squares.
In a jug, combine the cream, eggs and curry powder and gently pour over the pumpkin to just fill the tarts.
Bake for around 20 mins or until filling is golden and set.
Once the tarts have cooled down, use a teaspoon to remove a tiny bit of the filling from the centre. Spoon some dip into the hole and pat down to create a flat finish. You don't want too much dip as it will over power the other flavours, but just enough to give it some bite.

You could heat these up in the oven again before serving or simply eat them cold and I find sometimes the flavours work better when they are cold anyway :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Em x

Easy Lamb Curry

Last night was OH's turn to cook and he picked a lamb curry (apparently its lamb week in our house!). It was a simple recipe but it made these huge steaming bowls of delicious curry that honestly serve 4 people easy on their own and if you were going to serve it with rice you would get 6 serves which is pretty damn good considering you need bugger all to whip it up! So here it is.....


And here's how you do it!

You need
500g diced lean lamb
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 bag baby spinach
1 onion diced
400g potatoes diced
1/3 cup curry paste of your choice
And I threw in a block of paneer cheese diced too.
2 x pappadums to serve

Quick side note - my wonderful friends at wikipedia tell me that paneer is of Indian origin. It is an unaged, acid-set, non-melting farmer cheese or curd cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other food acid. Unlike most cheeses in the world, the making of paneer does not involve rennet as the coagulation agent, thus making it completely lacto-vegetarian and providing a source of protein for vegetarian Hindus.
I personally find that paneer doesn't have alot of flavour so it is great for use in curries or heavily spiced dishes, as it doesn't melt, it soaks up alot of the flavour and can be used to bulk up dishes much in the same way as tofu.

Ok back to the recipe. Brown the onion and lamb in a pan. Set aside.
Add potatoes and curry paste to the pan and cook for 1-2 mins or until fragrant.
Add diced tomatoes, onion and lamb. Simmer for 20 mins with the lid on, stirring occasionally.
Add the paneer and let simmer for another 10 mins.
Meanwhile cook your pappadums in the microwave.
Stir spinach through the curry and spoon into pappadums to serve.

Really tasty and doesn't require you to do alot except chuck everything in the pan and stir!

Hoep you all had a fantastic Friday!!

Em x

What a Weekend!!

Well I have lamb shanks cooking in my brand new ceramic dish so here is a quick look at the weekend so far!!

OH made his curry with coconut cream and it was spectacularly good, I found the woolies light organic coconut cream the best one calorie was and it tasted brilliant, just added a bit of creaminess to the sauce without making it too rich, definetly a keeper!

On Saturday we spent the day fishing here



Then today I went shopping and brought these...I'm particularly fond of the lil cardy : )


Before coming home and making these Cherry Ripe Cupcakes, first batch was a failure coz I tried to make dark choc cupcakes with cherry essence and the cocoa just took over, second batch I made vanilla cupcakes with a handful of dark chocolate chips, some cherry and coconut essence and then finished them off with a dob of chocolate frosting, a glace cherry and a sprinkling of coconut, they look and smell soooo good!


Also whipped up some Mini Turkish Delight Cheesecakes for OH to take to work this week, they were very very easy! No photos but here is the recipe - you could replace the turkish delights with 150g frozen raspberries if you want too but OH is going through a turkish delight phase!

350g philly cream cheese
1 pkt fun size turkish delights chopped
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 pkt oreos finely crushed
40g butter melted
1 tspn rose water essence

Line 2 x 12 cupcake tins and pre-heat oven to 160C (fan forced)
Combine the crushed oreos and butter in a bowl and press tspsn of mixture into each case. Bake for 5 mins.
Beat philly until light and fluffy.
Gradually add sugar. Beat well.
Add eggs one at a time.
Stir through turkish delights and rose water.
Spoon mix over bases and bake for 10-15mins or until just set.
Leave to cool in the oven with the door ajar.

Anyway, it's been such a busy weekend, but it's been great because I feel like we have got heaps done. We got to spend the day together yesterday, went to a friend's bday last night and then had today to potter around the house, clean, cook and we even went out for lunch and got the most delicious salad wraps!

I'm off to check on OH's shanks and cook my chicken and vegies : )

Till tomorrow xx

Em

Shoe Porn....and Curry Chicken Crepes!

Well it is Saturday afternoon and I am sitting on my couch, heat pump blasting, rugged up in two doonas, nursing a cup of tea for warmth and enjoying that satisfied full belly feeling from a delicious salad roll.


I told OH I was going to stay inside and work this afternoon, get my Ebay stuff done once and for all...so far I have spent two hours on facebook and ebay....nevermind.


As long as I can remember I have never been a real girly girl, I am not fussed by make up and the latest trends and spending 3 hours doing my hair every morning. But my one downfall / weakness / love is shoes. High heel shoes make my world go round. I can walk, run, dance and do just about anything in high heels, but put me in flats and I will fall flat on my face. I have been fascinated and obsessed by them since I was little so I thought today I would share with you some of my favourites in my current collection!


The first pair of heels I ever brought. I got them on a family holiday to Melbourne when I was about 14 and I refused to take them off for the rest of the weekend even though I couldn't really walk in them and the pain was ridiculous. I can't bring myself to get rid of them.


I brought this pair a few weeks ago, suede purple heels...once I saw them I just couldn't put them down, always nice to add a bit of colour to your outfit!

I brought these ones with the purple suede ones. I found them both at a sale...two pairs for $50....I am always looking for a good bargain, especially when it comes to shoes! Anyway this pair are black patent leather, gorgeous kitten heel, it's hard not to feel sexy in these!

Now what's next...ohhh my first pair of Pleaser shoes. I came across this brand a few years ago and spent hours going through the catalogues trying to decide which two pairs to order. This pair may look high and like you would be tottering along all night, but I find the strap around the ankle means you can run and do just about anything in these!

This was the second pair of Pleaser shoes I brought, I couldn't go past these gorgeous black and red patent corseted shoes. The first time I wore them was to a rockabilly car show and I was there with my parents. After an hour of walking around I was leaning on my Dad so much he ended up carrying me back to the car...now I can walk in them no worries, but that first day left me crippled for a week! Dad always shakes his head when he sees the shoes I buy, but after the first few wears they usually fit like a glove (or a shoe!)

Now oohhhh these are my bridesmaid shoes, I knew they were perfect as soon as I saw them...they are purple silk with an overlay of black lace. My bridal shoes are the same but with cream silk underneath.

And I couldn't write an entry on my favourite shoes without mentioning my favourite pair of socks!!!

And last but not least, last night's curry chicken crepes. I just mixed some curry paste with some greek yoghurt - I haven't tried yoghurt in a home made curry before and it was delicious! - some onion, green beans and spinach...ohh and chicken! Then put the mixture in some crepes, it was soooo yummy and filling! Definetly keeping that one on the menu rotation!

OK enough stalling, back to work!!

Hope you are all having a good weekend!

Em x