How I love couscous!!!

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am a huge couscous fan, cold in salads or with some roast vegies, hot with any number of additions, I just love the texture and the consistency and the flavour of it. And upon noticing we had large amounts in the cupboard at home I decided thats what we were having for dinner last night. But first I decided to look up what it actually is, so here we go: Couscous is made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. Learn something very day huh!

Anyway, last night I raided the vegie drawer and the fridge and came up with this recipe which was lip smackingly delicious to the point where the leftovers may have disappeared....however I also think this recipe would be equally good if you replaced the chicken with a handful of roast pumpkin too.

Chicken and Vegie Moroccan CousCous
180g chicken breast diced
1 zucchini diced
1 capsicum diced
1 x punnet cherry tomatoes halved
2 x 125g tins of corn drained
1 cup of couscous
1 stock cube
1.25 cups of water
Moroccan Seasoning

In a fry pan over medium heat cook your chicken and then add zucchini and capsicum.
After 4-5 mins add tomatoes and corn and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper and moroccan seasoning.
Meanwhile in a saucepan over medium heat combine water and stock cube and bring to the boil. Add couscous and stir till liquid has absorbed...you might want to take it off the heat now because unless you stir constantly it tends to blow up....lesson learnt the hard way.
Stir couscous through the vegie and chicken mix. Continue stirring for 2-3 mins until couscous has softened.
Serve and enjoy!


And remember I said we got that swanky new casserole pot thingy...here it is!


And here are the lamb shanks we made in it....OH said they were spectacular.


And here are the bread rolls we made all by ourselves in the oven, excuse the fact we have been nibbling on some of them...they were not rock solid (we were concerned), they were soft and warm and delicious...and about 2 seconds after this photo was taken they were being used to mop up the sauce from the lamb shanks and they ceased to exist...so much for making them for OH's lunches this week! I think they will definetly become a regular event though, I have a hankering to try them with fresh pumpkin soup and with butter and fresh home made jam....although we may need some sort of guard / system so we don't eat them all straight out of the oven again!



*sigh* well I am off to curl up on the couch with a book and a big mug of Creme Brulee tea (caramel and vanilla...mmmmmmm)

Em xx

Strawberry and Butternut Snap Trifle

OH is sitting here berating me because I made this dessert that even he declared to be fantastic, I didn't use a recipe, I spent ages making it look pretty....and I forgot to take a photo!

So here goes the recipe for Strawberry and Butternut Snap Trifle

You will need:

500g of strawberries
1 x 220g tub of extra light philadelphia cream cheese
3 tbspns cream
1 x tub of vanilla forme yoghurt (optional)
6 x butternut snaps (crushed)
3 tbsnps of icing sugar

The night before combine your philly, 1 tbsnp cream, 1 tbsnp of icing sugar and 1/2 tub of the vanilla yoghurt (purely a taste thing, if you like the mix as is, don't add it). Leave in the fridge as it will let the biscuits soften.

The night you are ready to serve sprinkle diced strawberries with some icing sugar and microwave until soft, syrupy and juicy.

Spoon some of the cream cheese mix into the bottom of some fancy glasses - I used stemless wine glasses. Then spoon over the strawberry syrup. Finally combine the remaining cream with the remaining icing sugar and spoon over the strawberries. If you wanted you could top with crushed up flake or chocolate curls.

But it was delicious, the cream cheese evened out the sweetness of the strawberries and it was only 4 small serves so you could enjoy it without feeling like you had over eaten. Sooooo good!!

Anyway, now that I have a content and happy belly I am going to bed!

Must fill you in on the new pot and the lamb shanks too!!

Night xx

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

Comfort food

Last night OH and I finally went to the parentals for dinner. We didn't make it on Tues night as planned coz OH was visciously attacked by the man flu on his way home from work and therefore spent the night in bed. I, on the other hand, made a spectacular vegie chow mein....possibly a touch too much curry powder, but I'm gonna make it again next week with some tuna so I will try and rectify it second time round! Anyway, last night Mum made this casserole of Sanitarium vegie sausages, baked beans and onion all cooked up in this delciously thick tomato sauce and served with a dollop of thick and creamy mashed spud. It was mega filling, but it was hot and tasty and reminded me of home. It was real comfort food. Which got me thinking about what comfort food is and what my favourite comfort foods are.

Wikipedia defines comfort foods as 'foods consumed to achieve some level of improved emotional status, whether to relieve negative psychological affect or to increase positive. More generally, comfort food can be defined as food that brings some form or measure of comfort, sense of well-being, or easy satisfaction, usually from being warm and filling such as a dish made with a staple food, or basically pleasing such as sweets or desserts.' Like most things I think comfort food is in the eye of the beholder, I mean some people might find a big bucket of kfc or a tub of ice cream or a block of chocolate comforting, and whilst the chocolate and the ice cream sound nice, I don't think they would do much to comfort me. To me comfort food is food that reminds me of home. Food that conjures up images of sitting around the dining table or in the lounge at Mum and Dad's. That's one thing I miss about living at home I think, just having my parents there to chat to. When we go to Mum and Dad's for tea the boys retire to the lounge and Mum fusses about the kitchen while I sit on the kitchen bench in the same spot I always used to and we just chat about everything and anything.


I miss my Dad being involved in that too, but we still talk heaps and times change plus I imagine he is happy to have another boy to talk to! To me, that is what real comfort food is about. That being said, it's really not even about the food, the food is good, but the real comfort is just knowing my parents are there I think and being reminded of that is comfort enough. I love going to Mum and Dad's and having big bowls of Mum's hearty home cooking or Dad's chocolate pudding or my parents Christmas Pudding. Oh the Christmas pudding...it is a tradition that everyone shakes the fruit while it's stewing and everyone has a stir of the batter, it's an annual treat that we try and stretch out as long as possible. The night we have our last slice of pudding is always a sad one!

Big bowls of hot, hearty, mushy food on a cold morning or night comfort me too though, but in a different way. There is nothing like sitting in bed with a big bowl of porridge and golden syrup on a cold winter's morning or curling up with a bowl of thick vegetable soup and hot crunchy bread roll on a cold winter's night while you listen to the rain. I don't seem to need comfort food so much in summer, it must be a winter / warmth thing. That being said however in desperate times I am quite partial to a big bowl of pudding or golden syrup dumplings or even some white chocolate for comfort all year round too!

On another note it is cold and windy and rainy here. I got out for a walk tonight though before it set in and that is two nights in a row. I have been a bit slack on the exercise since switching to maintenance calories, but I feel so much better for having done something the last few days!

OH is currently cooking a chicken curry and we are using coconut cream for the first time ever (I know, I have told you before though that we are a little behind!) but I can smell the coconutty goodness from the lounge room and it smells divine! I can't wait to try it and I will fill you in tomorrow!!

Em xx

Sunday Round Up.....

It has been a long few weeks in our household so OH and I decided to take ourselves away for a day trip yesterday. We got up bright and early and had some fruit toast (essential weekend brekkie) and tea and went on our merry way. Fast forward three hours and we were at the other end of Tassie and sitting in the car park at a place called Kart Mania. I was terrified but OH was mega excited so I kept my concerns to myself. My concerns mainly focused around the fact that many many years ago at the local show, I was going on the dodgem cars and I somehow managed to get one that was possessed...I'm not joking, the damn thing kept going backwards...and dodgem cars don't even have a reverse, it was terrible! So now I associate that with dodgems, go karts etc...they are all evil and I am not capable of driving any of them. But by the time I snapped out of my painful flashbacks, I was sitting in the drivers seat, belted in, helmet on and engine running. All sorts of things were going through my mind like oh god what if I stall, what if I crash, what if I putt around like a nanna....but I turned around to look at OH and even with his helmet on I could see he was grinning from ear to ear...and honestly he wouldn't put me in a dangerous situation so I put my foot down and off we went! For the first few laps I was cautious and nervous, but then I got the hang of it and even though OH did lap me several times, I was having a blast and was even a little disappointed when our turn was up! It was awesome fun though : ) And I'm so glad I actually got out there and did it, there was nothing to be afraid of after all! I might even try the dodgems at the show again this year....maybe.

After that we took ourselves down the road to Christmass Hills Raspberry Farm for lunch coz quite frankly we were cold and hungry. We had never been there before but I have always heard people rave about it. We were given a table near a cosy wood fire and settled in to check out the menu. Everything somehow involved raspberries, there were raspberry bangers and mash, toasties with raspberry chilli sauce, wraps, salads, eggs, bacon, french toast stuffed with fresh raspberries and nutella, not to mention the dessert page - raspberry sundaes, raspberry waffles, ice cream, crepes, pancakes - it was fantastic but terrible at the same time, there was not a single thing on this menu that I didn't want to try! So we settled for raspberry hot chocolates for starters and OH had a lamb and roast vegie wrap while I had mushies stuffed with cream cheese and capsicum served with raspberry chilli sauce....mmmmmmmm.

Our hot chocolates were divine, when they came out they had a sprinkle of rapsberry dust over the top, and you can see the thick layer of chocolate and raspberry syrup on the bottom. The taste was sensational, there was a hint of raspberry but not enough for it to be over powering, it was still a hot chocolate after all!

OH's lamb wrap looked awesome, even to me coz I don't go much on lamb, and I was pleasantly suprised because it had roast pumpkin and eggplant and local fetta cheese in it, yet OH devoured it happily without the slightest 'dirty eggplant' comment! My mushies came out looking equally tempting, cutting into one the cream cheese (also from a local producer) filling just oozed out and it had so much flavour from the capsicum and zucchini mixed through it. My meal also came with a small dish of rapsberry chilli sauce which only had a subtle hint of chilli but it was the perfect accompaniment to the mushies.


I can't wait to go again, so many things on the menu I want to try!! It was honestly one of those places where you nearly broke your neck looking at all the different meals coming out of the kitchen. Plus they also have a great selection of raspberry syrups, sauces, jams, vinegars, lip balms, body butters, ice creams and sorbets for you to buy on your way out. We didn't succumb this time, but next time will be a different story!

Today was a lazy Sunday. I met a friend for coffee this morning and we talked for a few hours, I love being able to sit and talk with someone about nothing imparticular and then all of a sudden noticing that you've been there for 3 hours! Then this afternoon I had a new cupcake recipe I wanted to try. It involved mixing a pack of jelly crystals through the batter and I don't know if I have been under a rock but I had never heard of that before so when I saw Strawberries and Cream jelly crystals in the supermarket today I have to admit I was a little bit excited. I tried one when they were fresh out of the oven and was impressed with how much flavour the jelly crystals really give them, they actually tasted like strawberries and cream! Am thinking port wine will be a good one to try next!

So here is the recipe for Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

125g butter
2 tbspns caster sugar
1pkt jelly crystals
2 eggs
2 tbspns milk
1 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup plain flour

Preheat oven to 160C (fan forced) and line a 12 cup muffin tray.
Cream butter, sugar and jelly crystals until pale and creamy.
Add eggs and beat well.
Add milk and flours. Combine mix well.
Bake for 20 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

I decorated mine with a dollop of vanilla frosting and a strawberry starburst lolly : )



Well thats it for me!

This weeks menu includes Vegie Risotto, a trip to the parentals, Chow Mein and OH has promised a Chicken Curry...which in turn meant I promised to attempt Golden Syrup Dumplings!!

Night all xx

Massive brain fade....

No food talk today. I just feel like having a bit of a ramble about everything I suppose.

Today was such a full on day. I spent yesterday at a training course on Workers Comp and whilst I was dreading going, it was actually quite interesting and I found that the day went quick and I was interested and alert all day. Normally at a course I am dropping by lunch time so I was really impressed with how yesterday went and am even looking forward to sitting down over the weekend and going over the reading material. Anyway having spent yesterday at training meant I had a decent workload today and on top of that I had to take an hour or so off in the middle of today for a job interview. So I have just told my boss about needing time off in the middle of the day and he is fine with that....then I go to my desk and see my phone ringing, it is my house which means the alarm is going off....OH is working away so I have to go. The boss told me to take someone with me from the workshop just in case, he is good like that but I felt pretty bad about being in and out so much today! I was glad I took one of the guys out home with me too, turns out we had a bird in the garage setting the alarm off and I needed him to catch it for me!

So I went back to work for an hour and a half before heading into my interview. I was suprised on the way in at just how nervous I really was. In the past like with exams and job interviews I have just sort of thought well ive done all i can do and gone with the flow, but today I was sweating and had the butterflies and it was just terrible. The job was a Senior Payroll position in HR within the State Service. I have worked in payroll and HR for the last 6 years but I have never worked in a Senior role. This position would be a decent step up for me and something I think I am ready for. My current job is pretty quiet and I am not heavily involved in pay processing as it all goes through our head office and in the beginning that sounded pretty good to me, but I think now I am ready to get back into a full on role and start using my brain cells again. I am not sure how the interview went really, I walked out of there feeling positive, but now it's a bit of a blur and I think I was fairly repetitive and rambled alot, who knows! Even if I am not successful, it is all good practise though.

In other news, a friend and I were talking yesterday and she asked me for a list of things I would like to do / achieve before I die. Now when my parents watched 'The Bucket List' and explained to me it wasn't a movie about buckets as such, I was quite taken with the idea, but things happened and life went on and I forgot about it. But when faced with the question the other day I thought, why the hell not and to be honest I found it difficult, which only made me more determined to do it. I think the realistic (boring) side of my head was holding me back and not letting ideas through that might not be practical or affordable, but in the end crazy me won the argument and here is what I have come up with.

1. Have a child and raise them to be happy and healthy
2. Be at peace with myself, who I am, what I look like, what I think, feel etc
3. Obtain a job that gives me a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction
4. If 3 is not possible, I would love to work for myself in a successful business and be self sufficient
5. Get my vegie garden really cranking, it's ok at the moment, but I want a big vegie patch over flowing with fresh produce, I would like to grow as much fresh fruit and vegies at home as possible
6. Learn a foreign language
7. Learn an instrument
8. Conquer the pole dancing and be more confident with it.
9. Travel the world, I want to go back to Europe so badly and I want to travel around Australia - maybe spend a summer fruit picking!
10. See an international ballet act
11. Learn to run properly, my running is appalling. And increase my muscle strength
12. Develop a healthier attitude to food.
13. Spend more time living, go out to plays and the theatre, get to Melbourne to see more broadway shows (I would see Phantom of the Opera 5 times a week given the chance)
14. Go hiking and spend more time in the outdoors
15. To be financially comfortable so that I can do all of the above without worrying about meeting the next mortgage payment as well.
16. Early retirement is a definite!
17. Write a manuscript and send it to a publisher.
18. Play a team sport or join some sort of social group.

So that is my list of things I would like to achieve in my life time, some are short term, some long, some mental, some physical. But now that I have my list I intend to add to it, cross things off it and refer to it frequently.

Does anyone else have a similar list?

Good night xx

Spuds, spuds, glorious spuds!

I finally got to make my spuds tonight, and I decided to change the recipe up a little...potentially due to pure laziness. The general idea is you get the biggest spuds you can find, wrap them in foil and leave them in the oven for an hour or so till the inside is soft and the outside is crisp....then you cut the tops off, scoop out the filling and replace with a new and improved filling...but tonight OH and I were hungry, like hungry hungry so the whole hour in the oven thing just wasn't gonna cut it. Instead I decided to go with something a little like this:

Emily's Not So Jacket Potatoes

1kg potatoes
200ml light sour cream
3 tomatoes
1/4c parmesan cheese
1/2c chopped shallots
1 cup shaved ham shredded
1 tbspn butter
Salt and Pepper

Chop your potatoes and put them on to boil.
Combine all other ingredients in a bowl. I find putting the bowl in the fridge while your potatoes boil really helps bring out the flavours.
Once potatoes are tender, roughly mash and then add the other ingredients. Continue mashing until you reach your desired consistency and serve. How easy is that!
You can also put grated cheese on the top, but I like it just how it is. If you would like the original version, just combine the sour cream mix with the potato you scoop out and then spoon it all back into the shells and ENJOY!!



I was set up a bit with the lasagne last night, Mum gave me a box of lasagne sheets so I thought when they came over for tea last night I would use them....so I had planned my Pumpkin, Ricotta and Spinach Lasagne and when it came time to layer up I looked in the box and was horrified to discover only 4 sheets in there...it was a FAMILY SIZE box! I weighed them, checked the box, weighed them again, checked the box again incase of hidden doors or something...I was mortified. So when Mum got there I immediately began telling her she should take them back or complain or never buy the brand again....then I noticed she was rather sheepish....and the penny drops...she had used some of them and sealed the box back up before they mysteriously landed in my pantry! It was just typical lol and hilarious, especially seeing as I was on my high horse bagging out the pasta company for not packing their boxes properly! The lasagne turned out to be more of a pie, I ended up putting the sheets on the top and bottom and just had the filling in the middle, no layers, but still delicious! Pretty basic too, a layer of lasagne sheets, a layer of mashed pumpkin, a layer of ricotta combined with spinach, put your top lasagne sheets on and cover it all in tomato pasta sauce and cheese....mmmmmmm...going to have to try it with the layers though!



Oh and the pizza poppers came out brilliantly, kinda like lil pizza parcels...I was right though OH was straight into them, I made two trays and this was all I managed to get a photo of!



Otherwise life is peachy, I have a job interview for a Senior Payroll job on Thursday, really nervous about it, but pretty happy I got to interview stage. I am just your run of the mill payroll person so the step up to Senior would be brilliant, I'm not quite sure I'm good enough to be a Senior, but I'm stoked someone thinks I might be! Fingers crossed anyway coz my current work is pretty miserable, lack of work + redundancies makes for a very low work ethic!

And tomorrow I am off to a training course on Workers Compensation Legislation allllllllllllll day....only like a million things I would rather be doing! Maybe I should take a pillow!

Best be off though, have just put an apple crumble in the oven and it is making me a lil sad that I don't have stewed apples for brekkie this week! Definetly putting them back on the menu next week!!

Em x