Farewell!

To all of you who have followed this blog over 2011, thank you! In case you had not realised, I have decided to no longer post on this lovely blog.  What a project and inspiration it was to spend 2011 on such a tight budget and share with you the challenges that went with it.

It was all worth it and we are finishing off the construction of our new home.  With that comes the loss of my tight budget and moving out of the rental property with the 1950s kitchen that inspired this project in the beginning.

So thank you all for your contributions, it has been a wonderful experience.  If I find inspiration of another kind online anytime soon I will be sure to let you know.  In the mean time make sure you follow http://lifein500words.wordpress.com/ which will no doubt fill any writing void I may find.

Triple family sized casserole and my new Tefal Fresh Express

Today I was meant to catch up with some girlfriends for a big bake-off and to test run a Tefal Fresh Express that I have been given to trial.  But you know what they say about the best laid plans... and busy mums and sick kids.  So we had to ditch the catch up but I already had the makings of a super triple family sized sausage casserole, and the Tefal Fresh Express to trial.   So I just spent some time in the kitchen getting it all cooked up ready to share around with some friends.

The Tefal Fresh Express is pretty nifty.  The best way to describe it is an electric desktop grater.  Not quite a food processor (you can't mix things around) but it handles most of the slicing and dicing.  Super easy to use (I haven't read the instructions...  ssshhh don't tell anyone) and really easy to clean. 

I'm pretty excited that it has a splash of red on it, as I am hoping to accessorise my new kitchen (that was put in this week) with red.  You need two hands to use it; you hold the button with one and push the food in with the other.  Its nice and compact and light, so much so that tonight I will pack it back in its box and lend it to a colleague at work to test out.  Thanks to The Soup for the opportunity to try out this cool new kitchen gadget.

Hoummos

This Hoummos is a delicious moreish summer snacking recipe.  Perfect with corn chips or lightly toasted salty pita bread.  Full credit for this one goes to my lovely friend Tammi.

Interesting fact, Wikipedia tells me you can spell it "hummus, houmous, hommos, humos, hoummos, etc."

1 tin chickpeas
1 tablespoon Tahini (this costs a bit but keeps in the fridge virtually forever)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
5-8 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil

Basically you put all these things in the food processor (or a stab mixer works well too) and mix it all together well.  I like it really lemony, so if its a bit dry I add more lemon and/or olive oil.

Let it be known I truly believe this is the only "good" use of chickpeas....

Rogan Josh

This was a winner dish!  I can't even remember where I got the Pataks recipe base from; maybe the Good Food and Wine show earlier in the year?  I didn't quite follow the instructions on the back, I added extra tomato (because that was the size of the tin I had) and left out the water.  Instead of cooking it on the stove top I put it in a crock pot in the oven on low for a couple of hours.  It had a most gorgeous flavour and wasn't hot/spicy at all. I'll definitely be purchasing this one again. I admit I didn't attempt to feed it to the kids; but at a long shot they just might eat it.  My only complaint was that it wasn't a "family" size portion, the two of us ate it all up with no leftovers.

Citrus cheesecake

This afternoon we are heading the park for a pizza picnic in celebration of my mother-in-law's birthday.  I offered to make a birthday cake and she selected this recipe.  Unfortunately the local IGA didn't stock the CSR Smart Sugar blend so I substituted with caster sugar.  Hopefully it still tastes okay.  I was a little concerned with my oven, it's not fan forced and cooking cakes can be unreliable.  Especially when you are trying to slow cook something at a moderate temperature.  But I am really pleased with how it has turned out.  Aesthetically at least, the taste verdict will need to wait until later in the day.

Chicken risotto in the pressure cooker

Today I have tried to cook a couple of meals to have ready to go in the fridge this week.  One of them was using up a Maggi Pressure cooker meal mix I have had in the cupboard for a while.  It certainly was a quick and easy meal to make.  I doubled the amount of chicken the packet suggest and went easy on the baby spinach (knowing I will be pulling it our for some of my customers).  It tastes pretty good although a bit bland.  In comparison it has nothing on the Chicken cacciatore risotto that I often make, nor the bacon and leek risotto I have also blogged about before. 

This week's food is bought to you by...

A big pantry clean out which found a number of recipe bases stashed away and two books that I picked up at the second hand book stall at the school fair.

Today I have tried the pikelets from the Women's Weekly book.  They are made with wholemeal flour so will be in the lunch boxes this week.  There were quite a few other baking recipes in there I would love to try, but I had run out of eggs. My online shop is due tomorrow evening.

Menu plan - back to pen and paper

Oh dear, I am struggling to regain control of our menu plan!!  I visited the lovely shop Typo on the weekend and fell in love with their on-the-fridge menu plan.  I have also seen these at Kikki K.  You can also make up your own or there are plenty of free downloads online.  Anyway I have decided to stop regularly publishing my menu plans online each fortnight.  Do not fear, I will post them from time to time.  It's just that I much prefer blogging about recipes and tips than menu plans!

Not to mention you can always choose the menu plan label link on the left of the blog to review any one of my many menu plans already published.

Don't click unsubscribe and stay tuned because I still have plenty of recipes on my "to try" list!

Taking stock

Having large containers of stock in the pantry is essential.  But most of the recipes I cook, I always end up with some left over.  If I am clever with my planning I pre-empt this and cook two different dishes requiring stock close together to make the best use of it.  I hate having to throw leftovers out!  Of course most people know you can freeze stock and many people suggest ice cube trays.  I prefer freezing in 1/2 or 1 cup quantities personally because that is how much I am likely to need at a later date.

Be careful, I only recently read up on freezing and re-heating home made meat-based stock, and it is more complicated than the store bought variety.  There are a variety of use by options and methods on line.  I read through loads and the most important thing I think I learnt was to remember to not freeze the meal you end up making with it.  Now I am no expert of food safety, so if you are not sure about this make sure you read up on it too!

Plenty of parsnips

Sorry readers, life is hectic at the moment so I apologise for the reduction in posts.  I had planned a great chocolate cake post over the weekend, but alas it fell apart in the tin.  Hopefully version 2 will be more succesful.

But last week I was the recipient of 15 lovely parsnips.  After baking them with a roast one night, and still having plenty left over, Pip offered the suggestion of baking them with leeks and bacon.  Now I am a firm believer that most dishes that include leeks and bacon have to be a bit of alright, so I gave it a whirl.

• 6 large parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks (3-5 cm)
• 500g bacon cut chunky (about the same size as the parsnip)
• 2 leeks cut into 5 cm lengths
• 1 tsp honey
• olive oil

1. Put oven on to about 160 C
2. Line a large baking dish with baking paper
3. Mix together parsnips, bacon and leeks in baking dish (stand the leeks upright)
4. Drizzle over very finely the honey
5. Drizzle with olive oil
6. Cover dish with aluminium foil
7. Bake for about 2 hours (keep checking it and make sure the oil covers the veges evenly)
8. Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes

We ate this as a side dish with a bbq and salad.  It was a lovely change from potato salad or potato bake.  Highly recommended. Thanks for the help Pip!

Baked cheesecake

I made this Baked Lemon Cheesecake last week to take to a friend's place for dinner.  If you think cheesecake is on your too hard list, think again.  You can't really get much simpler than this recipe and its great for the hip pocket (but maybe not the hips).  I'm going to try it next time with some violet crumble instead of the lemon.

Cream cheese is a great thing to keep stashed in the fridge, it usually has a really long used by date.  Same thing with some arrowroot or other plain type biscuits.  These are some simple ingredients that you can have on hand to make some scrumptious desserts.

Honey Oat Slice

Not too long ago I posted a link to a recipe for Honey Oat Slice, only I accidentally sent you all to the wrong place.  So here it is again, a super yummy slice recipe that keeps a long time and packs great in a lunch box.  Just a few tips, it does seem to make a large mix, but it really does all go into one slice tin.  Just make sure have lined up a little past the sides of the tin if you use shallow tins like me.  And 300g of butter does seem like a ridiculous amount, but I promise it works.

Another Massaman

This time I wanted to try making Beef Massaman without the prepackaged meal sauce.  I didn't go completely back to basics, I did still purchase a small tin of Massaman Curry paste and I made a huge batch ready to freeze for lunches.  Only problem was it was it ended up too spicy (for the member of the household who doesn't like spicy food).  I think I will stick to my previous method.  Still if you like a little bit of heat in your curry, it was still very delicious.

• 1.5kg beef
• 1 onion diced
• 7 small potatoes with the skin on, diced
• 1 small tin Massaman curry
• 1 1/3 tins coconut cream

Combine everything in a large crock pot and place in the oven for up to two hours at about 170-180C.

The war against dishpan hands

I have horrible hands that look about 20 years older than the rest of me.  Largely a result or dermatitis/eczema and too much use of cortisone creams.  Over the last few months it has been completely out of control.  Cooking isn't exactly great for them, given the number of times you wash your hands, or wash fruit and veg, wash up dirty dishes etc.  So after consulting a number of people, this week I waged war.

First: I purchased a pair of premium, latex free, super-sensitive washing up gloves.  I never usually use washing up gloves because they tend to irritate my skin more than the water.  This time I splurged.

Then: a neighbour put me on to this fabulous hand cream from the Body Shop.  I have tried most "miracle" creams under the sun, and usually as soon as I put them on I am in all worlds of pain from the stinging, and they don't do much to improve my hands.  This one is different.  It doesn't smell lovely but within a day of using it I noticed considerable improvements.

Lastly, a week of antihistamines.  The Asthma Foundation's Twitter feed kept informing me of the extreme pollen counts over the last few weeks, and my constant sneezing tipped me off that its that time of year again.  I love spring, if only it didn't make me so terribly uncomfortable.

So I am at the end of the week of the war against dishpan hands, and I think I may have won!

Menu plan - I lost count of the weeks

Last fortnight (it was actually closer to 3 weeks)  I spent $342 on groceries.  I admit there were actually 2 takeaway meals on top of that (worth about another $60) and that's the price of not planning.  Here is the next plan:

Saturday - Pressure cooker pork spare ribs, wedges, corn, peas and carrot

Sunday – Lasagne

Monday – Meatballs and spaghetti

Tuesday – Chicken enchiladas with rice

Wednesday – Massaman beef curry (ravioli for the kids)

Thursday - Fish, chips and salad

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday – Roast dinner

Sunday – Steak, chips and salad

Monday – Leftovers

Tuesday – Spaghetti bolognese
Wednesday – Chicken meatballs

I hope to get through a bit of baking tomorrow and restock the pantry and freezer with snacks.

Date slice

I stumbled across a yummy and easy slice recipe this week.  I had to do some late night baking for the builders yesterday (another request for passionfruit slice) and thought I would make another slice at the same time as the lunch box supplies were getting a bit low.  The cupboard was pretty bare (no more coconut - so many slices need coconut!) and I only had 125g of butter left.

This Best Recipes date slice worked a treat, really quick and easy, yummy, and travels well.

Butter chicken

This week I made butter chicken from almost-scratch, it turned out really well!  I was the only person in the house who enjoyed the meal, but it was super delicious and attracted many comments in the lunch room the next day when I reheated my leftovers.  I used this great mix from The Curry Traders which I picked up at my local butcher (but you can purchase through The Curry Traders website too).  I have to admit it was a bit of a budget splurge, but I have been reducing my "packet mix" cooking as a result of watching out for food additives and colouring and thought this may be a healthier option.

The instructions on the packet were easy to follow. I only wish I had a coffee grinder, because I am not sure I spent enough time grinding up the seeds as directed, and think if these "bits" where finer then my husband may have enjoyed the dish more. I will definitely be trying some more of their mixes.

Bacon and leek quiche

This week I made a yummy bacon, leek and fetta quiche using the basics of my Pizza pie recipe.  I fried up a finely chopped leek with some bacon first, then added it to a bowl with some diced fetta (I used a whole small block).  I only added in a sprinkle of grated tasty cheese then about half a cup of cream.  It was all about using up things in my fridge that were near the end of their usable life.  Quiche is a great dish to have in the fridge, it can be a quick lunch or an easy dinner.  This week I have been packing it for breakfast for my husband while he does the early shift.

If you have never made quiche before, you really need to give it a try.  And make sure you let me know if you have any other yummy filing combinations.  Thanks to Lauren for the Leeks idea!

Birthday party time!

Whoa I am super exhausted! Both boys birthdays this weekend meant a bit of baking for the party.  I admit to cheating and buying overpriced cupcakes at Woolworths to send to school and kindy.  But hey I can't be superwoman. 

I would have to say I was pretty happy with the cake (I'm not up for things that take too much time and effort but they still have to look good).  My biggest birthday cake tip is to buy the Sara Lee Create a Cake and spend your time on decorations rather than baking.  They taste pretty yummy too.  This cake was made from 1 and 3/4 of the Create a Cakes. Don't defrost the cakes before you do your construction and decorating, its much easier to work with them frozen.

But I think the baking I was most happy with this weekend were the Mario Starman cookies - super easy (just a basic biscuit mix) and they looked great.

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.