Nutella and Strawberry Crepe Cake

Now once a year we have this joyous occasion (being OH's bday) but with this joyous occasion also comes a quandry....what sort of birthday cake do you make someone who doesn't like 'cakey things' - his words not mine.... Previously I have done a cheesecake and an ice cream cake, but this year I wanted something different and really when you try googling 'birthday cake without cake' you really don't get that much assistance! But after quite some time I had my light bulb moment (right at the last minute too!) and had a flash back to OH and I sitting on the couch, me reading a recipe mag and OH saying 'oohhhh I would like that' whilst pointing at a gorgeous looking crepe cake. So Crepe Cake it was! I decided on a nutella and strawberry version as OH loves nutella. So here is how you do it...

Nutella and Strawberry Crepe Cake

16 Crepes (I used the Creative Gourmet ones)
220g jar of Nutella
1/3 cup strawberry jam
220g extra light philadelphia cream cheese
20ml Frangelico (Hazelnut liquer)
whipped cream

Ok so you could spread all your crepes and then stack them up but I don't have a ridiculous amount of kitchen space so I did it as I went.

- Combine your philly and strawberry jam in a bowl and set aside.
- Spread your first crepe with nutella and place on a serving plate.
- Spread the next crepe with the strawberry mixture and place spread side up ontop of the nutella one.
- Repeat your layers, finishing with a plain crepe.
- I then mixed my whipped cream with the frangelico to give it a lovely hazelnut flavour and spread over the top of the cake and decorated with strawberries.


This cake was not only delicious but dead easy. And it looks awesome when you cut into it, no one will believe it only took you 5 mins to put together!


You could also top it with chocolate sauce made by melting some chocolate, cream and frangelico together if you are after a more decadent dessert!

I have now started my new job and at this stage I'm thinking it is going to be very challenging, but the days are going really quick and I'm really enjoying the change so fingers crossed it stays that way!

Feta Stuffed Meatballs and Salsa in Pita Pockets

I have had this recipe for Fetta Stuffed Meatballs for ages now, the original recipe suggests serving with cous cous as well which I think would be delicious, but seeing as there were only two of us last night and the bowl of meatballs and salad was rather huge, we decided to give that step a miss.


It was a really easy recipe to make, well actually OH made it, but it was easy to watch him make!

The following makes enough for 2 people to share

350g lamb mince
1 egg
1 tspn crushed / wet garlic
1 tspn crushed / wet moroccan herbs
50g fetta cut into sml cubes
150g cherry tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1/2 red onion
2 tspns finely diced mint
6 pita pockets split to open pocket

Combine mince, egg, garlic and herbs in a bowl.
Shape heaped teaspoons of mixture into meatballs.
Press a piece of fetta into each ball and re-roll to enclose filling.
Place on a plate and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
Meanwhile finely dice tomatoes, cucumber and onion, combine in a bowl with the mint and season with salt and pepper.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and add meatballs. Cook for 3-4 mins, turning, until browned and cooked.
Place your meatballs, salad and pita pockets on the table and let everyone help themselves!

Now....I have to say, these meatballs have to be eaten while hot out of the pan, I mean you can have them later if you want, but straight out of the pan, the fetta is all gooey and delicious....this is definetly a new favourite in our house!


And remember how I said we discovered a new love for malt in Melbourne...OH caught me 'cleaning' the blender after a round of malt milkshakes....


But that's ok, coz look what I found in the kitchen the night before 5 mins after the bread maker told us it was finished baking....





We are such a dysfunctional household!!

Till next time

Em x

Melbourne Trip!

I love Melbourne, every year as long as I can remember I have been over at least once, and really what is there not to love? The shopping is to die for, the bargains are fabulous, the food is incredible and then there is the atmosphere, the culture and if you go at this time of year, the Christmas window display at Myer is up!

So on Thursday we got to Melb at around lunch time. The weather was warm but it was a bit wet so we checked into our hotel and caught the train out to Brunswick. Admitedly we took a few wrong turns and ended up walking in the wrong direction, but my god there are some gorgeous bridal shops out there. Eventually we headed in the right direction though and we found what we were looking for....


This little pub is done up like an old 60's diner and is full of Harley and Steve McQueen memorabillia. The meals were huge and had a southern american influence and after a long morning and alot of walking - a decent meal was exactly what we wanted!

That night we were off out to Metallica so we wanted a quick and easy meal on the way. We were lucky enough to find a little thai place down one of Melbourne's famous alleys that was kind of like the Subway of stir frys, you chose your own vegies, meat, sauce and noodles and in 5 mins your dream sir fry was delivered to your table! I had a tofu and vegie stir fry with satay sauce and it was to die for!


The concert was brilliant, Metallica are one of OH and my favourite bands and they didn't disappoint - playing a set consisting of old and new stuff, revving the crowd up at every opportunity, I have never been to a concert where even those in the seated section stood up for the entire thing!

So after a big night singing our lungs out, we needed a sugar hit for breakfast the next morning...so on our way out to the Science Works at Spotwood we grabbed a couple of Spanish Donuts, we have seen the stand at the Flinders St Station a few times but never tried one before...


Why have we not tried these before!? I had a pineapple glazed donut and OH had a custard filled one. They don't look like your average donut as they are more of a log shape, and I am pretty sure they are fried in oil before they are glazed or filled, but my god were they good! And just one each kept us going till well past lunch! We had a ball at the Science Works too, it was so much fun trying out all the different displays and exhibits and we even learnt a few things along the way!

When we got back to Melbourne we had done a tonne of walking so we headed straight for the Lindt cafe, it was a beautiful day so we treated ourselves to a scoop of White Chocolate and Raspberry Swirl ice cream and a strawberry macaroon each for lunch. The lindt ice cream is unbelieveable....you probably wouldn't want too much more then one scoop because it is fairly rich, but it is heavenly and the macaroons were pretty damn good too!


That night we needed something savoury for dinner, so we hiked our way to the Casino in search of a steak restaurant we had heard of called (wait for it) SteakOut - not the most original name, but turns out, when you can make food like that good, who cares what you're called! I ordered a grilled chicken salad and mixed though a side order of roast pumpkin and kumara, oh it was good! OH found a 1kg steak on the menu and he had his heart set on that - see how happy he looks!


I think we have found our new favourite restaurant in Melbourne!

The following day was our last day, we were flying home at about 3pm so we decided to take ourselves out to breakfast...and quite frankly we were shocked that we had made it to the third day without going to the pancake parlour! I went with the simple lemon and sugar pancakes (it was a toss up between that and the strawberry jam and cream but when the waiter came I panicked!) and you know what they say, you can't beat the classics! OH had a caramel malt thickshake with his and we are now officially obsessed with malt, we only got home last night and already today I have been to the supermarket, brought malt and we may or may not have had several malt thickshakes....


And what trip to Melbourne would be complete without the obligatory bringing home of Krispy Kremes - purely because we don't have them here in Tassie and OH is slightly in love with them


And last but not least did I mention I got some fantastic bargains!!! I got some great deals on dresses - I swear I brought about $200 worth of clothes for $80, not to mention these gorgeous shoes!!!



And that my friends, was our holiday!

Till next time, Em x

Chicken Risotto and 2 Minute Trifle!

Well tomorrow OH and I go to Melbourne to see Metallica and we don't come home till Sat night so here is a quick run down on today and I will give you a full Melbourne update when I get back!

Seeing as I am still training the temp, I have heaps of time on my hands during the day. So today I went and had lunch with my Dad


And we went for a walk around the area he was working and found this gorgeous maltese shitzu pup (ok we didnt find it, it had an owner) but it was adorable so we stopped and played with her for a while too!

And Mum and Dad came out for tea tonight so we made this easy Chicken Risotto


You will need:
350g chicken breast trimmed and diced
1 onion diced
80g baby spinach
1.25 cups of arborio rice
3 cups of vegetable stock
1 tin of diced tomatoes
1 tspn crushed garlic
2 tspns crushed / wet italian herbs
1/2 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper

In a saucepan combine stock and diced tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer until required.
In a fry pan over medium heat, add chicken and cook for 5-7 mins or until lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
Add onion and garlic to the fry pan and cook for 3-5 mins or until onion is soft.
Add rice, italian herbs and wine to the pan. Combine and bring to the boil. Simmer.
Add stock and simmer for 10-12 mins or until liquid is mostly absorbed and rice is soft and tender.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

And for dessert we have the super easy 2 Minute Trifle


For this one all you need is
1 x pkt of Aunt Betty's Belgium Chocolate Puddings
Thickened Cream
100g Raspberries (or any berries will do)
Paul's Thick Custard

Heat the puddings in the microwave according to packet instructions. Roughly chop and divide amongst four tall glasses.
Top with a tablespoon of cream.
Add 1 tbspn raspberries, reserving roughly a quarter for decoration.
Add about 1/4 cup of custard to each glass and top with remaining raspberries.

This was really nice, the cream soaked through the pudding and the whole combination was just delicious. You could also add jelly as well to give it more of a trifle feel!

Anyway, I have to pack and get ready for tomorrow so hope you all have a fantastic few days!

Em x

Potato and Lentil Dahl

Well I spent today training a temp at work to take over my job....and really I mean I know its a new job...but in this case the guy has worked in the job before, and i am all for being careful but even though he spends so much time checking everything, he is still not accurate! And I have given him copious amounts of notes and manuals and he just isn't using them, when all the answers to the questions he asks me are right at his finger tips....grrrrrrrr....so apart from stabbing him in the eye with a pen, the only cure for this was whipping up this delicious and hearty dahl recipe.


Potato and Lentil Dahl

You will need

1 cup red lentils
1 onion
1 tspn crushed garlic
2 tbspns curry paste (any flavour)
400g potato, peeled, sliced and cooked
500g pumpkin, peeled, sliced and cooked
3 sticks of celery diced
1/2 cup of light sour cream
150g of baby spinach

- So firstly, put your lentils in a saucepan and cover with water, simmer for 15mins or until liquid is absorbed and lentils are tender. You may need to add more water.
- Meanwhile in a large frypan over medium heat, add your onion, celery, garlic and curry paste. Cook for 2 mins or until curry paste is fragrant and onion is tender.
- Add pumpkin and potato. Stir to combine and simmer for 10 mins or until mixture is thick.
- Stir through spinach and sour cream.
- Serve and enjoy!

I find this is a good way to get my partner to eat lentils, during the cooking process the mixture thickens to the point where you don't realise you are eating a big bowl of vegetarian goodness! This recipe does serve 4 normal portion sizes, but we tend to have 2 massive bowls of it for tea and it still comes in at around 500 cals depending on the sour cream you use, plus it's mega filling and really tasty - what more could you want on a rainy night?

No really...serious question, whats your favourite thing to do / eat on a rainy miserable night??

Em x

In the absence of plans....

....the universe will always find something for you to do! Today I had no plans except for doing the groceries and passing out on the couch with an endless supply of tea and a good book...however, early this morning we got a txt msg from OH's niece saying she was bored, so I offered to go pick her and her younger sister up so they could spend the day at our place.

We started by making Harry Potter cupcakes.....


Then we had a fashion parade where OH and the groomsmen tried on their suits for the wedding and the girls scored them as they walked down the 'runway'....personally I think they scrubbed up really well!


Then we kicked the boys outside and we set ourselves up on the living room floor to make some jewellery.


The girls made themselves a bracelet and pair of earrings each and together we put together this charm bracelet which I thought was really cute!



We have just taken the girls home and I am exhausted, but it was a great day, I had heaps of fun, and in reality, heaps better then spending the day laying around doing nothing. We made a date for next Sunday as the girls want to get their own lil bead kits happening so they can make their own jewellery, I'm kinda chuffed that they wanna be like me...and just a tad clucky...but we don't need to tell OH that just yet!

Anyway, I am off for to lay on the couch with a book (just coz I didn't get to do it all day doesn't mean I shouldn't get to do it at all - at least now I've earn't it!!)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!!

Em x

Chicken and Mozerella Rice Bake

This is one of OH's creations, he was doing night shift on Monday night and I must say its pretty cool to get home from work and having the house smell of melty cheesy goodness, and then finding that the source of that delicious smell, is pretty damn tasty too!


To make this Chicken and Mozerella Rice Bake you will need

400g chicken breast diced
1 x capsicum diced
1 x carrot diced
1 x onion diced
1 x celery stick diced
400g tin of peas and corn
250g pkt light grated mozarella or pizza cheese
2.5 cups stock
1.25 cups rice
mixed herbs
crushed basil
crushed garlic
400g diced tomatoes

Pre-heat oven to 180C.
Heat a fry pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 mins.
Add the carrot, capsicum and celery and cook until soft.
Add the peas and corn, rice and stock and simmer for about 15mins or until liquid has been absorbed.
Pour vegie mix into a casserole dish.
Add chicken to fry pan and cook for 5-7 mins or until browned. Stir through diced tomatoes and add basil and garlic to taste.
Add chicken mix to the vegies and combine.
Top with grated cheese and mixed herbs. (I used pizza herbs - but you could use thyme or rosemary)
Bake for 45 mins or until cheese is golden. If cheese is browning too much just cover the dish with foil and un-cover for the last 10 mins of cooking.

Based on your personal preference you could dice the vegies really fine (making this dish great to hide vegies from the kidlets!) or you could leave them chunky.

I also find that the flavour in this dish develops more if baked the day before serving.

In fact I am heating some up for dinner as we speak! And on the subject of dinner, we went to Mum and Dad's last night and Mum made these awesome chicken schnitzel burgers toasted in the sandwich press using foccacias, cheese, chicken breast steaks and some tomatoes drizzled with vinegar, just like a counter meal, but 10 x better!! We also had some shoestring fries on the side with Mum's home made tomato relish, I like stirring a bit of mayo through some of my chutney...I know I'm odd....anyway that was the dinger on the microwave so that means its tea time!!

Happy Wednesday everyone - did I mention I only have 2.5 weeks of work left!!!

Em xx