Seville orange marmalade

There is a bit of history behind this cooking adventure.  Friends once planted a Seville Orange tree on their farm for my Dad (who was an avid jam and marmalade maker).  Unfortunately Dad has passed away and ironically (maybe?) the tree gave a bumper crop this year.  I was ceremoniously provided with some of the special fruit, but it meant I had to give making marmalade a crack!  I decided not to use Dad's recipe but try something different and after a bit of online research selected a recipe from The Cottage Smallholder blog.  I'm proud to say the lemons were also a gift from a friend and the jars from my mum, so other than the 2kg of sugar and plenty of time they turned out to be some pretty budget friendly jars of marmalade.  I was so excited Thursday morning to wake to find the jars had set perfectly.  And my end product looks almost identical to the jars pictured on their blog.

Back on track and a new plan for the fortnight

So after my much-to-be-desired planning efforts of the past month I think I managed to get back on track today. I spent $144 over the last week and stuck the the plan fairly well.  Today I even browsed some cook books and magazines for inspiration and came up with the following:

Wednesday -  catching up on making Pip's devilled chops recipe

Thursday – Mexican pizza

Friday – Bacon and leek quiche

Saturday - Butter chicken and rice (I will be trying a Curry Traders spice pack)

Sunday –Leftovers

Monday –Spaghetti and meatballs

Tuesday –Tacos

Wednesday –Massaman curry (raviolli for the kids) - I am going to try a new recipe this week

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday -Chicken enchiladas and rice

Saturday –Marinated chicken and vegetables

Sunday – Sausages, potato bake and veg

Monday – Leftovers

Tuesday – Chicken cacciatore risotto

Apple and oat muffins

I fancied a bit of kitchen therapy this afternoon and found this Apple and Oat Muffins recipe.  It ticked all the boxes as far as I am concerned: reasonably good/healthy(ish) ingredients; quick to make; and potentially super yummy.  I was surprised that it honestly only took 5 minutes to prepare (just whack it all in the mix master).  The bit that took the longest was scraping out the last of the Jalna Vanilla Yoghurt I was using (If you haven't eaten this before, put it on the shopping list).  I made smaller muffins so reduced the cooking time a little.

Only problem? Rejected by Master 6 due to the "skin" inside.  Next time, I'll grate the apple and mix it in with everything else.

Blog roll?

Hot shopping tip , I learned this interesting little snippet last night from a lady very knowledgeable about such things and with some industry knowledge.  Apparently you should never pay more than 26c per roll of toilet paper (the nice/premium style type).

Do you have any shopping tips you can share?

The latest menu plan

After another week of no planning, I have had enough!  My head hurts way too much when I have to think each day about what is going to be for dinner.  I haven't done a proper shop but have planned for the next week based on my existing freezer and pantry stock.  Hopefully I get my fruit and veg order in time and it can help make it a little more exciting.

Wednesday - chicken stirfry with rice noodles (picture below)

Thursday – baked lamb chops, lemon risotto and peas

Friday – devilled chops, mashed potato and vegetables

Saturday - steak and home made chips with salad

Sunday – eating out with friends

Monday – roast chicken and vegetables

Tuesday – curried sausages and vegetables

Pip's chocloate cake and Chicken Master Blaster

Finally got to spend some time in the kitchen again this weekend.  Whipped up a gluten free version of my easy lemon meringue pie for a lunch with friends.  To make this recipe gluten free you need 1 1/2 boxes of the Freelicious tea biscuits. 

I also cooked a recommendation from my lovely friend Kynwyn:  Nick's Chicken Master Blaster. It was really yummy even though I accidentally left out the mustard.  The kids did eat it, but it was a bit of a struggle.  Someone complained that it contained salad (shallots) - I mean really boys!  Leftovers for the adults tonight, while we watch the huge TV line up of The Block then Underbelly.  Not to mention I have a bottle of my favourite wine The Rolling Sauvignon Blanc Semillon.

On top of all that I managed to whip up Pip's easy chocolate cake recipe (sans icing).  Took me ages to make as I was gas-bagging to a friend at the same time.  But it worked out nicely.  I used a ring tin (because my round cake tins were buried too far in the cupboard for my liking).  I probably should have lined the base because ring tins are always harder to get the cake out of.

Just a little hiccup

Well it is Friday night already and you have probably noticed I have failed to tally last fortnight's expenses or publish the next menu plan.  To be honest, I have sort of lost control.  This week just flew by and for one reason or another I haven't really had much time to myself.  I hope this might make you feel better?  People often comment that they wonder how I "manage everything" and I always find it quite funny, because I never really feel like I am "managing" much at all.

On a positive note, there has been no meal plan and very little blogging BUT I would say the whole family have had a good week.  No real arguments or toddler melt downs, other than the usual homework tensions.  No fights about dinner either....  you see I implemented a new rewards chart system.  You need to eat up your dinner without fuss Monday to Friday or there is no DS or Wii on the weekend.  Worked a treat for two weeks so far, lets see how long it lasts.

Anyway, stay tuned because over the weekend I need to make some marmalade, and also need to whip up some baked goodies.  A few of you have sent through a few slice and cake recipes recently and I am looking forward to trying some of them.... stay tuned!

Bubble pizza

I think my boys would probably choose pizza as their favourite takeaway.  I don't do fast food chain pizza but proper pizza shop pizza.  There has to be some nutritional value to the meal!  However more often than not we have home made pizza. I usually use some left over diced chicken or ham, mushroom and avocado.  Depending on whats in the fridge on my side I add olives and artichoke hearts. But we never have pizza without making "bubble pizza" aka garlic pizza.  My boys could live on this I think. 

• Pizza base (the Bakers Delight ones are lovely and has no added preservatives, you can also roll it as thin as you like)
• 1-2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic from a jar
• Pizza cheese to top

1. Melt the butter in the microwave and combine the garlic
2. Spread evenly over the pizza
3. Top with cheese (not too much)
4. Bake at 180 C until the cheese is melted and slightly brown (if you are lucky it goes bubbly as the name suggests)

Just make sure you pack your breath mints for work the next day.

All things good for you

Apologies for the break between posts, just not sure where time is disappearing at the moment.  One of the side effects of a hectic couple of weeks is that I have had a break out of (mostly stress related) eczema.  To all those people who quote the age old advice that "you will grow out of it" - well I am still waiting.  I have tried almost every topical medicated and non-medicated cream under the sun.  I also spent about 5 years in my late teens/early twenties on a completely dairy free diet.  This really helped, but I finally gave in to my love of food and ditched the diet.  More recently switching to A2 milk has helped significantly.  But in an effort to get it a little more under control I have been reading up on food additives.  My interest in this was sparked by Aldi's recent move to only stock groceries free from artificial colours.  So I spent much of the last weekend reading the Food Intolerance Network website and a couple of books loaned to me by a friend.

Contrary to the advice in the website and books I have decided to start just by making a concentrated effort to only by foods with no colouring or preservatives.  When you start looking in to how to do this, you will probably learn some amazing things like I did.  For example there are so many different ways MSG can be written into ingredients.  And it is also not classified as "artificial".

Anyway over the coming weeks you may see some changes in our food, but possibly not.  I still have plenty of things in the cupboard that I cannot bring myself to waste, so it will probably won't be noticeable.  And I don't want to go crazy about it, just make an effort to be healthy more often than not.  But if nothing else, have a read up on different food colouring and preservatives and learn a bit more about the food we consume without even thinking about it.  Here are some other interesting sites:

http://fedup.com.au/
http://www.jamieoliver.com/school-dinners
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/additives/

Caramel slice?

This is a very special and yummy recipe.  I am very pleased to be able to share it with you.  My cousin-in-law (is there such a thing?) was recently handed down by her grandmother a handwritten recipe book.  It was her grandmother's collection from a life time of cooking.  A very special gift.

Now this recipe is called caramel slice, but I am not sure I agree with the title.  More like a "date slice" or a "date and caramel slice".  On good advice I topped it with a very thin layer of chocolate icing (made from icing sugar, water and cocoa powder).  It is very moreish!

By the way 1/4 of a pound of butter is about 112g.  Needless to say I left out the nuts so that I can use it for a school snack too.

COOOOOOOOKIES!

I'm in the market for some kitchen artwork from the They Draw and Cook website (much to my husband's disgust).  I want a picture that I like but the recipe has to be good too.   This quest led me to try out the COOOOOOOOKIES! by Pietro Duchi recipe last night.  I added choc chips and it was really easy.  Not sure if I was meant to but I melted the butter and used 125g which came pretty close to the 6.5 tablespoons. I figured there was no other reasonable way to measure out tablespoons of butter.  Anyway the recipe worked well but I am not so in love with the artwork, I am after something with a bit more colour.

Take a look at the other ones that are high on my list to try out:

Banana bread by Amy McKay
Black coffee by Pedro Menezes 
Summer vegetable soup by Ekaterina Muratova

But what I would really love is for someone to do one of my favourite apple pie recipe... any takers?

Easy apple pie: (this is an adaptation of this recipe, just a bit simpler and if you work smartly only 1 bowl to wash up plus the pie dish!)

• 1 tin pie apple
• 125g butter melted
• 1 egg
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup raw sugar plus an extra tablespoon

1. Spread the pie apple into a pie dish and sprinkle the tablespoon of raw sugar on top
2. In a large bowl, melt the butter
3. Add the flour, sugar and egg and mix well
4. Spread the mixture evenly over the top of the apple, doesn't matter if there is not enough to cover all the way to the edges, just spread it roughly over the apple as in the picture below
5. Put in a 170C oven until the top turns a lovely golden colour - I usually set the time for 45 minutes then check on it regularly
6. Serve with cream or ice cream

Weeks 23 and 24

I am a little behind schedule.  The last week has been a bit overwhelming, plenty of things going on on all fronts and it has left me a bit weary.  Yesterday instead of getting on top of the housework, menu planning and grocery shopping I managed none of the above.  I'm sure this is completely normal, but it means things are not looking too exciting on the culinary front over the next fortnight.

The budget last fortnight was a total blowout (I'm really not having a good run) largely because of a couple of meals out and I did a Woolies shop and stocked up on the expensive things like razors, shaving cream etc.  It came to a very dismaying $432.50.

I think the next fortnight should be better.  I am stocked up on most staples and meat already.

Wednesday -  been and gone but the kids had ravioli and we had chicken kebabs

Thursday – Lasagne

Friday – Roast dinner

Saturday - Chicken cacciatore risotto

Sunday – Marinated chicken with lemon risotto

Monday – Enchiladas

Tuesday – Leftovers

Wednesday – Spaghetti and meatballs

Thursday - Marinated chicken and salad

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday – Chicken sausages and veges

Sunday – Spag bol

Monday – Home made meat pie and chips

Tuesday – Chicken meatballs made from rissoles

Do you like the idea of blogging?

The other week I was asked to write a guest post for this new blog called "Life in 500 words".  Its a blog where people can share their thoughts, musings and life lessons - in a post of 500 words or less.  I found it a great opportunity to write about something different, that didn't quite have a space in any other writing I do.  Take a look anyway, tell me what you think, and make sure you give it a try too!

http://lifein500words.wordpress.com

I have an idea for another post too, so make sure you subscribe to their updates!

More baking treats

Over the weekend I had to do some more midnight baking.  All my baked goody supplies were gone and we were visiting friends so I needed to take something along.  I decided on two new recipes I hadn't tried before.  I chose this Honey Oat slice because Mr 3 loves the Anzac slice that I make.  I was looking for something similar, but a bit different that he might like (and succeeded!).

The cake I came across by chance in a Donna Hay magazine a friend has lent me.  It was actual an advertisement for Equal.  Hilariously, I just used caster sugar instead of Equal (did I miss the point?).  I also substituted walnuts for hazelnuts.  The cake was lovely and moist - the boys did not like it by the friends we were visiting did.