Minestrone with Tortellini

To be honest I have never made minestrone before because I always thought it would be a bit bland and not altogether filling. I mean no one wants a bowl of watery soup that's just going to leave you hungrier then when you started do they?

I think what drew me to this recipe though was the cheese tortellini because I figured even if the soup itself was rubbish there would at least be cheese filled pasta in there to save the day.

As it turns out this soup is not only dead easy, but it's also packed full of flavour and the addition of the chilli gives you that lovely warm feeling without burning your mouth out. Mr B and I both thought this was a great hearty meal for a cold winter's night and served up with some home made bread it was definitely a winner.

Minestrone with Tortellini - Serves 4

1 tbspn olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 heaped tspn of crushed garlic
1/2 tspn crushed chilli
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
800g diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable stock
500g fresh cheese tortellini
Salt and Pepper to season
Crusty bread to serve

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and chilli and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.

Add the celery, carrot and zucchini. Cook for 5 mins. Add the diced tomatoes and the stock. Bring the mixture to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 mins.

Meanwhile, cook the tortellini in a seperate saucepan as per the packet directions. It should generally go into a pot of boiling water and will be cooked after about 7-10 mins.

Drain the tortellini and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and serve with bread.

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx

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

The Weekend That Was.........

So what did I do this weekend?

I went for a walk in the sunshine on Saturday morning...

I gave money to a homeless man....

I browsed through some new stores and brought Pilsbury Dough Boy Lip Balm in Cinnamon Roll flavour...

I ate some of the most gorgeous fresh dates I have ever tasted...

I had a delicious bowl of apple and yoghurt for lunch...

Then I weeded the vegie patch :(

That was Saturday....but yesterday I did some groceries...

Went to the movies with OH to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in 3D (it was pretty good!)...

Then I went home to imerse myself in my kitchen :)

First things first, OH required a beverage so I used these ingredients to make him a Caramel and Whiskey Thickshake


I melted some cream (about 2 tbspns), brown sugar (about 3 tbspns) and whiskey (a good dash) together in the microwave to make a whiskey caramel sauce, then I combined that with about a litre of milk and a good scoop of vanilla ice cream in the blender. I couldn't get any photos of the finished product because OH demolished it before I had the chance! The sauce would also be spectacular just poured over vanilla ice cream or you could use it to make rice pudding or hell, eat it on it's own, it was that good!

So now that OH was content, I got on with my baking.

I made a Tuna, Vegie and Rice Bake for one of the ladies at work who has injured her elbow and can't cook much right now.


I also made her my Mum's Zucchini and Carrot Pancakes.


These are delicious and so easy.

In a bowl combine 1 grated zucchini, 1 grated carrot, 1 cup of grated cheese, 1 diced onion (cooked), 3 beaten eggs, 3/4 cup of water, 1 crumbled stock cube, 2 cups of plain flour and 1 cup of milk. Season with salt and pepper. Let the mix rest in the fridge for an hour or so. Using a buttered fry pan over medium heat or a pancake maker if you have one, cook the mix 1/4 cup at a time. These are delicious hot or cold, my Mum and Dad make them all the time and this is one of my favourite dishes from when I was younger :)

Then I made myself some Roasted Tomato and Lentil Soup for lunch at work this week


This is also our favourite winter dishes, it's so easy and so tasty!

To start with you will need roughly 1kg of tomatoes, halved lengthways. Place the tomatoes on a lined baking tray cut side up and season with salt and pepper. Bake at 200C (fan forced) for about 40-50 mins or until they are starting to look roasted. When the tomatoes are done, chuck them in the blender with 2 tspns crushed garlic and blend until smooth. Meanwhile place a cup of dried red lentils in a saucepan or microwave safe bowl and pour in about 3 cups of water. Cook for 10-15 mins until water is absorbed and lentils have pretty much turned to mush. Pour the tomato mixture into the lentil mixture and stir well to combine. This gave me 5 good size bowls for lunch, or normally if OH and I have it for dinner we add a cooked onion as well and it all disappears in a night! One thing I will say about this soup though is that if you do have the willpower to leave it overnight the flavours really develop so try and make it the day before serving :)

And once all that was done, I finally got started on our dinner! Pizza Pull Apart Bread



We did not intend to eat all of this last night....but we did, it was just too good...soft pillows of herbed dough filled with tomato paste, ham, tomatoes, capsicum, cheese and pineapple...oh it was good...it was so good....

This recipe was slightly more complicated then the others though so I better write it out in steps!

You need:
2 cups of self raising flour
30g butter
3/4 cup of milk
Fillings of your choice.

In a bowl use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and add the milk. Stir with a flat bladed knife until the mixture resembles a soft dough. You may need to add more milk.

Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and if you are making a savoury dough you can knead in 2 tspns crushed wet italian herbs.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle. Now here you can go for your life. You can spread it with vegemite and sprinkle with cheese then roll it up or you could do what I did and spread it with tomato paste then layer fresh cut tomatoes, ham, cheese, pineapple and capsicum in a strip down the middle. I did this so that all I had to do was bring the two lengthways edges together, fold up the ends, and I had a nice little parcel where my layers would show up nicely. Before you put it in the oven (@ 200C fan forced for 35 mins or until golden) cut deep slits every 3-4 cms but be careful not to cut all the way through, this makes it look pretty and makes it easier to pull apart!

Did I mention it was freakin' awesome?? Think dessert, think apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, think lunch boxes with chutney and cheese or vegemite and cheese...get creative people!!

So what did you do this weekend??

Em x

Mid-Week Ramblings

I can't believe it's only Wednesday...in my head I keep thinking that tomorrow is Friday, but it's not....booooooooo! It feels like it has been raining for an eternity here. It literally hasn't stopped since last night. It will fill our tanks up though and be good for our lil trees and our vegie patch. I really hate driving in this weather though, it amazes me how some people don't change the way they drive even when the weather is really bad.

Righto, let's start with the mid weekly round up. On Monday night I attempted to make curried sausages. Now let me start by saying my Mum makes fantabulous curried sausages, she uses vegetarian sausages and throws in a heap of vegies and it's all covered in a thick curry sauce and they are always spectacular. So on Monday night when I made mine I was hoping for a similar outcome, but OH insisted I use real sausages (occasionally he has a dummy spit and wants real meat in his meals - which I understand) and go for a more traditional take on it, so that meant more sausages then vegies of course! Anyway I was mighty disappointed, I didn't realise I had only like a tspn of curry powder left and so the result was a curry sauce that coated the sausages and vegies, but that was about it, it didn't have a whole heap of flavour and was kinda just like having sausages and mashed potato for tea, nice, but not what I was expecting. So at Mum n Dad's last night I harrassed Mum for tips and decided that tonight I would throw the leftovers back in the pan and try and fix it. A bit of water, some more curry powder, bit of tomato paste, problem solved! I finally had a thick glossy curry sauce with a hint of tomato and there was plenty of it, it even made OH break into a sweat lol but it was delicious! And it really made me feel like I had accomplished something by finally getting it right. No photos though because honestly curried sausages just don't photograph that well! How about a recipe instead?

Curried Sausages
750g of vegetarian or meat sausages
1-2 tbspns of curry powder
1 onion - diced
2 carrots - diced
1 capsicum - diced
*can also add extra vegies like peas and corn if you want
1-2 tbspns flour
1 tub of tomato paste

Ok if you are using meat sausages, brown them off in a pan and drain the fat, I do mine in the George Foreman Grill, and set aside.
Add onion and curry powder to a fry pan and cook for 3-4 mins.
Add carrot, capsicum, tomato paste, 2 cups of water and flour.
Cut sausages up and return to pan. If using vegetarian sausages, dice and add to pan now too.
Bring to the boil and let simmer until sauce thickens. Serve with rice or mashed potato.

It's pretty simple, if you want more sauce, add more water, if you want it thicker, add more flour and it you like it hot, add more curry powder!

Last night we went to Mum and Dad's for tea and I think I said before, Mum makes a legendary pumpkin soup. The thing is we only get it for a limited time because she makes it from the pumpkins Dad grows in his vegie patch, so when the pumpkin run out, so does soup season : ( Anyway last night was the last of the pumpkin soup for the year and whilst it was very exciting, also very sad, you know that when you get to the end of the bowl you are not getting anymore for another 8 or so months, but you also know you have a very happy belly! Last night we had our pumpkin soup with a pizza base that Mum had drizzled with balsamic vinegar and topped with cheese before throwing it in the oven, it caught us off guard abit coz OH and I were not expecting the vinegar lol but it was yummy!


On Mon night OH and I went to kick the footy around the park and when I was putting my sneakers on I noticed I had a hole in the back of them....I only brought them in February...but they only cost me $20....serves me right. I have known for a lil while they wouldn't last long, the first time I put them on the tag tore off the back of them and when you walk on gravel you can feel every little pebble! So yesterday I gave in and took myself on a shopping expedition. I tried on pretty sneakers and cheap sneakers and expensive sneakers and had the man in the shop tie my foot into one pair so tight I had to get him to help me back out of them, but in the end I went for comfort over price and over looks and came home with these lil babies:

They are mega comfy and although last night on the treadmill they did give me blisters (I think it might have been coz I had them done up too tight) I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I can't wait to go for a decent walk in them!!

Hmmmm tomorrow night OH is going to have a go at fried rice so that will be nice, I think, I have no idea what he is going to put in it and I have promised myself not to hover over his shoulder and let him do his own thing.

And I found out today I will be spending alllllllllllllll day next Wed in a Workers Comp training course, now normally I work from 7-3 and this course is 7-5....yick. But they are providing morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Several years ago hearing that would have made my mind do somersaults thinking of the cakes and biscuits and cheese platters and sausage rolls and mini quiches....but now it makes me very nervous! I have decided to take my own food and like I can pack a few pieces of fruit and some yoghurt in my bag, but normally I only have some rice cakes and philly for lunch, but thats probably not practical to carry in my handbag? I don't know if there will be a fridge or a microwave there but I was thinking of a simple salad that I can just put a tin of tuna through or something...I could keep that in my bag with an ice pack or something couldn't i? Does anyone have any other ideas of what I could take?

Till tomorrow... Em xx