Cookies!

These are lemon and vanilla cookies, recipe from this cookbook I'm afraid but I am sharing the pretty pictures. They were so so good, but then I am very much partial to a bit of lemon so I knew these would be right up my alley.

Ricotta Gnocchi

This is another one of my all time favourite meals, delicious and so easy to make (if a little time consuming and messy). I have made this so many times and have never had a "bad" batch so it seems pretty fail safe. The recipe I use is from a cook book but this one seems very similar.

Normally I keep the sauce really simple, I like to just fry up a couple of rashers of bacon and some crushed garlic in a little olive oil and then add some beautiful heirloom tomatos in a range of colours. Finally, some fresh basil and salt and pepper to finish and that is it. I swear I could eat it like this every day and not get bored.

However, as I did not make it to the farmers markets this week I had to make to with some vine-ripened cherry tomatos, and I had a little bit of left over cooked chicken so threw that in as well. It was not as good as my normal sauce but still, I could not complain!

Also, in case you were wondering, I did end up using up all my leftovers! There was some bechamel sauce left over from the onion tart so I simply made a quick macaroni and cheese and served it with the steak, which I seasoned and fried for about a minute on each side and then cut into slices. I also made a rather green onion heavy salad, I was worried it would be a really piecemeal dinner but it actually all worked really well together and got two thumbs up from the husband, success I would say!

The inevitable arises

So, according to the meal plan tonight we should have had a beef and pumpkin stir-fry, but... I just did not feel like that, I didn't feel like eating it and I did not feel like cooking it. It has been wet and windy here in Sydney and I wanted something I could take my time over, that would warm the whole kitchen. So, I tried out this recipe for Onion Tart with a couple of little changes. The main change is that when I make bechamel sauce I make it with water instead of milk as the man is slightly lactose intolerant and a sauce with both milk and cheese would not be appreciated. I find making it with water works just as well, you lack some of the creaminess but it still tastes pretty good. Because of this I decided to add a couple of ingredients to the onion to add to the flavour, garlic and bacon. This was really tasty, much sweeter then I had anticipated but still so much more satisfying then stir-fry. I served it with a beautiful salad and some mash potatoes, which made for a really hearty meal.

So, because I changed the plan I need to think about what to do with the ingredients I have not used. I have some beef, pumpkin and spring onions that I do not want to go to waste. Friday nights meal includes pumpkin so I can use that then, but the beef and spring onions need to be used but I am still undecided as to how. Perhaps I can make a beef salad for our lunches one day? I need to have a system in place to deal with this situation otherwise my plan is for naught.

An ode to Risotto

There are a couple of staple dishes in my repertoire that I just love, and what is more I love the versions I make so much that I would now never ever order them at a restaurant. One of these is risotto, in particular my mushroom and leek risotto. I don't know about you but I have had some truly dire risottos in the past, ones where you know that the chef has taken short cuts to achieve the creamy texture of risotto (such as adding cream to it, yuck!). Now I know everyone's palate is different and everyone has different ways of doing things but if you are going to make a risotto, please take a little bit of care with it and no short cuts!

So here is how I make mine...

2-3 rashers bacon, diced
3-4 gloves garlic, minced (chop finely and then using the back of a knife and about a teaspoon of salt mulch it till is is a fine paste)
1 leek, sliced
a selection of mushrooms (we can get lovely gourmet packets here with 3 or 4 different varieties of mushrooms, these are perfect for a risotto and give a much greater depth of flavour then just using button mushrooms)
1 cup arborio rice
1 small glass white wine
2-3 cups stock
20g butter
a generous amount of parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Firstly, put the stock in a pot and bring to a gentle simmer, keep it simmering throughout the cooking process.
Fry the bacon and garlic in olive oil until the bacon is golden, keep stirring to ensure the garlic does not burn. Add the leek and fry for a few minutes, add the mushrooms and the rice. Fry off the rice for about 5 minutes before adding liquid.
Add the wine and let the rice absorb all the moisture before you add anymore liquid. From here is is a process of adding small amounts of hot stock (about half a cup each time) and continually stirring, always make sure the liquid is absorbed before you add more. The stirring is what is going to help you achieve the creaminess. This whole process should take about 45 minutes.
Once the rice is cooked through stir in the butter and some parmesan. Serve with a generous amount of cracked pepper. Voila, beautiful, creamy risotto!

The first run of the KitchenAid

Was bagels!

I have made these by hand in the past but the dough is quite wet so I found it very frustrating to knead by hand. These were a breeze using the KitchenAid, plus they were delicious.

I am back to the start of my meal plan now, the last two weeks were unsuccessful but I am hoping I can get it going again. We have a couple of reasons to start really saving money so are actively going to stop going out quite so often!

I am also thinking about setting up a separate plan for lunches as that is another area where we could improve.

My new toy!

Look what my darling got me for our wedding anniversary! So so excited! Sadly we are going away tomorrow so I won't get to use it till we get back but I am loving looking at it sitting in my kitchen. Happy anniversary my love x

Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

My plans have gone very very astray the past two weeks, I seem to have been going out a lot which turns my kitchen plans on their head. I am going to have to sit down and nut out how to resolve this (quite possibly I should just stop eating out so much). In the meantime here is a very yummy muffin recipe!

Firstly, this recipe is slightly adapted from this one here, this is a really great blog for baking recipes and general life goodness.

Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

125g plain flour

125g wholemeal flour

half a tsp bi-carb

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsps ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

half tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

half cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 zucchini, grated

1 carrot, grated

Pre-heat oven to 180 C

Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix egg, vanilla, vegetable oil and sugar until smooth. Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir until combined. The mixture will be quite dry but don' worry the vegetables will add a lot of moisture. Add the zucchini and carrot and mix until just combined. Spoon into 12 muffin cups and cook for 25 - 30 minutes.

Once these are cool make a cream cheese icing (these do not need to be iced but it makes them so good and decadent)

Cream Cheese Icing

2 tblsp soft butter

3 - 4 tblsp cream cheese

quater tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

half cup icing sugar

Whip together all ingredients until smooth and until there are no lumps.