Pie, Pie and more pie!

Well what a day today has been! The day started off cold, wet and windy and Mr B and I feared our day off would go to waste, but then Mum and Dad showed up to lend a hand and they brought enough motivation with them to bring the sun back out for a little while. Mum and I got our green thumbs on in the garden, potting plants and tidying up some of our garden beds whilst Dad and Mr B got stuck into building our new pergola. It's amazing how much difference all the work makes to the look of the house! Just as we had all finished lunch, our ears pricked up to the sound of a car in the driveway and it was none other than Ali and baby Noah calling in for a long awaited catch up. A great day turned into an awesome day (who would have thought I would be saying any day that involved gardening was an awesome day.....)

Whilst we are on the confessional trail, I have another one to make.....we have had pie for dinner EVERY night this week.... but in all fairness Mr B brought me a family sized pie maker for my birthday last week and we all know I get a little excited about new kitchen appliances.....

One of the pies we made this week was this Haloumi and Fish Pie. The combination of the fish and the rice with the currants topped with melty haloumi is fantastic on it's own, but then add in the golden, crispy, flaky pastry and you are on a winner! 

Haloumi and Fish Pie 

You will need:

1 brown onion, finely chopped

• 1 tspn crushed garlic 

• 1 tspn crushed wet basil

• 1/2 cup long-grain white rice 

• 1/4 cup currants

• 1/3 cup dry white wine

• 400g tin of diced tomatoes 

• 250g firm white fish fillets

• 1 x 250g pkt haloumi, coarsely grated or thinly sliced

• 1 sheet of reduced fat puff pastry

• 1 sheet of reduced fat shortcrust pastry

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• Preheat oven to 180°C. 

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• In a lightly greased frypan, add the onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes or until onion softens. 

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• Place the rice in a microwave safe dish, cover with hot water and cook in 5 minute bursts on high, stirring regularly, until cooked. 

Place fish fillets in an oven proof dish and cook for 15 mins if fresh, 25 mins if frozen. 

Add the diced tomato, basil and wine to the onion and garlic. Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for 12 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and currants. 

Once the fish is cooked, break it up with a fork and then stir through the sauce mixture in the fry pan. Now if you want, you can serve it up right here and now with some thinly sliced haloumi on top and some crusty bread. Believe me, this is how I had the leftovers and it was delicious. 

Or you can carry on and turn it into a pie! 

If you have a pie maker, pre-heat it and cut the pastry into the appropriate size discs. Use the shortcrust pastry for the base and if you have a family sized pie maker, use about 2 cups of the mixture for your filling. 

Cover with thinly sliced or grated haloumi and then top with your puff pastry lid. Now in a family sized pie maker, this will take around 15-20 mins to cook. In a smaller pie maker it would take around 10-12 minutes. I found that this recipe made enough to fill the family size pie and there was still a bowl leftover for lunch the next day.  

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• If you don't have a pie maker, never fear, you could follow the same steps with a pie dish, brush with some melted butter or egg-wash and place it in the oven to cook for around 20-25 mins or until the pastry is golden. 

We served ours with some cabbage casserole. My Mum used to make this all the time when I was younger and it was the one thing I just baulked at every single time but now, I love it! Go figure hey! 

Mrs B xx

The Mighty Barra Burger!

It's been awhile since I posted one of Mum and Dad's Tuesday night specials but last week Mum told me she had something special planned and she doesn't disappoint!!


This golden toasted delight was filled with melt in your mouth barramundi, herb and garlic feta and juicy tomatoes - so good!!!

It's Thursday morning and I'm sitting here in bed eating some stewed apples and vanilla yoghurt, thinking about getting up and going for a jog / walk / stumble around the back paddock and trying not to think about the rest of the day really. I have specialist appointments this afternoon to try and find out whats going on with my iron levels because everyone seems to be totally baffled by the fact that they keep dropping no matter what we do. I think the next step is a hospital stay and some procedures which to be honest I'm really not looking forward to, but just have to wait and see what they say I suppose.

In some lighter and brighter news I got my easter moulds in the mail last night and OH and I have been experimenting with lil eggs and bunnies and I can't wait to show you all our easter goodies! I got some lollipop moulds too and I'm gonna try making some actual lollipops which should be interesting, just need to invest in a candy thermometer first!

Oh and I promised OH I would put his steak, caramelised onion and potato spectacular up as well!! Salt and pepper steaks were heaven!!


I'm off to pipe some crosses on my hot cross cake balls!! But more on them in the easter goodies special!!

Em xx

Calamari Stir Fry

What are you having for dinner tonight??

Let me tell you what I just had coz it was quick, easy and delicious!

Calamari Stir Fry
Serves 2
300g frozen crumbed calamari (if you can find uncrumbed frozen calamari then by all means use about 250g of that)
1 x red onion (diced)
10 snow peas (diced)
1 x green capsicum (diced)
2 sticks of celery (diced)
1 x sml tin of water chestnuts (drained)
1 x carrot - use a vegie peeler to make it into thin strips
220g of thin hokkien noodles
1/3 bottle of your favourite stir fry sauce.

Ok so in a wok over medium-high heat throw in your onion for 2-3 mins.
Add capsicum and celery and stir fry for another 2-3 mins.
Add your snow peas, carrot, water chestnuts and sauce.
Prepare the noodles as per packet directions and add them to the wok. Stir to combine.
If you have used crumbed calamari, use this time while your vegies and noodles simmer away to peel the crumb off (actually quite easy when they are frozen). Cut each ring into quarters and add to the wok.
Keep stirring for around 5 mins. If it looks to dry or like it's sticking to the wok at any stage add some water - it will all cook out.
After 5-7 mins the calamari should be cooked to perfection.

Enjoy : )

Em x

Mediterannean Style Prawns

Ok so personally I have major issues with most seafood, but seeing as OH loves it so much, occasionally I'll cook him a treat (and I usually end up with a little treat for dinner myself!). OH was given a seafood cookbook for Christmas and lately he seems to be going through a prawn phase so I found a recipe I liked the sound of and decided to give it a go tonight (also possibly due to the fact that I had some Quorn spinach and cheese schnitzels in the freezer I was dying to try!)


I know that is a huge serving, but seeing as he doesn't get home cooked prawns that often, he likes a big serve when he finally gets the chance!

So for these lil babies (which OH has informed me were very very nice) you will need:

250g cooked, de-veined and shelled prawns.
3 spring onions thinly sliced
1 tspn crushed garlic
1 tin of tomato supreme (or about 1 cup of tomato passata)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tspn crushed / wet mediterannean herbs
salt and pepper to season
Couscous to serve

Cook the spring onions and garlic in a fry pan over medium heat for 2-3 mins.
Add wine and simmer for another 2-3 mins or until it has reduced by half.
Stir through tomatoe supreme and mediterannean herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
Simmer mixture for about 5 mins or until mixture has thickened.
Add prawns and stir through until well coated in the sauce. Cook for a further 2 mins - you are basically just heating the prawns up here.
Serve with couscous.

Now OH only got one meal out of this recipe, but as you can see it is massive so I reckon it would do two normal people!

And on a side note - my Quorn spinach and cheese schnitzel was freakin awesome. It was absolutely delicious and is officially my new favourite vegetarian freezer meal. I always have a box of vegetarian burgers or something in the freezer coz on Fri or Sat night once a week we have an 'easy' tea which usually involves steak and chips for OH and something vegetarian and chips for me! I had been on a kick with the Sanitarium Not Burgers, but they have officially been shafted now! I know the portion sizes are a touch small (but thats really not a bad thing) and they are a bit pricey but they are so worth it, I can't wait to try the rest of the range now.

Happy Monday peoples!

Em x

Coconut Cream Sauce for Fish

Well I worked late last night and when I got home OH had created a home grown masterpiece. I was pretty impressed because on this plate, OH caught the salmon and I grew the zucchini and spuds so all we brought were the tomatoes and onion. I would absolutely love to be self sufficient and seeing it all come together like that, especially when it tastes so damn amazing, makes all the hard work worthwhile : )



OH made a sauce for the salmon using some leftover coconut cream we had in the fridge from New Years Eve cocktail making activities!

Coconut Cream Sauce - best served with fish

200ml light coconut cream
1/2 onion finely diced
1 tbspn lemon juice
1 tspn crushed garlic
1 tspn wet crushed basil

Add the onion, garlic and basil to a fry pan on medium heat and cook for 3-4 mins.
Add coconut cream, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 1-2 mins.
Set aside.
Seal fish in a fry pan, doesn't have to be cooked through.
Place fish in a baking dish and pour sauce over.
Bake at 200C for 10-15 mins or until fish is cooked.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nom nom nom great way to dress up some salmon, and the combination of flavours is just brilliant.

Great summer dish!!

Em x

Portugese Salmon with Spiced Lentils

Well yesterday I was sitting at my desk thinking how lucky I was to have made it through winter and into spring without getting sick this year, especially seeing as the majority of people in my office have been struck down by nasty colds and lung infections...yet they still think it is a good idea to come to work and spread the love. And wouldn't you know it, last night my throat started to feel a bit sore, and by the early hours of this morning I was nearly in tears every time I swallowed. So at the moment I am at work but I am going home to bed soon and just to make it better it is a public holiday here tomorrow and I have a feeling I will be spending it on the couch drinking tea...which really doesn't sound that bad but OH and I had planned a bike ride and a picnic in some sort of effort to mend our relationship...

Anyway, last night we had Portugese Salmon and Spiced Lentils which was rather tasty if I do say so myself!

You will need
1 tbspn oil
1/2 cup red lentils
1 tbspn freshly diced thyme
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tspn crushed garlic
1 finely diced carrot
1 finely diced stick of celery
1 red onion finely diced
1 cup water
1 tbsnp lemon juice
1 x large tomato diced
2 x smoked salmon fillets
2 x tbsnps of portugese chicken seasoning

Rub the seasoning into the salmon fillets and place in the fridge while you prepare the lentils.
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft.
Add carrot, celery and garlic, cooking for two mins or until garlic is fragrant.
Add lentils, water and stock cube. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 10 mins with the lid on.
Once liquid has reduced and mixture has thickened, take off heat and add thyme, tomato and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.
Cook salmon in fry pan for 3-4 mins on each side or until cooked to your liking.
Serve with lentils.


The salmon really absorbed the flavour of the spices and the lentil mixture really thickened up and was a perfect accompaniement for the fish. To be honest I could have just had a big bowl of the lentils, they were so good! and even OH who is a self confessed lentil hater liked them!

Hope you are all well...I am off home to collapse on the couch with a blanket and a book.

Em x

Sweet Potato, Salmon and Snow!

Well it is Saturday night and I am laying in bed on my lonesome. Mum and I have just got back from a delicious vegetarian dinner at Pashas and I am mega full so I am taking advantage of OH being away for his bucks weekend on a camping trip and having an early night!

Today has been great but as usual, nothing went to plan! Seeing as the Dad and OH were going to be away all weekend, the girls had organised to have our dress fittings and make the invites and the place cards before Mum and I took ourselves out to dinner. But last week we found out the dress maker was shut due to the AFL Grand Final and then yesterday we found out the paper hadn't arrived for the invites. So onto Plan B....The boys still left this morning in the pouring rain, thankfully it was sunny by the time they got to their destination though....(here is OH all packed and ready to go.)

....so Mum and I decided to do a bit of light shopping and went to all the shops we love to look at but the boys always whinge about! We even got time to check out a new cake shop we had heard about and they had a cake that was green with layers of raspberry sauce and a white cream (I think!) - I am intrigued and shall do further investigation, more to come on this one soon! While we were out I brought a whole heap of vegetable seedlings including pumpkin, cauliflower, baby carrots, capsicums, mint and eggplant and I also had some seed potatoes at home so I planted them when I got back this afternoon and the vegie patch looks so good now everything is in. I just hope they survive this time because it is very windy here tonight!



In other news, on Friday OH and I woke up at 6:30am ready to get up for work and we have a bit of a running joke where I say 'can we call in sick' and OH usually says 'no' and then we get up. But on Friday OH rolled over and said 'Yep - let's go see the snow before it all disappears' and thats exactly what we did. I rang work and arranged to go in at lunch time and then we were off! It's only about a 40min drive to the top of Mt Wellington from our place and as we got to the top the scenery was just beautiful, waterfalls, rocks, moss, forests, all surrounded by fog and covered in the last of this year's snow, it was great to see such untouched wilderness. We spent a bit of time playing in the snow and even had a picnic in the car!



Now what blog entry would be complete without a recipe! Today we have Sweet Potato and Salmon Quiche


You will need:

200g smoked salmon fillet
2 cups sweet potato cubed
3 spring onions chopped
100g baby spinach leaves
1 cloved crushed garlic
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
100g fetta
salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 220C and line a tray with baking paper. Roast sweet potato for 20 mins or until tender.
Saute spring onion, garlic and spinach until spinach has wilted. Place mixture in a greased quiche dish.
Top with roast sweet potato and crumbled fetta.
Lightly cook salmon in a fry pan before flaking and scattering in quiche dish.
Whisk eggs and milk, pour over other ingredients and top with salt and pepper.
Reduce oven to 180C and bake quiche for 30-40 mins or until set.

This is such a nice quiche and a great combination of salmon and sweet potato, really nice served with a simple tomato, cucumber and capsicum salad!

And OH requested that I put up his brandy snap basket filled with honeycomb ice cream and surrounded by chocolate custard and strawberries...he was very proud of it!


Well this week we have a peppered beef pot pie, spag bog and OH's fantabulous fried rice on the menu and round two of the golden syrup dumplings because they were just so very good!

And tomorrow, the chewiest yummiest ANZACS ever!!

Night xx

The Week In Review

Well it appears that whilst I have done much rambling this week, there has been little in the way of what we have been eating and OH is getting very upset that there is no pictures of his dinner efforts on Mon night...so here goes the week in review!

On Monday night OH cooked a mouth watering BBQ Chicken Pizza, after several attempts he is now the king of home made pizza dough, it comes out light and airy, slightly doughy in the middle yet crispy on the outisde and honestly there is nothing better then home made pizza with fresh capsicum and juicy pineapple, caramelised onions and mushrooms, juicy tomatoes and chicken all on a bed of bbq sauce...mmmmm is it wrong to be craving pizza at 8:30am?? We have even come to an agreement now, on my half I have serious willpower with the cheese, OH on the other hand will use a whole pkt of grated cheese on his side and whilst my head is screaming CALORIES and EVIL every other inch of me watches him take a bite of the cheesy goodness and just salivates. This photo is of my half...imagine that cheese multiplied by ohhh 10 and you have OH's side!



Wednesday night I wanted to try a recipe I had for Sweet and Sour Fish Parcels. You make a simple sweet and sour sauce on the stove top with tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and cornflour, then you add in some capsicum, pineapple and carrot and let it all boil till the sauce is thick and the vegies are soft. Then you put your fish fillet (any white fish) on some baking paper which is on some foil, top it with sauce and vegies and wrap it all up in a neat lil parcel. Bung it in the oven for awhile and when you come back (this is the part I was excited about) you open this lil parcel and the smell of the sweet and sour just invades your senses and I don't know I think I just like the idea of opening the foil and seeing the transformation thats taken place, from a cold bit of raw fish covered in some sauce you get these gorgeous bits of tender fish infused with flavour. And I served it with a very generous serving (OH's eyes nearly fell out of his head...) of boiled cauliflower and brocolli all smushed together seasoned with a lil bit of salt and pepper...superb! It is only in the last 12 months I have started eating seafood and whilst I'm still a bit wary of some things, I am getting the hang of it and slowly incorporating more of it into my cooking and our meals.



Last night was another learning curve. I had a recipe for lamb and roast vegetable spaghetti which I was keen to try as it had only a little meat and lots of delicious sounding roast vegies in it. But the recipe said to add Allspice to the mince when it was cooking and I was hesitant as I have only ever used it in my Hot Cross Buns! I know I know, I have so much to learn....anyway, last night I thought I would give it a go, I diced a red onion, 2 zucchini, 1 capsicum and 2 sticks of celery, drizzled them with oil and salt and pepper and set them in the oven to roast for 15mins. Tick tock tick tock......then I added some halved cherry tomatoes and put them back in for another 15 mins....meanwhile I put some spaghetti on to cook and threw the mince in the fry pan with some sliced button mushies. Now came the moment of truth, the mince was cooked and apparently screaming for some spices, so I added a sprinkle of allspice and a tspn of crushed garlic and cooked it up for a bit longer. (May I also add now that I was slightly concerned that as this pasta had no 'sauce' as such it would be a bit dry / lacking in flavour) How wrong was I! I had a taste test of the mince mixture and it knocked my socks off, the flavours had infused together to create pure magic. And the roast vegies were just brilliant, so I learnt two things a) pasta does not necessarily need sauce and b) Allspice + lamb mince is freakin spectacular! The final result looked something like this and I am already hanging out for the leftovers tonight!



Plus there have been several cupcake appearances this week such as these Hawthorn (AFL) inspired ones - I think they could also be a good bumblebee if they had lil chocolate wings!


And these crushed Ferrero Rocher ones:


My home kitchen idea died a spectacular death this week too. I had decided on calling myself Miss Muffet's Kitchen because my parents always called me Muffet growing up. I had done some posters, I had done price lists, menus, had a lil folder with all my recipes and ideas in it. Then I rang the local council and they told me that even for cooking for charity like I am with the RSPCA cupcakes at the moment, I should have a seperate commercial kitchen in my home to my every day one....and that would be the case if I wanted to run the business from my home too. I was shattered to put it nicely. Went home and laid on the couch with a tub of ice cream and refused to do business with the universe anymore.But luckily OH lured me outside with Allens lollies and got me to kick a soccer ball for awhile to make me feel better. But anyway, I will figure something out I'm sure. That will teach me for not checking the regulations before I did all the work! Stupid thing is, if I lived in a different suburb under a different council, I wouldn't have any trouble at all. Stupid world.

Ok people, that's me updated!

Happy Friday!!

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